Lieutenant Zhang and Zhao Chen went first to the hangar.
What stood here were, naturally, this carrier starship's own craft, all of a kind.
T5 Dragon-Hawk-class Medium Interstellar Fighters.
And here too were no few interstellar fighter pilots already training, or studying their own fighters.
It was not a time for fighting now.
But as an interstellar fighter pilot, one spent the greater part of one's service alongside one's fighter.
"You may have heard of the T5 Colossus-class Medium Carrier Starship before, but I still need to give you a proper introduction to our mother ship here. Never mind that we're only fighter pilots. We have to know our mother ship very well too." Lieutenant Zhang walked ahead of Zhao Chen, explaining with a smile.
So far, this Lieutenant Zhang truly was a fine senior.
"This T5 Colossus-class Medium Carrier Starship carries chiefly interstellar fighters and interstellar drones. I'll keep the drones brief: five million interstellar drones in all. And three hundred thousand interstellar fighters of various models."
As he gave these figures, Lieutenant Zhang's face was all pride.
And he did not forget to add: "This T5 Colossus-class Medium Carrier Starship may be only a medium-sized ship. But it is the most numerous warship in service in the whole Star Alliance. And it was the first T5-grade warship the White Rose Group built. There are rumors that White Rose will soon bring out a T5-grade heavy carrier starship. But for a while yet, nothing can take this carrier's place in the Alliance."
Zhao Chen looked around at the carrier with worshipful eyes.
That attitude and that look greatly gratified Lieutenant Zhang's vanity, and he worked all the harder to explain things to the newcomer.
In truth Zhao Chen was unimpressed.
This carrying capacity was not a sixth of his own T5 Fire-Qilin-class Heavy Carrier Starship's.
As everyone knows, a carrier starship's fighting power.
Is decided by the number of interstellar fighters it carries and how good those craft are.
The two decide a carrier's fighting power outright!
So in Zhao Chen's mind this T5 Colossus-class Medium Carrier Starship was no very fine carrier at all.
Indeed, once Zhao Chen learned the White Rose Group had built it, he rather doubted the story.
For it did not look like something a crosser had pulled out with a golden finger.
It was too far below the mark.
But none of this could Zhao Chen know now.
He could only put on a face that said this warship truly was splendid!
"And aboard our mother ship there are a hundred flight groups in all. Each flight group holds three thousand interstellar fighters. We belong to the Third Flight Group. Mind you, our numbering isn't random. Our Third Flight Group ranks among the top three aboard this carrier in overall strength." Lieutenant Zhang could not help lifting his head proudly.
"Heh-heh-heh, top three? Have you no shame? Your Third Flight Group has fallen out of the top five in three battles running. By the rules, if your Third Flight Group's results fall short five battles running. That title of third of yours is gone."
Just then a man sitting on a fighter nearby suddenly jeered aloud.
Lieutenant Zhang's face went cold as he looked at him. "You there, Jin. If three of our deputy leaders hadn't been badly wounded, you lot would never have had the chance to crow like this! We never saw you people hopping about so merrily before."
The one called Jin jumped down from his fighter and came to stand before Lieutenant Zhang, the two of them bristling.
"What? Want a fight?" Lieutenant Zhang glared at him without the least ceremony.
Zhao Chen noticed then that the man was only a warrant officer.
In the Star Alliance, rank still carried a difference of class.
For a subordinate to strike a superior was a grave offense.
Ordinarily a subordinate would not talk back to a superior like this either.
If the subordinate had someone behind him, that was another matter.
Zhao Chen understood: wherever one went, there were factions.
This Warrant Officer Jin did not press Lieutenant Zhang further.
But neither could he swallow the slight for nothing.
At which Zhao Chen, at Lieutenant Zhang's side, naturally became the one to vent it on.
Warrant Officer Jin looked Zhao Chen up and down and sneered, "So this is the newcomer your Third Group recruited, the one they talk about. Used to fly a ground-air fighter? Lad, this is an interstellar warship. Not that little place you came from. When the time comes to fly an interstellar fighter in battle, mind you don't wet yourself with fright."
Lieutenant Zhang was just about to speak up for Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen answered back without the least ceremony: "Sorry, when I was learning to fly ground-air fighters. We didn't trouble about anything else. We only knew that everything is settled by what your hands can do. Whoever's record is best is this."
Zhao Chen held up his thumb.
Then he looked at Lieutenant Zhang with feigned puzzlement. "Lieutenant Zhang, is it the custom aboard our mother ship to see whose mouth is stronger? If so, I can only concede. Though the old fellow who watched the gate at our training base did love to practice mouth-work with the men. It's a pity about the alien invasion; I don't know whether that old fellow is still alive. Otherwise I could have let the two of them compare their mouth-work."
Facing this warrant officer, Zhao Chen gave not an inch, and there was an edge under his words,
which enraged the man outright.
"Who do you think you are, lad, to talk about me!" As Warrant Officer Jin spoke, he raised his hand to strike Zhao Chen.
But Lieutenant Zhang stepped straight in front of Zhao Chen and eyed him coldly. "What? Does Warrant Officer Jin mean to strike my man? What a grand ability. Does your Fifth Group think it can lay hands on our Third Group's people?"
Before Lieutenant Zhang's presence, this Warrant Officer Jin dared not truly touch Zhao Chen.
He could only glare at the fellow and stalk off in a temper.
Lieutenant Zhang's face changed at once; he clapped Zhao Chen's shoulder with a grin. "You're a real man. That's the character I like. But that fellow Jin is sure to make trouble for you later. Watch yourself. Still, so long as you don't go off on your own, that lot won't dare bully you in front of our Third Group's people!"
"Thank you for looking after me, Lieutenant."
"Never mind 'Lieutenant' this and that. Just call me Brother Da'an."
"Right you are, Brother Da'an!"