The Judgment Angel Queen looked coldly upon the bridge, spattered with blood, its air thick with the reek of it.
"My lady, the mutineers within the starship have all been cleaned out."
An angel petty officer had come over just then to report.
"Good. Clean up. Throw all the bodies out, and scrub away this blood. Carry on with our next task. The road we chose is not wrong," the Judgment Angel Queen said flatly.
"Yes, my lady."
Of the mutiny within the starship, the Judgment Angel Queen had known from early on.
But she had been waiting all along, waiting for these people to show their heads of their own accord, and then to clear them out entire.
Since she had already set foot upon this road, she would never regret it.
Such was her nature.
"Teacher, I am not wrong!" The Judgment Angel Queen looked down at her teacher's headless body upon the floor, and said it once more.
Whether the words were meant for others to hear, or for herself, there was no telling.
At this very moment, on the other side, Zhao Chen faced a situation as bad as could be.
Word had come from the Owl Dragon Supreme Research Institute.
It set the faces of all aboard the Rakshasa-Hades somewhat rigid.
"You are certain these findings are true?" Zhao Chen looked over the experimental data, then at the Institute professor on the far side of the video window.
The Institute professor nodded heavily. "It is all true! Once we had established that the undead, as a form of life, can use a star's energy for self-division, we began other related experiments. One of them was whether detonating and destroying a star could wholly wipe out the undead within its range. But… the result we finally arrived at was this! Within the range of the destroyed star, the undead grew stronger, more frenzied, and more numerous! From that result we infer that the energy released at the moment a star explodes can in fact also drive the undead's self-division, and bring about self-evolution besides. For instance, in the experiment we used an infected and converted T2 Griffin-class Heavy Interstellar Destroyer. And after the experiment ended, that T2 Griffin, converted to an undead starship, had of all things become a T3-grade undead starship!"
The professor put up a stretch of video footage besides.
Zhao Chen and the other two fixed their eyes on an interstellar warship in the footage that looked strangely familiar.
Its hull bore marks like rot, but more than that it gave off a cold desolation, as of a living man from whom the life had gone.
"That truly does look like a T2 Griffin!" Charlotte, by her own knowledge of starships, picked out some features of the T2 Griffin that this undead starship still preserved.
"So it truly became a T3 undead starship?" Zhao Chen asked with a frown.
The professor nodded. "It did. In the wind-down after the experiment ended, it caused us no small trouble besides: two T2 interstellar warships were damaged, though by good fortune there were no casualties. Because we had weighed the unknown dangers of the experiment at the time, we had placed combat satellites around it, along with one T4 interstellar warship and several T3 interstellar warships, and only so was the situation brought under control. There is another piece of footage besides: the fighting to bring this T3 undead starship under control. In the course of that fighting, this undead starship that had once been a T2 Griffin displayed the combat power of a T3 interstellar warship. In its combat characteristics, though, it still kept those of the destroyer it had been. In combat power it leaned more toward our own Owl Dragon-line T3 Wolverine-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Destroyer."
Having heard all this, Lilith let a trace of worry show in her eyes.
She looked to Zhao Chen and Charlotte. "Then here, now…"
"Thank you for the warning, Professor. Only, more's the pity, we have already destroyed a star under the undead's control," Zhao Chen said with a somewhat wry smile.
At these words the professor started, then said with some self-reproach, "Your Majesty, we were too slow. Had we been able to reach these conclusions sooner, perhaps…"
"This is not your fault. I know you have lately been studying the undead day and night without rest. And it is thanks to you that we learned of these problems in time. Otherwise we might have taken many more wrong roads." Zhao Chen spoke in praise of her.
"So what you are saying is that we have no way at all, now, to deal with these stars the undead control?" Lilith knit her brows.
Charlotte frowned too, and said nothing.
By all the information they had so far, it did seem to be so.
These undead were a very thorny trouble indeed.
"In truth there is one way, but we cannot yet be certain of it," the professor said.
"Speak!" Zhao Chen said at once.
"To answer Your Majesty: I recall that when I used my clearance to consult the Owl Dragon armory, there was the file of an SSS-grade classified weapon. I could not access its details, but I could see a brief description. It said it could destroy a star system outright. Is that so?" The professor looked to Zhao Chen.
"The T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb." Zhao Chen spoke the name outright.
"Supernova?" At that word, everyone present frowned.
For the word supernova was one all of them knew.
It named a stage in a star's evolution, and the violent explosion that certain stars undergo near the end of it.
And it had just been said that a star's explosion, far from destroying the undead, would instead become a catalyst for them.
Then would this Supernova Ultimate Bomb not become a catalyst of that same kind?
The professor, too, frowned slightly.
Zhao Chen guessed their worry; as one who had looked into this weapon, he spoke up, his voice low: "I know what you are thinking. This T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb does not wholly replicate the process of a supernova. More exactly, the word is only a description, of its power, and of some traits it shares with a star's explosion. But it is not wholly the same. I cannot promise whether this ultimate bomb, too, would act as a catalyst on the undead. But I think, Professor, you and your people could try simulating it. After all, as things stand, this is our only way."
At this, the others breathed a little easier.
The professor nodded. "Simulation is no problem. But I need clearance, and, ideally, a sample for us to study."
Zhao Chen said directly, "I will open the clearance to you. From this moment you may consult any material on this weapon technology. As for a sample, so far as I know, one should already be in the building stage, under Chief Engineer Annie. She has studied it a good deal; when the time comes you can contact her directly, or have her assist your work."
"That is wonderful. I hear Chief Engineer Annie is a truly excellent starship engineer, and skilled in many of the starship sciences besides!" the professor said, excited.
Annie, hard at work and in the middle of a drink of water, suddenly felt something catch between her teeth.
……
The matter of the T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb would need time yet to verify by experiment, and its manufacture would need time as well.
And the most important thing at present was, naturally, the mess before their eyes.
Zhao Chen looked at the magnified image of the star, half of it already turned a deep red.
"Then what do we do now?" Lilith asked from beside him, torn.
"What is done is done. At the least, we will not make such a mistake again in any other star system. Lilith, pass this word to every Owl Dragon legion fleet:[1] do not destroy the stars," Zhao Chen said in a low voice.
"Yes," Lilith answered.
Some things cannot be foreseen; and once they have happened, there is no medicine for regret.
All one can do is face, as best one can, whatever is to come.
"The Institute cannot yet calculate how great a boost this star's explosion will give these undead. It is an unknown. And within this star's blast radius lies another star besides. It is very likely we will see both stars explode."
After a moment's silence, Zhao Chen looked to Charlotte. "Charlotte, from now on the combat mission in this star system is yours. Once the star explodes, contain the danger within this star system as far as you can. Do not let the crisis spread to other systems. But at the same time, be ready for either outcome. I will issue orders to the Angel Race's side. The six star systems bordering this one will be ordered to evacuate, while the systems next to those six will first go to red alert, and any of their people willing to leave may evacuate ahead of time. As for whether whole systems must be evacuated later, that will depend on how things go."
Zhao Chen made detailed arrangements for the situation.
Each region's star systems were to be handled differently.
To order every star system evacuated wholesale would do enormous harm, even if it might perhaps mean that no one at all was hurt.
But the cost would be immense.
And a leader must weigh not only the people's safety; there is a great deal more to weigh, and the whole must be kept in view.
And so this plan was, beyond doubt, the best for now.
"Yes." Charlotte nodded, understanding the Emperor's intent.
She began to replan for the new state of the battle.
"When the new strategic plan is drawn up, let me know," Zhao Chen said gravely.
The battlefield in this star system was, beyond doubt, the worst of them all.
By comparison, the battlefields of the other star systems the undead had invaded were small fry beside it.
And the combat experience won here could be passed at once to the other undead battlefields, where it would be of enormous use.
"Yes," Charlotte answered.
Soon the new orders began to go out.
All personnel and starships in the star system made their final withdrawal.
The Second Legion's fleet of the First Legion Fleet Group, after a last round of suppressing fire, began to fall back slowly toward the Star Gate.
The withdrawal went step by step, without the least disorder.
In this way, too, they guarded against the grim prospect of being entangled by the undead host mid-retreat.
Every Owl Dragon-line interstellar warship completed its withdrawal.
After them came the fleet that managed the Star Gate, once it had set the automatic program and the self-destruct program.
The angel Tilia boarded one of the last few interstellar transports, ready to pass through the Star Gate.
With complicated eyes she looked upon this star system, once so utterly glorious for the Angel Race; upon the two stars in the distance, one red and one black; and upon the undead army, like a black host.
As one of the Angel Race's highest commanders, she had already received the Emperor's latest orders.
She knew, too, of the failure of the plan to detonate the star, and of the harm that would follow.
Of this the angel Tilia made no complaint whatever.
For this was the battlefield, and on the battlefield anything may happen.
The angel Tilia was charged with ordering the six surrounding star systems to evacuate entire, while all six would be handed over to the Owl Dragon Empire's fleets to hold, raising a new defense line.
So as to hold back the undead legions, grown to who knew what size under the star's self-destruction!
"Renee, you truly are this star system's greatest criminal. I swear it. Wherever in the universe you are, I will catch you. You must pay for everything you have done!" The angel Tilia ground her teeth.
The last interstellar transport passed through the Star Gate.
Some ten-odd minutes later, the Star Gate's self-destruct program started, and the charges placed throughout it detonated.
Explosive flame began to fill the Star Gate throughout, destroying this gate, once counted among the top five in throughput of all the Angel Race's star systems.
The flames of the blast seemed to draw the undead armies' attention.
But they soon went back, heads down, to their own business.
Invading those planets, and upon those planets remained some angels who had stubbornly stayed behind. Their fate was already sealed.
Yet the natives of some planets were fortunate.
They would not be reduced to undead creatures, for they saw the star swelling without end.
Hundreds of times larger than it had been.
Its deep-red light set the sky ablaze, like a burning sunset cloud.
At the last the ground split apart, disasters of every kind swept the planets' surfaces, and it was all over quickly.
Whole planets were reduced to nothing in the star's terrible explosion.
This soon spread through the whole Judgment Angel star system,[2] sweeping over the surface of nearly every planet in it; apart from the undead, not a single living thing survived.
And the undead, bathed in the 'halo' of the star's explosion, of all things began to shine brilliantly, like plants bathing in rain, and then underwent astonishing changes.
Either they were self-dividing at an astonishing rate, or their outward form was changing to some degree.
And the other star, beyond this one, was naturally affected by the exploding star as well.
Ordinarily, when one star of a binary-star system explodes, the other, put simply, is knocked away like a marble, to become a lonely rogue star.
But perhaps it was because this star was covered by the undead.
Things went wholly otherwise.
This star began to absorb the exploding star's energy, and slowly to grow larger.
Its surface took on a mottled pattern of black and red.
And the undead upon this star were 'cheering and leaping for joy', like people keeping a festival.