The discovery in the Daqi star system, while seemingly insignificant—those Daqi remnants behind enemy lines were unlikely to stir up much trouble—nonetheless shattered a long-standing belief the Confederation held about the Swarm: that they never accepted surrender.
“Could it be that the Swarm intends to capture us?” one representative wondered after reviewing the information.
“It’s quite possible.”
“But what use are we? To be honest, aside from fighting, my other skills aren’t particularly high-level, and my research abilities are diocre at best,” one foreign representative admitted candidly.
“Haha, isn’t it obvious? Capturing live prisoners ans taking hostages. That’s our greatest value.”
“Exactly. After all, there are over a hundred races here, nearly half of the Confederation’s total. If we’re captured, our respective races will hesitate to act aggressively in future campaigns, which would relieve a great deal of pressure on the Swarm.”
“Never would’ve thought the Swarm would pull sothing like this. All this ti, I believed that despite so uncertainties, victory would ultimately be ours. Turns out, we were the clowns all along.”
“Don’t belittle yourselves; it’s not our fault. The Swarm simply exploited an information gap. If we’d known this beforehand and prepared accordingly, the Swarm wouldn’t have been able to achieve what they’ve done now.”
“Who knows? The Swarm’s thods are endless. Even if it weren’t this tactic, they’d have co up with another. Moreover, judging by the Swarm’s earlier behavior, they seem to have an intimate understanding of our ship designs. And it’s not just one or two instances—it’s widespread across all ships. This suggests that the Swarm undoubtedly has spies within the Confederation, and their ranks must be high. I’ll even go so far as to say that among those present here, there are definitely Swarm moles!”
This statent from the representative caused an uproar in the eting hall. Everyone present was a prominent figure of their respective races, and being accused of espionage was an affront to their integrity.
However, after calming down and reflecting, the attendees realized that such a possibility wasn’t far-fetched—in fact, it was highly likely. Otherwise, the Swarm wouldn’t have consistently gained the upper hand.
With this realization, mutual suspicion began to creep into their interactions.
“I’m actually quite curious—what kind of benefits did the Swarm offer to make soone betray their own race and commit such acts?”
“I’m curious too, but unfortunately, I don’t know.”
“Who knows whether you really don’t know or are pretending not to.”
“Only the person involved truly knows!”
“…”
“Enough! I don’t care who’s innocent and who’s a spy. Our top priority right now is to thwart the Swarm’s plot and avoid burdening our successors.” As the situation began spiraling out of control under the looming threat of defeat and capture, Commander Conradus of the Confederation stepped forward decisively.
“The Swarm hasn’t made a move yet, which ans they’re not fully prepared. We need to seize this window. I need each of your races to imdiately assess the situation within your fleets—can we eliminate the threats inside our ships? If not, how long will it take to prepare for retreat?”
In this critical mont, Conradus stood firm like a pillar, issuing a rapid series of commands. After a brief pause, he added, “Outer-ring civilizations, retreat imdiately!”
“Why…?” A representative from a mid-ring civilization grew agitated upon hearing that the outer-ring fleets could withdraw imdiately. But before he could finish his protest, Conradus silenced him with a glare brimming with nace.
“The outer-ring fleets suffered heavy casualties in previous battles. Right now, the battlefield shows fewer than a hundred million Swarm units larger than five hundred ters. If we fight without them, we can still secure victory with minimal losses. But if we retreat, their slower speeds put them at risk of annihilation if placed at the rear under Swarm pursuit. We cannot abandon our comrades like that.”
His words were grandiose and morally upright, successfully winning favor from all outer-ring civilizations while leaving most other representatives stunned.
Their expressions conveyed deep confusion, faces frozen in disbelief. The unspoken question lingered in their minds. Since when did the Rashudia race grow a conscience?
But then again, the Rashudia were a neurotic race; anything was possible. Perhaps their conscience had conveniently surfaced at this mont. Regardless, Conradus had already taken the moral high ground, leaving others with little room to object. Thus, the outer-ring civilizations were allowed to leave first, while others began tallying their situations.
The assessnt process was swift—there wasn’t much to evaluate. The situation looked bleak across the board. The Swarm’s units had occupied key facilities within the ships, making cleanup operations fraught with hesitation.
If this stalemate continued, the situation would only worsen for the Confederation.
“It seems we must retreat,” Conradus muttered, his eyes filled with intense reluctance. His Rashudia race had co seeking a decisive victory against the Swarm. Victory had been within reach, only to slip away. Any rational person would feel bitter about it.
“Commander, as long as we can retreat to the frontline base, we’ll have another chance. Next ti, with better preparation, we won’t fall victim to such underhanded tactics again,” a mid-ring representative consoled, seeing Conradus standing idly without issuing further orders.
“Yes, Commander. As long as we survive, we can fight another day.”
“We’ll regroup and return stronger!”
“…”
Conradus surveyed the gathered representatives and slowly nodded. “I’ve already communicated the current situation with command back ho. They’ve cleared part of the route for us. Let’s retreat for now.”
Stubborn as they were, the Rashudia finally relented. The various races, eager to flee, hurriedly turned their ships around. Having been on high alert for the Swarm’s potential activation of the stellar bomb, everyone was already prepared to retreat.
Though the reason wasn’t due to the stellar bomb this ti, the outco was similar. Retreat routes had been ticulously planned and rehearsed countless tis. For a mont, the Confederation’s withdrawal appeared orderly rather than chaotic.
However, so races encountered issues. The previously departing outer-ring civilizations had reached the vicinity of the mid-ring formations.
Whether intentionally or not, they obstructed and blocked the escape routes, slowing down the mid-ring retreat.
“……&*! These bastards—are they trying to get themselves killed?!”
But this was re impotent rage. No matter how much they looked down on those backward outer-ring civilizations, no one dared issue orders to attack friendly forces in this situation.
They were so close to returning ho—they didn’t want to invite unnecessary trouble.
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