A cluster of Hive Motherships had gathered together, as if waiting for some order.
And not far off lay an area under siege by hive fleets.
Its outer ring was all bug-swarm; the surrounded enemy could no longer be seen.
And there were a good many more of these 'huddled' outer Hive Mothership fleets, like so many 'flower clusters', waiting their chance.
The moment an order came, they would throw themselves at the battlefield wave on wave, to wear the enemy down, to overcome the enemy, to tear the enemy apart.
Within this hive fleet was a T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Mothership.
As though it sensed something, it looked toward the pitch-black space behind.
Hsss-hsss-hsss.
Its biological neural network seemed to have heard some sound.
Through the eyes of the Hive Motherships under it, it saw the farthest scene.
Just as it had sensed, some creatures were drawing near in that stretch of space.
Soon, as they closed in, their outlines appeared before all.
They were, unmistakably, Hive Motherships, one after another, and a number of hive-race unit types.
Its own kind, then.
That thought rose in the T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Mothership's simple brain, and it thought nothing else.
But soon it sensed that something was wrong.
For these hive fleets that had suddenly appeared looked somewhat different: not the same dark red as its own, but black with gold filigree.
Besides, these hive fleets were closing on its side at great speed.
That told the T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Mothership something was wrong, and it tried to reach them through its biological neural network.
But of all things, there was no answer at all.
What… was… this?
By now the swarms in its area had come into contact with this eerie swarm.
The other side's foremost hive-race units fell upon its swarms like mad dogs.
Charging at the very front were T4 Leviathans numbering in the tens of thousands.
T4 Hunter-class Leviathans and T4 Colossus-class Leviathans led the charge of still more countless low-grade hive-race units.
They rammed into the Hive Motherships opposite.
Bio-plasma cannon fire struck home at last on the other side's bio-armor, and soon that bio-armor was eaten open in gash after gash.
Hard on it, low-grade units such as the T3 Corrupted Wyverns leaped in like fierce tigers long unfed, biting and gnawing their way into the Hive Mothership's body through those wounds.
The Hive Mothership's own hive-race combat units could naturally not stand by and watch their mothership attacked, and sallied out to fight one after another.
But what met them was slaughter, the other side's combat units crushing them flat.
Only after a long while did the T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Mothership react.
They… seemed… to be… under attack.
At once it began to pass word to its hive fleet.
Fight!
Prepare for battle!
Only now did this group of resting Hive Motherships react, and begin to fight these hive fleets that had come with no good intent.
It had to be said, a battle of hive fleets was a truly bloody and magnificent sight.
It had the bio-plasma cannons of interstellar-age war, and the array of ten thousand cavalry charging from the wars of old.
What was more, in these hive fleets of unknown origin, the T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Motherships and the T4 Leviathan-class Hive Motherships charged in front!
This was far from the hive-race tactics of old.
The interstellar hive-race of old kept its Hive Motherships to the rear and sent great numbers of hive-race combat units to attack by the sea-of-bugs tactic.
The Hive Motherships usually appeared on the battlefield only in the middle to late stages of a fight.
But this hive fleet fought in exactly the opposite way.
Soon, out of the black universe, more and more of these black-and-gold-filigree hive fleets appeared on the battlefield.
This group of Order hive fleets was soon ringed in on every side, caught in a melee, and before long plainly being overpowered.
"Don't get bogged down fighting! Send a strike hive fleet to tear straight through the enemy's ring. Whatever it takes, get the communication units inside!" Aboard her own flagship, the Hive Princess gave orders to her Owl Dragon hive-race fleets.
"Don't fight one-on-one! If you fight, gang up together! Aim for the weak spots!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Go for their three back lanes! Ram straight in!"
"Don't just keep eating! Wipe out the enemy's fighting strength first, then digest the food."
"Hive Motherships that are badly hurt can pull back first, especially the T5 and T4 Hive Motherships. Don't go wasting yourselves on the battlefield for nothing!"
The Hive Princess kept putting to use in this battle the strategic methods she had learned from the Owl Dragon.
It had to be said, it worked very well.
It greatly raised the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet's fighting power.
Though in command it was still far from the instant obedience of the Owl Dragon legion fleets, set against the Order hive fleets' sea-of-bugs tactic it still made a very plain difference.
Soon the Owl Dragon Hive Motherships serving as the strike hive fleet fell upon the Order hive fleets besieging this Owl Dragon fortress base.
This sudden attack did indeed throw these Order hive fleets into great confusion.
It even tore open a breach with great speed.
It threw the Order Hive Motherships in this area into disarray.
"What… what is happening?" Aboard the flagship, refitting within the star port of Storm Fortress No. 3, Hu Xiner stared in astonishment at the scene in the video feed.
She saw, of all things, a dozen-odd T4 Leviathan-class Hive Motherships ganging up on a T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Mothership, their jaws locked on it.
Several of them had gone so far as to take up the 'rip-out-the-backside' tactic,[1] biting down on it from behind.
She had never seen such a sight.
Could the enemy's hive fleets have turned on each other?
"Commander, look, those Hive Motherships' hull livery seems a bit different. Black with a little gold trim, and… it looks like they bear our Owl Dragon fleets' crest!" The sharp-eyed secretary officer suddenly pointed at the Hive Motherships on one side of the chaotic battlefield.
Hu Xiner's eyes lit up; she truly did see the Owl Dragon crest, very plain, on the bodies of those Hive Motherships.
Could it be…
These were Hive Motherships of their own?
The unbelievable thought rose in Hu Xiner's mind.
Just then the communications petty officer beside her reported, "Reporting, we have received a very strange communication request."
"Put it through first," Hu Xiner said at once.
The communications petty officer moved a communication window before Hu Xiner.
The voice on the other end was somewhat blurred.
"I… am… the Hive Princess. By… the Emperor's… command. I have brought the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet… to support you."