Jack of Harts

The Hyades Cluster is not native to our region of the galaxy. It has been traveling for eons, from some long ago birthplace where heavy metals were more common. The star population is different, and the very interstellar dust and debris around it are foreign to our region of space. It is an intruder, and there is a gravitic bow wave around the Hyades that interferes with how the very fabric of gravity works. That is why it was so difficult for us to learn how to navigate it. But that is also why it was so valuable. We learned much from the Hyades once we penetrated its outer defenses. And the closer we got to its core, the more we realized we did not know. We had thought that the Chinese wanted it for its heavy metals and its defensive properties, and that had been enough for us to decide we had to take it. But the deeper we penetrated, the more we began to understand the truth. That the Hyades Cluster was more valuable than we had ever guessed.