"Bad news! A great many Order hive fleets have appeared in the region of star system Y11, outside the northern hive line!" A very important piece of news reached Zhao Chen and Charlotte just then.
"How many have been found?" What Charlotte cared about most was naturally the size of this wave of Order hive fleets.
Before this, what had appeared on the northern hive line was 50,000,000 Hive Motherships; but the intelligence they had scouted before that was this.
The two Hive Nests had bred and raised at least 100,000,000 Hive Motherships!
The gap between the two figures was large.
So the Order hive-race had been keeping at least half its forces hidden all along.
Now that half had at last been brought out in full.
Several staff officers at the side pointed to the interstellar holo-table before them.
"Your Majesty, Marshal. Once these 50,000,000 Hive Motherships enter the battlefield of the northern hive line, they will beyond doubt wreck the situation on the northern hive line that we have only just managed to steady."
"It may even bring about the outright collapse of our northern hive line."
"The legion fleets all along our hive line are under a heavy load from the fighting of this period. If they must engage these 50,000,000 Hive Motherships at full strength as well, the odds of victory are very low!"
Hearing the several staff officers' analysis,
Zhao Chen now understood why the Order hive-race had not thrown all of its hundred-million-odd Hive Motherships onto the battlefield in one go, but had split them into two waves.
For the battlefield was only so big.
It simply could not hold so many Hive Motherships besieging a handful of strategic points.
That being so, better to split them into two waves.
If the first attack could take the Owl Dragon's northern hive line, that would naturally be best.
If the first offensive could not take the northern hive line, then a second offensive would be sent.
Under this two-layered offensive, enormous pressure would be put on the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire!
Add to that the undead threat that had hung over the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire all along.
It had, beyond doubt, set the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire at a stroke on the edge of a cliff.
Yet the looks on Zhao Chen's and Charlotte's faces were comparatively very calm.
For having learned that the enemy had put less than half its forces on the battlefield, the Owl Dragon Empire's side had naturally readied itself for this long before.
"Charlotte, it seems the time has come to put that strategic plan you prepared into effect." Zhao Chen looked to Charlotte, remembering a proposal she had made several days earlier.
Charlotte nodded and at once looked to her subordinates. "Carry out the reserve battle plan, the 'Angel Line' plan!"
"Yes!"
……
Outside the northern hive line, in a silent star system, lying as it did between the northern hive line and the two Hive Nests, it could be called utterly deserted, a barren star region.
And now, in this barren star region, a squadron of T5 Phantasm-class Light Interstellar Stealth Scouts, which had long lain hidden here, showed itself.
"Reporting, Sector B confirmed: no energy readings of any kind."
"Reporting, Sector D is secure; no hive-race energy signals of any kind."
"Reporting…"
The flagship of this scout squadron.
The squadron leader heard these reports and said gravely, "Tighten the watch. Put out every interstellar scout craft and scout picket. The moment you find any suspicious fluctuation, report it at once."
"Yes!"
The squadron leader looked gravely at the interstellar holo-table before her; on it were red dots, one after another, and around each red dot a dotted sphere marking its scouting range.
These were the ranges each captain was responsible for scouting.
Under the close reconnaissance of these T5 Phantasm-class Light Interstellar Stealth Scouts, the absolute security of this region was assured.
She keyed the communications.
Because this was the rear of the Order hive-race's battlefield, communications here were not jammed.
"Home, home. This is Angel Line sentry. All normal on the Angel Line; the plan may proceed."
"Home receiving. Please continue to stand by, and ensure the smooth execution of the Angel Line plan."
"Understood."
Owl Dragon Star System.
Lilith had picked a T5 Frost-Tyrant-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Battlecruiser more or less at random as her flagship, and was now in a military-controlled zone of the Owl Dragon Star System.
"The forward side is ready. The next stage of the plan may proceed," Lilith passed the order over the command channel.
"Yes!"
"Received."
Two voices answered, one after the other.
Lilith gave no further instructions, for these planned operations had been rehearsed in their heads more times than anyone could count; there could be no error at all.
Lilith raised her head and looked in one direction beyond the bridge viewport.
There, an 'interstellar structure' that had been dark began by degrees to glow; 'light strips' appeared one after another across its outer faces, studding this 'interstellar structure'.
It was like a resplendent interstellar castle.
That was the T6 Angel City Fortress, which had long since been built and put into service!
Before, it had been like the faint glimmer of a grain of rice.
But now, fully powered up, it was more like a shining star.
From its completion until now, this Angel City Fortress had never been made public.
For it was simply too big, bigger than nearly every Owl Dragon technological structure built to date.
Second only to the recently completed T6 Steel Star City.
Its greatest diameter alone, over 6,000 kilometers, was enough to show its grandeur.
And its mass reached a terrifying 60,000,000,000 tons and more!
It was, in every sense, a small asteroid!
And an 'asteroid' armed to the teeth at that.
Its combat capability, leaving its mobility out of the reckoning, could fully rival an Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire second-line fleet 30,000 ships strong!
For no other reason than that the technologies it used were all of T6 grade, or quasi-T6 grade.
"Reporting, Angel City Fortress Number One preparing to initiate space jump. Jump-point coordinates entered. Countdown. Ten, nine… six… five… three… two… one…!"
To Lilith it was as though a sun had appeared before her eyes.
The glaring light forced her to look away.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the light was gone.
Where the Angel City Fortress had stood, there was nothing at all,
as if nothing had ever been there.
But Lilith knew it had set out for the battlefield that was its own.
It would become one of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's mainstays against that second wave of 50,000,000 Hive Motherships!
At the same time, another voice came over the command channel.
"The starship Southern Heaven Gate is ready. Now deploying. Estimated time required: sixty minutes."