The Owl Dragon hive-race?
Hive Princess?
Three million ships?
There was far too much in those few words!
When had her own Emperor gone and pulled off something this big?
"Little Bug, let me introduce you. Lilith and Charlotte you have met already. This is Medusa, commander of the Fourth Legion[1] of the Owl Dragon Third Fleet Group," Zhao Chen introduced.
The Hive Princess saluted Medusa very earnestly.
She looked like a child at play, pretending to be a grown-up.
"Little Bug, is there any problem with you commanding the hive fleets in battle?" Zhao Chen asked directly.
These 3,000,000 Hive Motherships had all been raised by Little Bug, true.
But Zhao Chen did not yet know how able she was at military command.
After all, commanding 3,000,000 Hive Motherships took very great tactical command ability.
Some had once speculated that the hive-race used only the sea-of-bugs tactic because it fell short in command.
And so it had adopted the most suitable way of fighting, which was also the simplest.
"No problem for Little Bug," the Hive Princess said confidently.
The Hive Princess went on: "And about the situation on the northern hive-line battlefield right now, I have a few suggestions."
Oho, the little lass had ideas of her own.
"Go on."
The Hive Princess lifted her chin and began: "First, the biggest problem on the northern hive-line battlefield is that the communication network is cut. Because of the T5 Starlight Fireflies, the quantum communication network is down. None of the trapped Owl Dragon legion fleets can be reached, nobody can find out how things stand, so the battlefield situation is unclear and nobody can command, and so on. And clearing out every T5 Starlight Firefly is very hard. But, the T5 Starlight Firefly only jams long-range quantum communication. It doesn't jam biological long-range communication."
Charlotte's eyes lit up.
The Hive Princess had put her finger very precisely on the problem the line faced.
"If some hive-race units can be sent to where each Owl Dragon legion fleet is, I can pass information out through them, and take it in too," the Hive Princess said.
Charlotte asked at once, "Free of jamming?"
"Yes. Free of jamming."
"No limit on distance?"
"It doesn't reach as far as your quantum communication technology, but covering the whole northern hive line is no problem at all."
Lilith stepped in now and pointed out a problem: "But so far as I know, a great many hive-race units cannot communicate with other creatures. How would the information be passed?"
"With some kind of code. Like this." The Hive Princess's hand began to tap on the tabletop.
Tap, tap, tap.
Lilith's eyes lit up. "Morse code!"
"It's an old human way of coding that I learned about. It's very simple; I can learn it. Then I'll have the bugs we use for communication tap out messages on a tabletop," the Hive Princess answered.
Lilith said, delighted, "Exactly! It truly is a very simple way. Even if the captains do not know Morse code, it is recorded in the database. They need only look it up. That way, basic communications can be restored!"
"Very good, Little Bug, we accept this suggestion of yours. Lilith, you will work with Little Bug on…" Zhao Chen suddenly remembered that Lilith was still handling affairs at home.
Though she appeared here now, her true body was in fact still in the Owl Dragon System.
Lilith guessed what he was thinking.
She said confidently, "It is no trouble; leave this bit of work to me. I will assist remotely. And I can assign several senior secretary officers on the northern hive line to help me see it through."
Zhao Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
It had to be said, Lilith was truly very capable at her work, and a great comfort to rely on.
"Very well, Lilith, this is wholly in your hands," Zhao Chen said.
The Hive Princess spoke again just then: "And about the T5 Starfield Venom-Blast Bugs the Order hive-race has laid out to intercept and destroy interstellar warships at warp, I can find a way to deal with those things."
This time even Medusa looked delighted.
For it was because of this warp-intercepting hive-race unit that they had so long been unable to send relief fleets to the military strongholds.
"First, I can send out great numbers of low-grade Hive Motherships to look for these T5 Starfield Venom-Blast Bugs and set them off on purpose, and clear a safe shipping lane between each of the key hubs. And to keep the Order hive-race from suddenly dropping its hive fleets behind us to harry our supply lines in the rear, I can post Hive Motherships to stand guard along stretches of the safe routes." The Hive Princess laid out her thinking.
Charlotte's and Medusa's eyes lit up.
It had to be said, the Hive Princess's arrangements were very good indeed.
"I think Little Bug's deployment can be carried out," Zhao Chen said, backing it outright.
Charlotte and the others voiced their support one after another, 'passed unanimously'.
Next came settling the detailed strategic deployment to follow.
Charlotte drew most of it up.
The first step was to re-establish shipping-lane links and communications with each of the line's key military ports.
This would be done by the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet and the Owl Dragon fleets working together.
The task must be done within twenty-four hours, and communications in particular restored within ten.
After that would come rescue of the most important military-port hubs, and the counterattack plan to follow.
Restoring the whole northern hive line entire!
"That is the plan in outline. The most important thing in it is time. Twenty-odd hours have passed since the enemy attacked, and every besieged military-port base is in grave danger. So time matters to us above all. Little Bug, as supreme commander of the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet, will join our chain of command. Little Bug, Charlotte is the Owl Dragon's Grand Marshal; her orders on the battlefield stand for my orders. Do you understand?" Zhao Chen looked at the Hive Princess.
The Hive Princess nodded hard, then looked to Charlotte, her face all seriousness. "General Charlotte, please give Little Bug any task you like. Little Bug, and Little Bug's Owl Dragon hive-race fleet, will never, ever bring shame on our Owl Dragon."
With that, the battle plan for the whole northern hive line was settled.
Owl Dragon legion fleets and Owl Dragon hive-race fleets set out side by side, one after another.
And formally launched their counterattack against the Order hive-race's surprise assault!
The Hive Princess closed her eyes.
Through the bug-swarm's biological neural network, she could at once receive the battlefield information seen by the Hive Motherships within a given range.
She saw a group of Order hive fleets ahead.
She opened her mouth, though she could have passed her orders straight through the neural network, she had followed Zhao Chen long enough to be used to speaking.
"Owl Dragon hive-race fleet, prepare for battle!"