The Aurion star system was only a few light years away from Earth's solar system. And like most inhabited planets within the empire, human activity was at its lowest.
Despite the success of the veil disruptors and the decreased number of void creatures, people knew the absolute monsters were still roaming somewhere in the universe and would be rearing their heads whenever.
The inhabitants of the three life-sustaining planets within the Aurion system went about their business while the Orbital Rings of these planets continued to monitor the situation within their immediate surroundings.
"The peace and quiet makes every day all the more stressful." The director of operations, Reyd, muttered under his breath. "It should be a good thing, but why do I feel so much unease?"
He didn't want his paranoia to affect his workers, so he kept these thoughts to himself. Of course, his team was not blind, but they just chalked it up to the fact that the director was having more bad days than usual.
Suddenly, alarms began blaring throughout the Orbital station, instantly plunging everyone into a state of anxiety.
"Director, a new veil tear has appeared in our system." One of the operators declared. "It's only four hours away in light years!"
Reyd's expression darkened the moment he heard the words. A veil tear had one of many possibilities. The easiest ones, at least, once upon a time, were void creatures appearing from the tear.
The second and perhaps the most dangerous and dreadful one was when it shot out a cosmic mana wave with the capacity to displace everything it touched.
Anything trapped in its veiled spaces or from other regions of the universe would be shot out of the veil tear at incredible speeds.
"Secondary readings?" Reyd asked in an anxious voice and then turned his gaze to another station. "And contact the guardian to inform him of the situation!"
Chaos ensued on the Orbital Rings as hunters and other workers rushed to get themselves prepared. Reyd waited several seconds before receiving the secondary readings.
"D-director…" The operator called out in a low voice as he turned to the directors. "Readings reveal the veil tear to be trillions of kilometres in diameter and preparing to shoot out a-a cosmic mana wave?"
"Prepare the shields for the planets and put them on standby!" Reyd instructed with a dark expression. "What about the guardian?!" His worst fears were rearing their ugly heads and he had no power to redirect their outcomes.
'I doubt even the S Class hunters can help us' Reyd hoped against all odds it would be void creatures and not a mix of everything.
"Director!"
Reyd didn't need to hear the rest as he knew all too well what that scream meant. The cosmic wave was beginning, and while it could take a few hours to get to them, the issue was what might accompany that wave.
Everyone held their breath as they looked at the holographic display, witnessing the veil tear ripple like the surface of a lake and abruptly unleash an explosion of epic proportions.
'It's begun…' Reyd gulped feeling his heart race uncontrollably. 'If our shields fail, this will be the end.'
"Director! Void creatures are inbound, and there are a lot of them!" One operator exclaimed with a dark expression.
"We have planetary debris in the storm!" Another report came.
"Director! This… Director! That…"
The reports were incoming, sinking the hearts of everyone who heard it. However, the worse one finally came out to play.
"Sir! We have a collapsing neutron star!"
This was indeed the worst-case scenario. A neutron star was already bad enough, but a collapsing one was much, much worse.
Already the second densest object in the universe, a collapsing neutron star was just a step away from turning into a black hole.
'We're dead…' Reyd mused with a grim look. 'There's not enough time to evacuate the people. The radiation will fry most of us before we can even leave, not to mention the destabilization of the star system.'
Reyd looked at his people who carried varying expressions. Some were already in tears, others were overwhelmed with their own fears while the slightly braver ones looked towards him as if they were ready to lay down their lives.
The storm was already rushing to them and the neutron star would collapse anything soon. 'This is it, isn't it?' Reyd sighed internally. 'Humans were never meant to fight against their universe.'
Reyd did not give any speeches as he felt that would have been a pointless thing. They were not about to die for some noble cause. They were simply not fortunate enough.
The hunters could leave, but that would mean leaving behind their loved ones. Could they live with themselves after that? Could they even face their fellow humans wherever they went? Even if that was not the case, they couldn't do it.
Of course, this was talking about the majority as Reyd and his operators watched some of the spaceships prepare their hyperdrives for hyperjumps.
All hope seemed lost when suddenly, three beings appeared in their midst, causing the majority to flinch back in fear. But they quickly recognized the people who just appeared.
It reignited some hope among the operators, but when they recalled the collapsing neutron star, they realized they were still doomed.
"You handle this," Alex said, completely ignoring the masses. "I'll see what I can do about the star." Without waiting for a reply, he disappeared.
Zol moved towards the director's dashboard and sent a message to the ships about to abandon their planets. "This is Zol Knight, guardian of this sector. You are ordered to abort the launch under section 4 of the hunters' decree."
For a moment, silence reigned from the surrounding personnel and over the communication.
[You can't expect us to fight a meaningless battle! There is no hope for this place.] The person spoke with fear, which is evident in his tone. [That star is bound to destroy everything!]
"You have no need to fear," Zol's voice was calm and collected, showing no signs of anxiety. "Alexnader is handling the star."
"…."
Everyone, except Zol and Mason, turned speechless. What did he mean Alexander was handling the star? You don't just handle stars! Mess with those things and you would be dead before you even know what hit you.
Ignoring their shocked and speechless states, Zol added. "Return to your posts and get ready to do battle on my command. Everything else would be taken care of."
The confidence in his tone was surprising, and Zol himself would agree. However, after seeing what Alex could do, this issue wouldn't be much of an issue.
With that, Zol looked towards Mason and the two disappeared from the Orbital Ring, leaving a still shocked and confused audience
Regardless of the strangeness of his words, the hunters couldn't leave as they would be condemning themselves.