1993, Welcome to the Fourth Civilization
"You? Interstellar refugees?" Admiral Qiyala frowned.
"That's right. Refugees..." Kace Maxwell said. "More than twenty years ago, all we had was a refugee ship, several hundred thousand people in hibernation, and a vast number of Cryo-embryos. We had nothing else... So, starting more than twenty years ago, we cultivated a tiny habitable moon bit by bit, built our Homeworld, and raised our descendants."
"Twenty years... and you became a powerful warlord second only to the Galactic Empire in the Milky Way Galaxy?" Admiral Qiyala found it hard to believe.
"Too many things happened before I was awakened from hibernation. Our Fourth Civilization was able to grow so powerful in just twenty years entirely because of our leader—the Grand Duke of Dawn, Tang Xiao." Kace Maxwell said. "You may find it difficult to imagine just how powerful and wise he is... Every decision he made was filled with foresight, and more importantly... aggression."
Admiral Qiyala's expression turned grave. There was no doubt that the word "aggression" ran completely contrary to the philosophy of Chiss territory. To them, it was also one of the most dangerous words.
"Before the Duchy of Dawn was founded, we called ourselves the Fourth Civilization. We still use that name now, except the Duchy of Dawn refers to the territory we control, while the Fourth Civilization refers to the spirit and will passed down by our refugee ship," Kace Maxwell said.
"Why do you call yourselves the Fourth Civilization? As far as I know, even the Galactic Empire is only formally called the First Galactic Empire of the Milky Way Galaxy. What were the three civilizations before yours?" Admiral Qiyala asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Perhaps because we drifted for too long, many of us lost most of our memories of the past.