When Commander Mark, like a falling star, tore through the defenses of the Crown of Stars, carrying the lingering dimensional turbulence energy, and crashed heavily onto the alloy deck of the central landing pad, the immense shockwave overturned several small shuttles nearby.
Piercing alarms instantly blared throughout the space station, and the hum of overloaded energy shields sounded like the death throes of a dying beast.
He hovered for a moment, the sharp aura around him slowly receding, revealing his robust body underneath, covered in tiny cracks and glowing with molten gold.
His molten gold eyes scanned the area below.
The landing pad was a mess, with soldiers in unfamiliar black uniforms looking terrified, technicians cowering with their heads in their hands, and officials in the distance knocked down by the shockwave…
In the chaos, Commander Mark keenly caught a certain atmosphere—not the excitement of a hero's return, but fear, a deep, almost primal fear, mixed with… hatred?
Commander Mark's brows furrowed.
The familiar figures of Lieutenant Allen, Eve, and Rudy did not appear as expected; the air was filled with a strange, unsettling coldness.
Huge holographic projections flickered in the distance, displaying slogans he had never seen before, promoting Regent Trigg and an efficient new era.
Alliance Headquarters… seemed different from when he left?
A strong sense of incongruity surged in his heart.
He slowly descended, his footsteps echoing dully on the dented deck, and the residual arcs of dimensional energy flickered a few times on his body before finally extinguishing.
He looked around, his voice low, carrying the power to cut through the confusion.
"Lieutenant Allen, Eve, Rudy, where are they?"
No one answered.
The soldiers clutched their oddly shaped weapons, muzzles slightly raised, but their eyes darted around, afraid to meet his gaze.
The officials were silent, exchanging terrified glances as if he were some terrible plague.
Just then, a middle-aged man in a Council of Elders senior official's uniform, with a kind and amiable face, pushed through the chaotic crowd, a perfectly calibrated expression of surprise and awe on his face, and hurried forward.
"Commander Mark! God bless the Alliance! You… you actually returned!"
The official's voice was filled with exaggerated excitement, even a hint of a sob.
"This is truly… an incredible miracle! We all thought you were… lost in that exploration accident…"
"Accident?"
Commander Mark keenly caught that word.
When he left, he had clearly taken the initiative to investigate Taviel's clues, but now he suppressed his questions, more concerned about the whereabouts of his companions.
"What about Lieutenant Allen and the others? Where's Eve?"
The official's face immediately showed understanding and apology, and he said in a very natural tone, "Oh dear, Commander, please calm down. You've just returned and don't know, Lieutenant Allen, Ms. Eve, and Engineer Rudy… due to the Alliance's latest strategic talent allocation plan, have already been transferred from headquarters!"
"Transferred?"
Commander Mark's eyes narrowed.
"Transferred where, to do what?"
"It's the Deep Space Civilization Tracing Project, jointly promoted by the Alliance High Council and His Excellency, Regent!"
The official's tone carried a hint of reverence.
"This is a grand, epoch-making project! Its aim is to explore the ruins of lost civilizations at the edge of the universe, searching for ancient wisdom to combat the threat of the Old Ones!"
"Lieutenant Allen's strategic planning ability, Ms. Eve's psionic affinity for ancient relics, and Engineer Rudy's cutting-edge technology are all indispensable core strengths for this project!"
He paused, observing Commander Mark's reaction, and continued to explain.
"They have been entrusted with a heavy responsibility, leading an elite team to a very distant relic star system with an extremely poor signal environment—the Vega Relic Zone."
"The mission's secrecy level is the highest, so communications are completely silent. This is also for safety, to prevent interference from the Old Ones' minions or… other ill-intentioned parties."
The official sighed, appearing incredibly regretful.
"What a pity! If you had returned even a week earlier, you could have personally seen them off!"
"But rest assured, with their abilities, they will surely return triumphantly. The future of the Alliance, to a large extent, rests on the results of their exploration!"
Commander Mark listened in silence.
The official's words were logically clear, and the reasons sounded grand and righteous, even carrying a sense of noble patriotism.
However, his powerful perception was silently sounding an alarm.
The air was filled with an extremely faint, yet persistent, cold psychic contamination residue, originating from the same source as the Taviel's aura he had felt in the pocket universe, but much thinner and more subtle.
This was definitely not the atmosphere a healthy government should have.
The emotions of the surrounding crowd were complex and distorted.
The fear was real, but the hatred seemed hollow and blind, as if it were an implanted directive.
The official himself, though his expression and tone were incredibly sincere, had an inhuman coldness and… emptiness in the depths of his soul, like a finely crafted marionette.
Furthermore, Lieutenant Allen and the others were transferred to do archaeology?
This was subtly misaligned with the expertise and personalities of Lieutenant Allen, Eve, and Rudy as he understood them.
Lieutenant Allen was a strategist, Eve was a psychic and a warrior, Rudy was an engineer—to have them lead an archaeological team?
And at a time when he was out of contact, and the Alliance was clearly in some special period?
This defied common sense.
Doubts, like vines, quietly sprouted in Commander Mark's heart.
He knew nothing of the changes within the Alliance, but he was not a fool.
The scene before him, the official's words, and his memories of Alliance Headquarters, as well as his understanding of his comrades, presented an undeniable sense of disjunction.
"Where is my office?"
Commander Mark did not continue to press about Lieutenant Allen's whereabouts, but instead asked, wanting to see his old place, hoping to find some clues.
"Ah! Of course, of course, it's been reserved for you!"
The official quickly stepped aside to lead the way, his smile eager.
"Please follow me. His Excellency, Regent, has already learned of your return and is overjoyed. He specifically ordered that your original office be maintained as it was, and also prepared the latest Viltrum battle armor for you, right in your exclusive hangar!"
"The esteemed sirs of the Council of Elders are also eager to meet with you and hear about your legendary journey. The Alliance truly needs a steadying force like you!"
Commander Mark could feel the different aura contained in the words.
But he did not immediately refuse; he needed information, he needed to understand what had truly happened here.
Entering the tiger's den might be the only option.
Accompanied by the official, Commander Mark walked through the corridors of the Crown of Stars.
The sights along the way deepened his unease.
On the walls, on soldiers' armbands, the unfamiliar PRCC emblem was ubiquitous, along with an abstract pattern he had never seen before, featuring spiral door elements.
The staff passing him were hurried, their eyes mostly vacant or anxious, communicating very little with each other, the atmosphere oppressively stifling.
Occasionally, patrol teams in PRCC uniforms, with sharp or vacant eyes, passed by, and passersby quickly made way.
He noticed that some places where old Alliance emblems and portraits of war heroes once hung were now empty, or had been replaced by propaganda posters of Trigg and Chairman Warren.
He even glimpsed, around a corner, a crudely torn, half-remaining propaganda poster belonging to his faction, which still seemed to bear defiling graffiti.
The Council of Elders official prattled on, praising Regent Trigg's wise leadership and the efficient reforms brought by the PRCC, his words filled with unquestioning reverence.
When Commander Mark tried to inquire about specific issues regarding recent Alliance policies or civilian life, Horace either prevaricated or cleverly deflected with vague slogans like 'everything is for the Alliance's brighter future' and 'under the leadership of His Excellency, Regent, everything is getting better.'
Finally, they arrived at Commander Mark's former office area.
However, the sight before him made Commander Mark's heart sink.
This was no longer the command center he was familiar with.
The nameplate had been changed to the unfamiliar "Deep Space Frontier Expansion and Historical Relic Protection Office."
Pushing the door open, the inside was empty and covered in dust.
A few dilapidated tables and chairs were haphazardly stacked, several old terminal screens were black, and in a corner were some abandoned boxes of sundries bearing Mark's Faction emblem, even showing footprints.
The air was filled with dust and a sense of… desolate abandonment.
"Uh… this…"
The official's face showed a perfectly calibrated hint of embarrassment.
"My sincerest apologies! Lieutenant Allen and the others left in a hurry, and this place hasn't been completely cleaned up yet… You see, His Excellency, Regent, has prepared a larger, more advanced… for you in the core zone…"
Commander Mark ignored Horace's explanation.
He walked to an overturned chair and bent down to pick up a crushed metal water cup. It was Rudy's distinctive cup, still bearing a funny wrench design.
He silently looked at the cup in his hand, his knuckles slightly white.
Something was wrong, very wrong.
Even if Lieutenant Allen and the others had been transferred, with their meticulousness and camaraderie, they would never have left their place like this, much less casually discarded a comrade's personal belongings.
This didn't look like a transfer; it looked more like… a hasty evacuation, or even an expulsion!
The official keenly sensed the increasingly cold aura emanating from Commander Mark and quickly stepped forward, his tone even more eager, with an almost imperceptible urgency.
"Commander, this place is too modest for you. Please, you must move to the core zone; His Excellency, Regent, and the Council of Elders are all waiting for you!"
"The future of the Alliance needs you to help shape it. News of your return has spread, and the populace is eagerly anticipating your heroic presence! We…"
Just then, Commander Mark's gaze sharply turned towards the large observation platform outside the window, and the official's words abruptly ceased.
Below the observation platform, the central plaza where Commander Mark's massive statue once stood, symbolizing his illustrious military achievements for the Alliance, was now empty!
All that remained at the statue's original location was an ugly, not yet fully filled-in, foundation pit!
And next to that pit, a larger, more magnificent foundation was under construction, with a holographic projection above it clearly showing Trigg in his Regent's robes, looking down with an air of supremacy!
Commander Mark's molten gold pupils suddenly contracted, and a cold fury, mixed with immense confusion and the humiliation of being deceived, instantly shattered the last shred of hope in his heart.
The official followed Commander Mark's gaze, his face instantly turning ashen. He opened his mouth, trying to explain something.
"General… that… that was for…"
Commander Mark slowly turned his head, his gaze like tangible flames, falling on Horace's face, which was now filled with falsehood and terror.
He did not roar; his voice was instead terrifyingly low, each word like an ice pick chipping away at Horace's heart.
"Lead the way!"
… …
Meanwhile, at the distant edge of the Solar System, a shabby fleet consisting of old transport ships, converted freighters, and a few battle-scarred frigates, carefully emerged from hyperspace under the cover of the asteroid belt, heading towards the azure Earth.
The leading vessel, the "Resilience," was painted with a faded Mark's Faction emblem. Lieutenant Allen looked at the increasingly clear outline of Earth outside the viewport, a long-lost, bittersweet sense of relief appearing on his tired face.
"We've arrived," his voice was hoarse.
In the bridge, Eve, Rudy, and the dozens of remaining core members silently watched the planet that had given birth to Commander Mark and once sheltered them.
Here, far from the Alliance's center of power, far from the most direct radiation of the Old Ones' influence, was their last choice, and their last bastion of hope.
"Maintain highest-level communication silence."
Rudy was busy at the control console, establishing a rudimentary communication link using Earth's ancient, forgotten deep-space probe network nodes.
"Hope we can avoid the PRCC's bloodhounds. Our old home's defenses… are almost zero. We need to hurry."
Eve closed her eyes, golden psionic light flickering faintly around her, connecting with Earth's weak planetary consciousness.
She was trying to find a safe landing spot and old friends when suddenly, her body jolted, and her eyes snapped open, filled with shock and an almost unbelievable ecstasy!
"Lieutenant Allen! Rudy!"
Eve's voice trembled with excitement.
"I… I sensed it! Very distant… very faint… but definitely Commander Mark's energy signature! He… he's back! He's in the Crown of Stars!"
The bridge instantly fell silent, then erupted in suppressed gasps!
"Commander Mark is back?!" Rudy suddenly stood up.
"He's alive after all!"
Lieutenant Allen's eyes blazed with light, but were immediately covered by deeper worry.
"He's at headquarters? Oh no! Trigg and those Council of Elders… and those crazy citizens…"
Eve's face also instantly turned pale.
"His energy… is very powerful, but… very lonely."
"He seems… I feel… a very well-disguised… immense malice surrounding him…"
"We must warn him!" Lieutenant Allen decided instantly.
"Use the link we just established, with the highest encryption level, and send him everything that's happened here, the truth of the Alliance, the conspiracy of the Old Ones, everything!"
"Quick! Before he is completely deceived!"
A faint signal beam, carrying desperate truth and hope, shot out from the Resilience, passing through the cold asteroid belt, heading towards the distant Alliance Main Star Region.
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