Ch.144144. The Greatest Failure

In the 8500s CE, or the 86th century.

Humanity’s territory had gradually solidified, occupying about one-third of our galaxy. The Human Federation was enjoying its golden age, having grown powerful enough to aim for galactic conquest through military might.

“We hereby declare! We will exterminate humanity’s eternal enemy, the Kaiju, from our galaxy!!”

After this ambitious announcement, the Federation Congress mobilized an insane number of troops—drawing together half of all available starships.

This utterly mad plan passed partly because Kaiju invasions had notably decreased at the time, leading to assessments that their forces were weakening. But the true reason was humanity’s excessive arrogance.

Most humans who remembered the wars with the Kaiju had died due to lifespan limitations, causing people to underestimate the Kaiju. Alien species who lost to these underestimated Kaiju were subtly treated as inferior races.

Though such contempt for other species still exists somewhat in the Federation today, it was on another level back then.

The Federation’s central broadcasting openly discussed human superiority, laws were enacted applying differently to non-human species, and countless interstellar civilizations were colonized, effectively placing nearly half the galaxy under Federation control.

As they steadily accumulated karmic debt, the Federation was well on its way to transforming into a human supremacist empire.

It was at this moment that the fleet assembled for the Kaiju’s extermination began moving toward Kaiju territory.

The beginning was remarkably smooth.

There was no need to land troops—a single cannon shot from orbit could devastate a Kaiju planet. They would raze a planet, establish an outpost, move on, and repeat the process.

Of course, the Kaiju sent fleets to block the advance, but half of the entire Human Federation’s forces was simply too overwhelming.

The fleet advanced at what could only be called lightning speed, momentarily making the leadership think, “Wait, is this actually possible?” As their goals grew increasingly ambitious…

A massive psychic storm, large enough to engulf the entire fleet, struck the Human Extermination Fleet.

In practical terms, the damage was minimal due to the fleet’s vast scale—just brief power fluctuations and slight hull stress equivalent to about five years of normal wear and tear. But what followed was the real problem.

As psychic echoes filled the area, countless psychic entities crossed into reality and attacked the fleet.

Some appeared inside ships, destroying facilities and slaughtering humans in various ways. Some possessed mechanical troops and used them as vessels for their massacres.

In some cases, entire ships were possessed by powerful psychic entities, causing complete mutation. These ships transformed into grotesque fusions of machine and organism, with tentacles extending from the biological parts to capture humans inside as energy sources.

Some grew limbs or wings on their outer hulls, specializing in close combat. About 40% of the ships turned into literal monsters.

Despite their critical weaknesses—bizarre forms typical of psychic-possessed machines and their tendency to fight among themselves—the fleet’s situation was absolute chaos.

Some ships showed minimal mutation, making it hard to tell if they were possessed at all. Some crews couldn’t grasp the situation and fell into panic, while some psychic entities intelligently pretended to be normal…

By the time the psychic entities began fading and returning to their dimension, barely 10% of the fleet’s forces remained intact.

Not a single ship remained completely undamaged. In modern military science, losses exceeding 30% of total forces are considered total defeat—with less than 10% remaining intact, the Federation fleet was left wondering if they could even make it back alive.

Worse still, the attacks weren’t over.

On their retreat, the survivors discovered that all the outposts they had planned to visit for supplies had reverted to Kaiju planets. Countless high-speed vessels produced on these planets began attacking the fleet through sheer numbers.

Though some ships capable of independent spatial travel managed to escape, only eight battleships made it out.

In the end, half of humanity’s main fleet had been dispatched, and all that returned was the harsh reality of gaining nothing and a handful of battered ships.

Naturally, this expedition’s failure did more than just shake the Human Federation—it negatively impacted nearly every area under their influence.

Various minor powers seized the opportunity to invade human territories, colonized alien species declared independence, and space pirates even plundered human territories in Alpha Centauri.

Just as concerns grew that the Human Federation might completely disintegrate…

“I swear. In the name of humanity, I will not surrender even a handful of our territory!”

A woman named “Stella Yu” was inaugurated as the new Prime Minister of the Human Federation.

※ ※ ※

Realistically, at this time, the position of Federation Prime Minister was one that nobody wanted—a role avoided by everyone.

Serious discussions circulated in political and industrial circles about the Federation potentially dissolving within days, and anti-Federation activists, previously suppressed by human supremacist ideology, were rising up to challenge the Federation’s continued existence.

Moreover, after the previous Prime Minister was assassinated by human supremacists for allowing colonial independence while cleaning up his predecessor’s mess, the position was considered the most likely to get you killed in politics.

Therefore, Stella Yu was merely a sacrificial lamb—this young 98-year-old politician was essentially forced to serve as a meat shield and living barrier to protect the Congress. But there was one thing other politicians overlooked:

“I swear. In the name of humanity, I will not surrender even a handful of our territory!”

It was her impulsive, easily excited personality—like someone who never lets go once she bites down.

Compromise? Negotiation? Such soft concepts couldn’t survive in this woman’s mind.

As a former senior (Grade 1) mercenary and executive of a large mercenary group, politics to her was just another form of violence and war, where compromise had no place.

Having spent most of her life fighting the Kaiju, she boldly ignored her own party’s stance, made her declaration, and quickly began steering the political situation according to her intentions.

Originally, she had strong moderate tendencies even within her party, making it difficult to maintain her position, let alone gain power… yet politics had handed her exactly that opportunity.

After forming a cabinet with like-minded politicians, she began governing the Human Federation and… surprisingly, showed remarkable competence for a first-term representative.

She threw corrupt officials to the public as sacrificial lambs, simultaneously solving budget leaks and boosting approval ratings. She cleanly abandoned alien colonies and resolved separatist regions through negotiations for autonomy.

She pushed the remaining fleet to repel invading alien species while organizing temporary fleets from hastily purchased or requisitioned ships.

She worked to remove human supremacist ideology from education policies in Federation territories, while simultaneously taking a firm stance against one particular alien faction.

This was, of course, the Lokist Warlords, who had consolidated the power of the last ancient Lokist state into a pirate nation and occupied core sovereign zones of the Human Federation.

On the day she chose to give a public speech to announce her determination to destroy this self-proclaimed Lokist Empire pirate faction, even if she had to personally join the fleet…

“Die, enemy of the Federation!”

BOOM!!!

On the temporary podium erected in the park, she was attacked by an assassin who pulled out a plasma hand cannon from inside their clothes.

It wasn’t particularly summer.