Ch.165165. Nano-Tech

Nano-Tech.

A mega-corporation that has existed alongside humanity since ancient times when humans had not yet colonized even the lunar surface, Nano-Tech has had such a profound influence on the establishment and operation of the Human Federation that people say “the Human Federation is Nano-Tech, and Nano-Tech is the Human Federation.”

However, this doesn’t mean Nano-Tech is a corrupt power. The corporation operates on strict meritocracy, becoming more competent the higher up you go. With sufficient ability, one could become a director and join the board of directors overnight.

Furthermore, while the Chairman and CEO of Nano-Tech—its supreme leader—holds an honorary position, they are treated as one of the members of the Galactic Federation Congress. Some parts of the Federal military are even under Nano-Tech’s command, but…

Surprisingly, the Human Federation and Nano-Tech are, strictly speaking, almost separate powers.

First, the headquarters of the Galactic Federation—the federal capital—is, naturally, Earth.

The Federation is located in the Earth Dome, a massive metal structure over 10km thick floating 20km above the planet to maintain Earth’s ecosystem. The fact that they use such a vast area solely for administrative offices says it all.

In contrast, Nano-Tech’s headquarters is located on Mars, as mentioned previously.

Mars, which has undergone extreme modifications with nearly 20% of its planetary crust mechanized and its average surface level raised by 10km, is a rare case where coexistence was chosen with the native Marsroid species.

Additionally, Nano-Tech employs numerous alien species like Marsroids who, while not recognized as Federation members, can hold important positions within the corporation. It’s also famous for operating on an even stricter meritocracy than the Federation.

The board of directors, Nano-Tech’s leadership, includes a Lizardman priest, a representative of the Marsroid leaders, and the leader of the Foxleaf autonomous district on Mars’s moon Phobos—the highest positions aliens can achieve in the Human Federation.

In any case, to become the Chairman of this meritocratic society, exceptional abilities are essential, along with various political skills and knowledge of psionics, just to qualify.

Candidates who meet these perfect qualifications visit the headquarters and are ultimately selected through methods passed down as classified information…

“…”

Tap tap tap tap…

Selected from among the candidates like all previous Nano-Tech chairmen, the current Chairwoman Stella Comet, who has served for 67 years, was, as always, holed up in her office approving documents.

All paperwork has been digitized, so there’s no need for the foolish task of signing documents with a pen. Instead, the volume of documents floating in the interface fills the entire outer wall of her office—which is the size of a university lecture hall—and then some.

Most decisions are made on-site or at branch offices, and only a small fraction of critical matters reach headquarters, with only the most important being selected for her review… yet she still had to personally review and approve about 5,000 documents daily.

Add to that various meetings and future expansion planning, and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Eventually, she resorted to using a time distortion field to accelerate time, spending 60 hours in a room each day.

Publicly, she’s literally being ground down as a component of Nano-Tech, but the reality is somewhat different.

[Senior, you’re the best!]

[…Shut up.]

The one actually handling the practical work isn’t Stella Comet—Seah—but rather a part of her consciousness that the Hive Mind separated and transferred to her. She only personally participates in inspections or meetings that require her direct presence.

In her remaining time, she chats with parts of the Hive Mind, makes plans for the Hive Mind’s future evolution, and—

[Prepare for the dive. It’s almost time.]

[Yes, senior~.]

—most importantly, she also performs her activities as a “Metal Gear.”

She currently possesses three bodies. One is the already socially deceased body of the famous politician “Stella Yu,” kept in a secret laboratory. Another is her current body as Nano-Tech Chairwoman “Stella Comet,” and then there’s her original body as the “Metal Gear.”

Thanks to the Hive Mind’s relay, she can operate multiple bodies simultaneously, but she still prefers direct possession over simultaneous control.

“Let’s see… like this… and…”

So she changed her office status to “no entry,” lay down on a soft bed, concentrated her mind, and—

[…]

In an instant, she opened her eyes at the command bridge of the flagship of the Hive Fleet, invading the alien race Truia on the opposite side of the galaxy.

※ ※ ※

Truia.

One of the “late-bloomer” species that ventured into space in the 8400s CE, they are a humanoid alien species with a unique appearance that breathes through hydrogen.

Their average height is about 3 meters. Despite having skin tougher than synthetic fiber, their arms—which reach almost to their knees—can exert incredible strength, allowing them to tear plasteel plates with just four fingers.

They can also store energy in their abdomen through sufficient nutrition, using it for bodily regeneration—regenerating severed limbs in just 10 minutes. Above all, what allowed them to operate in space was their unique adaptability.

Their maddening trait of adapting and mutating according to their environment in about 10 years, combined with various bioengineering technologies conceived by their not-so-bad minds, resulted in their current state.

Now, the Truia are in their prime.

Having rapidly conquered their home planetary system, they were fortunately following the typical success story of cosmic civilizations by incorporating nearby, relatively empty planetary systems one by one into their territory.

Thus, more than 1,600 years after their first venture into space, despite not joining the Free Federation, the Truia possessed a considerably wide domain and advanced technology—

[This shouldn’t be left unchecked. Let’s clean it up in advance.]

Following the Hive Mind’s opinion, the monsters decided to eliminate them before they could develop further.

After analyzing their adaptability, the Hive Mind’s staff concluded that if they obtained a monster sample, the entire species could artificially adapt themselves based on it.

In the worst case, all individuals could reach near-superior level, making them a dangerous force. So, as usual, to eliminate future problems, the Hive Mind dispatched the most reliable army available for external activities.

One 42km-class custom Hive Ship designated as the flagship—specially made for the “Metal Gear,” four 20km-class interstellar Hive Ships, about twenty 12km-class battleship-grade Hive Ships.

In addition to countless escort vessels below these, this fleet was waiting only for the arrival of “Metal Gear” Seah.

[Now, let’s depart.]

As soon as she arrived and gave the order, they activated the space jump they had been preparing, instantly reaching the front of the Truia territory through warped and folded space.

And immediately after—

KWAAAAAAANG—!!!!

[…I knew it… ugh. This is going to be troublesome.]

Due to the nature of space jumping—which directly folds space and passes through the gap, causing considerable aftermath—the Hive Fleet immediately engaged in battle with the Truia fleet that had been positioned in anticipation.

The Truia fleet featured a design that directly mocked the trend of elongated vessels common in this era—they were perfect spheres.

While they might appear to be just giant metal spheres of different sizes, these vessels could actually distribute firepower equally in all directions. The moment the Hive Fleet arrived, they began firing mysterious green energy barrages.

However, this was far from enough to challenge the monster fleet entrusted to the Hive Mind’s most trusted confidant.

Psychic shields were deployed at precisely the locations and with exactly the output needed to block the green energy, allowing the monster fleet to defend against the attacks with minimal losses.

And immediately after forming their battle line while repelling the green energy attacks, they began launching area-wide attacks—

The Truia vessels began to be sunk one by one.