There’s a fact that every trillionaire in the Terran Accord knows: Power on Antares always comes with a price. And it was true; almost every position of power within the jurisdiction of the Antares Authority had some sort of string attached.

Yet an entire third of the Antares Authority’s budget is exempt from public scrutiny, a gigantic bucket of odds and ends that the masses aren't allowed to know any details on. It's a glaring exception to the rule. Accountability is completely impossible. The money is poured down a hole and not subject to any form of oversight. Nobody knows a single thing they do — not even the very legislators who approve it, every single year, without failure. Whoever is in charge of this is one glaring exception to this rule: They have power without a price. Or so it seems…

This is the story of the Department of Autonomy, and their struggle preparing for a threat beyond their wildest nightmares.