Li Qinwu had only just launched the Heavy Power Armor project when Inquisitor Thraxol's fleet successfully emerged from the Warp and arrived at the Stargate World.
Inquisitor Thraxol summoned his staff and held a meeting.
Li Qinwu took a Shuttle to Inquisitor Thraxol's bridge to attend.
At the meeting, Inquisitor Thraxol personally explained what a Stargate was and introduced the major worlds near it.
A Stargate was godlike technology that allowed warships to cross the universe in an instant.
It was a gate in the literal, physical sense, visible to the naked eye: a circular megastructure ranging from 200 to 400 kilometers in diameter.
The circular metal frame was the Stargate Generator. In the center of the Stargate lay a layer of something resembling an oily film on a lake, its surface swirling strangely.
How such a colossal structure had been built, or how it operated, was knowledge that had long since been lost.
It was a creation built during the Dark Age of Technology, when humanity possessed the power of gods.
People today only knew how to use it, not the principles behind it.
The Stargate opened by the Stargate Generator was like a highway. Warships could reach their destinations at the greatest possible speed simply by passing through it.
Within the star system containing this Stargate was a planet suitable for human habitation, called Purple Diamond Star.
Purple Diamond Star was a Paradise World. Oceans covered 65 percent of its surface, with land making up the rest.
The planet had a population of fifteen billion, nearly one billion of whom were visitors-all powerful members of the Imperium's elite who had come from elsewhere on vacation.
Purple Diamond Star was extremely wealthy, partly because the nearby Stargate led directly to Terra.
Almost every ship in this sector making a