Tao Beibei at once began directing every department of the starship,
to steer around those swarming hive-race units.
No one would have thought there would still be a zone of interference laid by the Order hive-race here.
Coincidence, or arranged beforehand?
There was no knowing.
After all, both Hive Nests had now been destroyed.
For now, all they could do was find a way to get out of here fast.
But because of the T5 Starfield Venom-Blast Bugs, this T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship simply could not pick up speed.
They watched the time slip away, little by little.
All Zhao Chen and the others could do now was pray.
Pray that the catastrophe of the spatial collapse behind them would come a little slower.
Zhao Chen sat on his throne and took a deep breath.
He raised his hand and called up an operations page.
The withdrawal of the T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship now,
rested wholly with Tao Beibei and the others; there was nothing more for Zhao Chen to do.
But Zhao Chen had already begun to plan for the worst.
That concerned the three T6-grade technologies refreshed this quarter, from the start of July.
Zhao Chen had meant to wait until the business of the two Hive Nests was settled before redeeming those three T6 technologies,
and drawing up new build plans.
But as things stood now.
Zhao Chen had to be ready for the worst.
So, without a word, he began swiftly editing a series of data files.
The Panther-Girl, beside him, looked in surprise at what His Majesty the Emperor was editing.
She could not understand it, but it seemed very important.
His Majesty the Emperor, at a time like this, editing these things.
It set the Panther-Girl thinking of a certain possibility.
She clenched her fists and walked up to Tao Beibei, whose face was all anxiety.
She seized her by the collar, lowered her voice, and said with a note of threat, "I'm telling you! Whatever it takes, you must get His Majesty out safely. Even if all of us die. His Majesty must not come to the least harm! Do you understand?"
Tao Beibei, without the least ceremony, shook the Panther-Girl's hand off her collar.
In times past she would never have dared do such a thing.
The Panther-Girl was only Zhao Chen's guard.
But no one dared show her the least disrespect.
But now she could not care less what standing this Panther-Girl had.
She looked at the Panther-Girl before her, her voice just as anxious, and said impatiently, "Don't tell me how to do my job. As things are, all we can do is work our way out bit by bit. There's no other way. If you have one, you can take charge. If you don't, please stand quietly to one side. I don't need you to tell me how important His Majesty is. If I could, I'd trade my life and the lives of every crewman on this starship for His Majesty's safety right now!"
With that, paying the Panther-Girl beside her no heed, she went on with what she was doing.
Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead.
The Panther-Girl looked at Tao Beibei before her, wholly unlike the easily flustered girl she had been before.
She, too, knew very well how things stood.
The Panther-Girl took a deep breath and said nothing more.
She stood quietly by Zhao Chen's side.
Many possibilities went through her mind, but she dismissed them all.
In a situation like this, only this interstellar warship could carry them out of here.
Otherwise there was only one end: death!
……
T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought · bridge.
Lilith had just arrived here by shuttle; she stepped down from the shuttle.
At once she had people take her to Charlotte's delivery room.
But she had not gone many steps,
when a message stopped her short.
Lilith stared at the message in shock.
It was top-secret information sent by Marshal Chu Xuan, commander of the Owl Dragon Second Imperial Fleet Group.
The starship His Majesty the Emperor is aboard, whereabouts unknown…
The star system of the Hive Nest is about to undergo spatial collapse…
Lilith's body swayed without her meaning it to, as though she might fall.
Luckily the adjutant beside her caught Lilith in time.
"Ma'am, what's wrong?" the adjutant beside her asked, looking at Lady Lilith in surprise.
"I… I'm fine." Lilith composed her face, keeping it as unmoved as she could.
But her mind had long since drifted who knew where.
Soon Lilith came before Charlotte's delivery room.
"How long has she been in?" Lilith asked the guard waiting at the door.
"About an hour," the guard answered.
"How much longer, do they expect?" Lilith asked next.
"We don't know… The medical petty officer said about three to five hours, if all goes normally. Because Grand Marshal Charlotte said before that she wants a natural birth, no surgery, and none of the technological equipment either. Not even anesthetic," the guard said.
In this age of technology there was in fact a great deal of technological equipment to aid childbirth.
And a good many chose a caesarean; after all, in this age a scar on the belly could very easily be removed.
Those who chose natural birth were few indeed.
Among the beast-folk, though, this was comparatively common.
It seemed a kind of cultural habit: they all held natural birth to be the proper way for life to come into the world.
Only a naturally born child would grow up healthy and clever.
So, unless there was no other choice, the beast-folk seldom chose technological equipment to aid a birth, or a caesarean.
"Very well, I understand. Stay here, all of you. I'm going to deal with something over there." Lilith left the word with the group around her.
Then she turned and walked to a far corner.
Lilith stood alone in the corner, glanced around, then dropped a concealment device on the floor so that what she said could not be heard outside.
After that she got straight through to Chu Xuan.
Chu Xuan answered the call request with great speed.
Lilith looked at Chu Xuan across from her.
Chu Xuan's face was very tense and anxious, with nothing at all of the calm air she usually had as fleet commander and imperial marshal.
"What's the situation? Tell it again in detail!" Lilith had read the message, but still she required her to tell it again.
Had anyone been watching Lilith, they would have seen that her fists were clenched.
Marshal Chu Xuan at once told Secretary Lilith everything that had happened, point by point.
Then Marshal Chu Xuan said, "We're all trying to reach His Majesty right now. We've even sent out as many interstellar stealth scout ships as we can within the safe range. But there's still no trace of T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1, the ship His Majesty is aboard! And by our researchers' calculations, if it hasn't withdrawn to a safe area within twenty minutes, all matter within this star system will be knocked back into a two-dimensional state!"