The Rakshasa-Hades · the bridge.
Unlike bridges of former days, upon this bridge there was, besides the captain's chair, a chair of golden dragon pattern.
What that chair stood for, everyone knew well enough.
Zhao Chen sat upon it, and before him was a hovering work-table besides.
Because the Dragon Emperor had now entered the Galaxy-class Large Interstellar Industrial Base for her upgrading, Zhao Chen's own ship could only be changed to this Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought.
Everything here Charlotte had arranged beforehand as well.
Lilith came at this moment with quick steps before Zhao Chen.
The quickness of Lilith's step drew the notice of Charlotte, who stood before the interstellar holo-table.
She gave her subordinates certain work to do, then left the holo-table and came over toward Zhao Chen and Lilith.
Whatever could make Lilith so urgent must be some matter of weight.
Charlotte came over; the swell of her belly showed plainly now.
Her term drew nearer and nearer.
Which had led Lilith of late to look at Zhao Chen with something of resentment.
She often went to Charlotte for instruction, for she had monopolized Zhao Chen this while past, and yet had got nothing at all by it.
"Has something happened?" Charlotte had come close, and asked.
Had it been a matter of the hive-race nests, being military, those on watch at the front would have told her immediately.
And since it was Lilith who had the word first, it should be news from the rear.
Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte with a somewhat odd expression: "Something has indeed happened. And it may have something to do with you."
"With me?" Charlotte was somewhat astonished.
"Do you remember that Black Wolf Princess?" Zhao Chen named a person.
The Black Wolf Princess?
Charlotte was blank a good while before she called such a person to mind.
"Did she not vanish?" Charlotte asked in her puzzlement.
"She has appeared," said Lilith.
Charlotte was somewhat astonished: "Has she been making trouble again?"
"No. To be exact, it should be said that she has contacted us of her own accord." Lilith's expression was somewhat odd as well.
At this news Charlotte was blank longer than before.
She seemed not to have taken the words in.
"The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia has contacted us of her own accord?" Charlotte found it past all reason.
"To be exact, she contacted Consul Blanche from the Moganda Star Region, the Black Wolf tribe's former territory, and Consul Blanche then told us of it." Lilith set out the particulars.
"She is in the Moganda Star Region? And she contacts us of her own accord? What does she mean to do?" A wary look came over Charlotte at once.
By common reasoning, the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia, in flight all this while, should not stand forth and contact them at such a time.
Where a thing goes strangely, there is a devil in it!
There must be some cause out of the common here.
"As to the cause. The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia requires that she speak with our Emperor himself. Otherwise she will say nothing. And she bids us not go and seize her, or she will die before we get anything from her at all." Lilith looked toward Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen thought a moment, and said: "Arrange it. I am willing to make contact with this Black Wolf Princess."
Whatever her purpose in this sudden contact, contact must be made.
And the reason behind it learned!
"I shall go and arrange it." And Lilith went at once to see to the business.
Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte and said in a low voice: "How would you have this matter dealt with?"
More than his own attitude toward the Black Wolf Princess, Zhao Chen cared how Charlotte would have this former princess of the Black Wolf tribe dealt with.
For the Black Wolf tribe had been very eager indeed in the actions against the revolutionary army.
"You are the Emperor now; the right of decision is wholly yours, and you should not ask me." Hearing the question, Charlotte did not answer it directly, but reminded Zhao Chen that his standing was no longer what it had been.
Zhao Chen said with a smile: "But I know better that I am your man."
Charlotte shrugged helplessly; she knew this man of hers well enough.
Upon a single word from her, he would do it, not this Black Wolf Princess alone; he would call the whole Black Wolf tribe to account.
There was something of recollection in Charlotte's eyes.
Whether it were that she was soon to be a mother, the fierceness with which she had once charged upon interstellar battlefields was the greater part dispersed now.
For the most part there was a peace about her instead.
"Had it been before, I should most likely have wanted her killed, or the like. But now I find that I no longer hold to that. We were enemies once, in great part because we stood upon opposite sides. Now she has no power whatever to threaten us. And since I can forgive even the Black Wolf tribe, how much more such a homeless princess as this."
Hearing these words of Charlotte's, Zhao Chen smoothed her hair, and touched her belly lightly once or twice with his hand.
"I understand your meaning. Set your mind at rest; I shall settle this matter for you. This Black Wolf Princess may be spared death, but not the living penalty." Zhao Chen had his reckoning already.
If in time this Black Wolf Princess were truly taken, and she were willing to surrender.
Then she would not die, but she would be confined all her life upon some planet, and grow old alone.
For there are things which, being done, must certainly be paid for.
"It is arranged. A holographic communication." Lilith returned, having settled everything.
Zhao Chen nodded.
Lilith raised her hand, and an electronic operating interface appeared.
At the same time a screening curtain of light appeared about the three of them, so that nothing seen, heard or said here could reach the bridge outside.
Lilith entered all the commands, and looked at Zhao Chen and Charlotte.
"Begin," said Zhao Chen.
"Very well." Lilith pressed the last command.
And then it was a matter of waiting for an answer.
Time passed, little by little.
Some three minutes went by.
A figure of light appeared before the three of them.
And this figure saw the three opposite as well.
She looked round at them.
"I had not thought that after three years we should meet again." The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia's voice was somewhat hoarse.
"Nor had we thought to see the Black Wolf Princess of former days," said Zhao Chen.
"The Black Wolf Princess of former days." The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia paused, and wore a look of self-mockery: "Of former days indeed."
"Speak, then. You wished to see me. Upon what business?" Zhao Chen asked, coming straight to the point.
"In truth I have hesitated all along whether to tell you at all." The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia looked at Zhao Chen and the rest with a sudden mockery.
"Tell it or not, as you please; no one will force you," Zhao Chen said coldly.
The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia looked at Zhao Chen with interest: "Lord of the Owl Dragon, no, it should be the Owl Dragon Emperor now. If I told you that the news I am about to give you. Is of a great disaster about to destroy this universe? Would you still hold this attitude?"
Zhao Chen's face did not change: "What? Do you think that because you throw out some chance remark I must be grateful to you, and beg you to tell me? If that is so, then this communication of ours may end here."
"Order." A name came out of the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia's mouth.
Charlotte and Lilith beside Zhao Chen both changed color.
Standing where they stood, the two of them naturally knew of Order.
But they had not thought that word would come out of this woman's mouth.
For up to now,
word of Order had been kept secret by the Owl Dragon from all outside.
The present increase of armaments had been given out as answering the interstellar hive-race crises that appeared so often.
"I do not know where you heard that word. But if you hold that upon one word you can do anything with me, you are greatly mistaken." Zhao Chen's face still did not change.
The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia looked at Zhao Chen with some surprise; perhaps she had not thought this man could wear such a face after hearing her speak the word Order.
"I must own that you are indeed fit to be an Emperor. Well then, I shall not waste time with you here. Since I contacted you of my own accord. It is because I would tell you. Order has begun to move, and this movement will bring a very great threat upon you," said the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia.
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes at her: "Why should I believe you upon a single word of yours? Or rather, how am I to know this is not a trap of yours?"
"Believe it or not as you please. I have told you, at any rate." The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia spread her hands.
"Then what is this threat you speak of?" Lilith asked of her own accord.
"Let her ask me. Then perhaps I shall be gracious and tell you." Suddenly the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia pointed at Charlotte, who had said nothing all this while.
Zhao Chen knit his brows slightly.
Charlotte spoke then: "Take it that I am the one asking you."
"Is that how a five-star marshal of the Owl Dragon Empire asks another a question?" The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia looked at Charlotte in mockery.
Charlotte hesitated a moment; and just as she was about to speak.
Zhao Chen cut her off outright, and stared at the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia with cold, dark eyes: "If you contacted us only to bluster here, and to threaten us with this so-called intelligence of yours. Then there is no need of it. Such intelligence we do not want. And if this threat truly exists, our Owl Dragon Empire will deal with every part of it. If there is nothing else, let our communication end here."
And so saying, Zhao Chen was about to have Lilith break the connection.
Suddenly the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia opposite pulled down her coat, laying bare that savage breast of hers.
The three of them saw that where the heart should have been, there was a worm.
"This is my proof of having joined Order. I had meant to use this chance to take my revenge upon you. But of late that hideous creature gave me an order. To cast a thing like a bomb into the fixed star of the system I know best. I do not know what that thing is. But I have a foreboding that once it is cast into a star, it may well destroy that whole star system, and reach to several systems besides."
The three of them listened to what the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia set out.
"Do not think I am helping you. I am only helping my homeland, and my own people. I hate you still, and I would still be revenged upon you. But it cannot be by a way I cannot own." So the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia said firmly.
Cough.
Suddenly black blood ran from the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia's mouth, and her body swayed once or twice.
"So it seems… this thing is indeed… the puppet-string that controls us." The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia bowed her head and looked at her own breast.
She could feel the violent pain within it; that hateful worm was devouring her flesh, as though in warning.
"And not I alone; there are many others who serve Order. And among them not a few enemies of yours. That Angel Queen who betrayed the Angel Race, for instance, I saw her there too. She will likely return to the Angel Race's own system, and cast that cursed thing at their star. As for other places, I am not certain. I can give only a list of systems." So the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia said, black blood welling from her mouth without cease.
"Cynthia, do not speak any more. Tell us at once where you are. I will send people to find you!" Charlotte said aloud, all of a sudden.
"Find me? To take your revenge upon me?" The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia laughed at herself; her senses were growing clouded now.
"But there is one thing I must thank you for. Charlotte. Thank you for not destroying my homeland. For not abusing and slaughtering our Black Wolf tribe. Thank you."
The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia's eyes turned to Charlotte.
Suddenly she thrust one hand straight into her own breast, seized that worm, tore the whole of it out, and flung it heavily upon the ground.
And then set her military boot upon it, and trod upon it without cease,
as though it were something she hated beyond all things.
"Loathsome bug. Do not think that with such a thing you can control us. We warriors of the great Black Wolf tribe will never submit!"
So saying, the whole of the Black Wolf Princess began suddenly to shudder, and rifts appeared upon her body, which were wounds.
And thereafter small bugs beyond number welled out from every part of her.
For in truth her body had long since been fouled with them.
Lilith covered her mouth.
She saw with her own eyes the Black Wolf Princess Cynthia devoured utterly by a mass of bugs; the whole sight was too terrible.
"Find the source of that communication signal at once!" Zhao Chen ordered without hesitation.
The Black Wolf Princess Cynthia had said just now that she had orders to cast a certain bomb into a fixed star.
So it should be carried aboard some starship.
If it could be found and studied, there would certainly be much to gain.
"And give the order that the whole Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire enter the second grade of combat readiness at once!" Zhao Chen added.
At this Lilith, looking at her interstellar mailbox, cried out: "I have received a message signed by the Black Wolf Princess; within it is a list. The names in it… are nearly all of them past forgiveness, or wanted by us!"