A Silent Deployment

Through radio communications, the Collectors infiltrating the military fortress belonging to the Veron Unified Syndicate silently infected all the Veronians inside the fortress with Collector spores by dispersing spores outward.

Without anyone noticing, they seized control of the massive military fortress.

Then, through material transfers, they successively infected several nearby military fortresses with spores.

Having already learned the structure of Veronian military fortresses, the Collectors' subsequent spore infections became much easier. They only needed to slip into the ventilation shafts, and the spores would drift into every corner of the fortress.

After that, they infected the Veronians responsible for delivering supplies. Through the movements of those Veronians, they infected the garrison forces near several other stargates within the star system with spores.

The Veronians knew nothing of this, because they had not detected any abnormalities at all. The Collectors were extremely cautious. They rarely communicated by radio, kept the power low, and carefully selected the frequency bands used for every transmission.

The senior officers in Veronian fortresses would occasionally visit the planets under their jurisdiction within the star system for their own enjoyment. After all, even if living in a space fortress indefinitely caused no physiological problems, it would probably not be good for them psychologically.

As a result, those Veronians brought the Collectors' spores onto the planets, where the Collectors then infected every intelligent individual on the planets with spores.

Everything proceeded in silence...

After roughly five or six years, control of the star systems bordering the Veron Unified Syndicate and the insectoid territory had completely changed hands to the Collectors. The Collectors only needed to release a string of radio signals to disarm all Veronian military forces in the star systems on the other side of the stargates.

No matter how powerful a weapon was, it still required