Chapter 339: Passing Through
The Riken’s fourth colony was located on Planet Riven, constructed later than the other three colonies. After the first two colonies were completed, there was considerable debate within the Riken leadership over whether the third colony should be established on Planet Cloud Return or Planet Riven.
Planet Cloud Return, the third planet of the star system, and Planet Riven, the fifth, were equidistant from the Riken homeworld and each had unique advantages.
Ultimately, Planet Cloud Return was chosen due to its relatively lower terraforming difficulty.
The development of three colonies exhausted the Riken’s resources, leaving them unable to expand further for a time. Just as they began to recover and planned to construct a fourth colony, the Swarm emerged.
From that point on, Riken resources were primarily directed towards fleet construction and expanding the first three colonies. The fourth colony’s construction plan was shelved once more.
Following the catastrophic defeat of the expeditionary fleet, the Rikens shifted their focus to building extensive land-based and orbital defensive systems along with supporting power facilities.
Ironically, this situation led to the revival of the fourth colony’s construction plan—not because the Rikens had surplus resources, but due to an urgent need for a supply base in the outer regions of their star system.
Planet Raze and the Twin Star Defensive Zone hosted vast numbers of troops. Supplying these forces entirely from the homeworld proved unsustainable, especially for the more distant Planet Raze. The stretched supply lines resulted in significant resource waste. Even for the Twin Stars, relying on homeworld supplies was only a short-term solution.
Thus, the fourth colony was established on Planet Riven within the Twin Star System. This colony differed significantly from its predecessors as it was primarily designed as a large-scale production base.