149: engineering

When the data terminal in Major General Trier's hand vibrated slightly, displaying the words "Supreme Command—Celestial Throne Galaxy War Report," the fingers of the Faleim officer, known for his unwavering composure, actually hovered in mid-air for a full two seconds.

He opened the file.

A massive stream of data instantly flooded his mind: Major General Sal's transmitted battle records and the current status assessment of the heavily damaged galaxy.

"Mission complete... Contract terminated... Target galaxy severely damaged... Estimated civilian casualty count: 1.8 billion to 2.2 billion."

Trier closed the holographic screen; the lights on the bridge seemed to dim slightly due to the gravity of the information.

He turned around and looked at the figure on the command platform.

Amira Radiance had her back to him, staring at the starlight outside the window, which was distorted into streaks.

Ever since she put on the neural inhibitor and forcibly withdrew from the false euphoria brought by The Void Realm, the Imperial Princess had become silent and withdrawn. Although her gorgeous Platinum Armor was still pristine, the wings folded on her back made her appear somewhat dejected.

Should he tell her? Or conceal it?

According to the logic of the Faleim People, since the outcome was positive, the losses incurred during the process were necessary costs.

But in the human sociological model, this was called "the cruel truth."

Trier recalled the teachings of the guide Lei Wen: they must be viewed as future subordinates, not mere tools. The first step in building trust is often honesty, even if that honesty is brutally painful.

"Your Highness Amira." Trier's voice broke the silence on the bridge.

Amira turned her head. Her golden pupils were bloodshot; the persistent migraine caused by the Psionic Neural Inhibitor kept her in a constant state of anxiety mixed with clarity.

"What is it?" Her voice was low.

Trier didn't speak, he simply projected a video file onto the main screen in front of her.

The footage began to play.

Amira watched the entire process of the Detachment Fleet engaging the god's avatar.

She saw the black Titan Flagship, the Eternal Silence, descend like the Grim Reaper. She saw how the Neutron Beam fired by the Nightingale instantly vaporized the Supreme Cathedral, and she saw how that lunatic Losanda turned into a fireball in his despair.

Next came the purple nightmare. When the psionic avatar of the instrument of desire tore through space, descending with the wrath of the god, even through the screen, Amira felt her soul tremble.

That was the instinctive fear of higher beings, etched deep within the Angel people's genes—the humility of mortals facing a deity.

However, the next second, the scene changed.

That black Titan opened fire.

The Annihilation Beam, a ray representing the ultimate destructive power of pure physical law, pierced the god's body without flourish.

Once,

twice,

thrice.

The cold energy readings and precise firing coordinates caused the "god" that Amira had wanted to kneel before to wail and dissipate under the muzzles of the Faleim People, like a beast hit by a rifle, until it finally vanished.

The footage then froze on the post-war Cradle Star.

The once beautiful blue-green planet now had an atmosphere filled with dust, massive impact craters and tectonic fault lines were clearly visible on the surface, and the oceans were heavily polluted.

"The contract is terminated." Trier's voice was still icy cold. "Your people are free."

"Free..."

Amira muttered to herself, and her body began to tremble violently.

That ruin was her home, the place where she grew up.

The Supreme Cathedral was gone, half the Imperial Palace had collapsed, and the once prosperous planet was utterly devastated.

"The casualties... how many?" she asked, her voice as faint as fragile foam.

"The population that died directly from the fighting and the psionic shockwave is approximately 1.4 billion," Trier continued. "Hundreds of millions more died or were injured due to the subsequent geological and secondary disasters."

"Over a billion..."

Amira's legs gave way, and she collapsed into the command chair.

Losanda was dead, the god was driven away, and the Empire was saved.

But the price was too high.

It was the blood of an entire generation and the essence accumulated over tens of thousands of years by the Empire.

"Why..." Amira covered her face, tears streaming through her fingers. "Why are we so weak? Why, when facing a god, do I only feel fear, while you..."

She lifted her head, looking at the black Titan on the screen, her eyes gleaming with a light that mixed hatred, envy, and extreme pain.

"While you can defeat Him so easily?"

In this moment, she hated Losanda and she hated the Void god, but she hated her own weakness even more.

In the face of true power, the psionic abilities the Angel people prided themselves on, and the noble bloodline of the Royal Family, all seemed like a joke.

"Because we measure the universe with knowledge and rationality," Trier replied. "We only believe in the weapons in our hands and the truth."

"Wipe your tears, Your Highness." Trier handed her a handkerchief. "Tears cannot save your nation. Right now, your Imperial Father and the surviving people need you."

"We have provided humanitarian aid plans. Space stations can be rebuilt, ships can be remade, and the ecosystem will eventually recover. As long as there is life, there is hope."

Amira took the handkerchief and fiercely wiped the tears from her face.

She stood up, the steel-like resolve still visible in her golden eyes.

"Fleet, full speed ahead." She commanded... Three months later.

When the redemption, leading the remnants of the Star Navy, finally arrived at the edge of the Celestial Throne Galaxy, a scene of utter apocalypse lay before them.

Countless wreckage pieces floated in the once busy galactic shipping lanes—space stations and starships shattered by the final psionic shockwave.

And the Angel people's homeworld, Cradle, was currently covered by a thick layer of grayish-white frost.

"Warning! Planetary environment is extremely hostile!"

The redemption's sensors transmitted alarming data.

"Average surface temperature is minus 80 degrees Celsius. The atmosphere is dissipating, and oxygen content is dropping sharply."

"How could this happen?" Amira exclaimed. "Although Cradle Star is located on the edge of the Stellar Habitable Zone, relying on the Planetary Shield and Climate Regulators, it has always been like spring year-round!"

"Because they are all broken," Trier said, his tone grim, looking at the data analysis report.

During the "God War" three months ago, in order to counter the descent of the Void god and resist the final psionic shockwave, the Falamt Detachment Fleet not only destroyed the Ritual Site but the violent energy burst also burned out the planet's fragile Planetary Shield Generator.

Even more fatal, the core maintaining the planet's thermal balance—the Planetary Climate Controller, which operated using geothermal and psionic energy—had completely collapsed in the earthquake.

Losing the insulation of the Planetary Shield and the heat circulation of the Climate Regulator, the planet, already on the edge of the galactic habitable zone, was rapidly exposed to the extreme cold of space.

For the powerful Angel individuals whose physical fitness was strong enough to briefly survive in space, the severe cold might still be bearable.

But for the billions of ordinary civilians with wings, this was a catastrophe.

"Report! Receiving distress signal from the surface!"

"This is Mika... cough, cough... I am Mika!"

The weak and anxious voice of the First Prince came through the communication channel, with the background noise of howling cold wind and the desperate cries of the people.

"Amira! Is that you? Hurry! We need heat! We need energy!"

"The shield towers are down, the heating system is completely paralyzed... Even psionic users can't maintain body temperature indefinitely in minus eighty degrees. Children are freezing to death! The elderly have already frozen solid!"

"This damned cold! It's killing the rest of the people!"

Hearing her brother's voice, Amira's heart twisted in pain.

She looked at the white, desolate planet outside the window. The former purple forests were covered in ice and snow, and the once emerald oceans had formed thick layers of ice.

This wasn't a Cradle; it was clearly an ice coffin!

"Activate all of the redemption's reactors! Prepare to transmit power to the surface!" Amira shouted. "Send all psionic users down! Use psionic shields to warm the civilians!"

"It's useless, Your Highness." Trier interrupted her coldly. "Even if the redemption's reactors are overloaded, they can only warm a few hundred cities, and this planet has tens of thousands of cities and over ten billion people."

"Then what do you want me to do? Watch them freeze to death?" Amira grabbed Trier's collar, her emotions nearly out of control. "Didn't you say you had humanitarian aid? Where is your fleet? Where is your technology?"

Trier looked down at the girl on the verge of breakdown and gently pushed her hand away.

"That is exactly what I was about to say."

He turned around and issued an order into the communicator.

"Notify the Engineering Vessel fleet, they are no longer on standby. Warp in immediately."

"Initiate Planetary Environment Reshaping Protocol."

...Half an hour later, space in the Celestial Throne Galaxy fluctuated again.

Hundreds of strangely shaped Faleim Pioneer-Class Engineering Vessels, covered in various massive engineering modules, appeared out of thin air in Cradle Star's orbit.

They were not equipped with weapons, but they were equipped with a power far greater than weapons for the current situation—the power to change nature.

"Scanning planetary environment model... Data synchronized."

"Climate Control Device damage rate 98%, irreparable, reconstruction recommended."

"Low-Grade Planetary Shield Generator core meltdown, replacement recommended."

"Severe atmospheric heat dissipation, immediate thermal energy injection recommended."

"Planetary magnetic field unstable, immediate magnetic field restoration recommended."

The AI of the Faleim Engineering Vessels provided the diagnostic plan with extremely high efficiency.

"Begin operation." Trier ordered.

Soon, dozens of Engineering Vessels dispersed above the planet's equator. Their undersides opened, dropping massive metal columns.

After landing, these metal columns rapidly unfolded, plunging deep into the ground, connecting directly to the mantle.

"Geothermal Induction Probes deployed, initiating Microwave Heating Array."

In space, the giant microwave emitters on the Engineering Vessels aimed at these metal columns.

High-frequency microwave beams penetrated the atmosphere, bombarding the receiving ends of the metal columns.

Massive energy was converted into thermal energy and guided underground via the probes, lighting a fire deep within the cold planet.

Rumble—

The earth let out a low roar, but this time it wasn't an earthquake, but a warm pulse.

The surface ice began to melt, and long-awaited steam rose up, driving away the biting cold wind.

Simultaneously, a dozen other Engineering Vessels unfurled a massive net of light above the planet's poles.

It was the Temporary Planetary Shield, composed of countless hexagonal energy generators.

Although not as sturdy as the shields used by the Faleim People themselves, it acted like a thermal insulation film, instantly locking in the planet's lost heat and working with the atmosphere to block high-energy radiation and stellar winds from space.

Several days later.

"Atmospheric temperature is rising... minus 40 degrees... minus 20 degrees... zero degrees..."

Watching the numbers flash across the screen, as the white frost on the surface receded bit by bit, revealing the original purple land, Amira covered her mouth, her expression one of utter disbelief.

Trier walked up beside her, looked at the planet below, and said flatly, "This is called Faleim Engineering."

"Alright, Your Highness, the temperature has returned to habitable levels."

"You may go down to see your brother and father now."

Amira turned her head, looked at Trier, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you."

She said nothing more, turning and heading toward the shuttle.

When she landed on the ruined square of the Imperial Palace, she was greeted by the incredulous gaze of Prince Mika.

Although the surrounding air was still cool, it was no longer deadly.

The surviving Angel people emerged from the ruins, looking up at the massive Engineering Vessels in the sky, their eyes filled with awe.