Chapter Eleven: The Golden Age

Since the establishment of the Psionic Matrix, the territory of the Starborn Empire began to expand at a breathtaking pace, with new colonies sprouting across the starry skies like mushrooms after the rain.

While expanding peacefully, the Starborn Empire also prepared for threats lurking in the darkness. In the year 1200 of the Kala calendar, imperial engineers developed a new class of massive warship. Compared to its predecessors, this ship was exponentially more powerful, better equipped to safeguard the empire’s security.

Although these giant vessels, known as carriers, had yet to see combat, their performance in comprehensive trials was outstanding. The Academy of Engineering boldly claimed that a single carrier could defend an entire colony.

Sleek and streamlined, each carrier stretched about 600 meters in length. From afar, their enormous hulls looked like sheets of metal fused together. The latest high-density Edeman alloy formed their armored skin, engraved with intricate, mysterious patterns—the energy trails of the Psionic Matrix. The openwork hull and ornate armor made it clear: these were mighty beasts, marrying art and war.

Every carrier drew power from an array of Kaidarin crystals, eternal sources of energy that met the vast demands of the ship and ensured its endurance. The vessels boasted the empire’s latest spatial matrix, allowing rapid and precise jumps to any location—even outside the Matrix’s coverage. Their formidable psionic shields, powered by the immense energy core, could withstand any assault and recover quickly after damage.

Their offensive capabilities were equally formidable. The carrier’s primary weapon was its fleet of drones, deployed in swarms against large-scale targets. Thousands of unmanned fighters could be equipped with a variety of energy weapons, shredding any foe. If an enemy attempted a close-range ambush, they would encounter the hidden close-defense turrets—high-energy particle beams concealed among the hull’s patterns, emerging only when needed.

Yet the carrier’s most devastating weapon was its central cannon: the giant Psionic Focusing Core. Jointly developed by the Imperial Institute of Psionics and the Physics Research Institute, this weapon could concentrate terrifying amounts of psionic energy. In trials, a single blast obliterated an asteroid 300 kilometers in diameter. Scientists predicted that ten carrier main cannons could easily destroy a habitable planet.

Such notions were sternly condemned by the High Council. Every planet capable of nurturing life was precious and must be protected. Even if the life there fell beyond redemption, the council forbade such crude acts as planetary detonation.

To address the current and future development of more powerful weapons, the High Council, together with the Imperial Science Academy, established a standard—the Purification Level. This denoted the power sufficient to eradicate all life on a planet without destroying the planet itself. Any weapon exceeding the Purification Level would be subject to strict limitations; its use would require the council’s approval, or the fleet commander would face prosecution.

After carriers entered service, the empire underwent a sweeping military upgrade. Many excellent reconnaissance pilots aspired to captain these new carriers, but since each required hundreds to operate, carrier pilot training rapidly became the army’s most sought-after course.

Nevertheless, the carrier's arrival did not spell the end for reconnaissance craft. Imperial engineers upgraded their equipment, granting them the same unrestricted jump ability as carriers, extending their main weapon range, and fortifying their shields and armor. Thus, reconnaissance ships became a valuable complement to carrier fleets.

The Khalai who created the carrier did not rest. After being commended by the High Council, the Imperial Engineering Khalai were swept into a fever of innovation, striving to design a warship even larger and more powerful than the carrier.

In the year 1500 of the Kala calendar, the Khalai completed their masterpiece—the Mothership. This gigantic vessel was nearly circular, with triangular protrusions radiating outward, and a staggering diameter of three kilometers. True to the Starborn aesthetic, it resembled a magnificent work of art, but its power would awe any who underestimated it.

Each Mothership was alike, yet unique. Inside, it housed a library for research, an art gallery displaying masterpieces from various eras and civilizations, recreation halls, hibernation pods, meditation chambers, and more. The Mothership was like a mobile city, providing every service to its Starborn inhabitants, and its commander could customize these compartments.

Each Mothership was powered by a massive Kaidarin crystal, endowing it with unrivaled strength. It could easily tear the fabric of space-time, creating a black hole to annihilate enemy fleets, or employ the Purification Beam (Planet-cracker Cannon) to level a planet in an instant.

Yet the Mothership was not merely a tool of destruction. Its mobile Psionic Matrix could support all Starborn forces on a planet. It could activate a phased spatial field, folding space to cloak allies and evade harm; deploy Time Bombs (Temporal Resonance), twisting time with powerful psionics to alter the battlefield; even unfold an invincible shield, protecting all units—including itself—in a designated area from any damage.

The High Council marveled at this creation, and Madonis personally named the first Mothership as the Shield of Aiur. The engineers received high honors. However, since Motherships required Kaidarin crystals of level ten or higher, their numbers remained limited, and each became the flagship of a fleet.

Some scientists and explorers wished to use Motherships for their expeditions. Their immense power could ensure their survival through any cosmic peril. After much deliberation, the council approved the plan, and several Motherships set out, carrying teams of scientists and explorers into the depths of the universe.

Then disaster struck. In the year 2500 of the Kala calendar, two Motherships crashed simultaneously above a neutron star. Just as Nesin, the inventor of the Psionic Matrix, had foreseen, a cascade of insignificant coincidences led to the greatest catastrophe since the founding of Kala. Although phase technicians quickly identified and resolved the issue, adding mass recall capabilities to every Mothership, the High Preserver sensed a subtle crisis.

If even our most powerful warship—the Mothership—cannot truly protect us, what will happen when catastrophe descends? Will our enemies destroy us as easily?

This thought filled Rohana and her sisters with profound anxiety. The empire had not encountered other intelligent life in this universe, but the whereabouts of the Fang King remained elusive, and observation of parallel universes had revealed the fates of alien races elsewhere.

“If the Mothership cannot shield us, we must build an even stronger warship.” Chantira, ever passionate about engineering, was reminded once more—after the Mothership's debut a millennium ago, Starborn technology had stagnated, no further breakthroughs in warship design. This disaster served as a warning: the lull of comfort must not breed complacency. This time, it was a neutron star; next time, it could be the Fang King’s invasion.

In the year 3000 of the Kala calendar, with the support of the High Council and the guidance of the High Preservers and Chantira, Khalai engineers worked tirelessly and finally unveiled their improbable masterpiece—the Arkship.

A fully crewed Arkship could win a war without reinforcements, or evacuate all Starborn from an entire star system in an instant, thanks to a Psionic Matrix and warp network spanning the whole system. Its power came from the Solar Matrix Core, an artificial star. By mastering its energy, the Arkship could sustain all its functions, providing endless supplies for thousands of soldiers and crew, for billions of years if needed. Its airtight construction ensured that, even if stranded and powerless for centuries, its crew would remain safe.

The Arkship stretched nearly a hundred kilometers in length, its stern dozens of kilometers wide. Despite its vast size, it was remarkably agile, capable of both long-range jumps and close-range evasive warp maneuvers. It carried unimaginably advanced weaponry: stopping time across a region of space, saturating an area with destructive strikes, delivering pinpoint sustained attacks. It also possessed a complete manufacturing line, capable of producing a reconnaissance squad daily, and could serve as the command center for prolonged wars, with backup systems for every function.

The Arkship was conceived as the ultimate solution to any calamity or conflict.

At the launch ceremony of the first Arkship, Madonis appointed Aton to ignite its core and named it Aton's Spear. In the following years, the empire built two more Arkships, but their construction consumed so many resources that it threatened imperial development, prompting the High Preserver to halt further production. The two new vessels were named Otaris's Pride and Nesin's Memory.

With three Arkships, the Starborn Empire regained the courage to face the unknown darkness. They sent Aton's Spear to the frontier for expansion, Otaris's Pride to patrol and guard every imperial domain, and Nesin's Memory to Aiur to protect the homeworld from surprise attack.

The golden age of the Starborn Empire had arrived. Though they had yet to encounter an enemy, their technology stood at the pinnacle of the universe, worthy of the title Children of the Gods. The secrets of the Fang King were soon to be revealed.