The Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship · the bridge
"Report: warships of the Pitch-Black Legion have begun appearing one after another at the small ink blots in every region! The scale is around 100,000 ships at each. No quasi-T7-grade pitch-black interstellar warship has been found so far……"
Zhao Chen listened to the news his subordinates brought up.
"Near 10 million pitch-black interstellar warships in all, spread across every part of our Owl Dragon Empire," Secretary-Officer Lilith said beside him, her face grave.
"10 million… add the 5 million on the five large ink battlefields, and that means 15 million pitch-black interstellar warships in all invading our universe at the same time." Zhao Chen frowned.
Secretary-Officer Lilith nodded.
The pressure had suddenly leaped.
Just then
a hologram appeared on the Dragon Emperor's bridge: Marshal Charlotte.
"Your Majesty." Marshal Charlotte's face was very grave.
"Things are very bad now," Zhao Chen said, looking at Charlotte.
Charlotte nodded and said gravely, "I know all about it. Things are indeed very bad now. This wave of Pitch-Black Legion fleet invasion has put enormous pressure on us. Above all in the rear. And some of them are high-value star systems; if those star systems suffer destruction and loss from these Pitch-Black Legion warships, for our newly founded Owl Dragon Empire it will beyond doubt be an enormous disaster."
Secretary-Officer Lilith said beside him at this point as well, "Yes. Besides those high-value star systems, some of the places where ink has appeared happen to interfere with our logistics supply lines. If these Pitch-Black Legion fleet invasions aren't brought under control, they could cut our logistics supply lines, and so affect the fighting on our five large ink battlefields at the front!"
These words gave Zhao Chen the feeling of wind filling the tower before the mountain rain.
"Charlotte, have you already worked out how to deal with it?" Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte.
Charlotte nodded.
"Speak."
Charlotte raised her hand and called up a huge star chart outright.
On it the present situation everywhere on the Owl Dragon Empire's star chart was already marked clearly,
including where the large and small ink blots lay, and the present numbers of the Pitch-Black Legion fleets, and the fleet strength the Owl Dragon Empire had moved, and more.
All of it was clearly marked there.
"First, our chief combat task is still the five large battlefields. For the enemy numbers on those large battlefields are great; if they aren't held in check, the effect on the surrounding star systems is bound to be very serious. Next come the important star systems where the other small ink blots have appeared. We can divide these dangers into three grades. Cases such as those that affect our logistics supply routes, or like the one that directly threatens the home planet of the Holy Angel System, we set at the highest grade of danger. They must be given special attention, to make sure nothing goes wrong. Below that, according to the situation, we divide them into grade-two danger and grade-three danger. But grading the dangers doesn't mean we leave the low grades alone. Only that the military fleet strength we send will differ. The first two, we'll find ways to destroy. The lowest grade of danger will be chiefly a matter of containment. Because the star systems where those small ink blots have appeared carry no great harm, there's no hurry to destroy them now. So long as they can be held within certain bounds, that's enough. That way we can steady the present situation with the least strength!"
Zhao Chen understood Charlotte's meaning.
It came to no more than using the military strength they had to protect the valuable areas first.
"Do we have enough forces?" Zhao Chen asked.
Charlotte paused, and said in a deep voice, "It's a little tight. The biggest problem is that the warships of our Household Legion fleets are inferior in quality to the Pitch-Black Legion fleets; even if they carry out the combat tasks assigned them in full, the casualties at the end will be heavy. Or else… we use the lord fleets of the fourth or fifth grade to hold the enemy down."
When she had said it, Charlotte looked to Zhao Chen; in putting the suggestion forward, she had in truth already known what Zhao Chen would choose.
"The Empire has only just been founded, and has only just come through a wave of internal strife. Pushing them out as cannon fodder now would, if anything, do more harm than good," Zhao Chen said in a deep voice. "Use all our military strength. Not only must we hold our five main battlefields in hand; even on the small battlefields behind, we must gain the upper hand. We've spent no small resources these years building up these Household Legion fleets; it's time they came out and showed their faces. Weren't those Household Legion fleet captains and commanders every one of them asking to be sent into battle during the internal strife? Now I'm giving them that chance. Mule or horse, bring it out and let's see it run!"
"Yes!" Charlotte answered.
Then she went to give out the combat tasks to come.
The people of the Household Legion fleets were in truth a pool of troops screened out from the Owl Dragon Empire's first and second lines.
A great many of them were in truth no longer young, without room to grow, yet with a certain combat experience.
And in the end they had joined the Household Legion fleets.
Every one of those people was in truth holding in a pent-up drive; they too hoped to fight a proper battle,
to let others know that their Household Legion fleets were no ornament of the Owl Dragon Empire, but fleets that could fight, and fight to win!
As Marshal Charlotte began to issue battle order after battle order,
great changes began to appear on the Imperial star chart before Zhao Chen as well.
"This time we've as good as thrown out all our hole cards. If Order has any more moves after this, we likely truly won't be able to hold them off," Secretary-Officer Lilith said beside him, her face heavy.
Zhao Chen, though, said without a change of expression, "We can't change what's going to happen. We need only do what we ought to do."
……
After that, the Owl Dragon Empire's Household Legion fleet groups and Great-Lord fleets all began to move.
In total, more than 10 million warships were called up,
to open operations against the nearly one hundred small ink battlefields.
At the same time, on the five large ink battlefields
there were great moves as well.
The several flagships of before did not take the field again.
Instead every ace fleet group joined the fighting.
Battlefield No. 1: the Emperor's Guard Fleet fought on, under Xiong Lulu's lead, meeting the challenge of the new batch of ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
Battlefield No. 2: all 30,000 warships of the Reverse Scale fleet group, under Charlotte, charged out,
not only to destroy those ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships, but to wipe out in great numbers the near 2 million pitch-black interstellar warships now pressing close!
Battlefield No. 3 was handed to Chitong's Blizzard ace fleet group!
Battlefield No. 4 was handed to Su Lan's Queen of the Starry Sky ace fleet group, and countless swarms of interstellar fighters and interstellar drones blanketed that battlefield.
Battlefield No. 5 remained in the charge of the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet.
It had to be said Battlefield No. 5 was the one that spared Zhao Chen the most worry.
Zhao Chen's long care in raising the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet had not been wasted.
Besides these, the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group was not idle either.
"Zhao Waner, your task is very simple, and very hard. You'll know by now the intelligence on the small ink battlefields that have appeared everywhere. So far no quasi-T7-grade warship has appeared on these small ink battlefields. But whether any will appear later, no one knows. At present the Owl Dragon Empire's first- and second-line fleets have no other main fleets left to call up. So if quasi-T7-grade pitch-black interstellar warships appear on any of those battlefields later, the task of wiping them out falls to you. Can you carry out this task?" Charlotte looked gravely at Zhao Waner's video window.
Zhao Waner's eyes shone with confidence. "Let the Marshal rest easy. The Shadow Hunter ace fleet group guarantees to carry out this task."
Charlotte said nothing more; the task had been handed over.
As for how to carry it out, there was no need for her to say.
Zhao Waner knew the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group's way of fighting better than she did.
Zhao Waner stayed aboard her own flagship,
looking at the star chart before her, her face very grave.
"Marshal, the task the Grand Marshal just gave… it's no small difficulty. Our Shadow Hunter is an ace fleet group, yes, but so far not one T6-grade warship has entered service with us. It's T5 and T4-grade warships throughout. And what we have to face this time is quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships. This……" The deputy captain beside her showed a somewhat worried look.
"If this task weren't hard, would Marshal Charlotte have handed it to me in person? Since I've taken on this task, we must see it carried out whatever happens. Even if we have to pile up our own warships, we'll pile them on those quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships that pop up until they're smothered to death!" Zhao Waner said, flat and decisive.
After that, Zhao Waner began to lay out her battle dispositions.
That was, first, to send out all twenty corps fleets of her Shadow Hunter ace fleet group,
scattering them like raindrops all over the Owl Dragon Empire.
It was true that Zhao Waner had the right to apply for the use of T6 Emerald-Dream-class Interstellar Jump Ships and T4 Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ships.
But Zhao Waner knew very well how important the use of such ships was now.
If she used a few more, the other battlefields would have a few less.
So, short of a critical moment, Zhao Waner would not call on these important ships.
Happily, no quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warship had appeared yet.
That being so, she would send out every corps fleet early,
so that the moment a quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warship showed its first sign, the nearest corps fleet could be sent to the battlefield!
"Report, Marshal. Our staff has run simulated battles on the combat data provided on the quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warship. By our simulation, to destroy a quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warship within a short time, one corps fleet of 3,000 warships has a 50% chance. Two corps fleets, 6,000 warships working together, have an 80% chance. Three, and it's a hundred percent," the chief of staff said beside her.
Zhao Waner frowned slightly.
The deputy captain beside her could not help saying, "But we've only twenty corps fleets in all, and we have to watch nearly a hundred small battlefields. What… what if more than ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships pop up at once?"
"What then?" The corner of Zhao Waner's mouth lifted slightly. "When soldiers come, a general blocks them; when water comes, earth dams it! Proceed as planned. And keep a close watch on the news sent back from the cosmic space monitoring stations!"
These cosmic space monitoring stations were in truth built on the basis of the T6 Universal Space Dynamics Monitor.
……
The fighting on the five large ink battlefields was wholly under control.
Though no flagships had joined, the ace fleet groups, relying on their earlier combat experience, could wholly control the fight against the enemy's ten quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships.
Now, what drew the most attention was, if anything, the situation on the nearly one hundred small ink battlefields!
And the news of it had already spread through the Owl Dragon Empire, and even become the hot news in every region.
"I'm a reporter with X3 Interstellar Media of the Crayfish Star Region. I'm on planet No. X3·7723 right now. Raising my head here, I can see a huge black spot overhead, as though a smudge of dirt had been dabbed onto the sky. What's more, within this black spot we can see pitch-black warships coming out one after another. Their form is very eerie; the one feature they share is that they're pitch-black from end to end. Damn! They're getting ready to attack our planet. They've already begun attacking the space stations in near orbit. My God… Near-Orbit Space Station No. 3 has exploded. Though we've been told everyone in the near-orbit space stations has been evacuated, the destruction of a space station… this… the sight of it is truly overwhelming."
A reporter stood on top of a tall building, filming the scene in the sky together with a cameraman.
The black spot dotted on the sky could be seen in the background,
and swaths of eerie pitch-black warships,
and the space station just attacked, bursting and burning into one great fireball.
And not only that: several satellites that had been attacked were turning into meteors and falling toward this planet.
"My God… that's a satellite! It's falling toward us!" The reporter now saw a fireball flying down, seemingly falling toward the city where he stood.
He tried in terror to run.
But very soon anti-air gun batteries appeared one after another at the edge of the city.
These batteries opened fire at once, and their dense barrage struck the falling satellites, even the wreckage of the space station, in midair,
breaking them into scattered small fragments, which in the main burned away to nothing as they fell.
The few fragments not burned up entirely could do the city no great harm.
Seeing the threat of the satellite lifted,
the reporter let out a breath of relief.
"Everyone, look: you all saw the dangerous scene just now. This planet is under enormous threat. Every underground shelter in the city has now been opened. Everyone is being evacuated. But this is the place they live by. The Emperor once promised to guard the home of every subject of our Owl Dragon Empire. So where are our Empire's starships and fleets!" This reporter was very good at stirring things up, and threw the question out very high indeed.
But very soon, battle broke out in the sky overhead.
It was Owl Dragon Empire warships, one after another, come in support!