Chapter 395: The Enemy Fleet

Ten hours later, a large group gathered in the captain’s quarters to discuss the situation.

There had been a few minor skirmishes with enemy combat drones during this time, but they all ended without serious incident.

Some enemy ships had also engaged their warp drives. Although they were technically faster than Deep Space, their trajectories were easy to predict due to the strict linear nature of warp travel.

By carefully calculating their paths and launching massive kinetic barrages from the railguns, the human forces were able to score direct hits. After several fatal collisions, the pursuing vessels were forced to back off.

What everyone feared most was the prospect of warp-capable missiles. Fortunately, the enemy drones didn’t seem to carry such ordnance and never deployed them.

The most heart-stopping moment came when the enemy’s main fleet was finally spotted. An emergency alarm from the Astronomical Observatory had jolted Jason awake just moments ago.

In reality, it wasn’t an immediate crisis, but rather a false alarm. Due to the vast cosmic distances, what the sensors observed was merely optical data—photons that had traveled for 8.3 days.

An 8.3-day-old optical image couldn’t possibly attack them across such a massive gulf. Nevertheless, after reviewing the incoming sensor data, Jason immediately assembled all rested command staff.

"This is the enemy’s main command fleet," Jason said grimly. "Judging by its sheer mass... it could probably vaporize Deep Space in a single second. Whether they possess anti-gravity or other warp-interdiction weapons remains unknown."

"According to the gravitational wave telemetry, their main capital ships are approximately 0.023 light-years away. Keep in mind, this data is delayed. Their actual position is closer. They are currently heading toward Planet Digg-114 at high speed."

Jason pulled up the scans. "They are maintaining strict radio silence, and their thermal emissions are practically non-existent. We have no idea how they’re masking their heat signatures. However, the gravitational wave array picked them up easily because the vessels are simply colossal!"

To be precise, the Observatory’s report highlighted a massive anomaly, a central sphere over 2,000 kilometers in diameter. It was escorted by seven smaller signatures, with calculations putting each of those at roughly 150 to 200 kilometers across.

It was an overwhelmingly powerful armada.

The fleet was moving at roughly 0.6 times the speed of light—or 0.6013c, if tracked to precise decimals. Their trajectory was perfectly stable, showing no signs of deceleration.

Staring at the ripple-filled gravitational wave readouts, Jason’s expression darkened. The breath hitched in the throats of everyone in the room; they were collectively stunned.

Because this exact data profile sounded terrifyingly familiar.

A moon-sized super-spaceship was one thing. Given a few million years to patiently refine their warp drives, humanity could eventually construct a vessel that size, too. What shocked them was the specific velocity.

Their stable sub-light cruise meant that even at 0.6013c, the enemy sensors could pierce the relativistic distortion to scan the outside world and safely navigate the fleet.

Even if it wasn’t true real-time detection, operating safely at that threshold was an astonishing feat. It laid bare the massive technological gap between the two forces.

During near-light-speed travel, the light ahead undergoes severe blueshift, while the light behind experiences extreme redshift.

As velocity increases, starlight concentrates into two points at the front and rear, leaving the peripheral view completely black.

Occasionally, a few stars would streak past and vanish into the void behind them.

To observe the outside environment, shipboard computers had to process and quantitatively analyze massive clusters of light at the front and rear.

The most significant hurdle was that the warp envelope distorted these light clusters. If a warp bubble were to suddenly rupture under such strain, the immense stored energy would be released instantly in a catastrophic explosion.

Extracting accurate external data from within a warp bubble tested not only a civilization’s raw computing power, but also its core algorithms.

This was the true hallmark of an empire’s technological tier. It was a highly proprietary breakthrough.

And the most bizarre part was that this specific data profile matched something they had seen before.

"The Annihilators—the empire that hunted the Viridians, operated at this exact velocity. Down to the third decimal point. That can’t be a coincidence. It is highly probable that we are looking at the exact same civilization, using the exact same sensor technology."

"0.6013c is their absolute speed limit for reliable external scanning," Lily explained softly, anticipating the confusion of the room.

Hearing this, the conference room erupted as if a bomb had gone off. This was a staggering revelation.

The universe or at least the galaxy, suddenly felt remarkably small. The same immensely powerful empire that had chased the Viridians like stray dogs over a century ago was now hunting The Federation!

They couldn’t help but wonder if the Viridians had ever made it home.

Many committee members grew inexplicably excited, floating wild theories. Some suggested leveraging their mutual enemy to form an alliance with the Viridians. The ideas grew increasingly absurd.

Amid the chaotic chatter, Jason coughed twice to silence the room before reading off a long list of data. "Since the telemetry isn’t real-time, we are only seeing a delayed snapshot of the past."

"The enemy fleet likely doesn’t even know we just engaged their drone vanguard. They are just burning straight ahead."

"According to our models, they haven’t reached Planet Digg yet. Factoring in the time it will take their capital ships to decelerate and survey the planet, we have at least a six to ten-day head start. That is more than enough time..."

Reaching this conclusion, Jason breathed a massive sigh of relief.

Based on the telemetry, they were not in immediate danger. They had simply provoked a terrifyingly advanced empire, the exact same enemy the Viridians had faced.

He didn’t even know what to say; there was almost a dark, cosmic humor to it all. Either way, escaping with their lives would be a massive stroke of luck.

A century ago, back when humanity was a newly minted interstellar species, they hadn’t understood the implications of scanning the void at 0.6013c.

They had merely marveled at the sheer scale of the planetary spaceship. Now that The Federation had advanced to a higher technological tier, they understood just how critical that data point was.

Humanity’s current algorithms could only support a maximum scanning threshold of 0.107c. Any faster, and their sensors could only capture blurred fragments. Faster still, and they would be completely blind, flying through the dark with their eyes closed.

"Alright everyone, quiet down. We have to acknowledge that the power disparity is massive. To an empire like that, fielding a planetary-scale spaceship is likely a routine deployment."

One military officer compared the current telemetry with the historical logs from over a century ago and pointed out a crucial detail.

"Note that this planetary-class spaceship is not the same one we observed back near Mars. The volume is significantly smaller. This confirms they operate more than one of these super-vessels."

Jason nodded. "Which leads me to believe that this entire stellar region—likely including our old Solar System, falls within the territorial borders of The Annihilators. Any questions?"

An interstellar empire’s territory was bound to be vastly empty. Unless a system possessed critical hyper-lane access or ultra-rich resources, they wouldn’t bother garrisoning it.

The committee quietly discussed the implications, agreeing that their original Solar System had probably been inside Annihilator space all along.

It was just that humanity back on Earth had been too primitive, like the native Diggites, barely more significant than a patch of algae. The empire simply hadn’t cared to intervene.

"A powerhouse empire, at least a Tier 3 or Tier 4 civilization exerting dominance over such a remote, barren sector... they must not have many friends!"

"They’re called The Annihilators for a reason. They constantly wage war, so it’s no wonder their diplomatic relations are poor," one analyst joked. "Don’t advanced empires usually cluster near the galactic core? Did they fight so many wars they had to retreat out here to the rim?"

The chatter continued, though the mood wasn’t overly grim. The immediate battle was over, and Deep Space was accelerating rapidly, drastically improving their odds of a clean getaway.

When you owed the universe an insurmountable debt of survival, complaining about the sheer scale of the threat was a coping mechanism.

Of course, some remained focused on the serious implications.

Following this massive engagement, all of Jason’s previous fears about the crew’s naivety and immaturity vanished.

A somber atmosphere still hung over the civilian sectors, but the new generation of soldiers had finally grown up. Their understanding of the brutal reality of interstellar war had deepened permanently.

This shift extended beyond the military; among the civilian population, a fierce surge of civic duty and defense initiatives began to take root, leading to a massive spike in enlistment applications.