A Colossus rushes in at the start

Chapter 35 The Star River Alliance is in grave danger

Bernd is having trouble sleeping...

He recently developed swarm biohazard syndrome, a condition in which individuals become aware of certain actions taken by swarm biohazards and subsequently experience prolonged periods of negative states.

Swarm biohazard syndrome existed before, mainly affecting starship crew members. However, when swarm biohazards ravaged the galaxy, the number of patients with this disease surged dramatically on administrative planets.

To explain how Bennett contracted this disease...

It was at a military conference that I witnessed how the swarm of bee-like creatures controlled a star that was on the verge of exploding in a completely irrational way...

Since then, Bennett has suffered from insomnia, often accompanied by headaches. Medical diagnosis revealed that his pain was not physical but caused by a mental disorder.

"Mr. Bennett, how have you been lately?"

A soft-bodied alien resembling a blue slime with a single eye entered Bennett's medical room carrying gifts.

When Bennett saw the visitor, he didn't exchange many pleasantries, but instead asked the question he was most concerned about.

"Those things aren't important, Radis. How's the situation at the front?"

"So, do you want to hear the truth or the facts?"

While asking a question, Radis extended several tentacles from the soft body and placed the gifts she brought to visit her old friend on the table.

"Of course it's the truth. If I wanted good news, why would I ask you? Why not just deceive myself?" Bent said, dissatisfied.

A sophisticated lie can use the truth to mislead, thus achieving the purpose of deception. Radis's question was naturally a reminder to Bennett to pay attention to his condition.

Radis said, "The situation is not optimistic. The Dias Empire has completely fallen, and more than half of the Banner Union's star system has become a swarm of bees. Fortunately, the Alliance fleet has not suffered serious losses, and the advance of the swarm of bees has slowed down considerably after the Alliance fleet joined the battlefield."

After learning about the current situation from his friend, Bain breathed a sigh of relief. When he first saw that the swarm of bees could withstand the explosion of a star, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

The current situation is not good, but it's not too bad either; at least there hasn't been a complete rout.

"Has the Alliance reverse-engineered the principle behind the swarm creatures' ability to restrain star explosions?" Bernd asked impatiently.

"The basic principles have been understood," Radis said.

Radis explains to his friend the principle behind the swarm of bees that prevents the star from exploding.

"By directly applying the properties of psionic energy to spacetime, we can create regions where spacetime is infinitely stretched, which is a spacetime structure similar to a black hole."

"A black hole? No, that doesn't make sense. Those swarming bees can stretch those black things at will," Bernd questioned.

Berndt was not an academic in astronomy, but as the fleet's commander-in-chief, he must have in-depth knowledge of various celestial bodies in the universe. Otherwise, as the commander-in-chief, he would not be able to use the cosmic environment to create a favorable battlefield for his fleet.

If black holes could be arbitrarily flattened and molded, then it would be a simple matter for a swarm of bees to instantly pull out the singularity inside a black hole.

Bernd felt utterly powerless just imagining it.

Seeing that his friend had misunderstood, Radis explained, "It is a spacetime structure similar to a black hole, but it is not the same as that being a black hole, because those structures in spacetime affected by psionic energy do not have singularities like black holes."

"There was nothing there at first; the singularity only appeared after matter collapsed."

"Therefore, swarm organisms can arbitrarily stretch those black hole-like spacetime structures, because those structures do not have a stable singularity, but are just a spacetime without mass."

"Matter tells spacetime how to bend, and spacetime tells matter how to move. In the past, it was the singularity of a black hole that told spacetime how to bend into a black sphere. Now, psionic energy first bends spacetime into a black sphere, and then lets matter fall into its interior, forming a singularity."

Bernd understood, but his worries remained undiminished. Even if it was just a spacetime structure similar to a black hole, no attack known to the Star Alliance could cross that spacetime chasm and reach the enemy behind it.

The enemy can attack our side at will, while all our attacks are ineffective against the enemy; the result is self-evident.

Radis noticed his friend's worry and added, "But don't worry, the solution has already been found."

"How do I do it?"

The somewhat dejected Bernd suddenly perked up, as if he had found an oasis in a parched desert.

Radis said, "Just add matter. As matter is added, a singularity will be born inside the spacetime structure similar to a black hole. The difficulty for the swarm creatures to use this type of structure will become higher and higher. Finally, when the singularity energy level is greater than the swarm creatures' psionic energy, the swarm creatures will completely lose control over this type of spacetime structure."

"So, does that mean the Alliance can take back the star systems of the Dias Empire and the occupied territories of the Banner Union?" Bernd asked excitedly.

Considering Bennett's condition, Radis hesitated and asked, "...Do you really want to know?"

"Speak quickly," Bent urged.

Radis replied, "The industrial capabilities of the swarm creatures seem to be gradually catching up with the Alliance. All current indications suggest that the swarm creatures' mobile nest planets are increasing at an extremely high rate."

"As for the reason, I believe you probably guessed it a long time ago: the swarm of bee creatures has begun to extract stellar matter on a large scale."

"The swarm organisms and our technology development model are different. They do not need to rely on war machine swarms. Their productivity increases with the number of individuals. Currently, many stars have already gone out."

"The Alliance's only way out now is to achieve a new round of industrial innovation, allowing the Alliance's technology to be demonstrated more conveniently and quickly. Otherwise, relying solely on massive man-made structures will likely..."

……

Within the occupied Dias Empire star system, many fiery trees have grown on half of the stars in the star system. These fiery trees are naturally the star jets formed by planetary creatures using psionic energy to extract star matter.

The proliferation of life on the planet has led to bee colonies gaining increasing control over the areas they conquer.

Since emulating the Star Alliance and setting up numerous gravitational interference points in the conquered star systems, the Star Alliance fleet has been unable to easily penetrate the heart of the swarm-occupied star systems at faster-than-light speeds and launch surprise attacks by detonating stars with microscopic black holes, as it had in previous small-scale operations.

Small-scale battles were confined to the edge of the star field.

(End of this chapter)