Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 565

Chapter 563, Where is the Alliance?

Some were worried, some fearful, and naturally, some ecstatic.

The happiest were undoubtedly the Fury Fleet.

Though they had been treated like sheep, it was unsettling. But after all, the long-awaited reinforcement had finally arrived, and it had arrived just as promised.

While it was unclear what the price they paid for this request would lead the Chapter to, there was at least a greater hope for saving the Chapter’s fate.

They eagerly used the sage Paulson as an intermediary to contact the Ark Fleet, which had crossed the Vinci-Vuci Channel and entered the Proud Claw Segmentum.

Based on the Fury Fleet’s current location, they calculated a rendezvous point

and began heading in both directions .

But Blood Shark, like a villain intent on breaking them apart, repeatedly appeared with three Alliance battlecruisers, constantly influencing them.

Paulitus repeatedly demonstrated his resolve, insisting that to maintain his resolve, he had to act according to his goals.

However, at the last moment, he still compromised.

The closer they get to this moment of hope, even hope rushing towards them, the less courage they have to fight to the death.

They’re clearly about to reunite. It’s clear that the combined strength of the Fury and Ark Fleets will not only far surpass the Alliance in fleet strength, but also maximize the effectiveness of the two Chapters’ combined 2,500 Space Marines. Together, they could do more than just defend the Proud Claw Sector, even launch a massive counterattack, and open up a third front against the Imperium from the Iron Rage. It’s possible that this front could even yield the greatest rewards!

Dawn is approaching, so how could they fall before it?

They decisively admitted defeat: If they won’t let me go, I’ll change my route.

At the same time, they would pass this news to the Mechanicus’ Ark Fleet, allowing it to adjust its route to ensure a swift reunion.

Throughout this process, the Fury Fleet was meticulously prepared.

Paulitus didn’t overlook the biggest problem: the Alliance’s main fleet had vanished since it eliminated the orbital defenses of Helios VIII.

According to the information Paulson relayed to him, it was assumed that the Alliance’s main fleet was about to descend upon them.

This was Paulitos’s greatest concern.

Logically, the Alliance’s main fleet should have arrived long ago. Coming from Helios VIII, with the Blood Sharks chasing them, there was no problem finding them. The Alliance’s main fleet could easily defeat them, and they would undoubtedly arrive faster than the Mechanicus.

After all, according to rumors at the time, it would take the Mechanicus a month to reach the Proud Claw Segmentum, and it was unknown how long it would take for them to reunite.

Before that, the Alliance fleet would undoubtedly find the Fury, and that would be the most dangerous time.

Paulitos had made extensive preparations, devising ways to survive an attack from the Alliance’s main fleet.

He had even considered the worst-case scenario.

If necessary, the two massive ships, the Triumph Flame and the Spark Wing, could be abandoned.

It wasn’t that he was unwilling to do so, but that he had no other options.

He had some plans:

for example, finding a planet with relatively strong defenses, allowing the Fury Fleet to defend with the planet’s orbital defenses;

or, for example, immediately dispersing upon encountering the Alliance’s main fleet. The two massive ships would undoubtedly be the most closely watched, so they were handed over to the Alliance. All they had to do was fight to the death and delay the enemy for as long as possible. The remaining manpower of the two chapters could disperse among smaller vessels, flee quickly, and try to evade the Alliance’s pursuit before reuniting with the Mechanicus.

Each approach presented its own challenges.

For the former, finding a well-defended location would be challenging. Even if they managed to find one, they wouldn’t necessarily be able to hold out until reinforcements from the Cult of Alfonzo arrived. Failure to hold would be disastrous, and everything would be lost.

For the latter, with the inevitable loss of both flagships, even a dispersed escape wouldn’t guarantee complete evasion. The Blood Sharks were skilled hunters, and the Alliance would likely have no shortage of such means. Furthermore, the Alliance’s main fleet, combined with the Blood Sharks, held a significant advantage in terms of numbers. Separately acting, they wouldn’t guarantee many escapes.

If too few of the remaining manpower escaped, what difference would that make? It would be the same as the entire chapter being wiped out. As for preserving their bloodline, the Chapter still had members on their home world in the Empress Star Region, ensuring the lineage wouldn’t be cut off.

Struggling with this, Paulitus decided to try both strategies.

He would lead his fleet around a star or through dangerous areas like the asteroid belt, hoping to temporarily escape the Blood Sharks’ surveillance, then quickly detach one or two small ships and allow them to slip away unnoticed.

But the results were very limited.

Contact between the two sides often lasted only a few days before the ship suddenly lost all contact.

Was it a signal failure?

Paulitus didn’t think so. He

feared the fate of these separate ships would be far from pleasant.

He had to prioritize the first option.

As his unease grew, reaching a point of extreme anxiety, he made a decision: to stop advancing.

As it turned out, the system they were currently passing through, called “Phantom Moon,” was a rather pleasant place.

Its primary habitable world wasn’t a single planet, but rather a satellite orbiting the system’s largest gas giant, called “Phantom Moon.”

First of all, Phantom Moon is a relatively developed place with good industrial capacity, and the orbital defense system built around Phantom Moon is relatively complete. Moreover, there is a giant planet blocking one side, which makes the attack methods available to the attackers more limited.

In general, Phantom Moon is a relatively good defensive location that the Fury Fleet has found along the way.

Paulitus decided to stay here with the entire fleet.

At the same time, he also contacted the Ark Fleet of the Mechanicus, informing them of his decision and hoping that the Ark Fleet would come to join them as soon as possible.

The Alfonzo Fleet quickly responded to them:

“Okay, pay attention to the defense. We are about to arrive in the Bovan system. It is estimated that there are still six jumps from your location and it will take an estimated 21 days to arrive.”

“No problem, we will definitely hold on for 21 days.”

Then, Alfonzo’s Ark Fleet sent a final communication signal to the Fury Fleet:

“Good luck to you.”

…

After confirming the final message had been sent, Paulson left the communications cabin and returned to the conference room.

Seven Sages of the Occupation had gathered aboard the mechanical Ark, the Alfonzo II.

Paulson’s true form was present at this moment.

After the Ark fleet entered the Proud Claw Sector, a squadron headed for Heyang VIII. They

not only retrieved Paulson, the Sage of the Occupation, but also a considerable number of the Heyang Knights from Heyang VIII.

These knights, whose homeworld’s orbital defenses had been completely dismantled by the Alliance, harbored a deep hatred for the Alliance. Having suffered losses, they hoped to personally teach the Alliance a painful lesson in the upcoming war.

Upon seeing Paulson return, Sage Anton Dubo, the leader of the sages, spoke up, “Have you appeased that chapter?”

“Yes.”

“Haha, that’s good,” Dubo said. “Soon, we’ll cultivate a deep friendship between our two chapters. War has its benefits. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be so easy to make those proud angels bow their heads.”

“You’re right,” Paulson said respectfully.

Although he, like Anton Dubo, was a Sage of the Main Work, even Sages of the Main Work had their strengths and weaknesses.

One was about to ascend to the rank of a true Great Sage.

The Alfonzo Cult consisted of thirty-six Sages of the Main Work and one Great Sage.

Great Sage Martin Varuk was the leader of the cult. Below him were three Forge Generals, each controlling one of the three Alfonzo Forge Worlds. Although these three Forge Generals were only Sages of the Main Work, their status was quite high.

Beyond these four, the leader of the remaining Sages of the Main Work was Anton Dubo.

He is the undisputed hawk of the Alfonzo Cult. He has always been the most active in Alfonzo’s collaboration with the Ironclad Chapter, and he was the one who pushed hard for the Cult’s participation in the Ironclad War.

His success has elevated his status within the Cult.

With the support of Humphrey Paul, his position is even somewhat surpassing that of the three Forge Generals.

This time, the Alfonzo Cult has officially entered the war, and Dubo is personally leading the powerful Ark Fleet southward to open up the battlefield.

If he succeeds, destroys the Alliance fleet, captures the entire Pride Talon Segmentum, and even expands the Cult’s sphere of influence southward into the Eastern Cosmic Realm, he will surely become a Grand Magus.

However, this so-called Grand Magus would undoubtedly not be recognized by the Mechanicus’s Martian headquarters.

But what difference does it make? It

‘s uncertain whether the Mechanicus’s main sect will still be on Mars in the future.

Paulson has decided to hold on to this powerful figure.

Although he is also a Magus of the Principality, he ranks quite low among the thirty-six.

If Du Bo could take off in one go, he would also be able to gain a lot of benefits.

After carefully and seriously reporting on the Fury Fleet, he sat in his seat and quietly listened to the reports of other sages.

After the Ark Fleet arrived in the Proud Claw Star Region, it merged with the Fury Fleet and brought the two regiments under its command. This was only the first step.

Important, but not that important.

The most critical thing was to destroy the main fleet of the Alliance.

But the problem was, where was the main fleet of the Alliance?

It was thought that they would seize the opportunity to destroy the Fury Fleet before the Ark Fleet arrived, to prevent the two from merging and strengthening their strength.

However, this thing that was originally expected did not happen at all.

The Alliance did not attack the Fury Fleet at all.

At least, apart from the Blood Shark that was always tracking the Fury Fleet, there was no signal from the Alliance ships.

So where did they go?

The Ark Fleet has been searching for intelligence on the Alliance Fleet through various means.

The detection and search systems, expanded to several surrounding star systems, maintained a constant alert. The dispatched reconnaissance fleet, having explored several sectors in the Arrogant Talon sector for over a month, failed to locate the Alliance. The star-talking towers aboard the starships contacted over a hundred worlds still within their own sphere, inquiring whether any trace of the Alliance fleet had been observed, but yielded no valuable information.

It was as if the Alliance’s main fleet had vanished into thin air after leaving Heyang VIII.

This was a slightly unsettling thought,

but not overwhelming.

Another possibility arose: Had the Alliance fled?

Seeing the formidable strength of their own fleet, they knew they could not possibly engage them in the Arrogant Talon sector, so they simply abandoned this sector, which didn’t belong to them, and retreated southward.

This wasn’t impossible.

On the contrary, it was a quite sensible choice.

After all, it would have been quite advantageous to flee south to Upper East Star in the Menghe sector, relying on Upper East’s impressive planetary defenses to block the only passage from Arrogant Talon into the Eastern Universe.

Even if the Alliance had some special ideas, the huge gap in strength between the two sides was there, so what use would conspiracy and subterfuge be?

Could it be that with the size and strength of the Alliance fleet, they dared to ambush them?

“Boom!”

“Report! We are under attack!”

(End of this chapter)