Chapter Summaries

Xi Yan formed the surrendered alien forces into the Community Fleet and appointed Gorpious to command them. As the fleet prepared to join the Second Fleet for the final battle against the M'tok Union, Xi Yan called Krauk Lee aside.

• The M'tok Union recalled its fleets to Shazka for a last battle, while the Nier Guardians and Zirick's fleet withdrew under the peace treaty.
• Xi Yan received the Community Security Fleet and surrendered mercenary forces, consolidating them as the Empire's Third Fleet, also called the Community Fleet.
• Xi Yan appointed Gorpious to command the nonhuman fleets and promised the assembled aliens imperial identities and equal treatment.
• Gorpious accepted command of the roughly hundred-ship fleet, which was set to join the Second Fleet against the M'tok Union.
• Xi Yan stopped Krauk Lee and asked him to come with him, while Gorpious told Krauk to visit their office afterward.

After ten years undercover in the Community Security Fleet, Krauk Lee feared that [Ashes] would execute him for losing his unwavering loyalty to the Empire. Xi Yan instead declared his mission complete, freed him from service, and sent him back to Gorpious as the fleet commander’s deputy.

• Krauk Lee reflected on his ten years serving under Gorpious and feared that his friendship with him had weakened his loyalty to the Marshal and the Empire.
• Krauk entered a sealed conference room with Xi Yan and expected [Ashes] to judge and kill him.
• Xi Yan and the other agents welcomed Krauk home and thanked him for completing his mission.
• Xi Yan promoted Krauk to [Legendary], sealed his file, erased his identity as an agent, and declared him free.
• Xi Yan sent Krauk back to the Community to serve as Gorpious’s deputy, and the agents saluted him.

Xi Yan ordered a blitz on the Shazka System while the M'tok fleet was still away, and the M'tok Chairman went to ask the Celestial Dragon to defend their homeworld. The dragon rejected the M'tok, killed the Chairman, and turned hostile as the human fleets entered the system for the final battle.

• Xi Yan ordered the Second Fleet and Community Fleet to gather at the Hyperlane leading to the Shazka System and attack.
• The M'tok Board of Directors panicked, but the M'tok Chairman forbade anyone from fleeing and traveled to speak with the Celestial Dragon.
• The Chairman asked the dragon to protect the Shazka System, but it refused and declared that it had never made a pact with the M'tok.
• The dragon denounced the M'tok, swallowed the Chairman's ship, and its icon turned hostile red on the M'tok star map.
• The human fleets entered the Hyperlane as the final battle began, while the M'tok fleet was still away.

Xi Yan sent the intact human fleets toward the Shazka System while the M'tok Federation reeled after the Celestial Dragon killed its Chairman. An Ashes Agent convinced a M'tok director to flee with his wealth, leaving the Federation’s collapse closer at hand.

• Xi Yan launched the Second Fleet and the Community Fleet toward the Shazka System before the M'tok fleet could return.
• The Celestial Dragon swallowed the M'tok Chairman and disabled sensors across the system with its roar.
• The M'tok directors discussed the Chairman’s death and ordered the fleet recalled, unaware that the human fleet had already departed.
• An Ashes Agent warned a M'tok logistics director that the human fleet was near and urged him to escape before Shazka fell.
• The director chose to pack his wealth and flee among the civilian fleet before the other directors could get ahead of him.

The M'tok Union collapsed from within as its directors and defenders surrendered the Shazka System to humanity. Xi Yan celebrated the capture with Senka Vanye and Krogg, then prepared to destroy the M'tok main fleet and divide the Union's territory.

• The Ashes Agents persuaded the M'tok directors to flee, and the Union fell into chaos when the repaired sensors revealed the human fleet was approaching Shazka.
• The Shazka defenders surrendered to humanity, and the remaining directors declared the entire system's surrender.
• The Human Second Fleet and Community Fleet entered the Shazka System, where the Celestial Dragon welcomed them and the M'tok population greeted the human fleet.
• Xi Yan delegated temporary colony administration to the surrendered directors and met with Senka Vanye and Krogg to plan the destruction of the M'tok main fleet.
• Krogg revealed that his fleet was tracking the M'tok fleet, and Mr. Vanye said his new fleet was ready to depart.

Perkin Asland grew alarmed when the M'tok fleet's messages to the Shazka System went unanswered and a Nier fleet followed them. Director Aminos revealed that the Federation had fallen, leaving Perkin to contact the Nier fleet with the fate of its returning force still uncertain.

• Perkin Asland worried over the Homeworld System's silence and the Nier fleet trailing the M'tok fleet.
• Perkin Asland considered that the M'tok Union might have fallen and that its fleet had become an exile fleet.
• Perkin Asland contacted the Homeworld, the Board of Directors, and the colonies, but received no replies.
• Perkin Asland reached Director Aminos, who told it the Federation had fallen and urged it to surrender or die for its country.
• Perkin Asland reeled from Aminos's revelation and opened communications with the Nier fleet.

As the M'tok fleet stopped at a Stellar Base for supplies, the Nier fleet ambushed it from behind. Xi Yan revealed that the M'tok Homeworld had fallen and demanded surrender, and the chapter ended with the fleet captain killing Perkin Asland and surrendering.

• Perkin Asland failed to obtain supplies at the Stellar Base and realized that the lack of deliveries might mean the M'tok Union was in danger.
• Xi Yan ordered the Nier fleet to attack, and its destroyers crippled the M'tok ships with kinetic railgun fire.
• Xi Yan told Perkin Asland that the M'tok chairman was dead, the Homeworld had fallen, and Director Aminos had surrendered.
• Perkin Asland rejected Xi Yan's demand to surrender and insisted that the crew fight for the Federation.
• The destroyer captain shot and killed Perkin Asland, took command, and surrendered the M'tok fleet to Xi Yan.

The M'tok Union surrendered to Xi Yan after its fleets and colonies defected, and a ceremony formally ended its sovereignty. Xi Yan’s Empire absorbed most of its institutions while agreeing to divide some territory with the Zirick Cooperative and the Nier Guardians.

• The M'tok Union's remaining fleet surrendered to Xi Yan, and its colonies pledged allegiance to the Empire.
• Six months later, Director Aminos presented the Surrender Document to Ningdi Lingling at a ceremony in the Shazka System and declared the M'tok Union had ceased to exist.
• Xi Yan addressed the gathered empires, celebrated humanity's victory, and vowed that the Empire's advance would not stop.
• The Empire abolished the M'tok Union's governing institutions and dispersed former senior officials among its colonies to maintain stability.
• Xi Yan formalized the previously agreed division of M'tok territory with the Zirick Cooperative and the Nier Guardians.

After the M'tok Union fell, the three allied empires entered a period of peace while the Iron Purifier remained a threat to the west. Xi Yan accepted a ceasefire with the weakened XT-489 Extermination Unit, leaving the organic empires at peace for now as another war loomed.

• The Interstellar Human Military Junta, the Zirick Cooperative, and the Nier Guardians strengthened their alliance after the M'tok Union's defeat.
• Ning Zhiyuan used the First Fleet and a torpedo suicide fleet to harass the Iron Purifier while coordinating with Zirick forces to keep it from attacking the Empire.
• The Iron Purifier tried to destroy the torpedo fleet, but attacks by the First Fleet and Zirick's Main Fleet forced it to defend its Homeworld System, allowing the torpedo fleet to escape and raid more bases and transports.
• After the M'tok Union fell, the XT-489 Extermination Unit requested a ceasefire, and Xi Yan agreed because both sides had suffered heavy losses and supply shortages.
• Peace talks ended without ceremony, though hostility between the organic empires and the Determined Exterminators remained unresolved.

After a decade-long war ended, Xi Yan considered new genetic research and invited the Celestial Dragon-Hosgar of Endless Flames to the Empire. On [Teacher]’s advice, he prepared to bind the dragon’s strength to the Empire through a grand ceremony, though he doubted that the psionic ritual would work.

• The Human Empire celebrated victory over the M'tok Union and the Criminal Enterprise after the Surrender Document ended the war.
• Xi Yan, now fifty and strengthened by the Empire’s psionic power, considered genetic technology worth researching and let the Academy of Sciences pursue it.
• More than half a year after the war, the Second Fleet escorted the Celestial Dragon-Hosgar of Endless Flames to the Cybrex Alpha System after Xi Yan offered it 1K units of food.
• [Teacher] advised Xi Yan to hold a ceremony naming the dragon the Empire’s Guardian Celestial Dragon and linking its strength to the Empire’s fortunes.
• Xi Yan questioned whether the ritual could work, while [Teacher] insisted that psionics made belief itself powerful.

Xi Yan welcomed Hosgar of Endless Flames and negotiated for the Celestial Dragon to become the Interstellar Human Military Junta’s Guardian Celestial Dragon. After the dragon chose to live on the Ring World, Xi Yan completed its investiture and bound it closely to the Empire.

• Xi Yan met Hosgar of Endless Flames at the Starhold, and the dragon responded warmly to him and [Teacher].
• Xi Yan offered Hosgar generous terms in exchange for taking the title of Guardian Celestial Dragon, and Hosgar agreed to protect important systems and help humanity under special circumstances.
• Hosgar chose to settle on the Ring World's Delta Segment, where it froze and cleared the wreckage from the surface.
• Months later, Xi Yan formally invested Hosgar as the Empire's Guardian Celestial Dragon, intertwining the dragon's power with Xi Yan's and the Empire's.

By early 2245, Xi Yan had consolidated the Empire’s fleets and tightened control over its colonies while suppressing political opposition. With the M'tok territories isolated and their residents accustomed to the restrictions, he prepared to begin a new campaign against them.

• The Dragon became the Empire’s guardian and slept in the Delta Segment, while alien farms supplied food and minerals.
• Xi Yan sent Ashes agents to suppress animal-protection groups and political organizations, and Mr. Song Zhong arranged the secret killing of wealthy opponents accused of treason.
• The First and Second Fleets combined into a hundred-ship First Fleet, while Xi Yan reduced the Community Fleet and promised Gorpious command of a human fleet.
• Xi Yan visited the retired Krauk Lee, who was living aboard the Community Fleet with Gorpious.
• Xi Yan blockaded M'tok’s colonies, barred their residents from leaving, and isolated them from one another while the Empire supplied their upkeep.
• After more than six months of isolation, Xi Yan decided to begin his campaign against the remaining M'tok forces.

Xi Yan decided to eliminate the population of Transit Hub World because the low-habitability colony consumed vast resources while producing nothing. After [Teacher] gave him a mock divination and urged him to proceed, Xi Yan returned to arrange the planet’s isolation and cleanup.

• Xi Yan reviewed Transit Hub World's report and found that the colony had high monthly upkeep but no direct output.
• Xi Yan visited [Teacher] for reassurance before taking violent action against the colony's inhabitants.
• [Teacher] performed a dramatic divination, then admitted he had been bluffing and told Xi Yan to act for the Empire and humanity.
• Xi Yan asked whether [Teacher] counted as human, and [Teacher] replied that he could consider himself human if Xi Yan wanted.
• Xi Yan returned to his Ring World office to arrange information suppression, isolation, and the removal of organic matter from Transit Hub World.

Xi Yan isolated Transit Hub World and cut off its supplies, intending to exterminate its 1.8 billion M'tok residents through deprivation and orbital blockade. Five months later, the planet had collapsed into chaos, and its survivors fled into the wilderness as Xi Yan watched with satisfaction.

• The Empire's First Fleet blockaded Transit Hub World while engineering ships formed a communications barrier around the planet.
• Xi Yan cut off the planet's resources and ordered its isolation to continue until all 1.8 billion residents were dead.
• The colonial governor and their associates seized warehouse resources and took refuge in the garrison base as residents initially expected supplies to resume.
• After months without transport ships, energy, or goods, residents panicked, and attempts to flee were stopped by the First Fleet.
• Five months into the blockade, the cities were emptied and more than a billion survivors began struggling for food and survival in the wilderness.
• Xi Yan observed the planet's collapse and nodded in satisfaction.

Eight months after the Transit Hub World’s food ran out, Xi Yan used engineered viruses, orbital bombardment, and a military sweep to exterminate its 1.8 billion inhabitants and restore the planet to wilderness. Dissatisfied that the process took a year, he turned his attention to other resource-poor colonies and planned to clear them out as well.

• Xi Yan watched the Transit Hub World’s survivors fight over food, then deployed enhanced influenza viruses to accelerate the population’s decline.
• The viruses killed most of the population, and Xi Yan lured the remaining survivors toward supply drops before the First Fleet bombarded their gathering places.
• Army Minister Prigozhin’s troops searched the planet for over a month and exterminated the last survivors.
• Xi Yan declared the Transit Hub World’s transformation complete, restoring it to an uncolonized wilderness.
• After officials objected to the extermination, Xi Yan’s regime silenced them and defended his authoritarian rule.
• Xi Yan decided to apply the same population-clearance plan to other colonies that produced no resources.

Xi Yan approved plans for a Museum Celestial Pivot to preserve and study the M'tok Union's enormous collections, then visited the Faranis Black Hole system to inspect an L-Gate. As Imperial scientists began studying the gateway, Xi Yan recognized its possible connection to the L-Cluster and to travel between universes.

• Xi Yan learned that the M'tok Union's museums held valuable collections and approved the Academy of Sciences' proposal for a Museum Celestial Pivot near Amat Eiro II.
• The Empire named the megastructure the Museum Celestial Pivot and committed 1K alloys to its construction, which required years of research and preparation.
• Xi Yan's projection arrived at the Faranis Black Hole orbital research station and discussed the black hole's mysteries with the stationed Science Officer.
• Xi Yan spotted an L-Gate beside the black hole, where the Empire's finest Science Officers had begun investigating it.
• The Science Officer speculated that black holes could be gateways to other spacetime, and Xi Yan recognized that the idea could be true.

Xi Yan assigned scientists to investigate the L-Gates while his Empire absorbed the M'tok Union’s records and technology. He ordered three low-value colonies destroyed and prepared to transform the remaining resource worlds, beginning with Sedal IV.

• Xi Yan shared three clues about the L-Gates with scientists at the Faranis Stellar Base, then returned to his other work while they researched.
• Imperial forces seized M'tok records, technology, and intelligence, including preserved research on the L-Gates found in the archives of Shazka I.
• Xi Yan classified the M'tok colonies and approved the physical destruction of three worlds with poor habitability and little resource production.
• Beta calculated that destroying the three colonies would save more resources than processing or relocating their populations, and Xi Yan authorized the established extermination procedure.
• Xi Yan planned to replace the criminal enterprise system on the surviving resource-producing worlds with the Empire's system.
• The fleet set out to begin transforming Sedal IV, a savanna planet with a tolerable climate.

Ningdi Lingling led the Empire’s campaign to take control of Sedal IV, where wealthy alien rulers resisted nationalization and citizenship reforms. After the Army stalled in the planet’s vast city, Ningdi Lingling ordered a shift to infiltration, and months later the first Cybrex Prototype Warform arrived for its first combat deployment.

• Ningdi Lingling blockaded Sedal IV and announced that private property would be nationalized and humanity would rebuild the government.
• Sedal IV’s alien rulers rejected the Empire’s demands, and the Second Fleet avoided bombing the valuable commercial district.
• After the aliens refused to surrender for a week, the Army landed and fought its way into the city, where the defenders halted its advance.
• Ningdi Lingling stopped the main offensive and sent tactical squads to infiltrate the city, gather intelligence, cause chaos, and carry out decapitation strikes.
• Several months later, the first Cybrex Prototype Warform descended into the wilderness outside Sedal IV’s city for its first combat deployment.

The Empire deployed the Cybrex Prototype Warform on Sedal IV, where the colossal robot began demolishing the city and overwhelming its alien defenders. It stood amid the ruins and unleashed its weapons, while the defenders' attacks failed to penetrate its armor.

• The Cybrex Prototype Warform descended through Sedal IV's atmosphere and unfolded into a giant combat robot beside the aliens' city.
• The warform stepped into the city, crushing buildings and scattering debris and inhabitants with the blast from its foot.
• The warform punched the ground, triggering widespread destruction and collapsing buildings across the surrounding district.
• The warform strode into the city's second-most prosperous district and fired its weapons at targets throughout the area.
• Alien defenders attacked the warform, but their rounds bounced off its armor without leaving a scratch.

The Cyberlex Prototype Warform devastated Sadal IV with artillery, crushing its city and generating a destructive atmospheric storm. Xi Yan watched from orbit as the mech received ammunition and resumed its rampage, thrilled by its overwhelming power.

• The Cyberlex Prototype Warform ran around Sadal IV’s central commercial district, stirring up a planetary storm that collapsed buildings and swept living creatures into the air.
• Xi Yan watched the warform’s attack from orbit and celebrated the results of its first real combat test.
• A transport ship launched an ammunition pod toward the warform, which caught it barehanded and docked it into its back to reload.
• The warform resumed firing, then hurled the empty pod across a distant district and leaped into the ruins, flattening buildings as it landed.
• Xi Yan cheered as the Cyberlex Prototype Warform continued its destructive assault.