Chapter 1113 Knight!
Four months had pa.s.sed since Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other mecha clans visited Lingtian. In these four months, the entire Base Nebula knew that Lingtian Mecha Clan, the clan that was taking the place of Proud Wind Mecha Clan, was very powerful.
There was even gossip that Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other regiment commanders had returned after losing all of their fights. However, because Lingtian, Slaughter, Piercing Arrow and the other clans didn"t officially announce the results of the challenges, most people believed it to be just a rumor. Lingtian was probably very strong, but definitely wasn"t strong enough to that extent.
However, what couldn"t be denied was that Lin Yang, Yu Wei and the other regiment commanders all silently accepted the reality that they had lost the challenges which proved Lingtian"s strength. This silent acceptance also made most of the people in Base Nebula temporarily put off the idea that Lingtian didn"t have the qualifications to subst.i.tute Proud Wind Mecha Clan in terms of defending the base.
After all, it was a world of mechas. Although physical skills were the basic fundamentals for a mecha operator, what showed the real power of a mecha clan was still based on the piloting capabilities of the mecha operators. Thus, if Lingtian wanted to be accepted by all the mecha clans with the Base Nebula, their mecha operators must prove that their mecha piloting were strong enough.
It was because Lingtian was taking over for the Base Nebula"s first ranked mecha clan, Proud Wind Mecha Clan, so the launching port that originally belonged to Proud Wind Mecha Clan would naturally be given to Lingtian. Yu Huan was also kind enough to provide Lingtian more launching ports and logistics personnel, such as JMCs and mecha hold logistics. However, Ling Lan kindly refused his offer.
Ling Lan needed a fully functional and coherent mecha clan and her own mecha clan didn"t lack these resources. Thus, she didn"t want to waste time to develop new recruits from outside sources. Furthermore, Ling Lan wanted to completely organize her large mecha clan before working with outside sources.
Although Caesar and the Federation"s relationship wasn"t as tense as it was during the twilight era, they still weren"t in good relations. Once the two nations had any arguments or debates during the Intergalactic United Nations, the two military forces in the Nebula Boundary would have small battles. If either of the nations couldn"t make the other agree to their opinions, they would beat them down until they agree.
After a peaceful few months in Base Nebula, Lingtian finally encountered their first intergalactic war.
Brrrang! A DEFCON 1 alarm rang through Base Nebula.
The mecha clans that were on duty had already gotten to the launching ports, formed their formations and prepared to launch.
The Caesar Empire attacked once again, and Base Nebula was ready for it.
All the members from different mecha clans who were on vacation quickly returned to their own base camps, put on their combat uniforms and got on the hover cars that were prepared long ago. They went to their designated mecha hold and prepared to get into a mecha for battle.
When Ling Lan heard the alarm, she arrived at the command center.
Seeing it was the base"s commanding officer, Yu Huan, calling her, Ling Lan picked up.
“Regiment Commander Ling, from the new intel we had gathered, Caesar has sent their top ace mecha clan, Knight Ace Mecha Clan. They are this battle"s main opponent. Please intercept them at all cost,” Yu Huan said with a serious expression on his face.
The battle between the top ace mecha clans would decide the victor of the entire battle. If Lingtian couldn"t intercept Knight Ace Mecha Clan, then those at Base Nebula would have to think of how to escape.
“Understood,” Ling Lan said calmly.
Yu Huan looked at Ling Lan with worry. He still wanted to say more to Ling Lan. However, Ling Lan"s cold and uncaring expression made him not know whether he should say it or not.
He struggled for a moment and then said in a slightly polite manner, “Knight Ace Mecha Clan is ranked 18th among the ace mecha clans from Caesar. According to the way we ranked mecha clans, although they aren"t considered to be legendary tier, they are still considered as a first-rank with 5 stars mecha clan. It"s clear that Caesar isn"t planning on playing around anymore and they clearly want to give us a beating…”
Ling Lan didn"t say anything and only just stared at him.
Yu Huan gulped and finally spoke out what his words meant, “Regiment Commander Ling, even if Proud Wind Mecha Clan is here, they would still lose against Knight Ace Mecha Clan.” In harsher words, they didn"t have any chance to win. “If your clan can"t hold on, it is okay. We will just escape first. Although we will lose the Nebula Boundary, we can still fight back and retake it when the Federation sends a legendary rank mecha clan as backup.”
Back then, this had happened once before. When the enemy"s military strength was higher than theirs, escaping wasn"t considered embarra.s.sing. Instead, it was considered to be a smart move. Only by preserving their strength, would they be able to be victorious in the future.
Ling Lan nodded and replied, “I understand.”
‘Understand? What did he understand?" Yu Huan almost smashed the virtual screen in front of him. ‘Couldn"t he just admit that they won"t be able fend off the enemy? That is a legendary ace mecha clan from Caesar. How could a newly advanced t.i.tled super mecha clan be so confident in a battle against such an enemy?
“Regiment Commander Ling, are you not thinking about your men? You clearly understand the danger but you still want to throw away their lives?” Yu Huan asked angrily.
“Then what?” Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and asked coldly, “Give up on those mecha clans that had already joined the battle? Or perhaps send out a few mecha clans to throw away their lives to provide us some time to retreat?”
If they wanted to escape successfully, they must leave enough people behind to hinder the movement of the enemy"s mecha clans. Those mecha clans who stay behind would only have one outcome, and that was death!
This was war. Either choice would require sacrifices to execute.
“Regiment Commander Ling, your clan is here to subst.i.tute Proud Wind Mecha Clan as the main clan in Base Nebula. Despite it being a short while, you still haven"t received acknowledgment from all the mecha clans on the base to become the commander-in-chief of this battle, but I still trust you. That"s why I"m discussing this matter with you seriously.” Yu Huan"s expression had a slight hint of anger. If it wasn"t for the fact that retreating required the main clan"s regiment commander"s acknowledgment, he wouldn"t be wasting his time with this dumb brat who knew nothing of the world.
“According to our information, Knight Ace Mecha Clan has a total of 2000 mecha operators. Half of them have reached peak-level ace operators. The other half are all elite aces,” Yu Huan sneered coldly. “Please tell me how Lingtian plans to fight that?”
No matter how strong Proud Wind Mecha Clan was, it still only had at most 400 peak-level ace operators and at most 800 elite aces. The rest were all standard ace operators.
Hearing this, Ling Lan narrowed her eyes. “Indeed, they are quite strong. However, surrendering before battling isn"t something Lingtian does.”
“Heh, do you think your Lingtian could fend off Knight?” Yu Huan was so angry he laughed out of spite. It was clear he was too young and hotheaded. He was clearly delusional to think they could fend off Knight. He would only understand war wasn"t won by courage and saying big words after paying severe costs.
However, he didn"t think that his mocking att.i.tude actually made Ling Lan nodded and responded, “Indeed, as you say!”
If it was one or two months earlier, Ling Lan might have considered Yu Huan"s suggestion. However now, it was possible for Lingtian to fight this battle.
Of course, Ling Lan knew that her decision might have already killed a portion of the mecha operators in her clan. However, all of those who became soldiers were already prepared to die in battle.
The calmness and indifference in Ling Lan"s eyes made Yu Huan calm down.
“I"ll give you one chance.” Yu Huan was silent for a few seconds and then said, “However, if I were to discover that Lingtian can"t fend off the enemy, then don"t blame me if we give up on you.” This wasn"t a warning but rather reality. Yu Huan wouldn"t endanger Base Nebula because of Lingtian.