In the 3290th year of the Milky Way Era, the Egret Star Temporary Headquarters.
The drizzle fell from the sky, and the playground in front of the command post was shrouded in a layer of light gray rain and fog, and the ground exuded a damp and salty smell. A group of soldiers walked across the sloping wet grass with guns and guns, and suddenly an armed plane appeared in the sky ahead, descending rapidly with a bang, and stopped on the playground in the whirling wind.
The soldiers stepped forward quickly, only to see the cabin door slam open, and the young Brigadier General Anders Aaron ran out staggeringly covered in blood, and ran directly to the command post!
"Brigadier General Aaron!" The patrolman was so shocked that he rushed to catch up and asked, "What's wrong with you? You are not allowed to go in! The Marshal is having a meeting with the chiefs of the Military Supply Department..."
However, Brigadier General Aaron pushed the guard away, and stumbled into the door: "Marshal! Where's the Marshal?! I have an urgent report from the front line, and I must see the Marshal—"
Boom!
The door of the meeting room was pushed open vigorously and hit the wall with a loud sound. Everyone in the conference room turned around immediately, only to see Aaron pushing away the soldiers who were blocking him in anger: "Marshal! Zhu Guixing is in an emergency at the front line, something happened to Heinrich! Please save him, please—"
Celia raised her head from the head seat and asked, "What's wrong?"
The Union Marshal seems to maintain his physical appearance of twenty-six or seven forever, with a tall and straight figure, a cold and pale complexion, pure black eyes and deep facial features seem to be chiseled with a knife, and the corners of his lips are always a sharp and calm straight line . When he stared at something silently, there seemed to be a strong and calm aura like steel coming out of his bones, which made people feel solemn.
"Zhu... Zhu Guixing's front-line military situation leaked, and the rebels attacked the city." Aaron barely stopped panting, swallowed and said: "Brigadier General Heinrich asked for help from the military, but the signal was detained for no reason when it passed through the parliament. Twelve hours have passed!"
There was an uproar as soon as the words landed, and everyone's expressions changed drastically!
Celia asked: "How many rebels are there?"
"The army is all on board. It is conservatively estimated that there are 6,000 warships, but there are only 2,000 in Zhu Guixing!" Aaron fell to his knees with a plop, and collapsed: "Only Heinrich is guarding the city on the front line, Marshal! We are already on the front line. Completely cut off! I don't even know if he's still alive!"
Celia slapped the pen on the table with her backhand, got up and walked out.
"Kaleyan, ask Mo Wen to take the Sixth Fleet to Zhu Guixing to support Heinrich." The marshal paused, and ordered without looking back: "Tell the parliament, and let the director of the information bureau, Abed, go to the parliament for questioning , I will rush back to the capital, Lan Xixing."
—The voice of the Alliance Commander was calm and steady, without any waves. There seemed to be an invisible force in this voice that infected Aaron. He looked up hopefully, but saw Celia's fingers trembling slightly the moment he pushed open the door of the meeting room.
"..." Aaron froze.
However, that was only for a moment, and soon Celia walked out of the conference room, striding forward and disappearing at the end of the long corridor.
The capital of the alliance, Lan Xixing.
The Union Building is a dark blue, six-kilometer-high giant building rising from the ground in the shape of a sharp cone. As the political center of the capital of the entire alliance, it has 300 particle forts and an optical shock muzzle inside. The whole body is covered with a photoelectric barrier, which can even block the attack of interstellar missiles. In addition, the top and third floors are full of tarmacs, and hundreds of fighter planes patrol the building every day. Looking up from the ground, they circle the building like a flock of fast-moving hummingbirds.
The building itself can accommodate tens of thousands of people to work here at the same time. Its composition ranges from the speaker and ministers to ordinary civil servants and commanders, down to low-level clerks, guards, or junior officers who report their duties from local garrisons in various galaxies.
Under such a system, the building is extremely busy all the time, and civil servants running through the corridors on the phone and cabinet ministers walking into the conference room surrounded by people are often seen. Even the military bosses who rarely appear in the public eye, and even Marshal Celia himself, sometimes hold a cup of coffee, walk through the bustling hall in a low-key manner, and go to the corner to wait quietly for the suspended elevator.
— Today, however, things seem to be different.
The floor of the hall was bright, and the moment the Alliance Commander stepped on it, all the hustle and bustle quickly quieted down.
Everyone raised their heads from their busy work, and watched in amazement as dozens of high-ranking military officials surrounded Marshal Celia, walked through the hall, and walked towards the public trial court.
These big bosses, who are rarely seen in ordinary times, all have serious faces and gloomy breaths. The uniform military uniforms and guns are like some kind of heavy signal, making people uneasy. On the other hand, Marshal Celia, who was usually relatively gentle, had a cold and expressionless face, and when he turned a corner, the military emblem on his shoulder reflected a dazzling light.
No one dared to step forward, and no one even made a sound easily.
It wasn't until the pedestrians disappeared in the elevator that the noise in the hall gradually resumed: "What happened to the military headquarters?" "I heard that the military situation on the front line has leaked, and a brigadier general has died!" "Is there anything going to happen?" "Oh my god, that's horrible..."
"On July 3, the year of the Galaxy Era, the secrets of the frontline garrison were leaked, and the rebels took the opportunity to sneak attack and surrounded Zhu Guixing, an isolated space island with warships several times larger than our own. Brigadier General Seth Heinrich fought alone, outnumbered, and his life and death are unknown... "
The empty public trial court was silent, only the presiding judge's unwavering old tone echoed in the air. After reading the three-page report, the old man finally picked up a small hammer and tapped it lightly.
"Director Aberd, what do you think about the leak of the frontline military newspaper?"
Abbod raised his head from the dock and subconsciously glanced at Marshal Celia on the prosecutor's seat—the marshal's eyes were slightly lowered and his eyes were fixed. Although he didn't look at him, it still made Abbod feel nervous.
"The information bureau is extremely strict on the dissemination of all military newspapers. Zhu Guixing has been mentioned as a top-secret level since the start of the war. There are no more than three people who have handled it. Those who have decoders are all officials above the division level. It is impossible for them to leak from us. Get out!" The bureau chief swallowed, and said: "Besides, the leak of the military report is groundless, no one knows if it's true, or the frontline war is tight—"
So someone in the military immediately quit: "You mean Brigadier General Heinrich shirked his responsibility and lied about the situation?!"
"This is also possible, isn't it? No one knows whether the rebel attack was really due to the leak of the military report, or our defeat! Besides, Brigadier General Heinrich is inexperienced in leading troops, and the parliament also discussed the matter of appointing him before the war Many times…”
"Enough!" This time it was Admiral Abel who spoke this time. The general nicknamed "Black Bear" has always been known for his honesty. , didn’t you come from your Information Bureau?”
"...I'm very sorry about this," Chief Aberd said with a stiff face, "When the call for help came, it was already blurred. When the system performed the first screening, it was mistakenly placed in the column of useless signals..."
It was a stone that caused a thousand waves. As soon as the words fell, the military immediately rang out several protests: "Impossible!" "Can optical brains make such mistakes?!" "We need to check the system log!" It's a joke in the world!"...
"Silence, silence!" The presiding judge hit the small hammer heavily, and said with an angry face: "Several generals, if you don't get permission to speak again, I can only ask you to go out!"
A few people wanted to say more, but they were blocked by Kaleyan's eyes, so they could only sit down resentfully and say nothing.
The presiding judge then bowed his head to the public prosecutor's seat, "Speaker Consettrin, the parliamentary explanation for this matter is..."
"Parliament is very sad about this matter, and expresses good wishes for the rescue of Brigadier General Heinrich and his subordinates." Douglas Concettering stood up, straightened his coat slowly, and then whispered softly: "In addition, the parliament unconditionally supports the military department's request for access to the system logs of the Information Bureau..."
Several military personnel were stunned, only Kaleyan, Abel and others showed a little sneer at the same time.
Sure enough, I heard Douglas continue to say: "But there is no precedent for this matter. In order to prevent future generations from imitating and abusing their rights, the Parliament must first study a complete set of coping mechanisms—we will try our best to deal with it as soon as possible based on the principle of speedy action." Improve and apply this mechanism, please wait patiently for the time being... "
Abel stood up abruptly, before Kaleyan sternly stopped him: "Admiral!"
"Let me go! Conceitlin, you villain, you really hate the military for taking away Zhu Guixing's military power! You—"
Kaleyan rushed forward to stand in front of him desperately: "General, calm down!"
"30,000 lives, 30,000 lives, Consettrin! It's all your political chips, you just..."
"Admiral!" The chief judge angrily knocked on the hammer: "Come here! Please get Admiral Abel out!"
The entire public trial court was in chaos. Abel's roar, the protests of the congressmen, and the roar of the presiding judge were mixed together, and nothing could be heard clearly due to the buzzing. The guards came running one after another, but they dared not go forward due to the situation. In the end, the presiding judge slammed the silver hammer on the table, making a deafening sound of "Bang!"!
"What are you waiting for! Take Admiral Abel out, immediately!"
The guards looked at me and I looked at you, and finally took out the anesthesia guns one after another, and walked forward hesitantly—
However, at that moment, Celia stood up from the prosecution seat:
"Please step back," he said flatly.
As if it was a signal, the guard stopped immediately, hesitated for less than two seconds, and then retreated to the wall with his head lowered.
Under the heavy pressure, the entire public trial court gradually returned to silence, and everyone involuntarily held their breath. In this deadlocked and explosive atmosphere, Celia slowly glanced at the auditorium, his eyes passing over the faces of every congressman present.
— Naturally, there are not many people who are qualified to attend this public trial, because the Information Bureau is involved, and even the court records and cameras are exempted. In just a few seconds, he had already looked at everyone, and finally his gaze stayed on Douglas Consettling's face—the leisurely and confident look on the speaker's face had disappeared, and from this angle, he was even slightly stiff.
Unexpectedly, although the marshal looked at him, he called the information director's name: "Aberd."
Aberd frowned, "Yes."
"There are three million Union coins in your account, where did they come from?"
These words exploded like a depth bomb, and the entire hearing room exploded in an instant!
"No, no, no, no..." The director of information turned pale: "You, how could you—no, no, no—"
"Brigadier General Heinrich, plus 30,000 soldiers' lives, equivalent to less than one hundred per person." Celia looked at Speaker Douglas and smiled slightly: "Human life is really cheap."
"No, I haven't—you listen to me, I don't know anything!—"
"I want to launch a task force to investigate!" Douglas shouted in cold sweat: "Someone take Abboud down! The council will launch a plan to investigate!"
People from the parliament immediately stepped forward, the military stood up and protested loudly, and the entire public trial court fell into terrible chaos again. Abed had already slumped on the chair, cold sweat drenched his chest layer by layer, his lips were trembling and he couldn't speak a word; the guards ran in vain to try to stop the enraged generals, but it was of no avail.
In the midst of this chaos, Celia stepped off the public prosecution stand, walked through the trial scene in full view, and stood in front of the trembling Abboud.
"Marshal..." The head of the guard ran over tremblingly, but Celia raised her hand to block him: "Is there a camera here?"
When the alliance commander asked this question, his attitude was very peaceful, and the chief of guards said in a daze, "No—no, because it's a confidential matter..."
"Will there be a public record?"
"Of course not, even if the Council asks for it..."
"Thank you," Celia said. "Stay away."
The chief guard hesitated to step back, and before he had time to stand firm, he saw a blur in front of his eyes—
The phoenix ring in Celia's hand turned into a silver sword, and cut off Abed's left arm from top to bottom!
There was a loud bang when the left arm fell to the ground, and the blood light shot up to the sky in an instant—the courtroom was silent for a few seconds, and then everyone let out a horrified exclamation at the same time!
"Ahhhhhh!" Abed screamed, knocking over a large table and chair abruptly: "Ahhhhh!!"
"Marshal!" "Celia, are you crazy?!" "Everyone back off!" "Call the doctor, call the doctor!" "Who dares to touch the Marshal?! Back off!"
Everyone in the military immediately stepped forward to block Celia. At the same time, many congressmen retreated, and the panic on the presiding judge's face could not be concealed. Celia's eyes passed through the crowd, and she looked straight at the face of Speaker Douglas—the latter was panting nervously, and then lowered his head cautiously.
"The military department sent people to the Information Bureau to extract the system logs this afternoon, and the relevant personnel will all be held accountable. Take Abed down, and the parliament and the military department will jointly preside over the inquiry."
Celia's voice was low and very flat, but the weight of the words seemed to hit everyone's hearts directly: "The soldiers on the front line are all the people of the Alliance, and they are the sons, husbands and parents of 30,000 families. Father, who dares to use the blood of the people to adorn the crown of power, today's Abed will be his end tomorrow."
The trial court was silent, and everyone looked obscure. Only the National Emblem of the Alliance hangs high above, silently and dignifiedly looking down on all this.
Celia paid a military salute, turned around and strode away.
On that day, the commander of the alliance personally led his troops to the front line, and the counterattack was launched brazenly.
Three days later, Zhu Guixing made a rescue.
…
Egret Star, temporary headquarters.
The rainy weather is still continuing, covering the entire planet in a mist of water. Looking out of the office window, the entire sky is covered with dark gray haze, only occasionally birds fly across the sky, like small black dots, disappearing into the distant sky in an instant.
A ground shuttle stopped in front of the command department, the door opened, and a tall soldier in military uniform with a bandage on his arm stepped out.
"Brigadier General Heinrich?" The guard said happily, "You are finally back, great!"
Heinrich nodded with a smile, chatted with them a few words, and finally asked: "Is the marshal there? Thanks to the marshal for this escape, I want to go in and thank him personally..."
"The marshal is having a meeting with Lieutenant General Kaleyan, Lieutenant General Mo Wen and others, and said that he will not meet anyone." The guard hesitated for a while, and finally said: "I will go in and report, please wait for a while—maybe I heard you coming Yes, maybe the marshal will come out."
Heinrich thanked him, retreated to the door and waited, taking a deep breath before barely restraining his excitement and anticipation.
I defended Zhu Guixing and brought back most of the soldiers. What would the marshal say
It's a pity that on the battlefield, he left before seeing him. If he could meet the marshal before the battle...
After all, the brigadier general is still young, thinking of this makes his heart feel slightly hot, even in this kind of weather, he doesn't feel any chill at all. However, after a while, the guard came back with a look of embarrassment on his face, and said in a low voice, "Brigadier General..."
Heinrich was slightly taken aback: "What?"
"Marshal Celia said that the brigadier general defended the city alone and persisted until the reinforcements arrived. This kind of bravery is very rare and is the pride of the alliance soldiers. He also said that he is in a meeting now, so he won't see you. Let the brigadier general go back to heal his wounds and do everything else. The department will make decisions for you."
The guard raised his eyes and took a peek at Heinrich's face, only to see that the brigadier general's handsome face, although he tried his best to conceal it, still showed a little bit of disappointment uncontrollably.
"...Since the Marshal is busy, forget it..." He took a deep breath, forced a smile and said, "I'll take my leave first."
Heinrich turned around and walked towards the shuttle. After taking two steps, he couldn't help but look back at the tall window. Everything was hazy in the drizzle, and he seemed to see a figure flashing past the window, but it was only a momentary trance, as fast as his illusion.
"You must have read it wrong..." Heinrich murmured, turned around and got into the shuttle.
The young Brigadier General didn't know that at this moment, Celia was also watching his leaving back until the shuttle disappeared at the end of the road.
The Alliance Marshal rolled up his cuffs, revealing his strong arms, and took a sip of hot coffee. A layer of white mist immediately floated on the window in front of him. Celia wiped it off casually, then turned around and walked to the table to sit down.
"You obviously care about him very much," Kaleyan finally couldn't help asking, "You didn't fall asleep on the way to Zhu Guixing, did you? I saw you walking up and down on the bridge in the middle of the night..."
"A walk," Celia said.
"Your nose has grown longer, Mr. Marshal—"
Celia smiled slightly, and Kaleyan squinted his eyes and looked at him sideways: "Since you care so much, why don't you let him know? Call someone in to comfort you, and this little boy will work hard for you from now on. It’s really not worth it.”
"Forget it."
"why?"
Celia stared at the warm white foam in the cup, and then said softly after a while: "This way makes people weak-minded and weak... I am already very weak, and I don't want my successor to suffer from the same problem..."
Kaleyan froze.
The office was very quiet, only the slight crackling of raindrops on the windows could be heard. Kaleyan was about to say something for a while, when suddenly there was a knock on the door, and the guard whispered, "Marshal, Miss Edna's phone number."
Kaleyan wondered: "Why are you calling again at this time? Could it be—"
"It's for Aberd." Celia called out the door: "Thank you, come in!" Then she shook her head and smiled wryly: "I'm here to quarrel again, I really don't want to answer it, it's like this every time..."
Kaleyan couldn't stay any longer, so he leaned over and walked out of the office. The moment the door was closed, he heard Edna's high-pitched voice coming from inside. For some reason, he suddenly had the urge to sigh softly.
"What's the matter, Lieutenant General Kaleyan?" The guard on the side asked strangely.
"Nothing..." Kaleyan shook his head, turned and walked outside the command post.
In the distance, Heinrich's car is disappearing at the end of the road. Looking from the direction he left, the whole world was covered by a gray haze. The cold wind from the year 3290 of the Milky Way Era was whistling towards the distant sky, wrapped in fine and endless ice rain.