* * *
People stretched out across the floor of the Anacron Colosseum for as far as the eye could see. Two million of them fit in this structure alone, and hundreds of billions more were watching the ceremony on viewscreens across the galaxy. The Anacronian sun glowed brightly overhead, showering its light over the faces of all who watched. High above the crowd, Gerran Marnax looked down on the people who had finally agreed to unite under a single banner. His banner. He delivered a speech to them, one of honor and commitment and justice. They cheered his every word, and Gerran was surprised to find how much he loved them all. They had suffered so much at the hand of an evil ruler, and now they deserved something more, something better. Gerran Marnax was prepared to give them everything he had.
The first thing he had done after uniting the worlds of the StarBlazer Alliance and the broken Anacron Empire was to reinstate the Imperial Council. People from all over the galaxy were elected – not appointed, as in the past – to represent their worlds and their people. Gerran, of course, was elected to lead the Council, and he heartily accepted the honor. Standing before the billions he had helped to liberate, not least among them his family, Gerran Marnax took command of the most powerful organization in the known galaxy: the newly-reunited Anacron Empire.