Chapter 149: Enemy of the Viridian’s

What could they possibly do? What solutions were even left on the table?

The old proverb “a donkey at the end of its rope” perfectly described the Federation’s current predicament. When strength is lacking, one can compensate with strategy; but when the disparity in raw power is astronomical, no strategy in the universe can bridge the gap. It was like an egg trying to shatter a boulder, an ant trying to uproot a sequoia tree, or a praying mantis trying to stop a charging tank.

Spaceships the size of planets, just conceptualizing the scale sent a deep, primal chill down the spine. The sheer magnitude of this new interstellar power completely crushed any lingering human desire to resist.

But… they couldn’t just sit there and wait to die!

Just as Jason was about to stand up and address the room, a younger man beat him to it. It was Evan, the promising political strategist Jason had begun grooming for higher leadership.

Evan’s face was pale, but his voice was steady. “Director, before we panic, we must definitively answer two questions. First: Is this massive fleet an extension of the Viridian Empire, or do they belong to a completely different civilization? And if they are different, are they related to the Viridians in any way?”

“Second: What is their objective in the Solar System? Are they simply passing through to replenish resources, or is there a specific target?”

“I believe we can only formulate a targeted survival strategy if we clarify these two variables…”

Jason nodded firmly; these were the exact questions he had been preparing to ask.

Although he had been cut off, Jason wasn’t annoyed in the slightest. Evan’s proactive questioning proved that the council was still thinking critically and pragmatically, rather than simply dumping the apocalyptic burden entirely on Jason’s shoulders.

The room erupted into hushed, intense debate over the two questions.

“A simple resource stop? The mathematical probability of that is effectively zero. We already had the Viridian fleet stumble into our system. Are we really expected to believe a second, completely unrelated armada just happened to wander in a few months later?”

“Is the local cluster really that densely populated with interstellar empires? Lightning doesn’t strike the same crater twice by coincidence!” a senior astrophysicist argued.

Jason completely agreed. First, the Viridians arrived, and now this apocalyptic armada appears on their exact same flight path, separated by only a few months. Statistically speaking, it was practically impossible for this to be a random coincidence!

Therefore, there had to be a hidden variable connecting the two events.

“Perhaps the Solar System is actually a designated historical battlefield? Are they here to scavenge the ruins of ancient empires to reverse-engineer superior technology?”

The speaker was Austin. He had always been borderline obsessed with his “Ancient Solar War” theory. It was a terrifying hypothesis that was impossible to definitively prove or disprove. However, if it were true, humanity’s situation was infinitely more perilous, because the Precursor Ark they currently occupied was the ultimate prize, the intact remnant of a god-tier civilization!

“There is a much simpler, more immediate third possibility,” another scientist countered. “This super-armada is directly connected to the Viridians!”

“Either this planetary spaceship is the Viridian Empire’s true flagship coming to reinforce their scouts… or they are the Viridians’ active enemies!”

At this suggestion, the room seemed to collectively hold its breath as the pieces clicked into place. The ideas began to flow freely, the discussion growing increasingly heated.

The third scenario was overwhelmingly the most probable. The Viridian cruiser had arrived in the Solar System critically damaged, leaking massive amounts of infrared heat and limping on failing engines! Their ship was so badly mangled they couldn’t even make it to the nearest neighboring star!

“There are only a few things that can inflict that level of catastrophic damage on an advanced cruiser: total war, a massive collision with space debris, or an internal reactor sabotage. Among these, war is the only logical answer!” The consensus in the room rapidly solidified.

“A random meteorite impact is highly unlikely. Their ship is over 150 kilometers long. With a hull that massive, their navigational deflector shields would be immense. Even if they struck a dense debris field, it wouldn’t inflict near-fatal, system-wide damage…”

“As for an internal riot or sabotage… we can table that for now. A true interstellar empire must have a ruthlessly efficient political and security apparatus. Unless the entire crew formed a suicide pact, an internal mutiny wouldn’t cripple the main drives.”

“Therefore, it has to be war! The only logical explanation is that they just barely escaped a massive fleet engagement. That’s why their ship was ripped to shreds and desperate for a safe harbor to repair!”

Dr. Arthur Lambert stood up, his face flushed with sudden realization. “Exactly! After their fleet was routed, the survivors engaged a blind warp jump and fled in panic to our Solar System. But the empire represented by this planetary spaceship relentlessly pursued them!”

“We… we’re just caught in the crossfire!”

A wave of horrifying realization washed over the council. If Dr. Lambert’s hypothesis was correct, the entire bizarre chain of events made perfect, terrifying sense.

These damned Viridian refugees had inadvertently dragged humanity into a galactic war!

“Fuck!”

“God damn it!”

A chorus of furious curses erupted from the normally disciplined council members.

But understanding the political landscape didn’t change humanity’s immediate fate… They still needed a concrete survival strategy.

In hindsight, the Viridians were actually quite reasonable to deal with; their psychological profile and logic structures were surprisingly similar to humanity’s. They were, for all intents and purposes, the first interstellar civilization humanity had truly “interacted” with. (While the crashed spacecraft on Mars was discovered earlier, the biological entity inside had been hostile and uncommunicative, so it didn’t count as diplomatic contact).

But this relentless, overwhelmingly powerful new armada was a complete unknown. No one knew their psychological profile, their diplomatic protocols, or whether they would simply swat humanity out of the sky on their way to crush the Viridians.

They had crept into the Solar System in absolute stealth and radio silence; they were clearly operating on hostile military protocols. Thank God humanity had salvaged the Gravitational Wave Telescope, or they would have been completely blind to the impending doom.

If these two interstellar empires truly clashed in the Solar System, one thing was certain: the victors would never allow humanity to simply sit on the sidelines and watch, especially given how close Mars was to the combat zone.

Jason rubbed his temples, a massive migraine building. He wanted to flee the system just as badly as everyone else. If the Noah’s main drives were functional, he would have ordered an immediate evacuation months ago. They never wanted anything to do with the Viridians in the first place! But humanity’s engineering was too primitive; they couldn’t achieve escape velocity and cross interstellar distances using crude nuclear thrusters!

“…So the core issue is the Viridian ship?”

What were they supposed to do?

As the room descended back into frantic arguing, a loud, booming voice cut through the noise.

“Whatever it takes, we have to force the Viridians out of this system… Make them break orbit and run, immediately!”

The speaker was Chief Engineer Isaac, the head of the Aegis Industrial Complex. He rarely spoke up during these high-level strategic meetings, preferring to stick to logistics, but he couldn’t hold back anymore. “If we chase the Viridians out into deep space, the armada will follow them! The crisis might bypass us entirely!”

Jason’s heart skipped a beat. Isaac was right. If this unknown armada was purely focused on hunting down the Viridian survivors, forcing the Viridians to flee would draw the hunters away!

At that moment, Lily’s calm, analytical voice rang out. “I’ve deduced something else… Assuming these two empires are adversaries, the hunters are clearly the apex power, while the Viridians are technologically inferior.”

“Furthermore, the Viridian crew currently hiding behind Sedna clearly hasn’t detected the incoming armada. If they had, they would have either initiated emergency warp or adopted defensive formations. Since they are sitting still, it means they are blind to them. In other words, the Viridian Empire currently does not possess Gravitational Wave Telescope with capacity similar to ours.”

Lily looked around the room. “Therefore, we can conclusively confirm that the technology inside the crashed Martian spacecraft is vastly superior to the Viridian Empire’s…”

Her logic instantly commanded the room’s attention. Based on this brilliant deduction, a clear technological hierarchy had emerged.

At the very bottom was humanity, lacking even basic sub-light propulsion.

Slightly above them was the Viridian Empire, capable of warp travel but lacking advanced sensor tech.

At the very top were two unknown variables: the creators of the crashed spacecraft, and the empire commanding the planetary spaceship. It was impossible to tell which of the two apex predators was stronger.

But Jason had a creeping suspicion that the creators of the crashed spacecraft and the Precursors were a truly god-tier civilization… perhaps even more advanced than the approaching armada. After all, a salvaged, damaged telescope from their ship was easily able to “see” the stealth armada from light-years away!

No wonder our grand bluff was so successful, Jason thought to himself, the realization dawning on him. *The Viridian Empire is just a minor, bottom-tier faction on the galactic stage!*

“Isaac is right. We need to force the Viridians to run, and use them as bait to lead the disaster away from us…” Jason said firmly.

“Yes, it’s our only viable tactical option.”

Jason nodded, his decision finalized. The next step was obvious: issue a terrifying ultimatum to the Viridian fleet! Or rather, give them a sinister warning: Your enemy have arrived, you better Run !!.

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