On January 12, 833 of the Common Era, at 06:15 standard time, a ray of light from the blazing white sun of the Fegur system slipped through the porthole and fell across Tan Jize's cheek.
The sunlight was a little too bright for his eyes, leaving him briefly dazed. He rose from the simple bed and slowly walked over to the porthole, looking at the star hanging in the night sky and basking in its warm light.
It was a typical, stable star in the prime of its life, the source of life and cradle of civilization in the universe.
And indeed it was. For more than a dozen centuries before the Common Era began, this place had been the gateway to the Eiro Empire and one of the most important trade hubs between the two halves of the galaxy, divided between humanity's cosmic overlords.
Beneath the light of this sun, which the Eiroans had named after their sun god, "Fe," there had once been one naturally habitable planet and three terrestrial planets transformed to support life. At its height, the region had been home to more than a hundred billion people of countless species. Interstellar arks from every corner of the galaxy had coursed among the planets, creating one of the universe's busiest, most prosperous, and most vibrant spectacles.
But now, all of it had been reduced to the densest asteroid belt in the galaxy, along with the planets ripped apart and the warships and interstellar fortresses sunk here.
Just as the thought crossed Tan Jize's mind, an asteroid drifted past the porthole, swaggering as it went. It couldn't have been more than two or three thousand meters from the interstellar passenger ship he was on.
By the standards of the universe, that was exceptionally dense. A larger warship