The Celestial Star Civilization's demand was reasonable, but someone was deliberately targeting them now. It really was someone—the Human Civilization.
The Human Civilization instructed the Daya Civilization to step forward and collude with several other ordinary Level Six Civilizations to pin the Celestial Star Civilization in the position of "head goose."
According to the Daya Civilization, the Celestial Star Civilization had always been at odds with them. The fifth leadership position had originally belonged to the Daya Civilization, but the Celestial Star Civilization insisted on taking it.
The reasoning sounded perfectly legitimate, but not every civilization was stupid.
Some sharp-minded civilization think tanks had already sensed that something was off, while others had been chilled to the bone by this Great Voyage.
If the Daya Civilization could strike at a competitor right after departure, showing such disregard for the shared interests of the Great Voyage, then if the Great Voyage truly ran into trouble, they might very well turn on other civilizations as well.
But what could they do even if they realized it?
They knew the Daya Civilization well. It had followed several major powers in their eastern and western campaigns long ago and undoubtedly had close ties with them. Moreover, given the Daya Civilization's contributions in the war to eliminate the Harvesters, it truly was the most qualified of the ten civilizations to occupy the organization's fifth leadership position.
The Celestial Star Civilization had merits too, but apparently no connections.
The civilizations that understood this knew that the Celestial Star Civilization probably would not survive to reach the Andromeda Galaxy. The Daya Civilization was suppressing them so brazenly, an act that clearly undermined the unity of The Great Voyage Organization, yet the major powers remained silent. That was terrifying.
Some clever civilization intelligences could not help wondering: Had