Zhao Chen's heart sank to the very bottom.
But the next instant he had given his order.
"First Squadron, Fifth Combat Group; Third Squadron, Seventh Combat Group; Fifth Squadron, Second Combat Group. Come with me in a frontal assault, and draw the enemy warships' fire. The rest of the fighters are to sweep around in an umbrella, each combat group as a unit, past the enemy's line of blockade, and back to the mother ship!"
Hearing that order,
leader Cao Bing at his end objected at once: "Group Leader, I object! I… it is not the order I object to. Only that I hold you should not take the risk. I ask that I direct these three combat groups, and draw the enemy warships' fire!"
"Hold your tongue. There is no leisure now to wrangle with you over this and that. Carry out the order!" Zhao Chen rebuked him without the least ceremony.
And afterward threw in a curse besides. "Do not imagine that because you flatter me here your punishment is at an end. Remember that when we are back, the laps you owe are to be run, and not one short of them!"
Those words were for all the world like a man's last testament.
Leader Cao Bing was touched to the heart, and clenched his fists.
And in a voice that all but shook, he roared, "Yes!"
And thereupon,
the remainder of the flying host did as Zhao Chen's order had it.
Save for that part which bore the first brunt, the rest went round the enemy warships' line of blockade like heavenly maidens scattering flowers.
In such a case as this,
it was the one way there was to bring as many of the fighters set to this task home safely as might be.
For since Zhao Chen's part of the fighters had it in them to go at the thing with everything they had, those enemy destroyers could spare no greater part of their fire to cut off the fighters sweeping round them.
And could only pour their guns upon this batch of Zhao Chen's.
"Group Leader. To have fought at your side has been our combat group's honor," one group head said upon the communications channel.
And thereupon his interstellar fighter, out ahead of Zhao Chen's own, was struck by the secondary gun of an enemy ship and blown apart outright.
And after that the fighters about Zhao Chen went forward, one upon another, to set themselves before his craft.
Those with star shield left used the star shield to take the enemy's attack; those without used their own fighters to take it.
It may be that this was the first time they had fought for an officer of theirs from the heart.
Zhao Chen's lips trembled a little,
because these men… had truly gone to their deaths.
No coming back… no clones… no life signal…
They had truly gone out of this world.
All of a sudden!
The fire of those destroyers blocking the way fell off a little.
And then one of the destroyers blew apart, from the middle of it.
And only then did Zhao Chen see that on the far side of this blockading line, a dozen and more Star Alliance interstellar cruisers had appeared.
"Colonel Zhao Chen, we are ordered here to take you in!" A video window sprang open before Zhao Chen.
On the other side was the captain of one of the interstellar cruisers.
And there was reverence in the man's eyes as he looked at Zhao Chen.
It is seldom that a captain will wear such a look for an interstellar fighter pilot.
Even a captain of the lower ranks, seeing a fighter pilot whose rank is above his own, will feel something like scorn in his heart.
It is a 'chain of contempt' within the forces.
And the captains stand at the head of it.
While an interstellar fighter pilot, though you be a group leader or the commander of a whole flight force, ranks below a captain,
and below the senior officers of the bridge besides.
Which is why so many fighter pilots, once they have a certain merit to their name, transfer to a post upon the bridge.
But Zhao Chen's showing now was enough to convince any officer who had it before his eyes.
"My thanks," said Zhao Chen.
And thereupon he saw the gap this cruiser force had torn in the enemy destroyers' formation.
Zhao Chen gave his three combat groups their order on the instant.
Through it, and quickly!
Under a storm of shot and shell.
In the end, of the three tactical groups that had gone with Zhao Chen upon this task of drawing fire, near a hundred interstellar fighters and a thousand drones.
Fewer than fifty fighters and two hundred drones came through.
And thereafter, under the cruisers' covering fire, they drew off toward the mother ship.
These fighters of theirs were near enough at 'the last shot fired and the last ration eaten', for having flown many times above the speed laid down, the flight energy they carried had been spent very fast.
And when these fighters came safely back to their own mother ship.
There was hardly any flight energy left in one of them.
Indeed it may be said that had Zhao Chen and the rest flown outside so much as the time it takes to drink a cup of tea longer, they would likely have become live targets for the enemy.
The landing was made.
And Zhao Chen's heart might be said to have settled at last.
He let go his hands, leaned back in the cockpit, and drew deep breaths to bring himself in order.
The dark of the lift shaft soon ended, and in its place came the bright glare of the combat hangar.
The canopy opened.
Zhao Chen stood up.
And saw a scene he knew again.
There were no few people waiting before his fighter.
Leader Cao Bing among them.
Only that, set against the last time, this time the people were fewer by far.
Zhao Chen climbed down from the fighter.
He looked at this crowd and said without ceremony: "What are you all standing here for? Have you nothing to do? The fighting has not stopped. Go back to your ready rooms at once, put yourselves in order and get your strength back. The wounded go for treatment now. Cao Bing, you stay."
Hearing their group leader's rebuke, these men only saluted Zhao Chen in silence, and went back to their ready rooms.
"Group Leader." Cao Bing stood at Zhao Chen's side, and his eyes were full of reverence.
"You are a grown man. Do not stare at me so," said Zhao Chen.
Cao Bing gave a short laugh.
"What are the three squadrons' losses?" Zhao Chen asked, coming straight to the point.
Cao Bing's face stiffened a moment, but he answered truthfully soon enough: "In this operation three squadrons went out, near a thousand interstellar fighters. But those that came back safely are fewer than two hundred. As for the drones, only some six hundred returned at the last."
Set against the scale of them at setting out,
those that came back were few indeed.
"The call for aid has gone out. I judge there should not be a great deal for us to do hereafter. At most to bear the defense of the airspace about the mother ship and our fleet. I leave that in your charge. I have business of my own to see to," Zhao Chen said as he walked.
"What business?" Cao Bing asked, curious.
"A thing I promised those brothers of ours who did not come back," Zhao Chen answered.
Cao Bing started, and came after him, saying with some hesitation: "To raise that matter with those above at such a time as this may not be quite suitable?"
"Suitable? The task is done and the reward given; it follows in course. There is no suitable or unsuitable in it. And it is what I, Zhao Chen, promised. To say a thing and then do it is my principle."
And having said it, Zhao Chen went into his own office, and shut the door outright.
Looking at that shut door, Cao Bing's heart was full of reverence.