The Core Citadel did not orbit a planet. It was a planet, or rather, the hollowed-out shell of one. A perfect sphere of polished neutronium and shimmering energy fields, it hung in the void like a single, all-seeing eye. It was the administrative heart, military command, and symbolic soul of the System Council. Every law, every byte of data, every life in the unified system was ultimately governed from within its impenetrable layers. Approaching it without authorization was considered a physical impossibility, a suicide run against the concentrated might of civilization itself.
The Ghost fell out of its final jump, a speck of dust before a god. Myra’s breath caught in her throat as the colossal structure filled the viewport, its scale defying comprehension. This wasn't the wild, chaotic p
