In cosmic era 2220, the Empire celebrated its second decennial National Day. Xi Yan organized a grand ceremony and a military parade for the occasion, giving national unity a boost.
Meanwhile, the Interstellar Human Military Junta successfully completed its first ten-year plan.
The first ten-year plan had focused on exploration and expansion.
Exploration meant exploring this Sea of Stars, charting star systems and hyperlanes, and surveying resources.
Expansion meant building outposts everywhere to extend the Empire's territory.
By then, the Empire had fully occupied more than thirty star systems, building outposts and all kinds of mining and research stations. However, it had never again encountered a sub-light indigenous civilization like the Plant People.
Apparently, spaceborne life was not something they could just stumble across under these stars.
Speaking of which, the galaxy they lived in was estimated to contain at least ten thousand star systems. It was far smaller than the real Milky Way, but considerably larger than the galaxies in the game.
Xi Yan felt his own insignificance more keenly with each passing day.
Compared with the real universe, this galaxy was so very, very small.
Yet even a galaxy this tiny had nurtured countless advanced civilizations throughout its history over those immense spans of time.
Returning to the Empire, Xi Yan had drawn up a second ten-year plan at the start of the year. This time, its focus was the military and industry.
He would increase the Empire's production capacity and strengthen its fleet, keeping it ready for war with the neighboring criminal enterprise, the M'tok Union.
In reality, even without a Colossus, he could still use a total-war casus belli.
Xi Yan resolved to wipe out this corporate state as soon as possible.
The Community Security Fleet, operating undercover within the M'tok Union, gathered intelligence for him