Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 678

Chapter 676, Business Thinking

Yalina paced anxiously aboard her warship.

She had been in this state ever since the meeting with Marshal Xi Rui.

Though seemingly youthful and beautiful, she was actually already one hundred and twenty years old. She hailed from the Yinghu Universe, part of the empire’s northern border, north of the Devouring Stars Universe.

The Iron Armor War, and the subsequent war against the Void Zerg, strictly speaking, had little to do with the Yinghu Universe. Reaching Yinghu was still a distant prospect.

However, the call from the Imperial Center could not be ignored. The many powerful figures in the Yinghu Universe consulted among themselves and assigned the task of sending reinforcements to Yalina’s star region.

She was the head of an Imperial Chamber of Commerce within the star region, but hers was unlike any other. She engaged in trade and transportation, of course, but she also controlled numerous vessels that were labeled merchant ships but were in fact warships.

This was because her star region offered relatively wide avenues for exploration. While that area lacked interstellar tunnels and lay outside the Empire’s borders, it was actually quite densely populated.

Some were human colonies, but they remained outside Imperial rule, naturally to avoid taxes.

Some were aliens, but they were considered communicative and indigenous.

Doing business and interacting with these non-Imperial forces required special permission, and Yalina’s Chamber of Commerce happened to possess such a permit.

To conduct business, she needed to maintain a strong fleet, also serving as the region’s navy.

Now, when troops were needed, the responsibility fell on her.

Honestly, she didn’t want to go.

Yalina had experience in warfare, but it wasn’t extensive. The wars she had fought were mostly escort missions, fighting pirates, or plundering non-Imperial forces as a pirate.

More importantly, the wars she participated in were small-scale, and all offered clear benefits.

She was even less willing to fight a war without benefits.

In her view, responding to the Empire’s call to join the Northern Frontier Legion and fighting in the Spider Web Universe was a venture with enormous risks and uncertain rewards.

Of course, the rewards weren’t without, or even small. If she could achieve merit, the enormous political benefits would elevate her Chamber of Commerce and herself to a higher level of prominence in the Yinghu Universe.

This clarified her goal in participating in the war.

Unfortunately, a devastating defeat left her with nothing.

Not only did she lose numerous ships and suffer heavy losses, but the defeat also dashed her anticipated profits.

She had thought everything was over, but unexpectedly, the Alliance came to her rescue.

Not only did that stop her losses, but it also gave her renewed hope of achieving victory, thereby gaining political capital, recovering losses, and even making substantial profits.

But the prerequisite was to rebuild the Northern Frontier Legion.

She was the one who connected with many like-minded individuals and ultimately advised Xi Rui, hoping he could take on the responsibility.

After the previous meeting, although Xi Rui didn’t say it explicitly, her attitude made her feel that things were more stable.

The marshal of the Black Crusade was also unwilling to be lonely.

From her point of view, it was too normal.

What was his identity?

A marshal!

Before this, he was also the second-in-command of the Northern Front Legion, and took over the position of commander-in-chief of the Northern Front!

Coming to the Alliance, he could only be an ordinary chapter leader, obeying the command of that Gu Hang.

How could he be willing?

In fact, Yalina also felt that the Alliance was quite powerful. If the distance between the two sides was closer, she was also eager to establish a good relationship with the Alliance, so that it would be easy to do business in the future.

But unfortunately, her base was too far away from the Alliance’s territory, and she could only give up regretfully.

It is better to think carefully about the independence of the Northern Front Legion.

After returning, her orders were conveyed to every ship she could control, asking her men to be prepared.

While she didn’t want things to get too ugly, she suspected Governor Gu Hang wasn’t a good person. A struggle like this, one directly impacting actual power, couldn’t be easily resolved.

At the critical moment, even if it meant not resorting to v*olence, she’d at least have to demonstrate sufficient strength to force Gu Hang into concessions.

After all, Commander-in-Chief Gu wouldn’t want internal strife before a major battle, would he?

While making her own internal preparations, she was also closely monitoring Marshal Xi Rui’s movements.

This was precisely the source of her anxiety.

As agreed, the time was almost up.

At that moment, her adjutant suddenly entered the room, reporting, “President! Marshal Xi Rui has gone to the ‘Golden Pass’!”

“Alone?”

“With a whole squadron of Space Marines!”

A sigh of relief followed; this was the first step.

Xi Rui was supposed to be going to confront Gu Hang.

He would be protected by a large number of Space Marines, and if necessary, the Black Crusade’s think tank could teleport the Marshal back to the ship. His safety should be guaranteed.

Moreover, from the beginning, they had never considered resorting to armed confrontation.

Therefore, Marshal Xi Rui’s safety and their demands could not be achieved through mere words.

“We must also prepare to launch,” Yalina said to her adjutant. “Have all ships ready, and inform the other leaders. We must, when necessary, show support for Marshal Xi Rui. Only then can we negotiate for what we want.”

“Yes!”

the adjutant replied, adding, “By the way, there’s another ship coming from the ‘Cross Black Star’. The Cross Black Star has already signaled that it’s Marshal Xi Rui’s envoy, and they want to see you.”

Yalina wasn’t surprised. She said, “I’ll wait here for the Black Crusaders’ envoy. You go down and prepare.”

“Yes!”

A moment later, heavy footsteps sounded outside.

The door opened, and a dozen or so Space Marines entered.

Yalina wasn’t surprised that they were Space Marines, but the arrival of more than a dozen at once was a bit more surprising.

Logically speaking, Marshal Xi Rui only had 300 Space Marines around him, which was not enough.

But she thought that was probably because Marshal Xi Rui valued the troops under her control. After all, judging from the size of the fleet, the part she controlled should be the largest and most numerous of the remaining remnants of the army on the northern front.

In addition, there was another point that was a little strange: why were these Space Marines all wearing robes?

She stood up and prepared to greet them.

However, the next moment, her face suddenly changed.

She saw these Space Marines who were wearing robes and had not revealed their chapter insignia at first, took off their robes.

The chapter insignia on their right shoulders was exposed, which was varied, symbolizing that they came from different chapters; on their left arms, the uniform silver skull and dense prayers symbolized their identity:

Silver Watch!

These Space Marines made way, revealing a mortal behind them.

Qin Zhiping took off his hood: “Hello, Ms. Yalina.”

(End of this chapter)