In the past, transporting such massive quantities required specialized transport ships to tow mineral spheres compressed into asteroids with gravity beams, moving them quickly through stargates. But after Space Expansion Technology became widespread, the Empire's transport industry underwent another transformation.
Pre-compressed ore was loaded into the cargo holds of transport ships and sent quickly and precisely to its destination via Hyperspace Jump. This gradually became the mainstream method in the Empire's transport industry.
At that moment, the compressed raw ore was dumped into material space in cubic-meter blocks. Once the transport fleet had unloaded enough and departed, a miniature Asteroid Belt formed in deep space.
Then the Gravity Editor in stellar orbit sprang into action. That's right: the artificial celestial body, over a thousand kilometers in diameter, orbiting the star was actually a gigantic Gravity Editor.
It could manipulate the star's gravity with considerable precision without triggering increased stellar activity due to gravitational fluctuations.
As the gravity shifted, the minerals, which had been scattered like loose sand, were drawn together into a mass. This gathered material was compressed further. The immense gravity gripped the minerals like an invisible hand, squeezing them hard.
The visible mountain of ore rapidly collapsed. Once it passed a certain threshold, it compressed further into white dwarf matter and even neutron matter, until it formed a sphere about the size of a fist.
Only then was the compression of the material complete. But the process wasn't over. If the sphere were released now, the deeply compressed material would decompress at an astonishing speed, triggering a cataclysmic explosion.
The cubic box, cast from refined adamantine, had sides only about ten centimeters long. It looked like an exquisitely crafted toy box, its surface shimmering with intricate Psionic radiance.
This was the outer shell of the Prime Energy Neutron