Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 1265: Chapter 689, Reiaductus Campaign (5)

If Leroux still considered himself on par with Gu Hang as the Northern Commander, then what’s the point of authorization?

There would be no need to serve as a ground battle commander; he could directly command all Imperial Army forces, wouldn’t that suffice?

He didn’t do that.

He wanted to take command, and his first reaction was to seek authorization from Gu Hang, which impressed Gu Hang greatly.

It was quite humble and fully acknowledged Gu Hang’s leadership position.

This attitude satisfied Gu Hang.

As for apologies and the like, Gu Hang didn’t particularly care.

Apologies are more about personal concession; if there’s none, there’s none. Gu Hang wouldn’t force, much less act arrogantly.

Since he had no intention of trapping Leroux to death on the surface, and Leroux’s attitude was decent, there was no need to offend the person. As long as he survived the war, when he returned, he would still be a significant figure in the Black Cross Army, ranking third in that powerful battle group.

Adding Xi Rui, who ranked in the top five, would also give Gu Hang some ’connections’ in the Black Cross Army.

There was no fundamental conflict of interest between both parties. In such circumstances, having an extra friend is always better than having an extra enemy.

As for whether Leroux was suitable as the ground commander, Gu Hang believed there was no issue.

Identity-wise, it was appropriate, as the main force on the ground now was the Northern remnants who survived the first battle, which were originally under Leroux’s leadership.

His experience was ample, and his abilities should be fine.

Although he had previously experienced a painful defeat, he was still capable of taking charge as an army group commander. Just as a ground battle commander, he was certainly qualified.

Moreover, if not Leroux, Gu Hang had no one else to use. Although he had some trusted individuals, like Matins, for instance… But ground battles were too risky, and one couldn’t predict when the Extinction Order weapons would take effect, and by then, whoever was commanding the battle on the surface might not be able to withdraw and could die.

Sending Matins, or any other key figure, down with such risks to lead troops not belonging to him, with someone of high rank like Leroux present, and then possibly not being able to withdraw…

It’s inappropriate, and Gu Hang would not bear to do so.

Letting Leroux continue in command was quite good.

As for the risk of the Extinction Order… Actually, Gu Hang lied.

He had said to Leroux that he would discuss it when the time was right, but in truth, he was eager to use Spiritual Energy to directly send the Skyburn Torpedo to the planet’s surface.

Wasn’t that impossible?

Spiritual Energy teleportation not only required an outstanding Spirit Master but also had requirements for the target to be teleported. The target needed at least to be a living entity, one that could be accepted by Subspace. It meant that so-called ’without souls,’ ’unreachable’ entities couldn’t be teleported; non-living things without ’souls’ couldn’t be either.

Weapons, equipment, or even Power Armor that followed the teleported target didn’t face problems. The core reason was these were relatively small and embodied the will of the owner, which could be recognized by Subspace as part or an extension of the ’soul.’

A single Skyburn Torpedo as large as a small Starship didn’t meet the conditions for teleportation at all.

But though teleportation couldn’t be used as a convenient and quick means, when the surface battles had cleared fourteen air defense nests in the drop zone, raising the transport ships’ landing probability from less than 5% to about 20%, he had already given the order to deploy the Skyburn Torpedoes.

With the Human Fleet nearing the orbital position, enduring attacks from both ground orbital cannons and the Insect Nest Fleet, resolutely closed in, at the cost of one Lunar-Class Cruiser, they deployed eight Skyburn Torpedoes.

All were intercepted.

This was completely different from the ratio of transport ships.

By the ratio of transport ships, at least one out of eight should have landed.

Was it just pure bad luck?

No, it wasn’t.

Gu Hang noticed that every time an Extinction Order weapon was launched, the various interception methods of the Insect Race became more active.

They should have some ability to quickly discern whether the Alliance ships had dropped a regular transport ship or an Extinction Order.

Moreover, they should have reserved orbital interception capabilities. If these reserves were all deployed to destroy transport ships, they might not achieve complete interception and couldn’t increase interception efficiency to a particularly high level.

Moreover, the Queen might not deem it necessary.

Even if some army troops landed, the numerical advantage of the ground Insect Swarm wouldn’t be negated. Even though some anti-air nests were destroyed, which was indeed troublesome, the majority were still intact, and the Queen could still use her stored biomass, or directly digest some soldier bugs, to hatch and generate more anti-air nests.

But intercepting Extinction Orders was something that had to be done. One explosion, and it would be disastrous.

On this basis, the Queen would leave plenty of back-up measures, allowing orbital anti-air and Insect Nest Fleet interception methods to retain some capability. Upon discerning an Extinction Order deployment, they’d use all these reserved methods focusing on intercepting the Extinction Order weapon, thereby greatly improving success rates.