Many space stations orbited Earth a few hundred kilometers above. However, one was more important than the others. It was like a fortress in the skies, a silver sentinel one step away from the void of space.

Its structure resembled a castle as it used to be built in ancient times, with hundreds of rooms prepared so that the New Earth Army could handle any scenario. That's why the structure was filled with towers and antennas, capturing information and redistributing it to the rest of the empire. At any moment, day or night, the station was functioning.

For that reason, several high-ranking officers were dedicated to this station. One of them was General Avalon. He had served his last thirty years at this station, serving during the previous three waves, and was finally nearing the end of his military career. He had achieved success early on, and even though other Houses invited him and could have earned more credits with them, Avalon preferred to remain within the NEA; he believed in the work he was doing.

This was finally his last day at his post. Because of this, Avalon woke up early, preparing his uniform with all the necessary pomp and organizing his many medals.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

The knocks disturbed the General, who was observing himself in front of the mirror while adjusting his awards.

“Soldier! It better be an important matter, or I will—” Avalon grumbled as he opened the door of his room on the station. “Yes?”

“Sir, they urgently request your presence in the command center,” the soldier explained.

“Who or better, why?” the General questioned.

“Sir, they didn't tell me. But they said that if necessary, I could break down your door. So I imagine it's critical, sir,” the soldier explained.

“Humph.” The General closed the door and began to walk toward the station's command center.

‘At this hour, which commander would be on duty?’ he tried to think. ‘If it's some rookie, I'll have to explain that they should only call me like this when it's critical.’

The soldier stopped accompanying him when they reached the center's door and stood guard outside.

As the General stepped into the room, he could see dozens of officers walking back and forth among communications channels. Red alerts were flashing on monitors and holograms.

Avalon took a deep breath. The situation was critical, and he was ashamed of having been displeased at being called.

‘There goes my retirement,’ he thought.

One of the commanders stopped momentarily near him as he left one of the communication consoles.

“What's the status?” the General asked.

“Sir. Maximum alert,” the commander explained. “Callisto, Ceres, Titan, and Enceladus have already reported mass attacks.”

The commander's expression showed his level of concern and nervousness. “Sir, this is much bigger than the last two waves. They've never attacked so many planets and so close to home as today.”

Avalon nodded upon hearing the situation. “Has anyone already contacted the Senate?”

“Yes, sir,” the commander replied.

“Excellent,” Avalon said to the commander while walking toward the center of the room.

“Attention!” The officers in the room paused momentarily to listen to the General. “Initiate the defense process. Start acting as at the beginning of the Tenth Wave.”

The officers trembled upon hearing the statement.

“B-but sir, there's still no confirmation from the Senate that it's officially a Wave,” one of the officers commented.

“Forget that; the Senate will only approve the attack action. For us, the NEA, this is officially the Tenth Wave.”

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It's been almost a decade since the Senate had an emergency meeting; this was a bad sign that John didn't expect to receive so soon. In the middle of the night on Mars, he was awakened by his Guard for the meeting.

Many saw him as the Heir of the Yorks, but he was no more than twenty years old. He hardly remembered how the last wave had been.

‘I shouldn't be here. Where have you gone, brother?’ John prayed for his older brother to return, although the chances were minimal after the last three years.

The Great House York had its own teleportation station, one of the few that gave access to the Senate. John was already accustomed to the journey and felt almost no dizziness.

The Senate's location was on Earth, but it was kept under lock and key; not even the Heirs of the Great Houses knew where it was. Only the Emperor and a few people around him knew the location.

However, as soon as he arrived at the place, he was as impressed as the first time he had been there.

A huge artificial lake was created in front of the Senate building. It was an all-white construction that seemed to be a manifestation of gods. The high ornate columns resembled the Parthenon of Greece; however, instead of Greek gods, there were sculptures of heroes from the last waves. Each Ranger who deserved to be remembered was portrayed there.

‘Seeing them like this, each one looks like a titan,’ John raised his eyes to see the tops of the sculptures. ‘However, none of them are among us anymore. In the end, we have no titans on our side.’

A long staircase led the newcomers to the immense entrance of the Senate. At the top of the building, a huge dome crowned the edifice. Although it was a governmental building, to any other person who arrived there, it could easily be mistaken for a temple of old.

John continued advancing along with the other heirs of the eleven Great Houses. In moments of emergency, only Houses of this stature were called to the Senate, while the others received the final verdict.

“Where is the Emperor?” one of the heirs asked the imperial guards who accompanied them.

“He is already in the throne room,” the guard replied. “He awaits you.”

The heirs knew that keeping the Emperor waiting was in bad taste, especially now that his term was nearing its end and another would be elected; each of the twelve was striving to make a better impression.

Or at least eleven of them were. John never wanted to be the Heir of the Yorks, and being Emperor wasn't even close to his dreams.

The group of twelve heirs was led to the main hall, where there were twelve pulpits, one for each of the Great Houses. In front of them, at the top of the staircase, was the Emperor's throne.

John was nervous, tapping his foot on the pulpit floor while waiting for the Emperor's entrance. He was not the only one in this state; Callisto, Ceres, Titan, and Enceladus belonged to four of the Heirs present in that room. Each of them worried about the state of their territory, family, and subjects.

While John was lost in thought, he heard the movement of the imperial guard. Near the end of the room, one of the doors was opened, and slowly, they could see the Emperor walking toward the throne.

The twelve heirs took their positions as soon as the Emperor reached the throne. With the right hand over the left chest and the left hand extended along the body, they saluted the Emperor.

“Hail Lucius Meridius, the twentieth Emperor of New Earth,” the twelve repeated almost in unison.

John noticed the Emperor's tired face. Lucius had a stern visage, sculpted from being in several waves; he bore various scars on his face. Those were his actual medals. However, the last five years on the throne had placed upon him a level of fatigue that was already visible.

Nonetheless, it was still possible to see in his eyes the intensity and ferocity of the old Emperor. He made this even more explicit by displaying the gauntlets of his Ranger Armor for all to see.

Similar to John York, Lucius had mastered his armor to the point of being able to keep it active indefinitely. However, unlike the York family, the Meridius family did not own the Gold Z-Crystal.

Lucius wielded the Silver Z-Crystal; however, the gauntlets were even more formidable than anyone had ever seen a Ranger use.

“Since everyone is here, I will begin the official announcement of the empire,” the Emperor began. “Earlier today, we received news from planets distant from the capital about interference with our satellites, which soon proved to be actions of the savage Orks. A few hours later, their ships began to advance into the empire's territory and carry out indiscriminate attacks on our planets.

‘Planets distant from the capital? Please, Katherine. Be safe,’ John hoped that his sister wasn't on any of the attacked planets.

“At this moment, we know that four planets near the capital are suffering attacks both from ships and ground battles. Based on this information, I have called the twelve Great Houses to initiate the vote. I, Lucius Meridius, wish to declare that this is the Tenth Wave, and it is everyone's responsibility not only to defend but also to attack the barbarians. Domination, capture, torture, and extermination of any monster that stands before us are permitted.”

As soon as the Emperor finished speaking, four positive votes were automatically cast by each house under attack.

It didn't take long before the twelve positive votes were confirmed.

“I hereby declare the attack on the Tenth Wave,” the Emperor commanded.

As soon as Lucius finished the announcement, he quickly left the room. With the war restarting, he had other matters to attend to. The other heirs also had to return to their houses. However, before leaving, John went to one of the commanders of the imperial guard.

“Could you tell me which planet the Academy from Earth was sent to?”

The commander paused momentarily; with a look of pity, he replied, “GL581, one of the bombarded planets.”