"Preparing to engage 'Blizzard Extreme-Cruise Mode'; preparation phase, 100 seconds." The bridge crewwoman in charge of this ship module reported as she worked the controls.
And just then, through the holographic imagery around her, Chu Xuan noticed the surface of the T3 Blizzard's hull beginning to change.
Some of the ship-weapons that had jutted out from the hull now, of all things, all retracted inward, and were covered over by a layer of hull armor.
The bow-cannon, the main guns, the secondary guns, the missile-launch silos, the close-in guns — all of them retracted and hidden away.
Looking at this T3 Blizzard from outside, one would find that the ship's hull surface was now near enough a wholly streamlined plane, with no jutting spot anywhere, nor any weapons system laid bare.
"All ship weapon modules retracted; beginning ship acceleration." the bridge crewwoman reported.
At this moment, a brand-new data panel appeared before Zhao Chen.
The data panel consisted chiefly of the travel track, the travel speed, and a hull model of the ship.
The current travel speed was 210 star-knots.
And from this instant, that speed began to climb without pause.
In a mere 10 seconds, it climbed from 210 star-knots to 400 star-knots!
Beside him Chu Xuan's eyes went wide; it wasn't that she'd never seen a ship capable of extreme acceleration, but this — doubled in the blink of an eye!
This ship-engine was too terrifying by far.
Wait… this acceleration showed no sign of stopping.
430… 450… 470… 490…
Chu Xuan couldn't help swallowing; she asked without thinking, "Just what is its top speed?"
Zhao Chen looked to Charlotte beside him.
Charlotte shook her head. "The theoretical figure is over threefold, but our trial-voyage task hadn't reached this phase yet. So this counts as the first time voyaging at so great a speed."
"The… the… the first time?" Chu Xuan was astonished.
Wait — had she just said it could travel at over three times star-speed?
If she remembered right, the earlier cruise speed was 210 star-knots — which meant this T3 Blizzard's ordinary-engine speed could exceed 600 star-knots!
My god!
By what she knew, among all the T3-series ships of the whole Starlight Empire, there was not yet a single one whose ordinary cruise speed could break 400 star-knots!
And just then, through the data panel's imagery, Zhao Chen and the others could see a mass of black loom up ahead.
Beyond doubt, those were the interstellar bug-race!
"Open the forward star-shield, and all crew make ready to meet impact!" Zhao Chen gave the order.
Lilith at once passed the commander's order along.
A half-transparent star-shield appeared ahead of the T3 Blizzard's bow.
"Advisory! Advisory! Star-shield struck; star-shield struck; energy down to 99.99%."
Along with the ship's star-shield-system advisory tone, Zhao Chen and the others felt something flash past in a blink across the video imagery.
Perhaps a T1 flying-bug, perhaps a T2 Thorny Serpent.
But it no longer mattered, for those had already become bug-paste.
Chu Xuan's heartbeat at this moment kept pace with the red numbers climbing straight up that data panel.
600 star-knots!
My god — and still accelerating without pause!
"I'll take over piloting the ship." Charlotte volunteered for the task of flying the T3 Blizzard, her eyes fixed on the ship radar.
The T3 Blizzard's ship radar had begun running at high speed, refreshing without pause the information on objects it scanned.
For at this extreme travel speed, going by the naked eye on the video imagery outside, an asteroid that had been very far off a moment ago might well appear before them the very next instant.
So one had to rely on the ship radar to plot the course in advance.
Star-shield though there was to protect the ship, before reaching the destination they had to spend as little of the star-shield's energy as they could.
For who knew what awaited them over there!
"Report — a T2 hive mother-ship detected ahead, with a number of interstellar bug-race flying units around it!" the crewwoman assisting the piloting reported to Charlotte.
Charlotte threw a glance at the ship radar and soon judged the optimal course.
The bow pointed straight at that T2 hive mother-ship.
How familiar this scene was.
Only, this time, the picture was bloodier.
The T2 hive mother-ship, adrift in the cosmos in search of its next planetary hunting-ground, all at once had its whole body take what seemed some heavy blow; its body broke through the middle, and flecks of shattered flesh spattered across the surrounding T1 flying-bugs and T2 Thorny Serpents.
These T1 flying-bugs and T2 Thorny Serpents stared, dazed, at the T2 hive mother-ship now robbed of its neural connection and become a corpse; they hung dumbly in place, with no idea at all of what had just happened.
They'd only felt something like a great black shadow whoosh past — and then… their mother-ship was gone…
"Advisory! Advisory! Star-shield struck; star-shield struck; energy down to 96%."
Ramming one T2 hive mother-ship slowed the T3 Blizzard's acceleration a touch, but soon the T3 Blizzard went on accelerating again.
The red speed number now read: 700 star-knots.
"Just how fast can this ship of yours run?" Chu Xuan couldn't hold back her curiosity, and asked Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen shrugged. "Let's run it and see."
The speed he knew was only theoretical too; as for just how fast it could go, no detailed account had ever been given.
Run it and see?
Hearing this rather breezy answer, Chu Xuan truly didn't know how to react.
She knew only that within the Galactic Alliance, the Holy Radiance Empire possessed a T4 Sacred-Lucent-class Light Interstellar Cruiser whose top speed under ordinary engines was said to reach 950 star-knots.
And that was the utmost limit-speed only after the engine limiters were released!
To this day, no ship of any kind had ever been seen to break the threshold of 1,000 star-knots!
Chu Xuan now stared fixedly at that leaping red number — could this T3 warship truly outrun even a T4 ship's speed?
Chu Xuan's instinct told her this was impossible, yet she found herself longing for just such a thing to happen.
750 star-knots!
A minute later, 800 star-knots!
And still accelerating without pause!
Chu Xuan held her breath, her hands clenched tight at some point she hadn't marked.
850 star-knots!
Beside her the crew reported word of a bug-swarm ahead, but Chu Xuan no longer cared; she stared only at that speed.
900 star-knots!
The once-dense bug-swarm was charged straight through into a corridor of vacuum!
Viewed from a god's-eye vantage, it was as though, across a once filth-strewn ground, a single clean track had been dragged clear.
930 star-knots!
Chu Xuan stared unblinking at that number, as though everything around her had ceased to have anything to do with her.
940 star-knots!
Was this T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser truly about to work a miracle!