The close-in guns had barely shown themselves before Zhao Chen's fire blanketed them.
With their leader's warning, the other fighters of the flight opened fire one after another as well.
Some had not even made out what they were shooting at.
They simply fired where their leader had said.
It was the habit bred by fighting at his side this while.
They obeyed their leader's orders without condition, from the heart.
If it was their leader's order, there could be nothing wrong with it!
After a round of fire, the enemy's defensive base was soon destroyed,
leaving only the wreck of it on the rock's surface.
Only then did the fighters passing through see that a defensive base had been hidden here.
Seeing the destroyed gun mounts,
one member swallowed and said on the channel, "That was close! I'd never have thought one was hiding here. If our leader hadn't spotted it. Flying through here, we'd have paid a few fighters at least."
"That's so. Who'd have thought the enemy was this cunning?"
"Everyone be careful; the enemy may have more like it."
For when the vanguard flew through, the flights behind would suppose the route held no danger.
Their guard would drop, and then these hidden threats would find their chance.
"Look at the flight next to us! They seem to have run into just that. Thirty craft in the formation, and half gone at a stroke!"
Someone had noticed the fighting nearby; in a few breaths, a dozen-odd fighters had turned gray.
"Don't stare at someone else's patch. Watch your own surroundings!" Zhao Chen's voice rang out.
That at once had them minding their own business.
"About twenty minutes of the crossing left." Zhao Chen glanced at their progress.
He frowned slightly.
Ten minutes gone and there were already losses.
The enemy must have a great many other defenses.
There could be no letting the guard down.
Reality soon bore Zhao Chen out.
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Large enemy drone swarms ahead!"
Word came back from the vanguard.
Zhao Chen watched the radar chart syncing through.
Red points had appeared ahead of the vanguard, a great many of them.
Plainly enemy drone swarms.
"Damn, drones as well!"
"They must have built drone hangars inside some of the larger rocks."
The enemy's drones were very numerous.
The vanguard alone could hardly hold them.
Zhao Chen said at once, "All combat formations of the Eighteenth Squadron, increase speed. Close up on the vanguard ahead. Each formation fights as you trained!"
"Yes!" the formation leaders answered together.
Zhao Chen had no thought of standing aside, or of preserving his own strength.
This route amounted to a single-log bridge.
If those ahead could not get across, it would tell on Zhao Chen and the rest behind.
So Zhao Chen had to make common cause with those in front!
And if those ahead fell, it would be Zhao Chen and his people facing the threat.
So they were all in one boat; to cling to narrow thinking now.
Would only add to one's own casualties.
Soon Zhao Chen saw the fighting ahead.
Having met the enemy's drone swarms, the vanguard's advance had naturally slowed a great deal.
Catching up was easy enough.
Without another word, Zhao Chen led his flight into the charge.
Against drones, missiles were a waste.
So most of the time they used cannon.
Drones have little defense; once you hold them in your sights, a burst of cannon fire brings them down one by one.
And with Zhao Chen's flight working so well together, they did very well indeed.
"So that's the Third Group's Eighteenth Squadron?" The vanguard's leader looked at that dragon-marked fighter.
And knew the squadron at once.
For in this period the squadron had done so well that it had even climbed some of the record boards.
A good many people knew of this Eighteenth Squadron now.
Zhao Chen looked over the state of the fight and frowned slightly.
It seemed to be under control.
But the enemy's drone swarms were far too many.
There must be a 'drone mother-nest' of theirs somewhere nearby.
"Requesting a batch of drone swarms; I'll go and find the enemy's drone mother-nest! Otherwise we'll be held here indefinitely!" Zhao Chen put in a request.
Along with the fighters, drone swarms had launched as well.
But within the great belt, the mother ships' control over those swarms suffered.
So their present combat mode was automatic attack,
needing no one to work them, but not at their best either.
And at such times, a squadron's people could ask for control of those swarms themselves.
But few ever did.
For it demanded a great deal of the applicant's handling.
You must fly your own fighter and control a vast swarm of drones at once.
Few can manage it.
'Request approved.'
The instant Zhao Chen's request went in, a red prompt appeared before him.
At the same time an authorization unlocked for him.
Beside him appeared a wholly new holographic control interface.
For the drone swarms!
Zhao Chen glanced at it.
And was somewhat surprised.
He had never thought his superiors would give him control of three drone swarms outright, each of three hundred drones.
Which meant Zhao Chen could control nearly a thousand drones!
"Little Li, take over my work. Take charge of our formation," Zhao Chen said on his command channel.
"Yes!" Little Li answered, not yet understanding what his leader meant to do.
Zhao Chen went on: "From now I will fight alone. Command of the Eighteenth Squadron passes to Deputy Leader Li. Any question, Deputy Leader Li decides."
Only then did Deputy Leader Li[1] take it in.
He said in astonishment, "Squadron Leader… this… this won't do…"
"You can do it; trust your own ability. Do as I have always taught you."
This Deputy Leader Li was a veteran, one who had been at Zhao Chen's side since the Eighteenth Squadron was raised.
And Zhao Chen had taught him a great deal besides.
So Zhao Chen knew this deputy's ability very well.
"But you, fighting alone…"
"I'm your squadron leader. Do you doubt my ability? Carry out the order!" Zhao Chen said with a laughing curse.
Their leader's light, bantering tone eased the others somewhat.
But watching that dragon-marked fighter take the lead and charge out with nearly a thousand drones behind it.
No few felt a chill.