271: Chapter 269 Great Victory! (A cry from a Celestial Ship user)

"They surrendered?"

On the Bridge of the Thunder, Oran looked at the signalman before him with a strange expression, asking in a completely bewildered tone,

The signalman in front of him was also dazed, but his training allowed him to instinctively answer his superior's question:

"Report! Just now, the enemy flagship broadcasted a request for surrender over the open channel."

"At the same time, all their Warships have released their shipboard defense system keys. night lamp has openly taken over all of the enemy's electronic networks,"

"The opposing Commander claims to be from the Kelsus family of the Xila Republic. He demands high-standard treatment for prisoners of war and stated that they will send a representative for secret negotiations regarding ransom..."

"What is all this nonsense?" Oran waved his hand.

"What high-standard treatment? What ransom negotiations? Do we even do that sort of thing?"

As he spoke, he turned to look at a person who had been working in the right corner of the Bridge and asked:

"What were the prisoner handling procedures the Joint Command issued to us before? Political Commissar Cain, do you remember?"

The man wearing the peaked cap looked up and recited coldly:

"According to Article 3 of the 'Procedures' issued by the Inquisition, when dealing with human prisoners, the enemy's Slave Laborers, regular personnel, and privileged officers should first be separated. Then, through methods such as peer reporting and reporting to superiors..."

"Stop, stop, stop—" Oran hurriedly interrupted him. "Get to the point, keep it simple."

Cain paused, then nodded and said:

"Simply put, it's first screening, then judging problematic elements, and finally detaining the other prisoners for collective labor reform and ideological education."

"During wartime, the judicial process can be shortened. If necessary, the Inquisitor-cum-Political Commissar has the authority to issue immediate execution orders."

"Alright, I understand."

Oran nodded, signaling that he could stop talking, and then fell into a brief moment of thought:

Should he accept the surrender?

The enemy had lost the basic ability to resist and was tightly trapped within his encirclement. The situation could already be described as a one-sided slaughter.

For him, this battle was already won. Continuing to fight would merely be a matter of how many enemy troops were annihilated.

But the key point was that the people on the opposing Warships were also human. Although there were those so-called nobles among them whom he detested to his core, there was no doubt that they also had low-level soldiers and even Slave Laborers.

He remembered that the 'struggle of humanity' said that one shouldn't generalize in such situations.

Moreover, he didn't need military merit built upon a pile of lives.

Thus, he waved his hand and spoke loudly into the command channel:

"Order! All Warships cease fire. Keep weapons aimed and be ready for combat at any moment!"

"Second Mobile Fleet, move forward! Prepare to take over the enemy Warships!"

"Have the Marine Corps on standby, ready to board and receive prisoners!"

"Yes, sir!"

...

At this moment, on the Bridge of the Coral Sea, a large number of signalmen were sitting at their stations with intense focus, monitoring all-channel communications at all times, their hearts filled with extreme anxiety—

The reason was simple: they weren't sure if the fleet that had been pummeling them would accept their surrender.

If the other side didn't accept and continued to fire at them...

If the other side pretended to accept, only to wait for them to lay down their weapons before ruthlessly slaughtering them...

After all, their own superiors had made them do such things more than once.

Suddenly, a signalman stood up, turned toward Gaius and the other officers, and reported loudly:

"Report, sir! We've received a public response from the enemy Warships! They have clearly stated that they can accept our surrender!"

"But..."

"But what?" Seeing the signalman's awkward expression, Gaius asked with a stern face.

"The other side claims they only accept our unconditional surrender and that we must fully accept their arrangements, regardless of whether we are soldiers or officers..."

"Otherwise, they'll blow us to bits..."

"No way!"

Before the signalman could finish, someone beside Gaius stepped forward and shouted:

"Absolutely not!"

"This is an insult to us! It's the most serious violation of the diplomatic rules of the civilized world!"

"How can they lump us together with the lower classes? What can they provide? Negotiating chips or ransom?"

"They have no intention of accepting our surrender at all! Commander! They are humiliating you! I request..."

*Thud!*

Before the officer could finish, a loud sound interrupted him—

It was Gaius slamming his military cap onto the floor.

Then, Gaius turned to look at the guy who had stepped forward. He was a member of the Ludsia family, named Sonuk or something, who had come to his fleet to pad his resume.

That bloated body, greasy face, and self-righteous expression only made Gaius feel nauseous.

"Then what do you want to do? Continue the counterattack?"

"With a fleet that is basically completely scrapped? Or do you have a better idea?"

Sonuk was stunned for a moment, but then he stiffened his neck and retorted:

"Don't we still have many Warships left? If worst comes to worst, we can scrape together another assault formation and see if we can break through the enemy encirclement..."

"Then you go," Gaius laughed out of sheer anger upon hearing this.

When he was organizing the assault fleet earlier, why didn't you seem so invested?

Thinking this, his expression turned serious, and he said to Sonuk:

"Now, I order you: within ten seconds, assemble an assault fleet of at least twenty thousand, with cruisers or higher-tier Warships making up at least twenty percent,"

"And set out within one minute!"

"Do you hear me?"

"If I don't see the fleet in one minute, I will treat it as insubordination on the front lines and execute you on the spot!"

The shouting fat man fell silent instantly.

He looked at Gaius with an expression of disbelief, his lips quivering, but no words came out. He seemed either terrified or enraged.

But Gaius didn't care at all. He asked coldly:

"What are you looking at? Didn't you hear the order?"

Sonuk's face turned red as he shouted back:

"I protest! As a Battleship captain, I have the right to raise objections to the fleet Commander!"

"Captain?" Gaius gave a contemptuous smile.

"Where is your ship? Is it paralyzed? Or has it fallen apart?"

"Let me tell you! So what if you're a captain? Are we close? How dare you defy my orders?"

"No more stalling!"

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four..."

Seeing Gaius's heartless demeanor, Sonuk's face gradually turned the color of pig liver.

Then, as if possessed, he suddenly couldn't catch his breath, toppled backward, kicked his legs, and simply fainted away.

"Does anyone else have an objection?"

Sonuk was still kicking his legs on the floor, but Gaius merely treated it as a clumsy performance.

He looked around, and there were no more dissenting voices. Only then did he look back at the signalman and order:

"Send the message. We accept unconditional surrender."

"At the same time, order the entire fleet to cease all resistance, allow the other side to board, and cooperate with their operations."

"Yes... understood!"

Watching the signalman dive into his console, Gaius shook his head.

Forget it.

He'd take the loss this time.

Anyway, he hadn't done anything atrocious, and his family wouldn't possibly abandon him.

Once the ransom was paid, he couldn't think of any reason why he wouldn't be able to return.

"Sigh... so be it,"

he whispered to himself.

"Anyway—I'll be back."

Clearly, at this moment, he still had no idea what was about to happen to him.

...

"Grappling hook hit!"

"Retracting the cables!"

"Prepare to board!"

The current situation was clearly not very friendly for the Second Mobile Fleet, which was moving forward to take over the captured Warships.

Those paralyzed enemy ships couldn't cooperate with their actions at all. On the contrary, the chaotic formation greatly increased their workload:

They had to drag every Warship with a mangled stern back into the queue, secure them with connecting cables, and then tow them away in a line.

Regarding this, the Commander of the Second Mobile Fleet remarked that even fighting them hadn't been this exhausting.

The containment of prisoners began to progress slowly but steadily. Meanwhile, the statistics department had almost finalized the data compilation for this battle—

"Report, sir! This is the data analysis regarding the encirclement and annihilation battle at Siren Constellation V09.66. Please take a look."

Furthermore, it had already been handed over to Oran.

On the Bridge of the Thunder, Oran looked at the report in his hand. The loss ratio was clearly written as 1:1200—an utterly exaggerated figure.

Moreover, it was said that most of the Legion's own losses this time were due to malfunctions caused by improper handling by new recruits.

"This loss ratio is just too exaggerated..."

Looking at the report, Oran couldn't help but sigh in amazement.

The adjutant beside him echoed:

"Yes, sir, it's so exaggerated it feels unreal."

Oran didn't respond.

He looked at the report, which stated, "A total of eleven captured enemy relic Battleships; three have no repair value, five still retain combat capability, and two are basically intact." He asked casually:

"By the way, what are the names of those two Battleships? From which era are they relics?"

A staff member from the Audit Office immediately replied:

"Both are 'Solar Flare' class Battleships designed and built during the Third Epoch. One is the Coral Sea, the enemy flagship; the other is the Yukikaze, which was assigned as the flagship of the escort squadron on the fleet's left wing."

"Mhm," Oran nodded. "Understood. Send the report up. Send the battle report truthfully, and at the same time, inquire about the disposal method for the captured Warships."

"Add a note: I personally lean toward refitting these captured Warships and delivering them to various uprising regions to be used as second-line armed forces."

"Send it."

"Yes, sir!"

However, just as that signalman left, another one rushed in urgently—

"Report! The interrogators have discovered important intelligence!"

"Regarding the predictions and assessments of the Allied Forces and the Empire!"

..."}],