In the cold, empty universe, signal lights and lighting fixtures traced the outline of an enormous fleet.
A small fleet slowly felt its way toward it through the darkness.
As the distance between them steadily narrowed, a behemoth emerged from the darkness, revealing its full form to the small fleet.
The next moment, the colossal beast opened its magnificent, abyssal maw-the [Titan Mothership] opened the massive hangar doors on its underside.
An old starship, covered in the scars of battle, slowly broke away from the small fleet. Under Zero's control, it entered the gleaming [Titan Mothership] with slow, steady precision.
Just then, a hundred million kilometers away, a brilliant blaze flared to life, like fireworks celebrating this historic event.
The light shone clearly through the portholes into the old starship.
Yet its advance did not falter in the slightest. In the blink of an eye, the old starship disappeared into the belly of the [Titan Mothership].
Then the remaining starships in the small fleet scattered toward their respective destinations, like a school of startled shrimp.
The moment every starship had been safely taken into the Expeditionary Fleet's hangars, sustained applause erupted throughout both the Expeditionary Fleet and the Kepler-452 Stellar System, nine light-years away.
Bai Yixuan slowly rose from his seat, a faint smile on his face.
"Everyone, let's go."
He looked around at them, quiet anticipation and excitement in his eyes.
"It's time to welcome the newest member of the Pan-Human Federation."
Aldan stood nervously beside a porthole, gazing with mixed emotions at the unimaginably vast starship and hangar outside.
"The [Titan Mothership]..."
"What a magnificent sight!"
His heartfelt exclamation came with an involuntary flicker of inadequacy in his eyes.
Compared with the starships of Human Civilization, the Talodan Civilization's starships looked like little skiffs from a primitive