A new "shadow" loomed

In low orbit above Aegis VII;

The pitch-black sea of stars stretched out in silence, dotted with starlight and the running lights of countless ships.

The Emperor-class Battleship, a behemoth by the standards of the Dead Space universe—or most universes, for that matter—hung in the void like a sleeping steel leviathan that could awaken at any moment.

Warning lights suddenly flared inside its hangar, and several mechanical arms moved slowly, pushing a Luna-class Transport onto a magnetic launch track.

Amid the low hiss of plasma valves, the heavy airlock doors opened in stages. Faint white light spilled down, illuminating the transport's white-and-blue livery.

Vrooom!

The roar of engines firing up echoed along the magnetic track.

A moment later, the transport spewed scorching exhaust and shot out of the hangar, cutting through the void toward the distant Ishimura.

The Ishimura still drifted in its deathly silent orbit. Like a motionless corpse, its battered hull lay shrouded in gloomy shadows, seemingly ready to fall apart at any moment.

The transport approached steadily and, guided by its navigation system, finally touched down on the Ishimura's hangar runway.

Hiss!

With a low scrape of metal, the Luna Transport came to a stop. Its hatch opened, and the pressure valve let out another hiss.

Thud, thud!

Heavy footsteps followed.

More than fifty Auxilia soldiers wearing CMC Powered Combat Suits poured out of the cabin, their thick armor gleaming with the cold hardness of steel in the faint light.

Imperial insignia were engraved on their pauldrons and breastplates. Their strides were steady and powerful, and their presence instantly lent a grim, martial air to the Ishimura's lifeless hangar.

These soldiers were no ordinary recruits, either. Their origins were rather unusual—

They all came from Universe 18, otherwise known as the StarCraft universe.

They had been recruited