"Father, have you truly decided to betray the Empire? The Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire is so strong, and those Owl Dragon-series interstellar warships are more absurdly strong still. The Angel Race and the Demon Race before, even our Holy Radiance Kingdom, none of them were a match for her." A Sacred-Spirit man of the Holy Radiance Kingdom looked at his father.
The father gazed greedily at the starship technology before him and cast his son a glance. "What do you know? What your father is doing is called balancing. Now the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire is very strong, yes, but don't you see the troubles within and the threats without that it has now? And there is no Machine Race at its side to back the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire. Whether that Emperor can keep his seat is not yet certain. As the saying goes, you must not put all your eggs in one basket. Besides, who says we are betraying the Empire? I am only a merchant; isn't it quite normal to sell a starship component abroad? What is more, I am a noble of the Holy Radiance Kingdom, and hold close to half the market share of the Holy Radiance Kingdom's interstellar trade, apart from the Owl Dragon's own interstellar trade groups. In our Holy Radiance Kingdom, our family's interstellar trading power ranks among the top three! So long as we do not step over the line, no one dares touch us!" The father was full of confidence even now.
He pointed at the starship blueprint before him. "Look at what this is. The design blueprint of a T5 interstellar warship! Had we not worked with them, how could we ever have come by something worth whole cities? With this, our family may yet climb a level higher!"
The young master of the family looked at the starship blueprint, and there was some greed in his eyes too.
But more than that, there was fear.
After all, the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's present array was too frightening.
All of a sudden!
In the sky above the planetary mansion where they were, an interstellar warship appeared out of thin air, blotting out the sky.
At the same moment, video windows appeared one after another all over the planet.
A woman officer in Owl Dragon officer's uniform was speaking on the far side of the video windows: "The Shadow Hunter ace fleet group is carrying out a mission. This star system is now under our control. All weapons are to be shut down, and no aircraft of any kind is permitted to take off. Otherwise, the consequences are your own."
The Owl Dragon Empire's legion fleets.
The Shadow Hunter ace fleet group!
On hearing that name, the people on the planet were dazed.
They could not for the life of them understand how this Owl Dragon ace fleet group had come to appear here.
The next moment, dozens of shuttles and hundreds of interstellar drones flew out from beneath the belly of this Owl Dragon interstellar warship, and several interstellar battle mecha were dropped down as well.
Behind the interstellar battle mecha, squad after squad of interstellar Marines could be seen leaping down.
These people and weapons were all bound for the most prosperous district on the planet.
That was the Jordan family, which held eighty percent of the planet's wealth.
It was also among the top ten families of the Holy Radiance Kingdom, and in interstellar trade ranked among the top three.
And Jordan City became at once the target of every arrow, above all, Jordan Castle, built against the mountain in the middle of Jordan City.
Boom, boom, boom.
Several Cerberus-class Interstellar Battle Mecha landed and surrounded Jordan Castle on every side.
Interstellar fighters and interstellar drones took control of the airspace as well.
Then the interstellar Marines, in powered exoskeleton combat armor, landed first and seized the strategic points within Jordan Castle.
"Lay down every weapon in your hands. Jordan Castle is now under our control!"
The interstellar Marines shouted it aloud.
"We are the Owl Dragon Empire's interstellar Marines. To defy our orders is to be counted as declaring war upon the Empire!"[1]
Under these shouts, one after another, scarcely anyone in Jordan Castle dared resist.
Naturally there were a few who had no eyes in their heads, and who knew well what the Jordan family had been doing behind the scenes, and who tried to run.
Every one of them, beyond doubt, became a ghost beneath the gun.
Last of all, several shuttles set down without trouble.
The whole thing had taken under five minutes.
A squad of Owl Dragon soldiers stepped down from the shuttles.
"Who is Duke Jordan?" The woman officer at the head of this squad of Owl Dragon women soldiers swept a glance over the people who had been brought here under guard, and demanded it sharply.
"I… I am!" The Jordan patriarch, who had been swaggering so grandly just now, raised his hand, somewhat nervously.
Behind him, the young master of the family stared blankly; he had never imagined that the thing he feared would come so soon.
"We have evidence proving that the Jordan family has colluded with enemies abroad, using its own sales channels and industrial facilities to supply wanted rebels and traitors with raw materials and starship components, and even to build interstellar warships for them under contract." The Owl Dragon woman officer stared coldly at him as she recited these crimes.
"I… I did not know! I am only a man of business; whoever gives me money, I do his work. I truly did not know those people were wanted rebels and traitors. Had I known, I would never have done business with them," the Jordan patriarch said pitifully, crying out his innocence again and again.
"Whether you have been wronged or not, come back with us and be questioned," the Owl Dragon woman officer said in a low voice.
On hearing this, the Jordan patriarch said at once, "By what right do you take me back? I am a duke of the Holy Radiance Kingdom. Even our Empress Saint Cana… our Queen… has no right to arrest me!"
"By what right?"
The woman officer smiled coldly and took out a dark-red dragon-patterned token; the dragon carved within it had no air of majesty about it, but rather an air of ruthlessness.
"The Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's Royal Embroidered-Uniform Guard,[2] answerable to the Emperor alone. By imperial warrant: strike first, report after. If you do not come with us now, I can only take your corpse back when I report."
Imperial warrant?
Royal Embroidered-Uniform Guard?
On hearing these somewhat strange words,
the Jordan patriarch was somewhat puzzled, but he dared not disbelieve them.
For the interstellar warship overhead was a T5 Netherworld-Wolf-King-class Medium Interstellar Stealth Bomber, which only the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire possessed.
In the end, the patriarch and all the leading members of the Jordan family were taken away.
From that day on, no one ever saw these Jordans who had been taken away again, and the Jordan family's holdings were soon swallowed up clean by other families.
Things of this kind happened elsewhere as well, one after another.
"By imperial warrant: strike first, report after." Zhao Waner recited the words, her eyes shining, toying with the token in her hand. "That line is so cool!"
This was a new post her brother had given her,
to found the Royal Embroidered-Uniform Guard, selecting the elite from the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group.
When they had no mission, they passed as the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group.
When there was need, they were the Royal Embroidered-Uniform Guard.
And this "by imperial warrant: strike first, report after" was the authority Zhao Chen had given Zhao Waner!