Chapter 329, Heijian Star Joins the Alliance
Galaraldo really left a big surprise for both Tianma Star Sector and Gu Hang.
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For the Tianma Star Sector, his sudden appearance made all the previous events seem absurd. A year of chaos, the death of the governor of the most populous planet in the Star Sector, the death of the Star Sector Head, all arose from his disappearance.
Now that he has suddenly returned, it doesn't mean that the political environment in Tianma Star Sector can revert back to how it was over a year ago.
However, it was quite apparent that no one, except for Pei Desi and his line, held such expectations.
The Fatches Family was extremely delighted. Before the deaths of Akuna and Pei Desi, it was difficult for their influence to extend beyond their own star system; now, even Korolya III had fallen into their hands.
An unexpected blessing.
Nevertheless, they did not wish for the War Apostle to be found.
Galaraldo's ability to cause 'trouble' was just too strong and left too fresh a memory. Given how he previously dealt with Pei Desi and Akuna, who knew what he might do next?
But Ivan Fatches did not dare to really do anything about it.
During this period, he had sent people and even personally sought out Gu Hang several times, just to probe into what state the War Apostle was in now and what he planned to do next.
Gu Hang reassured Ivan Fatches, telling him that Mr. Apostle had no other plans and only wanted to leave Tianma Star Sector as soon as possible.
Fatches, hearing this news, was of course much relieved, at one point even offering to send troops to escort the War Apostle upon his departure.
Gu Hang declined this offer.
This was Galaraldo's wish as well.
According to his own words, under the current situation, he wouldn't trust anyone in the entire Tianma Star Sector except Gu Hang.
In fact, he didn't even trust the Imperial Navy anymore; when leaving the Tianma Star Sector, he would only need Gu Hang to provide him with a "Voyager" and a team of special operations elites for personal protection.
Not trusting the Imperial Navy or any other forces within the Tianma Star Sector was, of course, quite normal.
After the mishap with the solar expedition, his identity as the War Apostle was very awkward indeed. Although he himself claimed he still had many 'friends' and retained some value, his 'friends' and his value were definitely not within the Tianma Star Sector. Now that he had lost the Divine Power that graced him, reduced to a mere mortal, a commoner, he was very vulnerable. Accompanied by untrustworthy people on his journey, anyone wanting his life could easily doom him.
He only trusted Gu Hang.
For Gu Hang, this invitation was quite agonizing.
'Voyagers', up to now, were not something the Alliance could mass produce; they all depended on the black boxes for component output, then transported to the Rage Owl Star Port where there was a supposedly shipbuilding factory, but actually more of a small-scale facility that could barely manage to assemble the parts into the Voyagers.
Since obtaining the technology for 'Voyagers', Rage Owl Star could produce about one of these ships every four months, valued at 1.8 million tax currency each.
To date, the Alliance had just four Voyagers in total.
To let Galaraldo go and simply give away one of them?
And to send off a platoon of elite soldiers as well?
However, after much consideration, Gu Hang agreed.
If one desired to gain benefits, one might as well see it as an investment.
And the return on this investment came swiftly.
This was the 'Alliance' organization Galaraldo mentioned to Gu Hang before his departure.
To summarize, the core of this gift was that the Alliance is now a legally registered interstellar organization with the Central Empire. Planet Governors could freely join the 'Alliance', becoming part of a closer economic and political coalition, and forming a unified Planetary Defense Army.
This kind of arrangement, while not common throughout the Empire, does exist.
Interplanetary relationships often come together due to economic factors or the same military pressure they face. Usually, these relationships are only effective through exchanges and cooperative agreements between the Governors, and the relationship between the two parties is theoretically equal. If one wants to maintain this united collaboration from a higher dimension, then it must be based on the Star Sector Government. Additionally, the Star Sector Government can also mobilize officially recognized Imperial forces, such as the Star Realm Army and the Imperial Navy.
To put it simply, the first is mutual help among administrative bodies of the same grade, and the second is joint action coordinated under a supervisory government.
The former has no binding force and can be dismissed at will; the latter relies on the mutual coordination within the overall governmental system.
However, in the vast territories of the Empire, situations are too complex. In some places, there is a need for an organization that is stronger than the equal agreements between regular Planet Governors and transcends the conventional administrative divisions of the Star Sector Government.
This need could arise from inter-star sector connections, special economic cooperation, or certain historical factors...
A recent example is that of Fatches No.1, No.2, and No.3, all three planets under the control of the Fatches Family. Although there are three Governors, there is also a 'Family Head' recognized by the Empire, acting as a joint ruler of the three worlds.
The reason they can legally do this is because the 'Fatches Family' as a political entity is also a lawfully recognized interstellar organization by the Empire. The Empire approved their establishment chiefly because they were one of the rulers here when the Empire's great expedition reached the Tianma Star Sector, and they had helped the Expeditionary Force recapture most of the worlds here.