A New Team
The Riken Star System has Ricken as its Mother Planet, which is the fourth planet. The fifth planet is named Liwen Planet, and the sixth planet is Liwu Planet.
One is a scholar, the other a warrior; together they protect their Mother Planet.
The returning Expedition Fleet was gradually broken up starting from Liwu Planet. A portion remained in Liwu Planet's orbit to be stationed and undergo maintenance and upgrades, while the rest remained there upon reaching Liwen Planet's orbit.
The ship captains, officers, and staff boarded small transport vessels here, peacefully handed over command of their troops, and then returned to their Mother Planet, Riken.
There was no grand welcoming ceremony for the defeated generals; Speaker Antonio met with them discreetly.
The endless starry sky is magnificent and beautiful when viewed occasionally, but after years or even decades of looking at it almost unchanged, one will inevitably experience aesthetic fatigue.
Therefore, chatting and gossiping became the best way to pass the time.
But the people on the same ship were either in hibernation or, like everyone else, had not been exposed to outside information for decades, so the information they talked about was extremely similar.
No matter what the secret is, it's difficult to maintain its mystery in such a closed environment.
Take Life-Extending Plant, for example. What was originally known only to high-level commanders and research teams has somehow leaked out. In just a few years, this top secret has become common knowledge.
Even the reclusive engineering and maintenance team on the ship could offer a few seemingly professional opinions on the matter.
Therefore, communication with the Mother Planet became the only channel for the Expedition Fleet to increase the amount of information they could exchange.
As the Expedition Fleet drew closer to the Mother Planet of Riken, the time needed for communication between the two sides decreased, and energy consumption also decreased. As a result, they began to "chat" more and more frequently.
The Expedition Fleet spent nearly 30 years flying to the T85 Star System, stayed for less than a year, and was then driven back, followed by more than 20 years of void travel.
Therefore, they received very little information. After only a few sentences, they ran out of things to say, and for the rest of the time, it was Reken's Mother Planet unilaterally transmitting information to them.
This significantly reduced the reporting time for Speaker Antonio's talks with expeditionary officers such as Masai.
The meeting ended quickly, and the content of the discussion is unknown. However, Dr. Bart was then carefully escorted from the orbit of Liwen Planet to the Mother Planet of Riken.
During these more than 20 years of sailing, Dr. Bart's team did not rest; they continued to dedicate themselves to the research of Life-Extending Plant.
However, since most of the high-precision instruments carried by the Expedition Fleet were transported to the base on planet T853 and the retreat was very rushed, those instruments were destroyed.
This resulted in the Ricken fleet being unable to find a decent alternative. This further exacerbated the already rudimentary research environment. Although the relatively easy-to-carry Life-Extending Plant were taken with them during the retreat, making the experimental materials relatively plentiful, progress has been less than ideal over the past twenty years.
Not everyone in the doctor's team wanted to waste materials and time on research without the necessary equipment. Moreover, most of them were not professionals in the field, and even Dr. Bart himself was, strictly speaking, an outsider.
Bart had raised this issue with General Masai, but due to the power struggle among various factions, their opinions were ultimately ignored, and hibernation was still not permitted; research tasks were forcibly assigned to them.
Therefore, many members of Bart' team were extremely dissatisfied with this waste of life, which led to a lack of enthusiasm for research and a deliberate squandering of experimental materials.
More than 20 years have passed, and the Life-Extending Plant, which originally weighed more than 20 tons including roots, stems and fruits, now has less than 2 tons left.
General Masai, who had suffered a defeat and squandered his resources, was relieved of his military post after a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament. Although he had the support of powerful figures behind him and was not subjected to a military court, he was still dismissed from his post.
The Life-Extending Plant was taken over by the Speaker's forces. Dr. Bart and others made some handovers, and after their only research data was taken away, they were kicked out of the research team.
The new team consists of more professional and larger personnel, numbering over three thousand, and can provide any precision instruments needed.
It is said that several senior professors in the new team fainted from excitement after seeing the data on the Life-Extending Plant. When they woke up, they heard that the original experimental materials were more than ten times the amount currently available, but they had all been ruined by Bart' team, and they fainted again.
The professors, who had just woken up, managed to calm themselves down with great difficulty. If Bart and the others hadn't been transferred away by then, the matter might not have ended so easily.
The new experimental team is quite capable, and the experiment is progressing rapidly. They have digested the experimental results of Bart et al. over the past twenty years in a very short time and have used them to innovate.
I believe that some real results will emerge soon.
During this period, of the more than two million people who returned from the Expedition Fleet, apart from the serious criminals and death row inmates who boarded the ship initially, the rest were sent back to their Mother Planet, Riken, in batches.
These men had been on campaigns for decades. Although they had suffered defeats, they had still earned merit and hard work. They certainly couldn't just vanish without a trace. Moreover, the forces behind these men were complex and intertwined. Even ordinary soldiers had family support. Their families had been eagerly awaiting the fleet's return.
If we were to actually do something to these people, the Riken Race might be wiped out before the aliens even attack.
"Foolish little sister, you're finally back? I heard you had an accident this time? You were almost eaten by wild beasts? I hope this experience will make you more mature." The older sister cared about her younger sister. When she heard that her sister had an accident, she almost hijacked a warship and rushed to the T85 Star System, but the words of concern turned out differently when they came out.
"Huh? Are you Mom's sister? I've never seen you before! You look like you're 50 years older than me!" The sister's retort was equally sharp, making the older sister feel that she'd rather be eaten by a wild beast.
But after they finished speaking, they smiled at each other, and the estrangement of more than fifty years was dissolved.
"Although you're still just as annoying, seeing you like this makes me feel much more at ease. It seems you've really grown up."
"Ah, what an unforgettable experience." The younger sister's eyes gleamed with reminiscence, as if she could see that great being, and she emphasized again, "An experience you absolutely cannot imagine."
Although she saw her sister's interested expression, Chloe didn't want to continue the topic and instead said:
"Old woman, although we were a bit disheveled this time, we still brought back some good things." Although Chloe mentioned some things about the Life-Extending Plant, she added, "You'd better seize the opportunity. I heard the materials are running low. If you want to become my sister, you'll have to be even younger."
"If you changed how you address me, I might like you even more. But you should just rest and relax; don't worry about the rest."
"So how's your research going? Have you come up with anything new after all these years?" Chloe asked, her eyes darting around.
"It's a secret!" The answer was as always.
"Cut!"
The two sisters chatted for a while longer before the older sister hurriedly left. It seemed she was still very busy and had squeezed out time to come back and visit her younger sister.
Watching her departing figure, Chloe's eyes gleamed with amusement: Foolish "sister," how could two races possibly become sisters? I truly look forward to the day you become my "sister" again. Only then will you know how wonderful the world is.