During the time the student exchange was happening, more instances of zerg activity had been discovered around the barren planets that littered the border of the zerg and the federation.

Salessa increased the military presence at the border, not wanting to lose the hard earned territory to those mindless creatures. She couldn't help but get a headache from all the trouble she had to deal with.

After receiving the confirmation of the student exchange, she quickly handed it over to her subordinates. She had hoped there would be more time to get acquainted with the empire. Regardless of their respective ambitions, allying themselves to deal with the zerg is better for both sides. After all, who would want to be neighbours with a race of monsters that only know how to devour and consume?

Unfortunately it seems the zerg have no intention of waiting. She can only pray that with the tentative introduction of the student exchange, the empire wouldn't take the chance to stab them in the back, while they focused on the greater threat.

She chose to send her own fleet to reinforce the border. Although it left her a little undefended against internal threats, but there were no better options. She had led her fleet against the zerg countless times, and now they didn't have time to waste training up a new batch.

However she didn't believe her fleet was omnipotent. Recruitments began to be posted to various military universities, and planetary wide conscriptions were put in place.

It was at this point that the government sent out information about the upcoming attack of the zerg. The people of the federation were no strangers to this, but based on how serious the actions were this time, they were aware of the danger this time around.

Many of the veterans that had retired from the military quickly rushed to their closest recruiting stations, businesses began to fund the military with supplies and donations. The federation had begun its war time preparations.

This could not be hidden from the empire. A meeting was set up to discuss the situation of the federation. Some discordant voices were willing to take the chance to attack. Most of these people were young and hadn't seen the terrifying nature of the zerg, but those older ministers were far more experienced in their devastation.

They quickly suppressed those hot-headed youngsters. They asked the emperor.

"Your majesty, what level of cooperation do you think is sufficient?" asked one of the oldest ministers, his face showing his seriousness.

The emperor thought about it. He wasn't unaware of the federations ambitions. If he aided them militarily, they might take the chance to bury those fleets that are helpless in foreign territory. That was something he could not accept, but if he was asked to turn a blind eye, he also couldn't do that.

The federation acted as a blockade between the empire and the zerg. If it fell, they would have to take on the full force of an overwhelming enemy. So he thought supplying them materially was plausible. Be it with weapons or ships. Although this can be said to be valuable technology which can give the federation a level playing field, but the war will cause great damage to the federation. It won't be too late to attack them, when they win.

"I'm willing to send warships and mecha to aide the federation", the emperor said calmly.

The older ministers accepted the arrangement, it was what they were expecting. The younger ministers weren't happy with the arrangement, but they dared not speak out in front of their seniors.

So very quickly, the support equipment was sent to the federation. When Salessa received it, she knew that this was the greatest advantage the empire was willing to give. She knew that they would never allow their military to aide them, so she was content with the support the empire gave.

Very quickly after that, the first wave of zerg appeared. Ravenous creatures, just like before, they used no tactics. They relied solely on their overwhelming numerical advantage and physical prowess.

With the equipment sent by the empire, the zerg were barely able to reach a single warship. However these zerg were the ones sent to test. The elite zerg were far more horrifying, and until they saw them, they knew there would be no end to this.

However wave after wave of these regular zerg appeared. Although the numbers were constantly increasing, they never saw even a shadow of the elite zerg. A sense of unease began to spread through the federation.

"Are the zerg planning a bigger move?" they thought.

...

"Your majesty, your majesty! It's not good, our border fleet has been destroyed" a general had sent an emergency message to the palace.

When the emperor watched the message, he saw the destruction around the general as he was relaying information from his mecha, before a monstrous figure appeared behind him, tearing him to pieces in a flash. The connection hadn't ended, so the emperor was forced to watch one of his strongest armies annihilated in front of his eyes.

The emperor didn't have time to waste, he called an emergency meeting. All military officials were called upon, mass conscription were put in place. Supplies were focused completely on defending against the elite zerg that had managed to slip around both the federation and the empire, to attack from the furthest point.

He evacuated every planet he could that was close to the border, choosing to set them up outposts instead. The amount of work it took was astronomical, which alerted the federation that was busy dealing with the growing number of regular zerg.

The people of the federation were shocked by the news. Now the empire is in a state of panic when losing a considerable number of their fighting force, but the emperor and those older ministers have seen worse times, so they quickly managed to calm the people, following the procedures for such an event.

The problem however, was that the federation seemed to be handling their side with ease, but only the upper levels knew that they were struggling against the obscene numbers. Salessa was forced to send in more reinforcements, as well as an unbroken train of supplies. The empire were able to hand over equipment to them, but they didn't know if it would be possible to return the favour at this point.