Chapter1:Fall of Trantor

        The Honor silently floated in the empty space. Her dagger-shaped body was shining in the sunshine of Trantorian Prime. Her bridge hid itself in the giant shadow of the Executer, just less than one kilometer above her. On the bridge, just beside the shining badge of Starship and Sun, stood Vansoufiern Wend.

         He looked out of the window, and slowly pulled back his sight, onto the field monitor. Yeah, it was too quiet. He had just defeated the Mandiss vanguard. The wreckage of the just destroyed St Harromond Class Star Destroyer was floating miles away.

         He was lost in thought. Two years ago, he was promoted to Naval Admiral. He knew this was a hard task. He could never forget the expression on the emperor's face. It was a mixture of trust and worry. There were too many troubles. Yesterday, the emperor ordered him to lead the 7th fleet to keep the Mandissians out of the Trantorian System. He had to make it work.

         72 AU away, the Crown was once again hidden in the darkness. Cleonivus XI stood on the bridge, in his imperial box. He could imaginarily feel the gravitational pull of Trantor below him. He knew it was artificial gravity, but he still liked to link it with his fatherland. He looked out of the window, and saw the splendid night view of Trantor, from the space. The light sparkled night, could only be seen on Trantor. It was not a usual planet. It was the most extraordinary planet among all the 25 million habitable planets in the galaxy. It was the pearl of the Inner Rim, the capital of the galaxy, an ecumonopolis, the galactic library, the last fort of the Galactic Empire.

         "Your Majesty, Admiral was calling."Robert Vensaillus, the Prime Minister, told him. "Answer it." The trembling blue holographic image of Wend appeared.

         "Your Majesty, the barbarians have fled."

         "Very well. What do you think of their assult this time?"

         "I am rather dubious about the whole event. The fleet we had just repelled was only composed of two star destoryers, with no cruisers."

         "I see. But our monitoring stations on Aphrodite II Satellite detected nothing. It seems that they are not in our system, Admiral."

         "I can't agree more, your majesty. I think we'd better redeploy our 8 fleets with three defending lines, one in the Hera Cloud, one in the tranosynchronous orbit, one in the low Trantor orbit."

         "I believe in your aptitude on military. You'll have the jurisdiction."

         "As you wish, your majesty."

         Wend disappeared, so did the trembling blue light.