The expansion of the Eternian Star-Empire had reached the threshold of the Inner Rim, a region of space where the stars were packed so densely that the sky was never truly dark. The forty-two liberated worlds had become a stable foundation, their economies integrated and their defenses anchored by the "Green Monolith" technology.
But ahead lay the heart of the Kyros Hegemony: the Home-Star system, guarded by the final and most terrible defense the Kyros High Council had ever devised.
High Council Prime, the last of the original Kyros founders, sat in a chamber of pure diamond at the center of the Home-Star's orbital ring. He was no longer a being of light; he was a withered husk sustained by the life-force of millions of slaves.
"The Observer has failed us," the Prime whispered, his voice a dry rattle. "The Ashen Legion has been turned into a garden. If we are to survive the Sea God's heir, we must awaken the Guardian. We must unchain the Solar Sentience."
