Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 585

Chapter 583: The Fruit of Victory is So Sweet

. Boarding operations are never easy.

At least that’s what Martins believed before he joined Gu Hang.

Throughout his combat experience, whether during the heyday of the Phoenix or later during the Atonement Crusade, he had participated in numerous boarding operations.

Each one was extremely dangerous.

The reason was simple: no matter how strong the individual combat capabilities of a Space Marine were, they could not avoid the risks of boarding. Whether it was the failure of teleportation due to interference, or being shot down by a boarding torpedo or boarding ship mid-transit, if such an event occurred, the boarding soldier would be helpless and die.

Even if they did board, the danger was great. The number of soldiers who could survive the dangerous boarding process, especially those in the vanguard, was inevitably small. Generally speaking, modern starships are equipped with a large number of poorly equipped Marines and Army elites. The boarding troops could only fight the enemy with limited equipment and manpower.

To hold their ground, they had to complete tasks like disabling enemy ships’ interception systems and artillery, creating landing sites, and awaiting follow-up reinforcements.

These follow-up troops often arrived in smaller numbers, not in waves, and were rather scattered.

With the enemy occupying their home turf and often having the advantage in equipment and numbers, the difficulty of boarding operations was unimaginable. The battlefield often became a meat grinder, with the boarding force incurring enormous losses in deploying troops, and then bearing even greater losses while fighting under unfavorable conditions. Only by overcoming these various crises could a successful boarding operation be completed.

However, after beginning his work for Gu Hang, he discovered that boarding operations weren’t so easy after all.

It wasn’t that it was truly easy. After all, since the battle with the Alfonzo fleet in the Bovan system, the Phoenix had lost over four hundred men in successive battles. This loss of nearly half the fleet’s personnel was, by any measure, a heavy loss.

However, compared to their gains, the capture of one massive ship after another, the annihilation of countless elite Skitarii and Renegade Space Marines, this loss was simply “too good to lose.”

Without Governor Gu’s nearly uninterrupted, 100% successful psychic teleportation, countless casualties would have occurred during the numerous boarding missions, and many operations would have been completely aborted. Without those miraculous Heroic Spirits leading the charge, relying solely on a few hundred Phoenixes, trapped in a vast sea of elite enemy forces, would have been a pipe dream. These two factors alone made the Phoenixes’ boarding missions so

unstoppable that, to the Blood Sharks next door, they seemed like miracles.

In the capture of the few remaining ships of the Fury Fleet, the Phoenixes clearly understood that Governor Gu played the greatest role.

Initially, Gu Hang was not aboard the targeted Rong Lin, but on the Hippogriff.

The Alliance deployed the main force of the Phoenixes, a total of 600 warriors, across four ships: the Hippogriff, Ronglin, Angry Owl, and Yunluo. Aside from the Hippogriff, which had 300 men, the other three ships each had only 100 men.

When news of the Ronglin’s siege reached them, Gu Hang set out, bringing 200 Phoenixes with him and teleporting them to the Ronglin.

This was another event beyond Martins’s comprehension.

The distance between the Hippogriff and the Ronglin was so vast!

That was beyond the realm of a normal space naval engagement!

Even without interference and with coordinates, this was still too incredible.

But Martins had become numb to it.

He’d seen it all, so it didn’t matter.

After the naval battle, the Ronglin was severely damaged. The damage control team’s utmost efforts could only barely restore the battlecruiser’s mobility, preventing further deterioration. Combat was impossible; they would only serve as a stationary target, ineffective.

However, the attack on Huanyue Star continued as planned. The loss of a battlecruiser did not hinder the Alliance’s offensive.

This was, in fact, a relatively traditional struggle for the orbital defense system. After clearing a relatively safe area of airspace, they dispatched troops for a large-scale surface landing to engage in the battle for the Earth Saplings.

During this process, the Alliance even moved two captured ships, the “Wings of Spark” and the “Flame of Triumph,” into the orbit of Phantom Moon.

These warships hadn’t yet completed their repairs, and perhaps even had surviving members of their original crew lingering in some secluded corner of the ship. After all, these two vessels were massive vessels capable of engaging hundreds of thousands of people, so it wouldn’t be a problem to treat them like a space city.

They were largely useless in Alliance combat, and many of their systems needed to be hacked or replaced.

However, this didn’t stop the Alliance from commissioning them and placing them in Phantom Moon’s orbit to demonstrate their capabilities to the enemy.

This was a show of force, boosting their own morale while also significantly undermining the enemy’s. It effectively told the planet’s defenders that they had no hope and that surrender was the only option.

The effect was surprisingly effective.

Multiple orbital stations signaled their surrender to the Alliance. They allowed Alliance boats to land without resistance, then laid down their weapons and were taken away by the Alliance. The stations didn’t need to be destroyed; they were simply abandoned temporarily, ready for reuse later.

As the orbital defenses rapidly crumbled, the ground offensive progressed more smoothly.

Without the interference of the orbital defenses, the Alliance fleet began to more smoothly support the surface offensive.

The surface orbital artillery still struggled in vain, but facing simultaneous attacks from above and below, defense became incredibly difficult.

The Alliance didn’t even deploy Space Marines in the surface offensive.

The main force in this offensive was the Battle Sisters of the Holy Lily of Mercy. Sister Grit was the supreme commander. While her Battle Sisters lacked the individual combat prowess of Space Marines, with the support of one thousand Battle Sisters and over six thousand Honor Guards, they could ensure the surface offensive would not be easily breached by the Fury and the New World Torch.

Furthermore, the enemy was hesitant to mobilize a large number of Space Marines.

During a battle for a key surface hub city, a hundred Space Marines appeared, gathering to repel the Alliance Army’s assault. The Alliance

, instead of imposing a preemptive strike, surrounded the city, opened a humanitarian corridor, and gave residents three days to evacuate.

The Space Marines were unable to escape; they were too conspicuous to blend in with the onward movement.

They attempted several breakouts, but fighting on the Great Plains presented them with more than just the Sisters of Battle and the Guards of Honor. A massive tank and heavy artillery barrage was present, making a frontal assault impossible.

Only a handful managed to break through, while the rest were forced back into the city.

The Alliance, unable to address the remaining civilians, launched an orbital bombardment.

After three days and three nights of bombing, the entire city was physically razed to the ground. Later estimates indicate that few living organisms remained.

After this battle, the Fury and New World Torches rarely engaged in large-scale gatherings—except for surprise attacks under cover of night or in complex environments. However, after a quick victory, they would quickly withdraw, engaging in guerrilla warfare and refraining from attempting to expand their gains.

They also abandoned almost all of their key strongholds and fortresses, shifting their battle lines to complex areas like the city’s underground tunnels, previously excavated bunkers, and lowlands and mountain ranges.

These locations were not suitable for large-scale troop movements, and the dispersed deployment made orbital bombardment difficult to achieve.

This, of course, led them to almost completely abandon control of Phantom Moon.

Space Marines who were determined to survive and hold out proved difficult to defeat.

Even the Burning Sky torpedoes might not be able to completely destroy them. If they prepare enough supplies and oxygen, and hide in excavated mountains, underground and the like, they may really be able to survive the hot period of several years and emerge again after cooling down – as for how to escape from a dead planet, that is another topic.

But at least they could survive.

Unless they used a higher-level extinction weapon like the Earth-Blasting Planet Destroyer, which would directly explode a planet into countless fragments of space. Perhaps after thousands of years, they would reassemble due to gravity, or perhaps they would simply form countless asteroids and meteors. But ultimately, this was the only way to truly exterminate a planet and all life on it.

Not quite, not yet.

But in this situation, the war situation was still quite awkward.

While the Alliance essentially controlled the entirety of the Fantasy Moon, their military advantage was primarily based on the thousands of top-tier elite troops of the Holy Mercy Lilies and Glory Guards, plus at least two battlecruisers and ten Lunar-class ships patrolling in support.

Under these circumstances, the Fury and the New World Torch dared not venture out, remaining like rats in the gutter.

However, with less than two thousand Space Marines, they effectively tied down a significant portion of the Alliance’s forces, pinning them on the Fantasy Moon.

If the starships were withdrawn, even if only the larger ones, fewer would remain, making global coverage difficult. Fury and his ilk would likely increase their activity. And once the Sisters and Glory Guards also withdrew, they could establish bases with even greater impunity, perhaps even retaking planetary control.

But if they didn’t withdraw, they wouldn’t be able to quickly wipe out these two chapters.

It was a real headache.

…

Gu Hang knew about the situation on Huanyue, but he didn’t pay much attention to it.

There wasn’t much to worry about.

Perhaps the war there was brutal, and the guerrilla warfare of the two remaining chapters was causing Grit a lot of trouble.

Overall, however, Huanyue’s production was being rebuilt. Under the current global military control, the Alliance took 20% of the output, while Grit, as a military, received approximately 10% from the local area for military supplies, primarily food and other basic supplies, as well as equipment repairs.

The remainder was distributed among the original interest groups on the planet.

That was all that was needed.

As for the Fury Flames and New World Torches in the mountains and the land, Grit will continue to handle them.

Withdraw some of the starships above Phantom Moon, while retaining some. Three cruisers will suffice.

Global coverage isn’t possible, but it will ensure ready firepower support when Grit orders the detection and suppression of renegade Space Marines.

As for the frequent attacks on Phantom Moon’s production sites, then attack them.

That small amount of output isn’t significant.

The cleanup of the two Chapters will take its time.

Gu Hang is no longer in a rush.

As for himself, he has more important matters to attend to.

The Battle of Bowen, and its offshoot, the Battle of Phantom Moon, saw the Alliance achieve unprecedented victories and unprecedented results.

A count showed that two battlecruisers had been replaced with an Emperor-class, two Retribution-class, a Battle Barge, and a Serpent-class.

Wow, after one battle, the Alliance had gained an additional fleet!

Just seizing the ships alone was a bonanza!

And the war situation had also undergone significant changes.

The Alfonzonian Cult’s main expeditionary force collapsed, along with the Fury Flame and the New World Torch. Resolving these two major issues meant the Alliance’s potential threats in the Proud Talon sector were eliminated from both directions.

Back in the Princess Sector, the main force of the Ironclad Chapter was locked in a desperate battle with the Phoenix Lord to the west, a battle even larger than the Alliance’s own. Could Humphrey Paul spare more forces for the Proud Talon expedition?

Probably not.

Having lost a War Ark and an Emperor, could the Alfonzonian Cult still muster a fleet to march south?

Probably not.

The Alliance would indeed be weakened after the Battle of Bovan, requiring at least six months to a year to repair its ships.

But Gu Hang wasn’t overly concerned about facing any further military threats during this period.

Rather, it was his enemies who should fear his military threat.

He was weakened, but he expected unimpeded passage from the Proud Talon to the Nepeta Sector, or from the Proud Talon to the Alfonzon Sector, with little defense.

Could it be that he, the victor of the war, would feel worse than those who lost?

That makes no sense.

Even if it was Paul the Iron Armor, or Martin Varuk, the great sage of Alfonzo, who insisted on causing trouble for Gu Hang, even at the cost of shaking up the foundation, it would not be a simple matter to withdraw forces.

Across several star regions, it is unknown how long it would take just to assemble, dispatch, and march the troops.

Even with the most conservative estimate, Gu Hang felt that there would be a breathing space of two years or more.

Oh, it’s not him who needs to breathe, it’s Paul and Varuk who need to breathe.

“They are still too weak. If the fleet’s strength is intact, they won’t even be able to breathe!”

Gu Hang sighed, turned around and began to digest the results of

the battle. The fruits of victory are so sweet.

In addition to seizing a batch of ships and “eating” a neurozoan, which gave an advantage in the overall strategy, the victory in the Battle of Proud Claw also had another result that cannot be ignored: the gift points.

(End of this chapter)