Interstellar Spark

Massimo's towering, augmented frame stood rigid before the command room's vast viewport. He gazed at the nearing, swelling "Barren Star," the third and outermost planet of the Devil system.

Beyond it, the Devil sun blazed with piercing light on the horizon.

Barren Star held profound meaning for him. It marked the pivot of his power's rise, thanks to the "Humanity Lab" nestled within, which had unlocked the secrets to bending humankind.

Conquering the Federation had shifted from a fleeting dream to a tangible goal.

He felt deep scorn for the Federation's creed of reason, democracy, and peace.

To him, life meant indulgence, conquest, and strife.

Anything less struck him as delusion and self-deceit. The Viper Legion's rise only reinforced his belief.

In this cosmos, survival demanded crushing others, whether beasts or beings, beneath the strongest will.

Nearly five millennia of reflection had laid bare this truth.

Across his endless years, he had hesitated just once: when choosing the near-fatal augmentation path.

Once he stepped onto that irreversible road, he knew fate bound him to war and dominion until the universe's end.

His ultimate aim was claiming every star system as his personal domain.

The Fallen Tycoon would bow to no one, not even Jacob. When that schemer outlived his use, Massimo planned to erase him without hesitation.

The sky darkened, shifting from violet-red to deep blue, casting a bleak, desolate chill.

Whenever Massimo beheld this boundless black void, a shiver of thrill coursed through him. Only this enigmatic expanse seemed worthy of humanity's eternal span.

In the sprawling command room, only Moa stood behind, poised for orders.

This formidable Augment, nearly Massimo's match in bulk but slightly leaner, served as both top general and strategist. He commanded a million-strong elite known as the Fallen Warlords.

Barren Star appeared as a mere ice-crusted rock, twenty times Earth's size, jagged and fissured.

Yet beneath its surface sprawled the galaxy's grandest covert military base.

Federation spies still groped blindly at its secrets.

His true might rested here; all else was a feint.

This thought swelled him with lofty disdain, as if perched atop power's peak.

For Augments, "sight" brought supreme joy. Their vision, tuned by brainwaves a thousandfold stronger than a normal's, could focus into "vision waves" that pierced alloy walls and bent around corners to unveil the unseen.

This offset their skin's dullness. Enhanced flesh numbed touch, robbing them of tactile pleasure, so sex became a feast of sight, sound, and scent, dooming Augments to perverse cravings.

Though stationed in the command room, Massimo and Moa's amplified brainwaves tapped the ship's "Libertine" super-AI. They drank a ceaseless data stream through it.

Not every Augment wielded this gift, for their ranks varied vastly. Massimo's primacy made him their undisputed lord.

Libertine fed them a fresh report. Moa spoke calmly, "Boss, that base escapee gives me a bad vibe."

He meant Michael, still a riddle. They couldn't fathom how he'd slipped a magnet-sealed cell or evaded flawless scans.

Massimo's golden eyes flared as he replied softly, "If I'm right, he's the one Predator hauled from Inferno. After Earth, he and Natasha hit Maiden, nearest us, and caught the Vipers' raid, sparking the Federation's win. Natasha stayed; Michael vanished here."