The holographic projection of the intelligence officer flickered before Kumakar, displaying a dry, concise report. “Through the data provided by the Empire, Your Excellency, we have managed to verify the identity of the poster. He was on a ship heading towards an unknown destination before the video was uploaded, and immediately after, he entered lightspeed travel. His current whereabouts are unknown.” The hologram showed the brief, untraceable trajectory. “However, the Virrelan intelligence apparatus, through their own investigations sparked by the post’s virality, managed to connect him to a family that had the majority of its members enslaved following the war. This strongly suggests Dreznor has operatives embedded within many civilizations.”“So, this is their ‘proof’ of non-involvement?” Kumakar sneered, dismissing the Empire’s transparency as a pathetic attempt at deception. “Do they truly take us for fools?”“Yes, Your Excellency,” the officer confirmed, impervious to Kumakar’s

The command center on Planet Kumpo hummed with disciplined efficiency. Orders, rapid-fire and precise, flowed from the tactical consoles. “Reinforce sector seventeen point five! Place three more stealth mines in that area, set to alternating energy output for optimal stealth. Increase patrol fleet density by two, and ensure constant comms, all data transmitted the instant it’s generated!” The strategic directives, forged by the supercomputers in conjunction with Dreznor’s human "think tanks," were being implemented with practiced ease. This brief respite from the Conclave’s initial probing attacks was being used to solidify their defenses.Kumpo was a jewel in Dreznor’s nascent domain, one of the earliest liberated star systems from the Bilakis civilization. It had quickly integrated into the fully post-liberation “Dreznor ecosystem,” becoming a core system due to its abundant metallic mineral deposits in the asteroid belt. Its strategic value was immense.Horak, an analyst monitoring

Twenty Minutes Before the Explosion on Planet KumpoDeep within the cavernous hangar of the Erythian mothership, amidst the cacophony of a million bio-engineered monstrosities being unleashed, a small, silent group of three figures stood apart. They were clad in the distinctive, form-fitting overalls of the Shadari, their features completely obscured, their bodies a mere silhouette against the harsh hangar lights. They held their equipment with a practiced, steady grip, their final preparations complete.“Let’s get to work,” one of them said, their voice a filtered, androgynous whisper.Their surroundings shimmered, distorting for a fraction of a second. Then, they vanished.They were still standing in the same spot, but now they were invisible, intangible, ghosts in the machine. Their bodies began to vibrate, a low, almost imperceptible hum, and they slowly sank through the deck of the ship, phasing through the hull as if it were made of smoke. They bypassed the ship’s active shieldi

“What? What do you mean by that?” Kumakar asked, his voice faltering slightly despite his best efforts to maintain composure. The tremble in his tone betrayed the nerves he’d tried to mask since the beginning of the meeting.The chamber, for its size, looking nearly physically empty save for a few high-ranking military officers, was alive with the presence of the Conclave’s top leadership, each appearing as a shimmering hologram, transmitted through their long-distance mana communication nodes. The leaders’ attention had been wholly captured by the report, delivered not by a civilization leader, but by Horgar the Erythian representative, who looked more like a scientist than a statesman.“I think it’s fairly self-explanatory,” Horgar said, his voice tinged with restrained satisfaction, “but since some of you seem surprised, I’ll repeat it.”There was a noticeable pride in his tone, not just for the revelation, but for the fact that it had shaken the room. His civilization, the Erythia

“.........”The room that had moments ago been a battlefield of loud arguments and clashing opinions among Conclave leaders now stood in utter silence, so quiet that even the fall of a cotton strand would have drawn attention.“I’m surprised we’re even arguing about this,” the Grand Xor’Vak said, his voice calm but laced with unmistakable disdain as he spoke. “We are the Conclave. And here we are, entertaining whether we should pretend not to see what our enemies are doing behind our backs… just to avoid the inconvenience of having to face two foes at once. Has a millennium of peace made you so timid that you'd rather lie to yourselves than confront what needs to be confronted?”He hadn’t spoken a single word during the earlier chaos, like most of the Top Ten leaders, whose civilizations had long lifespans. Unlike the younger, short-lived civilizations that had only read of the brutal and extremely dangerous Warring Period, many among the Top Ten had lived through it, or were raised b