These people looked at each other, and the expressions on their faces were visibly gloomy and desolate.
Xia Chujian became even more curious, but did not ask any more questions. Instead, he kept looking at the faces of these five people with his lively eyes.
Finally, it was Sun Jiahao who said, "Since the captain is interested, we have nothing to hide. We are not deserters."
"We were indeed transferred to the Fourth Star Fleet after that battle."
Xia Chujian raised an eyebrow: "...But why do they say that only the last three members of the Fifth Interstellar Fleet were left?"
Sun Jiahao's mouth twitched, and he said, "What other reason could there be? --We are not considered human beings..."
Xia Chujian: “…”
She was a little confused for a moment and subconsciously asked, "Huh? You... are humanoids?"
Although she has always believed that humanoids and humans are both human beings, she also knows that the Beichen Empire does not regard humanoids as human beings.
Sun Jiahao was stunned for a moment, and then he thought this young female captain was really interesting.
He sighed and said, "Of course we are not humanoid. But in Starfleet, we Space Marines are probably pretty close to being humanoid..."
At this time, another captain also spoke.
The label on his chest read: Second Lieutenant: Li Dali, Captain of the 3rd Marine Squadron of the Falcon-class D1 Star Cruiser.
Li Dali said, "Jiahao, let's talk it over. Captain Xia is young and probably doesn't know the truth."
Then he looked at Xia Chujian and said sincerely, "Captain Xia, it's like this. The interstellar fleet calculates the combat loss rate, but we marines are not included in it. This is why Jiahao said we are not considered human beings..."
Xia Chujian's fists stiffened when he heard this: "...What do you mean by calculating the casualty rate? Marines are not included in it?!"
Li Dali was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, Captain Xia has just joined the army not long ago, right?"
Xia Chujian didn't answer, but just snorted indifferently.
Sun Jiahao became more and more sarcastic and said, "That is to say, if we die in battle, we die in battle. It doesn't even count as a denominator!"
Xia Chujian’s eyes widened even further.
Li Dali had no choice but to explain in detail: "Each interstellar fleet has at least 500,000 marines. In addition, there are star fighter pilots and officers of all levels, pilots, navigators, and captains. But when calculating the combat loss rate, only those who died in battle or were injured or killed are counted."
"We space marines die in battle, and it's not part of the commander's performance evaluation criteria."
Xia Chujian didn't know what expression to use to deal with this extremely absurd behavior.
She spoke as if in a dream, "...Is this why they say over 5,000 people died in the Fifth Star Wars, almost the entire fleet was wiped out, and only three survived? —Those 5,000+ people don't include any of the Space Marines who died in battle?"
Sun Jiahao didn't expect that this young captain would understand it so quickly.
He dropped his sarcasm and said through gritted teeth, "Before that battle, our Fifth Star Fleet had a full complement of Space Marines, half a million strong."
"But after being attacked by the Southern Cross Principality's fleet, within a minute, our 500,000 people were quickly reduced to 250,000..."
Xia Chujian: “!!!”
Damn!
The casualty rate reached fifty percent as soon as the battle started!
Is interstellar war so cruel?!
Sun Jiahao continued, "We were ambushed. Under General Huo's leadership, our Marines had always had the lowest casualty rate among the five major fleets. But that time, someone betrayed our position, and the Marines landing on the desolate planet became targets. We were caught off guard and lost 50% of our forces in less than a minute."
"Then everyone came to their senses and began to fight back in groups, but we were vastly outnumbered by the enemy, and soon more than 50,000 people were killed."
"Of course, Commander Huo couldn't just sit back and watch us get slaughtered. He immediately ordered the fighter pilots and senior officers to launch a counterattack and not to hide behind."
"It was General Huo who personally charged forward, leading those men to inflict heavy damage on the enemy's effective forces, while simultaneously covering the retreat of us Marines who had already exhausted all our ammunition."
"He directly killed those noble officers and pilots who refused to fight the enemy to the death, and even considered surrendering to the enemy."
"But the Principality of the Southern Cross has been preparing for years, and its reserve forces are endless. With massive firepower arriving on the battlefield, if we continue to resist head-on, all our marines will be killed on the spot."
"When the fighting got to that point, both sides deployed high-level mechas. We ordinary Marines only had military exoskeletons, not real mechas. Isn't it natural that we suffered heavy casualties?"
"In fact, the fighter pilots and officers of the Fifth Interstellar Fleet at that time did not understand Commander Huo's approach."
"They said that if we Space Marines died, we would die. It wouldn't be counted in the casualty rate anyway, so why would they try so hard to save us?"
"On the contrary, if even one of those fighter pilots or officers is injured, it will be counted in the combat loss rate, which will affect Coach Huo's performance evaluation as the head coach."
"And if we let all of our remaining 200,000 Marines die, we might be able to buy time and wait for reinforcements."
"...But Coach Huo refused. He refused to build his own future on our corpses, and he certainly refused to let us die silently like cannon fodder."
Xia Chujian clenched his fists and asked nervously, "...and then?"
Li Dali's face was filled with bitterness. "Then Commander Huo launched a counterattack and fought to the death. Before the final battle, he directly transported away our 200,000 surviving Space Marines on the last cruiser, leaving only himself and his two lieutenants behind."
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