Chapter 1: The Fall of Eos-9
Floating Land Eos-9 was a Level 2 Floating Land, approximately 1 billion kilometers in diameter. It was protected by a standard energy shield and maintained stable time and gravitational fields. Its surface housed a human civilization that had developed similarly to Earth in its early digital age—dependent on fossil fuels, electricity, and rudimentary computing, with advanced but non-warp-capable rocketry.
The dominant civilization was human, with various countries and governing bodies, but one family stood out above all others: the Vale Family. They were a globally influential corporate dynasty involved in almost every major industry—agriculture, healthcare, technology, finance, weapons manufacturing, communications, and aerospace. Their corporate structure resembled a mix of megacorporate governance and hereditary dynasty. The family net worth, in economic terms used on Eos-9, translated into a scale comparable to trillions of Earth dollars.
The family estate occupied a protected territory roughly the size of a continent. It contained industrial complexes, private research facilities, launch silos, automated logistics zones, and residential areas for its tens of thousands of employees. The head of the family, Kael Vale, managed global assets while internal operations were divided among his children and grandchildren.
The youngest heir, Arin Vale, was born into this environment. From a young age, he demonstrated exceptional analytical capabilities, particularly in systems engineering, theoretical propulsion models, and pattern recognition. At 12, he independently corrected a flaw in the company's satellite orbit simulation software. By 17, he was managing a portion of the R&D budget for long-range propulsion tests. By 22, he was leading a classified propulsion research division.
The Vale Corporation had been experimenting with deep-atmosphere rockets for several years. Although Eos-9 had no known star, Floating Lands generated their own light and heat through internal energy fields and Source wisp emissions. The sky was luminous, gold-tinted, and featureless. The population believed their world was self-contained; they had no reason to suspect there were other worlds.
The discovery that changed everything occurred during a mineral excavation project in the outer geological regions of Sector 73-D, a mountainous, low-population zone leased to the Vale family. On Cycle 543, Day 191, a mining drone detected a non-native energy emission. Digging operations uncovered a smooth, blue-colored object roughly 1 meter in diameter, spherical, and emitting low-intensity radiation. It was moved to a secure facility for analysis.
Initial scans returned inconsistent results. The object exhibited perfect material uniformity, no seams or known composite materials, and fluctuated in weight. It emitted pulses of unknown energy. No device could breach or alter its surface. Arin initiated a live observation protocol, during which he made physical contact with the object. The object responded by releasing data directly into Arin's mind—schemas, mechanisms, equations for spacefold geometry, and reactionless drive mechanisms.
Arin immediately recognized the data as a functional model for a faster-than-light propulsion engine, something believed impossible by contemporary science. The object itself was the engine, or at least its core.
He submitted a preliminary report to his father and the research board. The board voted to keep the discovery secret, pending full internal replication and analysis. Arin began adapting the drive core for integration with an existing long-range test ship.
Although they attempted to keep the information tightly controlled, internal leaks occurred—first through contracted technicians and mid-level security personnel. Surveillance drones and unauthorized communications intercepts were detected around multiple Vale facilities, suggesting industrial espionage or internal sabotage. Within five weeks of the discovery, the situation had escalated beyond containment.
Rival corporations, seeing an existential threat to their position, mobilized private armies. Militant factions hijacked military stockpiles. Fear spread faster than the truth. Eos-9's already fragile global governance buckled under the weight of accelerating paranoia and fragmented control.
On Cycle 543, Day 224, the first kinetic strike hit a Vale-owned orbital platform. Within the next four days, the conflict expanded into all major territories. Governments dissolved, infrastructure collapsed, and entire cities fell under attack. The speed of collapse, though unprecedented, was driven by years of internal tensions, resource instability, and competing ambitions fueled by the rumor of a world-altering engine.
Most of the Vale family and senior executives died during the initial conflict phase. Only one deep-range vessel was flight-ready: the VXS-109 Testbed, nicknamed "Icarus Flame", stored in Vault Hangar 4. It was a nuclear-powered exploration craft designed for high-altitude, sub-void atmospheric testing. Arin, along with two AI operators—Kera and Synth—installed the blue engine manually, integrating it into the ship's propulsion frame using adaptive systems based on schematics only he could interpret.
The ship launched on Cycle 543, Day 229, from emergency runway sector 4A. Seconds after takeoff, the facility was destroyed by a kinetic impact. Arin was the only biological survivor. The AI operators were lost during launch due to electromagnetic disruptions from the blast that corrupted their control cores. Arin later attempted to restore them, but both AI systems had been irreparably damaged.
---
The Icarus Flame exited Eos-9's atmosphere using conventional thrusters. Once clear of gravitational resistance, Arin activated the blue core engine. The ship performed a spacefold jump—a warp travel event of unprecedented magnitude. Travel that would have taken centuries using existing technology was achieved in less than an hour.
Immediately after, the engine's core temperature spiked, and its pulses slowed. Diagnostic readouts—translated from the implanted schematics—indicated the engine was undergoing a cooling and recharge phase before it could safely be reactivated. Arin didn't know exactly how long that would take, but inferred from the energy discharge curve and residual feedback that it was not instantly reusable. He concluded that the engine required cooling time and external energy—possibly Source wisps or similar energy—to perform consecutive jumps.
He began manually scanning the surrounding space with enhanced sensors linked to the ship's refitted analysis suite. Navigation was now dependent on the fragmentary mapping software adapted from the engine's data feed. Without a galactic star map, Arin relied on passive energy readings, gravitational gradients, and reflected light.
By a combination of luck and persistence, he detected a nearby Floating Land—estimated at 8 million kilometers in length—emitting low but stable energy readings, and generating an atmosphere within human survival range. The odds of locating a viable landmass in time were extremely low, but chance and the Blue Wonder's automated calibration routines aligned trajectory vectors with nearby void currents, assisting in course correction.
He cataloged the new Floating Land and prepared for descent.
---
The ship entered the atmosphere without resistance. Surface terrain appeared mountainous with visible ruins scattered across a plateau. No immediate threats. He landed in a flat zone near a large broken structure resembling a tower.
The new Floating Land had been abandoned for centuries, based on decay patterns. Scans indicated residual Source wisps in the area—energy similar to the kind emitted by the blue engine.
Arin exited the ship in an armored suit and began exploration. Within two hours, he found the remains of a humanoid species—much taller than Eos-9 humans—with skeletal remains near what looked like a melted console. He retrieved samples for DNA analysis.
He also found remnants of a destroyed artifact embedded in a stone wall. It was shaped like a spear but fractured. It emitted low-frequency pulses similar to the blue core.
He returned to the ship, logged the samples, and initiated auto-analysis. That night, he began constructing a secure perimeter and installed the fusion battery for an auxiliary power node.
Arin knew now that Eos-9 was never the whole world—only a piece. The blue engine hadn't just saved his life. It had opened a door.
The war that destroyed Eos-9 was over a secret too big for that land to contain.
Arin was determined to find out how many more secrets were out there—and what else might be coming for the engine.