Chapter 1275: Chapter 43: Morning Light (3)
"Only by standing here do I realize how insignificant I am." Standing by the railing on the third floor of the command hall, Felix let out a long, deep sigh.
On each level of the circular command hall, hundreds of staff were coming in and out of rooms. Every interstellar simulation stage and every electronic interstellar map was crowded with people. Through the transparent glass walls of a row of tactical discussion rooms on the left, officers could be seen fiercely arguing in each room, some pointing at the interstellar map, others waving documents in their hands, their faces red as they roared non-stop.
All around, there were urgent footsteps; looking down from the third-floor platform, the crowd going back and forth in front of the SkyNet Control Console on the ground floor resembled a dense swarm of ants. The central console lights flickered, screens changed colors, and electronic voices and command reports resounded incessantly. Everyone had a serious expression, and their speech was rapid; the atmosphere in the entire hall was so tense it was suffocating.
Watching everything before their eyes, Su Fei and a dozen other staff from the Military Department’s publicity office and television station were all in awe. Felix’s sigh was the voice of everyone present.
Outside the portholes, magnificent warships with lights flashing silently sailed through the void. The vast fleet obscured the entire view. The feeling it gave was nothing but awe, shock, and more shock. When Canglang Star was right before them, when this massive war machine fully mobilized, everyone suddenly realized they were about to experience an incredibly grand war.
This grand era belongs to these soldiers. No matter who you are, no matter how noble your status was, or how much staggering wealth you owned, standing in this hall made you feel your smallness.
"Nervous?" Felix tilted his head to look at Su Fei.
Su Fei openly nodded. She realized her heartbeat was so intense it felt as if the entire world could hear it. Despite having spent such a long time in the Military Department’s publicity office and having witnessed many battles, it was her first time personally involved in such a monumental war critical to the country’s fate.
This time, Chuckna sent out five Group Fleets, thirty armored divisions, and thirty-five infantry divisions. The Feiyang Republic also deployed six A-level fleets, ten armored divisions, and twenty infantry divisions. And this was only the first phase. Subsequently, more troops would be sent to Resk, making the total forces surpass the sum of Suss and Jiepeng!
In this battle, Chuckna had no more room to retreat. Everyone in the Military Department was determined to fight to the end in Resk and against the Western Alliance. The war had reached a point where the paths were narrow and only death or victory awaited.
However, whether the subsequent troops could successfully deploy in Resk depended on this first battle.
The presidential office remained hesitant, the national security advisers were still calculating the gains and losses, and in the Fei Alliance Joint Congress, there were still voices of appeasement, with insufficient support for this battle. Even domestically, some opposition parties continued to question, criticize, and even berate.
The Military Department launched this battle under immense pressure.
To secure these forces and the resources needed to initiate the plan, several generals in the Military Department employed every possible strategy. Given all the limitations, completing the integration and preparation of these forces in the first phase was already the best result. This troop, this impending first battle, represented all of the Military Department’s hopes.
Though everyone usually worked desperately without making any statements, everyone in the Military Department clearly understood that, if they failed, the presidential office would not hesitate to abandon Resk, withdrawing all troops to the Long March Star System to preserve strength. Those national security advisors would be eager to jump out and peddle their "strategies."
And those opposition politicians, with only power and struggles in their eyes, and those spouting various analyses of the situation, confidently asserting that Chuckna should not be involved in this war or should not take the fall for the Feiyang Republic, would become excited like adrenaline junkies.
Along with the criticisms from disappointed citizens, the Military Department’s main war faction would inevitably be in a deplorable state. Moreover, everyone in the Military Department would have to be accountable for the Resk Battle’s loss; by then, not only the subsequent forces but even Chuckna would be in utter disarray!
Su Fei was already utterly disappointed with this so-called democracy in the face of national peril.
Before the war, these democratic countries of the Fei Alliance did not believe the Western Alliance would brazenly launch an attack. Domestic intellectuals found themselves besieged verbally, Congress was still bickering over the military budget, and it was only after the Western Alliance launched a blitz, capturing dozens of key Jump Points in the human interstellar channel, that the debate about whether war would break out ceased.
And now, as the war progressed, those who had been silenced by reality’s slap again began to jump out, pointing fingers at military affairs.
Some clamored for negotiations, others unrealistically called for a direct assault to thoroughly occupy Suss Jiepeng, and some flaunted their so-called strategies, suggesting that Chuckna should conserve strength, stand by watching waves rise and fall, and finally reap the most significant benefits.
In reflection, all these things, now in retrospect, were indulged by centuries of peace!
These people still do not understand that this is war, a situation with no room for negotiation, a matter concerning the country’s future, where a single mistake could doom this nation!
This is the most brutal, widespread catastrophe since human racial wars!
