Having established his new base of operations on the clone homeworld, Mathew pondered what his strategy would be from this point onward. He had wished to learn all of the secrets behind the extensive genetic engineering involved in the creation of the clone empire, a prospect that would allow him not only to remove the threat of birth defects and miscarriage from his civilisations, but to create biologically engineered killing machines en mass. While, of course, he preferred using mechanical means, there was no doubt that there was a use in genetic engineering, and the Clone Emperor seemed to control that field to a far greater extent than Mathew did. While the Cloning Machines found on other planets were capable of 3d-printing living cells, as well as multiple materials, in intricate patterns at high speed using what seemed to be an intensely delicate and yet weak teleportation system, the patterns and formats for these machines had been developed in the capital. It's destruction by the hands of the threat classified as The Unknown had derived Mathew of this valuable knowledge once and for all, unless he somehow managed to extract it from some other cache.
In the time since he had first conquered the planet, Mathew had set about restoring order in the empire. Although billions of clones had been slaughtered by The Unknown, many had remained on conquered planets after the destruction of that planet's evacuation systems by strategically placed drones. Furthermore, investigation of the space between planets had revealed many more now leaderless clones in transport vessels, which had become lost in the vastness of space after all communications with the capital had been ended. Using the printing technology, it had been far easier to rapidly construct large factories and complexes on the many colonies of the Imperium, many of which functioned completely autonomously. These races ceased being a necessary part of the planet's functions, as Mathew dedicated entire planets to agriculture in order to feed the rest of the Imperium. Newly devised Fiction Gates connected these planets, allowing instantaneous transport, as well as the possibility of Babylon appearing at the scene of any battle within mere moments.
Mathew's forces, as well as his offensive capabilities, had been vastly improved by this newly acquired technology. However, the thing that he feared the most was the mysterious power used by The Unknown, with offensive and defensive power he had never seen before. He had no counter to this attack, and he didn't know how to deal with it's use. It was not something he could adapt his technology to, for he had no understanding of how it worked, and he doubted that The Unknown would allow him to perform an extensive study any time soon. As such, he had utilized the trade network that had been created by the Clone Emperor to forge contacts with other Empires, coupled with the assurance that Mathew would not continue his hostile expansion. Through bribery and intimidation, he had at last located an individual who supposedly knew of this power and how to handle it, a so-called 'Sith', and, with the promise of substantial amounts of precious materials useless to the production of new mechanisms, he had managed to invite this Sith to an audience. Hopefully, he would be able to learn something of value.
Stein's plans had been thoroughly disrupted by the actions taken by Darkside. He had had the ability to manipulate the background soular energy that naturally flowed through the universe, which was quite an interesting phenomenon to behold, but he payed far too little attention to his own soul. His rash grasp on it was detrimental to his own soular health, which had reflections in his body and mind, as both had begun to decay. Great power, wielded like a clumsy sledgehammer, whereas Stein's own control of his soular energy was as sharp and precise as a scalpel's measured cut. He would need to deal with this person before he became any kind of threat, if the decay of his soul didn't kill him before Stein did. If this person didn't take better control of the energies being flung around, they would end up digging their own grave, which would quite neatly remove that issue.
