The Hades · Bridge
Zhao Chen stood erect before the viewport; even without enlarging the picture, he could at this moment see the stretches upon stretches of Hive Mothership wreckage opposite.
Wherever the eye reached, it was near enough all Hive Mothership wreckage.
Some of the Hive Mothership wrecks had even gathered into a small mountain.
"So many Hive Motherships…" The deputy captain at his side swallowed.
"Send out the unmanned scouts, and scan how many Hive Mothership wrecks there are within this region after all. And search besides whether there yet remain any surviving Hive Motherships, or any hive-race life," Zhao Chen said in a low voice.
"Yes!" The little succubus secretary officer at his side went at once to see it done.
The T5 Phantasm-class Light Interstellar Stealth Scout Ships within the fleet had already entered this sea of bugs before them, in a state of concealment.
At the same time the hatches opened, and small unmanned scouts were put forth one after another; they began to fly scattering to every quarter about, scanning these Hive Mothership wrecks.
The scanned data was soon gathered together upon the Hades.
A star chart unfolded slowly before Zhao Chen.
That was the extent of these Hive Mothership remains.
"There is so great a stretch of it?" the little succubus secretary officer cried out in her astonishment.
The deputy captain spoke. "If within so great a stretch it is all Hive Motherships… then the number of Hive Motherships here is ten million at the least. And this has not yet reckoned those of low grade, the small Hive Motherships of T1 and T2 and the like, destroyed outright in the fighting to a degree past all recognition. So this figure will rise somewhat besides."
"A good many T5 Hive Mothership wrecks have been found." The little succubus secretary officer swallowed.
And there were pictures sent back besides.
Set against the wrecks of the lower-grade Hive Motherships, the wreck of a T5-grade Hive Mothership, though it had lost every sign of life, and had suffered a mortal attack.
The remaining wreck, hanging suspended there, was yet as grand as a floating island.
Thereafter, the Hades in which Zhao Chen rode sailed slowly upon the outskirts, and did not enter within at once.
For no one knew whether this uncanny field of battle held any danger.
But very soon, an astonishing message came.
"Report, the wreck of a T6 Hive Mothership found. It seems… there is yet a little sign of life! But it is very faint!" an interstellar scout ship sent back the message.
A T6 Hive Mothership!
Hearing this term, Zhao Chen's heart gave a shock.
Up to the present, the strongest he had met with were only the T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Mothership and the T5 Leviathan-Shaman-class Hive Mothership.
"Go over and look," Zhao Chen commanded.
"Commander, may this not be dangerous? Wouldn't it be better to send an advance party first, to scout it out carefully?" the little succubus secretary officer asked with some worry.
"The purpose of this journey of ours is the hive-race. This T6 Hive Mothership should be our greatest clue. Having come all this way, if we dare not go even to this. What did we come here to do." Zhao Chen smiled calmly.
And so, at the Commander's requirement, the Owl Dragon Guard Fleet divided into small formations, and keeping a certain distance sailed slowly forward.
At the same time they entered a state of first-degree combat readiness, the better to answer any case that might arise.
Very soon, Zhao Chen saw the wreck of that T6 Hive Mothership.
Exceedingly vast!
At the first glance, the feeling was as though one saw an asteroid!
The Hades, a hundred kilometers in length, was as a child before it.
And by Zhao Chen's observation, this was but half a wreck besides; where the other half had gone there was no knowing; perhaps, having suffered some fierce attack, it had split into more and smaller wreckage.
Zhao Chen did not send men at once to board and look.
Rather he hung in station about this vast Hive Mothership.
Waiting until the other small formations had ringed themselves one after another about the position of this vast Hive Mothership, forming a circle of encirclement, that they might answer any case that arose.
"Send drones and reconnaissance robots up first to look," Zhao Chen commanded.
"Yes!"
Small transport craft were catapulted one after another from the compartments of the interstellar warships, drove toward the Hive Mothership wreck, and then settled slowly upon it.
The hatches of the small transports opened, and small unmanned scouts started up one after another; thereafter they entered within through the breaches upon the Hive Mothership's ruined body.
And a great number of spider-shaped reconnaissance robots walked down from the small transports as it were an army, and infiltrated into the Hive Mothership wreck.
Zhao Chen raised his hand, and a holographic image concerning this Hive Mothership wreck appeared thereupon before his eyes.
At the beginning there was only an outer contour.
Along with the information sent back by those reconnaissance drones and spider reconnaissance robots,
its inner structure was gradually completed.
"In this position, there is something." Ah-Yin at his side pointed at a position within the Hive Mothership wreck.
Zhao Chen glanced at Ah-Yin. "How do you know?"
"It is felt, a kind of low-frequency nerve wave. Much like that which the Master described, but very faint. Before, when we were outside, I felt some of it. But here it is a good deal plainer. It is about at this position. It seems to be attempting to transmit some message besides, but it is too faint; I cannot determine what message it is." Ah-Yin looked toward Zhao Chen. "If you will let me board, then having drawn near I may perhaps be able to communicate with this source of the message."
"Wait a while yet." Zhao Chen's gaze went to the Hive Mothership wreck beneath the holographic image.
Another half hour passed.
The map of the Hive Mothership wreck's inner framework was already about eighty percent complete.
There remained only some last regions of shadow.
Up to the present, no mishap whatsoever had occurred, nor had they been assaulted by any creature.
At last, one weighty piece of information broke all this calm.
A very blurred image was sent back to the Hades' bridge.
The image was exceedingly blurred, a screen full of snow, one might say.
"The transmission signal suffers some manner of energy interference, and it is very steady. Once the unmanned scouts and reconnaissance robots reach this position, suffering this interference, they all lose control," the little succubus secretary officer said at his side. "This is the only one now running sound within this region."
Zhao Chen knit his brows and stared at the picture, blurred past all clearness.
All about was pitch-black; dimly, a touch of red could be seen.
And a sound could be heard besides, like a heart beating.
In the end, this reconnaissance robot too lost control, and the video link was cut off.
The little succubus secretary officer looked helplessly toward the Commander. "Within this region there is very strong interference. Unmanned equipment can no longer enter. It seems we can only send in an advance party."
Zhao Chen rose, and threw his uniform coat upon the sofa. "See to the arrangements. The Panther-Girl's guard will board the ship together with me."
Thereafter, he walked straight out of the bridge.
Seeing it, the little succubus secretary officer was suddenly at a loss, hand and foot.
"This… this…"
"What the Commander has decided, even were Lady Lilith here she could not stop it." The deputy captain at her side shrugged helplessly.