LOWKEY INTERSTELLER CAPTAIN

A Brewing Storm

The last days before graduation were a battlefield of their own. Cheno Bo felt the weight of countless eyes on him, some filled with disdain, others with veiled curiosity. Surveillance drones buzzed at a distance, and data spikes in his neural interface indicated that multiple factions had ramped up their monitoring efforts. The Xian family was at the center of it all.

Xian Ren had escalated his attacks, not just in reputation-smearing but in orchestrated sabotage. Cheno's training modules had been tampered with, causing false error logs to mark him as unfit for high-level combat courses. His resource allocation for advanced simulation training had been cut off mysteriously, all designed to cripple his ability to graduate with top honors.

But he had stopped playing by their rules.

The System had been his silent shield. It intercepted data feeds, manipulated monitoring logs, and ensured that none of these attacks succeeded. Xian Ren thought he had the advantage, but Cheno had already started turning the tables.

A Message from the Past

One evening, as he reviewed his upcoming trials, his neural interface flickered with an unauthorized transmission.

[Incoming Transmission. Encrypted Source.]

The words that followed made his blood run cold.

"Your family fell, not because of failure, but because of their strength. They were betrayed by those who feared them."

Cheno immediately pulled up the trace. The signal was bouncing between multiple outdated military satellites, making it impossible to pinpoint its exact origin.

Then came another message.

"We still remember. If you seek the truth, come to Hangar 7 at midnight."

A trap? Possibly. But it was also the first direct lead about his family’s downfall.

He made his decision. He was going.

Unveiling the Truth

At precisely midnight, Cheno arrived at the location. The hangar doors were rusted at the edges, rarely used. Inside, a dozen figures stood in the shadows. Their uniforms were old but well-maintained, the insignias faint but unmistakable.

A tall, grizzled man stepped forward; his piercing eyes locked onto Cheno.

“I am Captain Orin,” the man said. “I served under your father.”

Cheno’s heart pounded. His father had been wiped from the Empire’s records, branded a traitor. How did this man know him?

Orin’s gaze was unflinching. “The official history is a lie. Your father was not a traitor, he was a threat. A threat to the corrupt nobles who feared the rise of someone they could not control. Your family’s strength, their unwavering principles, made them a target.”

The words sank deep into Cheno’s mind. He had long suspected foul play, but now, the confirmation solidified his resolve.

Orin stepped forward, then kneeled, lowering his head. “Many of us who served your father survived. We waited for a chance to restore his honor. And now that you stand tall despite everything, we swear our loyalty to you.”

The other soldiers followed suit, kneeling in solemn unity.

Cheno clenched his fists. His father’s legacy had not been entirely erased. There were still those who believed.

He took a deep breath and spoke, his voice firm. “I am not joining the Empire’s fleets. They denied me my rightful place, and I refused to be their pawn. I will return to my family’s land and rebuild it from nothing.”

Orin and his men exchanged looks before Orin nodded. “Then we will follow you, no matter where you go.”

Cheno kept his expression neutral, but inside, the fire of ambition burned. They thought he only wanted to rebuild.

They had no idea how far he intended to rise.

Void Sovereign Awakens

As he left the meeting, a pulse ran through his neural interface.

[System Notification: Void Sovereign Fragment Detected. Distance: 12,000 kilometers. Status: Concealed.]

Another fragment. The missing pieces of the greatest warship in existence were beginning to reveal themselves. But no one else could find them.

The System had long ensured that all traces of the fragments were erased from known databases. Whenever a fragment was detected, it would long-range teleport under absolute stealth, merging into the Void Sovereign in secrecy. Even the Empire’s most advanced detection technologies wouldn’t be able to notice what was happening.

Soon, the Void Sovereign would awaken.

Cheno glanced at the distant skyline of the Imperial Academy. His days here were numbered.

A storm was coming.

And he was ready.