John began, his voice steady and clear, "Let me start from the beginning."
With a sharp snap of his fingers, the central star map—composed of thirty-eight floating holographic sectors suspended in the air above the council chamber—flickered, shifted, and began to change.
The map zoomed out first, displaying the broader galactic sectors: blue fields marking Federation territory, red marking the Servance Alliance, and various other zones scattered throughout.
But then, the map zoomed in—toward a sector completely gray. It lay to the southern side of the Federation's region, and from there, that entire sector appeared shrouded in a uniform gray hue.
The gray signified one thing: unclaimed space. It meant the region was either untouched or lay beyond the direct control of any major force in the galaxy.
"It wasn't Federation territory—their regions were always marked in blue. Nor did it belong to the Servance Alliance, whose domains were denoted in red."
