Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 796: Chapter 438, I Am Not an Executioner

In the void, aboard the Interlude Cruiser, Du Shiliang stared at the fireball that grew increasingly distant in the cosmos.

His face was expressionless, resembling a ruthless general.

Yet his hands still trembled involuntarily.

At this moment, two days had passed since the Interlude Cruiser deployed the Skyburn Torpedo on the surface of Temir II. The flames that enveloped the globe had become more intense before their very eyes.

After completing the deployment task, the United Fleet observed the situation near Temir II for a day. Once they saw that the ‘Skyburn Torpedo’ had indeed ignited the entire planet, verifying the execution of the Extinction Order, they then departed.

He was the one who had deployed the Skyburn Torpedo.

Actually, he wasn’t even sure if he had the authority to issue the Extinction Order.

Originally, he hadn’t anticipated bearing such a responsibility.

Together with his war council, which included a part of the Alliance Army’s staff team, they evaluated the situation on Temir II.

They reached a unanimous conclusion: launching a ground assault on Temir II, even with orbital support from the United Fleet, was not realistic.

This brings us to the war objectives for their proactive strike into the Golden Pass Star Sector, namely:

Under the premise of ensuring the safety of the Fleet, 1. Strike at the Iron Tooth Orcs’ living forces. 2. Evacuate the imperial military and civilians from occupied territories. 3. Occupy planets to construct advanced defensive positions.

These three tasks had a hierarchy of importance.

Striking at living forces was most important, and evacuating imperial military and civilians was also important; which took precedence depended on the battlefield situation.

By comparison, occupying planets was the least important.

Mainly because controlling a planet didn’t guarantee being able to defend it.

If there was an opportunity to occupy, then do so, deploying a not too sizable force like a nail pressed upon that location, waiting for the Green Skins to return. Even then, it would become an obstacle to the orcs’ offense. For humanity’s side, it would also be a defensible position, and at the very least, it would serve as an early warning outpost.

But, it would be a loss if excessive force was committed just to occupy planets.

Striking at living forces and evacuating imperial military and civilians, on the other hand, tangibly weakened the enemy and reinforced their own side.

Regarding Temir II, it was clear that the option to occupy the planet could almost be disregarded.

There were almost half a billion orcs on the surface, and not fewer than two billion other Green Skins—mainly Gretchin.

So many personnel and most weren’t even native to the planet; they had been transported over time by Green Skin Ships.

After all, since the fall of Temir II, only a few months had passed, not enough for such numbers to have proliferated.

Transporting so many Green Skins likely aimed to spread more spores, hoping in the future many more Green Skins would emerge.

With such numbers, even if the United Fleet, carrying three Army Groups totaling sixty million human troops, were all thrown into battle and provided with orbital support, clearing enemy forces wouldn’t be an easy task.

If they truly fought, the conflict could likely turn into a protracted war of attrition. Then, humanity might face an endless tide of orcs emerging from the Green Skin ecosystem, locked in mutually exhausting warfare.

Furthermore, orbital support wouldn’t always be available. The Green Skin Fleet was still out there, and when the previously escaped two hundred junk vessels from Steel Wing Star regrouped and attacked, even if they couldn’t overcome the more numerous main vessels of the United Fleet, they could distract them, preventing the Human Fleet from providing unbridled support to the surface. This was certainly feasible.

Under these circumstances, the hope for a swift victory in ground combat diminished even further.

Their mission was to seek opportunities to eliminate the enemy’s living forces, not to deplete their own against the enemy.

The same logic applied to rescuing people.

Did Du Shiliang not know there were many survivors on the surface?

Of course, he knew.

Even if 95% of the people had been slaughtered, the remaining 5% still represented a population of more than two hundred million.

But the key issue was that these two hundred million people were scattered all over the world of Temir II!

If they were gathered in one place, that would be a different story—overwhelming orbital firepower providing cover, troops dropped to the surface to establish a defensive perimeter, defending for a couple of months, during which as many people as possible would be transported onto ships and evacuated. Once the majority were safe, the troops could be withdrawn, and then the Skyburn Torpedo could be deployed…

Had that been possible, it would have been cause for universal celebration.

Unfortunately, these two hundred million people were in groups of tens of thousands, or at most several hundred thousand, spread across the corners of the world, impossible to save.

Gathering them to evacuate would take an unknowable amount of time.

The Green Skin main Fleet could arrive at any time, and the Green Skins on the ground could entangle any Human landing forces at any moment.

The cost-effectiveness was too low.

In contrast, taking immediate advantage of Temir II’s failing Orbital Defense system, which had not yet been upgraded by the Green Skins since their occupation and given the absence of the Green Skin main Fleet in the star system, creating the perfect conditions to deploy the Skyburn Torpedo—this was the optimal solution.

Otherwise, waiting could lead to complications, possibly losing even the chance to deploy the Skyburn Torpedo.

After all, should the Green Skin main Fleet arrive, they would not allow the Human Fleet to proceed as it wished.

The period between the deployment and detonation of an Extinction Order weapon was highly vulnerable, easily intercepted.