The Riken soldier’s task was indeed complete. His role was rely that of an initial screener; upon discovering valuable information and triggering the alarm, all the equipnt and instrunts in his room were remotely commandeered by the intelligence departnt.
Before long, the two-minute video stirred up a storm among the Riken leadership. Optical observation stations on Planet Riven, Planet Riwu, and even the Riken howorld redirected more than 60% of their large-scale instrunts to focus on the location where the monitoring unit had been destroyed.
It didn’t take long for them to locate the fleet.
“I’ll bet anything—those warships aren’t part of the Swarm.”
“Alcer! This isn’t the ti for jokes!” Hamis snapped, glaring at Alcer, who shrugged indifferently.
Surprisingly, after a brief panic, the Riken high command settled into an unusual calm upon discovering this new fleet. So even seed to relish the situation.
Although the Rikens were currently surrounded and pinned down by the Swarm, they realized this also ant they were sowhat shielded by the Swarm. Any new force looking to trouble the Rikens would first have to contend with the Swarm.
This ironic layer of “protection” led to a rather relaxed atmosphere in what should have been a tense eting. The Rikens adopted the mindset of spectators, anticipating the Swarm’s clash with this new faction and hoping to see them mutually devastate each other.
After all, the Swarm was their oppressive captor, not a trusted guardian. If the newcors managed to engage the Swarm in a bloody conflict, both sides weakening each other would be a win-win for the Rikens.
They showed little concern for their own safety. To them, the Swarm was overwhelmingly powerful, while the newcors, based on the size of their warships, appeared only slightly stronger than the Rikens themselves.
“It seems the Swarm likely noticed them long ago, which is why they’ve been holding their position. We were overthinking it before.”
“Still, those newcors… their main engines look oddly familiar,” remarked a logistics general, staring at the high-resolution photos and videos captured by the Riken observation systems now trained on the dark-red fleet.
The remark drew attention. With so many advanced optical instrunts focused on the new fleet, the Rikens had acquired exceptionally clear images of their warships. The general’s comnt about the engines piqued interest.
“What did you notice, Safang?” soone asked.
Major General Safang was lost in thought, not responding imdiately. Suddenly, he moved swiftly, isolating the image of the dark-red warships’ rear engine section. He then retrieved an image of a Riken warship, isolating its engine as well, and placed the two images side by side.
The other Riken officers crowded around to see. Gradually, their expressions shifted, mouths agape in astonishnt.
“I understand that technological convergence can happen, but this… this is way too similar,” one officer murmured.
“If you hadn’t shown the full images, I wouldn’t have been able to tell which was which.”
“There are so minor differences in the details, but they’re nearly identical,” Safang said, adjusting the non-prescription glasses perched on his nose. The familiarity he had felt earlier was now glaringly obvious, leaving him even more puzzled.
“This isn’t just about convergence,” Safang continued. “Every civilization develops with its own unique culture, which shapes its distinct technological style. Consider the stark contrasts between the Rikens and the Swarm. Even among ourselves, before unification, the differences in style and culture between various nations and tribes were worlds apart.”
“And yet, here we are—separated by who knows how many light-years—and their designs align so closely with ours. Even if both of us follow the chanical technology path, it’s extraordinarily unlikely we’d arrive at such similar outcos.”
“Exactly!”
The Rikens fell into deep thought.
After a brief silence, Hamis spoke up suddenly: “Have you ever wondered why this new faction ca here?”
“I suspect it was the nuclear explosions that attracted them. If that’s the case, they can’t be too far from us,” replied Novaul, Fleet Commander of the Second Fleet, after so consideration. “Why bring this up now?”
Hamis didn’t answer directly but posed another question: “Where did our engine technology co from?”
Novaul rolled his eyes at Hamis’s seemingly erratic train of thought but managed to follow along. “From reverse-engineering the Treasure starship?”
“Exactly. Now, have you considered another possibility?”
By now, Novaul was catching on. He chuckled and replied, “That’s ridiculous. Sure, these newcors appear a little stronger than us based on their ship sizes, but suggesting they’re the original owners of the Treasure starship? I can’t agree with that.”
Hamis, unbothered, nodded in agreent. “That’s exactly my point.”
Suddenly, Safang interrupted with a eureka-like realization. “I think I understand what Admiral Hamis ans!”
“Oh? Then tell us,” said Hamis, gesturing for Safang to continue.
Safang nodded and took a mont to gather his thoughts. “Our engine technology cos from the ancient starship. It’s like crossing a river by feeling for the stones—it drastically shortened our research and developnt ti, but it also passed on its stylistic influences to us. The similarity in engine design between our ships and the newcors’ isn’t coincidental.” He paused, letting his words sink in.
“Since they aren’t the owners of the ancient starship, then they must have their own version of it!”
“You’re saying… they have another ancient starship?” The Rikens were stunned, finding the idea difficult to digest. Yet, upon careful consideration, they realized the possibility was quite high.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” soone muttered.
“Funny, so do I.”
What once seed like a stroke of fortune now felt like a carefully orchestrated plan. That realization left a sour taste in their mouths.
“So, this new faction may not have been drawn here by the nuclear explosions after all,” Hamis said, nodding.
“Exactly. That’s what I’m saying.”
“Do you know what ca to my mind first?” asked another officer.
“So kind of experint?”
“Haha, looks like we’re on the sa page.”
“A civilization or faction, using us as test subjects, but now rushing in because they see us on the brink of annihilation by the Swarm?”
“That’s a good story. I like it.”
“ too.”
“Looks like we’ve been underestimated.”
“It’s more about the imbalance of information. I’d argue that in terms of intelligence, we’re not inferior to any other species.”
“But the scale of this operation… If whoever is behind this harbors malicious intent, we might be in serious trouble.”
“Then, the Swarm is the wildcard?”
“Seems likely.”
“How are they different from us?”
“In countless ways. The simplest difference is that they primarily follow a biotechnology path. Even if you gave them an ancient starship, they’d have to reverse-engineer it and then convert its technology into their biological frawork. That’s much more complicated than what we had to do.”
“But that might also make their adaptations more valuable. The Swarm could be in for so trouble.”
“Kind of makes happy…”
Receiving all this in real ti, Sarah Kerrigan sighed. “A civilization destined to be livestock—why bother thinking so much?”
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