Sir!"
Saren Koch's figure appeared inside the wrecked battleship, and he frowned at the blood splattered on the bulkhead and various pieces of debris.
"What are the casualties like?"
"On the *Poseidon*, 724 people, from the captain upwards, were killed, half are wounded, the robot security forces were wiped out, 80% of the ship's equipment is scrapped. If we were to repair it, it would take about three months. Furthermore, the prototype weapon we were transporting was stolen!"
"Understood. You are now the acting captain of the *Poseidon*. Transfer all wounded and assets to the *Olympus Mons*!"
Saren Koch gritted his teeth and finally made a difficult decision, "All hands abandon ship!"
"Abandon ship? But the *Poseidon* can still be repaired if we tow it back!" Fisher nearly jumped up. How wealthy was Mars to just discard an aircraft carrier like that?
"We don't have time! Acting Captain Fisher, General Lefrancois mentioned you to me. He said you are very capable, so you should also understand what our mission is now!"
"The *Retribution*?"
"Exactly! We must deal with that damned battleship, those damned Earth scum!" Saren Koch was furious. After breaking out of Mars' encirclement, the *Retribution* carrier was like a fish in the ocean, wreaking havoc on Mars' logistics. Methane factories? Blown up. Ace pilots? Taken out. Destroyer escort fleets? Annihilated. In less than two days, the *Retribution* had already destroyed over twenty Martian ships of various types and hundreds of aircraft. In terms of tonnage, that's nearly 1.5 million tons of warships, which is the combined tonnage of six *Olympus Mons* class ships.
Losing warships and fighters was one thing, but the destruction of the factories, which had taken so much effort to build on various planets, was what truly made Saren Koch's heart ache. Mars didn't lack titanium ore for shipbuilding, but the methane fuel used by warships and some rare elements had to be collected from other colonies.
"Understood, sir!" Fisher cut off the communication and then strode towards the second bridge in the middle of the battleship. This area was protected by armor, so it hadn't sustained much damage, but the personnel had to be supplemented by versatile C6 robots.
"All personnel, prepare to abandon ship!" The wailing alarm sounded again, and the damage control team, which seemed to have repaired the backup generator, also started working. The surviving sailors on the entire battleship, upon hearing the order, collectively fell silent for three seconds, then swarmed towards... the *Poseidon*'s kitchen, where over a thousand liters of ice cream and jam were still stored.
"Alright, alright, stop dawdling, keep moving, hurry, hurry!" Fisher stood at the entrance of a retractable gangway connecting to the *Olympus Mons*, holding a large iron basin full of strawberry ice cream. He would occasionally fork a large spoonful into his mouth, then, with bulging cheeks, give orders to the busy robots. The other surviving sailors were in much the same posture. Ammunition stored in the armory was the first wave of transfer, followed by the food stored in the *Poseidon*'s huge cold storage, and the third wave consisted of less important data and supplies.
Under the tireless and selfless service of the robot forces, the transfer work was quickly completed. Then, after a final farewell ceremony, all the sailors from the *Poseidon* were transferred to the *Olympus Mons*. Subsequently, the *Olympus Mons* fired a full salvo, turning the *Poseidon* into a burning space coffin.
"This was a difficult decision, sir, but I believe we will have our revenge!" Seeing Fisher's unhappy expression, a Marine sergeant from the *Poseidon* thought he was upset about losing the battleship.
"I believe in you all!" Fisher didn't explain that he was actually upset because he had just made a trip to the *Poseidon*'s engine room. He had originally hoped to see if there was any salvageable wreckage, but when he walked through the sealed door, he discovered that during the raid, the *Retribution*'s assault team had directly blown the entire engine to smithereens. The *Poseidon* was now nothing more than a space coffin.
After the bombardment, Fisher was surprised to find that although the *Poseidon* was still burning, the main body of the battleship remained intact; the hull had not broken. However, the entire battleship had lost its salvage value.
"This thing will probably become a space derelict after floating in space for tens of thousands of years!" Seeing that the *Olympus Mons* didn't deliver another blow, Fisher didn't say anything more, as he still had a military meeting to attend.
"Has the news been confirmed?"
"Yes, sir, Colonel Rhea, the head of intelligence, has been captured, which is why our raid failed!"
"I understand!" Saren Koch's grim expression finally softened considerably.
"Mobilize all our forces on Earth to rescue him!" Saren Koch looked at the giant globe in front of him, his mind racing. "The *Retribution* wants to buy time for Earth, so we will directly target Earth. Gather all ships; this time, we will solve the problem of Earth once and for all!"
Saren Koch's speech was not met with applause from the other captains of the fleet as he had expected. In the end, it was Fisher who led the applause, only to be glared at by a group of others.
"Sir, isn't this too risky? Our previous operation was..." a captain raised an objection.
"So this time, we won't enter high Earth orbit! We'll go directly into the atmosphere!"
"What?" If before it had only made the captains hesitant, Saren Koch's current tactic was like dropping a thousand-ton boulder into a calm lake.
"Sir, please reconsider, this is too dangerous. There will be a period of lag when the battleship jumps out. If we are attacked, the consequences would be unimaginable!" someone raised an objection.
"We have absolutely no understanding of the situation on Earth right now. What if Colonel Rhea isn't rescued?"
"Enough! Rhea will be rescued! I will send out the most capable assault team!" Realizing that the previous consecutive failures had shaken the confidence of his subordinates, Saren Koch was furious. He stood up and cursed his subordinates, calling them cowards.
"My decision is made. You can object, but you must execute it, otherwise I don't mind shooting a few more captains!" With that, Saren Koch sent his battle plan to all officers and then angrily cut off the communication.
"Mr. Fisher, I heard you studied on Earth for two years?" After the meeting, Saren Koch turned his gaze to Fisher in the corner.
There's one more chapter, it will be a bit late. And COD13 will be resolved in three chapters at most.