Chapter Summaries

Galon ordered Hagg and Hypnos to gather their followers and intelligence so they could conquer territory beyond the Nilkenia Super Galaxy Cluster. Three years later, Lin Fan presented the Federation’s plan to conquer and develop twenty-seven star clusters, while most of its forces remained stationed against the Zerg.

• Galon told Hagg and Hypnos that they needed to conquer more territory to acquire the resources required for further evolution.
• Galon ordered Hypnos to gather and settle their followers and sent Hagg to obtain Star Charts and intelligence from Rasti.
• In Federation Year 145, high-level Biological Civilizations launched attacks from the Nilkenia Super Galaxy Cluster against surrounding Superclusters.
• Lin Fan reported that the Federation had surveyed twenty-seven star clusters between the Local Group and the Mels Star Cluster and proposed a thirty-year conquest plan.
• Lin Fan displayed a Star Chart and pointed out the Federation’s first target.

Lin Fan explained why the Federation had chosen the Weisi Star Cluster as its first target for expansion, despite its sparse population and limited strategic value. The Pioneer Fleet had discovered vast Ailuo Metal reserves there, enough to support Nether Class Warship production for a hundred years.

• Lin Fan identified the Weisi Star Cluster as the Federation’s primary target, surprising the assembled higher-ups.
• The higher-ups questioned the choice because most of the cluster’s galaxies were sparse dwarf galaxies with few Life Planets.
• Lin Fan explained that the Federation’s experimental Dark Energy fleet had crushed a Dauntless Fleet five times its size, leading to development of the Nether Class Warship.
• Lin Fan revealed that Nether Class Warships required rare Ailuo Metal and that the Pioneer Fleet had spent ten years searching for it.
• Lin Fan said preliminary exploration had found extensive Ailuo Metal across nearly every galaxy in the Weisi Star Cluster, enough for a hundred years of warship production.

Lin Fan’s expansion plan made the Weisi Star Cluster the Federation’s top strategic target because its Ailuo Metal could supply materials for hundreds of billions of warships. A month later, Chris Rhode prepared the first expedition to the cluster, and the fleet departed for the Cassano System.

• Lin Fan explained that the Federation’s growing shipbuilding capacity and the Weisi Star Cluster’s Ailuo Metal reserves made it a crucial target, and the gathered leaders supported his plan.
• One month later, Chris Rhode commanded the Federal core region’s garrison from the Large Magellanic Cloud and welcomed the chance for a new campaign.
• Chris learned that the first two Star System Groups were ready to depart while the subordinate civilizations assembled a fleet of two hundred billion warships.
• Chris ordered one hundred Super Star Gates completed within three days so reinforcements could reach the Weisi Star Cluster.
• Chris ordered the First and Second Star System Groups to activate their Hyperspace Engines and depart for the Cassano System.

Lance’s disciplined patrol fleet was ordered to aid Sera Star after the Giant Axe Pirates attacked, while the planet’s million-ship defense force fell into disarray under a noble commander. Lance headed toward the battle, still concealing his hatred of the nobles as Sera Star faced devastation.

• The Landon Empire’s nobles maintained control of the military, while interstellar pirates grew into a formidable threat.
• Lance learned that the Giant Axe Pirates were attacking Sera Star and ordered his patrol fleet to rush there at maximum speed.
• Lance kept his plan to destroy the Empire’s nobles hidden, choosing to obey orders so he could protect Sera Star’s commoners.
• The Giant Axe Pirates shattered Sera Star’s defending fleet, leaving the planet’s population and its terrified nobles exposed to destruction.
• The young noble commanding the defense fleet blamed his forces, despite having personally forbidden them from using Gravity Cannons.

The Giant Axe Pirates attacked Sera Star after an insider disabled its defenses, while commander Kelvin crippled the garrison fleet by forbidding spatial weapons. Chris’s fleet arrived in the Cassano System, discovered the battle, and sent a sub-fleet to defeat the pirates and seal off Sera Star.

• The Giant Axe Pirates warped into Sera Star’s orbit and ambushed its garrison fleet after an insider shut down the Warp Interference Devices and radar installations.
• Kelvin ordered the garrison to use only point-defense and non-spatial weapons, allowing the pirates to overwhelm the numerically superior fleet.
• Kelvin blamed his officers for failing to reorganize and accused Lance of delaying the battle while Lance rushed back to Sera Star.
• Chris’s fleet arrived seven AU from Sera Star and used long-range observation to discover the pirates destroying the garrison fleet.
• After intercepting Sera Star’s call for support, Chris ordered the First Cluster to send a sub-fleet to clear out the pirates and seal off the planet.

Tang Tais led the Giant Axe Pirates to crush Sera Star’s disorganized defending fleet and destroy Kelvin’s flagship, but his triumph ended when a fleet of one hundred million unidentified warships arrived. The chapter left Tang Tais facing an unknown force whose ships matched neither Imperial nor pirate records.

• Tang Tais abandoned his plan to loot Sera Star quickly and ordered the Giant Axe Pirates to annihilate its defending fleet.
• The pirates intensified their attack, and Kelvin’s collapsing fleet broke formation and fled.
• Kelvin’s flagship became exposed and was destroyed by spatial attacks, while Tang Tais ordered a full pursuit.
• Tang Tais learned that a fleet of one hundred million warships was approaching and discovered its ships matched no known Imperial or pirate designs.

Rhyent led the Federal Fleet in its assault on the pirates around Sera Star, while Tang Tais mistook them for an Imperial fleet and considered surrender. The Federal Fleet opened fire with spatial attacks, destroying ten thousand pirate warships in one volley.

• Rhyent ordered his fleet to eliminate the pirates, seize Sera Star, pursue fleeing ships, and blockade the system.
• Tang Tais learned that the enemy had disrupted warp travel and split its forces to attack, pursue ships, and block escape routes.
• Tang Tais concluded that the fleet was an Imperial secret force and prepared to offer the pirate group's assets in exchange for surrender.
• The Federal Fleet struck before Tang Tais could send his surrender signal, piercing through pirate ships with spatial attacks.
• The volley destroyed ten thousand pirate warships, with each attack passing through as many as nine ships.

Lance's fleet was trapped outside Sera Star after the Federation blocked communications and warp travel, while Rhyent's forces rapidly occupied the planet. The Federation's First Fleet surrounded Lance's ten thousand warships, and Lance demanded to know who they were.

• Lance repeatedly tried and failed to contact Sera Star, then wondered if it had fallen despite its million-warship garrison.
• Rhyent ordered the remaining orbital landings to continue after his forces met almost no resistance on Sera Star.
• Rhyent learned that Lance's ten-thousand-warship fleet had been intercepted by the warp blockade and sent the First Fleet to capture it.
• Lance prepared to contact the Keplerus Sector Governor's Mansion when sensors detected more than ten million spatial anomalies.
• The Federation's ten million warships emerged from hyperspace and surrounded Lance's fleet.
• Lance accepted a video call, saw an unfamiliar humanoid in a military uniform, and asked who they were.

Liang Dong’s fleet surrounded Lance’s patrol fleet and ordered it to follow strict rules while the Federation prepared to take the captured ships to Sera Star. Lance and his crew watched in shock as the Federation opened a huge Hyperspace Window with its Hyperspace Matrix.

• Liang Dong told Lance that his ships would be destroyed if they charged weapons, attempted external communication, or tried to jump.
• Lance suspected the Federation was an unknown civilization far more advanced than his own and agreed to follow its rules.
• Liang Dong ordered Lance to come with the Federation fleet to Sera Star, then cut off communications.
• Lance stopped his crew from resisting as Federation warships surrounded and restrained each of the ten thousand Imperial ships with Tractor Beams.
• Liang Dong ordered the Hyperspace Matrix activated, and ten thousand Federation ships opened an enormous Hyperspace Window, leaving Lance’s crew stunned.

Lance's fleet was pulled through hyperspace and captured near Sera Star, where he pieced together how an unknown civilization had defeated the pirates and seized the planet. Chris learned that Sera Star was rich in Ailuo Metal, but the Landon people had used so much of it as construction material that it had lost its value to the Federation.

• Lance's warship was dragged through a Hyperspace Window and emerged near Sera Star in only moments.
• Lance's crew reported that an unknown civilization had captured the Imperial garrison, occupied Sera Star, and destroyed the Giant Axe Pirates.
• Lance reconstructed the battle and realized that the Federation had intercepted and captured his fleet.
• Rhyent told Chris that Ailuo Metal was abundant across Sera Star and had been used to build cities, homes, and roads.
• Chris learned that processing had stripped the Ailuo Metal of its ability to absorb and convert Dark Energy, leaving it useless to the Federation.

Chris learned that the Weisi Star Cluster held far more Ailuo Metal than expected and met Lance, leader of the Landon Empire’s Commoner Faction. Lance confirmed Chris’s intentions and began explaining his cause, starting with events thirty thousand years earlier.

• Chris learned that the Star System’s Ailuo Metal reserves were more than ten times the original estimates.
• Chris agreed to meet Lance, the leader of the Commoner Faction, aboard the Adam.
• Lance saw the Federation’s Planet-class warship and questioned whether its civilization would help him overthrow noble rule.
• Chris told Lance that the Federation opposed slavery and only destroyed hostile civilizations.
• Lance introduced himself as a descendant of Richard Vite and began recounting events from thirty thousand years earlier.

Lance negotiated with Chris for Federation support to overthrow the Landon Empire's nobles, agreeing to surrender the Weisi Star Cluster's Ailuo Metal to the Federation. He left the Adam after discussing the support the Federation would provide.

• Lance told Chris about the Empire's history and offered to make it a subordinate civilization in exchange for help overthrowing noble rule.
• Chris showed Lance the Federation's subordinate civilization agreement and explained that the Federation wanted ownership of every Ailuo Metal vein in the Weisi Star Cluster.
• Chris revealed that Ailuo Metal was known in the Empire as Lancer Ore and said it had little value to civilizations below Level 8.
• Lance agreed that the Federation would own all Ailuo Metal veins and that the reborn Landon Empire would ban private mining and use of the metal.
• Chris and Lance discussed the Federation's support, and Lance left the Adam by Shuttlecraft, astonished by the agreement they had made.

Lance used the Federation's retired warships to build a fleet for the Commoner Faction and launched an attack on the Kepler Starfield. His fleet approached Administrative Star Rabi, while Governor Osal remained unaware of the threat.

• The Federation agreed to provide Lance with 20 billion warships, with Ailuo Metal mining fees going toward their cost.
• After three months of preparation on Sera Star, Lance assembled crews for 2.8 billion warships and set the Kepler Starfield as his first target.
• Governor Osal dismissed a report that his fleet had lost 7 billion personnel, assuming the casualties came from nobles' live-fire games.
• Lance led his fleet through hyperspace toward Administrative Star Rabi and ordered the battle alert sounded as they neared the system.

Lance’s 2.8 billion warships arrived at Rabi and caught the Kepler Starfield fleet off guard because the monitoring station ignored its alarms. After Lance attacked the orbital defenses and surrounded the starports, James learned the attackers might not be pirates.

• Lance’s fleet emerged from hyperspace near Rabi, but the Imperial fleet did not respond because the monitoring station’s staff mistook the alarms for another live-fire exercise.
• Wien explained the monitoring station’s lax habits, and Lance ordered Aier to attack Rabi and capture the nobles, especially Osal.
• One monitoring officer discovered the enemy fleet and raised the alarm, but Lance’s forces destroyed the station and the other orbital defenses.
• Lance’s remaining warships surrounded the Kepler fleet’s starport clusters and warned the Imperial ships not to leave or resist.
• James learned that Rabi was under attack and the starports were surrounded, then heard that the attackers did not seem to be a pirate fleet.

James recognized the enemy fleet as the supposedly purged Rose Fleet and ordered his forces to attack, while Lance’s troops took control of Rabi Star and rounded up nobles. James’s order was largely ignored, and Lance gave the remaining warships ten minutes to surrender as James refused, knowing his family had helped purge the Rose Fleet.

• James recognized the Rose Fleet emblem and was shocked that the fleet had returned despite being purged thirty thousand years earlier.
• Lance’s forces seized Rabi Star’s military facilities and noble residences, rounding up nobles while leaving commoners alone.
• James ordered the fleets to attack, then shot an adjutant who objected.
• A young noble commander and other officers ignored James’s order, and the few warships that launched were destroyed.
• Lance broadcast an ultimatum giving the remaining warships ten minutes to surrender.
• James refused to surrender because his family had helped purge the Rose Fleet and he expected to be killed.

Lance secured Rabi Star and exposed the nobles’ concealed history and deadly “live-fire exercises,” then staged public trials that turned the planet’s population against them. After the Empire discovered Rabi Star had gone silent, it sent three Starfield Fleets to investigate.

• Vilette reported that Rabi Star had been captured, Governor Osal and the nobles were prisoners, and James had been brought down by his own men.
• Lance learned that Osal had disguised the fleet’s losses in noblemen’s live-fire exercises as casualties from pirate campaigns, and ordered a public trial.
• Lance revealed the Empire’s hidden history and the truth behind the exercises before the people of Rabi Star, and guilty nobles were executed during a month of trials.
• The Empire noticed that ships traveling to or from Rabi Star and its investigators had vanished, and its leaders mobilized three Starfield Fleets to the planet.

Lance prepared to defend Rabi Star from three Imperial Starfield Fleets, while Lucas supplied him with intelligence from inside the enemy command. As the Imperial commanders set out for Kepler, Lucas considered recruiting Captain Xiwet.

• Lance learned that the Empire was sending three Starfield Fleets, totaling 30 billion warships, to attack Rabi Star, and he asked Chris to help defend the planet.
• Chris agreed to protect Rabi Star as part of the Federation’s agreement with Lance.
• Lucas continued feeding Lance intelligence about the Imperial fleet and watched its commanders treat the campaign like an armed excursion.
• Rels ordered the fleet to depart for Kepler after Captain Xiwet reported that it was ready.
• Lucas learned about Xiwet’s upright but declining noble family and considered recruiting him.

A Federation-led fleet ambushed the Imperial fleet near Kepler, killing 1.2 billion warships in its opening attack. Xiwet disrupted the space between the fleets with a concentrated Spatial Attack, buying time to advance toward the enemy and prepare a counterattack.

• The unknown fleet ambushed the Imperial fleet after it exited warp, killing 1.2 billion warships in the first barrage.
• Rels blamed Xiwet for failing to scout, but Xiwet argued that the fleet needed to find a way out and ordered its warships to attack the space between the fleets.
• Xiwet reasoned that heavily damaged space would block both sides from using Spatial Attacks across the gap, while letting the Imperial fleet close within firing range.
• The damaged space briefly halted direct Spatial Attacks, and Xiwet ordered the Imperial fleet to advance at full speed and recharge its cannons for another barrage.

Lance countered Xiwet’s spatial disturbance by warping his fleet into position around the Imperial fleet and attacking from thirty-seven directions. As the Imperial fleet reeled, Lucas shot Rels, and Xiwet learned that their enemy was the Rose Fleet, led by Marshal Richard’s descendant.

• Lance ordered his fleet divided into thirty-eight groups and warped them to positions around Xiwet’s fleet.
• Xiwet prepared a second attack, but his sensors detected 3.7 billion unidentified energy signatures before the ships disappeared and reappeared around his fleet.
• The Rose Fleet launched simultaneous Spatial Attacks from thirty-seven directions, destroying over a billion Imperial warships.
• Rels berated Xiwet, and Lucas shot Rels on the bridge.
• Xiwet ordered the enemy ships identified and recognized the Rose Fleet, whose leader was Marshal Richard’s descendant and the current leader of the Commoner Faction.

Xiwet revealed that his family had secretly saved Lance’s ancestor, sacrificing their own young master in his place. Rels then disclosed that he had secretly ordered the remaining Kepler Starfield fleet to attack Rabi Star, leaving Lance’s side facing a new threat.

• Xiwet learned that Lance was Richard’s descendant and asked Lucas to connect him with Lance.
• Rels accused the Xiwet family of secretly rescuing Richard’s great-grandson and asked who had died in the fire instead.
• Xiwet admitted that the child who perished in the flames had been the young master of the Xiwet family.
• Lance called Xiwet Uncle and thanked him, while ordering Lucas to silence Rels.
• Rels revealed that he had arranged for the remaining Kepler Starfield fleet to jump to Rabi Star and destroy everything if he failed to make contact for half an hour.
• Xiwet rejected Rels’s threat, and Lance ordered Lucas to seal Rels’s mouth.