Chapter 7: The Galactic Concord

Act II: Judged by the Stars

The Erebus emerged from faster-than-light transit into a system alive with motion.

Traffic lanes shimmered faintly across space, guiding vessels of every imaginable design toward a colossal structure suspended at the system’s heart. The Galactic Concord’s diplomatic hub dwarfed even the Erebus—an immense construct shaped like a vast metallic tree, its branching arms extending outward into the void.

Each branch pulsed with energy, docking platforms blooming along their lengths like luminous leaves. Ships arrived and departed in disciplined currents, their designs wildly varied—sleek and elegant, brutal and utilitarian, organic and crystalline.

The station itself felt ... old. Not aged—enduring.

The sight left the bridge silent.

Even Zara had stopped moving.

“This is it?” Gear said at last, voice low. “This is what the galaxy looks like when it actually talks to itself?”

Thomas nodded slowly. “This is who we’re asking not to let us die.”

“The Concord represents the most stable interstellar coalition currently in existence,” Solace added. “Its support is statistically essential for Earth’s survival.”

“Comforting,” Zara muttered. “No pressure.”

Arrival

Docking was effortless. The Erebus was guided without a word, without visible mechanisms, as if the station already knew exactly where it belonged.

Or where it was allowed.

When the ramp lowered, the crew stepped into a space that defied scale and expectation. The interior concourse unfolded in layered terraces, flooded with light filtered through translucent alloys. Beings of countless forms moved through the corridors—some floating, some slithering, some walking upright with gestures and postures unmistakably sentient.