Proxima Centauri System.
An enormous Twin Stars Fleet of over two thousand combat and supply ships was passing through a wormhole in space, arriving at the distant frontier of their civilization from the prosperous Caldari Region...
"Lord Milos, Lord Barty, this is your assigned defense zone." Leon Assad pointed toward the Red Star ahead.
As the Intelligence Chief of the Caldari Region, Leon had naturally been appointed by Congress to guide this fleet, which had only just returned to its parent civilization and been redeployed from the Lost Land.
"Hmm! I hear our main opponent here is something called the Earth Civilization.
"They only have a handful of ships, but their excellent equipment and control of the wormhole chokepoint have actually stopped Twin Stars' expansion?
"Rest assured, Lord Leon. With our fleet here, a puny, single-system civilization is nothing to us. Before long, I'll teach them a lesson!" Barty declared, thumping his chest.
Compared with the fierce, battle-hardened figure he had cut upon his return, Barty now sported a double chin and even looked a little plump.
Throughout this period, Leon had accompanied the two commanders from the Lost Land, taking them around several prosperous areas along their route through the Caldari Region.
Wherever they went, virtually every local official received them with the highest honors. Every meal featured fine wine and lavish dishes, with all manner of delicacies giving them a thorough taste of their parent civilization's "warmth."
As they had expected, the prosperity and power they witnessed along the way were beyond anything the Lost Land, a splinter civilization perpetually exhausting its resources on warfare, could match.
What they did not know was that the Caldari Region, the farthest from the front and the least affected by the war, was practically the last respectable facade the Gemini Civilization