117: parting

The universe is vast and silent; the scale of light-years not only measures distance but also severs information.

Although the Falamt Detachment Fleet had obliterated the Iofer Federation's capital system, the Gate of Hell, with thunderous force, turning that prosperous star region into a void exclusion zone where even physical laws collapsed.

Yet, under the highest level of information blockade by the Iof People, this shocking tragedy was like a stone thrown into a pool, failing to stir up too many ripples across the wider Orion.

This was mainly due to the generational gap in interstellar communication technology.

In the two major interstellar civilization gathering areas of Orion and the Perseus Arm, the vast majority of civilizations still remained at the stage of using superluminal particles—various types of tachyons—as communication media. Although tachyon communication exceeded the speed of light, it still suffered from long delays on the scale of hundreds or thousands of light-years.

Even the Angel Theocracy Empire, as a hegemon-level civilization, could not achieve the instantaneous communication that the Faleim People and Iof People could, ignoring distance.

The "Psionic Sensing Communication Network" of the Angel people was a highly unique product of idealistic technology. Its principle was not based on the physical laws of the material world but utilized the mental power of psionicists as a carrier to project information into that eerie space known as The Void Realm.

In the chaotic and blurred dimensions of The Void Realm, the concept of distance in the material world was extremely blurred, and the restrictions of the speed of light were broken. High-intensity psionic signals traveled through The Void Realm at near-infinite speeds, then "jumped" back into the real universe from the psionic receiving towers at the target location.

Even so, this communication method was still limited by the threshold of the device's psionic output power. On a conventional strategic scale of one hundred light-years, the information transmission delay of the Angel Empire was approximately between fifteen minutes and half an hour.

This was already the most efficient method second only to quantum entanglement communication, but in front of the absolute instantaneous communication network built by the Iofer Federation based on quantum physics, it still appeared somewhat sluggish.

This asymmetry in information became the last bargaining chip in the hands of the Succubus Queen, Barlena.

"As long as the fleet on the front line does not know that their home is gone, they are the sharpest blade in my hands."

She knew this was a huge bubble of lies, ready to be pricked at any moment. Once the news leaked, the vast Federation would instantly descend into chaos; those oppressed vassal races would rise up, and warlords holding heavy troops would carve out territories.

The only way out was to tear enough flesh from the corpse of the Angel Empire before the bubble burst, to fill the power vacuum and resource black hole caused by the destruction of the capital.

"Order the Third, Fifth, and Ninth Main Fleets to abandon all defensive postures and launch an all-out assault on the Angel Empire's defense line!" Barlena's voice echoed in the command channel. "The target is the Holy City Galaxy behind the Sky Abyss Nebula defense line! At all costs, I want to hold a victory banquet in the temple planet of those birdmen!"

The war machine of the Iofer Federation, driven by the frantic will of its supreme commander, was like a beast that had suffered a fatal wound but had become even more violent because of it, launching a devastating charge against its arch-enemy.

...

And in the Solar System, hundreds of light-years away, the preparations for another war had entered the final countdown.

If the attack by the Iof People was a crazy gamble, then the Human Federation's expedition to the Kari Star System was an expansion with a clear purpose.

On the far side of the Moon, at the Lagrange L2 point.

That once highly confidential Skyfire Space Station had now been expanded into a massive space industrial city.

Here, Human Civilization had completely mastered that faint blue light of destruction—antimatter.

Tens of thousands of magnetic confinement storage tanks were neatly arranged in the vacuum warehouse, with one kilogram of anti-hydrogen atoms suspended in each tank. The energy contained in this kilogram of matter was comparable to one thousand tactical nuclear bombs, and at the end of these storage tanks were antimatter production lines running day and night.

In recent years, humanity's technological level had been growing exponentially. The antiprotons produced by high-energy particle colliders could now be perfectly captured and cooled, and could be combined with normal matter. The "antimatter preservation problem" and "mass production problem" that had plagued humanity for so long had completely become history.

Meanwhile, in the dock of the Guanghan Palace Base on the Moon, an unprecedented refitting operation had just come to an end.

The flagship of the First Interstellar Fleet of the Human Federation, the pacific, was currently floating quietly in its berth.

At its stern, the original massive ion thruster array had been dismantled and replaced with eight sets of new engines emitting a heart-stopping aura.

That was the crystallization of human wisdom—the 【Kuafu Type IV】 Antimatter Catalyzed Nuclear Pulse Thruster.

This type of thruster no longer relied on bulky working fluid but utilized trace amounts of antimatter to trigger highly efficient pulse nuclear fusion, producing thrust hundreds of times greater than the old models. Coupled with the next-generation inertial dampers installed inside the ship's hull, this behemoth could accelerate to 25% of the speed of light in less than ten years and maintain this speed for up to 30 years during the cruise phase.

And around the pacific, a full one hundred 【Moon-Bewildering Class】 main battleships and two thousand fully upgraded 【Star-Probe Class】 frigates had also completed the same refit.

Their brand-new armor glimmered under the starlight, and their streamlined hulls were full of power. Each warship's reactor was loaded with sufficient fusion fuel and antimatter catalysts, enough to support them in completing this expedition across star systems, and enough to conduct high-intensity combat for decades in alien orbits.

Everything was ready; all that was needed was the east wind.

March 15, 2067.

The Earth Council held a plenary session in New York.

At this meeting, a resolution titled "Resolution on Implementing Special Military Operations and Civilization Guidance for the D-21 kari Galaxy System" was submitted for a vote.

Without any surprise, driven by the will of Lei Wen and the interests of various major powers, the resolution was unanimously passed.

The first interstellar expedition actively launched by Human Civilization against another intelligent civilization in history was officially granted legal authorization.

...

On the night before the fleet set sail, the office of the Director on the top floor of the Interstellar Affairs General Bureau building was brightly lit.

Lei Wen stood with his hands behind his back in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the bustling city beneath his feet. Behind him was a long conference table, where the high-ranking commanders of the First Interstellar Fleet, who were about to set out, and several core executives of the Interstellar Affairs General Bureau were seated.

The level of this meeting was extremely high; there were no recorders, no media, only decisions concerning the fate of two civilizations.

"Gentlemen," Lei Wen turned slowly, his gaze sweeping over every face, finally resting on the Commander-in-Chief of the First Interstellar Fleet, who was also the former captain of the voyager, Li Zhenhua.

He had only agreed to drink the fountain of youth potion when he was confirmed as the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary fleet. Thirty-plus years of time had dyed the veteran's temples white, and the diluted fountain of youth did not have the ability to restore youth, which was why he looked slightly aged.

"This is humanity's first time stepping out of the Cradle to knock on a neighbor's door." Lei Wen's voice was calm and deep. "Although we hold guns in our hands, I hope you remember that we are not going to slaughter, nor are we going to destroy."

"We are doing this for living space, for resources, and to strangle potential threats in the Cradle, but even more so to bring the order of Human Civilization to that starry sky."

Lei Wen walked to the head of the conference table and sat down, his fingers tapping gently on the table, and a top-secret document was transmitted to the terminal of every commander.

"This is the tone I have set for this operation: courtesy first, force second; conquest as the main goal, slaughter as a supplement."

"When the fleet arrives in the orbit of the Kari Star System and completes absolute control over the space dominance, do not rush to conduct orbital bombardment." Lei Wen's tone was serious. "First, send an ultimatum to the coalition government of the Kari Civilization."

"The content of the ultimatum is as follows:"

"First, the Kari Civilization must unconditionally acknowledge the supreme jurisdiction of the Human Federation over its home planet and star system, and the kari government will continue to exist as an autonomous administrative agency under the Human Federation."

"Second, the Kari Civilization must immediately disarm all armed forces, destroy all heavy weapons and space launch facilities, and its social order will be taken over by the Human Federation Starrealm Army."

"Third, the Kari Civilization must open all resource mining rights, land usage rights, and scientific research data to the Human Federation, and humanity will establish permanent colonial cities and military bases on its home planet."

"Fourth, in order to prevent technological loss of control, all scientific research institutions of the Kari Civilization will be closed or placed under strict supervision by humanity. Except for basic civilian technology, they are prohibited from conducting any research in high-energy physics, aerospace engineering, and advanced materials science."

After reading these terms, Lei Wen said coldly.

"This is our bottom line."

"If they agree, then we will provide protection to them as civilization guides, improve their livelihood, let them become second-class citizens under the Human Federation system, and they may even be integrated into our civilization in the future."

"However..."

Lei Wen changed the subject.

"If they refuse and attempt to resist with their backward gunpowder weapons, or attempt to send a distress signal to the universe..."

"Then, Commander Li Zhenhua, I authorize you to take all necessary military means."

"Destroy their government center, paralyze their industrial system, and crush the will of their army."

"I do not want to see genocidal slaughter, because we need labor, and we need a prosperous colony rather than a dead star."

"But if a price must be paid to achieve strategic goals, then this price must be borne by the Kari People, not by our human boys."

"I have only one requirement: we must exchange minimal casualties for absolute rule over the Kari Star System."

Li Zhenhua stood up abruptly and gave a standard military salute, his movements vigorous and powerful.

"Please rest assured, Director! The First Interstellar Fleet guarantees to complete the mission!"

"We do not crave war, but if it is for the future of humanity, we will transform into the most ruthless sharp sword!"

Lei Wen nodded, a flash of complex emotion in his eyes.

"Very good."

"Go, bring back victory."

...

The next morning.

Moon, Guanghan Palace Base spaceport.

Hundreds of thousands of Starrealm Army soldiers about to set out were saying their final goodbyes to their loved ones through communication devices.

They knew that this parting would be extremely long.

Although the unexpected success of the antimatter engine development shortened the voyage to the Kari Star System to over fifty years, combined with the time of conquest and garrisoning in the target star system, many people might have to wait until their twilight years to see the blue brilliance of Earth again.

Even some would remain on that purple alien land forever.

"All personnel board the ships! All personnel board the ships!"

The takeoff command came over the broadcast.

On the bridge of the pacific, Li Zhenhua looked back one last time at the blue home hanging in the pitch-black sky.

"For humanity..." he whispered softly.

"All ships of the Human First Interstellar Fleet, start engines!"

"Activate thrusters!"

"Target D-21 Galaxy System!"

"Set off!"

Boom—!

Even in the vacuum, people seemed to hear a loud noise that shook their souls.

The sterns of thousands of warships simultaneously ejected dazzling blue-white light beams; that was the pure energy released when antimatter and normal matter annihilated.

The vast fleet slowly accelerated under the powerful thrust, eventually turning into a group of meteors, rushing out of the Earth-Moon system...

Heading towards that unknown deep space, towards the first interstellar conquest of Human Civilization, charging forward without looking back.