Almost at once,
Charlotte and Lilith, on hearing the news, hurried to the site.
The staff in charge of this business, seeing the Empire's Grand Marshal and the supreme secretary officer both come in person.
All wore looks of astonishment.
Then someone at once came before the two and reported, "We greet the Grand Marshal and the Lady Secretary."
"You have received life signals from personnel serving aboard T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1?" Charlotte asked at once.
The staff member nodded and said, "About an hour ago. We received a batch of life signals. On screening them. We found that some of the signals came from the current crew roster of T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1."
For after every great campaign there were vast numbers of dead.
And the equipment for the revival program was limited.
Which meant 'queuing' could hardly be avoided.
Sometimes reviving one of the dead might mean a wait of half a month.
Fortunately, life signals did not disperse quickly in the environment of space.
By research, signals of this kind lasted about half a year at least.
"Let me see!" Lilith required.
The head at once called up a data page.
On it could be seen a list of those to be revived, with their identity details after each, including the interstellar warship they served on and the legion fleet they belonged to.
Du Ange
Age: 21; rank: private second class; time in service: 6 months; post…
Liu Yufei
Age: 25; rank: master sergeant; time in service: 1 year 6 months; post…
Zhu Jiawen
Age: 27; rank: warrant officer; time in service: 2 years 6 months; post: bridge…
……
A glance down the list showed six people.
The lowest in rank was a private third class, the highest a warrant officer serving on the bridge.
"Only six?" Lilith asked with a frown.
It must be understood that aboard a T6-grade interstellar warship the crew numbered tens of thousands at the least.
How could there be life signals from only these few crew?
The head shook her head and said helplessly, "So far we have indeed received the life signals of only these six serving crew."
"How can that be?" Charlotte found it past understanding.
Lilith, for her part, analyzed it: "It may have to do with how they died. The manner of their death was the fall from three-dimensional space into two-dimensional space. Before this, none of our fallen soldiers had ever died in such a way. So it cannot be ruled out that there was some degree of interference where space itself is concerned. But six soldiers have been received already, which is a good beginning; so long as more life signals are gathered afterward. It means the crew aboard this T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1 may all be revived as usual. Reasoning along that possibility…"
Light came into Charlotte's eyes too. "Which is to say… he… might also, by this means…"
Perhaps in view of the subordinates present,
Charlotte did not finish the sentence.
But Lilith had understood.
She nodded to Charlotte.
But the careful-minded Lilith thought of more factors.
Before this, this revival plan, which loaded a reviving will into a clone.
Had only ever been used on women soldiers.
And considering that Zhao Chen recruited only women crew.
Might it be that this technology could revive only women, and not men?
If so, whether Zhao Chen himself could be revived by this means was an unknown.
But at least, for now, it could give outsiders some confidence.
Lilith looked at the head and said gravely, "From now on. The life signals of every crew member serving aboard T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1 are to enter the revival process at once. And the whole revival stage is top secret. Nothing is to be let out. These revived must also be placed in an area cut off from the outside, and without our consent. They are not to communicate with anyone outside. Limit the number of people who have contact with them; anyone who must have contact will be held to the highest level of secrecy regulations."
In the past, because the number to be revived was sometimes vast.
Two modes were often used.
The first was that those of higher rank could be revived first.
Those of general's rank, and those of field officer's rank,
were revived first unconditionally.
Because they were often commanders, or at the least a starship's captain.
Their own value was higher.
The second was queuing.
Whoever's life signal was gathered first was revived first.
Which meant that sometimes, when the revived were many, a wait of half a month might be needed.
But with this order of Lilith's,
every serving soldier and crew member of T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1 would be given special arrangements.
"Yes." The head nodded and noted it down.
"The moment anyone is revived, recovers their will, and reaches the stage of being able to talk. Notify us at once!" Charlotte added.
She was following this matter very closely.
"Yes." The head nodded.
What came next was, naturally, waiting.
And in the course of the waiting,
there was good news as well.
More life signals of personnel serving aboard T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1 appeared, one after another.
But they did not appear very often.
Often only two or three were gathered in an hour; at that rate, a day yielded fewer than a hundred.
And if it went on so,
with the tens of thousands aboard the T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship,
it would take nearly a year.
Whether it would go so, though, remained to be seen.
Three days later.
Charlotte and Lilith came here again.
More precisely, they came to a convalescent room.
It was a private convalescent room.
In the past, a convalescent room of this grade was for generals and field officers only.
But now the one here was a mere warrant officer.
But she was the first crew member of T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1 to recover consciousness fully and be able to talk.
The door opened wide.
This warrant officer, named Zhu Jiawen, saw Grand Marshal Charlotte and Secretary Lilith come in together,
while the head of the facility waited outside.
Seeing the two appear, Warrant Officer Zhu Jiawen at once made to get out of bed.
But though her will had recovered, her body was not yet fully hers; she had come back only so far as being able to pick up chopsticks with her hand.
"No need for ceremony." Charlotte stopped the warrant officer.
Lilith stood at the bedside and asked outright, "We only want to ask you one thing. What happened aboard T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship No. 1?"