Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station.

Chapter 436: Galo and Odan

Galo star field.

Galo-2 sector.

Fourteenth Legion Division.

Inside the captain's cabin of a capital ship in orbit above the planet.

Bai Quan's deputy is reporting to Bai Quan the estimated size of the mechanical fleet that has been recently counted.

Obviously, the number of mechanical tribes in the Galo star field exceeded the average invasion level of other regions by more than 50%, and only the Galo star field welcomed two super bodies at the same time.

Although Baiquan had experienced several large-scale battles with the Mechanical Tribe, he couldn't help but sigh when he heard the data reported by his deputy: "These are two ships... Even in the direction of the headquarters, there is only one."

The deputy had never actually seen the super body, and when faced with Baiquan's sigh, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "How strong is the super body?"

Baiquan did not blame his deputy for being too talkative, and asked, "How many fleets did we have at the beginning?"

"Forty-two capital ships, four thousand two hundred cruisers, and a number of destroyers and escorts."

"How many reinforcements are there?"

"Eleven battleships, eight hundred cruisers, and a number of destroyers and escorts."

"All of these combined can delay Ultraman for ten minutes."

The deputy's expression suddenly stiffened: "So... exaggerated."

"Exaggerated? I'll tell you this."

"Ten of the top psykers in the entire empire, level 6 psykers, can be picked out to handle a super-body on their own."

"Even so, on the day of the Mechanoid invasion, a Level 6 Psychic still died."

"It wasn't carelessness. He was fully prepared, but he just died."

"Although that super-body was also left behind, the mechanical race can still build another super-body. We can't train the next level 6 psychic in a short period of time."

Bai Quan didn't say one more thing, which is that now that Chen Ming is not here, even if they take great risks to snatch back the official version of the super-body wreckage, they cannot directly convert it into combat power.

It can almost be said that the loss is maximized.

If Chen Ming were still alive, he would restart this official version of the super body and cooperate with the other super body in Chen Ming's hands to hunt down other super bodies, snowballing in the opposite direction. The mechanical race might have been destroyed.

"pity……"

Bai Quan shook his head and continued, "Also, the Mechanical Tribe only has six super-bodies in total, and one-third of them came to us. If many people did not think that the Mechanical Tribe might increase its investment in this place, our losses to date would be more than what we have counted now."

"So far, only that one super-body has been destroyed. The others were only temporarily intercepted, causing some damage but unable to completely eliminate them."

"The speed of the super body means that it is absolutely impossible to catch up with it by ordinary means. The entire empire is actually helpless against the super body."

“That’s where the exaggeration gets real.”

It's easy to stop the super body.

Know the destination of the super body and ask the president to release the psychic there a certain amount of time in advance.

If the super body wants to achieve its goal, it must confront the psychic head-on.

But it is impossible to chase the super body, because no one knows which direction the super body will go outside the empire when it escapes.

There is no way to pursue him when he is running away.

All the empire could do was passive defense.

Moreover, superbodies often enter the empire from different angles of the empire's borders.

This means that the president now has to stay awake 24 hours a day, and as soon as a super body appears, he must immediately send the psychic who has been prepared for a long time to the appropriate position on the front line.

Just thinking about the fact that this situation has lasted for at least a month, Bai Quan felt a little tingling on his scalp.

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. Psychics always have a way to persist as psychics.

No matter what happens elsewhere, anyway...

"We have to retreat."

"A mechanical fleet has penetrated our defenses through unknown means. Galo is no longer worth protecting."

"I have already chosen the route. We need to avoid the invading fleet of the Mechanical Clan. There are traces of warships that are suspected to be of a more advanced model over there."

"Yes." The deputy immediately responded, but then said, "There is still a team that hasn't returned. The one you sent out personally before... do you want to record it as missing?"

"Don't."

Baiquan waved his hand, picked up the terminal, dialed a number and said, "President, thank you for your help."

The words fell.

Psychic fluctuations and space fluctuations intertwined and appeared together in the captain's room.

This is the spiritual energy fluctuation belonging to the president.

Although doing so may not be good for the president, the president's psychic power really has a very important effect both in tactical and strategic terms.

At the moment when the psychic energy fluctuations reached their peak, twelve figures who looked somewhat tired appeared in the captain's room.

A young-looking officer at the front stepped forward and saluted Bai Quan.

Although there was fatigue that was hard to conceal in his expression, his eyes were extremely clear.

"Fortunately, we have accomplished our mission. The Mechanical Colossus-class battleship has been confirmed sunk."

As he spoke, he took off a small special sensor recorder from his chest and placed it in front of Baiquan.

This records the entire process of the mechanical colossus being sunk.

Baiquan directly turned on the sensor and played the recorded content.

Although there was no obvious external force in the picture, the colossus that was originally quietly floating in the center of the mechanical fleet suddenly and inexplicably imploded.

Starting from the engine, two of the three ring structures were burned directly, without any sign of foreign invasion.

Bai Quan closed the record and said to the officer in front of him with satisfaction: "Well done, Lu Bai."

Lu Bai is an electronic technician who once invaded the Yuhui giant dock with the help and command of Chen Ming and successfully seized partial control of the dock.

After that, when Chen Ming met him again, he had awakened a psychic power that could control electrical signals.

And within a few months of awakening his psychic powers, he used his psychic powers to destroy the mechanical mothership.

And now, there is another highlight in his record.

Bai Quan put away the sensor and said, "Lu Bai, take your team to rest first, we will talk about other things later."

"Yes."

After Lu Bai left, Bai Quan turned to his deputy Shudong and said, "We have gained an advantage in tactical goals, but that doesn't mean we have an advantage in strategy."

"Even if we achieve results on one battlefield, as long as it does not affect the strategic goal, what we have to do will not change."

"Okay, everyone is here, let's go do our work. If we need to retreat, we should retreat without any hesitation."

"Yes."

After the deputy left, Baiquan was the only one left in the captain's room.

He did not ask his deputy to report the number of casualties just now because he wanted to see it himself.

After just one glance, he wanted to close the terminal without looking at it any more.

The losses were indeed heavy.

Nearly half of the fifty-three battleships that came over were sunk.

A capital ship can carry tens of thousands of crew members, and every time it is sunk it means at least one-third of the crew members will be killed or injured.

Even if they had only completely lost one battleship, the casualties along the way were already incalculable, not to mention the losses of many more cruisers, destroyers, and escorts.

Even though many of the casualties were new recruits, those who survived were either veterans or had become veterans.

But it is difficult for them to continue to bear such losses.

There is no point in dragging it out any further, they must withdraw.

After reading the data, Bai Quan closed his eyes and rubbed his eyebrows hard.

He opened his eyes again, turned on the terminal, looked through his contacts, and made a call.

Cheng Xinghai's voice soon rang out from the terminal: "Any news?"

"not yet."

Both of them fell silent.

After a while, Bai Quan took the initiative to ask, "How are things going over there lately?"

"I've been off the front since the war began."

"I've wronged you."

"It's okay. If I go to the front line, I will only give the mechanical tribe a target, and they will have to waste unnecessary resources to protect me. It's fine for me to stay behind. At least I don't have to think about so many things."

For others, it is a good thing not to be on the meat grinder-like front line between the Empire and the Mechanical Clan, but it is different for Cheng Xinghai.

But as Cheng Xinghai said, if she wants to go to the front line, she will inevitably be targeted by the mechanical clan.

A similar thing happened last time in the Mechanical Clan star field.

As creations of the Shining Civilization, a species with similar emotions to the Empire, the Machines do have the ability to understand interpersonal relationships.

They had already known Chen Ming's network of relationships, so they naturally knew what Cheng Xinghai represented.

Cheng Xinghai also knew what she should do in order not to add unnecessary burden to others, so she took the initiative to choose to stay behind.

Cheng Xinghai's understanding made Bai Quan fall silent again.

This time, it was Cheng Xinghai who broke the silence: "Recently, someone from the Empire brought someone from Chen Ming's side to see me, saying that they wanted to test a project that he had worked on with others before. Can I go?"

"What project?"

“Neural connection technology.”

Baiquan perked up a little, recalled the content of the project, and immediately said: "You can go, I know about this project."

"Even if you are staying in a safe place, you can use this technology to get back on the battlefield."

"Really?" There was some anticipation in Cheng Xinghai's tone.

"I see."

After chatting with Baiquan about recent developments for a while.

Cheng Xinghai hung up the phone and dialed another number.

"I agree to participate in the test of neuron connection technology. When can I start?"

"Now you can."

"Just now."

Ten minutes later.

Cheng Xinghai saw an alien shuttle landed in the school parking lot.

A woman who looked to be in her thirties got off the shuttle, but it was also obvious that she was just well-maintained.

She took the initiative to hand a business card to Cheng Xinghai and said, "Hello, Cheng Xinghai, I am Xu Ping, the technical partner of Chen Ming's good friend Mr. An Wuping."

"Who is An Wuping?"

Xu Ping chuckled and gestured to Cheng Xinghai to board the shuttle.

"This is a bit complicated to explain, we will talk about it slowly on the way."

Cheng Xinghai put away the business card and followed Xu Ping onto the shuttle.

After learning from Xu Ping about the things about An Wuping that Chen Ming had not told her.

She probably understood why someone came to see her.

“So what exactly is this project going to do?”

"Neural link technology is an extension of the capabilities of a hive mind network that both Mr. An Wuping and Mr. Chen Ming have mastered."

"Nowadays, the development of psionic technology has made it possible to build a psionic hive mind network."

"As you know, the current environment shows that the application prospects of this technology are on warships."

"These special warships have no pilots and rely purely on the hive mind network to link the warship and the pilot."

"The human brain's thinking ability can be used to simplify the operation of the spacecraft and greatly reduce the difficulty of operation."

“This places high demands on the level of awareness of the special driver.”

"We need a psychic with enhanced thinking abilities to conduct the test."

Cheng Xinghai asked: "Has the sample been made?"

"Yes, in fact, there is a psychic in the legion with similar psychic abilities to yours, but his focus is on logistics and scientific research, and he does not understand ship command."

"Originally, I was at a loss as to how to proceed with this project, but I suddenly remembered what Mr. Chen Ming had said when this technology was first proposed."

"If this technology is successful, we can ask you to test it. This may be the most suitable technology for you."

"The results of the experiment will determine whether this technology can be applied to the front lines during the war with the Mechanoids."

"I see."

at the same time.

Odan star field.

Chen Ming's old acquaintances, Liang Fei and Li Wei, were changing into military uniforms and boarding the local military ships.

The Odan star field is also close to the edge star field, but they have not been attacked by the mechanical super bodies, but they do not have a strong enough military force.

The outer fringe star regions couldn't hold on any longer, and they couldn't remain immune.

After retreating from the edge star field of the outer first ring, they, as the star field of the outer third ring, needed to send military forces to the front line.

Everyone knows that the lips and teeth are interdependent.

As liaisons between the government and the military, the two of them needed to go to the front lines to obtain first-hand intelligence and report it back to the government.

As psykers, they are all around level 4, and have some presence on the ground, but in a war in space even they are just a drop in the ocean.

They were not supposed to be responsible for this mission, but the failure of the war in the outer second ring star field caused the liaison officer originally sent by the Odan government to lose contact.

The two of them were to replace the lost liaison officer and also to serve as reinforcements to support the retreating troops from the outer second ring.

When Liang Fei was changing into his military uniform, he said to Li Wei: "The situation over there is not going to be very good, and I don't know if we can withdraw."

Li Wei said: "I heard that the people in Jialuo next door have evacuated safely."

Liang Fei shook his head and said, "They can even suppress the Mechanical Clan. If it weren't for a Mechanical Clan fleet that went around, they could still continue to resist."

"They can retreat at will because they have gained an advantage on the battlefield, forcing the mechanical tribe to be less likely to launch the next attack. In addition, the mechanical tribe also needs time to rest after occupying the territory."

"But the situation here is not ideal. I hope our luck can be better."

(End of this chapter)