He'd expected the smoking uncle to argue him down, but the man fell instead into silence, a thinking look on his face.
"As for the main-assault task — my fleet will take it on. Your two fleets each draw off and pin down one of the Mechanical Race fleets; Shen Bing's T2 ship covers the formation, and supports the field where needed." Zhao Chen laid out his notion.
"Won't this be… a bit of a gamble…" the leather-clad woman said, worried.
The smoking uncle, for his part, fixed Zhao Chen with a straight, unblinking stare. "Boy — how sure are you!"
"If your two fleets don't drop the ball — if you can delay them at least half an hour for us — then on my side I'm 10 parts sure of 10. The shorter the time, the slimmer the odds," Zhao Chen said.
"Half an hour…" The smoking uncle muttered a moment, then said, forthright, "Fine. We'll go by your plan."
Zhao Chen was privately surprised — the uncle had actually agreed.
But it eased Zhao Chen a good deal all the same; it spared him wearing out his tongue when the time came.
Even without these two fleets' help, Zhao Chen had a way to settle this one Mechanical Race fleet — but the interstellar transport fleet would likely pay no small price for it.
And then his task would be a losing bargain.
That was right!
Just now, the moment the Mechanical Race fleet appeared, the System had issued Zhao Chen a task.
It was because of this task that Zhao Chen had drawn up a tactical plan centered, above all, on protecting the interstellar fleet.
Task: Escort the interstellar transport fleet
Task Difficulty: Grade B
Task Reward: 20 task points and 5,000 System points
Bonus Task: Preserve as many T1 interstellar transports as possible (300/300)
Task Penalty: Deduct 5,000 System points
Among these was a bonus task — to keep the 300 T1 interstellar transports safe; the more that survived, presumably, the greater the reward.
Battle assignments handed out, Zhao Chen's side too began preparing to hunt its first quarry.
Secretary Lilith had by now readied the relevant data pages at his side.
One main data page, and two sub-pages.
The main data page was the Owl Dragon Fleet's own battlefield here.
The other two sub-pages were the battlefields of the leather-clad woman's and the smoking uncle's fleets — set down on them were their respective fleet ships and the opponents each would face.
"By the material drawn from the database: The enemy's 30 warships are, respectively — 21 T2 Mechanical-Sentinel-class Medium Interstellar Escorts; six T2 Mech-Hound-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers; and three T2 Wolverine-class Medium Interstellar Cruisers." Lilith swiftly called up the data on these three ship classes.
Along with holographic image data on all three.
All three classes wore a very heavy mechanical look, their hulls all in a black-iron paint scheme — a style peculiar to Mechanical Race warships.
Very rough-hewn, without a trace of art; all of it to serve efficiency better.
"Which is to say, what we here have to deal with is seven T2 Mechanical-Sentinel-class Medium Interstellar Escorts, two T2 Mech-Hound-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers, and one T2 Wolverine-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser." Zhao Chen fixed his gaze, intent, on his own battlefield.
His own side: one T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship and five T2 Black-Rhino-class Interstellar Heavy-Assault Escorts.
Six T2 ships against 10 T2 ships.
At a disadvantage in numbers.
Zhao Chen pondered a moment, then gave his order, decisive: "The T2 Queen Bee is to drive out of the transport fleet's formation and form a triangular battle formation with the five T2 Black-Rhinos."
"Understood." Lilith passed the order along at once.
The T2 Queen Bee drove out of the transport fleet's formation.
This move was seen by the fleet commanders of both other battlefields.
"My god — this boy's actually taken his carrier out! Does he not know a carrier's best kept as far from the battle as it can be! Among the interstellar transports there's at least a bit more 'cover.'" the smoking uncle groused.
The leather-clad woman stared at the star-map, her face gone hard and cold.
T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer · the bridge.
Shen Bing stood at the fore of the captain's chair; because the bridge was short of crew, she alone had to hold three posts, and naturally couldn't sit in the captain's chair as "at ease" as Zhao Chen.
At her side Liu Lili cried out, "Cadet Zhao Chen — why has he taken his carrier out… this… they'll surely attack his carrier first!"
Then she muttered under her breath, "Come to think of it, all these days I still haven't worked it out. Where did this carrier of his come from — back at the academy no one ever heard he had a carrier like this."
On this escort task, the carrier Zhao Chen possessed had left every crewwoman on Shen Bing's ship astonished, all of them curious as to where on earth Zhao Chen had gotten it.
Shen Bing stared at the cursor on the starship radar that stood for Zhao Chen's carrier, and said gravely, "Zhao Chen means to lure the enemy in deep. His strength lies in that T2 Black-Rhino; I've seen the recording of his battle at the academy. The T2 Black-Rhino's strength is the terrifying armor-strength of its hull — but its firepower loadout is poor. If it just keeps chasing the enemy ships, it's easily kited. Now, using that T2 carrier as bait, the enemy warships will surely swarm in to attack all at once. And once the enemy ships close in, the T2 Black-Rhino can bring its short-range close-combat ability to bear!"
Liu Lili covered her mouth. "This… this is far too mad. Using your own flagship — and a carrier at that — as bait… if by any chance…"
"On a battlefield, you must bear certain risks and pay certain prices!" Shen Bing clenched her fists — this was what she'd only just learned.
The 10 Mechanical Race warships, sure enough, on spotting the enemy carrier, at once put on speed, their target aimed straight at that T2 carrier!
T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship · the bridge.
Zhao Chen raised a hand, pointing at the cursor that stood for the T2 Wolverine-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser.
"In a moment, at my word — we wipe out this cruiser first. It's faster than the escorts and better-armed than the escorts; we can't let it live."
The captains of the five T2 Black-Rhinos now awaited the commander's order.
For all the world like five leashed beasts.
And across the way, the Mechanical Race warships had no inkling at all of what they were about to face.
Soon the two fleets entered firing range, and the Mechanical Race warships opened fire first.
The five T2 Black-Rhinos, at this moment, were just like ordinary escort ships — forming a line of defense before the T2 Queen Bee, their close-in guns intercepting the enemy's fire without pause.
Soon the hulls of the five T2 Black-Rhinos took hits.
But a single laser main-gun round from the T2 Wolverine-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser left only a gash of a few dozen centimeters on the T2 Black-Rhino's hull armor.
"Attack!" Zhao Chen's low voice sounded in the ears of the five T2 Black-Rhino bridge captains.
At the same instant, the five "beasts" charged straight into the enemy ships' fire!