His first destination was the Severance Line.
It was a crescent-shaped chain of systems marking the boundary between Astralis territory and the fractured Wild Expanse. Beyond this line, imperial law was a suggestion at best. Pirates, rogue cultivator coalitions, and the remnants of failed empires drifted through the vacuum like predators circling a wounded giant.
The imperial flagship emerged from fold-space above the primary border world, Halcyon Verge. There was no welcoming ceremony. There was no grand greeting fleet. There was only a battered orbital defense grid that reacted half a second too late, scrambling its sensors to identify the massive ship before emergency protocols finally recognized the imperial authority signature embedded deep within its hull.
The station commander nearly collapsed when the confirmation flashed across his HUD. Vahn did not wait to be summoned, nor did he request an audience.
He arrived unannounced.
