Several weeks had gone by since the coronation of Emperor Rion Aaden. After the encounter with the Olympus Mons, no one in the expeditionary fleet wanted to stay in the Vulcan Empire any second longer than necessary!
Despite taking a faster but riskier route, the Golden Skull Alliance did not meet any resistance. The navigators had deliberately plotted a route that mainly threaded through star systems that were either far too marginal or had already been subjugated by human forces.
Just like before, none of the regional dwarven military forces came out to take revenge on the expeditionary fleet. The other human groups that had joined the feast in Smiling Samuel still treated Ves and his clan as if they were plague bearers.
