By now a video window had appeared before Zhao Chen.
On the other side was none other than the commander of Angel City Fortress Number One, the mermaid Haina.
The mermaid Haina wore a specially made Owl Dragon uniform; with a human body and a fish's tail, she had a charm all her own.
For there were not only humans in the Owl Dragon forces, but great numbers of half-beast-folk and other races as well.
So there were many specially made uniform patterns suited to each race, and with the stretch of the material besides, they could meet the needs of nearly every interstellar race.
"Your Majesty, Grand Marshal. Angel City Fortress Number One has reached the target position according to the original plan. All is going smoothly. At present Angel City Fortress Number One is in the stage of full deployment; the process is expected to take one hour to complete," the mermaid Haina said formally.
Looking closely at the mermaid Haina, one could see a faint shimmer, like rippling water, on the outer layer of her skin.
That was because the mermaid people, though amphibious, needed a watery environment all the more for their bodies.
So for this special people, there was supporting technology to match.
The mermaid Haina, for instance, wore the Water Pearl; about its wearer the Water Pearl drew together water molecules, forming a film like a 'water bubble' that floated upon the wearer's surface.
That way, the mermaid Haina could live under ordinary conditions like any ordinary Owl Dragon crewman.
And to make it easier for her tail to get about, she wore 'specially made shoes' that let her hover off the floor.
But to return to the matter at hand,
Zhao Chen looked at this Owl Dragon major general of rather special standing before him.
"Very good. From here on, the combat mission of the Angel Line is chiefly in your charge. Later, once the starship Southern Heaven Gate has finished deploying and set up the Star Gate, further Owl Dragon fleets will arrive to assist in the fighting. Because the Order hive-race has means of interfering with space, we cannot guarantee that the battlefield position you hold will stay in contact with the rear in future. Perhaps the Star Gate the Southern Heaven Gate puts up may become unusable at any moment. You must be ready to lose contact with the rear. When that time comes, you will have to face every danger alone. Is that understood, Major General Haina!" Zhao Chen said gravely.
Major General Haina the mermaid stood straight and said formally, "Rest assured, Your Majesty and Grand Marshal. I know my responsibility. Whatever happens, I will make sure the combat mission of Angel City Fortress Number One goes forward as it should."
Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied.
He thought back: the mermaid Haina, chieftainess of the Siren tribe, had given up her place as chieftainess and joined the Owl Dragon legions.
Because this 'new recruit' was so out of the ordinary.
The people below who handled the enlistment of recruits had specially brought her file before Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen had given it a little attention, then told the people below to put her through the ordinary enlistment and training.
As Zhao Chen had seen it at first, this mermaid chieftainess perhaps wished to show her loyalty before the Owl Dragon legions.
But he had never imagined that this Chieftainess Haina would work so very hard at her studies.
Her gift was not great, but she had a heart that yearned for the stars and the sea.
And in the end, by her own efforts, she had taken a wholly different road.
In several captain-track assessments, she had never reached the results expected.
In the end, on the advice of a certain instructor, she had tried the line of interstellar fortress and military star-port command.
It was just that one choice.
That let Captain Haina show an astonishing gift on a track she had never thought of.
She was a commander very skilled at defense and positional warfare.
Especially at tasks of the kind that meant marshaling and dispatching a known quantity of military force, as with an interstellar fortress.
She took the best results in this field.
That was why she had been able to become commander of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's first T6 Angel City Fortress.
It rested wholly on her own gift and effort, and had nothing whatever to do with her standing.
The seemingly delicate mermaid lady hid a heart of a wholly different kind.
"So long as communications hold, report anything back at once," Charlotte reminded her from the side.
"Yes!"
The contact ended there for the time being.
Zhao Chen looked at the closed communication window.
He looked to Charlotte beside him. "Do you think there is any problem with Haina in charge of this plan?"
"Haven't you always held to 'use no man you doubt; doubt no man you use'?" Charlotte looked at Zhao Chen with a smile.
Zhao Chen could not help laughing. "I had quite forgotten that. Since I took this seat, I feel I no longer have the free and easy heart I used to have."
It was so: the throne beneath him did not feel to Zhao Chen like being raised on high.
Rather it felt to Zhao Chen as though it were countless chains, binding his whole body and locking him fast here, once and for all.
Very often it left Zhao Chen feeling he could not breathe.
Charlotte said nothing more on the matter.
She knew too that the pressure on Zhao Chen now far exceeded what it had been.
He was no longer the commander of a fleet, or of a legion, that he had once been.
He was the Emperor, who had to hold the whole Empire in his hands!
Two utterly different positions would naturally work utterly different changes in a person.
"I think Major General Haina can carry out this battle plan perfectly well," Charlotte said, in a tone of unshakable certainty.
"Why?" Zhao Chen was somewhat surprised; he had not thought Charlotte would put such trust in Major General Haina, who so far had never once shone in actual combat in the Owl Dragon Empire's fleets.
For it must be understood that Haina's being a one-star major general now was largely owing to her assessment results, and to the merit she had earned in preparing the T6 Angel City Fortress, choosing its personnel, drilling it for combat, and the like.
Originally she had been only a brigadier general.
But in view of this mission's importance, she had been promoted in the field and appointed a one-star major general.
If Haina did not perform outstandingly in this battle, she would surely be attacked by others as the least accomplished one-star major general there was.
So this battle mattered to Haina above all.
She was permitted only to win, never to lose!
"Do you know? On the planet where Major General Haina lived, the mermaids do not have especially strong bodies within the Siren tribe, and they do not breed prolifically either. Yet they survive in the great sea, and hold a place of real weight within the Siren tribe. Do you know why?" Charlotte asked.
Zhao Chen shook his head.
"Whether in the sea, on land, or in the sky, wherever there are living things, there is strife. The Siren tribe is the same. And the seemingly weak mermaid people, facing other vicious creatures of the sea, can show a capacity for fighting as a group. They work together, fight chiefly on the defense, and beat their opponents every time. They are like the conductors of the great sea, directing the shoals of fish that obey them to guard their strongholds. I have seen footage of their battles; it is nothing short of the art of defense! And this mermaid chieftainess Haina is said to be a genius among the mermaid people."
Charlotte was still smiling as she finished saying this.
Since Charlotte had such faith in this commander from the mermaid people,
Zhao Chen, naturally, had unconditional faith in Charlotte.
"Then it remains to be seen whether this Angel Line can carry out its task as it should." Zhao Chen looked at the battlefields all over the interstellar holo-table.
……
Angel City Fortress Number One.
At this moment the mermaid commander Haina was making her final battle deployments.
She was no fool; she knew very well what it meant that she had been given the rank of one-star major general with no combat record whatever.
And she knew what lay behind it.
Not a few people were watching her.
Everyone was watching to see whether this one-star major general had been watered down.
If there were any flaw in her performance in this battle, others would have plenty to say.
And in truth it was not only the talk of others; she herself might well be unable to accept it.
For it would make her feel she had betrayed the Grand Marshal's trust.
The Grand Marshal had once come to talk with her.
Because of the special circumstances now, and because the post of interstellar fortress commander was a rather special one, there had so far been no suitable occasion to give her fighting that would supply her with combat experience and a record.
Yet without sufficient rank, it would not do to put her first in command of so important a combat mission.
So, well before this, the Grand Marshal had told her of the position she might face in future.
That had been before she learned that this T6 Angel City Fortress was to be built.
It had been a question the Grand Marshal set before her, a choice to make.
The present state of affairs showed plainly what choice she had made then.
To tell the truth, she did not fear failure; what she feared was failing those who trusted her.
So this battle was not permitted to fail!
"Reporting, the starship Southern Heaven Gate has appeared!" Just as Commander Haina was still going over whether her battle deployment had any gaps.
The adjutant beside her spoke up to alert her.
Commander Haina raised her head and looked out the viewport; in the star region far off, which had been empty, a shining Star Gate had appeared.
"So that is the starship Southern Heaven Gate… you truly cannot tell at all that it is an interstellar warship," the adjutant beside her said in wonder.
Not she alone, Commander Haina, too, was seeing this interstellar warship in its true form for the first time.
Before this, she had only heard from the Grand Marshal an account of what this interstellar warship could do; after all, in this battle, it had to work closely with their interstellar fortress.
As chance would have it.
Just then a video communication request popped up before Commander Haina.
The note on it named none other than the captain of the T6 starship Southern Heaven Gate.
"Hello, I am the captain of the starship Southern Heaven Gate, Jiang Xiaoni." On the other side was a woman who looked very young.
"Xiaoni, who would have thought it was you?" Commander Haina looked at the captain on the other side in some surprise.
It was, of all people, a good friend from her own intake.
"Sister Haina!" Jiang Xiaoni was taken aback too, and said it with some delight.
Because the appointments to these special interstellar warships and machines of war were all secret, even old classmates and good friends would not tell one another after graduation where they had been posted.
These two had entered the Owl Dragon Military Academy in the same intake.
The Owl Dragon Military Academy, now also called the Owl Dragon Royal Military Academy, was in fact an interstellar school made up of Goddess Academy-class starships,
devoted to training talent for the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire.
And Jiang Xiaoni and Haina were both among the talents picked out by Zhao Chen, Charlotte and Lilith as fit for the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's future.
Only, compared with Haina, Jiang Xiaoni's gift and ability were a notch lower; but because she was very young, not yet eighteen, there was great room for her to grow and be trained.
So she had been given a post like the T6 starship Southern Heaven Gate on purpose, not very important, yet one that took her to the front-line battlefield in person, so that Jiang Xiaoni could build up more battlefield experience,
laying the groundwork for her growth to come.
"Who would have thought you are now the captain of the starship Southern Heaven Gate!" Commander Haina looked at Jiang Xiaoni, whom she had regarded at the academy as a little sister, her face beaming with a smile.
Jiang Xiaoni said happily too, "I never thought it either, that you, Sister, would be the commander of the Angel City Fortress, and the commander of this Angel Line combat mission as well."
Perhaps something came to her mind.
Jiang Xiaoni put away the smile on her face, looked very gravely at Haina, saluted first, and then said, "Jiang Xiaoni, captain of the starship Southern Heaven Gate, under orders to assist the commander of the Angel City Fortress in the combat mission of the Angel Line. Commander Haina, your instructions!"
Seeing Jiang Xiaoni carry herself so, Commander Haina naturally knew very well what it meant.
She too put away her smile and said formally, "Report to me how the starship Southern Heaven Gate is running now, and how the Star Gate arrangements stand!"
"The starship Southern Heaven Gate is operating normally in every respect. A Star Gate passage has now been established to the Owl Dragon Star System, and traffic is at present normal in every respect," Jiang Xiaoni answered.
"Very good. Your task from here on is to make sure the Southern Heaven Gate keeps working normally. Interstellar transport to and fro must not have the least problem. Whether our Angel Line can carry out the task His Majesty the Emperor has given us depends not only on the Angel City Fortress; your Southern Heaven Gate matters greatly too. Is that understood!" Commander Haina said.
Jiang Xiaoni straightened with a start, then said, "Your subordinate understands. Rest assured, Commander, so long as I am here, the Southern Heaven Gate will work normally. I guarantee absolutely the Angel City Fortress's logistics supply, and the smooth arrival of interstellar fleet reinforcements!"
Commander Haina looked at Jiang Xiaoni and smiled in understanding.
Jiang Xiaoni on the other side smiled too.
It felt just like the days at the academy, when the two of them ran simulated combat exercises against each other.
Who would have thought that now it had truly come about.
"Sister Haina, rest assured. I will be sure to work well with you. And I believe you will surely carry out this combat mission the Emperor has given! You have always been the one I am chasing after in my heart," Jiang Xiaoni said encouragingly.
Commander Haina was about to speak.
Just then the adjutant beside her said urgently, "Reporting, the interstellar scout ships we sent out have sent back word. A wave of Order hive fleets is already on its way toward us. It is expected to reach our fortress's combat range within an hour."
Commander Haina's face turned grave, and she said at once, "Pass the order down: every combat unit of the Angel Line, make ready for battle!"