The Martial Unity

”No. Your. Excellency. Trying. To. Match. Their. Infantry. Is. An. Unwise. Path. To. Go. Down,” the intelligence director shook his head. ”We. Must. Rely. On. Our. Superior. And. More. Numerous. Warships. To. Make. The. Difference.”

”Warships. Are. Less. Effective. Against. High-powered. Infantry. Units. Compared. To. Other. Warships,” Divine Mother ——oooo gruffly retorted. ”We. Must. Double. The. Number. Of. Warships. We. Are. Planning. To. Deploy. If. We. Want. To. Overwhelm. Their. Infantry. Advantage.”

”Yes. Your. Excellency,” the intelligence director nodded. ”We. Must. Overwhelm. Their. Infantry. Advantage. With. Greater. Warships… But. In. Addition. To. That… I. Propose. Deploying. A. Mother. Ship.”

Motherships were the highest class of warships in advanced civilizations beyond a certain scale. When there were so many warships that even carriers became overwhelmingly ubiquitous, highly advanced civilizations deployed motherships to command thousands of carriers and battleships in war, and many more smaller warships.

Divine Mother ——oooo nodded approvingly. ”They. Will. Cover. Before. The. Might. Of. Our. Mother. Ship. Their. Infantry. Will. Fall. In. The. Face. Of. Our. Heavy. Battleships.”

”Beyond. Increasing. The. Number. Of. Warships. Our. General. Strategy. Still. Is. Evaluated. To. Have. A. High. Degree. Of. Success,” the intelligence director declared, waving his hand, featuring a map of human civilization.

At the edge, it zoomed into the Arima III System, a star system with two red dwarf stars at the edge of human civilization. It was the star system that was closest to Arakai Web Civilization. It had thus been chosen as a target for invasion for their hook-anchor invasion strategy.

The strategy itself was a tried-and-tested strategy that the arakai had used for eons as they grew stronger. They would open a portal at the edge of a stellar civilization, sending in a massive fleet of warships, concentrating a huge offensive at that particular point. Naturally, a single star system wouldn’t be able to withstand such a powerful offensive and would collapse.

Then, using the energy of the local stars, they would set up a wormhole gate to create a stable connection point to the main territory of the Arakai Web Civilization, creating a smooth transit bridge for logistics.

”While. Their. Infantry. Is. Substantially. Powerful. The. Strategic. Outlook. On. This. Battle. Does. Not. Change,” the intelligence director featured graphs that plotted out a probability spread of the potential outcomes of the conflict.

The probability of defeat was less than one percent, while the probability of victory was more than ninety percent.

”Our. Warships. Are. Severalfold. More. Powerful. Than. Theirs. On. Most. Technical. Performance. Parameters,” the intelligence director continued with a firm tone. ”Even. Our. Mobile. Planetary. Fortresses. And. Stellar. Defense. Perimeters. Are. Estimated. To. Very. Much. Be. Able. To. Withstand. The. Estimated. Output. Of. their. Warships. And. Superweapons… Our. Surveillance. And. Military. Technology. Is. Simply. Superior.”

He turned towards the Divine Mothers with confidence in his six eyes. ”Even. If. There. Infantry. Is. Powerful. It. By. Itself. Cannot. Save. Them. The. General. Strategic. Outlook. Of. This. Impending. War. Is. Very. Much. In. Our. Favor.”

That was to be expected. Indeed, human civilization was surprisingly powerful and extraordinary in several respects, but the Arakai Web Civilization was an ancient civilization that had conquered millions of stars. It was in a whole other league of its own as far as its military power went.

”There. Is. One. Variable. That. I. Have. Abstained. From. Speaking. About. Since. We. Are. Unable. To. Estimate,” the intelligence director’s expression tightened. ”That. Is. The. Emperor. Of. Water.”

The mood in the meeting grew frosty at the mention of that figure. Divine Mother ——oooo’s expression was one of rage, while Divine Mother —oo grew frosty. Only ooo—o- maintained a calm and impassive expression.

”Our. Investigations. Have. Revealed. That. There. Is. Most. Likely. Only. One. Emperor of Water. Rather. Than. Multiple. As. Hypothesized. By. The. Late. Divine Mother —oo-oo—,” the intelligence director continued. ”We. Believe. That. Emperor of Water. Is. The Moniker. Of. One. Individual. Not. A. Class. Of. Administrators.”

”That’s. Impossible!” ——oooo roared. ”One. Administrator. Cannot. Be. Responsible. For. The. Death. Of. Three. Divine. Mothers. In. Rapid. Succession!”

”Are. You. Certain. That. There. Are. Not. Others?” —oo asked with a severe tone of voice.

”Quite. Certain. Esteemed. Divine. Mothers. There. Is. No. Question. About. It. Upon. Deep. Investigation,” the intelligence director insisted. ”The. Emperor of Water. Is. This. Human. Named. Rui. Quarrier. Silas. Kandria.”

He had converted the name into clicks rather than try to utter the name through human sounds. It was child’s play for a civilization as advanced as the arakai to rapidly decrypt and translate languages of existing alien civilizations, after all.

The Divine Mothers took a deep, long look at his image, studying him from top to bottom. It was one of the public images of Rui after he had become emperor, so he had an ethereal, translucent glint to his body. His presence was power, yet strange to quite put their finger on.

Each of them realized the significance of an Administrator who could avoid paying the price of the Verse.

”We. Must. Capture. Him. Alive,” Divine Mother ——oooo declared with a serious expression. ”We. Must. Acquire. His. Secrets.”

Of course, she knew that that wasn’t possible without an Administrator attacking him. Administrators were tactical powerhouses who couldn’t be defeated in battle while they were active. Their inevitable fade out of reality was the only way to defeat them.

But with an Administrator that lacked this weakness, his net strategic power was much, much greater than theirs.

”Dealing. With. Him. Will. Not. Be. Easy,” the Divine Mother spoke with a serious expression. ”For. Now. Focus. On. Wide. Scale. Dominance… He. Cannot. Be. Every. All. At. Once. We. Will. Observe. Him. Study. Him. And. Then. Prepare. A. Plan. To. Ambush. Him. With. Overwhelming. Numbers. And. Extract. The. Truth. From. His. Mind. Web.”

If they could extract the truth before they disappeared, then they could prevent suffering the consequences of the Verse. Even if he didn’t voluntarily spill the beans on the verge of death, they could peer into his mind with their Webverse, which was especially inclined to do so, since the mind was merely a web of integrated information.

She didn’t doubt even in the slightest that they would be able to overwhelm him with enough Divine Mothers, perhaps five or six to be absolutely certain. But if they made even the slightest mistake, like letting him escape, then they would be doomed to disappear for centuries.

”It. Will. Not. Be. Easy. But. We. Will. Uncover. The. Truth. To. Withstanding. The. Consequences. Of. The. Verse.”