Of course, war wasn't the only thing on the Hallowed Comptroller's mind. The habitats were getting increasingly crowded, and with plans to construct a new one temporarily put on hold due to alloys being diverted to the ongoing war effort, it would be imperative to make the most of what the Shantari already had.
With the victory at Landiz, newly-arrived Kel-Azaan fleets began advancing on the Tiralam System.
The primitive societies of the tomb-worlders had already been subjugated and enslaved by the Rek-Thalar. Liberating them would be a key objective of the war.
The victory at Landiz and newfound military buildup of the Shantari had also by now earned the Hallowed Comptroller a reputation as a military pioneer.
However, the war still went back and forth over the next four years. In spite of their defeat at Landiz, much of the Rek'Thalar navy had managed to retreat, and they repaired their fleet. The front went back and forth between Landiz and Tiralam, with occasional enemy incursions at Lurus, which was similarly fortified. Both Bastions would continue to be built up with additional defensive platforms over the war.
Yet the Shantari Fleet, in spite of nearly doubling in size, was not quite large enough to take on the Rek'Thalar fleet deep in hostile territory. Instead, it skirted by the edge of Rek'Thalar systems, striking at vulnerable outposts and retreating before the main Rek'Thalar fleet could arrive. However, soon war exhaustion began to set in on both sides, and so the Hallowed Comptroller ordered one last push to liberate Tiralam.
It was a bold move. Nominally, the enemy starhold at Tiralam was more powerful than main Shantari Fleet. However, with the Shantari ships designed to counter the Rek'Thalar, the Hallowed Comptroller ordered Admiral Tenju to commit to the attack. It was a hard fought battle, but at last, the star hold was retaken by the Cosmic Merchant Coalition. Transports followed just behind them, dropping armies of Shantari paratroopers onto the planets to liberate their inhabitants from oppressive Rek'Thalar rule.
There was little rest for the battered Shantari Fleet. A squadron of Kel-Azaan destroyers had run into a Rek-Thalar fleet, and while they were holding their own, they were badly outnumbered. The Nighthunt Voidwings rushed to the nearby Ijaagin system to reinforce their allies, and helped turn the tide of the battle.
The Rek-Thalar agreed to a cessation of hostilities soon thereafter, though from a territorial perspective, the Shantari had clearly won the war. The tomb-worlders gratefully joined the Union as full members of it, marking the first time it had ruled a world that wasn't an artificial orbital arcology. Work would also soon begin on uplifting the primitives of the Ijaagin System, so that they too might join the Cosmic Merchant Coalition as full members.
Rek'Thalar expansion was halted by the war, and with continued development of the Shantari bastions, they could be considered safely contained. That was not to say that all was calm in the galaxy. While the Gimeth had concluded their war, humiliating the Lokken, another war had started between the Commonwealth of Man and the Kilik Cooperative, and the mighty Shard had awoken from her slumber, jealously guarding the Rubricator.
But the future of the Shantari Mercantile Union seemed bright indeed, now that it had survived its first true test.
