Vast, magnificent, as spectacular as another world, yet utterly lifeless due to the cold metallic gleam everywhere and the rigid mechanical lines devoid of vitality—the hangar of a War Ark-class transport ship was the best compartment for storing war machines, but definitely not a good place to live in peace. In such a cold-toned space packed with ferocious armed spacecraft, the refugees were at a loss. They could only huddle as close as possible to people they knew, relying on numbers to gain what little sense of security they could.
Nearly every temporary refugee ship was much the same. Military transport carriers originally used to haul weapons of war had been requisitioned as rescue vessels, so naturally they could not have prepared enough crew quarters. Therefore, all the refugees rescued from the ruined planet were gathered in the spacious hangars, staying alongside enormous, terrifying-looking Empire equipment. To prevent accidents, the transport carriers had activated the Level 2 Area Control Rule. A translucent pale-blue psionic barrier surrounded the cargo Stack Area in the hangar. These faintly glowing shields divided the hangar into many corridor-like strips, separating the terrified survivors into numerous sections. Even though they could see each other through the pale-blue barriers, they did not dare rashly cross the warning-marked isolation zones and the sentry posts of the guards to reunite with their families. This became another factor worsening the atmosphere.
Most people still did not know what had happened. When the disaster first struck, they had merely assumed that some nearby Mining Station had once again triggered an Ancient Energy Furnace and caused an explosion. But as the earth crumbled apart and the ground beneath their feet nearly overturned, people realized that an unprecedented disaster had descended upon them. Those on high ground were the first to witness the