While he had the chance, Zhao Chen looked around him.
A vast number of carrier starships were gathered in this stretch of space.
And behind them were several warships that looked something like Star Gates.
If he guessed rightly, the Alliance's fleets must have used those ships to reach here by spatial jump.
And this should be a position within the enemy's universe.
Zhao Chen took a rough count of the fighters launched this time.
Within his own field of view alone,
there were at least three to five million.
And by Zhao Chen's reckoning, the fighters committed to this operation numbered at least thirty million,
with at least close on a billion drones besides.
To launch tens of millions of fighters in a single action is a very rare thing!
One can imagine how important this target must be!
Zhao Chen drew his thoughts back,
and flew on as ordered.
Because this lay within the enemy's universe, they had no detailed military star charts.
Only civilian charts gathered by the intelligence people who had slipped into this universe before.
On those charts, all that was marked between them and the target base was a great meteorite belt.
To cross it by fighter would take an hour at least.
And crossing such a belt without a detailed chart is a very dangerous thing.
The least carelessness may mean striking a rock, and the death of craft and pilot.
Besides which, by the intelligence,
the enemy had long since built defensive installations within this great belt.
And there was no knowing where.
It was a mission of the utmost difficulty.
Zhao Chen raised his head; he could see the great belt ahead with his own eyes now.
'Broken stones' of every size gathered there.
Some as large as a small moon.
Some about the size of their fighters.
"Eighteenth Squadron, hear my order. Break into flights of thirty. Move in triangle formation as far as possible, spaced apart, but not too far. Keep communications up. Report anything at once," Zhao Chen said on the channel.
"Yes."
At once the great body of craft split into small flights of about thirty,
clustering in knots, keeping some distance from one another, but not too much.
Working together with perfect understanding!
"Prepare to enter the great belt. All weapons live. The moment you find an enemy or a threat, you may fire at will!" Zhao Chen reminded them.
Zhao Chen drew a deep breath and began to slow.
Flying a fighter in so dangerous a region, one naturally cannot go at full speed.
The risk would be too great.
Nor can one go too slowly; there were orders about that.
Fly too slowly and the enemy gets more time to react.
Zhao Chen held to the minimum speed his superiors required.
He watched the rocks around him, great and small.
At the same time, detailed maps began appearing on the flight chart.
All of it synced back in real time by the vanguard flights that had entered the belt first, through the scanners they carried,
which greatly lessened the danger for the flights behind.
And Zhao Chen's position was in the second echelon.
Should anything happen to the vanguard ahead of him, he would have to move up and take over the 'map-making'.
At first it all went smoothly enough.
But under such mental strain, accidents can hardly be avoided.
Zhao Chen saw the first fighter go down.
On the surface of one rock lay the wreck of a fighter, and the crater it had struck.
It seemed the pilot had made an error and flown headlong into the rock.
Zhao Chen said nothing.
Such things would surely keep happening.
Sure enough, the vanguard flights began to lose craft one by one.
And that with no fighting at all!
"At least we can fly the routes already charted," a deputy leader said in relief on the channel.
But Zhao Chen poured cold water on it at once: "Don't imagine a charted route is absolutely safe."
Just as Zhao Chen spoke,
he saw on the flight chart the vanguard ahead flashing red, and several fighters' marks turning gray, then vanishing seconds later.
Which meant those fighters had been destroyed.
"Enemy defensive installation found! Close-in guns! Take care! Take care!"
Zhao Chen heard the warning.
But the fight was soon over.
Zhao Chen flew to where it had happened.
He saw several burning fighter wrecks, and one rather battered rock.
Its surface bore marks of attack, and the remains of several destroyed close-in gun mounts.
It seemed the enemy had built a defensive base on this rock.
After that, such things kept happening.
Generally the vanguard flights destroyed these installations at the cost of a few fighters.
Happily there were great numbers of drones assisting, so losses among crewed fighters were not heavy.
Zhao Chen looked at the enemy installations being pulled out one after another on the chart.
And suddenly frowned.
He found that these installations seemed to be placed by a pattern.
But the pattern broke in the next stretch of flight,
like a piece of music stopping short.
"Every craft of Flight A, look sharp. Watch your surroundings. There may be enemies!" Zhao Chen said on his own flight's channel.
"Enemies? But the vanguard flew through here. If there were enemies, they'd have met them already."
"Stop talking and do as our leader says."
Zhao Chen raised his head, his eyes sweeping over the rocks around them.
Suddenly he saw several metallic glints far off.
He magnified the view of that area at once.
He saw one rock's surface sliding slowly aside, revealing close-in guns extending beneath!
And those guns were already trained on Zhao Chen's flight as it passed through!
Like hidden hunters about to fire on their prey!
"Eleven o'clock, enemy defensive base!" As Zhao Chen spoke, he had already pressed his missile launch button.
And his cannon opened up at full!