Trujillo Clan's Apple Tree
Year 4908, Wasteland Star System.
On the bridge of the Antonios Flagship "Vanquisher" X1, General Derrick ended his call with President Andre. The comm line cut off, and Andre's hologram flickered and vanished.
General Derrick turned to face the officers on the bridge. "Issue the following commands to all fleets immediately: disengage from combat status, enter level three alert, and retreat beyond the warp zone. Also, set up a comm line with the Terran Sphere fleet. I need to be able to talk to their flagship whenever."
The officers didn't react right away; just a few minutes ago, the whole fleet was ready for combat, with all capital ships' weapons charged. As the Terran Sphere fleet kept pouring through the Stargate, their combat operation plans were constantly updating.
"General," Lieutenant Simmons Anga asked hesitantly, "are we actually disengaging from combat status?"
"You heard it—that's an order from the Antonios President." With a serious expression, General Derrick glanced at the officers and strategists. "You all heard the order."
"But..." a senior officer blurted out, "General Derrick! We're about to miss the prime opportunity to attack! This is the best chance to destroy the Terran Sphere fleet!"
General Derrick frowned, recognizing the officer was Yuri Vitas from the Vitas Clan. "Major Vitas, I believe the orders are very clear."
"But..." Vitas' face turned red. "We can't retreat now! We're wasting a golden opportunity!" He pointed sharply toward the Stargate. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! It's the capital ship of the Terran Sphere! If we strike now, we can still annihilate them!"
General Derrick looked away from Vitas, turning to the rest. "Do you all agree?"
Everyone remained silent; only Major Vitas' heavy breathing could be heard.
Approaching Vitas, General Derrick's piercing gaze made Vitas avert his eyes. "Major Vitas," General Derrick said coldly, "you can voice your opinion, but you need to know your role. You're dismissed."
"You!" Major Vitas shot General Derrick an angry look. "You have no right to do that!"
"As I said, Major Vitas, you should know your place."
General Derrick waved him off, turned around, and looked back at the holographic screen of the Stargate and the Terran Sphere fleet crossing it. Two military police wearing melee combat suits marched over, escorting the reluctant Major Vitas out.
Within seconds, General Derrick's commands were faithfully transmitted to every ship. Thick gun barrels were lowered, space torpedoes withdrew into their bays, and the energy systems began to power down. Minutes later, the fleet assembled and, following the flagship, made a wide turn, heading away from the Stargate.
The wide bridge was now just General Derrick and Simmons Anga. Simmons moved close and softly said, "General, Major Yuri... he's from the Vitas Clan."
General Derrick clearly understood what that meant, shaking his head, "The truth is, the major wasn't wrong; now's the best time to destroy the Terran Sphere fleet. But soldiers must follow orders. If I don't deal with him, it'll unsettle the troops."
"Yes, General, but I'm worried..."
General Derrick scoffed, "The Vitas Clan can't reach that far."
"Understood." Though still worried, the Lieutenant wisely dropped the topic.
General Derrick gazed back at the live holographic battlefield; the last Terran Sphere battleship was crossing the Stargate—the chance to act was gone.
"Andre," General Derrick murmured, "may we not become the biggest villains in Antonios' history."
"May the sacred stars shine upon our eternal path, leading us ever onwards."
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Three days later.
Yujing City, Fourth Lagrange Node, Neptune, Solar System.
In a spotless conference room, a white round table sat in the center. Around it were three identical wooden high-backed chairs. There wasn't a single light in the room, yet it was filled with a soft, milky glow.
After a moment, with a flash of light—a middle-aged man appeared on one of the chairs. It was Yue Wenfeng. This virtual conference room was set up on a secret channel of the Lagrange hyperspace network, specially made for the tripartite meeting.
Yue Wenfeng looked around—still alone. He checked his wrist, and a holographic clock appeared—five minutes before the meeting started. He lowered his hand and waited patiently.
At this moment, Yue Wenfeng was at Yujing City near Neptune's L001A Stargate. (Remark: Yujing is a sea god in Chinese mythology. It has the body of a bird or fish and the face of a human, with a red serpent mount for each foot and two blue serpents around the ears. Yujing is the descendant of Huang Di, the "Yellow Emperor," and also the god of the North Sea.) In order to cut down the communication lag, Yue Wenfeng made the trip here in person. When the X-Star System incident unfolded, Yue Wenfeng, who was always monitoring fleet movements, also came here to stay connected with the front lines and make quick decisions.
Even in the Lagrange Era, humans were still using good old electromagnetic waves to communicate. In pre-Lagrange days, many ideas floated around about how humans would chat across space. There was talk of almost lossless gravitational wave comms and super-penetrating neutrino communication, but both were still capped at light speed—way too slow in the vast cosmos. And let's not forget the top-secret quantum entanglement communications and the total nonsense such as hyperspace communication tech.
However, after stumbling upon the Lagrange Network, scientists were shocked that hyperspace communication was actually possible. That's because the Lagrange Network operates in a hyperspace state that's beyond our understanding. Moreover, specially modulated electromagnetic waves can pass through Lagrange Stargates. What's even more fascinating is that after building multiple Lagrange Nodes, signals can zip between them at lightning speed, almost without delay. Therefore, in the world of Lagrange, communication delays are actually determined by how far the signals have to travel in normal space.
For example, if you're in the City of Dawn receiving signals from the Lagrange Network, the signal has to travel about 4.5 billion kilometers from the Stargate, taking around four hours one way—eight hours round trip. That's way too slow for real-time galaxy-wide communication. So, the Terran Sphere Government constructed a real-time communication port about 300,000 kilometers past the Lagrange Stargate.
The communication port housed numerous media headquarters and network company branches. As time went on, the Terran Sphere Government added more and more institutions. After over a thousand years of development, the once simple communication port merged with the old Stargate Construction Department's bases, becoming a new space city. Yujing City isn't just about Stargate maintenance and communication; it's a crucial outpost for routes to the Proxima.
Though it's supposedly under the Terran Sphere's control, Yujing City is actually run by Pangaea Heavy Industries—the name kinda gives it away.
With a flash of light, a figure appeared in the seat to Yue Wenfeng's right—it was Andre. "Good to see you, Chairman Yue," Andre said with a nod."
"Welcome, Andre." Yue Wenfeng greeted him with a nod.
At that moment, the Terran Sphere's joint fleet and Antonios Consortium's First Expeditionary Fleet met up in the Wasteland Star System. They set up shared communications and started dispatching high-speed warp UAVs to comb the area—they'd located where the relay signal was coming from. They believed it wouldn't be long before they could lock onto the warp coordinates of the X-Star System's Stargate.
"How did you convince Augustine?" Andre asked.
"I didn't," Yue Wenfeng laughed, "I officially invited NOMA Shipping Group on behalf of the Terran Sphere Government to join the exploration of the X-Star System. Plus, I reached out to Augustine personally for this meeting. I doubt he'll turn me down."
"Hmm..." Andre frowned slightly. He was skeptical about Yue Wenfeng's "invitation." More likely, Augustine, the CEO of NOMA Shipping Group, known for his ruthless tactics, wouldn't bother—especially if he thinks the Terran Sphere and Antonios already have a secret agreement under the table.
Unlike Antonios' rotating presidency, Augustine comes from the long-standing Supernova Shipping Group. Supernova Shipping Group's predecessor was the Nova Long-Distance Transport Group from the first interstellar expansion, which itself came from the transport department of the ancient Neptune Minerals. After the breakup of Neptune Minerals, Supernova Shipping Group was one of the pioneers venturing through Stargates into space and among the first to arrive at the Highland Star System.
Long before the Sacrum Chu Imperium existed, Supernova Shipping Group got into a direct conflict with the powerful Trujillo Clan over the Highland Star System. After the Sacrum Chu Imperium was formed, Supernova Shipping Group stayed independent, turning down the Empire's offers. Especially after acquiring Supercritical Technologies, they expanded into ship design, manufacturing, and large-scale mining operations.
As war erupted, Supernova Shipping Group spotted an opportunity. They swallowed up huge chunks of the Empire's territory and forcibly took over Thor's Hammer Heavy Industries, Oren Minerals, and Electric Arc Group to form NOMA Shipping Group. Leading these acquisitions was none other than Augustine.
As everyone knows, Antonios Consortium was born from a peaceful merger between Constantine Construction Group and Antonios Precision during the Empire's mid-period. But NOMA Shipping Group was formed differently. Late in the war, Supernova's NOMA Shipping Group, Oren Minerals, Thor's Hammer Heavy Industries, and Electric Arc Group merged. Unlike the Antonios Consortium, these four similarly sized companies came together after bloody conflicts to merge into the new NOMA Shipping Group.
Augustine came from Thor's Hammer Heavy Industries. According to Antonios' intel, he used an iron fist to unite four groups that seemed impossible to merge into NOMA Shipping Group. In hindsight, it's more like Thor's Hammer Heavy Industries took over the other three.
The newly formed NOMA Shipping Group quickly became a galactic giant—showcasing Augustine's ruthless tactics.
"He'll be here," Yue Wenfeng assured, catching Andre's hesitation. Augustine isn't the reckless people say he is. He's smart and knows how to read the room."
Andre gave a small nod. True enough. The Supernova Shipping Group wouldn't have taken over three companies its size just by using brute force alone."
"He might say yes to exploring the X-Star System together, but I'm afraid Augustine's hunger won't be easily sated."
"X-Star System..." Andre thought aloud. "Chairman Yue, what do you think might be in there?"
Yue Wenfeng spread his hands. "Someone told me there's an Empire army in the X-Star System strong enough to wipe us out."
Andre smiled slightly. "Funny, I've heard that too. If there's really an Empire army hiding there, they sure are patient."
"And quite 'loyal' to the Empire too," Yue Wenfeng waved his hand and then got serious. "But Andre, based on our analysis, there's one most likely scenario."
"Which is?"
"Have you ever heard of the story of the Trujillo Clan's Apple Tree?"
After a pause, Andre shook his head. "Nope, never heard of it."
"It's an analogy. The Trujillo Clan sowed an apple seed, and after some years, it grew into a mighty, towering tree. At the time, space seeds had just been created. Many realized that to get a space oscillator to tear space, the seed needed at least six decades of charging. This finding made many lose hope. Research institutes thought it was a deal-breaker and quit. Some companies didn't give up—they started producing and charging space seeds en masse, becoming top dogs in space expansion. The Trujillo Clan dedicated themselves to the 'Phaethon' project, pouring massive resources into making space seeds and using over 80% of their energy output to charge them. According to an unreliable record, the leader of the Trujillo Clan once remarked, 'Today we sow a seed; eventually, it will become a towering tree to shield our heirs.'"
"This wasn't baseless. Later, when the Sacrum Chu Imperium was founded, historians revisited Earth to confirm, and it seems plausible. On Earth, the Trujillo Clan had an old estate producing apples with a unique flavor. They'd turn them into wine for esteemed guests. Their clan motto was: 'Plan ahead; life endures forever.' Basically, people sarcastically dubbed their massive investment in unproven space seeds as the 'Apple Tree Project.' To this day, we're unsure how many seeds they produced. They poured so much into it that their Phaethon Group fell behind Neptune Minerals and CaelumTerra Sol Group."
"Well, we know what happened next—the Trujillo Clan hit the jackpot," Yue Wenfeng said. "Their first space seed was finally charged, enabling a massive object to traverse the two-way Stargate. The first ship passed through the L001A Stargate and emerged from L001B Stargate in the Proxima Star System—that was humanity's first manned flight via the Lagrange Network. The Trujillo Clan's century of dedication paid off; they possessed over 50% of the space seeds humanity had at that time. With their immense wealth, the Phaethon Migration Operation went smoothly, leading to the genesis of the Sacrum Chu Imperium." Wrapping up, Yue Wenfeng remarked, "Thus, the Trujillo Clan became the premier lineage in the galaxy, establishing the Sacrum Chu Imperium. Just like their clan motto: "Plan ahead; life endures forever."
"Their ancestors truly lived by that motto," Andre said. "But sadly, their descendants forgot it completely."
"Power can eat up your soul; no empire stands the test of time. From the moment Redwyne Trujillo aimed to make the empire truly imperial, the clan's fate was sealed," Yue Wenfeng sighed.
"But how is this related to the X-Star System?" Andre asked.
"Looks like the Trujillo Clan has planted another 'apple tree' in the X-Star System." Yue Wenfeng smiled.
"Huh?" Andre was instantly intrigued.
"Well, that's a long story," Yue Wenfeng checked his watch, noting the time was still early, "but we're not in a rush. Sure, the Trujillo Clan's reputation isn't great these days, but back during the first gold rush, they were crucial. They built a bunch of Stargates using tons of space seeds, which really stretched the Lagrange Network. After the Sacrum Chu Imperium rose to power, the Trujillo Clan never quit their research on space seeds. According to reliable sources, the Empire's St. Triumph Space Research Institute has developed a second-gen space seed technology that can charge multiple seeds simultaneously at the same Lagrange point. No wonder the Lagrange Network grew so fast during the second gold rush."
Andre quietly agreed in his mind. He couldn't deny it—after the Sacrum Chu Imperium got things in order, they soon launched the second gold rush. Unlike the somewhat chaotic first gold rush, the second was almost entirely led by the Empire. They unified resource allocation and tech support for Stargate construction and supplied all the space seeds themselves.
"Based on the intelligence we've gathered, the Empire intends to launch a third gold rush, named the 'Apple Tree Operation' by their leadership," Yue Wenfeng continued. "The ultimate goal is to incorporate every region of the galaxy into the Empire's domain."
Sensing something significant in Yue Wenfeng's tone, Andre raised an eyebrow and caught the keyword: "Every region?"
"Exactly," Yue Wenfeng affirmed. "Everywhere, including the Terran Sphere's jurisdiction, and even the core regions—the Solar System and Proxima."
"Ambitious, aren't they?" Andre smirked.
"So, the Empire's 'Apple Tree Operation' aims in two directions: one, to fully annex all factions unwilling to submit to the Trujillo Clan, unifying the existing human civilization; and two, to exponentially explore unknown galactic areas, eventually building an empire that spans the entire galaxy." With a grin, Yue Wenfeng said, "According to unreliable intel, the Empire's research into Lagrange points and the Lagrange Network is so deep that some people think they've cracked its ultimate mystery, though that's likely nonsense. However, it's possible they've learned to conduct warp exploration from one Lagrange point to others it's linked with, even skipping multiple undeveloped ones." Yue Wenfeng paused, gazing meaningfully at Andre. "Andre, do you see what this means?"
A wave of shock hit Andre. "If this is real, the Empire could sketch out a map of Lagrange Network covering the entire galaxy!"
"Exactly," Yue Wenfeng nodded. "With tons of space seeds and this map, the Trujillo Clan might actually build an unprecedented galactic empire." Letting out a sigh, he said, "If not for the Empire's meltdown, the 'Apple Tree Operation' could've been a reality. Shame the turmoil wrecked everything. So there you have it—the Trujillo Clan's 'Apple Tree Operation.' Based on the Terran Sphere's Intelligence Department, the X-Star System might be a space seed vault for the operation, possibly loaded with a huge number of seeds."
Andre was quiet for a bit before nodding. "I see. Appreciate your honesty, Chairman Yue. You really didn't need to tell me all this."
"No, honesty is the foundation of our negotiation, Andre. I won't keep anything from you, and I hope we can both be transparent. Assuming we reach an agreement," Yue Wenfeng grinned, "if the X-Star System is indeed a space seed vault, I hope these seeds can genuinely serve mankind. We'll keep the 'Apple Tree Operation' going—not for the Trujillo Clan, but for all humanity."
"Absolutely," Andre nodded. "I believe it will turn out well."
