Chapter 952, Unequal Treaties

Chapter 952, Unequal Treaties
The offensive against Comoros is not stalled, but rather progresses slowly and inching forward.

However, this issue is not the core reason for the alliance's compromise.

The most fundamental reason is that the fire broke out in the heart of the country.

The Dark Eldar raiding parties departed from ports under their control and headed towards the real universe. The Alliance controls tens of thousands of worlds, each with its own war objectives across the five major armies, and is converging on various strategic directions. Furthermore, the Alliance's inner territory is not without military forces as well.

First, there are the planetary defense forces of each planet. Although, under the overall strategy of the Allied Military Command, the training level and equipment of the local defense forces on each planet are much better than during the Imperial era, they still cannot compare to the proper Allied Army.

These planetary defense forces were not very effective against the Dark Eldar.

However, the number of defense forces on each planet is still there. Some equipment discarded from the Alliance Army, as well as the planetary elites, for their own safety, the safety of their industries, and the fact that the planetary governors appointed by the Alliance are relatively responsible, will try to raise funds to form an elite guard when they have the resources.

They may not be many, but the Dark Eldar attackers on the other side are usually even fewer, so they can still play a role in countering the enemy to some extent.

The worse part is the naval component.

The Allied Navy is certainly powerful, but most of them are deployed on the front lines of the five major army groups, or on escort missions for transport ships that deliver supplies to the front lines of the five major army groups.

In the heart of the alliance, there are some weaknesses in space defense capabilities.

Of course, there are some.

Broadly speaking, they can be divided into three categories: planetary defense navies, star system defense navies, and armed merchant ships of the Alliance caravans.

The first category, namely the planetary defense navy, is the same concept as the planetary defense force; it is a naval force that the planet itself funds and builds. These planetary navies are subject to more restrictions. Firstly, their construction requires approval from the Alliance Navy Department, and they are under the jurisdiction of the Navy Command.

The Planetary Defense Force is theoretically under the jurisdiction of the Alliance Army Department, but the two are quite different. The Alliance Army Department generally doesn't bother with the Defense Force, at most recruiting soldiers from within it. This is considered a political achievement for the Planetary Governor and the Planetary Defense Force Command, a path to promotion and wealth, which they don't inherently resist.

The planetary officials in the Alliance are mostly temporary officials, which is quite different from the situation in the old Empire where planets were the private property of planetary governors.

But the situation is different for the Navy. The Alliance Navy will not only directly requisition planetary fleets to supplement the front-line combat order, but will also directly assign combat missions to the planetary fleets, and even directly appoint and assign the commanders of the planetary fleets.

Furthermore, the Alliance Navy will impose restrictions on the size of the planetary fleet.

The main purpose was to prevent corruption, and secondarily to prevent rebellion.

After all, planetary situations are the most unpredictable. Under the Alliance's rule, the probability of this happening is lower than elsewhere, but not so low as to be impossible. If it were to happen, and the planet's military and navy were fully equipped and powerful, the losses would be enormous.

Of course, even without these factors, it's unrealistic for a single planet to maintain a sizable naval fleet. Having one or two destroyers with three or four escort ships to guard against alien pirates is usually considered quite good.

The main defense force in the heart of the Alliance still relies on the second part: the Starfield Navy.

The nature of the Starfield Navy is similar to that of the Planetary Fleet; both are under the management of the Navy Department, and in some cases, the management is even more stringent. However, the difference lies in the fact that the Starfield Government has the financial resources to support a larger fleet; the Alliance Central Government also provides some financial support. Sometimes, retired or repaired second-line ships are directly assigned to the Starfield Fleet.

After all, it is quite necessary to have a resident fleet with considerable combat power within a star system.

Planetary fleets are not present in every world, but star sector fleets exist in every star sector, differing only in size based on the importance of the star sector and the pressure it faces.

Moreover, a single star field is still too large.

Some have two or three hundred worlds, while others have five or six hundred.

Even at full speed, it would take anywhere from half a month to two months to traverse the entire star system. To complete a full circuit would take two or three years, which would be considered fast. If one were to stay on some key planets for a few more days, or if there were any operations or activities, it would be even more daunting. Once the speed is reduced, it becomes very difficult to continue, and completing a circuit in ten years is not impossible.

This means the entire fleet cannot operate together; instead, it must be divided into multiple smaller fleets.

Planets and star system fleets constitute the basic defense measures at the star system level. At the space system level, there are no dedicated fleets; the security of the entire space system is the responsibility of the Alliance Naval Command. In the event of a space system-level conflict, the Central Army's fleet is deployed. The role of the space system naval commander is more like a central coordination center; if a problem arises within a star system that cannot be resolved, before the Central Army arrives, they will try to find a way to mobilize forces from multiple other star systems to provide support.

Besides the domestic defense system, another force that can be mobilized is the armed merchant ships of the Alliance caravans. Although their primary job and mission is to conduct business, acting as the lifeblood of the Alliance to maintain commercial trade, their armed forces can also be called upon to deal with enemies when necessary.

In particular, Alliance caravans were also important prey for the Dark Eldar.

However, it would be quite difficult to counter the Dark Elf raiding parties, who were going all out to search for targets and conduct unrestricted warfare in multiple space domains and even more star domains, with such a deep-sea defense system.

To be honest, a large number of Dark Eldar attacks were thwarted, and their failure rate was actually quite high.

The problem is that while the Dark Eldar may fail more often, the cost is also lower!
This is mainly due to their strategic problems.

The Dark Eldar won't be stubborn.

According to the intelligence the Alliance has obtained from the prisoners, the operation to carry out the unrestricted warfare in the virtual universe is led by Isara of Twilight Fang and is a joint operation of more than fifteen large dark-skinned families.

Their strategy is extremely cunning. They raid fleets in a more detailed manner than human forces, they are always very cautious in choosing their targets, and they run away as soon as they sense something is wrong, never engaging in direct confrontation.

Once successful, the goal is to cause as much damage as possible.

Imagine a planet suddenly attacked by about fifteen black-skinned ships. This planet is relatively poor, with a population probably not exceeding one billion, an army of less than ten million, and the need to defend the entire globe; it has no navy; and its planetary orbital defense system is relatively underdeveloped and poorly constructed.

From the perspective of the entire universe and the Alliance's entire political system, this place is like a 'village'.

Suddenly attacked by the Blacks, their elite troops descended, beheading and assassinating officials, causing chaos among the planet's high command; then, they looted important resources; and used various weapons to massacre civilians.

The operation lasted about ten days. When the supporting fleet was still two or three star systems away, they decisively withdrew. If they had time before leaving, they could launch one last orbital bombardment.

How to prevent this?
It is very difficult to defend against.

However, if the assassination attempt fails, the ground raid is met with strong resistance from the defense forces, or the orbital defense system intercepts the attack during orbital bombardment or the deployment of weapons similar to the Extinction Order, the Dark Eldar will decisively admit defeat, abandon their target, and flee.

On a few occasions, the Alliance's fast fleet caught them and won a battle, but overall, they suffered losses more often than not.

The homeland defense fleet has always been in a state of constant flux.

To be honest, the Dark Eldar's series of measures were quite successful.

In a sense, the league can almost be considered to have suffered a 'defeat'.

How do we determine the outcome of a war? It simply comes down to whether the strategic objectives of both sides have been achieved.

From this perspective, the Dark Eldar's strategic objective of using the so-called Blood Rose Labyrinth and bringing the war to the Alliance's homeland—acting as a 'nasty bloodsucking mosquito'—was truly achieved: they successfully forced the Alliance back to the negotiating table.

Negotiations have resumed.

In the meantime, the alliance was unwilling to give up and tried several times.

Although the difficulties are right in front of us and are not easy to solve, they must be solved eventually.

Even if the final outcome is still a peace negotiation, what is gained at the negotiating table still depends on performance on the battlefield.

The Alliance successfully detonated two planet-destroying bombs inside the Comoros.

These two super bombs, while not capable of obliterating Comoros like a planet, at least destroyed two heavily fortified districts of the Blood Maze. Even though the Alliance's suicide squads suffered heavy casualties in dropping the bombs; and considering that the planet-destroying bombs are extremely expensive consumable weapons, their cost-effectiveness was questionable.

However, the alliance is also using this method to give a stern warning to the Black people: Don't think we're powerless. If we're willing to pay any price, we still have the ability to completely destroy you.

In addition, on the real-world interstellar battlefield, the Alliance urgently mobilized fleets from all five major armies.

These fleets were specialized 'hunter fleets,' with a uniquely configured ship composition. While the Retribution-class battleships possessed formidable direct combat capabilities, serving as the backbone of Star Wars, they were simply too slow. The equally slow Zhuge-class carriers were also instantly destroyed.

These hunting fleets are typically centered around the fastest Grail-class battlecruisers, supplemented by numerous destroyers and a small number of fast cruisers and light carriers, to swiftly hunt down the Dark Eldar raiding fleets roaming human star systems.

These raiding fleets couldn't simply be withdrawn from the Veiled Spirit Gate in one battle. Many were arrested or completely destroyed while in hiding, before or after the operation.

Meanwhile, the Dark Eldar's frequent use of the Veil Gates has allowed some of their locations to be deciphered. Human hunting fleets often arrive first, not rushing to destroy the Veil Gates, but patiently waiting at the entrance. When the next wave of Dark Eldar emerges or returns, they suddenly strike, launching an ambush.

This also effectively limited the Dark Eldar's raiding activities in the real universe.

The difficult but progressable situation on both sides made Ambassador Texas at the negotiating table much more confident.

Ultimately, after continuous compromises and clashes, a preliminary peace agreement was reached between the two sides.

The Alliance permanently owns the Queen's Rose Port and the Bodhisattva Port, which it has already occupied.

The Alliance has the right to lease eight ports, including one large port, two medium-sized ports, and five small ports. These ports are located in a contiguous area with the ports of Queen Rose and Pursat.

The Alliance has the right to station troops in these leased ports, and they are jointly managed by both parties. A figure for the lease fee has been negotiated and is acceptable to the Alliance. Theoretically, using these leased ports for transportation and troop deployment costs seven times more than conventional energy deployment, but the advantage is that the time for troop deployment and the transportation of important materials is reduced by more than a hundred times.

When humanity has a need, the Dark Eldar should conditionally open the countless Veiled Spirit Gate nodes they control in the real universe.

The Dark Eldar can engage in some technology trade with humans. Both sides have already compiled lists of relevant technologies, but frankly, this is merely an add-on. The Dark Eldar don't think much of human technology; whether it's restricting their military expansion or their own development, the bottleneck has never been technology.

Humans do want the technology of the Black people, but many of their technologies are developed based on their own conditions, making them difficult for humans to use.

Moreover, they won't give us the truly core technologies.

These conditions can basically be considered as the alliance's gains in this war.

In contrast, what did the Dark Eldar gain?
A ceasefire has been reached, and we will no longer be attacked.

In trade, they can trade with the alliance using their own products, advanced manufacturing, and port usage rights. The most important of these are basic energy, food, and raw materials.

With these conditions in place, although the core area of ​​Comoros was still completely controlled by the Dark Eldar and most of the ports were still in Blackskin's hands, Gu Hang's goal of launching a fierce attack on Comoros at great cost could be considered achieved.

The Alliance now possesses the capability to deploy large numbers of troops using the Veiled Spirit Gate!

From this overall perspective, humanity is the one who has won a great victory: Gu Hang has achieved all of his strategic goals.

As for Blackie, he gained nothing. He didn't get either of the two children of prophecy he wanted; he was brutally beaten; and a significant portion of his homeland was ceded, either becoming permanent territory under the Alliance's control or existing as a 'leasehold'.

In return, all we get is the freedom from being attacked, plus a vague sense of trade that could be used to control our access to resources.

For the Dark Eldar, this was undoubtedly an unequal treaty.

(End of this chapter)