How could one describe the planet before them?
It was pure ocher. Apart from the white ice caps at its poles, there was not a trace of green or blue anywhere.
The planet's surface was entirely covered in sand and rock.
Beneath its thin atmosphere, daytime surface temperatures could reach sixty degrees.
At night, they plunged below zero.
The locals lived in underground caves, where temperatures remained relatively constant.
For that very reason, almost no signs of civilization could be seen when observing the planet from a spaceship.
"So, should we fire a shot and claim sovereignty?" Silver Wolf asked Kafka casually as she worked the Star Destroyer's main control panel.
"Do you want to spend our budget doing charity here?" Kafka shook her head. "Sand Sea Planet has maintained its independence all these years because it's too poor. So poor that no one can even detect any mineral resources. Otherwise, the Interastral Peace Corporation would have caught the scent and come running long ago."
"In other words, nobody would want it even if you gave it away," Silver Wolf said flatly. "How did these people get rid of the Blessing of Abundance?"
"That's what we need to find out." Kafka looked at the screen and chuckled. "Looks like we aren't the only ones interested in this place."
Silver Wolf zoomed in on the screen and exclaimed in surprise:
"Xianzhou Starskiffs!"
A battered merchant ship sat in orbit around Sand Sea Planet, with several small cargo vessels coming and going.
The large merchant ship had a design commonly seen across the Sea of Stars, a classic model manufactured and distributed by the Interastral Peace Corporation. The smaller cargo spaceships, however, looked quite unusual, like flat wooden boats.
These spaceships, known as "Starskiffs," came from the Xianzhou Alliance.
More precisely, they