Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 807

Chapter 801: Dark Side Expedition Prologue (Part 2)

As the starport commander’s corpse solidified into a penitent ice sculpture in the vacuum, the hearts of those on the ground inevitably wavered.

When the disaster struck, panic gripped the entire planet.

Everyone knew the purpose of their existence: to stop the Alliance. But after such a catastrophe, was this mission still meaningful?

They had debated similarly before Gu Hang’s notice arrived.

They had long lost contact with Holy Terra, and who knew what Holy Terra’s attitude was now?

From the perspective of the entire Empire, the Alliance, with its clear potential to reconnect countless worlds, was the one that deserved the most help. Standing against the Alliance and obstructing the Dark Side Expedition was the act of traitors.

Fighting to the death here and actually dying would not only harm humanity’s cause, but would also only lead to widespread scorn after death, rather than being considered heroes.

With the exception of a few die-hard advocates of war, most understood this.

Their previous toughness was merely bureaucratic inertia, an attempt to negotiate terms.

But seeing the Alliance’s unyielding stance, coupled with the dramatic shift in the war situation, those already harboring doubts became even more uncertain.

Two weeks later, as the situation worsened and the Alliance expeditionary fleet threatened to surrender unconditionally, fight to the bitter end, and execute all “war criminals” to tarnish their reputation, the planet finally changed.

When the nerve agent struck down the last pro-war lieutenant general, when the poison gas purification system activated, and when the insignia of the Solar Legion, formed from the Empire’s central borders, rusted to dust as it convulsed, everything was over.

With the announcement of unconditional surrender, warriors across the planet laid down their weapons.

Some soldiers and officers felt humiliated and betrayed,

but for the most part, a sense of relief washed over them.

This war, whose meaning they hadn’t understood, was finally coming to an end.

…

The expeditionary fleet, held back for a month, had actually made the fastest progress of the three fleets.

Because the planet they had conquered had been actively defending itself over the past few months, establishing navigation links with two other worlds and establishing communications with eleven other worlds.

Their surrender prompted these eleven worlds to surrender—no, to accept liberation.

The relevant documents had already been sent via communication. These planets weren’t facing any major challenges; as long as supplies arrived and the planet’s forces were organized, they could be stabilized.

The Alliance didn’t even need to send warships; just one or two transport ships would carry the officials of the Control Commission, their letters of appointment, and some relief supplies.

This was why, on average, a single expedition could capture a planet in two or three days: a decisive battle wouldn’t just capture a single planet; it would bring about the surrender of numerous other worlds.

For example, this time, they had conquered twelve worlds in a month, averaging one less than three days.

Then, like the other two fleets, this fleet split into several groups and advanced separately.

While their side was going smoothly, the other two fleets began to encounter difficulties.

There wasn’t a single fortress world like the one they had conquered, with a large-scale rebellion; nor were there multiple worlds banding together to form a unified force, acting as a mutual protector against the Alliance.

However, both fleets encountered numerous worlds with serious internal problems.

There are large-scale rebellions within the planets.

The rulers of these worlds have completely sided with the Alliance, obeying its orders—they themselves are unable to resolve their own internal problems and rely on the Alliance for assistance.

In such situations, assistance is necessary.

Brute force is not an option. The only option is to dispatch millions of ground troops, leaving a few starships to provide fire support in orbit. Officers and political commissars from the army can then be incorporated into the planet’s own defense forces to reorganize them.

This creates a path forward with the Alliance army as the backbone, the navy as support, and the development of a local defense force as the primary focus.

This entire approach essentially guarantees the solution to the planetary problems. Whether they are simply rebellions or Chaos rebels, they can be dealt with.

The problem, however, is that it will take a long time.

That would be fine, but the key is the significant reliance on manpower and ships.

These two issues combined will hinder the progress of the entire fleet’s expedition.

If there were only one or two such worlds, it would be easy. The forces needed wouldn’t be too much, and the remaining forces could continue their expedition.

However, the two fleets suddenly encountered a total of thirty worlds that required division.

This presented a problem.

Dividing forces again and again, the two fleets seemed to be stuck in a quagmire.

Given the conditions on these worlds, it would take at least a year to extricate themselves.

But there was no other way.

Expeditionary Command issued clear instructions: in such situations, we must proceed steadily and avoid rushing for quick results, which would only allow unresolved issues to recur. If the Thunder Torch Towers were destroyed, they would have to be dealt with, and it would also damage the Alliance’s prestige within the planet.

It was better to proceed slowly and steadily.

Fortunately, the Third Fleet’s progress could be guaranteed.

Of course, the three fleets that had set out were merely the vanguard of the Alliance’s Dark Side Expedition.

After three months and the control of a total of sixty-nine worlds, the second wave of the expedition arrived in the Magray Space.

This expeditionary force, both in terms of the number of ships and the total number of troops transported, is larger than the first batch, even five times more.

Thirty percent of them were incorporated into the three previous expeditionary fleets, which directly brought the two fleets stuck in the quagmire back to life. They began to actively research which planets could be used to increase manpower deployment so that the mission could be quickly resolved and the trapped troops could be quickly liberated; some places really require longer time to slowly solve the problem, so they can be solved slowly. The remaining forces still need to be clenched into a fist to continue the expedition and include other worlds in the target.

At the same time, the other 70% of the second batch of troops formed four new expeditionary fleets, which continued to operate in the Magre space domain from different directions.

(End of this chapter)