Commodore Captain

The thought of having to deal with Gu Hang already annoyed Yelicia.

As a bona fide Imperial Navy commodore and captain of a Strike Cruiser, she was unquestionably a major figure in the Pegasus Sector.

Which carried more weight: the rank of a navy commodore or that of a Planetary Governor?

The Imperial Navy permanently stationed in the Pegasus Sector had only seven cruisers in total. By comparison, the Pegasus Sector had nine planets, roughly the same number.

They also belonged to different systems. A Planetary Governor held a special position, but broadly speaking, belonged to the Empire's administrative structure. A starship captain, on the other hand, belonged to the Imperial Navy's military hierarchy.

In theory, the head of a sector had no direct authority to command the Imperial Navy.

Of course, reality was different.

The Pegasus Fleet had been established by the Pegasus Sector. Most of its officers and soldiers were recruited from the sector's planets, the starships had been purchased with the sector's funds, and the sector also provided logistical support. The fleet's mission was to defend the Pegasus Sector, and it had to coordinate with the Sector Government. Its independence was indeed limited.

In short, it was hard to compare the status of the Pegasus Sector's seven cruiser captains with that of its nine Planetary Governors. They were probably more or less on equal footing.

But when it came to Gu Hang and Yelicia, that was a different matter.

Of the Pegasus Sector's nine planetary worlds, the other eight varied in strength, but at least each was a power in its own right. Nuxiao Planet alone was a perennial headache.

By past precedent, Gu Hang taking up the governorship was practically the same as being sentenced to two years of death row. How could he compare with Yelicia?

Yelicia was also born into a distinguished family. The Fofana Family, to which she belonged, was an ally of the Gu Family and a supporter of the current head of the sector.

As for Yelicia herself, she was a rising star in the military, the brightest young talent in the Pegasus Sector Navy, the only woman among the seven captains, and the youngest of them all.

Her family background had certainly helped her reach this position, but her own abilities couldn't be discounted either.

Gu Hang and Yelicia were worlds apart.

Still, the female commodore had troubles of her own.

It had been nearly two years since she was promoted to captain of the Quintet, yet the criticism had never let up. Her age, experience, gender... all had become targets for attack.

As for ability? Talking about ability without proof was far too subjective, and it couldn't put food on the table. It had to be turned into achievements no one could question.

She'd been itching to fight a glorious battle. Punch out a Greenskin warlord, kick the Chaos traitors to the curb, wipe out the Void's Tyranids...

Anything would do. She just wanted to win a hard-fought, decisive victory, come home covered in glory, and see who the hell would dare point fingers at her after that.

Instead, she hadn't gotten much of a fight at all. She'd ended up on Nuxiao Planet, escorting her family's political ally—the young man sent there to be Planetary Governor.

And she'd been stuck there for two years.

She was furious, but had no way to fight back. All she could do was report for duty in a rage.

She was already annoyed, and then that guy kept giving her trouble.

By now, she couldn't even tell whether the Gu Family considered Gu Hang important or not.

If they considered him important, why send him to a place like this? There was nothing wrong with entrusting him with the major task of developing Nuxiao Planet, that perennial headache, but the Gu Family hadn't invested much in the effort.

But if they didn't consider him important, why had the Sector Government sent one of the Pegasus Fleet's only seven cruisers—the Quintet under her command—to sit there for two years?

She couldn't make sense of it.

There was no need to dwell on it.

She considered herself a soldier, so she would keep things simple and carry out her orders.

Her orders were to ensure Nuxiao Planet remained loyal to the Empire, assist the Planetary Governor, and provide military support.

She had never considered making things difficult for Gu Hang over any of that. If the Governor made a request, she would fulfill her duties as an Imperial Navy officer.

As far as she was concerned, the job would amount to threatening the surface from orbit and, if necessary, launching strikes. It wasn't stressful; she just had to do things by the book.

But Gu Hang hadn't asked her to help bomb anything. Instead, he'd taken a batch of servants and soldiers.

She hadn't seen that coming.

At first, she hadn't wanted to give them up, but Gu Hang had worn her down with endless persuasion, and she'd let him talk her out of her people.

Looking back, she still regretted it.

She was willing to help him fight, but he couldn't just take her people!

That wasn't part of her responsibilities.

Besides, this was an Imperial Navy force. It was true that there were a hundred thousand people aboard, which seemed like a lot, but that was simply how many it took to operate a colossal ship eleven kilometers long.

If Gu Hang took too many people away, it would directly affect the starship's combat effectiveness.

What's more, the Navy's strength lay entirely in its starships. Away from the ships, a hundred thousand people dumped onto a planet's surface couldn't make a ripple on a planetary scale.

They were nowhere near the same order of magnitude as the Imperial Guard, a force specializing in ground combat whose armies could easily number over a million.

Gu Hang had taken more than three thousand people, which wasn't enough to affect the starship's operations. But this couldn't happen again.

Now she had received another request for a call from Gu Hang. Yelicia made up her mind: unless it was about a combat mission, she wouldn't grant any request he made.

Composing herself, she sat up straight and had the technician connect Gu Hang's call.

Gu Hang's face appeared on the screen in the middle of the command console.

"Commodore Yelicia, hello! It's been half a month, and you're even more beautiful than before!"

The female commodore kept a stern face. "Governor, please don't try to sweet-talk me. Just get to the point."

"There's no need to be so serious. I've got some good news for you."

"What news?"

"Our troops wiped out a rebel force on Nuxiao Planet today. Nearly two hundred enemies of the Empire were eliminated."

A band of raiders and wasteland bandits had become "rebels" and "enemies of the Empire" in Gu Hang's telling.

Strictly speaking, there wasn't anything wrong with what he'd said.

Yelicia didn't know much about the details of the situation on Nuxiao Planet, but even so, she knew Gu Hang was exaggerating.

But the most important thing was...

"Two hundred enemies?" She looked unimpressed.

You had the nerve to brag to me about a measly result like that?

"I know you don't care about two hundred people, Commodore, but what if that number could be two thousand, twenty thousand, or two hundred thousand in the future?"

"Or perhaps wiping out a Greenskin warlord? Eradicating a heretical cult that doesn't worship the God-Emperor? Maybe even destroying a native evil god?"

Yelicia's expression grew serious.

Hearing Gu Hang say that, she instinctively began to consider what it would mean if he really did eliminate hundreds of thousands of Imperial rebels, wipe out a Greenskin warlord, and kill an evil god.

Wasn't achievement exactly what she wanted?

Wasn't her biggest complaint about Nuxiao Planet the fact that sitting around for two years was a complete waste of time?

But she wasn't so easy to fool.

"Why are you talking as if the whole planet is about to turn upside down? Are there enemies like that on Nuxiao Planet?" She sounded skeptical.

"There could be." Gu Hang's smile held a strange, unfathomable edge.