"Ha-ha-ha-ha, our leader's a captain now!"
"Captain Squadron Leader, that sounds grand!"
"Listen to you. Once we're back from this, our leader will be a major!"
"Damn, our leader doesn't look thirty yet. A major under thirty, oh my."
"Squadron Leader, I see you're still single; I have a sister you might consider…"
"Bah, as if that sister of yours were good enough for our leader!"
"Actually there's no need to be so strict about which sort."
Listening to the talk on the squadron channel,
Zhao Chen said coldly, "Are your hides itching, all of you? Forgotten what time this is? Or have you all had enough of living? No grinning and joking while we're fighting. Those of you who just spoke, extra drill when we're home!"
At their leader's scolding, those who had spoken shut their mouths, but were not the least angry at it,
because they knew it came of their leader's care for their safety.
In their leader's mouth, safety came first.
Every sortie, the words oftenest on his lips were 'I'm bringing you back'!
"Take this warship's wreck as your center and repeat the tactic we just used. Any fighter damaged past 70%, pull it out. There's a hollow in the belly of the wreck we just attacked; you can stand by there for now. Every craft whose star-shield energy is spent, withdraw from the front line. Is that understood!" Zhao Chen's voice rang out again.
Deputy Leader Li said, with some hesitation, "But then might those above say we shirked before the enemy?"
"If they lay blame, say it was my order. Shields spent, fighters damaged past 70%. Charging in would only be cannon fodder!" Zhao Chen barked.
His tone allowed no argument.
Words that sounded severe.
But in every pilot's ears they were warming indeed.
How could one not love such a leader?
For a leader like this, one would give one's life without hesitation.
After that, the Eighteenth Squadron, by its practiced coordination,
took a second warship, a third, a fourth.
But their own casualties began climbing accordingly.
The nearly four hundred fighters they had begun with were under three hundred now.
And three in ten of those had little fighting power left, and had drawn back to the second line.
Zhao Chen's face was dark as he looked toward the great belt.
As things stood, if the flights behind did not come up.
They could hold out five minutes more at most.
They had only so many fighters, after all; T5 craft though they were, they could hardly turn heaven and earth over.
All they could do now was wait.
"Old Li, control the battle area. Don't range too far. A few more warships and we stop attacking and hold where we are!" Zhao Chen said in a low voice.
"Yes!" Deputy Leader Li understood his leader's meaning.
The Eighteenth Squadron's fighting strength was about spent.
Fight on, and the casualties might become general.
They destroyed another warship.
And at the same time a body of enemy fighters swarmed in.
A full three thousand and more!
"Squadron Leader, enemy fighters. Three thousand sorties, all T5 craft!" Deputy Leader Li said worriedly.
Zhao Chen watched them closing on this battlefield on his radar.
"Order every fighter back. Withdraw to the designated area and prepare to fight their fighters. Remember! We are the weaker side, so use the terrain and our coordination. Draw them out as much as you can," Zhao Chen warned.
"Yes!"
Every fighter of the Eighteenth Squadron pulled back.
And those pilots who had been 'hiding' among the wrecks of downed warships.
Now asked to fight as well.
"Squadron Leader, we request to fight. The odds between us and them are already bad. If we hide here now, then… then… it isn't right."
"That's so, Squadron Leader! We're not afraid to die; let us go in!"
"Squadron Leader, we request to fight!"
Listening to these eager voices,
Zhao Chen said calmly, "Stop your chirping, all of you. I never meant to leave you idle. You'll carry out the task I give you in a moment. It's all what you trained for; don't shame me when the time comes!"
"Heh-heh, rest easy, Squadron Leader!"
"Even without a shield, my fighter can take a few of them down with me."
"Bah, bah, bah, listen to you. Our leader said we'd go back, so we'll go back!"
Listening to the lads' banter, Zhao Chen could not help a slight smile.
Then the two sides' fighters closed.
By rights, with a tenfold difference in numbers, one side at full strength and the other all but spent.
Which was the stronger was plain enough.
But unexpectedly, in such conditions,
the Eighteenth Squadron showed astonishing fighting power.
By practiced coordination they held the loss ratio at two to one!
Two of theirs to one of ours.
And all of it owed to the little scheme Zhao Chen had laid earlier.
Those badly damaged or shieldless fighters standing by against the warship wrecks
lay in areas fighter radar could hardly see,
which gave the Eighteenth Squadron its opening.
A few fighters would draw enemy craft into a certain area, where the hidden fighters waited.
And the rest followed as a matter of course.
Between the two, the enemy's fighters were ambushed and destroyed.
Though the Eighteenth Squadron lost some fighters in the doing,
the advantage was still theirs.
And after that came Zhao Chen's second small tactic.
Much like the first.
A fighter with no shield would fly tight against another, so that one craft's shield covered them both!
That took very practiced flying together.
And which happened to be one of the Eighteenth Squadron's training items.
So the craft that had lost their shields had a chance to be of use yet.
But even so, the gap in strength was too wide.
And not something Zhao Chen's small tricks could level entirely.
Soon the fight was thoroughly deadlocked.
And worse news came hard behind.
"Two more enemy formations sighted, nearly ten thousand craft in all! Expected on this battlefield within three minutes!"