Chapter 746 The Expanding Whirlpool
The southern star region, the Winddra star region, the planet where 'Dove White' lives.
The singer 'Stone Blue Flower' Grey lives here, and recently Tilan was also a guest here.
"It was about ten years ago that I came here." Tilan and Grey stood side by side, feeling that time passed in the blink of an eye.
"Yeah." Grey's voice was still faint, like the cold white stone cliff.
The two walked on the deserted beach by the sea. There were many large rocks eroded by the sea water. There were many shells and conchs washed ashore in the cracks of some rocks, but most of them had already weathered and were not as beautiful as in various common film and television works.
If it were in the past, Tilan would probably associate many things with the fragments of these shells, such as the beautiful things in the past, now only the outline of the shell remains, the soft inside disappearing due to the exhaustion of time, etc., and she would feel a little sad.
Although I can still feel a trace of emotion in my heart, it soon dissipated with the wind. As for why, it is probably because after experiencing and witnessing so much over the years, my heart has become vast and broad, and it is no longer easily shaken.
The Fifth Era, the dark sun, the new race, the disputes among the various factions in the Twilight Era, and now the Federation is also in the tide of dramatic changes in the times, with ups and downs.
I used to think that good friends should talk a lot when they are together, and talk, complain, confide, complain, and share all kinds of things in each other's lives. But now I feel that except for a few things about birth, aging, illness and death, most of them are trivial matters that are not worth mentioning. I no longer have the desire to confide everything in the past. I feel very peaceful and comfortable to sit together with the people in my past memories, have a meal, and take a walk.
Over the years, Grey has supported Tilan in various matters in the southern star region, but because of the many things, the two only communicated through the Internet. Now that she has a rare time, the girl also wants to visit Grey and express her gratitude.
It seems a bit utilitarian to say that they are trying to build relationships and maintain relationships. Tilan does not want their relationship to be completely a political alliance. She is also quite interested in this secluded singer. She has been living on the "Dove White" planet for some time. The two often walk and communicate together.
As in the past, Grey doesn't talk much. Her breath always carries a hint of coldness and indifference like a sea cliff. The title of "Stone Blue Flower" is really suitable.
"In fact, you don't have to stay here with me every day." The two gradually stopped and stood on the high stone cliff by the sea.
"I know, but this is not a burden for me." Tilan tilted her head slightly and looked at the singer in a long stone blue dress beside her.
"Grey should be able to sense it. I also like quietness and solitude. I also like your usual lifestyle." Tilan blinked slightly.
If she didn't carry too many expectations and missions, the career of the singer would probably be the same as that of Grayer. If she didn't have a firm heart and was still as timid as when she was a child, even if she had a high talent, she would not dare to take that step. Her future would be the same as that of Ewen Qilin. If her mother and father had not come out of Jielou City, she would have been bound to the Pan-Eastern forces since she was
a child. Now she would probably be like Luo Fenghua, running for the faction to which she belongs. Because of her loneliness in childhood, she lost a lot of support. Although it was difficult in her early years and the beginning stage, it allowed her to not be tied to any faction label and freely choose the direction of her future life.
Because of the struggle between life and death and the rejection of her sister, although she was sad and consumed for a while, this painful period also forced her to think about the meaning and way out of her life, so as to avoid being too gentle and kind like Ewen Qilin and losing her sharpness.
Because she was born in the Four-Leaf Crystal Star Region with a deep historical background and decline, she could not sit back and watch everything happen with a clear conscience, avoiding the lonely and cold road because of her personality.
Although she had experienced many setbacks since she was young, now that she thinks about it, these experiences are like a carefully planned trajectory, avoiding several major obstacles and keeping her life on track. She doesn't want to say thank you for the suffering, but fate is sometimes so wonderful. Some just-right pruning of obstacles can make trees straighter.
After listening to Tilan's words, Greer raised her head slightly.
"Tilan is more lively than before." She commented.
"Just like a flower that has shed its awkward restraints and is completely free to bloom." She smiled.
For this singer, smiling is a very rare expression, but as Tilan said, the basic colors of their personalities are actually very similar, so after seeing Tilan's growth, she also feels a little relieved and happy.
So she stopped admonishing, but asked: "How long will you stay this time? If there is enough time, let everyone make a few works for you."
"Time?" Tilan closed her eyes and thought.
"About three months, and then go to the other few." She was talking about the other singers in the southern star region.
"Okay." Greer answered briefly.
——————
In April 1271 of the Sixth Era, Heshia Tilan visited the singer 'Shiqinghua' Grey in the Windela star field. The two stood together on the top of a mountain with a great view for a photo, and then sang a new ballad "White Doves on the Wasteland" together.
This cooperation can be said to be a starting point, because in the next year or so, Tilan visited several other singers in the southern star field one after another, and released new songs in cooperation. These new songs filled the gap in the number of new albums that Tilan had left due to his busy schedule in the past years, and also made the various star fields in the southern star field better understand each other because of the news of album shooting and communication, making the connection between the various star fields closer. In
August of the same year, under the initiative of the delegation sent by the central star field, 21 star fields in the eastern star field successively joined the "Brilliant Stars" organization and signed a large number of cooperation projects and development plans.
For the construction and development of the project, the Central Star Region sent a large number of engineers, technicians, security teams, and some escort starships into these star regions. This move was opposed by other star regions in the Eastern Star Region, but the opposition was useless. Instead, it highlighted the division and fragility within the Eastern Star Region.
Since then, the tripartite alliance in the Eastern Star Region has existed in name only, and the major star regions that have not joined the "Brilliant Stars" have begun to split into several small organizations. On the one hand, they do not want to lose their autonomy and return to the rule and management of the Federal Central Government, but on the other hand, they cannot unite with other star regions, lack a common interest basis, and do not have a strong will to unify each other.
For the current situation, these small organizations are particularly hostile and hate those star regions that have surrendered to the Federal Central Government, believing that they have betrayed the Eastern Star Region, causing the Eastern Star Region, which originally gained independence and autonomy, to fall under the blood-sucking control of the Federal Central Government again.
In the face of such remarks, those star regions that defected to the Federal Central Government and joined the "Brilliant Stars" also fought back and opposed. They accused those star region factions that wanted to obtain "independence rights" of being groups that benefited from economic prosperity and independence. Star regions like them, which already had poor economies and backward industrial and technological foundations, needed more support from the Federal Central Government so that they could get out of the stagnation dilemma.
The two parties had huge differences in interests and naturally came to completely different results. In this situation, neither side could convince the other in the debate, and finally the public opposition became more and more intense.
The following year, a shipping fleet departing from the Central Star Region and heading to the Eastern Star Region was attacked by unknown forces on the way. A large number of expensive equipment transported in the fleet was lost, including thousands of technical experts from the "Brilliant Stars" organization.
After this incident, the Federal Central Star Region immediately dispatched several fast search and rescue fleets to patrol, but in the end only the remains of the shipping starship were found in the black area of 4 light years in outer space, and the cargo and personnel on it were completely lost.
Faced with this bizarre incident, the 'Brilliant Stars' organization issued a severe condemnation, blaming several factions in the Eastern Star Region, believing that they had privately looted the fleet.
"This kind of fast and professional attack method, as well as the way of handling the aftermath, is definitely not something that ordinary pirates can achieve. They also have no channels to sell the goods, unless they have other 'forces' behind them to support them!" The special investigator sent by the Federation Central declared.
"We have reason to suspect that this is a despicable act done by 'certain' factions for their own selfish reasons. They try to use violence to intimidate those gentle and kind people, forcing them to give up cooperation and turn to them." "
I want to tell you, they are wrong! Such vile behavior will not defeat the brave citizens of the Federation, and we, the 'Brilliant Stars', are committed to supporting those backward and impoverished star regions, breaking through the barriers between the stars, and establishing a highly connected and integrated human civilization with thousands of stars shining together."
"In order to deal with those vicious groups that illegally invade and sabotage, we have applied to the Federal Central Council to increase the security level in the future, send more fleets to escort the fleet, protect the nodes on the Centaurus Arm, and build more space stations. They will eventually light up this dark sea of stars like stars!"
Representatives of the 'Brilliant Stars' organization made a huge statement at the press conference. Shortly thereafter, with the support of the 'Fire Lotus-Brilliant Stars' joint faction, the Federal Central Council passed several bills in succession to support the transport fleet to increase the escort capacity and allow them to use starships and combat units that are two generations inferior to the main fleet.
The six main fleets have always been the battle benchmark of the Rose Federation. The patrol fleets of the other star regions are probably one generation behind the main fleet in terms of starship strength and technical level, while the escort fleets of the local star regions are two generations behind, and the ordinary civilian commercial escort fleets are three generations behind. This proposal is equivalent to raising the technical authority of the commercial escort fleet by a whole generation, approaching the military level.
Although many people suspect that this accidental robbery may have been planned by the Federal Central Star Region itself, and the two sides have also argued fiercely on the Internet, it is reflected in the civilian and local star regions that all parties have plans to upgrade their fleets and purchase new warships.
Some large trade alliances, such as the "Sun Ship Trade Alliance", "Ember Star Fire Mutual Aid Trade Alliance", "Leaf Poetry Delivery Association", "Grain Ear Association", "Southern October Star", etc., have increased their own fleet escort lineups in this trend.
This move is like an arms race. If all major trade alliances have increased their escort capabilities, but they have not, then for security reasons and a review of their strength, partners will definitely prefer to give shipping orders to those powerful trade alliances rather than choose weak trade alliances.
In addition, if there are pirates and illegal looting organizations, when other fleets increase their escort capabilities, but they do not, the probability of being attacked will double and they will face more malicious intent.
So far, a large number of orders have been thrown to military enterprises, whether it is starships, mechas, fighters, or various autonomous combat units, the demand has increased rapidly, and this trend is not limited to the eastern star region, but spreads to various star regions like waves, because the bills promulgated by the Federal Central Parliament are effective in all star regions.
"Since they are all expanding their fleets and increasing their combat power, no matter what the situation is, we also need to improve synchronously to cope with various situations that may occur in the future." A representative stood up and spoke.
In the conference room, Tilan, wearing a black dress, sat at the top of the table, thinking with her head tilted. At the conference table in front of her sat representatives from the major star regions in the southern star region, and today they were discussing whether they needed to follow up on the current situation.
"I agree with Marco's suggestion." Another representative raised his hand and spoke.
"Although the cause of this accident and the forces behind it are confusing, it has already happened, and as all parties have begun to expand their fleets and increase their combat power, we must not stand still."
"Shipping safety in the southern star region has always been good, thanks to our frequent exchanges with each other and our exceptional unity under the banner of the 'Emerald Dragon'. However, this is not a reason for us to give up expanding our combat power."
"The situation in the Federation is extremely unstable now. We, the 'Emerald Dragon', possess technologies that are envied by all parties, and are the object of jealousy and hatred in the hearts of many people. Even if we don't need it now, we can't say that we won't need the protection of a strong fleet in the future."
"Otherwise, once the situation worsens and the enemy suddenly launches a large-scale attack, they will not be able to gather enough combat power in a short period of time and will be defeated by the opponent's overwhelming force. At that time, it will be too late to expand the capacity of the ships and improve combat power."
"The production cycle of a main battleship is at least 16 months, which is nearly a year and a half. With the current level of the Central Star Region after obtaining the technology of the 'Children of the Stars' Alliance, their warships and fighters will only advance faster. If we want to maintain deterrence in the future and not be easily attacked, we must do our best to improve the combat power of the fleet to prevent being defeated by surprise attacks." His words were sincere and high-spirited, and he received applause from many people after he finished speaking.
After that, many people also expressed similar opinions of agreement, but even so, many people still looked at the girl sitting at the top. After all, the current 'Emerald Dragon' was established by her, and everyone present was also a member who swore allegiance to her. If she vetoed, then no matter how many people suggested it, it would be useless.
Gradually, the scene became quiet, and Tilan also raised her head and looked at the people who were looking at her. Her eyes closed slightly, and then opened.
"I understand what everyone means." She knew everyone's concerns and uneasiness about the expansion of the Federation's star regions.
"But what I think is that this arms race may be an endless vortex that will draw everyone in, and at a certain point, it will be impossible to stop."
"'Holding a fierce weapon will naturally give rise to the urge to use violence.' When all factions have a large number of fleets for combat, some conflicts can no longer be resolved peacefully as in the past." She sighed silently.
"Perhaps, this is an inevitable fate, and we can only face it head-on."
"Announce to the public that our 'Emerald Dragon' will also begin to expand the escort ship capacity to protect the safety of the fleet and the star field."
"Yes! Your Highness Heshia." Everyone stood up and responded loudly.
(End of this chapter)
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