[ WP ] `` The Empire '' spans galaxies and seeds planets with families , only to come back any number of millennia later and swallow these new civilizations wholesale to fight in its wars . Earth is next .

The ship drifted towards the yellow star. A young one- only 142 psecs old. But their population was ripe- nine billion, with millions at least able to fight. They would do well for the ongoing Battle of E'Shar 23 belels away. The ship's drives flared, appearing as a nova to the planet nearby. With its now barely-active drive facing the planet, the ship swung by into orbit. But below, the people were gone. They had undergone a Class-AC extinction event just a few ksecs ago. The ship sped, a little sadly, away. This sector was n't due for a survey in the next psec. On Mars, a republic grew.
