"There has never been a good war, nor a bad peace." — The Rise of the Fourth Empire, by Zhao Xiang. Imperial Calendar 378.
Tang Xiao stood in his office, facing a holographic projection. It showed a tall, powerfully built elderly man of around sixty, dressed in an imposing military uniform, with a thick beard and keen eyes.
Governor of Modell Sector, Volgograd Kanidi.
"What? Have you finally made up your mind to let me retire?" Kanidi asked coldly, without any pleasantries.
The corners of Tang Xiao's mouth lifted slightly. "Modell Sector used to be a very remote sector in the Milky Way Galaxy. Its economy was underdeveloped, its industry scarce, and its population sparse. The only thing worth mentioning was its abundant resources—well... extremely abundant. But to be honest, there are many resource-rich systems in the Milky Way Galaxy. Which of those interstellar mines established in uninhabited systems doesn't operate on a planetary scale?"
Volgograd Kanidi said nothing, merely watching Tang Xiao coldly.
Tang Xiao continued, "In the past, Modell Sector had only one route in and out, through the Annaj system, then onward to the Cerean system before it could access the main routes to other parts of the Milky Way Galaxy. Yet now, this closed-off sector has developed industry, a sufficient population, and a prosperous economy... In fact, once you cut off the external hyperspace routes, it could become a Shangri-La all its own. And given Modell Sector's isolated and limited transportation network, that does not seem difficult to accomplish."
Volgograd Kanidi had long been exposed to the culture of Dawn Star Planet, so he naturally understood what Shangri-La meant. He snorted. "I gave the people of Modell Sector a homeworld, and I did everything in my power to give them better lives. As the frontier of