The Forgotten Alien Race That Stood Alone Until Humanity Defied the part 02 of 02

Erased from galactic records and trapped in a dying solar system at the far edge of the outer rim, their son was collapsing. The Ithcarai's only so-called crime was refusing to share their biotechnology with the vex theory empire. Humanity was the newest member of the Galactic Council, allowed in mostly because Earth's position was strategically useful to the older races humans were upstarts, idealistic and inexperienced. But Chen had spent six weeks inside the Ithcarai quarantine zone and what she saw there had changed everything. Images appeared across the chamber, collapsing cities under an orange, dying sun, children whose glowing skin dimmed from radiation sickness, desperate efforts to build generationships using ancient, failing technology.