The Tragic Capital Evacuation
At 7: 49 PM Venal time, one hour and forty minutes after the insectoid fleet's sudden arrival.
Military headquarters, Supreme Defense Officers Joint Conference.
Tai purposely coughed twice. "His Excellency the President has issued an Alliance-wide military control order more than an hour ago. Now, the military will take over the defense of the entire Alliance. The reserve forces and the internal defense forces will be handed over to us."
"What we need now is a feasible battle plan on how to get rid of these detestable insectoids from the Alliance's borders."
All the generals were silent. Williams took out a box of maple syrup, popped a piece into his mouth, and said, "The enemy's goal is very clear. They want to occupy the capital and then use the capital ring's resources to carry out their next move. We need to stop them from achieving their goal."
An old black general beside him sighed heavily. "General Williams, the enemy's forces will arrive in less than four days, and our main forces are all defending the borders. You should know very well how strong the capital's defense forces are. It's not realistic to rely on the capital's current forces to stop them! Time doesn't allow for external reinforcements, either, not to mention that the Endaro Star Region is also facing the threat of another large enemy force. We can't touch the border guards even if we want to. Do you think the capital can be defended under such circumstances? "
The conference room was filled with sighs. The Alliance's forces were all scattered around the border. There were no less than a hundred combined fleets stationed in the capital ring, but compared to the enemy's six hundred fleets, these one hundred fleets were not enough! Meanwhile, the border Endaro Star Region still had six hundred insectoid fleets that could charge in at any time. The situation was extremely dangerous.
According to the 2D star map, the Endaro Star Region was south of the capital. Once the insectoids occupied the capital, the fleets stationed there would split up and surround the southern regions of the Alliance. The Alliance would not be able to withstand the attack of twelve hundred fleets, and a quarter of the Alliance's southern region would be occupied by the insectoids in an instant.
This was not the only side effect of the capital being occupied. This was the core of the Alliance's politics, economy, arts, and everything else. The moment the capital was lost, the Alliance's economy would be under immense pressure, and the citizens would panic. After all, the capital ring was the face of the entire Alliance! The heart! How could humans survive without a heart?
Williams rapped his fingers on the table and said, "In short, the capital cannot be lost. This is the result of a detailed analysis by the General Staff Headquarters. Once the capital is lost, the Alliance's economy will regress by a thousand years, bringing great chaos to the army and the people."
The black general slammed the table and said angrily, "General William! Your General Staff Headquarters makes it sound so easy! Right now, the capital ring's defense army only had a total of one hundred and six fleets. Thirty percent of these fleets had not even been consolidated yet, so they could only gather seventy or so fleets from the surrounding regions in three days. Altogether, they did not even have the strength of two hundred fleets. Excluding the security fleets that had no combat power, their true combat power was equivalent to a hundred combined fleets. Using one hundred fleets to fight against six hundred insectoid combined fleets equipped with two capital ships? Let me see you fight this battle! If I can win, I'll cut off my head for you!! "
The sighs in the conference room grew heavier. This was a hopeless war, and all the generals present knew this very well.
"My suggestion is not to fight the enemy head-on. In fact, have any of you thought about it? This is the capital, and it has the best resources and manpower in the entire Alliance. If we can't defend the capital, we will move the capital away! After that, we will burn down the entire Venal Galaxy, not leaving a single drop of resources for the enemy! "
Everyone was shocked.
Burn down the entire Venal Galaxy? It had to be understood that this was the birthplace of humanity, a gift from the gods to humanity. Every citizen of the Pan-human Alliance treated this place as a holy land in their hearts!
Moving the capital? Destroying the Venal Galaxy? Putting aside the question of whether or not it would succeed in such a short time, just the emotions of the people present were unable to accept this! This was like asking a living person to stab their own heart with a dagger. It required immense courage!
Williams gritted his teeth. "I know that all of you are reluctant to part with the capital, the first home of humanity, but I must remind all of you that only a place inhabited by humans is our home. Once the Venal Galaxy falls into the hands of the insectoids, the outcome will only be a hundred times worse!"
Everyone fell silent. This was a difficult decision. No one was willing to give up on Venal, but everyone knew that the military did not have the ability to defend it.
"I object!" A general with large ears stood up and shouted. Tai glanced at him and knew that this was the deputy head of the Marine Headquarters, Admiral Layton's subordinate, Stanson. Layton had already left for the Endaro Star System to oversee the border defense, leaving Stanson and several other deputies of the Marine Headquarters to manage the department.
"The Venal Galaxy has already fallen once in the era of the robot rebellion. This time, we can't let it fall into the hands of the insectoids! The Marine Headquarters still has a capital ship fleet nearby! They have eighty dreadnoughts, eighty carriers, and ten supercarriers! We should have this capital ship fleet take the field and defend the Venal Galaxy to the death! Even if we die, it will be here! "
Williams did not wait for him to finish before softly saying, "The Freedom Cavalry is the foundation of the entire military. We can't use this capital ship fleet unless it's absolutely necessary. Besides, even if we send the Freedom Cavalry into battle, will we be able to win? If this fleet is completely wiped out, the entire Alliance will lose its last hope! "
The Freedom Cavalry they spoke of was a super fleet composed entirely of capital ships. Its base was located twenty warps away from the capital ring. The military had spent a great deal of effort to build this fleet, and every member of this fleet was the elite of the elite! They had the combat power of a hundred!
However, there was only one Freedom Cavalry fleet in the entire Alliance, and it was the military's final capital. If they were to lose the Freedom Cavalry as well, the military would lose the capital to resist the insectoids. After all, the capital ships of this fleet made up a third of the entire Alliance.
"You coward! You traitor! Give up on the Venal Galaxy? The people will stab you in the back and curse you, you bastard! Aren't you afraid of drowning in their spit?! "Stanson roared in rage, his entire body trembling in agitation.
Williams flipped the candy in his mouth with his tongue and indifferently said, "I'm not afraid at all. I'm only afraid that the entire human race will disappear from the star map. The capital can be rebuilt if it's gone, but what will be used to rebuild humanity if it's gone?"
Stanson was unconvinced and was about to curse Williams when he heard a loud noise. The silver-haired General Tai, who was seated at the head of the table, had finally exploded.
He slammed his hand on the table, sending some of the teacups flying. His face was ashen.
Even the bad-tempered Stanson did not dare to say anything else. Legend had it that Tai's rage was an ultimate weapon that was as terrifying as the roar of the Statue of Liberty. In the military, no one dared to challenge the authority of the silver-haired General Tai.
"Enough! All of you, shut up!" Tai roared. The entire conference room fell into a deathly silence. The famous generals did not even dare to breathe too loudly.
"William, how long will it take to temporarily relocate the capital?" Tai asked in a deep voice, his tone unquestionable. Although he would listen to the opinions of others, once he made a decision, he would execute it without hesitation. He would not care about anyone else's feelings.
Williams turned on his microcomputer and pulled out a detailed table. "One hundred and eighty hours. If the military, police, as well as the various warrior unions and corporate fleets all work together."
Tai nodded. Williams was truly worthy of being the chief of staff of the military, one of the triumvirate, and Tai's most capable subordinate. It had only been slightly more than an hour since the incident, yet Williams had managed to come up with a detailed plan for the capital's evacuation in such a short amount of time. This was enough to show the level of his thinking ability and decisiveness.
"General Williams!" Tai said sternly.
"Present!" Williams stood up with a swoosh and performed a standard military salute.
"The military has authorized you to be the commander-in-chief for the capital's evacuation plan. You have full authority over this plan! You must evacuate the capital to the northern part of the Alliance within one hundred and fifty hours. Anyone who disobeys orders will be executed first and reported later! "
"Understood!" Williams said sternly.
"Internal Defense Force General Souness! Capital Security Force General Mi Jian! Capital Police Director-General Na Chuan! "
"Present!" The three military and police officers in charge of the capital's internal security hurriedly stood up.
"From now on, your forces will be under the direct jurisdiction of the military. I'll give you twenty-four hours to mobilize all the warships, cargo ships, and even shuttles in the vicinity of the capital! As for the specifics, General Williams will give the order! "
"Yes, sir!"
"Mobilize Fleet 1574, Fleet 2356, Fleet 8426 … a total of seventy fleets to the Peaceful Mountain Military Base in the Tranquil Star Region, south of the capital! Prepare to intercept the insectoid fleets! If any fleet does not arrive on time after forty-eight hours, the fleet officer will be executed on the spot! "
The generals were stunned. Not a single one of the seventy fleets that Tai had pointed out had a capital ship. They were all old, weak, and crippled soldiers. By doing this, he was clearly sending these seventy mixed fleets to their deaths!
Let alone seventy mixed fleets, even seventy of the Alliance's most elite fleets would not be able to stop the insectoids' advance. The result was obvious even before the battle began.
It had to be said that these were seventy mixed fleets! The total number of soldiers was close to a hundred million!
A single order from the general represented the loss of a hundred million lives. This was how cruel and merciless war was.
Everyone began to wonder if they would have the courage to do this if they were in Tai's position.
Williams said nothing. The merciful did not lead an army. This was common knowledge since ancient times, and a general had to be unscrupulous in order to achieve victory. Tai had only done this because he had no other choice. Sending a hundred million lives to their deaths was very cruel, but if the enemy were allowed to enter the capital, even more people would lose their lives. That was truly cruel.
The entire army would retreat to the north and rebuild the capital, sacrificing themselves to buy time and gather a powerful force for another battle. This was the only choice they had at present!
Williams thought about it. "Who are you going to lead these seventy fleets?"
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