In an era beyond historical verification, The Emperor who walked among humans created the genetic seeds and the Starfighters.
Now, that technology has long been lost.
In the current era, genetic seeds can only be born from the Starfighters themselves. Moreover, due to long periods of separation, subtle differences have gradually emerged between the gene seeds of each ancient Starfighter Battle Group, and after completing gene surgery to create new Starfighters, their characteristics also differ to a certain extent.
The Phoenix Battle Group's accumulation of gene seeds over many long years was destroyed.
According to what Matins once narrated about the history of the battle groups, in the last battle of their century-long penance expedition, their flagship, which carried both the battle group's armory and gene bank, ceased to exist completely in a massive explosion.
Now, if one wishes to see the Phoenix's gene seeds again, apart from those that could be harvested after the death of the seven living warriors, the only remaining source would be the Imperial Gene Bank.
Starfighter Battle Groups too are required to pay taxes, known as the 'gene seed levy'. They need to regularly surrender 10% of the new seeds produced during this period, and the Mechanical Cult Guild and the Empire's State Church check the purity of the battle group's gene seeds to ensure everything is in order.
Those seeds that pass inspection are added to the Imperial Gene Bank, which are generally used to establish new battle groups.
Thus, in theory, the Phoenix Battle Group could request assistance from the Empire to rebuild their ranks using the gene seeds they've surrendered as tax in the past.
But in reality, this is impossible.
Firstly, the Phoenix had submitted applications, but to no avail. The Empire had no such rule; there was never a regulation stating that a battle group suffering heavy losses could replenish from its past seed tax.
The Empire also had no motivation to do this: why strengthen an old battle group?
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From Gu Hang's perspective, if he were a member of the Imperial Supreme Council, he wouldn't agree either.
The Starfighter Battle Groups within the Empire, according to sacred scripture, are similar to independent warlords. They mostly have their own mother planets, which do not pay taxes; Starfighter Battle Groups generally obey orders, but there are many who follow the directive rather than the proclamation.
The Empire doesn't even have a dedicated authority with jurisdiction over Starfighters, so mobilizing them is like how Gu Hang interacts with Phoenix: orders have to be issued, contracts made, and if they genuinely don't want to do it or don't commit fully, there are no conventional means to punish or restrict them unless they're branded as traitors after a fall out.
And honestly, pinning a traitor label on someone isn't that easy. Which historic battle group doesn't have a band of comrades, good friends, planets they've saved, and so on? All are connections, all are political backers; it's not as simple as wanting to brand them and doing it. Afterward, if you do, the parent group and other allied groups will come forward to cry foul.
If there's solid evidence, that's a different matter, but if there's even a slight controversy, it's not doable.
Considering this, why support an old battle group? If there's a real need, just create a new one and it's done.
The old groups can figure it out themselves.
Especially the Phoenix Battle Group, a group with a past offense and who had actually been sentenced to a penance expedition, whose political connections were almost entirely wiped out, should not expect support. It's better to build a new group with the effort that would take to save the Phoenix; new groups won't come with a pile of historical issues that are difficult to resolve.
Having lost hope of obtaining new seeds from the Empire, they could only rely on themselves.
The sacrifice of three warriors yielded three seeds full of hope, but all surgeries failed.
This means that the only seeds of the Phoenix Battle Group left are those contained within the four who are still alive.
Theoretically, it shouldn't be possible to find them anywhere else.
In this situation, Gu Hang produced one.
Was he in cahoots with someone high up and managed to acquire a genetic seed, or what?
There was no excuse Gu Hang could fabricate that would pass muster. He couldn't claim that the Imperial Gene Bank authorized him to have a batch of Phoenix seeds; that would be ludicrous, as nothing of the sort had ever happened in the Empire's history counted in millennia.
But could he continue to feign ignorance and not acknowledge it?
That didn't seem right either.
Gu Hang had been able to exchange for genetic seeds for half a year now. To say he wasn't eager to try it was impossible. He had been scheming for an opportunity to use his ability to exchange genetic seeds.
If he hadn't been thinking about this, why would he have bought twenty sets of powered armor at a high price in the past when the Beautiful Lady Convoy was present, if not for that day?
According to Gu Hang's original plan, he wanted to wait until Wu Jiarong managed to free some time so that this priestess from the Mechanical Cult Guild could research how to perform gene implantation surgery.
This task doesn't necessarily require a Starfighter; in fact, when the Empire wants to establish a new battle group, it's the Mechanical Cult Guild that operates.
The only slight problem is that Wu Jiarong isn't specialized in genetic engineering. Compared to her, Hu Ke would be a better choice, but considering the issue of trust, Wu Jiarong still remains the best option.
Once she had studied it, then Gu Hang could find some young people with qualifications and potential, train them to T1 level using the [Soldier Badge] system, and then exchange for the genetic seeds. The total cost would add up to 211 points of Blessing, plus the life of a promising youth as the price for Wu Jiarong to practice.
Even if there were failures, after a few attempts, they should be able to succeed eventually.