Chapter 338: The Colony
To the surprise of the Rikens, the Swarm forces completely ignored Cloud Return, flying brazenly past its outer limits and staying beyond the Rikens’ firing range.
The Rikens stationed on Planet Cloud Return felt their hearts leap to their throats. The transport ships at the local colony had just departed, and reinforcements from the homeworld were still en route. If the Swarm had chosen to attack, there wouldn’t have been a second or third evacuation wave.
Now that the Swarm had bypassed them, the Rikens breathed a collective sigh of relief but were left puzzled.
“Where are they going?”
Minutes later, the same question echoed among commanders of the Homeworld Defense Zone. A few more minutes passed before the message reached the Twin Star Defensive Zone.
The officers stationed at the Twin Stars, many of whom had faced the Swarm in previous battles—whether during the defense of Planet Raze or the ongoing war at Planet Izumo—were among the Rikens’ most experienced in dealing with the Swarm.
“They’re opening a sub-hive!” declared a female Riken general decisively, her tone tinged with an ironic sneer.
“I agree. We should’ve seen this coming. Since they can directly absorb radiation energy from gas giants, the radiation from a star would be even more attractive,” another general chimed in.
“Indeed. The annual brightness reductions of the stars in the T81 and T85 systems—fractions of a percent—are caused by their structures partially blocking stellar radiation.”