"Why are there so few interstellar transport ships?" Zhao Chen asked with a furrowed brow.
Secretary Officer Lilith replied helplessly, "These are all the civilian interstellar transport ships we could currently find and requisition."
"Civilians?" Zhao Chen caught the nuance in her words and narrowed his eyes. "So that means there actually are more interstellar transport ships available?"
Secretary Officer Lilith sensed the somewhat reckless tone in Commander Zhao Chen's voice and said with concern, "But those belong to other lords... even the Imperial Army..."
"I'm asking right now: which interstellar transport ships can be mobilized? No matter who they belong to!" Zhao Chen demanded in an unquestionable tone.
Lilith swallowed hard and raised her hand to pull up some data. "This is all the registered data on interstellar transport ships within the North Wind Star Domain.
Apart from the interstellar transport ships we requisitioned along the way, there are actually some that belong to various lord nobles and even the Imperial Army."
"Do these interstellar transport ships have their own transport missions?" Zhao Chen asked directly.
"According to the intelligence we've gathered, some of them are on transport missions... moving the private assets of various galaxy lords and nobles.
Even so, their utilization rate is often less than 50%," Lilith answered.
Zhao Chen frowned. "These people, what are they thinking at a time like this?
They only care about their own petty gains!
Lilith, find me all the interstellar transport ships that are idle or transporting those lords' and nobles' little treasuries in the shortest time possible!"
Because the Governor of the North Wind had granted Zhao Chen certain special authority privileges, he could now directly access the North Wind Star Domain's intelligence network and naturally query the current locations of all registered interstellar transport ships.
Some even had detailed information down to the planet and starport they were at!
Several dozen minutes later, Lilith reported a set of data to Zhao Chen.
It summarized a number of interstellar transport ships, primarily T2 Interstellar Transport Ships.
"Most of these belong to influential factions within the North Wind Star Domain. If we seize these ships, it could cause us significant trouble," Lilith warned.
"Any trouble won't be directed at me."
Zhao Chen's lips curled upward as he immediately issued his orders: "Issue another command to the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruisers currently on combat missions. According to their nearest navigation routes,
they are to requisition these interstellar transport ships along the way, citing the Governor of the North Wind's orders. If anyone dares to disobey, they are authorized to use any means necessary!
In short, I want more interstellar transport ships!"
Zhao Chen emphasized the words "any means necessary."
"And 'borrow' a batch of interstellar transport ships from this location," Zhao Chen pointed to a Stargate position.
At this Stargate location, Zhao Chen had long ago arranged with Li Yaqi of the North Goose Starship Technology Group for her to pretend to dispatch an Interstellar Transport Ship Fleet to this location, only for him to "requisition" it.
Li Yaqi would also publicly denounce Zhao Chen, but in reality, she was cooperating with him in this operation.
Zhao Chen rubbed the tip of his nose. "No matter what, if we can mobilize more interstellar transport ships and save more people, we should do it."
"Yes!" Secretary Officer Lilith heard the determination in Commander Zhao Chen's words and immediately began arranging the tasks.
At the same time, Lilith felt genuine admiration for the commander, who was willing to rescue these civilians he had never met before.
Commander Zhao Chen was even willing to make enemies of those noble lords!
Commander Zhao Chen's spirit was truly commendable!
Zhao Chen turned to Charlotte, who was still directing the planet's combat operations. "Charlotte, I need to gain control of the Zerg on this planet in the shortest time possible!
Only then can we maximize efficiency during the evacuation operations in the coming days.
I don't want a bunch of Zerg causing trouble on the planet when the time comes."
Charlotte replied seriously, "Within twenty-four hours, I will clear all hive motherships on and around this planet, as well as eliminate over 90% of the ground-based interstellar Zerg units on the planet!"
Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Notify the civilians on the planet as much as possible to gather at shelters or large buildings.
They should wait there for our evacuation efforts!"
"But there's one problem: when the interstellar transport ship fleet arrives, who gets evacuated first?" Charlotte raised a century-old dilemma.
During such a crisis, deciding who gets evacuated first is an enormous issue.
Everyone knows that the longer they stay on this planet, the greater the danger.
No one wants to spend an extra day or even half a day on this planet.
Normally, during evacuations, the noble offspring would be evacuated first, given their privileged status.
But that would inevitably cause even greater chaos among the common people.
Thus, this is a century-old dilemma.
Zhao Chen thought for a moment and said, "Let's do a random selection. Record the information of every person on this planet, and then the system will randomly select each batch for evacuation.
If anyone protests or obstructs the process, their chances of being selected will be reduced based on the severity of their actions. If more extreme behavior occurs, they may be detained or even executed on the spot!"
Charlotte nodded, fully agreeing with this approach.
Although this method increased the workload to some extent, fortunately, many of the planet's basic facilities were still intact. Relying on the central computer system for a global evacuation lottery would require only half a day of preparation.
"Understood. I will arrange everything according to your instructions," Charlotte said.
On the surface of the planet, in the cities
After the starships arrived to provide support, the hive motherships in the sky were almost completely eliminated, and the ground-based interstellar Zerg were being slaughtered on a large scale. At the very least, the scenes of indiscriminate slaughter had ceased.
At the same time, the global broadcast communication system, now taken over by the Fierce Dragon Fleet, was activated.
"To all civilians on the third planet of the Sapphire Star System, we are the Fierce Dragon Fleet, dispatched to provide support, assist, and arrange your evacuation.
We will now announce the wartime evacuation decree. Please cooperate with us unconditionally.
First: All civilians must proceed to the nearest shelter or large building, which will serve as the assembly point for your evacuation."
This information regarding the evacuation points will be simultaneously broadcast on the planet's Public Channel for everyone to view.
Second: The first batch of evacuees will be arranged for evacuation fifteen hours from now. At that time, we will scan and assign identification numbers to individuals at each global assembly point. Each person can receive a number based on their biometric information.
This number can be assigned to an individual as a Unit, or to a family or a specific group as a Unit. The larger the Unit in terms of personnel, the lower the probability of being selected.
Those whose numbers are drawn will receive Authority for evacuation in that batch.
No one is permitted to raise any objections to this. Any actions found to endanger this resolution will result in disqualification from evacuation, or even immediate execution on the spot.
Finally, please rest assured that our Fierce Dragon Fleet will make every effort to help everyone evacuate from here.