Then the distress signal came. Not from a soldier, but from a civilian—an old quantum physicist named Dr. Aris Thorne, who had been presumed dead for a decade.
Back at the Armada stronghold, she fed the first handful of infinite Crystals into the foundry. The effect was instantaneous. A Viking tank that should have taken a day to repair was rebuilt in thirty seconds. A Railgun that had no ammo suddenly glowed with a full capacitor. Then the distress signal came
Kira stood on the observation deck, watching the Generator in the distance. It was still humming. Still pouring out its endless blue bounty. But her tanks were rusting. Her soldiers had deserted to become miners and merchants. Frontier had disbanded entirely. Then the distress signal came