At the Nebula Boundary between the Federation and Caesar, there was a huge man-made military fortress. This fortress was well-known throughout the galaxy. It was known as the fortress that Caesar couldn't destroy.
Base Nebula was in possession of the most up-to-date military technology. It was built with the intent of it being an easy to hold but hard to attack movable base. In the face of a moveable and impenetrable base, Caesar couldn't do anything to it other than just passively defending from it.
Of course, besides being able to move and having the ability to turn itself into a porcupine with powerful firearms all around it, Base Nebula was filled with powerful people too.
Base Nebula only had mechas as its weapons. It had no need for other weapons.
There were more than a hundred ace mecha clans and more than ten titled super mecha clans in Base Nebula. Of course, most of the mecha clans stationed in Base Nebula were normal mecha clans. No matter how powerful the Federation or Caesar was, they didn't have that many ace mecha clans to waste on the battlefield. Most of the time, the normal mecha clans were the ones who participated in the battles.The Nebula Boundary was the only place where battles were not fought with gigantic starships. Instead, battles were fought with a huge amount of mecha clans.
At that moment, the commanding officer of Base Nebula was sitting on the sofa with another officer in a blue uniform.
They had a gold star and a gold leaf on their shoulders, informing everyone that they were major generals.
The commanding officer of this base was a gentle and cultured middle-aged soldier around 50 years old. If it wasn't for the white hair near his ears, one might think that he was a 40-year-old young man. His name was Yu Huan. He came from a normal family. Even though, he began from a low starting point, he climbed up to this position with his own abilities.
The person sitting opposite of him was the regiment commander of a first-rank four-star titled super mecha clan, Proud Wind Mecha Clan. His name was Ke Yufeng. He had been stationed at this base for five years.
These two people were the two largest voices of the base. Ke Yufeng took charge of the mecha clans while Yu Huan took charge of all the other matters in the base. Yu Huan was the one who provided all the services for the various mecha clans.
For the past five years, they cooperated well with each other and resisted against attacks from Caesar multiple times. Just as they thought that they would continue their collaboration for the rest of their lives, an order from the military headquarters caused them to part.Ke Yufeng and his Proud Wind Mecha Clan would be sent back to the Federation. Although Yu Huan knew that he should be happy for his friend since he would most likely be promoted when he went back to the Federation, he still felt weird about his friend's departure. This was because the mecha clan that would take over Proud Wind Mecha Clan was a mecha clan he had never heard of——Lingtian.
"Do you think that there's something wrong with the mainframe of the military headquarters? It must have made a mistake when it sent a new titled super mecha clan to this base." The close relationship between the two allowed them to speak their minds in front of one another.
Ke Yufeng shook his head. "You know that's impossible." If something were to happen to the mainframe of the military headquarters, that meant that the Federation was in deep trouble.
Ke Yufeng knew Yu Huan didn't really think this way. He was just venting his frustration.
"It looks like someone in the military headquarters has been high on drugs recently." Yu Huan smiled coldly. He knew that this was impossible but he was annoyed when he heard that an inexperienced mecha clan was coming to guard their base.
"Maybe the regiment commander has a huge background. He probably came to just gain some merits." Ke Yufeng had been thinking about the reason behind the order ever since he received it, and this was the only reasonable answer he thought of.
"Damn it! This is Base Nebula. This base concerns the safety of a planetary sector in the Federation. How can they treat it like child's play?" Yu Huan rubbed his face and controlled the anger in him. "The entire Federation is in a mess. If this continues, the Federation will start rotting from the inside."
"The ideals of the three great marshals are different and every one of them has a different viewpoint on how they can achieve their ideals. In order to win against their competitors, they might make some decisions outsiders can't understand." Ke Yufeng was in deep thought. "Maybe coming to Base Nebula wasn't the intention of the regiment commander. He might be forced to come here. A marshal might have sent him here in hopes that he would make a mistake so that he can use it to attack the faction the regiment commander belongs to."
Ke Yufeng belonged to the faction of the Second Marshal. The Second Marshal trusted him greatly so he knew about the battle of power between the three most powerful people in the Federation. In the past, he came to Base Nebula because he didn't want to get implicated by this power struggle. He wanted to leave the place where all the feuds arose so that he could place all his heart into doing what a soldier was supposed to do, protecting his country.
Yu Huan's anger diminished a little when he heard Ke Yufeng's explanation. As someone who was a commanding officer of an important base, he was a smart person too. He started thinking through what his comrade said.
"Actually, I feel that there's something wrong with the order," Ke Yufeng told him.
"I agree." The moment Yu Huan received the order, he noticed something amiss with it too.
"The order is too vague. It didn't state that the regiment commander will be here to take over your position. It just states that the mecha clan is in charge of the safety of this planetary sector." Yu Huan sneered. "It's obvious that they want me to handle this matter myself."
"They are forcing me to make a choice, either I give the mecha clan an opening gambit so that they will just become one of the many titled super mecha clans in the base or I pretend that I don't know anything and just let him take over your position smoothly." Yu Huan knew what his choices were. These two choices would bring him on two entirely different paths.
"If I guess correctly, they're forcing you to take a stand too." Ke Yufeng looked at Yu Huan worriedly. After five years of interacting with Yu Huan, he didn't want his friend to get implicated by the power struggle as the waters there were too deep.
On the other hand, he had no say in the matter. His identity meant that he had to become a member of the Second Marshal's faction. He couldn't escape this destiny. Sometimes, he admired Yu Huan. He didn't belong to any factions and he used his own ability to climb to his position. He had no one holding him back and he could move forward without any worry.
"They can't force me to take any stand. I will only choose what I feel is the right decision." Yu Huan didn't have the concerns that Ke Yufeng had. He felt that only capable people should take the lead. If the regiment commander of Lingtian was capable, he would give him the command of all the mecha clans. If he wasn't capable, he wouldn't show him any face. He would do what he thought was necessary to protect the base.
"I hope that the Lingtian Mecha Clan is not as terrible as I think." Yu Huan calmed down. He didn't feel as unhappy about the Lingtian Mecha Clan as before.
Three days later, the mainframe of Base Nebula received a signal requesting to enter their base.
"Commander Yu, we received a signal from Lingtian Mecha Clan. They're requesting to enter the base. All the codes for the 13 signals are correct. Please give an order." Yu Huan received a notification from the mainframe quickly.
Yu Huan looked at the time on his communicator. It was 1:07 pm. He smiled. "They're on time."
It would take around two to three hours for a huge mecha clan to successfully enter a base and settle down. After going through all the procedures, it should be around 4 pm.
Yu Huan opened the screen in front of him and saw a huge starship waiting within the planetary sector outside their base.
"Let them in." Since the mainframe had compared all the codes correctly, the incoming starship must be from Lingtian Mecha Clan.
The 13 codes were not given at once. They were sent to the regiment commander of Lingtian Mecha Clan through various methods on the journey here. If one of them was wrong, the base would reject the starship from entering. If needed, the mainframe would attack the starship without his command.
The starship was given the green light. It entered the spaceport of Base Nebula slowly.
The sounds of chains unwinding could be heard. Many secured docks extended from the spaceport and locked the starship up. Then, the starship was pulled into the dock.
The door of the starship opened. Many soldiers alighted the starships in an orderly manner.
Clear and orderly footsteps were heard.
They looked straight ahead and their footsteps were in unison. The military boots made a crisp sound as it landed on the ground. The sound was loud enough to cover up the shouts of command from the staff members in the spaceport.
The sound of the footsteps attracted the attention of all the staff members working in the spaceport.
"Woah, it's so orderly." One of the staff members couldn't help but exclaim.
'Who are they?' This was the question everyone had in their mind.
All the staff members carried this query with them as they rushed over to find an answer.
Soon, many spectators gathered around the soldiers that came down from the starship. However, the soldiers didn't seem to notice them. They didn't seem to hear the exclamations around them too. They just walked straight until they saw a vast plaza. Then, they stopped.
No, they didn't stop moving. They performed a sharp turn and split into the two ends of the plaza, making space for the soldiers behind them.
More and more soldiers came out of the starship. Soon, the plaza was filled with soldiers. There were around 5000 soldiers.
"Attention!" A loud voice was heard.
"Bam!"
The 5000 soldiers stood in position. The sound of them stomping their feet echoed through the port. There was only a single sound in the entire port.
"They're gathering." The staff member at the side knew what the soldiers were doing.
"Their force of presence is so powerful." Some people were already looking at the soldiers with admiration.
Nowadays, the movements of the soldiers were rarely so unified. This was why the soldiers in the spaceport were shocked by the orderly footsteps of these soldiers.
"May I know who is the captain here?" A young lieutenant colonel walked over and asked the crowd.
"Oh, it's me." The captain was in the crowd staring at the orderly soldiers in daze. He quickly regained his senses when he heard the question.
"I'm the head of the logistics department of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, Lin Zhong-qing. May I know what arrangements Base Nebula has made for us?" The lieutenant colonel revealed his identity and asked the captain.
"Lieutenant Colonel Lin, nice to meet you. This is the camping ground we have set up for you. The Proud Wind Mecha Clan is waiting to handover their camping ground to you." The captain took out a card and handed it over to Lin Zhong-qing respectfully.
Lin Zhong-qing took out his communicator and scanned the card. A map of Base Nebula appeared on the virtual screen of his communicator. There were two red dots on the map. One was where their new camping ground would be while the other was the mecha hold where their mechas would be placed in.
"I understand." Lin Zhong-qing nodded and he walked back. At that moment, a few majors ran out from the group of 5000 soldiers. The 5000 soldiers then split into many teams. They started getting busy.
When the soldiers from Lingtian Mecha Clan left, the entire spaceport turned noisy. Everyone started discussing among themselves.
"Those soldiers must be all mecha operators, right?"
"Of course. I saw many lieutenants and majors." Of course, most of the soldiers were sergeants. There were very little corporals.
To make sure that the new logisticians weren't at a disadvantage, 250 Ace Mecha Clan, oh wait, Lingtian Mecha Clan allowed the new logisticians to keep their military rank. Some of them even got promoted one rank. This allowed those disgruntled logisticians to feel excited instantly. Their unhappiness quickly disappeared.
At that moment, one of the logisticians who was in charge of the mecha hold ran over with a dumbfounded expression.
"Do you know what I saw just now?" The logistician was extremely excited.
"What?" Everyone was curious. They knew that Base Nebula had the most up-to-date technology in the Federation and all the facilities in the base were all top of the line. Hence, it was hard for them to feel dumbstruck or shocked.
"Mechas! There are so many mechas!" The logistician swallowed his saliva. He couldn't use words to express his astonishment when he saw the whole sky of mechas.
"Tsk!" Everyone thought that they would hear some huge news. They looked at the logistician with disdain.
Base Nebula lacked anything but mechas. They could even say proudly that none of the other bases in the Federation had as many mechas as them.
"Have you seen a mecha clan that has ten thousand mechas?" The logistician was unsatisfied about their reaction so he added on. Indeed, they had seen many mechas but the mechas were not what shocked him. It was the number of mechas.
"F**k!"
"Are you serious?"
"You must be lying!"
The soldiers were flabbergasted when they heard what the logistician said. They were in disbelief.
"I heard the numbers they reported. They have 10800 mechas. I couldn't have heard wrong." The logistician was firm.
"That can't be right. I remember Captain Lu saying that there are only 5823 soldiers in Lingtian Mecha Clan. Even if every one of them has a mecha… are they each controlling another backup mecha?"
Someone swallowed his saliva and said, "I think that it's possible."
"Are the 5823 people all mecha operators?"
"Oh my god!"
Another soldier swallowed his saliva too. "I think that that's possible too…"
Everyone exchanged glances with one another. Even a powerful mecha clan like the Proud Wind Mecha Clan only had 2000 mecha operators and 5000 logisticians.
"What on earth is the Lingtian Mecha Clan?" Everyone looked towards the direction where the mechas from Lingtian Mecha Clan disappeared to. They were in awe.
