Chapter 295: Chapter 213: Soldiers Go on Campaigns and Yet to Return, Leaving Only Their Unfulfilled Wishes to Await the Daybreak l
Translator: 549690339
Harrison Clark could never fathom radium’s motives.
But regardless of the perspective, radium showed no mercy to humanity. Since humans fled to other planets, radium had never stopped invading and chasing them.
On average, there were hundreds of small battles each year, and one or two large battles.
At least once every ten years, there would be a major battle, either initiated by humans or instigated by radium.
Human battleships were far behind in all aspects of performance compared to radium’s war weapons.
If it weren’t for the outstanding performance of the Hawk Armor, which broke the balance of power for single soldiers who were supposed to be cannon fodder in the Intergalactic War, the freedom of humankind might have already been obliterated under radium’s iron hooves.
Even so, the Freedom Front still suffered heavy casualties, with billions of lives lost in each major battle despite the highly advanced medical conditions of today.
The most recent major battle happened six years ago.
Then only eighteen years old, Nora Camp was a captain of a small battleship.
Her original vertical formation was crushed in a fierce battle, with even the formation leader being killed.
At the same time, radium suddenly presented the newly developed Halo War Beast. Although there were not many of these extremely powerful special combat machines, they caught the Freedom Front offguard.
As the massive defeat continued to spread, the Freedom Front was in danger. Nora Camp talked to the captains of several other surviving small battleships from the defeated vertical formations and hid all personnel inside the wreckage of a half-destroyed main ship. They floated stealthily in space for two months, approached a large biological battery space station near the Dyson membrane’s south pole, suddenly rushed out from the wreckage, and launched a desperate surprise attack. Using battleship engines and numerous Eagle Strike Warriors’ suicide attacks, they destroyed tens of thousands of radium’s transport ships, temporarily cutting off radium’s supply line. The Freedom Front took the opportunity to counterattack, averting disaster and allowing for a brief reprieve.
Almost two hundred million human lives were lost in this battle.
Nora Camp rose to prominence and founded the Giant Wave Vertical Team.
This kind of incident was not an isolated case and had persisted for nearly a hundred years.
If it weren’t for the uninterrupted energy supply from the Dyson membrane, the ability to choose reproductive modes under new medical technology, Strong intentions to reproduce offspring, and the extremely high survival rate of newborns, as well as intelligent nannies and teachers who could solve a large part of childcare and education problems, the Freedom Front would have taken the great cause of racial reproduction to the extreme. The population of the free human race would have probably declined to a pitiful level.
This shows that the priority to annihilate the human race must be very high in radium’s will.
Nearly twenty hours had passed, and the battleship finally arrived at the Giant Wave Vertical Team Base located in the northern hemisphere of Mars.
Nora Camp returned to the commander’s cabin first. “Harrison Clark, your situation needs to be kept secret for now, so I have to lock you in a box and prevent you from being seen by others. Please bear with it for a while.” With a deep voice, Harrison Clark nodded, ”Alright.’1
Nora Camp continued, “Don’t worry, this kind of box is a one-way shield. People outside can’t see you, but you can see outside, and our brainwave communication will always be connected. You can tell me anything if you need to. Later, when we return to the base, I’ll let you out right away. To avoid unnecessary troubles, you’ll temporarily live in my bedroom wardrobe for the time being. If you find it too stuffy, I can leave the wardrobe door open.” Harrison Clark silently praised her strong intention to reproduce.
The Giant Wave Vertical Team Base, enveloped in a huge force field, was vast, and its layout seemed somewhat familiar to Harrison Clark, being at least 70-80% similar to the old Black Bear Training Base he remembered.
Even though they had changed planets, it seemed as if some things were indeed destined.
However, the architectural layout still differed from that of the Black Bear Training Base.
Almost no buildings were completely fixed to the ground. At first glance, they appeared like buildings, but upon closer observation, it was evident that’the structures were ingeniously designed in a modular layout that could be freely disassembled and reassembled.
For example, the dormitory building standing about 150 meters tall could be seen from a distance and was composed of at least eight parts. Each part could switch to a fully enclosed mode, and at the midsection of the joint locations were large metal cylinders at a 45-degree angle on all sides. These were clearly the particle engine nozzles after retraction.
If a change occurred, all the buildings could quickly take off and escape.
The guerrilla strategy was truly carried out to the extreme.
This was a necessary measure.
All for the sake of survival.
The people on the battleship briefly tidied up.
Including Harrison Clark, the 271 members of Giant Wave Vertical Team’s remnants proceeded to the battleship’s exit.
The not-so-spacious square ahead was crowded with hundreds of thousands of people.
Some of these people were non-combatants from the Giant Wave Vertical Team Base, while others were ordinary soldiers who were not elite.
Six or seven thousand people stood closest to the front.
Among the crowd, there were the old and the young, but mostly only the elderly and the young. The middle-aged and young adults made up only about one-tenth of the crowd.
The elderly had white hair and the young stumbled around, learning to walk as some children and teenagers were also present.Elders are usually the older generation in a soldier’s family, while the young ones are their descendants. Almost everyone craned their necks to look at the soldiers walking down the steps, trying to find familiar faces among them.
They wanted to know if their family and friends had survived.
In fact, this news could have been transmitted early through data communication, but now the various vertical teams of the Freedom Front had formed a customary habit.
If there were still surviving soldiers in the vertical team, then the news of the deceased would only be known to their family and friends at the very end. Only a complete annihilation would return the message as soon as possible. The deceased brought sadness, and the survivors brought hope.
Seeing the returning soldiers, even if they were not one’s own relatives, could make people feel somewhat stronger.
The soldiers walked down the steps of the battleship one after another, opening the communication channels for their families.
Surviving soldiers were recognized by their relatives and friends, either near or far, and there were occasional cheers in the crowd.
But the area in front of the square remained eerily quiet.
Not until the end did the box containing Harrison Clark lead the way, and Nora Camp followed slowly from behind.
Every time the soldiers returned from a mission, Nora Camp was always the last one to leave the battleship.
When Nora Camp’s figure appeared at the exit, it meant that there were no more survivors.
Most of the friends and family watching already knew the outcome of their wait.
A total of thirteen warships set out, but only one returned, and it bore the identification of a special battleship.
Out of the eleven thousand and three hundred elite Eagle Strike Warriors, only two hundred and seventy returned, and there were no more.
How tragic, how heavy the loss.
Hawk Armor required a high level of overall quality from the soldiers.
In this era, soldiers who could control Hawk Armor usually had a higher level of gene awakening.
It is indeed easier for two people with high awakening levels and comprehensive qualities suitable for controlling Hawk Armor to produce a new soldier.
For nearly a hundred years, most of the Eagle Strike Warriors, apart from those with gene mutations, had the characteristics of family inheritance.
Consequently, most of the soldier’s families here lost not just one relative.
With today’s average life expectancy reaching more than 190 years old most elderly people have lost their sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren…
Most of the children have lost their fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, grandfathers, grandmothers, great-grandfathers…
Many families had all members as soldiers, with none surviving.
How could they not be sad?
The square was initially silent.
No one knows who was the first to sob.
Then, the sound of sobbing seemed contagious, gradually filling the entire square.
But not a single person cried out loudly.
People held back their tears, clenched their teeth, bloodshot eyes, reddened eye sockets, and sweat dripped from their temples.
Although nothing had changed, the burning sun in the distance seemed to dim.
Nora Camp’s eyes were red too.
She took a deep breath and said loudly, “Everyone, our mission was a success.”
As soon as her words fell, the square was full of mournful cries.
Everyone knew how important this mission was.
Now that we have succeeded, we can finally indulge ourselves and cry.
Dying without vanity is victory!
When soldiers depart, some may never return, leaving only their will to be fulfilled.
One day, we will take back the Earth..