Alright I'm about to give you guys insider info.
The artifacts are actually the key to "everything" everything being a metaphor for "Earth"
because back way back in the past Earth was the center of the universe and everything else, or so people thought.
So once you acquire all these artifacts they are uploaded into an E-mail and the E-mail gets sent to the "server" which is in the Demon world. Once the K-sector collides with the Demon world, demons from the anime "Bleach" start pouring the hell out.
The Xel'Naga are like holy shit wtf we didn't plan this and they band together with the Xel'Borg to fight off the anime demons. The k-sector races unite together to fight against the anime demons, who are the ancient leaders which Duran referred to.
Unfortunately, these anime demons destroy the Xel'Naga and the Xel'Borg (the Xel'Naga's cousins), and the K-sector races are the only ones left. In the midst of a battle, a black hole appears out of nowhere but unknown to anyone else it was actually part of the communication processes of the E-mail to the "server." This black hole sucks everything and everyone into it, closing afterwards. To the guys sucked into the black hole, it's been 10 seconds. To the guys on the other side (Earth) it's been 2000 years.
This whole anomaly with the time space continuum blah blah bunch of made of science causes Earth to have 2000 years of more advanced technology than the races (and the whole k-sector) who got sucked into the black whole and appeared on the other side in only 10 seconds. In other words, the K-sector races traveled to Earth in 10 seconds, but in Earth time, it's actually been 2000 years.
This change in time has lead Earth to adapt their battlecruisers to cattlecruisers.
Slayers_Boxer is the new god emperor, and his right hand man is iloveoov, he left hand man is ihateoov. Together, these 3 form the powerhouse of the United Earth Directorate.
Their motto has changed from "Serve the directorate, serve humanity" to "cry me a reaver."
In conclusion, the sheer awesomeness of Earth from the 2000 years causes everyone else to explode. They GG, Earth wins.
And that is why the artifacts are the key to everything.

