Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 825

Chapter 820, Regardless of the Cost

. Of course, Alvin and Shaka weren’t fighting alone.

They’d been betrayed by their Chapter—or even betrayed it, it didn’t matter. However, the Alliance stood firmly behind them.

And the Battle of Ruku involved more than just the Unforgotten Space Marines.

The Alliance’s army and navy were the true backbone.

And judging by the three Dragon Elephant fighters that initially fled but quickly received orders from their superiors to return to support them, it was clear that the Alliance commander in charge of Ruku might have known something.

At the very least, they’d received additional instructions before arriving.

Therefore, the three fighters had flown back when Alvin and Shaka needed help the most.

So, asking them for even greater support next time was certainly an option!

The events unfolded as they anticipated.

After quickly gathering over thirty warriors from the Pure Fire Brotherhood, he didn’t wait any longer for the remaining ones, whose arrival was uncertain. He boarded a spaceship with all the Brotherhood members around him, and boarded the Iron Curtain, an Alliance light carrier.

With this light carrier as the core, the entire Alliance fleet launched a pursuit of the ship carrying Grand Master Milorila of the Unforgotten Oath.

The Unforgotten Oath had secretly hidden a fast assault ship on the far side of the Luku moon. This ship was about the size of a Navy destroyer. Smuggling a large starship there was extremely difficult, and even a single fast assault ship was the limit, with no way of getting the Chapter’s battle barges. However,

this fast assault ship had its advantages: it was agile and fast.

Even though the Alliance Navy had received orders to mobilize as soon as the conflict on the ground erupted, it was still unable to intercept the Unforgotten Oath’s ship on the far side of the moon.

Despite the Iron Curtain and its entire fleet in relentless pursuit, the stark difference in speed was stark. Instead of closing the gap, the two sides actually fell further and further behind.

If the situation continued in this way, the ultimate outcome would be the Unforgotten Oath’s successful escape.

This outcome now seemed inevitable.

However, at this moment, Alvin proposed a new idea: he would lead a boarding operation against the enemy ship.

Even if they couldn’t destroy the ship from the inside, they would at least disrupt and weaken its mobility, preventing it from escaping at full speed.

Targets would be the engine room, the bridge, the power bay, and other areas.

The fleet commander was horrified by this proposal.

They were already quite far from the enemy ship. A forced landing operation would normally be impossible. However, since the Iron Curtain was a light aircraft carrier, they had limited capabilities.

An aircraft carrier could launch and deploy multiple Dragon Elephant fighters, significantly closing the distance between them and the enemy. Furthermore, the Dragon Elephant fighters’ agility and short bursts of speed made them much faster than ordinary warships. While their endurance was poor, they could still use their bursts of speed to catch up, if all else counted. The Dragon Elephant fighters were equipped with landing capsules, and their burst speed after launch was also very high.

However, these were all acts at a loss of cost.

The Dragon Elephant fighters had very limited endurance on a cosmic scale. Using their precious burst speed on pursuit would almost certainly mean they couldn’t return, remaining stuck in space, awaiting recovery from ships. The

soldiers dropped from the landing capsules were also unlikely to return. The opposing ship had hundreds of Space Marines, along with a large number of elite Chapter mortal auxiliaries. Wouldn’t Alvin, with only thirty men, be courting death?

The fleet commander saw Alvin and his men’s actions as a pure attempt to risk their lives, hoping to delay the enemy ship.

Honestly, he was reluctant to undertake such a costly, risky, and low-probability undertaking.

It wasn’t just Alvin and his squadron of thirty or so who would risk their lives. The fleet also had to commit a significant number of elite Marines. The warriors equipped with feedback-type power armor and sentry mechs should be able to provide some assistance.

But should they really send all these elite Marines out? A gamble where the probability of success is extremely low, and failure means total annihilation and nothing can be recovered?

But under Alvin’s insistence, he hesitated for a moment, but ultimately agreed.

…

Thirty-four power armor suits lined up in the landing pod, the click of bolter safety releases a continuous cacophony.

And landing pods like theirs, each of the nearby Dragon Elephants, contained one. Fifteen Dragon Elephants in total, awaited launch.

Besides the thirty-four Space Marines, 700 elite Marines also participated in the battle.

“Remember, after the landing site is established, we only need to hold the docking bay and wait for the follow-up Marine Corps troops to arrive. After that, they will take over the defense and try to attract the attention of the traitors.” Alvin shared the tactical diagram to the neural link network. “When that time comes, I will lead a wave of attacks on the bridge as a feint, and then immediately turn back to cooperate with Shaka’s team to attack the engine room…”

He was making tactical arrangements.

But at this moment, he suddenly saw that Shaka’s eyes were gradually brightening – really brightening. The azure light, from being vague and invisible, gradually became brilliant, and now it was impossible to ignore.

“Shaka?”

“…The Governor is talking to me.”

“!!!”

Alvin was shocked.

A conversation? With the Governor? With Mr. Gu?

How was that even possible? Two universes apart, and no Star Communication Tower here, how could they communicate?

A moment later, a smile appeared on Shaka’s face.

The light in his eyes calmed slightly, but in reality, it was only more reserved.

He said to Alvin, “We will win, trust me. Just get me within 500 meters of the energy chamber, and everything will be over.”

Alvin’s expression gradually shifted from confusion and shock to joy.

…

A fleet of Dragon Elephant fighters launched from the belly of the ship.

In an instant, the fighters launched from the aircraft carrier crossed countless kilometers of the physical universe and reached their maximum launch position.

Immediately, all the Dragon Elephant fighters began to ignite their engines, accelerating to extreme speeds, and pursued the enemy ships ahead.

From the view shared through his helmet, Alvin saw the golden-painted shuttles tracing spirals through the vacuum of space, each with a black landing pod slung beneath its wing. The Alliance’s azure banner fluttered in the fusion flames, a pressure beyond the laws of physics making his heart begin to heat.

A moment later, the fighters arrived at the combat zone.

The enemy ships had evidently spotted them, and the fast assault ships began firing.

Simultaneously, the Dragon Elephant fighters unleashed their mighty macrocannon salvos, their shells blasting rainbow-colored ripples across the assault ships’ void shields.

As the two sides exchanged fire, the landing pods were launched. Under

cover of the third salvo, Alvin’s pod pierced the enemy ship’s belly, its adamantine rams tearing through the gaping holes in the ship’s armor, spewing clouds of oxygen laced with powder.

The instant the pod penetrated the enemy’s armor, a burst of psychic lightning from Shaka’s pupils illuminated the interior of everyone’s visor. The already damaged area was further enlarged to facilitate the soldiers’ exit.

“Fan-shaped advance.” Alvin’s command was translated into data pulses by the voice box in his throat, and the double-headed eagle emblems on the chests of thirty-four power armored soldiers illuminated simultaneously.

Before the enemy arrived, they quickly cleared the route from here to the docking bay, establishing a preliminary landing zone. Any ship servants they encountered were summarily dispatched.

But their unimpeded passage wouldn’t last.

Veterans of the Chapter, already prepared and awaiting the arrival of those who landed, had already appeared.

As the first enemy burst through the main gate, Alvin discerned the finely crafted power armor of the Chapter’s Chief Apothecary, Ryan.

Following him were more than a squadron of veterans.

Neither side exchanged a single word, the ferocious battle escalating into a frenzy within the first second.

Shaka’s battle cry, laced with psychic energy, shattered the enemy’s first wave of long-range attacks into quantum dust.

The sight even drew a glance from his good brother, Alvin. While Shaka’s psychic prowess had been immense, it hadn’t reached the level he was experiencing now. His gleaming eyes, barely concealed even by his tactical helmet, were truly breathtaking.

With his psychic power, even with the Chief Apothecary’s immense combat power, the ultimate outcome was inevitable.

They quickly annihilated the enemy before them.

By the time Alvin’s hammer shattered the breastplate of his last former battle-brother, less than five minutes had passed, and an entire tactical squad of veterans had been annihilated.

The Chief Apothecary had been spared. The captured Orion was pulled from his power armor and his limbs hacked off.

The cost on their side was only one dead and two seriously injured.

More elite Marines followed.

During the landing, some landing craft were damaged. However, under the desperate cover of the Dragon Elephant fighters, eleven of the fourteen landing craft carrying Marines were able to land. Over

five hundred elite Marines arrived at the ship of the Unforgotten Oath.

They began to establish a defensive perimeter and attempted to advance.

A second wave of veterans also arrived.

This time, it was more than just a squadron.

It was an entire company.

During the fierce exchange of fire, a dozen or so members of the Pure Fire Brotherhood stayed behind to assist the Marines. Alvin and Shaka, along with the remaining twenty, shifted their focus.

(End of this chapter)