"We are glad that you have chosen to come here to assist the Rubarthan Pact in our fight to defend our race against the mutated voribugs. Too many short-sighted individuals do not realize that if our colonial alliance falls, their homes will be next on the menu. Your arrival, though late, will send a strong signal that the war against the voribugs will soon take a turn for the better. We have suffered too many setbacks in the past 3 weeks. It is time for us to generate good news for the masses." Ves and Gloriana received an invitation from the Rubarthans to a private reception inside the largest and most formidable orbital fortress above Philaster Crestia III. Once they greeted the station manager and a bunch of senior military officers, they entered a small but luxurious dining room where the pair of mech designers met up with an old collaboration partner. Lord Richard Brownstone's fortunes had changed drastically ever since he completed his collaboration with the Miracle Couple on the historic Swarm Project. Even if his contributions were not as important as the other participants, history would still record that he had worked on the designs of the first generation of Carmine mechs in the form of the Yellow Jacket series! That was enough to elevate his reputation from a profligate grandson of the Brownstone Prince to a forward-thinking mech designer who helped to advance the state of the mech industry. Naturally, once he returned to the Rubarthan Pact, his status improved immensely. Just by working on the Swarm Project, he possessed greater insights into the Yellow Jackets and Jacket Commanders. He was able to use his deep understanding to provide better advice and customize the mech designs to a greater extent than others. Richard owed everything to Ves. The latter was nothing less than his benefactor as far as the Rubarthan scion was concerned. Combined with the fact that Ves had somehow become a tier 2 galactic citizen who somehow managed to lead a powerful army of hundreds of human phase lords, Richard did not dare to put on any airs! In fact, a tier 2 galactic citizen deserved to be accompanied by a much more senior figure within the Rubarthan hierarchy. However, it was not wise for a figure as powerful as the Brownstone Prince to travel to the frontlines. His demise would lead to a severe crisis in the principality and enable the mutated voribugs to gain more advantages. Besides, many people who studied knew that it was better to copy the model of the RA and RF and send a 'liaison' who happened to be a mech designer of the same rank and generation. Ves appeared to cooperate much happier with people like himself. It was extra beneficial if they knew each other in person and worked together in the past. Hence why the Rubarthan Pact had especially assigned an important mission to Lord Richard Brownstone. Whether he wanted to or not, Lord Richard was now stuck with the obligation to act as an interface between this important VIP and the Rubarthan Pact. Ves was cut into a piece of an exobeast steak and had no ability to taste the refined flavors as the portions were not big enough to satisfy the stomach of a phase lord. Nonetheless, his wife looked happy enough as she carefully consumed a bizarre living creature that appeared to possess the traits of a salad and a slug. Ves did not even want to know what crazy planet produced such an exobeast and alien plant abomination. Everything was safe to consume, of course. Even Gloriana's much more delicate stomach was able to hold down all of these exotic yet strangely human diet-compatible dishes. "What you have described is one of the main reasons why I chose to come here." Ves told his host and liaison. "The native aliens are powerful enemies, but our civilization has begun to develop an expanding collection of counters against their phasefighters, warships and phase leaders. Our transphasic hyper weapons are able to penetrate their annoying energy defenses better and better with every passing month. In contrast, the mutated voribugs fight in such a different way that we have to start our R&D cycle from scratch." They both understood that as long as red humanity had enough time, it could develop many different counters, some more effective than others. However, that was the problem. The mutated voribugs made so much progress and expanded so quickly that it gave red humanity far too little time to progress this cycle. The Rubarthans had not yet even completed the process of defeating the native aliens, and already they were forced to fight against a second enemy alien civilization group! The other human groups were not much better off. The Red Three, the Terrans and the Cybernetic Empire only received a bit more preparation time. Sooner or later, the mutated voribugs would come for them as well. Even if the Rubarthans held their ground, the native aliens would eventually lose a huge amount of ground to this implacable foe. There was a very high possibility that the enemies beyond the borders of human-occupied space would solely consist of hungry bugs rather than more civilized aliens! Lord Richard Brownstone sneered when he spoke about the other human groups. "They are all freeloaders. They have pledged a number of concessions to the Pact, but they have been far too slow and reluctant to make genuine sacrifices. It may be to their advantage to see the Rubarthan Pact fall. The Terrans and the Cybers are especially the worst in this regard. Our fall may not necessarily damage their fundamental interests. The premise is that the growth of the mutated voribugs can still be contained at that point." This was the big problem. Ves did not think it was worthwhile to make this high-stakes gamble. The fact that at least some of the other human powers was willing to do so was reckless to the extreme. "Forgive me for sounding so unseemly, but we are incredibly grateful that you have chosen to personally set off for the frontlines. Combined with the latest harvest of superdimensional matter, you and your clan have become one of our greatest supporters during these dark and trying times. Even if you are not able to provide effective military assistance to the defense of this star system, your example will still prompt others to act." Read on lig‌ht‌no‌‌vel‌world‌.o‌rg Gloriana frowned for a moment. "Are 30 human phase lords not enough?" Lord Brownstone sighed. "The Goliath Hive has proven to be a tricky and intelligent adversary. It may not seem that way on the surface, but our soldiers here believe that they are definitely fighting against an intelligent and responsive alien commander. If we are being strictly honest, the Goliath voribugs already has the power to drive us away from this planet entirely." "What?!" "It is true." The Rubarthan scion said. "The voribugs here are wasting too much time, resources and energy in producing their so-called Goliaths. If they diverted all of those resources towards producing normal voribugs, they could have overwhelmed our defenses by this time. Alternatively, they can also suspend their assault for a week and gather many more Goliaths. If they batter the orbital defenses of Philaster Crestia III with over a hundred Goliaths, then it is doubtful that our defenses will hold. Instead, the voribug commander is content with sending them to us in smaller batches of a dozen or less per attack wave!" That sounded incredibly idiotic to Ves. The voribugs were practically drip-feeding their precious Goliaths to the human defenders! However, Ves suddenly recalled that this was just the first week. The Goliath Hive could always switch to a very different strategy after a month. "Are the voribugs playing with their food?" Gloriana asked in a bewildering tone. "No. We are not a mouse before a cat." Lord Richard Brownstone shook his head. "Our strategists theorize that the Goliath Hive is treating the defenders of this sun system and other border systems as whetstones. The Goliath Princess is content with developing different Goliath strains. With every defeat, the Goliath Hive tweaks the genetic design of the next iteration of Goliath strains that often happen to mitigate the weaknesses that we took advantage of in the previous rounds. Although this cycle has only repeated a handful of times, we are already feeling the pressure to keep up with the pace of our enemies." This revelation put a lot of pressure on everyone. The Rubarthans and their allies constantly needed to become more inventive in order to defeat the Goliaths easily enough. Once a point had been reached where red humanity could no longer present the Goliath Hive with further ideas of improvement, the former had lost its role as a whetstone. Anyone who recognized this loop would feel that the Philaster Crestia System and perhaps the entire upper zone was doomed to fall. The Rubarthans were not necessarily afraid of an adversary that outnumbered them by an astronomical degree. What they were truly afraid of was an enemy that possessed the capacity to improve quickly and become a lot stronger in the future! "It sounds like the Goliath Hive is not in a hurry to capture a lot of human territory." Ves surmised. "Red humanity's resistance is much greater than that of the native aliens. The Goliath Hive must be prepared to defeat much stiffer resistance the further they go on. If this is the case, it may be logical to hold back for the time being and test the performance of their early generation Goliaths." If the mutated voribugs in this star system were only fighting against the human defenders half-heartedly, Ves grew curious how much more powerful they became if they finally decided to stop messing around. "This is why we urgently request you and your fleet to stay in reserve or pursue other missions during this sensitive period." Lord Richard requested to Ves. "We absolutely do not want to aggravate our current enemies by dumping 30 human phase lords on the battlefield and have them tear apart their Goliaths with contemptuous ease. We should maintain our current detente as best as possible as the alternatives are all worse. At most, you can send out a couple of your powerful warriors as well as a mech company or two to reinforce our lines in the next attack wave. That will reduce our pressure and allow us to suffer less attrition." "The Goliath Hive will be able to learn how to fight against our Ascended Giants. Before you ask, that is their preferred label for themselves. Do not call them human phase lords!" Ves couldn't help but say. "Once the mutated voribugs get serious, there will be a chance that not even 30 of them will be able to change the outcome." The Rubarthan Senior Mech Designer let out a sigh. "We are aware of the possibility. To be honest, we have other reasons for preventing you from sending out too many 'Ascended Giants' at the same time. We want to observe the reaction of the Goliath Hive. We are watching for many possible signals that can tell us more about the intelligence and the personality traits of the voribug commander. Deciphering the mind of the new alien chief is vitally important to shaping our response against the voribug menace." His words betrayed deeper expectations and considerations that Ves was not able to figure out at this time. Ves narrowed his eyes. He had the feeling that the Rubarthans hatched a new plan, but were not in a hurry to inform him of all of the details. The private dinner continued as Ves and Gloriana continued to ask more questions about the new enemies. "The Goliaths vary greatly in strength, but even the weakest are as difficult to defeat as low-tier expert mechs." Lord Richard responded to one of their questions. "We believe that the mutated voribugs has looked at the champions of both the human and alien race, and selected our floor as the minimum standard. There is not much point for the mutated voribugs to produce weaker Goliath strains as any one of our expert mechs would be able to defeat them with ease."