Human Federation

Human Federation, Deneb System.

Starhold, anchorage, the destroyer Boundless Glory.

As an interstellar empire that had begun expanding more than fifty years ago, the Human Federation was hardly an established interstellar superpower, but it was still considerably stronger than the United Nations of Earth and Xi Yan's Interstellar Human Military Junta.

As a nation with fanatically militarist ethics, the Human Federation housed its Grand Marshal's office not on United Star, but aboard the Marshal's flagship-the Boundless Glory.

It was an enormous destroyer, roughly three times the size of the Galactic Throne.

The Human Federation's technology had reached a higher level, allowing it to build destroyers, a class above corvettes. Its stellar bases had also been upgraded from starports to starholds, gaining two additional building slots.

The Grand Marshal's office sat above the bridge, offering the widest possible view.

Of course, once battle broke out, it would also be the first place to come under attack.

The Marshal and the fleet were the soul of the United Nations of Earth. The Marshal lived and died with the fleet-that was the United Nations of Earth's creed.

Compared with Xi Yan, who spent all his time holed up on his ring world and wandered around using projections, the Human Federation seemed far more martial.

The current Grand Marshal of the United Nations of Earth, Bai Fengfeng, was a burly, middle-aged man with Chinese features.

Solid muscle lay beneath his blue marshal's uniform, and a cold severity marked his brow. With his square face and unsmiling expression, he was the very image of a soldier.

A blue-white star and distant nebulae hung in the pitch-black cosmos, but Bai Fengfeng paid them no heed as he bent over his work, far more diligent than a certain Marshal who slacked off from time to time.

"Twenty destroyers and fifty corvettes already far exceed what our nation can support. Ship maintenance alone consumes a substantial portion of our energy credit output."

Bai Fengfeng wrote on the paper.

"We must keep expanding to make up for the energy credit shortage. However, many alien interstellar empires have already appeared around us, and fewer and fewer systems remain unclaimed."

"Once every system has been divided up, war will be the only way to acquire new territory..."

Bai Fengfeng buried his head in the documents, troubled for a moment.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how the Interstellar Human Military Junta is doing. Their empire seems to be quietly developing somewhere far away. We haven't been in touch these past few years."

Bai Fengfeng naturally felt goodwill toward this emerging human empire, which shared the same origins as the United Nations of Earth-both had sprung from the United Nations of Earth. Besides, he was personally good friends with its Former Marshal, Xi Lie.

But a month ago, news had unexpectedly reached him that Xi Lie's old injuries had flared up again and proved fatal, leaving Bai Fengfeng deeply saddened.

Still, he had also heard that Marshal Xi Lie's son, Xi Yan, had inherited his position and become the new Marshal.

With a young man barely twenty taking over as head of state, Bai Fengfeng could easily imagine Xi Lie's generals fighting over power and influence.

But Xi Lie had no other children who could succeed him. According to Bai Fengfeng's investigations, Xi Lie had previously fathered two daughters, but nothing more had been heard of them after he defected from the United Nations of Earth.

Poor kid.

The next time I contact the Interstellar Human Military Junta, I should lend it a little help.

He is my good friend's son, after all.

Bai Fengfeng sighed. Just as he was about to return to work, a subordinate sent him a message.

They had received a communication request from the Interstellar Human Military Junta. Its Marshal wanted a private conversation with the Grand Marshal.

"A private conversation with Xi Yan? Certainly. I'd like to have a chat with this young Marshal myself."

Bai Fengfeng was intrigued. "Patch the signal through."

A holographic screen unfolded in midair, and a message immediately popped up.

{Xi Yan: Hello, Mr. Bai Fengfeng! I'm Xi Yan, the current Marshal of the Interstellar Human Military Junta. It's a pleasure to meet you!}

{Xi Yan: I've got some absolutely explosive news for you!}

Reading the text on the communication interface, brimming with youthful exuberance, Bai Fengfeng could not help letting a faint smile cross his stern face.

What an energetic young man. Just like my own child.

As his elder, I should spend a little more time chatting with him.

Ah, the poor kid has it rough. Head of state at his age, with a whole bunch of fierce generals he can't control under him. If anything goes wrong, he might not even survive.

{Bai Fengfeng: A pleasure, Marshal Xi Yan. I'm glad to meet you.}

{Bai Fengfeng: So, what did you want to tell me?}

Filled with indulgence toward the younger man, Bai Fengfeng typed his reply.

{Xi Yan: I found the Hyacinth!}

Bang!

Bai Fengfeng shot to his feet, knocking over his chair as he stared at the screen in disbelief.

Huh?! (Alert!)

The Hyacinth? The Hyacinth I'm thinking of?

"Grand Marshal?" Hearing the noise, his assistant called from outside the door.

"I'm fine." Bai Fengfeng took a deep breath and sat back down.

Having a revelation like that dropped on him right out of the gate had nearly short-circuited his brain.

The Hyacinth held enormous significance for the United Nations of Earth.

Back then, their Autumn Chrysanthemum and the Hyacinth had split off from the main fleet, planning to found a nation together. But the Hyacinth, originally scheduled to arrive three years later, had become lost en route, leaving a wound in the heart of the entire United Nations of Earth.

For half a century, the United Nations of Earth had never abandoned its search for the Hyacinth.

Bai Fengfeng had never expected the Interstellar Human Military Junta to be the ones to find it.

Based on the communication system's calculations of the signal delay between them, the Interstellar Human Military Junta's Cybrex Alpha System lay an unknown number of light-years from the United Nations of Earth's Deneb System. How had the Hyacinth ended up all the way over there?

But there was no point thinking about that now. Remembering those brave colonists from back then, Bai Fengfeng sighed in sorrow.

What a shame. After so many years, there can't be anything left alive aboard the Hyacinth.

{Xi Yan: There are currently exactly 114,514 survivors aboard, all pioneers from back then.}

{Bai Fengfeng: Alive!!!}

{Bai Fengfeng: How is that possible? Where are they?}

{Xi Yan: (Suddenly loses it) If you want them, you'll have to come and take them.}

{Xi Yan: You already know the rules.}

{Bai Fengfeng: What the hell has gotten into you?}

Bai Fengfeng stood up and paced around his desk.

Over a hundred years, and this many people aboard the Hyacinth are still alive?

Did every single one of them awaken psionics or something?

{Xi Yan: They entered a wormhole with a temporal anomaly. From their perspective, only a few years have passed.}

A wormhole. That explains it.

Whenever something incomprehensible happened, you could just blame it on a wormhole.

{Xi Yan: Do you need me to build another colony ship and send them over?}

{Bai Fengfeng: ...}

If he remembered correctly, after the Interstellar Human Military Junta defected from Earth, they had also lost their way. Rather than traveling along hyperlanes, they had wandered around for quite some time before finding a new system. They had been lucky, too, or they could have remained lost in space forever.

That meant they had no starmap charting a hyperlane route between them!

{Bai Fengfeng: Do you have a starmap showing a route from your homeworld to the United Nations of Earth?}

{Xi Yan: Well, that's what you're here for... I'll send you the coordinates for the Cybrex Alpha System. See if you have a route here.}

{Xi Yan: [Coordinate file]}

Bai Fengfeng rubbed his forehead.

Definitely a young man.

{Bai Fengfeng: No need. Sending them over would take too much time and effort. Keep them with you and treat them well. At most, we'll want some related artifacts and such.}

{Bai Fengfeng: Anyway, back to personal matters. How are things going for you over there? Your father once asked me to look after you.}

Speaking to the only child his old friend had left, Bai Fengfeng's tone grew involuntarily affectionate.

He and Xi Lie had first met online and become close friends. Both had been dissatisfied with the corruption and xenophile ethics within the United Nations of Earth back then.

He himself had worked his way up to become Marshal of the United Nations of Earth, while Xi Lie had outright defected from the United Nations of Earth with troops and civilians to establish a new nation. Honestly, he lacked Xi Lie's sheer boldness.

Sadly, his old friend had died of illness. All he could do now was look out for Xi Lie's son, Xi Yan.

In Bai Fengfeng's eyes, dealing with the affairs of an entire nation while also keeping Xi Lie's overbearing generals in check had to be making life terribly difficult for the boy!

{Xi Yan: You knew my father, too?}

{Bai Fengfeng: Yes. Marshal Xi Lie and I were close friends. Given our generations, you ought to call me Uncle.}

{Xi Yan: Hi, Uncle Bai!}

{Xi Yan: [Cat reaching out emoji]}

Bai Fengfeng could not help smiling and shaking his head.

How adorable. Just like my own child.

Unfortunately, he did not yet know what great "good deeds" Xi Yan had done. Otherwise, he would never have said that.