"XG091, enter flight lane HG221; you are third in line, and will land on landing strip 17."
Just then the guide officer's voice came over the communication channel.
Zhao Chen held down the questions in his heart for the time being.
And flew the Dragon-Fang fighter by the guide officer's instructions, landing precisely on this carrier starship's strip 17.
As Zhao Chen looked at this carrier starship.
Information on the class surfaced in his mind by itself.
T5 Colossus-class Medium Carrier Starship.
A fairly common T5-grade carrier starship, and one of the main ship types.
As Zhao Chen began his landing.
He noticed something was not quite right.
For he saw, sharp-eyed, that none of the other Dragon-Fang fighters of his flight squadron were landing on this T5 carrier starship.
Several of them were landing on the T4 carrier starships around it.
The Dragon-Fang fighter was T5 grade.
But because it was a ground-based air fighter, able to fly in space, yes, but not a true interstellar fighter.
Its real grade should be called quasi-T5.
Generally, when carried aboard a carrier starship, it was a T4 carrier.
Chances to come aboard a T5 carrier were rare.
Could his feat earlier have drawn the attention of whoever held power in this fleet?
Zhao Chen thought of the one possibility.
But now Zhao Chen had no chance to refuse.
Here he was only a fighter pilot with the rank of sergeant.
However great his abilities, before these interstellar warships he was a matter of one shot from a ship's gun.
The Dragon-Fang fighter rolled to a landing.
It all went smoothly, and it came to rest on the elevator platform.
Then the platform began to sink slowly beneath the flight deck.
Below was the real hangar.
This was a hangar for crewed interstellar fighters.
So there were a great many people here.
Clank.
With a sound of steel on steel,
Zhao Chen formally entered this hangar.
He looked around through the cockpit glass.
Two rows of interstellar fighters stood there, and they were not Dragon-Fang fighters.
They were another, truly T5-grade craft.
T5 Dragon-Hawk-class Medium Interstellar Fighter.
Zhao Chen noticed that around his position a squad of soldiers was already waiting for him.
What must be met cannot be avoided.
Zhao Chen opened the canopy and took off his helmet.
He stood up.
Ground crew had already wheeled over a lift so that Zhao Chen could come down.
Zhao Chen moved slowly and came down the lift.
The light-blade hilt still hung at his waist.
It was the one the master sergeant called Old Chen had given him, and it had given him a chance to live not long before.
"What is this about…" Zhao Chen, his tactical helmet in one hand, looked at the squad before him in puzzlement.
He stole a glance at their ranks.
The highest, at their head, was a major.
It seemed this world's ranks were much like those Zhao Chen knew.
And for a mere sergeant of the ground air arm to have a major waiting on him, the business was surely not simple.
Which was why Zhao Chen put on a look of bewilderment.
"You are the pilot of XG091." The major looked Zhao Chen up and down.
Zhao Chen hesitated, but nodded all the same.
"Reporting, sir, I am XG091."
The major stated his purpose: "Our fleet commander has learned of your showing on that planet. You covered your flight squadron's withdrawal, cut down a grade-five alien, and worked with your comrades to destroy a great many grade-four and grade-three aliens. Our fleet commander wishes to commend you in person. Now come with us to the bridge."
The fleet commander…
Could this carrier starship be this fleet's flagship?
Zhao Chen put on a look of surprise and nervousness.
"The fleet commander? The fleet commander wants to see me?"
Seeing Zhao Chen's face, the major was not the least surprised; after all, their fleet commander was a brigadier general.
For a sergeant of that sort, to meet a brigadier general was a blessing earned over a lifetime.
And to be commended by a brigadier general face to face,
that was something else again!
And this brigadier general was no ordinary man.
His standing was special, and he had himself come up as an interstellar fighter pilot; he loved interstellar fighters.
Which was why he had chosen a carrier starship as his flagship.
A fleet commander's tastes, to some degree, shaped the fleet as well.
"Don't be nervous. It's a commendation, not a punishment. Come along now," the major said calmly.
"Yes." Zhao Chen stood straight and saluted.
Then made ready to follow.
But the major, seeing the tactical helmet Zhao Chen still carried, smiled slightly. "There's no need to bring your helmet to see the fleet commander."
"Oh…" Zhao Chen seemed only now to notice he was still carrying the helmet.
He at once handed the tactical helmet to the ground crew beside him.
And followed along meekly.
Led by the major, Zhao Chen came to this carrier starship's bridge.
Along the way, Zhao Chen noted details inside the carrier starship.
And, putting them together with the bridge,
he came to a judgment.
This carrier starship… never mind comparing it with his own T5 Fire-Qilin-class Heavy Carrier Starship.
Even a T4 Fallen-Angel-class Super-Heavy Carrier Starship might well be able to give it a fight.
But Zhao Chen still played the country cousin gaping at the great house,
looking about him without pause.
The major walking ahead was in fact quietly sizing up this ground-air fighter pilot as well.
Seeing him carry on so, he smiled a little scornfully to himself.
Dazzling showing or not, the fellow was low-born after all.
Most likely he had never even set foot on a T5 interstellar warship.
But recalling the performance he had watched earlier, it was truly hard to believe this lad could have done it,
still less the startling rumor.
"Reporting, as you instructed. I have brought the man." By now Zhao Chen had followed the major to the bridge's command platform, where there was a captain's chair.
A very young man sat in the captain's chair just then, one leg crossed over the other.
At first sight of this man,
Zhao Chen could tell he was not the stuff of a fleet commander.
He had rather the air of a wastrel son of a great house.
But he had none of the airs of office either.
For on hearing that Zhao Chen had come.
The man rose hurriedly and came over to stand before him,
looking Zhao Chen up and down in excitement.
"So you're the XG091 who flew that Dragon-Fang fighter?"
Zhao Chen quietly checked this man's rank again.
That was right: a brigadier general.
It seemed this man's background and standing were out of the ordinary, that without ability he could still be put in this post.
One can imagine how much weight was behind him.
Zhao Chen said respectfully, "I am."
"Then that light-blade of yours, thirty meters and more, how did you bring it out? Do it again, let me have a look!"