The whole Black Great-Wall Base might be said to have all that should be had; to call it a base, it was rather an interstellar kingdom, complete in every organ.
It was enough to show the degree of the Machine Race's regard for this place.
And in the middle of the whole base there was a rhombic structure, and Zhao Chen could feel some manner of radiance issuing from within it.
Ah-Yin told him that this was the Torch Beacon.
Within this pitch-black space, they must all rely upon this Torch Beacon to fix their own position.
Having seen the base, Zhao Chen went on to the position upon the defense line.
In fact, gazing far off from where the base stood, one could see the rings upon rings of the Black Great Wall round about.
As it were lengths of black silk, arranged in a sphere, interlacing and wrapping the whole Black Great-Wall Base, forming a strong system of defense.
And this place was yet some distance from the Gate of Gaia; one who did not understand might wonder at it.
This Black Great-Wall Base was not built about the Gate of Gaia, what then if some Pitch-Black Legion fleet should break into the Gate of Gaia?
Upon this point, Zhao Chen could guess the general of it even without asking.
The time the Gate of Gaia opens each month is limited; to move legion fleets upon a great scale and infiltrate them into the Gate of Gaia is not possible.
Were such a case truly to arise, the Black Great-Wall Base might well send out troops, cut off the Pitch-Black Legion fleet, and make an encirclement and annihilation of it.
Only by a fluke could a few starships steal quietly into the Gate of Gaia; and they must have means besides to escape the blockade of the mechanical royal court opposite.
Add to this that the space about the Gate of Gaia is not very stable, so that to build an interstellar base about the Gate of Gaia would carry great risk.
This was the reason for it all.
"Because our line is very great, and because most of the time we store great quantities of raw materials and of war-preparation supplies, we have no fear of having our retreat cut. So the Pitch-Black Legion fleets do not commonly take the way of encirclement and annihilation. Most of the time they choose two or three directions for the attack, and engage us," Ah-Yin explained at Zhao Chen's side.
Zhao Chen saw the light drawing nearer and nearer; it was the light of the fires of war.
Interstellar missiles bursting, interstellar warships bursting, the bursts made by energy cannon intercepted by close-in weapons.
In the end, the Hades in which Zhao Chen rode halted at a position still some way from the battlefield of the line, for further ahead was the zone of engagement.
To enter within might affect the other interstellar warships then in action.
Zhao Chen looked upon the picture of the battlefield, enlarging without cease before him.
Rank upon rank of Machine Race interstellar warships were fighting with all their courage, and the enemy they faced was ship upon ship of pitch-black interstellar warships, as it were shadows.
This was the first time Zhao Chen had seen with his own eyes these so-called Pitch-Black Legion fleets that came from Order.
To look upon their outward form, they were broadly the various conventional types of interstellar warship.
Interstellar destroyers, interstellar cruisers, interstellar battleships, and the rest…
One could even see interstellar carriers putting forth interstellar fighters and interstellar drone swarms, pitch-black likewise.
And these pitch-black interstellar warships had star shields as well, those star shields showing as a faint black barrier.
When the star shield was pierced, then came the time when these pitch-black interstellar warships' hulls faced the attack direct.
The scene of a hull suffering attack.
It was as when a stone is thrown into a lake: a pitch-black liquid such as ink splashed forth, leaving the once whole pitch-black interstellar warship maimed.
And that splashing pitch-black liquid dispersed as it were ashes.
When a pitch-black interstellar warship had suffered grave wounds, the whole interstellar warship dispersed slowly as ashes, dispersing within a few short minutes to no shadow and no trace, leaving no mark whatsoever.
Were this war not still going on, the pitch-black interstellar warship struck a moment since might have been as though it had never existed at all.
"The combat strength of these pitch-black interstellar warships is much as ours. T4 and T5 interstellar warships are the mainstay, and now and again some T6-grade interstellar warships appear. Speaking of it, it is strange. Within that message the Master left, it was written plainly that this Order, whatever it is, is a T7 technological civilization. Yet up to the present, we have not met with any T7 interstellar warship at all," Ah-Yin muttered in her puzzlement at his side.
"Then of T6 interstellar warships you have only your Master's… that Luoshen-class nano starship. If the enemy should bring out several T6 interstellar warships, how would you answer it?" Zhao Chen asked in his curiosity.
Ah-Yin answered blandly, "The tactic of the sea of men, naturally. The Master leads a fighting fleet made up of three hundred to five hundred T5 interstellar warships, and opens a hunt upon the target T6 interstellar warship. Commonly, at the cost of losing about 30%, the target T6 interstellar warship can be destroyed."
Hearing Ah-Yin say these things as lightly as cloud and wind,
Zhao Chen could yet imagine how bitter the case of that fighting had been.
"But I reckon matters will be somewhat better hereafter," Ah-Yin said all of a sudden.
Ah-Yin looked toward Zhao Chen, smiling. "And for this we must thank you for that T5 Prisoner-class Heavy Interstellar Assault Battleship you provided. A moment ago I gave this starship's technical drawings to Ah-Zhi. She will arrange for the industrial base here to produce this interstellar warship. With this interstellar warship, we can produce a batch of T5 Prisoners, and use the T5 Prisoners to deal with the enemy's T6 interstellar warships. Just as with the Demon Race's quasi-T6 interstellar warships before."
Zhao Chen stared at the far-off battlefield and for a long while said nothing.
He stared thus at the battlefield for above ten minutes.
Zhao Chen spoke all of a sudden, "You… have been garrisoned here all this while. Have you never… any other thought?"
"Thought? What thought?" Ah-Yin blinked her eyes in puzzlement.
Zhao Chen was silent a moment, then said, "It is only… that no one knows of these things you do. And all the interstellar powers within that universe regard you as enemies besides. Your doing this… what meaning has it…"
"Meaning? It seems that you carbon-based lives must have some manner of meaning in a thing before you will do it." Ah-Yin shrugged, an action she had not made before, and seemingly learned from Zhao Chen.
"We do this thing with no reason; it is only that we ought to be here, and ought to do so. If one must speak of some meaning. Perhaps… it is because the universe behind us is the home in which we too live."
Saying it, Ah-Yin showed Zhao Chen a smile.
Home…
……
Having rested three hours at the Black Great-Wall Base,
Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon Guard Fleet made ready to set out.
The Hades' bridge.
Zhao Chen looked upon the Cherubim's holographic image before him; she wore still that cold and haughty expression.
"The direction I have already given you. You have only to go forward toward it. How long the sailing, and what you will meet with. We none of us know. To repent of it now, you have yet time." The Cherubim gazed at Zhao Chen icily.
Zhao Chen smiled slightly, and raised the cup of lemon tea he had but now ordered from the starship's dining hall, touching it against Ah-Yin's, who was examining with curiosity the drink in her own hand, the one called passion fruit.
"For our homeland."