The Other WItch; Situation on Seclora

"Other than there being a lot more aliens here, what makes this Empire any different than the last one?  I mean," James continued, despite the very obvious increasing threat of Salvia doing unthinkable things to everyone in her vicinity who wasn't either Braga or blatantly foreign.  "Your all the same species, right?"
Braga put a hand on Salvia's shoulder and whispered, "Cut the boy some slack, he is only Human after all."  Then he swiveled towards the only human member of their little party and addressed him directly.  "Let us simply say that there are significant ideological differences.  The Nieldic Empire, or 'old Empire', is made up of traditionalists, the old nobility, those who wished to defend what they had some thousands of years ago, and for the most part is happy to stay behind the defenses they've built around themselves over the ages.  This Empire, the Secloran Empire, is the descendants of people who wanted to expand, to be free of the old ways, and to exercise their power over the universe.  But since then things have taken very different routes.  The Seclorans have a strongly religious, fluid nobility, and the nobility is ten times as large; where the Nielda have a very strong, respected, and generally ancient nobility.  That said, the Nielda have less nepotism, since even nobles are expected to fight for the highest ranks, and yet even the lowest Secloran can achieve nobility."
"Also," Salvia broke down and declared in low, bitter tones, "The Seclorans consider witches an affront against God and like to burn us when they can find us.  This, along with their tendency to treat other magic users, anyone else they have religious differences with, and their 'client' races as second class citizens makes them the most bigoted, self-righteous smegheads in the known universe."
Braga sighed.  "Yes, While I can't comment on their views of other religions or magic users, the fact that they assume I lack both is indicative of the third.  Be glad Humans look so similar to Nielda, or they'd probably be passing you a bunch of pamphlets with messages like 'submit yourself to the authorities, and sin no more', without actually finding out what you'd done first."
"I have no idea what either of you just said, but I definitely liked the other Empire's clothes better.  These people seem so stuffy and formal after the cool cloaks and below the shoulder dresses.  No offense Sal."
Salvia never wore dresses that low-cut, mostly because she didn't own any, but also because she had no occasion to wear them.
"None taken, I agree with you actually.  This whole place puts my hair on end."
It did.  Seclora lacked the same levels of magical saturation that the homeworld had, but Salvia hated to imagine what it would have been like here if they were.  The magic was tainted here, like thousands of warlocks working in unison to rip open gates to hell.  She had heard rumors of, while certainly not so many warlocks nor so foul  deed, shadowy deeds and deals with dark powers to gain the power of nobility, or even the emperor's ear.  Part of making power fluid, was that such deals could be struck at all, no member of the Imperial Nobility had done anything worse than necromancy since the Frostbourne wars.  Sure there were rumors about the late Empress, but they were nothing more than rumors.  Not that anyone could have been sure they weren't; everyone alive from her Father's era had been necrotized during the Death Cult attack.  It meant they were all still around, unless they'd fallen in battle, and stood as an eternal reminder of the consequences of a lapse in security.  It also meant that Toln was the first Emperor in over three hundred years who looked alive.  A fact that the Seclorans found not only abhorrent, but reason enough to have waged war across the deep parts of space between the two Empires, and even, at times, to outright invade.  They'd never suceeded, Salvia's sister witches had been influential in that matter several times, but it still left a burning hatred for the self-righteous outsiders in every Imperial citizen.  And nothing confirmed her preconcieved prejudice like the palor of evil magics that sat over the palace.
"I suspect dark magics.  Braga?"
"I second your outlook, supernatural forces are at work here."
James looked back and forth at them.  His limited experience with magic made him uncertain of the significance of their suspicions, but the presence of supernatural forces seemed obvious to him, his companions were a Witch and a short canine with a mind and reflexes like a steel trap.

"Quiet you three, the Seclorans are very formal.  Wait here, and don't get into any trouble."
Hack closed the door to the throne room behind him, leaving the rest of the group in a large room full of men who were all, from the looks of things, trying to get something from the Emperor.  There were guards, indistinguishable from one another in their massive, powered armor.  The amount of firepower in the room was probably equivalent to that of a normal Nieldic company of footsoldiers, and that was just the clearly visible, and absurdly large, rifles strapped to each soldier's back.  As Salvia surveyed the room, she quickly realized that those were the only defenses present.  There were no enchantments, no magic wielding elite, or even a few carefully hidden shock panels; only the garrishly garbed gentlemen, and the massive armored guards.  It was no wonder Emperor Kvald the Fourth had been able to singlehandedly fight his way into the throne room and slay their emperor; any true warrior could have done so with ease.  Clearly, it was only their unchecked aggression that had kept them from falling to every new threat the universe faced; any force that could get a handful of mages within sight of the palace could have rent the mundane defenses asunder before simply walking in, and the wards that prevented teleportation and scrying had the tattered feel of a flag in the aftermath of battle.  Perhaps they had more defenses in the past, a mage of Katherine's reputation alone could have swept the defenses they had now with a brush of her hand and with the next gesture struck entire buildings from the surface of the world.  Salvia actually began probing the defenses mentally, checking their strength against her own, just to see if it was plausible for a mage of her own limited power to penetrate them.
"Well golly folks," said James, "don't suppose I could get a drink or a chair perhaps?"
Everyone in the room gave him scathing, and in certain cases incredulous, glances, but neither spoke nor acted beyond the courses of their own affairs.
Braga snorted derisively, "I can see why the Alpha appoints only his weakest ambassadors to this place; it would test a warrior beyond his measures, but to a fool it is paradise."  That got more of a rise out of them.  A few of the more haughty looking solicitors turned up their noses and looked pointedly away from the strangers.  Salvia snickered, it was actually, to her knowledge, entirely true.  The Ga-Vok considered this a dead-end posting, and most warriors would have sooner been exiled outright.  The Nielda had no post here, for obvious reasons, but had in the past shared the opinions of the Ga-Vok.  Secloran politics was dull beyond measure, full of grandstanding and false patirotism, but they managed to make the system work well enough.  It was still a pain for the rest of the universe to deal with.
Salvia found a crack in the wards.  On any Nieldic world, or home, or base, or even ship, she would have mended it with a few words and been on her way, but this was a fairly considerable crack and in a hostile palace.
"Braga, can you hold their attention for a moment, I'm going to try something."
"Be careful."  He faced the group and said in a less than quiet voice, "Say James, did you know that the Secloran Empire has been shadowruled by no less than five seperate demons?  And they say that the Empress likes..."  Braga got hit in the nose by the nearest of the mob that had begun to form around him.  Even the guards were starting to move from their posts, and their focus was all focused on the irate throng.  It was the opportunity of a lifetime.  She stretched out her will and pictured another place, chanted a short incantation, and opened her eyes again.  The fight had vanished.  In its place was a little basement office she knew all to well.  The cobwebs in the corners had grown more noticeable, and the desk gotten dusty, but the nameplate on the desk was still legible, and there were still books on the shelf.  Salvia stretched out her mind and found the crack in the wards again, and pulled herself back through, with only seconds of absence.
"I thought I told you not to get into trouble."
"My apologies Old Cloak, I was indiscreet.  Next time I will be more quiet."
"Just be glad no one important was here today.  The emperor has agreed to send his fleet, and a number of troops.  But they are a pittance compared to what we will need.  I hope the Alpha will be more generous."