The Situation

The Swarm reaped considerable rewards in this war.

They captured a large number of Riken Race warships. Although some captains with strong personalities were ultimately reduced to ashes along with their ships, there were always those who were afraid of death.

The personnel and supplies are secondary; the main thing is the technology that the Riken Race have developed over the years, which can be Da Qi for the Swarm.

With the help of the Riken Race researchers who had been transformed into Intellect, the Swarm rapidly digested everything.

--

"General, it has been confirmed that they are not pursuing us."

"It seems their engine technology was indeed a weakness." After a moment of contemplation, General Masai sighed deeply. "But now, we've personally filled that gap for them. Perhaps, we will become the sinners of the Riken Race."

The Riken Race now firmly believe that although the T85 Civilization was powerful, it did not expand into the Riken Star System because of its limited travel speed.

The Riken Race abandoned warships, those that were severely damaged in the early stages, had their personnel transferred and their engines destroyed before being abandoned. However, those that were less damaged later, judging from the final footage, were probably captured by the T85 Civilization.

Having obtained the actual warship engine, and with the help of a traitor, perhaps in a few decades, the enemy will reach the Riken Star System.

General Masai regretted his decision; he should have been more rational and destroyed all those warships, even if it meant sacrificing hundreds of thousands of lives and being branded as an executioner in history.

Unfortunately, such a cold-blooded order will probably not be carried out until the truly dire consequences materialize.

General Masai felt powerless, unsure of what the future held.

But things have come to this point, so let's try to preserve ourselves. As long as we still have military power, there's still a chance in the future.

"As for Dr. Bart' needs, except for entering hibernation, please fulfill them as much as possible if it's feasible!"

"Yes!"

--

More than twenty years have passed in a flash. The Riken Race fleet has finally completed its long voyage, traversing the endless void between Proxima Star System and Riken Star West, and returned to its Mother Planet.

Upon reaching the outermost asteroid belt of the Riken Star System, we discovered numerous man-made structures. Judging from their appearance, most were observation devices, with only a small number of weapon installations.

After passing through the asteroid belt and entering the interior of the Riken Star System, the changes become even more pronounced.

Everywhere you look, there are observation devices drifting in space, monitoring every corner of the galaxy. And on those planets and their moons, construction is in full swing.

This phenomenon becomes more pronounced the closer one gets to the Riken Race Mother Planet.

Starting with the sixth planet, numerous space factories float in its orbit, with various transport ships moving in and out. They transport various smelted parts to their respective locations for assembly.

Metal space fortresses and turrets are scattered throughout the orbit, while the surfaces of planets and moons are covered with all kinds of weapons, and the number is constantly increasing.

At this point, the speed of the Riken Race fleet had dropped to 10 km/s, making their movement extremely slow. Numerous obstacles were floating in space, preventing them from increasing their speed at all.

Although many of those facilities are still in their infancy, all of this cannot be accomplished in just a few years.

"It seems the current Speaker is quite a man of great courage," General Masai remarked with some emotion. The expedition had been away from their Mother Planet for over 50 years.

When they left, then-Speaker Delrin had already served three terms, followed by a successor who served for thirty years, and finally the current Speaker Antonio.

Before building their Riken Race had made very rapid technological progress.

Therefore, unlike the original Cat Ear Spaceship, they no longer needed to consume the energy accumulated by the Light Sail over several years for each communication. Moreover, thanks to the advancements in the energy system, communication between the fleet and their Mother Planet could be much more frequent.

Unfortunately, communication equipment did not achieve a qualitative breakthrough. Their transmission speed was still limited to the speed of light. Therefore, although communication was more frequent, the time it took for information to travel was basically the same as it was back then with the Cat Ear Spaceship.

Even before the Expedition Fleet was defeated and fled in disarray, General Masai had already sent the battle report back to the home Mother Planet Rickon.

Judging by the timing, the news arrived just as the current speaker took office. He probably didn't expect to inherit such a huge mess so soon after assuming office.

Over the past two decades, as the Expedition Fleet has gradually approached the Mother Planet, the time required for communication has decreased significantly, from several years to one or two years, and then to several months...

The leader of the Riken Race has always been His Excellency Antonio.

He was able to serve two more terms under such circumstances; he truly is a very capable person.

It's worth noting that it took over 20 years to build the fleet, so the quality of life for the Riken Race declined considerably during those years.

If it weren't for the ideal and sense of honor of defeating aliens and colonizing other star systems, the Riken Race would probably have long since broken out into internal strife after so many years of war and conquest.

Finally, the fleet was completed. The Riken Race had just enjoyed thirty years of good times and had barely had a chance to recuperate when news came that the Expedition Fleet had been defeated and was fleeing in disarray.

Moreover, and most importantly, the opponent might retaliate.

This gave the Riken Race a huge shock. The newly appointed Antonio was full of confidence and planned to lead the Riken Race to a better tomorrow, but he was dealt a heavy blow.

Resigning was out of the question. If he had resigned then, Antonio would have been a clear deserter. If the Riken Race had subsequently perished, that would have been one thing, but if they had survived, he would have been forever branded with shame.

Having given up all hope, Antonio then began sweeping reforms. Everyone understood the situation, so although Antonio's actions were somewhat excessive, they all gritted their teeth and tolerated it.

Gradually, Antonio's power grew, especially as he seized control of the military, and the Federal Council slowly transitioned into military control.

By the time the others realized what had happened, it was too late to salvage the situation.

Subsequently, more and more directives were issued, such as imposing high military expenditures, mandating military service, conscripting laborers, and restricting the development of industries such as entertainment.

At the same time, they increased publicity and made all the information public, which caused panic among the public for a period of time. However, as time passed, the panic gradually subsided, and people came to understand Antonio's actions much better.

Antonio's approval rating, which had plummeted to rock bottom, has surged.

The idea that aliens are brutal and leave no prisoners has become deeply ingrained in people's minds after years of propaganda.

If they really attack, what do other things matter in the face of the threat of annihilation?

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