Return

Fifteen years after Bular's departure, a larger diplomatic team from the Telo Civilization finally arrived in the Origin Star System. This was much slower than Rowan had anticipated.

According to calculations, after completing the initial round of negotiations, Bular will report the general situation to his mother race. Because of the Quantum Communication Device, there will be no delay in communication. The Telo Fleet, which is stationed outside the Big Horn and White Grub Star System, can send a more professional diplomatic team to arrive in warp-engine ships. At most, five years will be enough time.

As for whether the Telo Fleet can organize a more professional diplomatic team, with over 200,000 warships, conservatively estimated to carry hundreds of millions of people, surely they have the capacity to assemble a team? Besides, since they have the desire for peaceful negotiations, the team should have been prepared before they set out.

As for warships equipped with warp engines? That's even less of a problem. Even if only 20% of the entire fleet is equipped with warp engines, their numbers will still reach 40,000, and forming a visiting fleet of over 100 ships won't be a problem.

If that's the case, what exactly is delaying them? Based on the currently known prior information, the Intellect speculate that the other party is probably waiting for members of the Epoch Clan. After all, joining the Star Sea Alliance requires the presence of a nominal leader.

As the Swarm had suspected, the newly arrived Telo Fleet gave a briefing upon entering Swarm territory. The briefing revealed that the fleet included not only a diplomatic team of nearly 10,000 people, but also more than a dozen members of the Epoch Clan.

Rowan and some Intellect watched the Telo Fleet slowly advancing under the "escort" of the Ancient Class ships, their brows furrowed in deep thought.

"My Overlord, according to the Telo Civilization, the nearest Epoch Clan garrison is nearly a hundred light-years away from us. If they set off 15 years ago, right after Bular left, their warp drive technology would allow them to reach speeds of at least seven light-years," Morgan said with some concern. He had been in charge of the Swarm's research and had not participated in any military operations. But now, instead of fighting, he needed to analyze the enemy's situation from some minor details, so besides Blade, there were quite a few research Intellect present.

Every light-year increase in warp drive speed represents a qualitative leap. The fastest warships of the Telo Civilization could travel at around 2 light-years. This nearly three-fold speed advantage would be magnified countless times in interstellar warfare.

If the two sides are fighting within a single star system, this advantage in mobility might not be so obvious. But once the battlefield expands to several or even dozens of star systems, even if the technologies such as weapons and radar are similar, the advantage in mobility alone will always allow them to create a situation where they outnumber the enemy.

The Swarm's current propulsion technology is far inferior to that of the Epoch Clan. Once the Epoch Clan intervenes, even if the Swarm conquers many star systems, their annihilation is only a matter of time.

"My Overlord, perhaps the situation isn't as bad as it seems," Kevi said. He was also a scientific Intellect and a propulsion expert; the rocket propulsion system that sent Rowan into space was developed under his leadership.

"Oh, how so?" Rowan became interested. The reason for preserving the unique personality of each Intellect was to gain more opinions in this situation.

"My Overlord, if the Epoch Clan truly arrived in their own spaceship, wouldn't it have been simpler for them to gather outside our territory? Why did they first reach the Telo Civilization's fleet before coming here?"

Rowan nodded; he understood what Kevi meant. Although the civilizations within the Star Sea Technology Alliance were all influenced by the Epoch Clan's spaceships in their early stages, resulting in some similarities in design, the differences between their warships could still be discerned in many ways.

The current Telo Fleet, at first glance, can only be described as having the same overall style, with no uniquely designed ships at all. Given that the Swarm has some knowledge of the Epoch Clan's ship styles, they concluded that this fleet did not contain any Epoch Clan ships.

Those Epoch Clan were in the Telo fleet, having departed with their fleet.

There are several possibilities for this situation. One is, as we just guessed, that when Bular reported the information, the Epoch Clan had departed from the garrison. For some reason, they first arrived at the Telo Fleet's garrison and then set off with the diplomatic team.

The second possibility is that the Epoch Clan had already set off for the rendezvous point when Bular had just departed from the Telo Fleet, or even when the Telo Fleet was still en route to the Swarm territory.

The two conjectures differ only in the timing, but their conclusions are vastly different. If the second conjecture is true, then the Epoch Clan's technological level is not as high as imagined.

Of course, another possibility is that the Epoch Clan members followed the Telo Fleet from the very beginning when it set off from their territory; this possibility cannot be ruled out.

"It seems we can only test the waters with Danton."

The Swarm's joining the Star Sea Alliance, along with the agreement with the Telo Civilization, was far more complicated than anticipated. Initially, Bular had suggested leaving some permanent personnel to discuss and agree on some less contentious terms with the Swarm to save time.

However, the Swarm didn't need to save time; Rowan was eager for the process to drag on as long as possible. Therefore, he rejected Bular's proposal, citing reasons such as the Swarm's small number of personnel making it inconvenient to host them for an extended period, and the requirement that the Telo Civilization send someone with higher authority as a sign of respect.

Bular realized that unless he stayed behind, the warship equipped with Quantum Communication Device had to be taken away. In this situation, there was little point in leaving personnel to discuss the matter. Even if he did stay, his authority was too low, and discussing the agreement would only involve relaying messages between the two sides, which would not only be tiring for him but also delay his chance to claim credit. Therefore, he did not dwell on the issue any further.

The result was good, but it delayed things for longer than Rowan had imagined. Over the past decade, the Swarm had released countless Seed that drifted in the void, waiting to be captured by the gravitational source and then take root and sprout.

Meanwhile, in the outer ring, two more star systems saw insects basking in the sun, and everything was developing in an orderly manner.

Now, all Rowan needs to do is buy time, the more the better.

As the Alliance diplomats disembarked from the spaceship, a large group of burly men weighing 300 pounds surrounded several alien-like creatures of various shapes and sizes. It seemed that they were the so-called New Epoch Clan.

"Hmph, so this is the Zerg? How rudimentary!" said a humanoid creature of similar height and skin color to the Riken Race, both being light blue. Unlike the Riken Race, however, his head was round, and he had several scales on the sides of his cheeks, as well as some webbed fingers, making him look like a mackerel spirit.

"Kante, stop complaining. Didn't you read the data before you came? This is what the Zerg are like."

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