The fighting on the outer battlefield bore splendid results.
But the core battle against the grade-five alien had fallen into deadlock.
Grade for grade, an alien creature stood second only to an interstellar warship, and was dozens of times stronger than an interstellar fighter of the same grade.
So, to destroy an alien creature of the same grade with interstellar fighters took at least a dozen times its number even to have a chance.
And that was only a chance.
And so,
five T5 Dragon-Fang fighters had been lost one after another, and still that target grade-five alien had not been brought down.
"All-channel broadcast. This is the Thirteenth Fleet. By our assessment, planet T77 has come under grave alien invasion and can no longer be held. From this moment, all personnel on the planet are to evacuate as quickly as possible. The Thirteenth Fleet is waiting outside the planet to receive all withdrawing interstellar warships, interstellar transports, shuttles and other craft. In twenty minutes the Thirteenth Fleet will carry out an orbital bombardment of the planet."
"Repeating…"
Zhao Chen listened to the broadcast in surprise.
An orbital bombardment in twenty minutes?
By Zhao Chen's memories, this body was a soldier garrisoning this planet.
This planet was no great world, but its population came to a full three billion!
How could they all be evacuated in twenty minutes?
Getting one percent out would be doing well.
This order was, beyond doubt, a death sentence on the civilians of this planet.
Those who could get out in those twenty minutes
were only military personnel, and the high officials and notables who had interstellar transports and private shuttles.
Zhao Chen could not help frowning.
But his standing now was only a soldier's; he had no power to intervene.
"All flight squadrons, hear the order. The earlier combat mission is canceled; withdraw from the battlefield at full speed at once and fly clear of this planet. Request landing aboard the Seventeenth Fleet's carrier starships!"[1]
At the word "withdraw."
Zhao Chen could hear on the command channel the sound of some letting out their breath in relief.
It seemed they themselves believed this planetary battle was past all hope of victory.
Withdrawing now, they still had a chance to live.
At that, the fighter pilots worked their interstellar fighters to pull out of the battlefield at speed.
Their maneuvers were sharper by far than in the fighting before.
But!
Unexpectedly, the grade-five alien that had been attacked so long without being destroyed seemed to take offense.
It had no wish at all to let these attackers go.
It roared, then came after them with a ring of aliens around it.
A Dragon-Fang fighter, the last to pull out, was soon surrounded by these aliens.
"Damn it! The aliens have caught me! Requesting support, requesting support. My star-shield value is nearly bottomed out… Damn… I'm hit. Support… support…"
On the command channel, the voice cut off.
There was no need to wonder what had happened.
Zhao Chen glanced behind him; that Dragon-Fang fighter, surrounded by aliens, had become a fireball and was falling toward the ground.
But more aliens kept coming after them.
These people's combat discipline truly was poor.
Zhao Chen listened: from the moment the withdrawal began, that squadron leader had given no further order.
She only used the greater speed of her own partly refitted Dragon-Fang fighter to get herself out fastest.
A military withdrawal, whether of interstellar fighters or interstellar warships,
does not mean that giving the order to retreat is the end of a battle.
Indeed it is a very critical juncture.
What might have been a thirty percent loss could, without a detailed withdrawal plan, even become the loss of an entire force.
Charlotte had once told Zhao Chen that back in the Revolutionary Army, though every battle she fought was a defeat.
She could always preserve as much of her own strength as possible in the retreat.
Charlotte had said.
A commander who can win battles is a competent commander.
A commander who can win battles and also hold down her own losses is an excellent commander.
A commander who, even in defeat, can bring her own losses to the least, that is a truly formidable commander!
Zhao Chen kept his Dragon-Fang fighter climbing,
while watching the situation too.
Their flight squadron had begun as thirty Dragon-Fang fighters.
In the air battle before, a third had been lost.
And in this short while, because of the aliens pursuing behind,
three more Dragon-Fang fighters had been caught and destroyed.
Zhao Chen looked at his own flight data.
Whether because of all the maneuvering before, or because of this Dragon-Fang fighter's airframe, his speed could not be brought up to its maximum.
At this rate, Zhao Chen's XG091 would sooner or later be caught too, with no time at all to get clear into space.
And behind Zhao Chen there were still six more XG091s.[2]
Zhao Chen had already reached his conclusion.
Without any intervention, in this headlong flight,
no more than five Dragon-Fang fighters would get away in the end.
Zhao Chen thought a moment, then pressed the transmit button on the command channel.
"This is XG091, this is XG091. Withdrawing as we are, every Dragon-Fang fighter will be caught by the aliens; we cannot get out safely at all. Rather than be killed off one by one by the aliens. I have a plan. But I need all of you to work with me. I know you may not trust me. If you don't, I have nothing more to say. Either way, death is only a matter of who goes first. I simply don't want to die like this without trying! Whether to hold your own fates in your hands. I leave to each of you to choose."
Zhao Chen's words ended.
And at once answers came over the command channel.
"XG722 here, willing to assist; give your instructions."
"XG877, tell me what to do!"
"XG176, I… I'm about to be caught. XG091, help me, quick!"
……
More and more spoke on the command channel.
Zhao Chen did not wait long; he gave them only ten seconds to think it over.
Then simply muted all their microphones.
He began giving out his combat orders.
Having heard Zhao Chen's orders,
these fighter pilots naturally all agreed, for the one taking the risk in it was not them but this XG091.
And they trusted this XG091 besides, for his showing before was enough to win them over.
"Good. In five seconds, we begin." Zhao Chen gave his last word.
Then he took a deep breath and threw his Dragon-Fang fighter into a 360-degree turn on the spot.
Facing the aliens coming up in pursuit below!