Starting from the Planetary Governor

"General, is there any news of my aunt?"

The speaker was Wang Jiarong.

The person referred to as the general was Perbov.

Generally speaking, 'Brigadier General' is not recognized as part of the formal general officer sequence, being a transitional rank between field officers and general officers. Not to mention, Perbov's 'Brigadier General' rank came from the Planetary Defense Force's own system, which made it even less recognized.

But who made Wang Jiarong dependent on this Brigadier General from her cousin's subordinate officers?

Perbov was also somewhat helpless.

While the battle was in full swing, he still had to take calls from the starship every so often, being asked the same thing over and over again, and he was indeed getting a bit irritated.

But he had no choice but to take the calls.

He fully understood the anxious emotions of Wang Jiarong, who was on the starship, preparing to come down the next day to attend the Gu Family's grand meeting.

At this moment, he did have some news to share with Wang Jiarong.

"We have news of Miss Wang Qi."

"You've picked up my aunt?"

"Yes, but... there is both good news and bad news."

"Tell me both!"

"We did successfully rendezvous with Miss Wang Qi as she evacuated the city; she is now under the army's protection and en route to our main position."

"That's great! What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is... they were intercepted on their way back. Those two Ranger-class Knight Titans that attacked us and posed a major threat to our main position—they ran into them."

"Sss... Well... This..." Wang Jiarong suddenly panicked.

Ranger-class Knight Titans were not considered true Titans in the strict sense but were essentially combat Mechas. Their stature had not yet reached seven meters in height, and compared to the genuine 'divine machines'—the Titan Mecha from the Mechanical Cult Guild, there was a gap.

Within the hierarchy of the Sect of Mechanics, Titan Mecha always remained the pinnacle force.

The small ones were generally made by combining human body modifications and mechanical enhancements to create combat soldiers;

The medium ones started with sentinel Mechas and peaked with the Dominator-class Knight Mecha;

And only the large ones could be called Titan Mecha.

Currently, in the Luman Kingdom or the whole of Heijian Star for that matter, there likely did not exist any real Titan Mecha, with the highest probably being only Knight Mecha.

But even a Ranger-class Knight Mech stood at an imposing height of 6.2 meters. For ordinary people, it was an absolute behemoth, which is why many commonly referred to it colloquially as 'Knight Titan.'

Wang Jiarong, an experienced businesswoman, knew well that the normal price for a Ranger-class Knight Titan was 700,000 Tax Currency.

Similarly, she had seen the army of the Rage Owl Star. The so-called Mechanical Composite Brigade had decent equipment, but she likewise could estimate that such a brigade, with over eight thousand warriors including all their weapons and gear, would cost less than 350,000 Tax Currency in total.

This meant that the price of one Ranger-class Knight Titan could be equivalent to two Composite Brigades.

Not to mention, those two Ranger Knights wouldn't likely be operating alone; the number of troops accompanying them would not be small, and there would certainly also be a significant number of sentinel Mechas.

Such a force lying in wait on her aunt's return path...

Wang Jiarong's mood was not yet one of despair, but it was inevitably tense and anxious.

"General Perbov, please, you must rescue my aunt!"

Perbov quickly replied, "Rest assured, she is the mother of the Governor; how could we dare to be negligent? The moment there's news, I'll immediately relay it to you."

"Please do."

After ending the call, worlds apart in the vast expanse of space, Perbov put down the receiver and sought out his old partner.

Like him, a veteran from the Wind-Extinguishing Brigade, Colonel Jordan Leroy, who had previously served as the commissar of the 1st Extinguishing Wind Brigade, had been transferred with Perbov into the Expeditionary Force, serving as its Commissar.

Finding his old friend, Perbov said, "Now you must agree to another sortie! If anything even slightly goes wrong with Miss Wang Qi on her way back, we all deserve to die here!"

Leroy sighed.

Other commissars usually pondered how to inspire morale, how to make soldiers and officers fight fearlessly, preferably not retreating a step in battle, fighting to the death.

He, on the other hand, spent his days holding back their former brigade commander, now the army commander, urging him to think things through rather than acting recklessly...

Sometimes, this difference made Leroy sigh.

Addressing his old partner, Colonel Leroy said, "Let me correct you: I've never stopped you from taking the offensive. You are the army commander, the highest combat commander. What I've been stopping is your rash actions, not gathering enough intelligence before making decisions, not thinking things through..."

"Alright, alright..." Perbov, who got a headache from the harangue, said, "I've already made up my mind firmly, we must strike first!"

Leroy nodded: "Good, I agree."
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"The remnants of the 37th and 38th Brigades must all be deployed. Our armored forces must come together and be used in unison."

Leroy nodded again: "Good, I agree."

"I'll personally lead the main assault team!"

"Good, I—wait a second?!" Colonel Leroy, nearly letting the words slip automatically, quickly stopped himself, almost biting his tongue, "You want to lead the team personally? Why? As the army commander, shouldn't you stay at the main position, securing it, rather than charging with the assault troops?"