Sun He's words silenced the entire bridge.
Deputy Commander Tang Yuan stared at Sun He: "You're right, this is practically a suicide mission. The calculated win rate is less than 20%."
But this is the only hope for the Qing Yuan fleet."
Deputy Commander Tang Yuan pointed at Sun He, her voice cold: "We're all girls from poor backgrounds, from different star systems, even some are of different races.
Unlike you, Commander, a graduate of a prestigious academy, you can easily find a suitable job outside, earning a decent salary.
We can't. We're not as smart as you. We can only rely on our bodies, inject that damn drug, become interstellar soldiers, just to make a living!"
Deputy Commander Tang Yuan pointed at Luo Na beside Sun He: "Luo Na, from the Witch Clan of the Demon Star System, during the battle, our army captured their homeworld, turning them into slaves. Becoming an interstellar soldier is her only hope for freedom!"
Luo Na smiled, revealing her two noticeably larger fangs.
"They have been found fainting on the street from hunger, bullied for stealing food, and forced to join the army to feed their younger sisters.
The girls in the fleet are all poor and failures, they are forced to enlist and do this life-or-death job.
If Qing Yuan had enough funds to operate, there would only be one outcome.
Disband!
And these Qing Yuan soldiers would lose their only job, they would be thrown back onto the streets, starving, even resorting to criminal activities."
Deputy Commander Tang Yuan clenched her fists: "So, no matter what, we have to get Qing Yuan through this. The reward for this mission will be enough to keep Qing Yuan afloat for another six months!"
Hearing Tang Yuan's words, Sun He was stunned.
He looked at the silent female soldiers around him.
"I..."
"Alright, I know it's pointless to talk to you about this. Luo Na, take him down for dinner, then get him into the hibernation chamber to rest." Deputy Commander Tang Yuan was unwilling to continue talking to Sun He.
She looked at Sun He: "Don't worry, I won't let you go on this adventure with Qing Yuan. When the battle starts, I'll leave you an escape pod and send you to the nearest planet."
Then, Deputy Commander Tang Yuan left.
"You... I haven't finished talking yet!" Sun He was speechless, this Tang Yuan really didn't take him seriously.
"I don't have time to entertain this genius, Rong Rong, he's yours." Luo Na finished her cigarette and walked away.
She directly handed the task assigned by the Deputy Commander to a beautiful and quiet girl next to her.
"Okay... okay..." The girl walked up to Sun He, she was a bit restrained, standing at attention and saluting: "Commander, good day, I'm the Deputy Commander's secretary, my name is Qiao Rong Rong."
"Commander, that's just Tang Jie's temper. She's always putting the ship's sisters first, let me take you to the dining hall first." Qiao Rong Rong specially spoke up for Deputy Commander Tang Yuan.
Sun He sighed and left the bridge with Qiao Rong Rong, arriving at the dining hall.
The dining hall was large, capable of seating a thousand people, and this was only one of the dining halls on the Qing Yuan.
When Sun He stepped in, he instantly attracted the attention of almost all the female soldiers.
After all, on this starship where there were only female soldiers, a man appeared, and the first male commander at that!
It was impossible not to attract attention, he had even become a hot topic on the Qing Yuan.
"Should we go to the queue over there to get food?" Sun He looked at the line in the distance and rubbed his stomach, he hadn't eaten anything since being 'kidnapped'.
"You're the commander, your meals are special. You sit over there first, I'll bring it for you." Qiao Rong Rong walked towards the kitchen.
Sun He also found an empty seat and sat down. He looked at the female soldiers around him, he noticed that their plates only had rice and green substance that looked like vegetables.
"Commander, here's your food." Qiao Rong Rong placed a plate in front of Sun He, holding her own plate and sitting beside him.
Sun He looked at his plate.
White rice, tomato scrambled eggs, a chicken leg, and a pickled vegetable soup.
Then he looked at Qiao Rong Rong next to him, her food was the same as the other female soldiers.
"Why is our food different?" Sun He asked.
"This is because there is a strict hierarchy in the fleet, those with higher positions naturally enjoy better treatment. I, as the secretary, was also supposed to eat better, but because of the recent grain shortage...
And your meals are the Commander's set menu." Qiao Rong Rong said softly.
Sun He suddenly reached out and switched Qiao Rong Rong's plate with his.
"Commander!"
"Let's switch today, I'll eat this."
"But..."
"It's an order."
Sun He picked up his chopsticks and picked up the food that looked like green vegetables in front of him, it was still in a paste form.
He put it in his mouth.
Sun He almost vomited, it didn't taste like vegetables at all, it was like eating plastic.
"What kind of dish is this, how can it taste like this?" Sun He frowned.
"This is synthetic green vegetables, although it doesn't taste good, it provides sufficient energy, the main thing is... it's cheap. Actually, everyone is used to it, it's nothing.
Commander, you should just switch back with me." Qiao Rong Rong looked at Sun He with a bit of pleading.
"What, you can eat it so I can't?" Sun He squeezed out a smile, forcing down his discomfort and finished the meal.
It was hard to believe that these female soldiers ate this kind of food every day.
Qiao Rong Rong was helpless, she could only eat Sun He's food, it was clear that she liked eating this kind of food very much.
However, she also gave the chicken leg to a girl who looked to be no more than eighteen years old.
"Oh yeah, why are these female soldiers so young? They don't seem to be over forty years old." Sun He noticed a problem.
"You don't know? The enhancement drug can strengthen our brain and physique, but there is a problem that has yet to be solved, that is, our interstellar soldiers' lifespan has been shortened to ten, twenty years.
Plus the recruitment age is between sixteen and twenty-five, so interstellar soldiers are usually younger." Qiao Rong Rong said casually.
But to Sun He, it was like a bolt from the blue.
Injected with the enhancement drug, their lifespan was only twenty years? Or even ten?
"You guys know this and still inject the enhancement drug?" Sun He asked.
Qiao Rong Rong laughed bitterly: "Yeah. What else can we do? Tang Jie is right, we are either poor or failures.
If we don't become interstellar soldiers, we don't even have enough to survive.
And by becoming interstellar soldiers, at least we can still live, and the wages we earn can be sent to our families.
Compared to other fleets, Qing Yuan is already good, some fleets don't even treat interstellar soldiers like humans."
Sun He felt like there was a bone stuck in his throat.
He understood why Tang Yuan would be so determined to undertake this dangerous mission to protect Qing Yuan.
"Now that I've become the commander of the Qing Yuan fleet, I won't let the Qing Yuan fleet live like this." Sun He made a secret decision in his heart.
This battle of Serra will be the Qing Yuan fleet's turning point, a new beginning!