Chapter 464: Conquest
Mobilizing forces across star systems is never a task that can be completed in a short time. The Koya Alliance, after ten years of effort, had managed to assemble just over ten million warships at the border of the Daqi Empire’s territory.
These ships represented the combined military reserves of several nearby civilizations, while many more fleets were still en route. Given the outer-ring civilizations’ relatively short development time and lagging technological advancement, with average speeds of only two to three times the speed of light, the assembly of such a vast fleet within a decade was already remarkably efficient.
According to the calculations of various think tanks, this war would take over a hundred years just to mobilize and deploy forces. For factions further away, it would require hundreds or even thousands of years to reach the battlefield.
But this posed no issue. Predictions suggested that the war would be drawn out and exhaustive. Even if the Swarm was annihilated early on, the subsequent struggles for territory and resources would make a swift resolution impossible.
Should the conflict enter a prolonged stalemate and spread across the entire Interstellar Technological Confederation, engulfing thousands of star systems and spanning tens of thousands of light-years, the war could potentially last tens of thousands of years—or even longer.
Every faction involved was well aware of these stakes. Yet, while they were still in the process of assembling their forces, the Swarm, long regarded as formidable in defense but weak in offense, launched a sudden and aggressive counterattack.
No one had anticipated this move. To them, the Swarm was undeniably the weaker party. Shouldn’t the Swarm have patiently awaited the completion of their enemies’ fleet assembly, endured their attempts to justify action, and then waited for the inevitable Confederation rules to be used against them, followed by the eventual enforcement of sanctions?
They had even drafted the justification in advance: star systems surrounding newly emerging civilizations should be protected and not preemptively occupied. This was merely a slight amendment to existing Interstellar Technological Confederation regulations.
Take the relationship between the Swarm and the Riken as an example. Any territories seized around the Rat Folk and Riken by the Swarm prior to joining the Confederation would, under these new rules, have to be relinquished. The Swarm would have to yield all nearby star systems to comply with the revised policy.