Far beyond the Helios-9 system, beyond the reach of ordinary emperors and their petty dominions, there existed a network that did not belong to any single world. It was the Interstellar Sovereign Nexus. This was a place where emperors spoke, where conquerors boasted, and where monsters hid behind silence.
For countless cycles, the Nexus had remained unchanged. Messages flowed endlessly, filled with territorial disputes and displays of might.
Today, however, something was wrong.
Inside the crystalline command center of the Hegemony of Vorthax, the Emperor Vorthax stood before a shimmering wall of data. He was a Tier 18 entity, a being who had consumed three suns to fuel his ascension. He watched as the flow of information suddenly stuttered.
"Status report," Vorthax commanded, his voice vibrating with the power of a dying star. "Why is the feed lagging? My tributes from the Ophiuchus cluster are behind schedule."
