No. 3 Storm Fortress-class Large Star Port.
At this moment the place had sunk into a sea of war.
Every direction around it was battlefield.
Bugs attacked from everywhere.
The star port's point-defense guns and weapon modules, and the combat satellites, combat fortresses, and other defensive installations deployed around it, had not rested for twenty-four hours; all of them fired without cease at the swarms surging in.
"Curse these bugs and every grandmother they ever had! Will they never stop coming?!" Hu Xiner stormed, looking at the sheet of red alert signals before her that marked the war zone.
Hu Xiner, long known for her calm composure, the secretary officer who had crossed over to become a fleet commander, could not keep calm at all now.
There was truly no end of those bugs to fight!
"If we keep fighting like this, our combat resources will last twenty more combat hours at most!" the secretary officer beside her said anxiously, looking somewhat worn.
Not she alone, every officer and soldier on the whole bridge was in the same state now.
None of them knew how long it had been since they last rested.
"Twenty hours or ten, so long as we can still fire one shot, keep fighting!" Hu Xiner said through clenched teeth.
The secretary officer opened her mouth, but still did not speak what was on her mind.
"What are the fleets' losses?" Hu Xiner asked.
"The fifteen fleets under our Fourth Legion have now reached an average loss rate of thirty percent. A few fleets have lost more heavily, the Fifth Fleet and the Eighth, for instance, are past fifty percent. Our whole legion had 50,000 interstellar warships to begin with. Of those, only 30,000-odd can still fight," the secretary officer answered.
She paused, then added, "Our losses look heavy, but we have destroyed even more bugs. The hive-race units I will not even go into, there is no telling how many head of them we have killed. Hive Motherships, we have killed at least a million! Of those, the recorded T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Motherships alone number one hundred, and T4 Hive Motherships, if not 100,000, then 50,000 at least! The bugs we have killed have piled up outside into a 'meteor belt' ringing our Star Port No. 3. Come to think of it, if not for these heaped-up carcasses of the hive-race, the pressure on us might be greater still. As it is, the carcasses have got in the way of the enemy's further attacks and taken some of the pressure off us."
The secretary officer smiled wryly.
Whether this counted as good news or bad, there was truly no telling.
"Still no contact with home?" Hu Xiner asked.
"None. And you have seen how things stand outside. Even if the interstellar stealth scout ships we sent out have reached home, no word from outside can get in to us. We… this place of ours has truly become an isolated island, through and through." The secretary officer sighed.
Hu Xiner said, her eyes blazing, "Whatever happens, unless we receive orders from the Empire allowing us to withdraw, we of the Third Fleet Group's Fourth Legion must fight here to the last!"
"Yes," the secretary officer answered, but plainly her tone was somewhat unsteady.
After all, in such a plight, few could hold firm to that resolve.
Without any relief, this place was certain to fall within thirty hours.
But now all they could do was wait.
Medusa watched the 'reinforcements' pouring from the Star Gate before her, dumbfounded.
For these were, unmistakably, Hive Motherships, one after another.
Had His Majesty not warned her beforehand, she might have taken them for invaders and ordered the fleets into battle long since.
"These… these are our reinforcements?" The secretary officer beside her, just as dumbfounded, looked to her commander.
"They… should be… I suppose." Medusa herself dared not be sure.
In truth, the Hive Princess's very existence was a matter of very high secrecy within the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire.
Apart from a few of the Owl Dragon's highest and the staff specially charged with it, it was kept secret from everyone.
Even several of the Owl Dragon's generals and marshals knew nothing of it.
These Hive Motherships looked somewhat different, though.
More exactly, their 'livery' did.
Most Hive Motherships and hive-race combat units they had seen were chiefly deep red.
But these Hive Motherships were black with gold filigree, and gave off an air of stern gravity.
And in a conspicuous spot on every Hive Mothership and every hive-race combat unit, the 'Owl Dragon' crest could be seen.
That was the very symbol of the Owl Dragon fleets.
To see it now on these Hive Motherships was truly past belief.
Just then, a holographic image appeared before Medusa.
"Your Majesty." Medusa saluted at once.
Zhao Chen looked at Medusa. "The hive fleets coming this time number 3,000,000 ships. To keep any disorder from breaking out, you had best set aside an area specially to station them. And let every interstellar warship's captain know of this hive fleet as soon as possible, to prevent any accidents."
"Yes, understood."
"Also, shortly we will hold a council to settle the final battle plan. You will attend too," Zhao Chen said.
"Yes." Medusa nodded; she hesitated, but could not help asking, "Your Majesty, may I… ask… these hive fleets are…"
"When you attend the council shortly, you will know."
"Very… very well."
Once Medusa had passed on the tasks His Majesty had set, she hurried without pause to ready herself for the council.
She sat in her captain's chair and closed her eyes.
The next second, she was in a conference room on the holographic network.
His Majesty sat at the head of the table.
On either side sat Lilith, his secretary, and Five-Star Marshal Charlotte.
Across from Medusa's seat there was one more empty place.
It seemed someone else was coming.
Soon a gleam of light appeared.
A holographic image appeared before them all.
This… was of all things a little girl.
Medusa looked in some astonishment at the little girl sitting across from her, dressed in an Owl Dragon–style uniform.
From her looks, the little girl could not be ten years old.
She was likely not even as tall as the table.
But just now, this little girl looked very serious.
She stood up on her chair and looked to His Majesty at the head of the table.
She saluted and said gravely, "Hive Princess, commander of the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet, reporting with 3,000,000 hive-race ships to give support. Your Majesty, your orders!"