"What's going on?" Spider Queen Iris looked in surprise at several glowing points on the map before her.
Chief Engineer Nana glanced at it, and her face went grave at once.
"What I have here is a feed synced from the Universal Space Dynamics Monitor. The device has been handed over to the military, but as a researcher I've kept the right to share in and oversee its live data."
She paused.
Chief Engineer Nana said: "What this shows is an enormous fluctuation in space, and it isn't a warp within the universe. It's a warp from outside the universe. Put simply, someone is trying to get into this universe!"
As Chief Engineer Nana was speaking, Zhao Chen received an urgent communication from Lilith.
A video window opened.
Lilith appeared on the other side of it, and said gravely: "Your Majesty, we have an emergency. We have detected five points of abnormal fluctuation in the universe. We suspect fleets from an outer universe are being delivered through space. I have already sent advance fleets and scout fleets to watch these five locations. Anything that happens will be reported back at once. Next, we must settle on a contingency plan for this emergency."
Zhao Chen nodded, and looked at Chief Engineer Nana beside him: "Can you judge roughly how long the enemy needs for a spatial delivery across universes?"
Chief Engineer Nana nodded: "From the abnormal spatial fluctuations on the Universal Space Dynamics Monitor, we can tell how strong the equipment the enemy is using is. It's like a bucket of water filling a pool: we only need to see how fast the water is flowing to estimate roughly how long it will take to fill the pool. And from what we're seeing now at these five points of abnormal fluctuation, we estimate it will take at least half an hour to open a breach wide enough for an interstellar fleet to pass through."
Half an hour.
Zhao Chen turned it over in his mind.
That was time enough to prepare a contingency plan.
Zhao Chen asked next: "Then can we tell whether this spatial warp is a one-time delivery, like our interstellar jump ships? Or whether they are setting up a permanent spatial passage, something like our star gates?"
Chief Engineer Nana answered: "That can be determined. We only need to look at the pattern of the fluctuation at that location. If it's a fixed spatial delivery, like our star gates, the ripples will gradually settle into a stable pattern. But if it's a single one, it's like throwing a stone into water. The ripples are large at first, but little by little they die away. From what we've seen so far, it should be a single one, though its scale, and how long it lasts, will need further observation to confirm."
That was the advantage of equipment like this: it let one decide a battle a thousand miles away.
Before the war even began, as much useful information as possible could be had.
"Then you all go on eating. I'll see to this first." Zhao Chen wiped his mouth, rose, and took his leave.
Chief Engineer Nana and Chief Engineer Spider Queen Iris both rose to see Zhao Chen off.
Chief Engineer Annie, her mouth full of food, waved without even looking up.
As though whether Zhao Chen was there or not hardly mattered, so long as somebody had paid the bill.
"Eat less. You're carrying on as if you'd never had a meal in your life." Chief Engineer Nana sat back down and looked crossly at Chief Engineer Annie in all her hopelessness.
"So what? I worked for that landlord-tyrant for half a year. I didn't eat properly, I didn't sleep properly. What's wrong with enjoying myself a bit? I, Annie, have earned this!" Annie curled her lip, picked up a two-liter bottle of drink and poured it down her throat.
She wiped the drips from the corner of her mouth with her arm, let out a loud burp, and surveyed the food before her as though it were her own empire.
——————
After Zhao Chen left,
an interstellar warship had long been hovering out among the stars.
It was the flagship that should always have been his.
The T6 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship.
During the earlier war against the Order hive-race, the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship had been in dock undergoing its technological refit from T5 to T6.
So it had been a long while since he had seen it.
Zhao Chen's shuttle set down in the hangar.
Crew came up at once to meet him.
"Your Majesty." An officer stood before Zhao Chen and saluted.
Zhao Chen nodded.
The officer at once called up a hover lift.
Zhao Chen stepped onto it.
It was called a hover lift, but it was more like a luxurious 'private car'.
For there were sofas on it, even a drinks cabinet.
Zhao Chen sat on the sofa, watching the ship's sections slide away behind him one after another.
After its upgrade, the T6 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship was a great deal larger than before.
Very soon this luxurious hover lift arrived outside the bridge.
Zhao Chen walked slowly onto the bridge.
A huge door of light opened.
And the largest bridge of any Owl Dragon-line warship to date lay before Zhao Chen.
White above all, touched with gold.
It gave a feeling of great purity, and of something sacred and splendid.
The uniforms of all the crew here were somewhat different, too.
For the crew here were nearly all staff officers and secretary officers, and most wore uniforms of white.
"We greet His Majesty the Emperor!"
With Zhao Chen's arrival,
from near to far across the bridge came the sound, rolling like waves.
"Mm. Carry on with your work," Zhao Chen answered quietly.
And they all went back to the work in hand.
They revered the Emperor greatly, but their professionalism told them what they ought to be doing now.
Led by the officer attending him, Zhao Chen came to the central command room.
It was a space walled on every side with huge floor-to-ceiling glass: the brain within the brain.
There was a miniature golden throne here too, which was naturally Zhao Chen's place.
"Your Majesty." Lilith, who had been waiting here for him, saluted him at once.
Zhao Chen glanced at the slight swell of Lilith's belly.
In the more than half a year since Zhao Chen had gone, Lilith had been carrying his child for at least half a year.
He was very concerned for Lilith's health.
The words of concern were on the tip of his tongue.
But he was not only Zhao Chen now.
He was also the Emperor of the Owl Dragon Empire.
Zhao Chen sat down on the throne, looked at the huge interstellar holo-table before him, and said: "I already know how things stand. Tell me what you think."
"We have all but concluded that this is an enemy plan to strike from within and without at once. I expect the rebellion inside our Empire this time was Order's influence at work behind it. As to how Order can still reach into our world, we cannot tell. Their power is simply too great and too mysterious. What we have known of it all along may be no more than a single hair off nine oxen. But as things stand now, whatever is trying to enter our universe from outside is most likely Order's army. We are provisionally taking it to be Order's Pitch-Black Legion. The enemy's aim, then, was first to throw our Empire into great chaos with rebellion within; if they could paralyze our Empire outright, so much the better. Then, when Order's military force came in after, we would have no power to resist at all."
Zhao Chen nodded; this was what he thought too.
Lilith went on: "But now we have all but crushed the main body of the rebellion within the Empire. What remains is small fry, not much trouble to clear up. We had meant to deal with them ourselves and make an example of them. But now this problem has arisen. Our thought is to hand these small fry over to the local kingdom fleets, lords' fleets and security fleets. It will serve as a test of them, too. They are more than a match for small fry like these. While we begin gathering our strength to meet whatever enemy may appear at these five points of abnormal spatial fluctuation!"
"I agree," Zhao Chen said at once.
"Marshal Charlotte will report to you on the military plans. She has already begun the war preparations; I will make sure the logistics keep up," said Lilith.
As she spoke.
A figure of light appeared before Zhao Chen.
A full-body hologram.
Charlotte in uniform, dashing and martial.
"Greetings, Your Majesty." Marshal Charlotte first gave a military salute.
"Go ahead," said Zhao Chen.
"Our four legion fleet groups and five ace fleet groups are all ready, and can move at any moment," said Marshal Charlotte.
As she spoke, Marshal Charlotte brought up all the data on these fleet groups as well.
For Zhao Chen had not seen any of it for half a year.
It was only half a year, but for these Owl Dragon fleet groups it had brought enormous change.
First of all, the four legion fleet groups were now all at full establishment.
An Owl Dragon Empire legion fleet group was organized at five hundred thousand interstellar warships, made up of ten legion fleets of fifty thousand ships each.
Each legion fleet was made up of fifteen combat corps fleets of three thousand ships each, and two logistics corps fleets.
This was the establishment of a regular legion fleet group.
Ace fleet groups were varied according to their own actual needs.
"How do the regular legion fleet groups' active warships stand now?" Zhao Chen asked.
Charlotte answered at once: "The regular legion fleet groups have finished their re-equipment since the war. Every T3-grade warship has been retired, and every active warship is now T4, T5 or T6 grade without exception."
Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied.
The retired T3 warships had not, of course, been scrapped; those in good condition were turned over to local security fleets, and the less sound were repaired a little and reused as export models.
Even warships the Owl Dragon Legion had retired sold very well as export models.
Charlotte, meanwhile, was still explaining to Zhao Chen.
"Within this, a regular corps-grade fleet of three thousand warships is made up of about three thousand T4-grade warships and eighty-odd T5-grade warships, with one T6 Lord-of-Thunder-class Heavy Interstellar Destroyer as flagship. Where particular missions or combat posts require it, other types may be put in place of warships of the same grade, but the numbers stay roughly the same. For instance, the T6 Lord-of-Thunder-class Heavy Interstellar Destroyer might be exchanged for our newly commissioned T6 Wind Sprite-class Light Interstellar Cruiser. There are also elite corps fleets, which often serve as a legion fleet's main-force corps. Still about three thousand warships in scale, but the number of T5-grade warships rises two- or threefold, and the T6-grade warships to three to five. Above that is the flagship corps fleet, which often serves as a legion fleet's flagship corps: the corps fleet the legion commander sails with. That corps fleet is somewhat larger; keeping the original number of T4 warships, the T5-grade warships rise to about six hundred. The T6-grade warships rise to about ten to fifteen. At the very top is the super-flagship corps-grade fleet. There are only a very few corps fleets of this kind as yet. Chiefly they are the corps fleets that each legion fleet group's supreme commander and deputy fleet-group commander sail with. They are made up entirely of T5-grade warships, that is, three thousand T5 warships, together with sixty T6-grade warships. As for the flagship, other arrangements are made."
This was now the regular establishment of the Owl Dragon Empire's legion fleets, built up essentially out of corps fleets of three thousand interstellar warships apiece.
Charlotte did not forget to add one point: "And besides, there are some specially constituted corps fleets. For example, special interstellar missile ship corps fleets, interstellar artillery ship corps fleets, interstellar cruiser corps fleets and carrier starship corps fleets. This is to make sure the legion fleet groups have all-round fighting capability. As of now, among the Empire's regular legion fleet groups, we have twelve super-flagship corps fleets, forty flagship corps fleets, a hundred and twenty elite corps fleets, and five hundred and sixty-three regular corps fleets."
"Five imperial fleet groups, and exactly at full strength?"[1] Zhao Chen asked, somewhat surprised.
Lilith said beside him: "Yes. And there are some surplus warships serving as training ships, assigned to the various military academies for the recruits about to enter service to use in intensive live-fire training. At the same time, we have begun preparing to form new imperial fleet groups."
Four imperial fleet groups, close to two million interstellar warships.
This was a power in the Owl Dragon Empire not to be taken lightly.
"Thinking of what lies ahead, four imperial legion fleet groups really are not enough. Or rather, more than enough for defense, but not enough for attack," Zhao Chen said, rubbing at his chin.
Marshal Charlotte said beside him: "By our plans for the future, barring any further reform of the system, we will need twenty imperial legion fleet groups in all. Ten million interstellar warships. Only then can we meet any danger that may arise and any threat we may face."
Ten million interstellar warships.
Zhao Chen closed his eyes.
And pictured the scene.
He had to admit, merely imagining it set his blood racing.
For it must be understood that at this universe's height.
All its regular legion fleets together had likely only just reached ten million,
and that without asking for the Owl Dragon Empire's kind of quality.