Chapter 207: Negotiations at Lunar Headquarters

“Nicely done!”

Inside the Lunar Headquarters of the Federation Fleet, the senior conference room buzzed with tension.

After reading the latest frontline report, Mu Xingchen clenched his fist and shouted excitedly.

Vladimir and Ryan couldn’t hide their own excitement either.

Who would’ve thought, it’s been less than three months since Lin Yu went out there, and he’s already taken down over 46,000 warships from a Tier 3 civilization and captured another 3,000.

The Federation’s biggest threat had just been handled.

As for the remaining 60,000 or so Tier 2 civilization warships that had entered the interstellar current, none of the three seemed worried in the slightest.

Forget the force Lin Yu commands for a second.

Just the Sixth and Ninth Fleets, already in place and armed with all those Seawolf-class warships, were more than enough to finish the job.

Not to mention they’ve still got quantum bombs at their disposal.

And honestly, even without the quantum bombs, the crossfire from tens of thousands of warships is on another level compared to just a thousand.

By contrast, whether the attackers sent 3,000 or 60,000 ships, the number arriving per minute didn’t change.

On one hand, firepower just jumped eightfold. On the other, their rate through the current stayed exactly the same.

They weren’t even as advanced as the defenders’ ships.

So, it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen.

Basically, every wave of five enemy ships that showed up likely wouldn’t survive long enough for the next five to arrive.

So whether it was 60,000 or 600,000 or even 6 million ships showing up…

There was zero chance they’d ever break through the defending forces.

As far as things at the Barnard Defense Circle went, the situation was solid.

“Tomorrow, Lin Yu will deliver their fleet’s senior officers to the Moon. Vladimir, I’m putting you in charge of interrogations.”

“No problem!”

Vladimir nodded right away.

After all, intel had always been his specialty in the fleet.

“Alright, let’s set that aside for now. There’s another issue we need to discuss, and honestly, this one’s been weighing on me.”

Once the interrogation assignments were taken care of, Mu Xingchen spoke again.

“We predicted the arrival of these civilizations for a while now. After all, the Desolate Star Region was their only realistic path to break free from the Drac Empire and start developing again. But if their operation fails, will they leak what happened here to the Drac Empire? That’s the critical question now.”

“Because the Drac Empire is a true Tier 4 civilization. If they come knocking now, we don’t stand a chance.”

Mu Xingchen wasn’t just being pessimistic.

It was simply the truth.

Based on the Federation’s intelligence, even though the Drac Empire might be the weakest Tier 4 civilization in the Milky Way,

It still wasn’t something the current Federation could possibly face head-on.

Just their standing regular navy supposedly had a million warships, and even their second-line security fleets blew any Tier 3 civilization’s ships out of the water.

Because, besides jump drive technology, Tier 4 civilizations also had energy shield tech.

Which even those second-line security fleets used across the board.

How could the Federation fight an opponent like that right now?

So, the problems from the Barnard direction were far from over.

In fact…

The real trouble hadn’t even begun yet.

How they handled things from this point on would be a true test of human ingenuity.

A heavy silence hung over the room.

There was no simple answer to this one.

“I think all they really want is somewhere their civilization can develop without the Drac Empire breathing down their necks, right? So, why not just let them into the Desolate Star Region and give them some stars of their own?”

“There are over 30,000 stars in that region anyway. No chance we’d ever finish developing them all.”

“Of course, this wouldn’t be entirely free. Just like the other civilizations, they’d have to sign the Federation’s affiliated-civilization agreement.”

“That way, they wouldn’t dare betray us to the Drac Empire. If the Drac Empire did show up, their own interests would be first to disappear.”

Ryan, the Deputy Commander, offered his suggestion.

The other two immediately perked up.

It really was a solution, and it wouldn’t cost the Federation much.

Most importantly, if they pulled it off, the Federation would have five new ‘eyes’ in the prosperous region of the Orion Arm.

They could even use these newcomers to get their hands on resources from the prosperous zone that the Desolate Star Region desperately lacked, or didn’t have at all.

“It’s definitely a smart idea, but…”

“It’s fine for the four Tier 2 civilizations, but would we really be able to keep the Tier 3 one under control?”

Vladimir still had a concern.

“I don’t see the problem. They’re down to just about 3,000 ships, and completely cut off from supplies now. Even if reinforcements came from the back, that’s at least ten years down the road.”

“By then, we’ll probably have pumped out over 100,000 Zhulong-class B warships. What’s there to worry about?”

“Plus, we still have the jump drive tech. What could a Tier 3 civilization possibly do by then?”

Ryan didn’t look concerned at all.

Mu Xingchen nodded his agreement.

“Alright, let’s do it your way!”

After a moment’s thought, even Vladimir agreed.

——

The next day.

Space distorted in a shimmer.

The Houyi appeared in lunar orbit.

A flash of white light later, a group of high-ranking imperial officers and more than a dozen heavily armored infantry tasked with escorting them materialized inside the Federation Fleet’s lunar headquarters.

Then, over the course of three days…

Vladimir and his intelligence team interrogated every Venus Empire officer, one by one.

Afterwards, Mu Xingchen had a long meeting—over an hour—with Dodovik.

Of course, that meeting didn’t yield any real results.

It wasn’t that the negotiations broke down. Dodovik simply wasn’t in charge.

After all, he was just the Third Legion commander, not the emperor.

However, Dodovik clearly showed a lot of interest in Mu Xingchen’s proposal, and with permission, contacted his emperor the very same day.

Just one day later…

Formal talks between the Venus Empire and the Human Federation began.

Mu Xingchen borrowed a page from Lin Yu’s old playbook, and the empire quickly signed the affiliated-civilization agreement—along with a supplement.

According to the supplement, the Federation would allow the remaining imperial fleets and any future reinforcements into the Desolate Star Region, where they’d be permitted to carve out territory for themselves.

But, the Federation set a hard limit on the size of these territories.

No more than one hundred stars per civilization; if they wanted more, they’d have to earn points just like anyone else.

Additionally, the Federation agreed to provide the empire with ten jump engines free of charge, so they could quickly transfer some of their population.

After all, their emigrant ships…

Lin Yu had already blown them all to bits…

Transferring a batch of people over swiftly would let the empire form fleets locally, without waiting years for reinforcements.

Once the settlers arrived, they could just buy warships directly from the Federation.

The faster they claimed territory, the sooner they could start building.

Nothing wrong with that.

And from the Federation’s perspective, it’s all business. Of course, they’d sell.

Not to mention, every warship they sell comes with a backdoor. Honestly, that’s a bonus.

As for the points system required to buy warships…

That was barely an issue.

After all, the technology held by a Tier 3 civilization was way more advanced than that of Tier 2 civilizations.

And, well, the tech itself was just plain more valuable.