Over the next few years, Martin's fleet was like a spider weaving a web, slowly but surely spreading the threads of order across the void.
The process of recovering and integrating the higher planes is a hundred times more difficult than destroying them - those former allied forces are deeply intertwined.
Each plane hides hundreds of years of accumulated clan feuds and conflicts of interest. Sometimes, a seemingly simple transfer of jurisdiction involves the open and covert struggles of more than a dozen forces.
The most difficult thing is the information gap.
The war progressed too quickly at the time, and many defenders in remote planes did not receive the news of defeat at all, and were still resisting stubbornly based on their old cognition.
What's more, the remaining nobles in some planes deliberately blocked the news, falsely claiming that "the main force is counterattacking", using false hope to coerce the civilians into building a defense line.
Martin sent three negotiation teams, but two were detained as "fraudsters" and the other was blasted to pieces by local conservatives with energy cannons when trying to convey the truth.
"Your Majesty, there's trouble again in the seventh plane of the Gray Mist Star Region."
Eric pushed the holographic report in front of Martin. In the picture, a group of old soldiers wearing heavy armor were burning the flag of Matrix Galaxy in the square.
"Their lord declared us 'bandits who stole the sovereignty of the plane,' and said that as long as we could hold out until the 'main force of the coalition forces returned for reinforcements,' we could be driven out."
Martin tapped his fingertips on the edge of the report, his eyes fixed on the corner of the picture - a woman holding a child was quietly picking up the crushed fragments of the American flag, her eyes hiding timidity, but also a hint of imperceptible desire.
"Send the Soul Princess team, no weapons needed."
He suddenly spoke, "Have them project the coordinates of the wreckage of the main coalition forces in recent years and the records of the escape spacecraft privately stored by the nobles onto the public channels of the Gray Mist Star Region."
Three days later, the night sky of the Gray Mist Star Region was illuminated by countless holographic projections.
Surveillance footage of the wreckage of the Allied flagship crashing in the asteroid belt and the nobles evacuating in escape pods.
There are even images of several generals who are "on the counterattack" enjoying luxury in other dimensions.
When the last video finished playing - it was a scene of civilians from the destroyed plane waiting for rescue in the ruins, the square of the seventh plane fell into silence.
The old army that burned the flag slowly put down its torches, and a woman holding a child stepped forward and flattened the remaining flag.
Instead of chaos breaking out, a spontaneous petition swept across the sector: "We want to know the truth" and "Get those liars out."
Similar dramas continue to unfold in different dimensions.
Martin gradually figured out the pattern: instead of using the fleet to force his way in, it is better to tear open the cracks in the lies first.
He asked the civilian representatives who were restored to the surface to form a "Truth Mission" to lobby with the images of their personal experiences; he asked the Time Sand Mecha to look back at those covered-up moments on the battlefield and make the real casualty data public.
Three years later, when the last stubbornly resisting plane lowered its flag, Martin stood in the newly built United Parliament Hall, looking at the huge painting on the wall made up of star maps of all planes, and suddenly felt that the pen at his fingertips weighed a thousand pounds.
Integration is not the end, but another beginning - the resentment wrapped in lies needs time to dissipate, and the broken trust needs countless days and nights of honesty to repair.
"Tell the administrators of all planes," he whispered into the communicator, "don't rush to implement new laws yet. Start by opening schools and teaching children to recognize the star maps of all planes."
Outside the window, the Milky Way was still as bright as ever. But this time, those once isolated points of light began to form real and warm connections.
When the order to establish the school spread to the various planes, things didn't go smoothly at first. The elders in the Gray Mist Star Region, wary of "others," hid the children in their basements.
The lord of the lava plane believed that "studying is not as good as physical training" and secretly smashed the textbooks sent to him; even in the most obedient emerald plane, there were parents wandering outside the classroom, fearing that their children would be "brainwashed".
Martin did not let the law enforcement team intervene, but asked the elderly people from the truth mission to bring small stools and sit at the door of the school to tell their stories.
Granny Lin from the Gray Mist Star Region always loves to tell the story of her son: "My son believed the nobles' lies back then, thinking dying in battle was an honor. What happened?"
"The nobleman's son is drinking champagne in the safe zone, while my son's body is still floating in the meteorite belt..."
"Nowadays, schools teach children to recognize star maps so that they know which stars are friends and which are enemies. Don't be as stupid as my son."
The blacksmith from the lava plane held up red-hot tongs and burned a line of words on the school wall: "You need to be able to read to understand the safety manual. If my son had been able to understand the escape route map during the last mining disaster, we wouldn't have..."
His voice choked with sobs, and the parents who were watching quietly dispersed and sent their children to school the next day.
In the school of the Emerald Plane, in the first interstellar geography class, the teacher used holographic projection to show the entire picture of the Matrix Galaxy.
When the children saw that their own plane was just a speck of dust in the galaxy, they exclaimed in amazement. A little girl with pigtails raised her hand.
"Teacher, do the stars in the sapphire plane next door really shine?"
"Yes," the teacher smiled, bringing up an image of the Sapphire Plane. "The ocean there refracts starlight, and even the fish are blue. Once you've mastered the star map, you'll be able to take a spaceship there and see it when you grow up."
Gradually, more and more children came to the school.
Children in the Gray Mist Star Region began to write in their essays, "I want to see the forest in the Emerald Plane."
The young men from the lava plane used minerals to piece together a star map model, competing to see who could do it the fastest and most accurately.
The girls from the Emerald Plane wrote letters to their pen pals from the Sapphire Plane and drew pictures of the rainbows they had seen.
Martin occasionally attended classes at the school.
Once, he heard a child from the Gray Mist Star Region ask his teacher: "The book says that we and the other planes of the Matrix Galaxy are one family. Is that true?"
The teacher squatted down and pointed at the interconnected lines on the star map. "Look, these routes are like blood vessels, connecting us together. Just like you and your brother, you may quarrel, but you will always be a family."
The child nodded, not quite understanding, and drew a big star on his homework book, surrounded by many small stars, and wrote next to it: "This is our home."
That night, Martin received a communication from the Emerald Plane. The teacher said that the children had spontaneously organized a "Star Map Guard."
Star-shaped lanterns are being hung on the trees surrounding the school. "They say it's so people traveling at night can see the way home clearly."
Martin looked at the starry sky outside the window and suddenly felt that the trust that had been broken was being reconnected little by little in the children's laughter.
Integrating planes may require a tough approach, but true fusion is always hidden in the softest details - such as a star map class, a childish letter, or a clumsy but sincere star lantern.
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