Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 797: Chapter 438, I Am Not an Executioner_2

However, at this point, deploying the Skyburn Torpedo was still just a “plan”.

Although it seemed like the best solution, it appeared to be the most rational choice. However, Major General Du Shiliang had never thought about actually doing it.

Or rather, he had never imagined that he would be the one to make that decision.

He had never launched a Skyburn Torpedo, never executed an Extinction Order.

Even the Tianma Fleet itself didn’t have a stockpile of such weapons of extinction.

This sort of thing, even the Star Domain Government itself might not possess, at most, the Tribunal within the Star Domain might store one or two.

Now, the two Skyburn Torpedoes on his ship were transported over from Rage Owl Star by people sent by Governor Gu.

He no longer wished to think about why Mr. Gu had such a powerful weapon at his disposal.

But the decision to launch or not launch the Skyburn Torpedo shouldn’t be up to me to say, right?

The Empire lacked specific regulations on who and which units could issue Extinction Orders. From past records, it seemed that the Tribunals did it most frequently, followed by the leaders of the Interstellar War Regiments.

The first case made sense, as this was their job; the second case was also understandable, as Interstellar Warriors always fought on the most critical and harsh battlefields, encountering problems that only an Extinction Order could solve much more often than regular Empire troops. Plus, with such authority, naturally, they would issue it more often.

Beyond these two, the frequency of other personnel using Extinction Orders plummeted dramatically.

Of course, over ten thousand years, in such a vast universe, anything could happen. Marshals of the Star Realm Army, naval marshals, commanders of war zones, senior government officials, high-ranking clergy of the state religion and the Sect of Mechanics… Although rare, there were records of them issuing Extinction Orders.

But no matter who it was, it definitely wasn’t himself.

I’m just an ordinary Navy Major General, I can’t make such a big decision. Although he didn’t understand who could sign off on it, it definitely wasn’t him. Send the operational report back and then wait for orders, that’s all I need to do.

Then, the order he received was that the person responsible for the forward campaign, Major General Du Shiliang himself, was to make this decision. Mr. Gu, in his capacities as the Alliance Governor, head of the Star Sector, and Leader of the Seven Horse Agreement, gave him full authorization and promised to take responsibility for any consequences of his decision, encouraging him to make a resolute choice.

This wasn’t shirking responsibility, after all, Governor Gu said he would take all the blame.

This was a delegation of authority, allowing frontline commanders full autonomy to make decisions they believed to be correct, to avoid “I can’t make the decision” situations that could lead to major problems at the front.

And then, Du Shiliang was stunned.

Me?

He was caught off guard.

After another round of discussion, they still believed that it was the best solution.

So, execute it.

But when Du Shiliang witnessed an entire world turn into a sea of flames because of his decision, when at least two hundred million people died because of what he decided, he felt his entire body shaking.

He had been shaking for two days now.

He couldn’t sleep at all for these two days.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw a burning world, and he could hear the constant wails of the Temirians, which he had never heard in person but which haunted him incessantly.

He always told himself, it’s not my fault, I can’t be blamed, it’s the Green Skins’ fault, it’s the alien invasion that led to all this, I was just doing my duty, I was just trying to reduce casualties, to prevent more deaths…

But no matter how many reasons there were, no matter how correct, they couldn’t erase the immense pressure of carrying the souls of two hundred million innocent dead.

Yet, reality didn’t give him any chance to escape or relieve his anguish.

He had to make the next decision right away.

The battles at Temir IV and V.

There, the conditions for deploying Skyburn Torpedoes were not met.

Skyburn Torpedoes are expensive, after all.

Although the Alliance didn’t actually set up a production line for Skyburn Torpedoes, these two Skyburn Torpedoes were from stockpiles, produced by the Black Box, effectively costing nothing. However, the Black Box could only produce three Skyburn Torpedoes every two years, so the Alliance’s stock wasn’t large.

Moreover, Du Shiliang didn’t know about this.

All he knew was that using one Skyburn Torpedo to exchange for the lives of 2.5 billion Green Skins was a good deal.

But there were not so many Green Skins for him to annihilate on Temir IV and V.

Additionally, the combined population still surviving on these two planets might exceed eight or nine billion.

Whoever bombed them would be a war criminal.

For these two planets, the plan discussed in previous military meetings prioritized preserving the population of the Empire.

The plans for the two planets could be discussed separately.

On Temir IV, there might be around a hundred million Green Skins, half of whom were clever tricksters. They were collecting raw material and waste in the occupied territories and had set up Green Skin factories locally to produce various types of crude ‘junk.’

On the one hand, these were directly manufactured into weapons and equipment for the army.

On the other hand, they were stockpiled. It seemed that Green Skin Ships would regularly come to transport this ‘junk’ away.

This was consistent with Temir IV’s positioning as a mining and industrial planet.

However, the natural environment of this planet was not particularly good. Except for the mining areas and the Nest Capital, it was almost unsuitable for organic life to survive.

Green Skins had a strong adaptability; their spores could take root and sprout anywhere. But the quality of the environment still affected the spores’ growth speed and ‘yield.’ They had also preliminarily constructed an ecosystem, but it was neither large nor crucial.

In the past, the replenishment of Green Skins on Temir IV mainly relied on coming from the densely populated neighbouring Temir II.

Now, with Temir II scorched, Green Skins on IV would rely on when the main Green Skin Fleet would arrive, and whether they could transport more military forces from the heartland of their old lair.

Moreover, on Temir IV, humans still had an organized Defense Army, and the government had not yet collapsed. Although completely defenseless in orbit, their remaining ground-to-orbit forces were rather weak and dared not bombard the Green Skins’ Fleet. Still, in a time of necessity, when willing to make sacrifices, they could provide cover for the Defense Army’s assaults or retreats and play some role.

In a desperate struggle, Temir IV was maintaining a Defense Army of nearly half a billion people, continuously grappling and wearing down the Green Skins in mineshafts, trenches, and vast industrial zones.

They were no match for the Green Skins and lacked supplies, especially food. They often had to suffer ten times the casualties to defeat the enemy.

But they knew this was a battle for survival, a struggle with no retreat for their species where surrender and giving up were not options.

Clenching their teeth, they fought. Due to not having enough numbers, though the Green Skins had a blast fighting, their progress wasn’t actually fast.

To rescue Temir IV would be fairly straightforward.

They planned to deploy four Army Groups as the main force; liaise with the local Defense Army, providing them with a large supply of logistics support, primarily food, with weapon and ammunition production lines as a secondary focus.

The former would solve the immediate urgent needs, while the latter could upgrade local weapon equipment.

Temir IV was not lacking in raw materials, but what was missing was a production line for quality weapons. Many in their Defense Army were still fighting with primitive guns and artillery.

The alliance would rain down G9 rifles and ammunition, plastic steel production lines, individual armor, artillery shells, cannons, and a suite of production capabilities. They didn’t aim to create a production base but to increase production capacity, which would enhance the combat strength of the half-billion strong Planetary Defense Force by a significant margin.

Moreover, with the permanent presence of five ships from the United Fleet, along with the assistance of eight million elite Alliance troops, pushing back the Green Skins should not be a problem.

At the same time, civilians in the large settlements could be evacuated.

The current supply fleet and transport ships of the United Fleet had the capacity to move 3-5 hundred million people in one go.

They would first relocate them to Steel Wing Star, which should be safe. Then they would transport more. As for the dispatch to other locations from Steel Wing Star and how to arrange transportation that could really accept such a large population, that was not something for Du Shiliang, a frontline combat general, to consider. Officials from the Alliance would take over.

After a series of plans for Temir IV were drawn up and truly began to be implemented, Du Shiliang finally felt somewhat better.

Only then could he tell himself,

“I am not an executioner, I am a savior.”