The golden warp-gate high above Planet #100 turned bright gold as the Taichu fleet sailed into high orbit. Below them, the Blood-Tax Star Citadel rose through the smog like a jagged iron crown. It had stood for ten thousand years. Every spire had been built with extortion money, soul-mortgages, and stolen starlight taxes.
Inside the central throne room, Chairman Sovereign Harkon smashed a heavy jade ledger against a marble pillar. The jade shattered into sharp green splinters. His expensive brocade robes were torn. His gray hair stuck to his sweaty forehead in wild clumps.
“Two million sailors defected in one afternoon?” Harkon screamed at his trembling advisors. “My entire defensive line at Sector Gate #99 vanished because a street vendor handed out pork wontons?”
His chief financial advisor, Vane-Lord Krass, knelt on the polished floor. Krass held a quivering tablet and kept his head down. “Chairman, it was not just wontons. They gave each sailor a freedom writ and ten million coins in sign-on bonuses. Our own troops tied up their captains and brought them to the enemy.”
“Traitors! Ungrateful scum!” Harkon kicked over his gold wine table. The dark wine splashed across the stone floor like fresh blood. “I fed them! I gave them ships! I let their families breathe my air for only thirty percent of their monthly wages!”
