Max and the Mechanical Army Chapter 1

March 6, 270 of the New Star Calendar.

The Interstellar Alliance urgently issued a summons, ordering Admiral Dylan Lin of the Silver Fortress to immediately return to the capital planet Votto to accept questioning.

Dylan Lin blatantly disobeyed orders.

The next day, the front page headline of the Watuo Daily was an angry cry: "Dylan Lin, do you want to rebel?"

At the end of March, the Silver Fortress was completely blocked, and a mechanical force consisting of 500 super-time and space heavy mechas was parked outside the artificial atmosphere. The elites in the Silver Fortress pointed their guns at their comrades. Neither side of the confrontation was willing to give in. By the night of the 26th, the tense stalemate had lasted for nearly 48 hours.

Ethan, the captain of the personal guard, silently placed the rum and ice on the admiral's desk and tapped it with his heels.

The admiral who was standing by the window snapped his fingers at his guard, signaling him to stay.

Admiral Lin, whose reputation spread across the eight star systems, was very tall, and everything from his hair to his belt buckle was neat and tidy, exuding a sense of coldness. He picked up the wine glass and added a few pieces of ice. There was a shadow on his left ear - the admiral's communication was on, and he was talking to someone.

Communication technology is already very advanced. Phones are directly connected to personal terminals. No matter what you want to say, the signal sent by your brain can reach the other party's receiver directly. There is no need to waste words or worry about being heard by a third party. People nearby can only judge whether the call is a greeting or a curse based on the caller's expression.

However, the personal guard Ethan stood quietly at the side, and no clues could be seen from the admiral's face.

Contemporary society encourages frankness, openness and the expression of true feelings. Lin's old-fashioned conservatism and closedness are very out of date. The media and political opponents seize on this point and write articles every day to criticize him for being scheming and arrogant.

The scheming admiral ended the call, swirled the wine on his tongue, and said to Ethan as if nothing had happened: "The marshal called and asked me to make a strategic compromise and return to Wattau first."

Ethan was stunned.

"Strategic compromise." General Lin repeated the word playfully, smiled, and waved his hand to open the current affairs news.

All major media outlets in Votto are paying attention to the tense situation in the Silver Fortress.

The newly appointed Secretary General Miles was standing at the gate of the Capital Star Congress, surrounded by a circle of reporters and gave a brief speech: "General Lin and I are classmates, friends, and relatives. I swear on my career, personality, and everything I have that General Lin's loyalty to Watto is unquestionable. He will never betray Watto, and he will never betray the Alliance. All doubts about his loyalty are malicious slander!"

Admiral Lin listened to this impassioned speech and chewed an ice cube with a "crunch" sound.

"Dylan Lin, if you can see, please give me a minute and listen to me," the Secretary-General turned to the camera affectionately and said earnestly, "Don't let those false accusations disturb your judgment, and don't let this misunderstanding cause a dispute that will hurt your loved ones and please your enemies. Come back, Aria Lin and I are waiting for you in Votto, Dylan Lin, Votto and your family are there!"

The camera then swept over a woman next to her. She was wearing a black dress, no makeup, and had pale skin. Apart from her heavily painted eyebrows, her face was almost bloodless, but she had a kind of beauty that was almost breathtaking.

Aria Lin is the admiral's younger sister. She married Miles, the most promising man in the seven galaxies of the alliance, a year ago.

Mrs. Miles, surrounded by guards, did not speak, her eyes blank, like an exquisite doll.

General Lin was not moved at all. He turned to ask his personal guard: "What do you think of the Secretary-General?"

Ethan chose his words carefully and answered cautiously: "He is a man of great influence."

"Well, he is indeed a character. There is nothing wrong with him, but I get goose bumps when I hear him speak. If someone who doesn't know hears his tone, they would think I am having an affair with my brother-in-law." Dylan Lin laughed, raised his hand to turn off the screen, and drank the wine in the glass. "It's too corny."

Ethan took the empty cup and said in a low voice: "General, don't worry about the noise. The 'Silver Ten Guards' are ready to fight at any time, as long as you give the order."

"What are you doing? Are you rebelling?" Dylan Lin glanced at him calmly and suddenly asked, "Ethan, did you graduate from the First Military Academy?"

"Yes, sir, I am an honor graduate of the 260th class of Ulan College!"

"What does your family do? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Ethan was a little confused, not knowing what the general was talking about at this critical moment, but he still answered in a serious tone: "My father runs a medical institution, my mother teaches at Wulan College, and I have an older brother and a younger sister."

Dylan Lin sneered.

Always ready to fight...

This ignorant young man speaks so easily---who is he fighting against?

Will you be proud of your parents and brothers?

The nickname of the First Military Academy is "Ulan Academy". Although Ulan Academy is known as the cradle of senior military officers, only a few graduates can directly enter the Silver Fortress after graduation.

In addition to the extremely high academic requirements, the political game of the upper echelons also linked the graduates' destinations to their registered residences, under the pretext of "humanitAria Linn considerations" to keep the soldiers closer to home. As a military stronghold of the First Galaxy, the Silver Fortress must accept graduates with registered residences in the First Galaxy. Most of them come from good families, with parents who are wealthy businessmen, highly educated, celebrities, or even officials and politicians.

This makes the political ecology of Silver Fortress very complicated, and it is roughly divided into two factions---

Some of them were the direct troops who had hunted down interstellar pirates with Admiral Lin, called the "Silver Ten Guards", accounting for about one-tenth of the fortress garrison. The Silver Ten Guards were as notorious as their commander, a gang of well-known hooligans in the universe, who would make a scandal every few days to cheer up the people. Some people said that when they fought against the interstellar pirates, they were just "fighting poison with poison".

The remaining commanders and soldiers were all young masters from the Ulan Academy. Each of them had a complicated family and connections behind them, weaving a network that firmly bound their loyalty and ensured that the Silver Fortress was impregnable.

Dylan Lin waved his hand at the chief of the personal guards and ordered: "Give me a set of formal attire and send a letter to the checkpoints along the way to explain the itinerary. I will leave for Votto tomorrow."

Ethan was surprised: "Sir..."

"The marshal has spoken, asking me to make a strategic compromise. What else do you want? The entire Silver Fortress---" Dylan Lin paused, looking out the window. Thousands of starships were pointing at the uninvited guests outside the artificial atmosphere. They shone mechanically and coldly, reminding people of the schools of silver fish in the sea, and the shimmering light was reflected in the admiral's gray pupils.

He took off his gloves and threw them aside: "Disarm."

The next day, the Jingyuan starship sailed away from the Silver Fortress like a small boat in the vast sea of   stars. The mechanical army outside the artificial atmosphere, which was eyeing it covetously, made way for a narrow path and silently watched the back of the military dictator as he bid farewell.

Unarmed starships are prohibited from installing jump valves. According to normal procedures, the Jingyuan needs to pass through six checkpoints and take thirteen days to return from the Silver Fortress to the capital star Voto.

On the fourth day, the Jingyuan passed near the star Sima and unexpectedly encountered an asteroid stream. The starship wanted to temporarily avoid it, but the fourth guard of the capital star regarded Dylan Lin as the number one dangerous person. The Jingyuan, which was supposed to arrive, was delayed and the fourth guard was frightened. He issued twelve level one alerts in one day, ordering the Jingyuan not to delay.

The Jingyuan was forced to orbit to the "Heart of the Rose" - the only restricted area in the First Galaxy that has never been explored by humans.

On April 6, 270 of the New Star Calendar, the Jingyuan was attacked by a group of interstellar pirates hiding outside the Rose Heart. Admiral Dylan Lin was assassinated and the ship was destroyed and all the people on board died.

When the news reached the capital star, public opinion was in an uproar. The Ten Silver Guards mutinied, the Silver Fortress was directly paralyzed, and the marshal lost his beloved general. He was furious and threw his resignation letter on the round table of the Alliance Parliament. At the same time, to make matters worse, the pirate group that was completely driven out of the eight galaxies of the Alliance by Admiral Lin ten years ago smelled something and made a comeback, suddenly attacking the civilian waterways of the Sixth Galaxy. The confused military reacted seriously and caused a large number of casualties.

This series of events is known in history as the "Silver Disaster".

Starting from the sixth galaxy, a large-scale procession moved up like a plague, following the jump points one by one.

Under the heavy pressure, Watto was forced to change his attitude. He first appeased the Federal Military Commission, and then did not mention the fact that Dylan Lin was forcibly recalled during his lifetime. The entire government had a collective amnesia, and now they used as much space to commemorate and praise Admiral Lin as they had used to curse him.

The "scheming" General Lin suddenly transformed himself into a treasure of mankind, unprecedentedly great, glorious and just.

The grand funeral was held in Watteau. Admiral Lin was invited to the Martyrs' Cemetery in Watteau in a suit that he had never worn before. Tickets for the ceremony were sold at sky-high prices. Admiral Lin's death was so expensive that it was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, making him famous overnight.

On the day of the funeral, Aria Lin wore a black veil and returned greetings to every dignitary who came to pay her respects. Even in such an occasion, this famous beauty from Watteau remained demure and elegant, and her image was flawless.

She was so beautiful...everyone who saw her could not help but admire her...and she was so heartless.

Secretary General Miles came over, and Aria Lin took her husband's arm like a dodder, tenderly accepted his care, let him put on the black veil for her, and then sat quietly, naturally revealing an admiring and dependent look, listening to Miles's sad show on the stage, from time to time she took out silk and symbolically dotted the corners of her eyes a few times.

Reporters at the scene surrounded her and took pictures for a while, then dispersed in boredom - because Mrs. Miles's sitting posture was exactly the same as when she last attended the "Anti-Dumping Pet Corpses into Space" charity sale. It was so elegant that there was nothing special about it, and she could have served two purposes.

The reporters surrounding her dispersed, but Aria Lin remained motionless.

She is like a famous flower that admires its own beauty. No matter whether there is anyone looking at her or not, she will bloom in the wind on her own.

At this moment, this "famous flower" had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. Her picturesque features seemed to be coated with the light of human civilization. Looking at Miles who was choking with sobs on the stage, she thought to herself: "I want you to pay with your life."

Since mankind entered the New Star Era, there has been peace for more than two hundred years. Now, the peace that seemed like a mirage has cracked into a hideous crack.