"A third wave of a million pitch-black interstellar warships has appeared on every battlefield. And ten quasi-T7 warships on each!"
"By the staff's calculation, the risk of the situation on every battlefield has risen at least threefold compared with before!"
"Supposing another wave of a Pitch-Black Legion fleet on the million-ship scale appears an hour from now, with more than ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships, we may by then be unable to destroy the enemy's main fleet strength within the interval. Which would let the enemy's ships gather on a vast scale."
"And our own fleets, after fighting under high load for so long, will bring their warships' condition to a limit. The logistics supply lines are running at saturation now as well. They may be overloaded at any moment, and cause some problems in resupply."
Secretary-Officer Lilith gave Zhao Chen these several important items at the first opportunity.
Zhao Chen frowned.
How many more pitch-black interstellar warships did Order mean to send over?
It was a grave question.
So far the pitch-black interstellar warships that had appeared on the five battlefields came, all added together,
to near 50 million.
If, further, 5 million pitch-black interstellar warships appeared across the five battlefields every hour,
it would not take many hours
before every fleet group of the Owl Dragon Empire reached its limit!
"Get Charlotte," Zhao Chen said in a deep voice.
A video window came up.
"Do you think we should send in the ace fleet groups?" Zhao Chen asked gravely.
"Right now we're gambling: gambling on how many hole cards Order has left in the end. The quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships that have appeared on every battlefield have indeed caused our situation no small trouble. But we still need to keep our own hole cards back as far as we can, in case of need."
Marshal Charlotte said in a deep voice, "As I see it, we can send several flagships into the battlefields and keep the three ace fleet groups out of the fighting still. So far, many as the million pitch-black interstellar warships are, the greatest threat is still the enemy's quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships. So long as we can decapitate those quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships, the situation can still be held in hand."
Zhao Chen nodded in understanding.
"Then do as you say. The T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought, the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship and the T6 Gluttony Demon King starship join the fighting," Zhao Chen gave the order.
Charlotte nodded, then looked to Lilith. "Lilith, I know the pressure on logistics is great now. But as the enemy's warships grow more and more numerous, the number piled up keeps growing too. We need great numbers of interstellar missiles to make sure we can hold control on every battlefield. So the supply of interstellar missiles must be guaranteed!"
Secretary-Officer Lilith said gravely, "I understand. I mean to call up the civilian reserve transport fleets to supply interstellar missiles to the battlefields, and guarantee the supply of interstellar missiles as far as I can."
At this point Zhao Chen did not forget to add, "We must beware of whatever hole cards Order may have. We can't keep our eyes on these five battlefields alone. We must watch other places too. Lilith, pass on my order: every starport and naval port of ours within the Owl Dragon Empire goes to first-grade combat readiness. Every warship and every fleet goes to first-grade combat readiness, ready to meet any combat mission at any moment."
Lilith thought of what Zhao Chen was worried about.
She nodded earnestly and began passing on these orders!
After that, each flagship set out for the battlefield in its charge.
Among them, after consultation with Hive Princess of the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet, Hive Princess held that her own Battlefield No. 5 was still under control at present.
Even without a flagship's help, they were confident they could put down ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
That being so, Zhao Chen decided for now to send no flagship in support of Battlefield No. 5, in the charge of the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet group.
As for the remaining four battlefields,
three flagships would enter the field to help, and one elite force would go in support of the battlefield.
To be exact: the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought in support of Battlefield No. 2.
The T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship in support of Battlefield No. 3.
The T6 Gluttony Demon King starship in support of Battlefield No. 4.
Battlefield No. 1, without a flagship to help, would have the Emperor's Guard Fleet take the field in person.
And with that the support plan for this phase was settled.
The three ace fleet groups remained on standby.
The Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship · the bridge
"Xiong Lulu. Do well." Zhao Chen looked at the deputy fleet commander of the Emperor's Guard Fleet before him, that Panda-Girl.
The hologram of Xiong Lulu stood straight and said, firm and unshaken, "Let His Majesty the Emperor rest easy. The Emperor's Guard Fleet will never fail its mission. We guarantee to carry out the decapitation plan!"
"Go," Zhao Chen said.
This Xiong Lulu had no battle honors to speak of yet,
but she too was one being trained as a general of the future.
And her standing was no ordinary one.
She had an elder sister: Xiong Xiangxiang, now the supreme head of the Owl Dragon military academy system,
and captain of the very first Goddess Academy-class lead ship.
It could be said that two-thirds of the people in the Owl Dragon legion fleets now had to call Head Xiong Xiangxiang "teacher."
And as Head Xiong Xiangxiang's younger sister, though far apart from her in age,
Xiong Lulu was only eighteen, but her gifts had already shown; she needed only more time to be trained.
Xiong Lulu wore a look of great excitement now.
She liked her duty of guarding the Emperor, but she also longed to show her own worth on the battlefield.
At this moment, of the Emperor's Guard Fleet's 3,000 warships, Xiong Lulu had taken off 2,000.
Zhao Chen had allowed her to take them all.
With the Owl Dragon Empire's First Legion Fleet Group here now, the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship would be in no danger anyway.
But Xiong Lulu still held that this was one of her duties.
She had also guaranteed that 2,000 of the Emperor's Guard Fleet would be enough to carry out this mission.
So Zhao Chen said nothing more.
"Have the flagships entered the field on the other three battlefields?" Zhao Chen looked at the real-time footage of three battlefields beside him.
Three very conspicuous warships could already be seen in the footage of the three battlefields:
the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought;
the T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship;
the T6 Gluttony Demon King starship.
And the captains of these three flagships were, one each, the marshals of the three ace fleet groups.
The T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought was the flagship of the Reverse Scale ace fleet group, Marshal Charlotte's own ship.
The T6 Demon Emperor Carrier Starship was, naturally, the flagship of the Queen of the Starry Sky ace fleet group, Marshal Su Lan's own ship.
The T6 Gluttony Demon King starship was the flagship of the Blizzard ace fleet group, Marshal Chitong's own ship.
"This seems to be the first time we've seen these three flagships fight, isn't it?" Zhao Chen asked.
Besides the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought, the other two T6 flagships had both, it seemed, been completed and entered service only after the campaign against the Order hive-race was over.
Nor had they been used in the recent internal strife.
So this would be their first appearance.
Of the Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought, naturally, Zhao Chen needed no telling.
It was the flagship he knew best.
It had been through countless battles at Zhao Chen's side; it had been a T5-grade flagship to begin with, and later went back to the docks to be upgraded and refitted into the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought.
It had also once been Zhao Chen's own ship.
But weighing its use on the battlefield, and the part Zhao Chen meant to play himself in future,
he had handed the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought to Supreme Marshal Charlotte, and it had become her own ship.
And Zhao Chen's own ship had become the T6 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship, which stayed to the rear and held the whole picture in hand.
The T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought had three great weapon systems:
'Dreadnought Cannon · Rakshasa mode,'
'Dreadnought Cannon · Demon King mode,'
and the Rakshasa-Hades Field.
Of the first two, one was in truth an attack over an area,
and the other an attack of overwhelming fire upon a single point.
As for the Rakshasa-Hades Field, it could be said the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought was not suited to dealing with pitch-black interstellar warships.
For that function directly destroyed the internal electronic equipment of every warship of T5 grade and below within the target area.
Against the pitch-black interstellar warships, which existed as spirit bodies, it had no effect whatever.
But it was a flagship, after all.
It still held a place of great weight upon the battlefield.
Besides, it was also fitted with 900 electromagnetic energy main cannon to give conventional fire support,
and 3 million T6-grade Rakshasa-Ghost drones in swarms, and 3,000 quasi-T6 Hades-Trooper-class unmanned medium interstellar interceptors.
At this moment
the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought began launching its T6 Rakshasa-Ghost drone swarms and its quasi-T6 Hades-Trooper-class unmanned medium interstellar interceptors.
Don't make light of the latter for being only quasi-T6 medium interceptors.
For a short time their fighting strength could even match a T6 Lord-of-Thunder-class Heavy Interstellar Destroyer's.
Only, because of their hull size, they did poorly over a long fight.
But happily they were unmanned interstellar interceptors, and cheap to build.
On a battlefield they could even be used as expendables, and as suicide craft.
They added a great deal of fighting strength to the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought.
At this moment, under the covering fire of the Owl Dragon Empire's Second Legion Fleet Group on Battlefield No. 2,
the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought had the chance to face the enemy's quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships head-on.
Now, within the two sides' fighting range,
there appeared a situation of one T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought facing three quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
At the same time the enemy seemed to have noticed this super-flagship 'target' as well.
The remaining seven quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships began to come over in support,
meaning to destroy this super-flagship of the enemy's first.
Marshal Charlotte looked at the battle holo-table before her, and at those ten battle targets.
Coldly she began to lay out the battle tasks.
And gave the order!
"Dreadnought Cannon · Rakshasa mode. Fire!"
At almost the same moment
the three quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships opposite opened fire too; the black beams of three bow guns drove straight at the hull of the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought.
First the star-shield took the attack of the three black beams.
On the bridge the alert began to sound: star-shield under attack, energy falling.
But Charlotte was not in the least flustered.
At this moment the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought's weapon was ready as well.
A blood-red beam was seen, like a keen sword,
drawn from its sheath!
Swung!
Across an area ahead it swept a 'red fan,'
which took in exactly those three quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
Every pitch-black interstellar warship it touched, of T6 grade and below, was destroyed once that 'red fan' had swept over it,
without any power of resistance at all.
The three quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships did put up some resistance.
The two quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships attacked first were badly damaged in the hull, but did not dissolve outright.
The quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warship at the tail end of the red fan's attack was not so lucky; it was 'cut in two' outright and destroyed on the spot!
"Wonderful! By the look of it, our T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought counts as a quasi-T7-grade warship too. Even stronger than the enemy's!" Secretary-Officer Lilith, at Zhao Chen's side, saw the scene and waved her fist in excitement.
At the same time she let out a breath of relief at heart.
Before this she had worried whether these flagships of their Owl Dragon could destroy those quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships of the enemy's across the gap in grade.
Now it looked as though there would be no problem at all.
Zhao Chen was well satisfied with the result too.
One destroyed, two badly damaged.
It was beyond doubt a quite brilliant result.
As for the two badly damaged, Charlotte was not going to let them off either.
She sent a batch of T6 Rakshasa-Ghost drone swarms and quasi-T6 Hades-Trooper-class unmanned medium interstellar interceptors at once to destroy those two quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
These two quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships, after being badly damaged by the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought,
had in the main lost their power to resist.
Once these 'little ghosts' had fastened on them, they could only watch helplessly as their own hulls' energy grew thinner and thinner, and in the end could not escape the fate of being destroyed and dissolving.
So the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought could be said to have made a good opening.
But there was no slackening either.
For the enemy still had seven quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
And the Dreadnought Cannon · Rakshasa mode, used just now, could not be used again for a while.
So the feat just now of breaking three ships with one blow would be hard to repeat.
But Charlotte had long since made her preparations.
The T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought began to raise its speed, moving about the battlefield
so as to keep itself always in a position where the enemy's seven quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships could not all attack it at once.
By this means the T6 Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought might have to face the threat of only about three quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships at any one time,
which greatly lessened the pressure on the T7[1] Rakshasa-Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought.
But such a course of sailing called for a captain of very great command ability and foresight.