Chapter 610: Desperate Measures
(The War Room, Su Tang’s POV)
Once everyone had accepted the fact that Su Ren might be dead, the following conversation about which territories to protect and which to abandon, became the biggest family quarrel that the Su Family had ever experienced.
"Abandon seventy percent of our territory?" an older commander growled, his fists pounding the table as sparks of mana flared from his knuckles. "Do you hear what you’re saying, Tang? My branch has held Kaelun for twelve hundred years. Every stone of that planet was built by Su hands, every river paved with Su blood. I will not abandon it."
"You think Kaelun is more important than Shuro?" another commander cut in sharply, her crimson robes flaring as her aura bristled. "My family’s bones rest on that planet. If the Su Clan must retreat, then others can give ground first. Shuro stays in our hands."
The room erupted in overlapping voices, each commander fighting for their branch’s planet, each unwilling to let go of what they had cultivated for centuries.
Some invoked the names and contributions of their ancestors, others invoked strategic value, while many simply refused out of wounded pride.
"They will slaughter us all if we stretch our forces too thin.....
They’re not coming for me or you in particular, they’re coming for the Su name as a whole! " Su Tang interjected, his voice raised, though it was nearly drowned by the storm of protests.
"We cannot defend every world. Not against five clans at once. To cling on to everything is to invite destruction."
He warned, but pride deafened the ears of his clansmen.
How could they easily give up what they had held for so many centuries?
As by now, they did not believe their status as rulers to be a privilege, but rather a birthright.
"My men would rather die standing on Tenlung soil than cower on someone else’s," one of his uncles declared, his eyes blazing.
"And what of your civilians?" Su Bal shot back, his voice breaking through the uproar.
"Will you let them be butchered alongside your pride? Will you allow every man, woman, and child who swore loyalty to us to be ground into ash because you cannot let go of land?"
He said, as his comments silenced the crowd for a breath, though the anger still boiled beneath the surface.
"Let’s be realistic here..... We have a few weeks, maybe a month, but not more than that.
The five great clans should have started preparing for the logistics of war by now, and they will make their move soon.
So, we have very few days left to strip our lands with every valuable asset we can carry, and extract every irreplaceable talent that we can take with us to safety.
This is NOT the time to squabble internally.
I’ll be the first to say, I’m ready to abandon Planet Nemo if it’s in the best interests of the Clan.
And I suggest that the rest of you do the same." Su bal said, as he tried to sound reasonable, however, unfortunately for him, reason did not soothe wounded pride.
Once his speech finished, arguments flared-up once again, with Commanders demanding which planets would be chosen, voices rising in outrage at the thought of their home planets being the first to be sacrificed.
Fingers were pointed, accusations flew, and soon the war room filled itself with the sound of Su bloodline tearing itself apart in the face of extinction.
Su Tang felt the weight of leadership pressing down on him like an avalanche.
His father’s absence, the betrayal of the clans, the survival of his people, all of it rested on his shoulders.
And he did not know what to do for certain.
*BAM*
"Enough!" His voice thundered across the chamber, his palm slamming down on the table as the force of his aura rippled outward, silencing the room.
His face was pale, but his eyes burned with the authority of the Patriarch.
"We do not have the strength to argue. Every moment wasted here is another moment the wolves prepare to tear at our borders.
You all want to protect your homes, I understand, but if we cling to pride we will lose everything.
We will evacuate what we can, we will strip the outlying planets of assets and lives, and we will consolidate around Su Prime, Veyra, Kotal, and Mitrava.
Those four worlds we will defend to the last breath. The rest... we abandon."
Murmurs rose again, but none dared challenge him outright.
His decision was a death sentence for dozens of branch family controlled planets, yet it was the only path that ensured the survival of the Su Clan as a whole.
Su Tang’s hands trembled beneath the table where no one could see, but his voice remained steady.
"If you cannot accept my decision, then leave this chamber. But if you remain, then you will obey my commands.
From this moment on, we are no longer separate families with separate armies.
We are all the Su Clan, and the universe is our enemy."
The chamber fell silent once more, the veterans exchanging uneasy looks, their pride bleeding into reluctant acceptance.
They all knew the truth.
The Su Clan would not survive if they tried to hold everything.
Yet giving up what they so lovingly built was easier said than done.
"If you have sent your scions to other planets for education or training, call them back.
They are no longer safe if they remain in enemy territory.
And work your hardest to weed out every known spy or mole that can relay the internal news about the clan to the enemy.
We don’t break the news about the Su Clan God dying to the masses till the very last day.
Because, mass hysteria will only ruin every step we make.
From now onwards, we are on our own, and are no longer a part of the Righteous Alliance." Su Tang said at the end, as with that he concluded the emergency family meeting.