145: Chapter 145 War Mobilization

He turned his head again to glance into the distant deep space at the massive, glowing purple-red gas giant.

The contrast between the two was visually overwhelming.

"I'm telling you, this newbie village planet of ours feels way too small, right?"

Mudslide couldn't help but ask, "According to the official physical settings, what exactly is the diameter of this planet?"

Heisi thought for a moment and replied, "It seems to be about three thousand kilometers or so. It's about the same size as Earth's moon."

"That's freaking absurd!"

Mudslide slapped his thigh and pointed at the starry sky outside, starting to nitpick, "No wonder the land area on this planet is so small; it's all ocean! Besides, how does a planet with a diameter of only three thousand kilometers maintain a standard gravity similar to Earth's? This doesn't conform to gravitational physics at all!"

Heisi rolled his eyes and slapped the back of Mudslide's head.

"Why are you so fussy? The settings are just something the developers cooked up with a flip of their lips! Why are you arguing about physics in a space war game that has magic in it?"

As the spaceship completely entered the stable phase of space travel, these three veteran players, who had been struggling in the wasteland for several months, now had their faces pressed firmly against the cold glass, completely lacking any dignity.

Just like town teenagers taking a rural bus into the city for the first time, they were full of wonder at the vast cosmic scenery outside the window, shouting and exclaiming.

"Look over there! Look over there! Holy crap, there's a moon over there!"

"This deep space background texture is freaking beautiful! Any screenshot could be a high-definition wallpaper!"

"Look at that asteroid belt! Is that where Flash and the others are going to mine?"

...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the vast sea of stars.

Mobius Prime.

Inside a luxurious banquet hall owned by the Governors Mansion.

Melodious classical music echoed under the dome.

A crowd of noble men and women in fine attire were holding wine glasses, gathering in small groups to converse in low voices.

This kind of lavish social banquet was organized by different families in the upper levels of the Hive City almost every few days.

The purpose was to make the ties of interest between the nobles more solid amidst the clinking of glasses.

At this moment, Governor Cromwell was standing at the edge of the banquet hall.

He was holding a wine glass, smiling as he conversed with a young and handsome viscount.

He was secretly vetting this young man, preparing to find an obedient husband with a clean background for his sister, Elena, who loved to run around everywhere.

Just as they were chatting happily, Governor Cromwell's personal attendant rushed in from the side door.

His face was pale, he was covered in sweat, and he looked at Governor Cromwell with a hesitant expression, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Governor Cromwell frowned slightly.

He was somewhat displeased by the attendant's loss of composure in public.

He politely excused himself to the young viscount and then led the attendant quickly to a quiet compartment at the end of the corridor.

"What's the panic! What happened?" Governor Cromwell asked coldly.

The attendant swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his voice trembling: "My Lord... those young masters who went with the fleet to deal with the rebellion at the junkyard have returned."

Governor Cromwell looked at the attendant's ugly expression, and a sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in his heart.

"Were the people captured?" Governor Cromwell asked.

"No."

"Did you encounter resistance and kill too many people?"

In Governor Cromwell's view, the worst outcome was simply that the fleet failed to control their firepower and leveled that junkyard.

"No..." The attendant's legs went weak, and he nearly knelt on the ground, "It's Colonel Andrei... He and those thousands of Defense Force soldiers, along with the fleet, were all captured by the enemy!"

"What?!"

Governor Cromwell's eyes widened sharply, and he even suspected he had misheard.

Five thousand elites plus several heavy warships, going to fight a junkyard that didn't even have orbital air defense, and they were completely annihilated and captured?!

"Where is Elena?!" Governor Cromwell grabbed the attendant by the collar, his voice becoming hoarse from extreme tension, "My sister went with the fleet; where is she?!"

"Elena... did not return." The attendant shook his head in despair.

Governor Cromwell felt his throat go dry, his heart feeling as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand.

"Where are those young masters who escaped now?"

"At the landing pad of the Governors Mansion."

Governor Cromwell pushed the attendant aside, not even bothering to greet the nobles in the banquet hall, and strode away, running madly towards the Governors Mansion.

Governors Mansion, underground landing pad.

As soon as Governor Cromwell entered, he saw his thin brother-in-law sitting slumped on the ground.

Upon seeing Governor Cromwell, the thin man immediately wailed like a slaughtered pig: "Brother-in-law! Brother-in-law, you're finally here! You must send troops quickly and bring Elena back! That place is simply hell!"

Governor Cromwell had never been this angry in his life.

He strode forward and swung his arm with full force.

"Slap!"

A powerful, heavy slap sent the wailing thin man rolling twice on the ground, blood spraying from the corners of his mouth, and half his face instantly swelling up high.

"Shut up! What exactly is the situation? Tell the truth!" Governor Cromwell roared.

The thin man covered his face, trembling all over, and began to exaggerate their encounter.

Of course, to cover up the cowardice of their group of noble children fleeing the battlefield, the man shamelessly dumped all the responsibility for this defeat onto the fleet Commander, Colonel Andrei.

"It was that idiot, Colonel Andrei! He was too incompetent and too arrogant!"

The man pointed to the sky and the ground as he accused, "He didn't scout the enemy situation at all and landed blindly! As a result, we fell into an ambush by the natives. The enemy used weird sorcery to shoot down our warships, and Colonel Andrei was actually so scared that he lost his nerve, knelt down with the whole army to surrender, and wasted the entire fleet in vain!"

After hearing this absurd rhetoric, Governor Cromwell laughed in anger.

He stared coldly at his brother-in-law: "You mean to say that the enemy used only one spaceship to annihilate all our warships? And then Colonel Andrei surrendered with thousands of people, while only you guys managed to escape back?"

The thin man shivered under Governor Cromwell's sharp gaze, opened his mouth, but didn't dare to speak for a long time.

Governor Cromwell took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm his raging anger.

He walked over to the other noble children who had escaped and questioned them one by one.

As it turned out, their stories were almost identical.

They were all in perfect unison, pinning the blame firmly on Colonel Andrei.

But as the Governor of the star system, Governor Cromwell was sharp-minded.

He instantly found countless fatal loopholes in this narrative.

For example: these noble young masters were all on the same main defense vessel as Colonel Andrei when they landed.

If Colonel Andrei had really surrendered, why were they able to safely seize a shuttle and escape, while not a single other soldier managed to get out?

Another example: if they really encountered an ambush, why didn't the fleet send back a single conventional electromagnetic distress signal to Mobius Prime before being completely annihilated?

This was clearly highly unreasonable!

There was only one answer.

These hedonistic noble trash lied.

They must have abandoned the army and Elena the moment they saw the enemy display overwhelming force, seized a shuttle, and fled back like stray dogs!

Although he saw through the truth, Governor Cromwell felt a deep sense of powerlessness at this moment.

Unfortunately, these pieces of trash who had escaped were all direct descendants of the various great families within the star system.

As Governor, he had no way to throw them into prison and torture them.

Moreover, the news of their return had already spread among the guards at the landing pad.

The details of how shameful the process was no longer mattered.

What mattered was that the news of the Defense Force's crushing defeat and the Governor's sister being captured was now a foregone conclusion!

Sure enough.

A few minutes later.

The Governor's assistant ran over, dripping with sweat: "My Lord! The heads of the other five great families have all arrived. They have heard the news of the fleet's destruction, are very angry, and are waiting for you in the conference room."

Governor Cromwell closed his eyes and rubbed his temples: "Take them to Conference Room One."

After the assistant left, Governor Cromwell stood alone for a while, his brain working at high speed.

Then, he summoned one of his most trusted old retainers.

"Go to the vault immediately and assemble a batch of the highest-grade bearer bonds and valuables."

Governor Cromwell lowered his voice and instructed, "Arrange for a bold, meticulous, and eloquent negotiation expert. Take a civilian ship without any weapons and head to that junkyard planet immediately! Bring the ransom, and no matter what conditions they raise, bring Elena back to me safely first!"

"Understood, My Lord."

The old retainer took the order and left.

After arranging the contingency plan to rescue Elena, Governor Cromwell straightened the wrinkles in his clothes, restored his cold, unruffled expression as Governor, and walked towards the conference room at a leisurely pace.

Inside the conference room.

The heads of the five great families were already arguing in a chaotic mess.

Seeing Governor Cromwell enter, they immediately aimed their spears at the Governor.

"Your Excellency, Governor! A junkyard native who can't even fly out of the atmosphere dared to open fire on the regular army of our home planet! This is essentially an act of absolute disloyalty to the Empire! It is blatant rebellion!"

A hot-tempered old noble roared while pounding the table.

Another noble who controlled the military industry also chimed in with a gloomy face: "That's right! Recently, there have been constant disturbances over at the Gorgon Forge World, and the lower-level laborers are on strike. We happen to need a victory to stabilize the situation."

"I propose we immediately assemble all the escort fleets and mercenaries in the star system! Using this opportunity to crusade against the rebels, we will strike a powerful blow to establish our authority!"

Other nobles nodded one after another, unanimously demanding to start the war immediately.

In their deeply ingrained, arrogant perception, the destruction of Colonel Andrei's fleet was definitely just falling into some kind of shameless ambush; it was pure luck on the part of the natives.

If Mobius Prime truly mobilized its full military strength to go to war, in the face of absolute orbital bombardment and heavy firepower, that junkyard, which didn't even have a starport, wouldn't be able to hold out for even a single day.

Of course, Governor Cromwell actually thought the same way deep down.

How much of a foundation could a junkyard have?

He walked to the head of the conference table and sat down, crossing his hands on the table, his eyes sweeping around coldly.

"Everyone's suggestions are good."

Governor Cromwell's voice was low, carrying unquestionable majesty, "These rebellious natives will surely be purged by fire, but!"

He suddenly raised his voice: "Before my sister, Elena, returns safely to Mobius Prime, I will not allow a single warship to open fire in advance!"

Governor Cromwell stood up and issued the final order: "However, you can start full mobilization now! Notify all military factories to enter wartime production status!"