"Captain, the mood in every department aboard our starship isn't right now. Every department has been brought under control in time, true, and it's strictly forbidden to watch the surrender announcements the Owl Dragon side puts out. But people are still watching them on the quiet," the deputy captain said, looking at the captain with a face full of worry.
The captain said in a deep voice, "Hmph, it's nothing but empty propaganda. What's there to fear? Just say it's all fake! Going over is going to your death. I don't believe for a moment the Owl Dragon Empire will really treat those of us who surrender that well; if they don't ship us off to a mining district to dig for the rest of our lives, we'll be lucky."
"It's bad, it's bad!" Just then the secretary-officer came running over, his face full of alarm.
"What is it? Aren't we resting and refitting in the rear?" the captain said, puzzled.
At this moment his starship was resting and refitting at the rear of the fleet; by rights nothing serious should go wrong.
"It's not our starship. It's…… it's the enemy's surrender announcements!" the secretary-officer said, out of breath.
The captain snorted coldly. "Look at the spineless state of you all. How many days have the surrender announcements been going? What new tricks can they come up with?"
"They really have come up with something different. It's videos of how those who surrendered are being settled afterward. They're being broadcast right now. It's spread through our fleet; it's bound to set off another wave of surrenders!" the secretary-officer said flatly.
The captain frowned slightly.
This time the secretary-officer brought up the videos in question directly.
The three of them watched together.
The videos were shot from many angles,
close-ups and long shots both, just like surveillance channels.
What the long shots showed was plainly a city.
And in the city at this moment a great many people were coming and going in an endless stream.
In the close-up videos one could even hear the voices of people walking past.
"The food in the canteen today was really good!"
"Right, so much better than the food on our old starship. Compared with this, what we used to eat must have been dog crap!"
"Shame we only get three months of it free."
"What are you worried about? We can find jobs! You were a bridge NCO before, and I was a senior armory manager. Afraid we won't find work? Remember that blond kid who ate with us the day before yesterday? He was only a mid-level shipboard fabrication tech, and he's already got his job offer! A month's pay, this much!"
Most of those coming and going were talking about nothing but food, life and work.
They looked busy, but every face wore a joy that was happy and full.
And these people's looks and races, without exception, plainly came from the Devourer Civilization's universe.
So who these people were was naturally plain: those who had surrendered to the Owl Dragon Empire these past days.
And this was only the tip of the iceberg.
"What's that?" The captain noticed there was also a menu of choices on the video window.
The secretary-officer explained beside him, "Those are live channels you can choose to watch. The Owl Dragon Empire has put up over a hundred live channels like this outright. They cover the whole process of the surrendered, from being taken in to being settled, and all the videos of those already at work too."
Beads of sweat appeared on the captain's forehead.
"And these videos are streamed live around the clock; you can watch them any time," the secretary-officer twisted the knife.
The captain swallowed.
"Our…… aboard our ship……"
"People are already watching. There's no way to stop it at all, Captain," the secretary-officer said helplessly.
The captain sat in the captain's chair; his whole face had gone somewhat lost.
"Our starship itself migrated into the Devourer Civilization's universe from another interstellar universe the Devourer Civilization invaded. No one says it aloud, but most people still remember what happened back then. You could say every one of us has a few relatives or friends, more or less, who died in the Devourer Civilization's war of invasion back then. And now we're just like the people who invaded our home back then, invading other people's home universes. That alone has kept our crew under heavy pressure all along. And in that state, the Owl Dragon Empire has given them another choice. It's like casting a ray of light into hearts that were pitch-black! Add to that the state of this battlefield right now. Our starship…… falling into chaos is only a matter of time!" the secretary-officer said in a low voice; his eyes were flickering.
The captain said nothing, his head bowed.
The deputy captain noticed the secretary-officer's look at this point; he glanced around, and quietly switched on the shielding function.
Then he said in a low voice, "You mean…… we go over to the Owl Dragon Empire too?"
The secretary-officer took up the words and laid his cards on the table: "To be honest, it's a choice we have! And it's the only choice right now that lets us live. With this battlefield as it is now, tell me: how long can we hold out at most? I'll tell you: no more than five days! If what lay behind us were our homes, our homeland, I'd fight to the death without a complaint or a regret. But to die here wearing this skin? I couldn't face my family and friends!" The secretary-officer tugged at the uniform he wore.
The captain sprang to his feet; he seized the secretary-officer by the uniform and pinned him against the captain's chair. "Do you know what you're saying right now? I could shoot you dead right here. And every legion commander has given orders: anyone found thinking of defecting may be shot on the spot!"
"Then shoot me. I don't want to fight this war one bit anymore, anyway. And if I live, so what? Go back to the Devourer Civilization's universe and be a lapdog, under our old enemy? Before, we had no choice; no one could withstand the Devourer Civilization's invasion at all. But now we have a choice. The Owl Dragon Empire's strength is right in front of us; I won't say it's stronger than the Devourer Civilization, but at least it can stand up to the Devourer Civilization, and there's the Sacred Elf Empire too, which the Devourer Civilization has always seen as a thorn in its eye. Isn't that our chance! And the Owl Dragon Empire has offered such good terms. We have no reason not to take them! Captain, if you still won't see sense, then you can shoot me right now. But I'll tell you plainly: very soon most of the people on this interstellar warship will be thinking of surrender. I hope your gun won't shake then, Captain!" The secretary-officer looked the captain straight in the eye, neither humble nor arrogant.
The deputy captain beside them was at his wits' end, not knowing whom to back now.
The captain's face was complicated; he looked at the live footage, then at his comrades before him.
He closed his eyes. "Then…… let's…… surrender……"