The destruction of the Star-Forge and the humiliation of Arbiter Malphas sent a shockwave through the local sector of the Interstellar Chatbox that was more potent than any physical explosion.
For the first time in eons, the Kyros Hegemony, a Tier 15 titan that had comfortably bullied the fringe, appeared vulnerable.
Aegis, standing at the precipice of a new era, realized that the time for hiding was officially over. The "Ghost War" had served its purpose, but to ensure a future for his son and his people, he needed more than just a single star system. He needed a buffer zone. He needed the resources of a hegemon.
He stood in the war room of the Xylosian Moon, his gaze fixed on the galactic map. The Kyros territory was a sprawling web of six thousand systems, but with the loss of their primary Star-Forge and the "causal-lag" infecting their command network, that web was fraying at the edges.
