Southern Heavenly Gate, the star system with a stargate, had always been the most important transportation hub in the Commonwealth and even the Third Arm. But since the war began, its routes had become busier than ever.
Military supplies and strategic materials shipped from the Commonwealth's homeworld of Terra, along with those purchased from other nations, all converged at Southern Heavenly Gate before being sent onward to the major theaters of war in the New World, Gibraltar, and the Far Shore.
Transport ships, troopships, new vessels that had just rolled off the ways and hadn't yet completed testing, and old ships that had been refitted and repaired nearly filled every route in the system and pushed the customs stations to their limits.
Yet even so, the Blue Star Commonwealth government still hadn't declared a state of total war. Regular scheduled commercial flights were still running, though there were barely a third as many as during the busiest times.
One could imagine just how hectic the system was now.
Under these circumstances, it was nearly impossible for the customs department to inspect every ship entering or leaving Southern Heavenly Gate to the same standard. In fact, even in peacetime, that standard was rarely applied.
As a result, many people failed to notice the faint ripple that appeared behind a cargo ship arriving from the New World.
But neither the inspection station nor the three inspection drones floating nearby reacted at all. The drones seemed to have been drawn to the large cargo ship and drifted toward it.
It was 15:17 on September 24, 833, Common Era.
Then the ripple slowly slipped out through Southern Heavenly Gate's magnificent curtain of light, which looked like a gigantic celestial globe, and brazenly swept past a customs inspection station.
At that moment, the inspection station