Chapter 350: Ch A major turning point

While a major turning point was about to occur within Earth and the Federation—one that would affect millions—this would become a momentous event written in the Annals of Federation History.

It is a moment that will be remembered by many in the future, and the Federation would be praised for its long-sightedness (though minor criticisms would remain).

On the other hand, for the “Dark Humans”—the name given to those who attempted to cause chaos within the Federation—this would be a disastrous moment. It is something they, and their surviving descendants, would never be able to forget.

But that was for later. For now, there were still many places left to be explored.

Just outside Earth’s environment, a massive space station was taking shape. It had a diameter of at least 1,000 km and a width of 700 km. The design was a massive wheel-like ring with a cylindrical center, its tips shaped like blades pointing both above and below.

Though it was currently only a skeletal structure, millions of human-shaped automata and robots moved around it. Some were as small as a human, while others were massive workers hundreds of meters tall. Huge cargo ships, ranging from 10 km to 30 km in size, arrived continuously to unload structures and parts for the station.

Surrounding the construction site were several Battle Cruisers, such as the BC-21 Barracuda. These ships had undergone massive changes of their own, growing significantly in size. Their length had increased from a mere 1,950 meters to a staggering 5,150 meters, with a width of 2,100 meters and a height of 1,110 meters.

The weapon systems had also received a fair share of upgrades, though the exterior mostly remained the same standard Tier 1, Gen 1 design of the Barracuda class. Despite the familiar look, the Gen 2 Barracuda was at least 45% more powerful than its predecessor. While other ship classes existed, only the Barracudas were present at this construction site for now.

It wasn’t just the fleet that had changed; the entire Solar System had undergone a massive transformation. Mars and its two moons had been terraformed, and numerous defensive installations had been established. These defenses effectively split the star system into two distinct regions: the Inner Zone and the Outer Zone.

[Inner Zone ]

The inner zone, or the core zone, was divided from the rest of the system by a naturally formed asteroid belt (and it was obviously extremely lucrative because of the minerals it contained).

Within the inner region were the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and its moon, and even Mars (now terraformed). Because Earth currently hosted the human population, as did the moon—and surely Mars would be occupied by humans with the grand relocation that will soon start—this zone was heavily guarded by a sub-legion along with many planetary and defensive outposts.

[The Outer Zone ]

Outside the inner zone was the outer zone, stretching beyond the asteroid belt and covering more than half of the solar system’s area.

Along with Jupiter and its four primary moons, there was Saturn and its moons, including Titan, which was now fully terraformed and had become a habitable world, ready to welcome people to its surface.

Following Jupiter, Saturn, and their moons were Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Beyond them lay the Kuiper Belt, which also acted as the protective wall of the outer zone, and beyond the belt was the Oort Cloud, marking the final frontier of the solar system.

The Kuiper Belt, though not as dense as the asteroid belt surrounding the inner zone, was also heavily reinforced with a massive array of weapon installations.

These were placed directly onto many hidden asteroids, which themselves acted as defense installations. This was followed by the development of four sub-legion installations around the star system, which were still in progress.

Although progress was slow compared to the super station being created around Earth, it was located near the enormous ring structure—the space gate—which has now almost completed its construction.

And even though the progress could be said to be astonishing—with the keel of a hundred-kilometer-long fortress already being laid and visible—it was clear these defense platforms aren’t yet being given much importance and were instead slowly being constructed.

However, with the efficiency of the Imperial Military Engineering Corps—a body that was separately created and tasked with building military infrastructure, excluding the shipyards or mech yards—the work continues. All installations related to the military, including the space station being created around Earth, are the job of this department as well. Therefore, these installations won’t take much more time to complete.

Even the Asteroid Belt surrounding it had been reinforced, with massive weapon installations mounted directly onto the asteroids themselves. The same level of extreme security was applied to the outer reaches of the system.

Beyond the Solar System, the surrounding sectors within the Soul Region had undergone a fair share of changes of their own as well. Utilising the massive human resources at hand—and under the direct management of Kallus and the Red Empress—the population (taken from earth )had undergone specialised training within the Universal Domain.

Due to time dilation, these citizens spent anywhere from 20 to 100 years inside the Domain, though far less time passed in the real world. During this period, the population exploded. From the original 2.6 billion, the number grew to nearly 10 billion.

Only about five to six percent of this total—not counting the 2.6 billion already installed—were born naturally, while the rest were born in artificial wombs.

These children, born within artificial wombs and raised under the perfect nurturing conditions of the void fleet, were cultivated with absolute, unwavering loyalty to him and his fleet through Kallus’s manipulation of time within the universal domain. Not to mention the high level of education each of them has gone through in various schools of thought.

Whether it be commanding ships and the technical aspects, or even engineering and creating those same ships, mechs, and other technological fields—including biological knowledge—these groups were specialized in their own fields.

Being the first generation of humans, they were simply born with more talent and strength than a normal human from the beginning, giving them an untold advantage. This helped them during their 16 years of life, where they comprehended all of this vast knowledge.

And they all matured with the experience of over 20 years. Those from the commanding class were taken through many VR simulation battles where they led their own forces, followed by expeditions within the Universal Domain’s untouched star systems—places teeming with powerful magical beasts and other races!

While those from the engineering class moved along with them, they provided support in their own specific fields. The same was true for those from different schools of thought; they were basically masters and elites of their own classes and fields.

Kallus utilized those he had nurtured carefully, along with the massive resources he had collected from within the Universal Domain.

Although these resources were now limited compared to his previous unrestricted and unlimited supplies, he had to campaign himself in order to capture those locations and mine the materials.

Thus, they were truly hard-earned. Because of this, the Void Fleet completely and successfully took over the approximately 60 star systems that make up the entire Sol Region—and this happened in a mere one-month timeframe.

Moving from the border zone toward the inner and core zones of the Sol Region, the Void Fleet didn’t just take over; they immediately began fortifying. After securing the outer zones of the Sol Region, the Void Fleet—under the Red Empress’s command while Kallus was away on a task of his own—heavily militarized eight star systems along the border.

She created eight massive defensive outposts, each maintaining a heavy fleet presence. These were further armed with three Star Light Fortresses (a new type of weapon the Void Fleet has begun to field).

These orbital fortresses, spanning thousands of kilometers in diameter, were supported by numerous weapon installations within their gigantic frames, followed by twelve legions of ships per fleet.

Each legion consisted of three hundred ships: 20 to 40 battleships; 30 to 50 battle cruisers; 120 to 150 destroyers; 60 to 80 frigates; and 10 to 20 support ships. A full fleet is comprised of twelve legions, totaling three thousand six hundred ships.

Every ship was a Generation Two class, making them extremely powerful even on their own. Along with many key defense installations around the star systems themselves, it was nearly impossible for anyone to invade.

In fact, just knowing the level of this display, no one would even consider attacking without thinking a thousand times. After all, who could possibly break through these behemoths? And there were seven more of these defensive outposts created around the outer border of the Sol Region itself.

Just as the solar system was split into two different zones, a similar structure has been applied to the Sol Region, though with its own unique differences. It is divided into three main areas: the Outer Zone, the Inner Zone, and the Core Zone.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep