Owl Dragon Star System.
Chief Engineer Annie, once woken this time, was not the least bit sleepy anymore.
She sat in her office with an odd look on her face.
Somehow, she could not shake a feeling of unease,
all because of His Majesty's call to her just now.
Just then several messages popped up on her side.
They concerned the T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships.
The T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships had gone and come back!
Because these T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships had still been in the stage of trial runs and data collection, and had not yet been fully handed over to the Owl Dragon military.
A good deal of data from her side was still aboard them.
And because of these ships' special nature, Chief Engineer Annie had also placed some security code in the data segments of the thirty T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships.
One of its functions was location.
And now that these T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships had gone and come back, the related information reached her automatically.
Without a word, Chief Engineer Annie used her own authorization to contact the captains of these T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships.
"Major General Cao Yun. What's happening over there? What did His Majesty call you over in such a hurry for?" Chief Engineer Annie had just caught T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ship No. 1, with Major General Cao Yun aboard, on its return.
"Every ship, confirm whether all the interstellar warships have come back!" Major General Cao Yun gave her subordinates some instructions.
Then she turned to the video window already open.
In this period, because of the testing and data collection on the T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships and the like,
Major General Cao Yun and Chief Engineer Annie had come to know each other fairly well, and were on good terms in private.
So Major General Cao Yun told her all about the mission she had carried out, and everything she had seen.
"What? A spatial collapse, collapsing from three dimensions to two?" Chief Engineer Annie was dumbstruck.
Starship technology was her main field as an engineer, but she knew something of spatial technology too.
Yet technology that turned three-dimensional space into two-dimensional space was still somewhat hard to believe.
"And His Majesty, did he get out safely with you?" Chief Engineer Annie asked.
"Because there were too many interstellar warships to withdraw. Even with our thirty T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships, we couldn't cover the withdrawal of every interstellar warship. There were hundreds of thousands of interstellar warships there, after all, T6 and T5 interstellar warships among them. As bad luck would have it. As things stood then, if we'd taken His Majesty's T6 flagship out, hundreds or thousands of other Owl Dragon-series interstellar warships might have been left behind. But fortunately. By the rate of spatial collapse that the research department on His Majesty's flagship worked out, a T6-grade interstellar warship using warp travel should be able to get to a safe area before the collapse reached it."
Hearing Major General Cao Yun's words,
chief Engineer Annie frowned slightly, but still said nothing.
For the unease in her heart grew stronger.
But some of her guesses she could not say aloud.
……
Owl Dragon Second Fleet Group · flagship bridge.
'Starship intelligent-system notice: this ship has left warp and arrived at the designated point; now in automatic-pilot mode.'
Chu Xuan looked at the universe beyond the bridge viewports, back to normal now.
At once she ordered her subordinates: "Contact the interstellar warships of every unit. Have they all got clear of the danger zone!"
"Yes!"
"Reporting, Marshal, eighty percent of our Second Fleet Group's interstellar warships have come out of warp and entered the safe zone."
"Reporting, word from Major General Cao Yun. The interstellar warships that jumped with the T6 Emerald Dreams have all arrived safely in the Owl Dragon Star System."
"Reporting, General Xue Xiaoxiao's Imperial Fourth Fleet Group has reached the safe zone."
"Contacting the Emperor's Guard Fleet now."
"Reporting, the Hell-Angel ace fleet group…"
Listening to these reports as they came in, one by one.
Chu Xuan, however, frowned.
She raised her hand, signaling everyone to be silent.
"We haven't reached His Majesty's flagship?"
Everyone looked to the communications petty officer in charge of contacting the Emperor's flagship.
This communications petty officer looked somewhat frantic, repeating her operations over and over.
The same operations, under everyone's gaze, she had already gone through several times.
At last, her face all over sweat, she looked to Marshal Chu Xuan. "Marshal… we… can't reach His Majesty the Emperor's flagship. T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1!"
"What's happening? Why can't we reach it!" Chu Xuan demanded loudly.
The technology of T6-grade interstellar warships now no longer even needed to go into hibernation mode under warp.
Nor would communications suffer much interference.
Being unable to make contact like this was simply impossible.
In that moment Chu Xuan's heart leaped into her throat.
At once she ordered: "All communications departments, hail His Majesty's flagship on every channel."
"Yes!"
"This is the flagship of the Imperial Second Fleet Group, calling T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1! If you hear, please answer! If you hear, please answer!"
"This is…"
Not only this flagship, nearly every Owl Dragon-series interstellar warship that could make contact was trying to reach His Majesty the Emperor's flagship just then.
But all these calls were like stones sunk in the sea.
Not the least response.
And at this moment Zhao Chen's flagship, T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1, had indeed run into something unforeseen.
Boom!
The whole interstellar warship shook violently, and the bridge flashed with the red light of alarms.
"What's going on?" Zhao Chen frowned at this T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship, which had abruptly slowed.
It had been in warp.
But who would have thought that on reaching this region it would drop speed outright?
Then attacks struck the hull in many places.
The alarms sounded.
"We… we seem to have been caught by a warp interdiction just now! And then hit by the enemy's interstellar mines!" Tao Beibei's face was deathly pale.
"Warp interdiction? Interstellar mines?" Zhao Chen's face changed.
He looked at once out the bridge viewport and could see some 'specks of light'.
Magnified.
He saw familiar things.
T5 Starfield Venom-Blast Bugs… T5 Dimension Ghost-Bugs… T5 Starlight Fireflies…
These were the special Order hive-race unit types that had appeared on the northern hive line battlefield.
Who would ever have thought they would appear here?
"Scan the number of T5 Starfield Venom-Blast Bugs in this region. Find a way to sail out of this region at once, then go to warp at full speed!" Zhao Chen showed not the least sign of panic.
For at a time like this, panic was of no use at all.
What had to be done was to race against every second!