Wang Qing, from Canopy Star in the Taiwei Star System, was a naval ensign aboard the Vermilion Bird, flagship of the Eighty-Seventh Patrol Fleet of Canopy Star's planetary defense forces—in other words, a reserve officer.
She had been born in Guixu City, a super-interstellar metropolis with a population of one hundred million, at least by the standards of the Taiwei Star System.
Her grandfather was a mid-to-high-ranking serving official in the city's and planet's municipal government, while her mother was a wealthy businesswoman. Her family was well-off, and she had never wanted for anything. They owned multiple properties in the city and even had an expensive villa in the wealthy suburbs.
It could be said that, barring any accidents, Wang Qing's family background guaranteed her a limitless future in the Taiwei Star System.
At most, she would have needed to accumulate a few years of experience, then use her family's wealth and connections to make a little effort behind the scenes. By middle age, becoming a captain—or even commanding a small fleet—would not have been difficult. Reaching heights that ordinary people could never attain in their lifetimes would have been as easy as child's play.
But unfortunately...
Fate had other plans. Just after she graduated from military school and entered the army for her internship, something happened—perhaps the Psyker higher-ups of Canopy Star had done something. They actually summoned entities from the Warp, those Chaos Daemons, which sacrificed the entire planet and plunged the perfectly good homeworld into an apocalypse.
Many people died, including Wang Qing's entire family. She alone survived.
What happened back then was practically taboo among all the Canopy Star survivors. It was a nightmare no one wanted to remember or mention ever again.
One had to know that before the apocalyptic Cataclysm, Canopy Star had a