The peace did not last.
It never did. In an empire of such sprawling magnitude, peace was not a natural state; it was a temporary equilibrium maintained by constant, exhausting effort.
The first reports arrived fragmented, distorted by the static of long-range interference and the unmistakable stench of panic. A border relay on the eastern arc went silent mid-transmission, its signal cut as if by a physical blade. A patrol fleet failed to check in at its scheduled window. Then another followed.
Within a single rotation of the capital's primary sun, the Astralis Empire's newly stabilized borders erupted into a coordinated, symphonic chaos.
This was not a raid by opportunistic scavengers. It was not the probing aggression of a minor sect.
It was an invasion.
