Looking at the man before him, who had nothing of an officer's bearing about him.
Zhao Chen was taken aback.
The major beside him at once barked, "The General asked you a question!"
Zhao Chen straightened at once and answered, "Reporting… reporting, General. I… I don't really know how I did it either. I was very tense at the time, and the fighter had no other weapons or ammunition left. Only this light-blade at my waist, so I drove my will into it as hard as I could. All I had in mind was to cut that alien down! Cut that alien down! I never thought the blade that came out would be so big…"
Zhao Chen put on an awkward face.
The brigadier general commander rubbed his chin, wearing a thoughtful look, and muttered to himself, "There is research that says a person's potential is roused when he is in danger. And there have been cases on the battlefield of someone wielding a light-blade far beyond himself at the moment between life and death. But… a light-blade thirty meters and more… that's a first…"
The brigadier general commander looked Zhao Chen up and down, suspicious.
The major beside him said at once, "General, why not have him try it here?"
The brigadier general commander brightened and nodded in agreement. "Just so. Better to see it with one's own eyes than to talk it over. All I know is your squadron's account, and some blurred footage from the interstellar fighters. Activate your light-blade here and now!"
The brigadier general commander watched Zhao Chen in excitement, as though waiting for some remarkable performance.
Zhao Chen hesitantly took the light-blade from his waist.
"What are you standing there for? Activate it, quick!" The major, seeing Zhao Chen so hesitant, urged him on.
"I… I'm just getting into the right state…" Zhao Chen said with a wry smile.
In fact, Zhao Chen was working out how to control this light-blade.
He could hardly bring out his thirty-meter giant blade here again.
That truly would be past explaining.
By the memories in his mind,
a user could in fact control such a blade.
But it took a very strong will to do it.
Zhao Chen took a deep breath.
Then began driving his will into the blade.
A beam of light appeared from the hilt and slowly lengthened, though not very fast.
Zhao Chen reckoned the length in his mind.
Stop!
At the turn of Zhao Chen's thought,
the light-blade truly stopped lengthening!
At last he fixed the blade's length within a normal range.
At the same time, Zhao Chen put on a face of great effort.
The blade had stopped growing.
The brigadier general looked at Zhao Chen, puzzled. "Is that all the length you have?"
"Yes… I… I've used everything I have! It may be because I drove it once before; I'm truly worn out now. Even holding it is hard."
With that, Zhao Chen dropped to the floor, gasping, beads of sweat on his forehead.
The light-blade faded away again.
He looked utterly spent.
This performance of his could surely have won a little gold statue.
"That would be it. Driving a blade that long just now must have cost your will and spirit a great deal. That you can call up a blade again at all shows you are somewhat stronger than others in this. It seems that your driving a blade that long was on the one hand because you have the gift and ability for it, and on the other because of the special circumstances you were in." The brigadier general settled the matter for Zhao Chen.
It let Zhao Chen breathe a long sigh of relief.
"But who taught you to fly a fighter like that?" The brigadier general narrowed his eyes at Zhao Chen again.
Well, then.
This 'interrogation' was not over yet.
"I like playing flight-simulator games of that kind in my spare time. In the games I use all sorts of stunts. Today the situation was desperate. And… and… and an old hand who was very good to me was killed. This light-blade at my waist was his; he reminded me to wear it before I took off." Zhao Chen put on a grief-stricken look.
Sorry, old master sergeant; I have to drag you out as an excuse just now.
"So during the fighting I was very angry. All I had in mind was revenge, and before I knew it I was doing what I do in the simulator. I never thought it would actually work. At the time it was as though I and the interstellar fighter had become one. I was a fierce hawk soaring free over the battlefield!"
The more Zhao Chen said, the more excited and fired up he grew.
He could not help standing up as he said it.
By the look of it, it truly was as he described.
Heaven, earth and man had all stood on his side in this battle.
Then, all of a sudden,
Zhao Chen's eye was caught by a burst of fire beyond the bridge viewport.
The interstellar warships in low orbit had opened fire.
Their fire was washing over the planet.
So the aliens that had appeared on this planet, however many.
Would all be washed away.
And washed away with them, of course, would be every living thing on this planet.
The brigadier general noticed the look in Zhao Chen's eyes and said flatly, "Do you think it cruel? It was my order. Do you think me a butcher?"
The question, thrown out so suddenly, caught Zhao Chen unprepared.
He lowered his head, in the manner of one who dares not speak.
"I am telling you to speak." The brigadier general had gone back to his captain's chair, and picked up a glass of wine beside him and drank it off.
"As an ordinary person, it is cruel. I haven't lived long on this planet, but I am flesh and blood too. But as a soldier, I know very well what ought and ought not to be done. Before the greater situation, a sacrifice like this… cannot be avoided," Zhao Chen said with his head down.
"Sacrifice…" The brigadier general repeated the word, and his mouth twisted, as though in some disdain.
Then he waved a hand and said, "You are a hero of this battle. I grant you the rank of master sergeant. Do well. You may go and rest. Oh, and. From now on you serve aboard my flagship. Join my interstellar fighter group; someone will take you through flying interstellar fighters afterward. If you can fly a ground-air fighter that well, interstellar fighters shouldn't be a problem."
With that, he looked at Zhao Chen no more.
Instead he turned his head to the burning planet beyond the bridge viewport, his gaze very deep,
wholly unlike the lively young man of a moment ago.
"Come with me," the major reminded Zhao Chen at his side.
"Yes, yes." Zhao Chen followed meekly behind the major.
"As for your posting afterward, there will be people to see to it for you. The General wanted to raise you straight to officer's rank. But to take a grade-six sergeant, in one battle, to an officer's rank of grade nine or above. Even a brigadier general has not that authority," the major said as he walked ahead, something that took Zhao Chen by surprise.
The General had even wanted to promote him; why should he think so much of him?
Zhao Chen was very surprised.