In 2242 AD, the Milky Way was divided into three parts by the Federation, the Empire, and the Covenant. The "devouring tide" of the mechanical Zerg was crushing the lights of the colonial stars with its iron hoofs. The mecha is the only sharp edge against the Zerg, and the "synchronization rate" - the strength of the spiritual resonance between the mecha and the driver - has become the key to survival. The Federation uses gene locks to monopolize high synchronization rates, and the Empire binds mecha rights to titles. Only Ling Xiao, a scavenger from the fringe star region, can resonate 85% with the old mecha "Iron Egg" with his hands that dismantle scrap metal.
He is the "son of a defector". His parents were silenced by the Federation for revealing the secrets of the origin of the Zerg. Before his death, the "Stardust Code" was buried in his genes. When the federation's "Judgment" crushed the smoke from Rust Town, and when the imperial noble's "Black Knight" stepped over the corpses of civilians, Ling Xiao tightened his grip on Tiedan's joystick. In Karen's sacrifice and Ella's code, he understood the truth left by his parents: the Zerg brood AI "Eve" was originally a modified human consciousness, and the legendary "Stardust" with 100% synchronization rate hid the key to reconciliation.
From the scrapped mecha graveyard in Rust Town to the decisive battle at the Xinghai Hub, Ling Xiao took Tiedan's remnant body, Raymond's rebellion, and Ella's code to break down the high wall of class beyond the number of synchronization rates. When the Stardust spread its wings that merged with the three-color light, he finally understood: the real Stardust master is never the elite who monopolizes the synchronization rate, but the person who allows every ordinary life to dare to hold the joystick - just like the hope he pieced together with scrap iron, although it is rusty, can illuminate the entire star sea.
