222: Anger! It has consumed us!

"Verify the command's encryption level! Once confirmed, distribute the full text of the command to all combat units in the fleet without changing a single word! All privates and above are to receive it simultaneously!"

At this moment, in the broadcasting room aboard the flagship of the Military Alliance AQ-822-16 Legion, also known as The 16th Expeditionary Legion,

Lagrange stared at the communications officer before him with an incredibly grim expression, issuing the command word by word.

"General?" When the communications officer finished checking the document Lagrange had handed over, his pupils constricted violently.

He asked in utter disbelief,

"Is... is this for real..."

Lagrange nodded slightly and said,

"If you recognize the encryption codes from the Military Alliance High Command, then you should know for yourself whether it's real or not."

"No... it's not like this... it shouldn't be like this!!!"

The communications officer's hand shook, and the tablet carrying the command fell to the floor, shattering into pieces.

He bent down tremblingly to pick it up, but accidentally lost his balance and fell forward, his knee slamming hard onto the tablet.

A few sparks of electricity flickered across the tablet; it looked beyond saving.

Lagrange watched him calmly, as if appreciating a performance.

"It's useless—you should know that this tablet isn't the transceiver terminal."

"Furthermore, Augus, as the fleet's communications officer, have you received this damned command?"

Augus, still half-kneeling, was stunned for a moment before standing up dejectedly.

"Report: I have not received it."

He pretty much knew what this meant—

This command had been transmitted directly to their Commander-in-Chief's hands.

And he, as a lowly communications officer, didn't even have the right to refuse it.

"Very well, it seems you understand what this means—"

"Now, execute it."

As he spoke, Lagrange pulled out another tablet, which displayed the exact same content as the previous one.

But Augus did not take the tablet. He only looked at Lagrange with a stubborn gaze.

After staring at each other for a long while, he said resolutely,

"Forgive me, General, though I am undoubtedly loyal to you—"

"I refuse to send this content to the entire Legion."

Lagrange still showed no outward sign, but a flicker of something called 'gratification' flashed in the depths of his eyes.

He asked,

"May I know why, Communications Officer Augus?"

Augus was silent for a moment before speaking in a low, sorrowful voice,

"This... this command is a betrayal!"

"Every star system! Every single one! We won them with our lives!!!"

As he spoke, a hint of pain crept into his words, but he immediately raised his voice, trembling as he tried to cover that pain, which only made his voice sound more like a sob.

"My entire family is in this expeditionary fleet!!!"

"My wife was a frontline medic on destroyer A-87992. The ship she served on was smashed into a pile of splashing fragments by two heavy mass projectiles in last week's offensive;"

"Not one of my three sons survived past last month!"

"By the way, I have no parents. I come from a Social Incubation Pod—and almost all the brothers and sisters from the same nursery batch as me have died at the hands of the aliens!"

"And now!!! Those officials behind us—"

"We are clearly still struggling to hold the front line, giving everything just so humanity can have a sliver of hope,"

"And for who knows what reason, they want us to abandon our hard-won gains, turn around, and go back to fight a civil war! To fight humans!!!"

"On what grounds!!! Even you—even you, General, are going to compromise with those damned animals! On what grounds!"

"Huff— huff— huff—"

After finished shouting, he calmed down slightly and thought about what he had just done.

Wait, did he just shout at the General? And curse the high-ranking officials of the Military Alliance to his face?

Forget it.

Augus shook his head, not intending to yield.

He simply raised his head and locked eyes with Lagrange in silence.

"I've said my piece. If you want to execute me, please do it quickly."

"..."

"Hahaha—"

"Hahahahahahaha!!!"

After a long while, Lagrange finally reacted.

Dropping his previous calm, he burst into loud laughter.

After laughing, he reached out, patted Augus on the shoulder, and asked,

"Why would I execute you?"

"I think exactly the same as you!!!"

"Why should we compromise with them?"

"Just because they're a bit older? Because where they sit is a bit safer?"

As he spoke, he pulled Augus closer, putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Look, when you found out this command was real, what was your first reaction?"

Augus was still in a daze and answered subconsciously,

"Anger..."

Lagrange followed up immediately,

"Exactly, you are angry. You feel righteous indignation toward that bunch of scum who issued the command."

"As do I, as does Tyr—as does everyone."

"And it is precisely because of this that I want you to transmit this command to every single combat unit!"

"It's time for the soldiers to know where all our enemies are—besides the aliens in front of us, there are the Traitors behind us!"

"I want to see how the warriors under my command will react to such deception and betrayal!"

Augus gave a start.

Right, what would the reaction be?

If a group of people who would burn their own souls just to strike at aliens were told about this command to retreat and fight a civil war,

What would they think? Would they obey submissively?

How could they!!!

Fighting until now, to put it nicely, they were short on guns and ammo; to put it bluntly, they were at the end of their ropes.

Everyone had actually begun to burn themselves up, trading their lives for time and space.

So, to ask them at this moment to give up the space their comrades and they themselves had traded blood, lives—and indeed everything—for, and to turn around to fight a ridiculous civil war... Thinking of this, Augus suddenly perked up—

"Yes! I will begin transmitting this command to all combat units immediately!"

"I guarantee that every single person with a transceiver terminal will! See! It!!!"

With that, he sat down at the communications console and began working his hands over the dense array of buttons.

The command was quickly sent out, reaching every soldier's terminal through the fleet's internal communication network.

This transfer order from the Military Alliance High Command was like a massive boulder thrown into a tranquil lake, setting off monstrous waves on every starship undergoing refit.

Angry roars echoed in the corridors, the sound of fists hitting metal rose one after another. Countless soldiers—whether the severely wounded lying in medical pods or the captains on duty at their posts—

Felt a bone-chilling cold and humiliation the moment they saw this order. They were here shedding their blood and sacrifice, making incredibly heavy sacrifices for a vague 'future' and an unreachable 'hope'.

Yet in the rear, without any reason, without any basis—without even arranging a shift change—

Those 'superiors' looked down on them from on high, wanting to negate all the results they had achieved so far with a few light commands like these!!!

It was as if... as if what they had fought so hard to achieve was, in those people's eyes, just ridiculous trash that could be tossed away with a wave of the hand.

No!!!

They did not agree!!!

Some broke down in tears, some were beyond furious,

But even more people simply entered a strange silence.

This silence was not the silence of apathy, nor the despair of having nothing to say.

It was like the heavy rain at the turn of spring and summer, carrying the power to destroy heaven and earth—

Before it begins, there is only the oppressive, gray sky, waiting for that single crack of thunder to pour down all its fury, as if to swallow the entire world.

These soldiers were in exactly this state—

They were waiting for that iconic crack of thunder to lead them, to pour out all their hot blood and indignation.

Just then, as the oppressive atmosphere was about to reach its peak, a voice sounded—it was the fleet-wide real-time communication channel.

The initiator was their General—Lagrange Koradilon.

In their eyes, he was also the crack of thunder they had been waiting for...