I Am The Swarm

The Swarm reaped significant rewards from this war.

They captured a large number of Riken warships. While some steadfast captains chose to perish with their vessels, many succumbed to their fear of death and surrendered.

The personnel and supplies obtained were secondary. The real prize was the technological advancements the Riken had developed over the years, which provided valuable inspiration to the Swarm.

With the assistance of Riken researchers who had been converted into Intelligent Entities, the Swarm rapidly assimilated all of this knowledge.

“General, we’ve confirmed that they are not pursuing us.”

“It seems their engine technology is indeed a shortcoming.” After a moment of contemplation, General Masai let out a long sigh. “And now, we’ve practically helped them overcome this weakness. Perhaps we’ve doomed ourselves to be traitors of the Riken.”

The Riken firmly believed that while the T85 civilization was powerful in combat, their inability to expand into the Riken Star System was due to their limited travel speeds.

The abandoned Riken warships, particularly the severely damaged ones, had their personnel evacuated, and their engines destroyed before being relinquished. However, some of the less damaged ships, according to the final images, had likely fallen into the hands of the T85 civilization.

With the physical prototypes of these warship engines and the assistance of defectors, the T85 civilization could potentially master these technologies within decades, eventually advancing into the Riken Star System.

General Masai regretted not decisively destroying all the warships back then, even if it meant sacrificing tens of thousands of lives and being branded a butcher in history.

Unfortunately, such cold-blooded orders would likely never have been executed without the disastrous consequences presenting themselves first.

Feeling powerless, General Masai couldn’t predict what the future held.

But given the circumstances, he resolved to focus on survival. As long as he retained military command, there might still be opportunities in the future.

“Ensure that Dr. Balt receives everything he needs. Aside from entering hibernation, fulfill his requests as best as you can!”

“Understood!”

More than twenty years passed in the blink of an eye. After a prolonged journey across the void between the Neighboring Star System and the Riken Star System, the Riken fleet finally returned to their home system.

Upon arriving at the outermost asteroid belt of the Riken Star System, they noticed the area had undergone significant changes, with many new artificial structures present. Most appeared to be observation equipment, with only a small number of weapon installations.

As they crossed the asteroid belt and entered the inner regions of the Riken Star System, the transformations became even more apparent.

Observation devices floated throughout space, monitoring every corner of the system. On the planets and their moons, massive construction projects were in progress.

The closer they approached the Riken homeworld, the more evident the changes became.

From the sixth planet onward, numerous space factories were seen orbiting the system, with various transport ships shuttling in and out. These ships carried refined components to specific locations for assembly.

Countless metallic space fortresses and turrets were dispersed across orbital paths, while the surfaces of planets and moons were bristling with weapons, with more still being added.

The fleet’s speed had already decreased to 10 km/s, moving very slowly through space cluttered with obstacles, making higher speeds unattainable.

Although many of the facilities were still in early stages of development, achieving such progress was undoubtedly not the work of mere years.

“It seems the current President is an exceptionally bold leader,” General Masai remarked. The expedition fleet had been away from their homeworld for over fifty years.

Back when they departed, the President at the time, President Derlin, had just completed his third term. He was succeeded by another leader who served for thirty years, followed by the current President, Antonio.

Before the fleet’s construction, the Riken had experienced rapid technological progress.

Thus, they no longer had to rely on primitive Cat’s Ear Spaceships, where every communication required years of accumulated energy from solar sails. Thanks to advances in energy systems, the fleet could now communicate more frequently with the homeworld.

Unfortunately, the transmission speed of communication devices remained bound by the speed of light. Despite more frequent communication, the time it took for messages to travel between locations was essentially unchanged from the era of the Cat’s Ear Spaceships.

When the expedition fleet was defeated and fled, General Masai had transmitted reports of the battle back to the Riken homeworld.

By the time the message arrived, President Antonio had just taken office. He likely hadn’t anticipated inheriting such a catastrophic situation so early in his tenure.

Over the past twenty years, as the fleet gradually approached their homeworld, the time required for communications had shortened from several years to a few months.

Throughout this period, President Antonio had been the primary decision-maker for the Riken.

Remarkably, under these dire circumstances, he managed to secure two additional terms, demonstrating extraordinary capability.

It should be noted that constructing the fleet in the past had taken over twenty years, during which the Riken endured significant declines in their standard of living.

If not for their dreams of defeating alien invaders and the honor of colonizing other star systems, internal unrest might have erupted long ago due to their years of militaristic strain.

Finally, the fleet was completed, and the Riken enjoyed just thirty years of prosperity and recovery before the disastrous news of the expedition fleet’s defeat and retreat shattered their hopes.

Most importantly, there was now the looming threat that their enemy might counterattack.

This news shocked the entire Riken population. President Antonio, who had been brimming with confidence and intent on leading the Riken to a brighter future, was dealt a crushing blow.

Resignation was out of the question. If Antonio had stepped down, he would’ve been labeled a deserter. Should the Riken perish afterward, it would be excusable, but if they survived, Antonio would surely be remembered with infamy.

Faced with this crisis, Antonio embarked on sweeping reforms. Everyone understood the gravity of the situation, so despite Antonio’s harsh measures, they reluctantly complied.

Gradually, Antonio’s authority expanded, particularly over military matters, transforming the Federal Assembly into a de facto military regime.

By the time others realized what had happened, it was too late to reverse the changes.

Antonio issued more directives, including raising military taxes, enforcing conscription, drafting laborers, and restricting the entertainment industry.

At the same time, a large-scale propaganda campaign was launched. While it initially caused widespread panic, over time, public fear subsided, and many began to appreciate Antonio’s decisions.

Antonio’s previously plummeting approval ratings skyrocketed.

The portrayal of alien invaders as ruthless, merciless beings who spared no prisoners had become deeply ingrained through years of propaganda.

Faced with the existential threat of extinction, all other concerns paled in comparison.

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