The M'tok Union operated under a criminal enterprise system.
Profit was all that held this alien empire together. Once it lost its sources of income or faced an unbeatable enemy, it would fall apart on its own.
The Interstellar Human Military Junta, however, stood tightly united beneath the Marshal's radiance. Everyone's shared hopes and beliefs converged on a single Fate-Chosen Emperor, and everyone would support their leader unconditionally.
Such unity, such cohesion, was beyond the M'tok Union's reach.
The Ashes Agents had already visited every director.
Most of these directors had spent years drawing salaries without doing any work and feared death above all else. Persuaded by the agents, they readily abandoned their homeland and prepared to pack their valuables and flee. (Of course, the fleets of the Nier Guardians and the Zirick Cooperative lying in wait at the border would intercept them.)
The agents utterly despised how easily they had betrayed their country.
But that was the kind of interstellar corporation the M'tok Union was: all profit, no patriotism.
A few days later, the sensors were successfully repaired, only to immediately deliver terrible news to the M'tok.
The human fleet had entered the Hyperlane and was attacking the Shazka System!
With no one in charge and their fleet still nowhere in sight, things were looking grim...
The entire M'tok homeworld descended into chaos, and those with connections and wealth were already preparing to flee.
Only then did these aliens discover that quite a few directors had already left with transport fleets loaded with wealth and resources!
When the news broke, every M'tok colony erupted in outrage, with the public cursing those damned directors.
But there was nothing they could do except watch these powerful members of the upper class escape.
Before the human fleet had even emerged from the