Sandora is a decisive person—at least when it comes to Empire affairs. After deciding to use the Leaving World Courtyard System to help the Exile Fleet and the Fifth Fleet re-establish contact, she immediately informed Little Artemis through a Spiritual Connection. Fortunately, the system had just completed a routine maintenance, and all components were in a startup state, ready to execute tasks at any time.

On the Exile Fleet’s side, there were no issues either. Since receiving the last message from the Fifth Fleet in the early hours of the morning, all their communication devices had been operating at full power, requiring no further preparation.

The only preparation needed was to set up a temporary conversion device, to rewrite the Exile Fleet’s communication protocol into a data format recognizable by the Leaving World Courtyard System. The data modes used by the two were vastly different. The multilinear random distribution data protocol of the Tobelu Technology seemed bizarre to us. To translate the two types of data in real-time without a mapping database required substantial calculations. So Sandora decided to install a Xyrin Host each at the Leaving World Courtyard and on the Kerudak Star to assist with computations. The Courtyard’s side was quickly ready: the system always had two or more idle hosts on standby for emergencies. As for our side, we called in Bubbles—it’s more secure to have her personally handle the relatively challenging end.

There is a Communications Array on the Kerudak Star, and one of its data ports is conveniently located in this "Parliament Building," which saved us a lot of trouble. According to the Council, this large Communications Array laid out on the planet’s surface was directly dismantled and converted from the communication arrays of the original escape ships, and they are quite old now, likely running with some issues—after all, their manufactured items cannot compare to the Empire’s facilities. Using these old pieces of equipment was the only option because they simply couldn’t make new arrays at the moment. Don’t think a Communications Array is as simple as an antenna; the communication technology that can stably transmit signals across the Void is very complex, especially the large arrays used to maintain contact with the Fifth Fleet are far beyond what the Exiles can currently handle. They can build colonization stars, inner-universe space transportation networks, Starports, and various Space Dock Stations, but large-scale cross-Void communication devices are beyond their capability. They’ve lost all related foundational industry, although the good news is that they still have the drawings and materials. The bad news is they need to rebuild these foundational industries from scratch, starting with molecular disintegration-transfer machines for mining. Without the Empire’s unparalleled host technology, their progress in reconstructing their foundational industries is slow. Well, these are off-topic matters.

The data terminal is located on the second floor of the Parliament Building (speaking of which, I have no idea how to distinguish up, down, left, and right in this bizarre building, it’s as intricate as an insect nest. Only when the "Council" told us did I know this was the second floor) and is a large machine room filled with strange equipment. It seems odd to place such things in a government office building, but the Council explained the reason for this arrangement: she herself is a vast aggregation of consciousness with powerful information processing capabilities. During the fleet’s exile, she even controlled the entire Planet Fortress as the central host, so she can handle very heavy data processing tasks. The Exiles’ new home having just been established and facilities not being complete, she personally undertook the integration responsibilities for the star system’s data network. Therefore, the Parliament Building itself serves as the interface for her connection to this data network, of course there would be such a machine room here. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Sandora’s evaluation of the "Council" is: a knockoff version of the Xyrin Host. Although lacking engineering functions and mysticism computational functions, in pure computational power, it may not differ much from Bubbles.

The Central Machine Room is very spacious, and because the vast majority of data operations rely on the Council itself, there aren’t many terminals for manual operations by personnel here, it merely exists as an interface connecting the "Council" with the information network, thus appearing even more vacant. In the ellipsoidal chamber filled with Tobelu Insect Clan style, along the metal walls are dozens of gray-black data machines, each over a person tall, with smooth and sleek outer shells, devoid of any buttons or panels, only some rapidly sliding green symbols across the surface indicating they are operational. The data machines look like several ellipsoidal geometric bodies of varying sizes and shapes fused together, which is the style of Tobelu technology: they like their equipment casings smooth just like their insect shells. In the center of the machine room is a large device, its appearance... rather abstract.

If I had to describe it, it would be several round or ellipsoid objects piled chaotically on the ground, connected by beams of light, with every sphere swiftly refreshing with green symbols and data. Due to this bizarre appearance, at first glance, I almost thought these spheres had fallen from the ceiling...

Bubbles sat on top of the largest sphere, its casing had already opened, revealing the dark green glowing internal structure below, with her right hand placed inside the window, her eyes constantly flickering with rapidly refreshing light dots: she had successfully established a connection with the Exiles’ data network, now learning the system’s information configuration and downloading the root dictionary. It was evident she found this task incredibly dull and grumbled again, "I mean, couldn’t you just finish the networking sooner?"

Bubbles was speaking to the "Council," who was standing by our side. I initially thought her image couldn’t leave such a hall. To my surprise, the Tobelu High-level Insect Race even developed technology similar to mass projection, allowing the "Council," this entity without a physical form, to interact with the physical world through this technology like an ordinary person, even making physical contact with the outside world. However, the "mass projections" developed by the Tobelu still had flaws, as they couldn’t leave a fixed projection generator, and the Council itself didn’t have the ability of Multiple Shadow Clones, otherwise Taville would definitely have much to talk about with the latter.

The networking that Bubbles mentioned referred to the process of mounting the Exile Fleet onto the Empire’s network, which had already begun but not yet completed, much to Bubbles’ chagrin—especially now, because without the networking, she had to learn the algorithms of a relatively crude data network in the most primitive way, which for her, was like someone accustomed to broadband fiber suddenly experiencing 512K dial-up internet, excruciating. The "Council" could only respond to Bubbles’ complaints with a shrug and continued waiting for the data synchronization to complete. This process took over ten minutes, indicating that even with Bubbles’ computational efficiency, it took over ten minutes to learn the Tobelu-style data structure’s algorithms. Although these were not as advanced as the Empire’s technology, they were certainly quite high-end.

"No suitable slots, unsupported crystal oscillator interface, incompatible with number six protocol, requiring self-supplied energy for running... even a temporary adapter needs on-site design and manufacturing..." Bubbles hopped down from the data machine, opened her hands while lowering her head, and strands of rapidly changing light began to twirl and gradually formed into a small device. Meanwhile, she continued muttering, "If it weren’t for the kid’s father asking, who would want to take on this job? The working environment is too harsh... at least give me a temporary slot of any kind..."

"She talks too much," Sandora whispered to me with a slight tilt of her head, "but one can understand why: Bubbles is not used to working without a host slot, she feels insecure that way."

I nodded to show my understanding. Due to the entirely different data interface used by Tobelu Technology, and the problematic power module here at the Parliament Building, standard Xyrin Host slots couldn’t be used here—not because they couldn’t be established, but even if they could be constructed here, the standard Xyrin Host slots would be useless—their functionalities like power supply, input-output data cache, stability enhancements, among others weren’t applicable here, so in the end, Bubbles would still need her self-manufactured adapters to directly connect to the data machines. Therefore we simply let Bubbles connect directly to the local data machine and work with her own energy source, which resulted in her grumbling constantly.

In the end, Bubbles crafted a set of small devices live, composed of two parts. The first part was a small crystal box that gave off a red glow upon making contact with the data machine’s reading window, immediately adapting to the latter’s connection. The second part resembled a cone, sharp and thin at one end and broader like a handle at the other. Bubbles picked up this cone, twirled it a couple of times, then casually jabbed it into the top of her head with a "splurt," causing a strange sound, "Pfft."

"Kiddo’s dad? Why do you look so weird?" Bubbles asked, puzzled as she noticed my strange expression. Then, apparently finding the cone on top of her head uncomfortable, she pulled it out with another "Splat" and re-inserted it with a "Splurt" from a different angle. "Oh, you’re looking at this, huh? It’s the amplifier I just designed. Changing the components in my body is too troublesome, so this will have to do for now. Who would want to take on this sort of job, really? The working conditions are terrible... at least give me a temporary slot."

In the end, I said nothing, trying to maintain a calm demeanor as I smiled at this geeky and bizarre ’kiddo’s mom,’ despite having seen her install some strange cables into herself to download stuff, but the way she installed this external antenna... I’m better off not commenting.

"Connection established," after half a minute, a blue light flashed in Bubbles’ eyes—two blue lights, then all the data machines in the machine room rapidly refreshed with green symbols on their surfaces, and after a blur, a lot of entries marked in Xyrin language were inserted. A low hum became clearer from low to high. Bubbles tapped the cone on her forehead, showing a happy expression, "Wow, I didn’t expect these devices to be quite durable. I thought with such high-power operation, at least one-third of them would burn out or something."

Dare you have such a target from the beginning?! Don’t say it out loud in front of others!

The "Council" showed a very subtle expression but eventually said nothing, just waiting for Bubbles to notify the system’s current process. Everything went smoothly, and Bubbles successfully connected to the Tobelu Communication Array and all related information networks. After transcoding, she could transmit data from these systems through the Empire network to another Xyrin Host located in Avalon space. The latter would perform terminal processing and input data into the Leaving World Garden system, while Leaving World Garden only handled the sending and receiving of antennas in the entire process. Thus, a cross-system communication module was established. Soon, Bubbles informed us that everything was operating normally, and Leaving World Garden was sending unprecedentedly powerful broadcast signals to the Void Quadrant Collection where the Fifth Fleet rescue signal was transmitted that day. The broadcast content was submitted to us by the "Council," and it was just one sentence: "This is the Fourth Fleet, information received, please reply immediately."

This is the only thing we can do immediately. The United Fleet’s communication signals began broadcasting at an ultra-high intensity they had never imagined before towards the deepest part of the void. The technology was not only unachievable by Tobelu Technology, but it was already the highest level the New Empire could reach. When the data machines displayed the expected coverage range and stable information energy level of the first broadcast, the "Council" showed very strong surprise and gratitude towards us. It was the first time I received such eager thanks from the Aggregation being right before me—even more than when we handed over this universe to the Exile Fleet. The previous premonition was correct; if we can successfully rescue the Fifth Fleet, we may directly reverse the Fourth Fleet’s estranged attitude toward the Empire.

Of course, the parallel difficulty is—making the Fifth Fleet also drop its guard against us.

"The rest is up to luck," Bubbles finally adjusted her switching equipment, with the cone on her head, came over to us, "The broadcast might not get a quick response, but as long as the Fifth Fleet is still alive and there’s a functioning communication array, they will respond sooner or later. Leaving World Garden has turned the receiving sensitivity to the maximum, hoping the Fifth Fleet’s communication strength isn’t below the threshold..."

Bubbles suddenly patted her forehead, adding, "Hopefully, they’ll reply soon. My head is full of chaotic noise; Leaving World Garden’s sensitivity is too high, and all information is uploaded here."

"No way, you’re the host." I shrugged and patted the cone on Bubbles’ head—it’s too eye-catching.

"If everything goes smoothly, after reestablishing contact with the Fifth Fleet, I can consider making this public to the citizens," on the way back to the bottom hall, the "Council" explained to us, "For the time being, only a part of senior officials and the ’Council’ know about your actions. Please forgive our cautious attitude."

Everyone understood this, and I could see that the "Council" was trying to bridge the gap between the New Empire and the exiled, having recognized this incident as an opportunity, striving for everything to proceed smoothly. Before the situation completely falls under control, ensuring the information does not leak externally is indeed important: she is mainly worried that if the public knows about the Fifth Fleet and also knows about the Empire’s involvement and contact, if the contact action with the Fifth Fleet yields no result, it could likely cause a new estrangement between the New Empire and the exiled citizens, which is quite possible.

"We will notify all stations on the Imperial Border, instructing outposts to prepare for major fleet jumps at any time. If possible, we will dispatch legions to support the Fifth Fleet—it should be in time," Sandora said.

The "Council" showed a worried expression: "The Fifth Fleet may consider you as enemies: they know nothing about the establishment of the New Empire, just like we did at the beginning."

"So it all depends on your efforts. After restoring communication, you need to quickly convince the Fifth Fleet commander; I think you should be quite familiar and able to trust each other." Sandora looked at the "Council’s" translucent face and spoke in an undeniable tone.

Through the Empire Spiritual Network, Sandora and I quickly completed everything achievable now: ordered the New Empire’s Third Legion, possessing the fastest action capability, into battle readiness, strengthened all border outposts’ observation of the void, raised all intelligence priorities of the Leaving World Garden system during this period, and prepared boxed lunches with marinated eggs for Bubbles... well, the last one was angrily reprimanded by those involved. I just wanted to reward this girl since she’ll be a Loli with a cone on her head for several days starting today...

The "Council" also began making her preparations, such as how to compress the information to be delivered into the smallest possible data packet—after establishing contact with the Fifth Fleet, the channel certainly wouldn’t be stable. We don’t know how long we can communicate with them, so the "Council" is now screening and combining several data packets from simple to complex, sending the most important information to the Fifth Fleet. The expected approach is to immediately send the smallest data packet as communication recovers, including a set of navigation signals (letting the Fifth Fleet know which Void Quadrant is safe), the Identification Code of the Fourth Fleet back then, and the New Empire border passcode. Due to explaining the situation of the New Empire requiring substantial bandwidth, this smallest data packet does not contain related content. In this way, even if our communication with the Fifth Fleet only lasts for a moment, the other party can at least retreat toward us. As for what happens when they encounter the Imperial Outpost—by then, the two sides should have established a stable connection, and the "Council" can explain everything clearly.

And if communication could stably maintain for a while, that would be even better. We would first attempt to send several larger data packets, finally trying to directly talk to the other side.

Anyway, before that, it’s really up to luck, just as Bubbles said. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian.com and vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)