Chapter 728: Chapter 409, Atonement Expedition, Independent Kingdom
When Matins was escorting Blaywins and the other eight to Rage Owl Star, Gu Hang had already received intelligence sent back from the Phoenix.
In this intelligence report, Matins did not withhold any information from Gu Hang. The origins of Blaywins and his group, as well as a series of intelligence about the “Ashen Dead” Battle Group, were included in detail in the report.
After reading it, Gu Hang pretty much had a plan in mind for how to deal with Blaywins and the other eight.
Without a doubt, Matins hoped to save these people’s lives.
It may look as if the intelligence from the front line had recorded every single conversation between Matins and Blaywins, throwing words like “Empire traitors,” “disgrace to the Battle Group,” and “cowards” at Blaywins and his companions’ heads. Moreover, in Matins’s own report, he explicitly recorded their crimes, claiming that all rights to their trial were in the hands of the supporters, rulers, and saviors of the Battle Group, which is to say, in Gu Hang’s hands.
But if Matins really wanted to wash away the disgrace, why didn’t he just slaughter those eight turncoats on the spot?
Even if he were concerned about so-called procedural correctness or wanted to give them a ceremonial trial, he shouldn’t have said that their fate was for Gu Hang to judge.
It would have been more appropriate to report to the Empire, whether to the Imperial Inquisition or the Star Warrior Management Agency—of course, that might cause the Phoenix’s hard-won reputation to fall, and potentially bring about scrutiny, which would be more trouble than it’s worth.
But anyway, what does Gu Hang have to do with the Phoenix Battle Group, nominally? He’s merely a benefactor.
Indeed, Gu Hang is the actual controller of the Phoenix Battle Group, but when Matins set off, Gu Hang had already made it clear; he would leave the handling of these potential traitors of the Phoenix entirely to Matins.
In the end, Matins still brought them back alive.
It isn’t about what he says he’ll do; it’s about what he actually does that matters.
As for whether these few people live or die, Gu Hang truly didn’t care.
Just eight Interstellar Warriors.
Even if they’re all century-old veterans, even if they’re elite, so what?
Gu Hang can now mass-produce Interstellar Warriors. Including the Gene Seed and personnel selection, it costs only about a thousand grace points; MK4 Majestic Power Armor can be mass-produced by the alliance, and even the cost can be controlled under one hundred thousand Tax Currency.
To Gu Hang, Interstellar Warriors were no longer a scarce commodity.
Eight century-old veterans were indeed quite formidable, useful as a core force, but after all, Gu Hang’s training system could turn a single Interstellar Warrior into an old soldier for just an extra two hundred points; even if Blaywins and his men all reached the grade of sergeant major, Gu Hang would just spend four hundred more points to get a new one.
This was precisely why Gu Hang let Matins handle it.
Picking up eight old soldiers and saving a few thousand grace points was indeed good; but if Matins was bent on eradicating these people, Gu Hang had no objection.
However, looking at the current situation, since Matins seemed to want these people to live, or at least was ambivalent, Gu Hang thought it was acceptable to take them in.
As for the risk, he saw none.
According to Blaywins’s confession, their past actions were very cautious. It was only recently, when they came to the Tianma Star Sector and tried to lure out Matins, that they repainted their Powered Armor red. If they had carried out their normal operations before, they wouldn’t even have had the red paint on, using all sorts of other colors instead; who knows who they were.
They could just claim that they had killed these ‘pirates’ back on Extinct Soil Star.
After all, those who truly knew the truth were in the minority, namely the elite of the 10th Regiment. The reliability of these individuals was quite high, and Gu Hang wasn’t worried about them leaking any information.
Of course, they shouldn’t get off too easily, either. After all, they were guilty.
They may escape death, but they won’t escape punishment.
Gu Hang offered Matins a suggestion, or rather an instruction: under the Battle Group, establish a new squad, to be named “Penitence Squad.” After Blaywins and the other eight had re-sworn their allegiance to The Emperor, their past actions would be kept secret by the Battle Group and the alliance. But the Penitence Squad they would be part of was to partake in the most difficult aspects of every battle of the Phoenix Battle Group in the future.
The alliance would not engage in penitential expeditions that provided no reinforcements, lacked supplies, and were plainly sent on death missions. Their treatment would be the same as that of normal Phoenix Warriors. They would not miss out on the necessary equipment supplies and support power they were entitled to, nor would they be sent on any guaranteed fatal missions.
However, they also had to undertake the tough tasks of assault and not shirk their duties. Under normal provisioned conditions, they had to perform excellently.
…
That was the resolution for Blaywins and the other eight individuals.
Compared to dealing with these eight, Gu Hang was more interested in the past of the Phoenix and the information about the ‘Ashen Dead’ mentioned by Blaywins and his group.
He had previously researched the ‘Cercis Flower Uprising’ that led to the Phoenix being sentenced to the penitential expedition.