140: Trier's proposal

Over the next two months, whenever Amira reached the edge of a star system, the warp bubbles that had been tightly blockaded by the Church would be brought back to life under the understated operations of Faleim technicians.

For the soldiers of the Angel Empire, this feeling was like watching a skilled locksmith pick the gate of their own temple with a piece of wire; it was both shameful and undeniably impressive.

As they drew closer to the capital star sector, the atmosphere in the starry sky grew increasingly heavy.

Most of the star systems along the way were under martial law, but faced with the overwhelming deterrent power of the redemption, no local garrison fleet dared to truly step forward to block them.

Finally, after a long-distance warp jump, the fleet arrived at a star system named "Tomorrow."

This was an important strategic fulcrum in the hinterland of the Perseus Arm, and also the designated assembly and rest area for the Angel Empire Star Navy after their crushing defeat on the front lines.

When the redemption exited the warp bubble, the scene before her made Amira frown tightly.

Tens of thousands of warships were parked densely in space; the once glorious main fleet looked like a group of plucked, bedraggled chickens.

Almost every warship's armor was covered in charred bullet marks and huge jagged tears; some had even lost half their hulls yet still stubbornly floated in orbit, while others had dead engines and could only maintain their posture with the help of tugboats.

Countless small shuttles and engineering ships darted between these steel giants like maggots busy at work on a corpse.

This was the remnant of the imperial main force after being routed by the Iof People.

Major General Trier stood beside Amira, looking at the tragic scene on the screen, his tone flat. "If this is what you call your strongest force, then I can only say it is a miracle that you have survived until now."

Amira bit her lip without refuting him.

Just then, a high-power communication request connected to the redemption.

"This is the flagship of the Imperial Star Navy, the 'Sword of Divine Punishment.' I am Commander-in-Chief Akulei."

An elderly four-winged Angel appeared on the screen. His once dazzling blond hair had turned gray and messy, his face was covered in deep wrinkles and exhaustion, and his golden eyes were bloodshot. Yet, his uniform remained crisp, and the marshal's badge on his shoulder flickered with a final glimmer under the lights.

The moment he saw Amira, the old man who had commanded the Imperial Star Navy for hundreds of years felt his eyes turn red.

"Princess Amira..." Akulei's voice trembled. He even forgot to salute, just staring fixedly at the screen as if confirming this was not a phantom. "Are you really still alive?"

Princess Filula had already informed him of Amira's survival via remote communication, but only upon seeing her with his own eyes did the heavy stone pressing on his heart finally land.

The Divine Grace Fleet had actively acted as the rearguard to cover the main force's retreat.

During those few months, every surviving Star Navy commander had been tormented by inner guilt, thinking that the young princess had long since perished in the cold starry sky of Orion.

"I am still alive, Commander-in-Chief." Amira gave a standard military salute. "Commander of the Divine Grace Fleet, captain of the grace vessel, Amira Radiance, requests to return to the ranks."

"It is good that you are back... It is good that you are back!" Akulei nodded repeatedly. Then, his gaze fell on the background behind Amira, and on the massive black warship that stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens, even among tens of thousands of other warships.

"Your Highness, that ship..."

"It is from our friends, but that is a long story..." Amira said.

The largest space station in the Tomorrow system was called the Seat of Dawn.

This space station, originally a commercial and tourist hub, had now been requisitioned as a temporary military command center.

Half an hour later.

When Amira's shuttle landed at the berth, the scale of her welcome exceeded everyone's expectations.

There was no grand honor guard or flowers, as the current fleet could not muster such a polished display. However, thousands of Star Navy officers and soldiers, who had come spontaneously, stood on both sides of the corridor. Some were wrapped in bandages, some leaned on crutches, and some had even lost their wings.

When Amira stepped out of the hatch, these thousands of disabled soldiers simultaneously straightened their backs and saluted her in unison.

There were no cheers or slogans, only a solemn silence.

That was a tribute to a hero.

Commander-in-Chief Akulei stepped forward personally and gripped Amira's hand tightly.

"Your Highness, you have not only saved us," the old man's voice was low and powerful, "you have saved the backbone of the Empire."

Standing behind Akulei was a tall, elegant female Angel.

She possessed two pairs of wings and wore a magnificent purple gown. She was the de facto ruler of the Tomorrow system and its twelve surrounding systems—Sector Governor Serena.

"Welcome back, Your Highness." Serena saluted elegantly, her eyes flashing with shrewdness and scrutiny. "Your return has brought a touch of color to this gray starry sky."

"Governor Serena." Amira nodded. "Thank you for providing sanctuary to the fleet."

"It is my duty as a subject." Serena smiled and stepped aside. "This is not the place to talk. Please come with me; there are some things we need to discuss in an absolutely secure location."

Serena's private office was located on the top floor of the space station. The decor was extremely luxurious, and outside the massive floor-to-ceiling crystal windows, a planet rotated slowly. In the current chaotic situation, this place felt like a peaceful sanctuary isolated from the world.

Amira, Major General Trier (as the representative of the observer group), Commander-in-Chief Akulei, and Governor Serena sat around an exquisite tea table.

After the attendants withdrew, the room fell into a brief silence.

"Tell me," Amira broke the silence first, her gaze sweeping across the faces of Akulei and Serena. "What exactly happened in the Imperial Capital? Why did that bishop Losanda dare to blockade the shipping lanes? Where is Father? Where is His Holiness the Pope?"

Akulei sighed heavily, the teacup in his hand creaking as he gripped it.

"It is chaos, everything is chaos." The old marshal shook his head painfully. "Your Highness, our defeat on the front lines was not just a military disaster, but a political avalanche."

"Ever since the news of the collapse of the Heavenly Abyss Nebula defense line reached the country, the entire Empire's belief system has suffered an unprecedented shock."

Serena took over the conversation, taking an intelligence summary from her drawer and pushing it toward Amira.

"The Church has split." Serena's voice was calm and sharp. "Or rather, the radicals within the Church have launched a bloodless coup."

"Pope Gregory VII..." She paused, observing Amira's expression, "has been missing for three months."

"Missing?" Amira stood up abruptly. "The Pope is God's spokesperson on earth, and he has six-winged warriors as guards. How could he possibly go missing right under their noses?"

"The official explanation is that His Holiness the Pope sensed the call of the True God and entered the depths of the Divine Kingdom for an indeterminate period of deep meditation to pray for an oracle to save the Empire from its crisis." Akulei snorted coldly. "But everyone knows this is nonsense. Before he went missing, His Holiness the Pope had repeatedly supported the royal family's policy of promoting material technological development in public, which touched the reverse scale of the conservatives."

"Those currently controlling the situation in the Church are the Council of Twelve Cardinals led by Losanda." Serena added. "They have controlled the public opinion in the Imperial Capital and surrounding star systems, even blockading the Sanctuary star system, and have issued the notorious 'Letter to the Believers' to the entire Empire."

"They claim the crushing defeat on the front lines was not because the enemy was strong, nor because our technology was backward."

"But because of Divine Punishment."

Amira felt a sense of absurdity. "Divine Punishment?"

"Yes." Serena smiled mockingly. "They claim that it was precisely because the royal family and some nobles (she pointed to herself) were bewitched by the materialistic heresy and attempted to vigorously develop those soulless mechanical technologies, polluting the purity of the divine psionic energy, that the True God withdrew His protection from the Empire, allowing those iofer demons to defeat the great Star Navy."

"They have poured all the dirty water onto the royal family."

"They demand that His Majesty immediately issue a decree of repentance, abolish all research projects related to material technology, execute those scholars who proposed reforms, and hand over..." Serena glanced at Amira, "hand over the missing Pope. They claim that the royal family placed the Pope under house arrest to cover up their crimes."

"Absurd! Shameless!" Amira was trembling with anger. "It is clearly them fighting for power and profit, even willing to stab us in the back during a national crisis!"

"But in the eyes of the desperate populace, this explanation has a lot of market." Akulei said helplessly. "People need a reason to explain why the invincible Star Navy lost so miserably. Admitting that the enemy is stronger than us is very difficult, but admitting that it was due to our lack of piety leading to Divine Punishment is, logically, easier for those fanatical believers to accept."

"Now, the entire Imperial Capital star circle has been controlled by the Church's Temple Fleet and fanatics." Serena said. "His Majesty is under house arrest deep in the palace, and decrees cannot leave the palace gates. Bishops everywhere are inciting the governors of various star sectors to lean toward them."

"And we," Akulei pointed to the scarred warships outside the window, "we, this defeated army, are now called the 'unclean' who returned bearing sin. Losanda refuses to let us enter the core star sector for resupply and maintenance unless we all disarm and accept a soul audit by the Inquisition."

"Soul audit?" Major General Trier suddenly interjected, asking with interest. "Sounds like a synonym for some kind of brainwashing or execution?"

"Pretty much." Akulei glanced at this alien visitor. "Angels who undergo a soul audit by the Inquisition either become lunatics or puppets who only know how to obey orders."

"So, you are now in a dilemma." Amira summarized. "With iofer chasers ahead (though they haven't come yet) and the Church's blockade behind, and this fleet in your hands is broken and lacks supplies."

"Exactly." Serena nodded. "Although my twelve star systems are still quite wealthy, they cannot support such a huge fleet for too long. And my sector governors... their minds are starting to wander. The price offered by the Church is very high; as long as they defect, they can obtain 'Indulgences'."

The room fell into silence again.

The situation was even more collapsed than Amira had imagined.

This was no longer a simple power struggle; this was a full-scale civil war about to ignite the entire Empire.

"We need to break the deadlock." Amira's gaze became firm. "We cannot sit and wait for death."

"How to break it?" Akulei smiled bitterly. "Less than 30% of the fleet I have now is combat-capable, and ammunition stocks are less than two standard baselines. Psionic crystals and compressed energy blocks are even more scarce. If we forcibly attack the Imperial Capital defense line, it would be suicide."

"No, we have new chips."

Amira turned and looked at Major General Trier, who had been quietly observing from the side.

"General Trier, I think it is time for our friends to show some sincerity."

Everyone's eyes focused on this Faleim.

Trier smiled slightly. He stood up and straightened his uniform collar.

"the guide had long anticipated this situation." He said calmly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, although the Faleim Scientific Conglomerate does not directly intervene in your civil war, we have very flexible definitions for 'humanitarian aid' and 'self-defense counterattack'."

He snapped his fingers, and a Faleim technician behind him placed a data storage device on the table.

"This contains a list."

"First, we will provide emergency maintenance services for this... um, sorry-looking fleet. Not the kind of patchwork repairs, but Faleim-standard structural remodeling. Although our engineering fleet has not arrived yet, the industrial modules on the redemption are enough to produce a batch of nanorobot clusters for maintenance."

"Second, regarding supplies." Trier looked at Serena. "Governor, if I am not mistaken, your star sector has rich mineral resources, but the refining efficiency is extremely low. We can provide you with a set of high-efficiency automated refining and production technologies. As long as there are raw materials, you can have as much ammunition and energy blocks as you want... Of course, you will have to find a way to get psionic crystals yourself."

"Third, and most importantly."

Trier's eyes became sharp. He looked at Akulei.

"We can upgrade your systems."

"Your sensors are too backward, and your psionic shield algorithms are too primitive. As long as you are willing to open the underlying permissions of your warships, we can install a set of Faleim-standard shipborne AI for this fleet."

"It will not increase the power of your main guns, but it can increase your hit rate by 300%, reaction speed by 500%, and allow your fleet's detection range to reach more than ten times the original in the same amount of time."

Akulei and Serena were stunned.

This was not aid? This was practically handing a submachine gun to a beggar!

"What is the price?" Serena asked vigilantly. "There is no free lunch in the world."

"The price is simple." Trier smiled, but this smile gave the Angels present goosebumps. "We want the right to free trade in this star sector and the power to build stargates and space stations in all your star systems, as well as..."

"Acknowledging the legitimacy of materialism."

Amira looked at Trier. She knew this was Lei Wen's will.

But this was shaking the foundation of this ten-thousand-year-old idealistic civilization.

"Deal." Amira made this difficult decision on behalf of everyone.

"We will find the Pope, and we will settle accounts with Losanda."

"For the survival of the Empire, God... will forgive us."

Trier nodded with satisfaction.

"Very well."

"Now, let us get to work."