The Osiris flew over the Black Sea, and the ship was filled with a sense of loss after the defeat, and this was the first defeat of the Osiris since independence.

After receiving an order from the new European Union (NEU) to retreat, the Osiris had to descend under the threat of the HER "Wuhou"-class warships to facilitate the disembarkation of the flightless "lifeguards". In the process of evacuation, Team B also lost an additional "lifeguard". In the end, thanks to the sniper deterrence of "100 steps", "Wuhou" did not pursue.

The restaurant inside the ship was packed with people, and everyone was talking about it. No one questioned Captain Shepard's leadership, but put all the blame for the defeat on NEU. If it weren't for the NEU pulling the Osiris to attack the Crimean peninsula, how could it have lost so humiliatingly.

"NEU, these stupid people, they haven't won any of the three battlefields. If it weren't for us, they wouldn't even be able to bring back the humanoid weapons this time. ”

"Be quiet, those NEU guys are on board too."

"What are you afraid of? I heard that the commanders of the NEU write a review for every loss of one 'partner cavalry', how many did they lose today? Maybe I'm hiding there and writing a review! Hahahaha! ”

"It's just that our own technology is not good, and we also have losses if we are still harmed, and the warehouses on the left wing have been blown up."

"A few days ago they attacked this ship with their faces in the face."

The more everyone chatted, the more interested they became, and they didn't notice Sergeant Anton walking in. When the cook Fiona saw him come in, she didn't remind everyone and cooked by herself.

Sergeant Anton slammed the table and calmed down the crowd.

"What are you arguing about! This defeat has revealed the lack of actual combat experience of the Osiris, and you all look for the reason from yourself! Don't think that you can get lucky by putting all the blame on the NEU, without allies in the future, will the Osiris be able to win if it encounters an enemy like today's alone? Don't forget, HER is the enemy who took our homeland, and it is a very powerful enemy. If you have a fluke mentality and shirk responsibility, you will only perish! ”

Although the Osiris broke away from the Star Alliance, the relationship between the superiors and subordinates in the ship still follows the rank of the original Star Alliance. There were people present who had a higher rank than Sergeant Anton, but no one dared to contradict him. First, Anton is equivalent to the deputy captain of this ship, and second, Anton himself is convinced by his prestige.

However, someone still stood up, and he was the chief of staff of the Osiris, Dan. Warrant Officer Quill. Although his military rank is higher than Anton, because he is not an old subordinate of Captain Shepard, his status on the ship is not as high as Anton. Although he wore the hat of chief of staff, he did not often follow Shepard, but more to coordinate the internal affairs of the ship.

He pushed his glasses: "Sergeant Anton is right, but what will the Osiris do in the future, will it become a 'mercenary' of NEU?" ”

Most of the people present did not like NEU, and when they heard this, they all showed dissatisfied expressions.

"Rest assured, this is the end of our cooperation with NEU, and as for the next step, Captain Shepard is still thinking about it."

Sergeant Anton walked over to the dining table and took two Sanyinye, and asked Fiona, "Did you see that kid from Lin Ao?" ”

"See, he left with the female reporter."

"What!? Why don't you stop the point? ”

Fiona put down the kitchen knife and looked at Anton coldly: "Didn't you see the old lady cooking?" And you didn't let me keep an eye on those reporters before, so if you don't trust them, why let them get on board? That female reporter has a very mouthful! ”

"Well, I didn't approve them on board."

…

Reporter Sima Qian pulled Lin Ao to his room, and Lin Ao saw that it was a girl's room, and his face turned red:

"Miss Sima, I don't think I'm going in, if you have any gifts for me, I'll wait outside the door for you to get them."

"What are you so shy, if I take out the gift of consolation to you openly, I'm afraid that it will all be 'divided' away by the crew, can you still give you the rest?"

"What the hell are you going to give me..."

Sima Qian smiled mysteriously and dragged Lin Ao into his room. Lin Ao thought that the girls' rooms would be beautifully decorated, but Sima Qian didn't seem to have time to clean up, and the layout of the room was roughly the same as Lin Ao's, except that there was an extra computer and some messy papers.

"Miss Sima, do you also have a separate room?"

"Captain Shepard has assigned me a room considering the peculiarities of my job, which is smaller than yours, and there is no separate toilet and shower room."

"Isn't that inconvenient?"

"After all, this is a battleship, and there are so many people on board, the residential area must be very tight, and I am already grateful to have a separate room. Don't talk about this, you sit on the bed and wait, I'll get you a gift! ”

Lin Ao sat down nervously, and touched Sima Qian's bed with his hand, the softness was the same as his own bed, he thought that the girl's bed would be softer.

"Alright, that's what I'm going to give you!"

What Sima Qian wanted to give to Lin Ao was actually a bottle of red wine, and she also brought two glasses.

"Miss Sima, I—I can't drink."

"Aren't you an adult?"

"No... I'm an adult, but I haven't drunk..."

"What, I thought you were really a child, and you only become an adult when you drink."

"This is a fallacy! My dad doesn't drink a bit. ”

Sima Qian sat next to Lin Ao, and Lin Ao moved to the side shyly.

"You have to try something, and if you don't think it tastes good, don't drink it. This bottle is 'Romani. Kanti', it's very expensive, my sister specially took it out to reward you for your good performance in the Battle of Yalta. ”

"Since it's very expensive, then sister, you can drink it yourself..."

"I can't finish such a big bottle at once, and I didn't want to drink it now. But just now the Osiris was shelled, and the hull of the ship shook so much that I was afraid that the next time I would break this bottle of wine before I had time to drink it. ”

“… Sister, aren't you afraid to stay on the Osiris? Aren't you afraid that the ship will be sunk? ”

Sima Qian opened the cap of the bottle, poured half a glass for herself and Lin Ao, looked at the gently shaking wine and said, "Everyone fights in different ways, and I am also conscious. You choose to go to the battlefield, and I choose to report the truth of the war. ”

"But is it really useful to report it? I mean, there have been terrible wars on Earth before, and there were reports at the time, but the wars didn't end right away..."

Sima Qian smiled: "Listen well, only by reporting the truth of the war will we gather the strength to fight against evil." Otherwise, the war will only be expanded, and it will only be whitewashed by evil people, will it be white? ”

Lin Ao nodded, seeing Sima Qian take a sip of wine, he was really a little greedy. He couldn't help but taste it, and although the taste was not as good as he expected, he tasted a rich fruity aroma.

"How's it going, is it delicious?"

“… No juice tastes good. ”

"Hahaha, you're really a little ghost."

Lin Ao took a few more sips and gradually got used to the taste of red wine.

Sima Qian looked at him with interest, which made Lin Ao very embarrassed.

"What do you think I'm doing..."

"I'm very interested in you, a teenager like you, driving the latest humanoid weapons on the battlefield and fighting against the ferocious HER, it's a story of a young hero."

"I'm sorry for what you said... Are you going to interview me? I wasn't prepared! ”

"Hahaha, don't be afraid, I'll tell you in advance if I really want to interview you, but I want to observe you first."

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Hey! Is Lin Ao in there? ”

Sima Qian stood up and opened the door with a displeased face, and unceremoniously asked Sergeant Anton who knocked on the door: "Sir, what do you mean by knocking on the door of a single lady so late?" Aren't you afraid that it will have a bad impact if it spreads? ”

"What are you talking about! It's only eight o'clock in the evening, I'm here to find Lin Ao, is Lin Ao there? ”

Lin Ao hurriedly put down the wine glass and wanted to come out, but was stopped by Sima Qian.

"I'm drinking with Lin Ao, don't disturb us!"

"Huh? Are you a single lady who doesn't like to be knocked on her door at night, but likes to bring a boy into your room for a drink? Aren't you afraid that it will have a bad impact if it spreads? ”

"You! …”

"Lin Ao is the pilot of the Osiris, and if you want to interview him, you should ask my permission first."

"Did I interview you, Lin Ao?"

"Nope..."

"Look, we're just drinking, please don't disturb us!"

The automatic door was shut, almost pinching Anton's hand.

"This woman!!"

…

With a displeased face, Anton rushed to the operational command of the Osiris, and the people sitting inside waiting for him were Captain Shepard, Chief of Staff Danquier, and Lieutenant Colonel Billy of NEU.

Seeing Anton come in, Billy stood up and shook his hand amicably.

"I have admired the name of 'Silver' for a long time, and today I finally met the real person, you and I don't know each other."

"I'm impressed by each other, you're one of the best drivers I've ever seen."

Chief of Staff Danquill coughed and motioned for the two to sit down.

Captain Shepard asked Danquier as he ate his cake, "What about the two damaged lifeguards?" ”

"It's not optimistic, but NEU promised to help us with repairs when we get to Istanbul, and it will be repaired in about three days."

"Hmm." Shepard pushed away the cake: "In the battle of Yalta, the left flank warehouse of the Osiris was destroyed, and half of our grain reserves were lost..."

"What?"

Shepard sighed: "Although the supplies stored by the Osiris when it was independent were enough for a boatload of people to eat up and down for two or three years, it was a bit hanging after losing so much. ”

"Our NEU will help the Osiris repair the damaged parts, but we can't do anything to replenish the supplies, but when we get to Istanbul, you can have people buy your ship."

"The difficulty is here, although the Osiris is not short of supplies, but there is not much money to use. I had hoped that after the liberation of Yalta, I would be able to get the patronage of the local rich businessmen, but it didn't work out..."

With that, Shepard pulled out his remote control and turned on the conference room screen, showing everyone a letter.

"What is this?"

"This was received shortly after we left Yalta, and the sender was the chairman of the Council of the City of Athens. He invited the Osiris to Athens, saying that Athens would do everything in its power to finance the Osiris. ”

"Isn't that great?"

"Brigadier Billy, I'm a cosmic man and don't know much about Earth, what is the role of this chairman of the Athenian Council? He can use the resources of all Athens? ”

Billy nodded: "Although I don't know the person you are talking about, the chairman of the Athenian Council is basically equivalent to the mayors of other cities. ”

"What's going on?"

"You know the Nineveh Declaration, right?"

Everyone nodded, the so-called "Nineveh Declaration" is a declaration signed by the various forces and HER after the consultation of the colonial satellite "Nineveh" after the HER attacked the earth. The main content of the declaration is to prohibit all forces from destroying the monuments on the earth and prohibiting the occupation of historical cities on the earth by force. There are many monuments protected in the declaration, but the number of historical cities is limited, and Athens is one of them.

The HER pledged not to attack the declared cities, but at the cost of these cities forming their own governing councils, not allowing the city to garrison troops, allowing the city to trade with the HER, and allowing members of various forces, including HER, to enter the city without carrying weapons... Because of the content of the declaration, some people within various forces expressed their dissatisfaction with it, and some people even took to the streets to protest. However, because it can prevent the glory of human culture from being ruined by the flames of war, and at the same time reduce the pressure and risk of defense, all forces basically agree with the attitude. As far as HE is concerned, as long as they can gain a foothold on the planet, the future may be able to bring these cities into obedience.

"Ever since Athens became a protected city, influential people in the city of Athens have come together to form committees. They gave NEU a large sum of money in exchange for the right to self-smelt. ”

"Will NEU allow that?"

"As long as Athens does not break away from NEU in name, now NEU needs military spending, and the Athens Council guarantees that they will protect Athens themselves, and the people above will turn a blind eye."

"Anything can happen during the war years..."

"I see... There is no other option now, and I intend to accept the invitation of the Athens Council. Anton and Danquier, you have no opinion, right? ”

"No, everything is at the captain's orders."

"Very well, the Osiris will rest in Istanbul for a week, and then it will go to Athens!"