The reporter stopped at once.
The cameraman understood without a word and turned his shot on the battlefield in the sky.
Because the battlefield was very close to this planet, where they stood could be called the best seat for watching.
They could even hear faint explosions from the sky, and now and then see wreckage and fragments falling like meteors.
"It's astonishing! At this moment, overhead, the warships of the two sides in the engagement number at least over 200,000! By the word we have, the attackers are called the Pitch-Black Legion fleet, an invading fleet from another world. Their warships are mostly T4 and T5 grade, and there are even T6-grade warships. And on our side, look. Though we have the support of the Owl Dragon Empire's fleets…" The reporter paused here, and said with a trace of worry in his voice, "But the Owl Dragon-line warships on our side are mostly still T3 and T4-grade warships. Even T5-grade warships are few and far between. Never mind T6-grade warships. This shouldn't be! This isn't our Owl Dragon Empire's main battle fleet. Can it be that His Majesty the Emperor means to abandon us?"
It had to be said this reporter's words knew how to make trending traffic.
Whatever he said carried some point to set others arguing.
The reporter now went to the edge of the building and signed to the cameraman to film the scene in the street below.
"Everyone can see that the people in the city are still taking shelter. For the settled population of this planet before this was around 20 billion. A single city holds over a hundred million residents. To evacuate into the shelters within a short time is a very hard thing. And now, over their heads, is an interstellar war. There's no knowing whether this disaster will fall on the people of this planet. Let us pray for them." The reporter now spoke in a somewhat sorrowful tone.
And under the camera
the streets below could be seen, crowded with people nearly everywhere.
Happily there was no disorder.
For in the streets there were security robots in charge of keeping order.
Don't make light of these security robots.
If anyone among the crowds taking shelter deliberately made trouble, pushed and shoved and the like,
the security robots would at once give him an electric shock and then detain him.
Afterward he would be sentenced according to his conduct at the time of taking shelter.
And by the law, to make trouble at such a time was punished with the heaviest penalty.
So though everyone could see the interstellar war overhead, and could even see some warships falling toward the planet,
they still stood there in line like good citizens to enter the shelters.
"How do the numbers taking shelter stand in each city?" The planetary governor was looking tensely at hundreds of relayed feeds before him at this moment,
while watching the battlefield outside the planet as well.
But compared with the battlefield outside the planet, his duty lay more with the situation within it:
to get all the people into the shelters within the required time.
"The completion rate for sheltering has reached 76% so far. Every shelter on the planet is in use, and the whole planet has entered a state of emergency. We expect another twenty minutes to complete the sheltering of 99% of the population," a subordinate reported to the planetary governor.
The planetary governor wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, and asked next, "How are the planetary defenses?"
"The star-shields over every important area are all raised. Every defensive weapon on the planet has been started and is running, ready at any moment to destroy starship wreckage entering the planet's atmosphere, or even warships. Our ground-based air warships have all gone to combat readiness, and one echelon is kept on patrol and standby in the air at all times. All the mecha armed units have gone to their combat posts. All the remaining troops have entered a state of combat. Ready to meet any danger that may arise!" The subordinate told it all item by item.
Though he had long known all this in his heart,
hearing it with his own ears still let this planetary governor feel a little easier.
"Now we can only pin our hopes on the Owl Dragon Legion's fleets." The planetary governor looked at the window relaying the interstellar battlefield outside the planet.
He knew very well, in truth, that even had he made every one of the planet's emergency plans as good as they could be,
once the line overhead fell, everything here would come to nothing.
None of it would be of any use at all.
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Unidentified enemy flying units are entering our planet's atmosphere!"
Just then an alarm sounded in the command post.
The planetary governor frowned.
"What's going on?"
Very soon a subordinate called up the footage in question.
A squadron of T4 pitch-black interstellar warships could be seen trying to enter the planet's atmosphere.
But at the same time a squadron of Household Legion fleet warships was trying to intercept these T4 pitch-black interstellar warships.
And in the course of this fight,
the bellies of these T4 pitch-black interstellar warships opened and released batch after batch of small combat units,
like so many black flying birds:
pitch-black from end to end, but shaped like great birds.
These pitch-black great birds, once they left the pitch-black interstellar warships, dived straight toward the planet's surface.
It was plain their aim was to attack this planet's surface.
"What the devil are these things!" The planetary governor looked at these pitch-dark things, and his skin crawled.
"Report: the Household Legion fleet fighting outside our planet has sent an urgent communication. The enemy's warships release some flying combat units. They'll try to stop and intercept them, but some will slip through the net and still reach the planet's surface. They hope we can deal with those ourselves. If we can't, then call on the fleet for support," a subordinate reported.
The planetary governor's face darkened; he looked at the footage of those black monster-birds plunging into the planet's atmosphere like meteors.
"What grade of combat unit are these black monster-birds?" the planetary governor asked.
"By the energy intensity we've observed, these black monster-birds are all T3-grade combat units. A very few, larger in size, are T4-grade combat units, but not many," the subordinate said.
"T3……" The planetary governor muttered it under his breath, then said gravely, "Tell the Household Legion fleet's commander at once: if what appears on the planet is only the enemy's T3-grade combat units, our Planetary Defense Force can handle them. If they go beyond that, we'll ask for support."
"Yes." The subordinate answered and went at once to pass the message on.
After that, the planetary governor began contacting the 'Planetary Defense Force' as well.
The Planetary Defense Force, as the name says, was a planet's military strength.
It was commonly made up of a handful of patrolling warships, ground-based air warships or interstellar fighters on the surface, and close-in guns, mecha units, ground armored units and the like.
As the name says, it was the military strength that protected this planet.
"Planetary Defense Force, hear my order. A batch of enemy flying combat units is coming next, and may threaten our surface. Every combat unit, take note. Though we are only a Planetary Defense Force, we are soldiers of the Owl Dragon Empire too. Now is the time to show our strength. Use the weapons in your hands and destroy every enemy invading our home. For the Empire!"
On the whole planet's command channel, everyone heard this planetary governor's words.
No few of them raised their heads to look at the sky at this moment.
The mecha standing on the ground slowly raised their heads,
looking at the pitch-black 'meteors' overhead, one after another, coming ever nearer.
The next second, every close-in gun within attack range opened fire, pouring its barrage at those pitch-black meteors falling from the sky.
These close-in guns were all T3-grade technology weapons as well.
So their effect against these pitch-black meteors was quite good.
At least a part were intercepted and burst in midair.
The rest broke through the close-in guns' blockade of fire, less than 5,000 meters from the ground.
At this point batch after batch of ground-based air interstellar fighters and interstellar drone swarms could be seen sortieing,
to begin fighting these black monster-birds in the air.
In this air battle to the death, each side had its wins and losses.
But as more and more black monster-birds fell into the atmosphere,
naturally some black monster-birds began to break through this second blockade and dive toward the ground below.
At this point, those black monster-birds whose fall was headed for the cities
met a new round of barrage.
Above certain tall buildings in those cities, machine-gun turrets appeared one after another.
Don't make light of these machine-gun turrets; these were all T3-grade technology weapons.
Though less powerful than the close-in guns before, their rate of fire was very high, and within close range they could form a truly terrifying barrage.
These black monster-birds, under the attack of such a barrage, even when many were not killed on the spot,
were quickly cleaned up by the combat units on the ground once they fell.
And among them, some black monster-birds in fairly good condition landed successfully.
When they were about to attack on the ground,
huge, towering figures would appear one after another.
Combat mecha!
And these combat mecha were by no means all ordinary combat mecha.
The T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha!
It was the interstellar combat mecha that had served in the earliest Owl Dragon Legion fleets.
Only, because of the Owl Dragon Legion fleets' rapid growth then, and because there were few chances of landing battles besides,
this combat mecha had in the main had few chances to show itself,
and had very soon left the historical stage of the Owl Dragon Legion fleets.
But they had found a new duty of their own as well:
joining the Planetary Defense Force, in charge of security patrol duties within the planet,
and becoming 'mecha police.'
As an Owl Dragon-line interstellar combat mecha, the T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha was still more than equal to this duty.
And so,
here there were figures of T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha.
The T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha carried four fifty-two-barrel Gatling-type small beam autocannon, a 100-cell small missile pack, and two Templar light-swords.
They surrounded and cut down every enemy combat unit that landed,
in the main without any difficulty at all.
Under their protection the cities were in the main in no great danger.
But whether the danger would grow, the heart of it still lay in the interstellar war overhead.
The Household Legion fleet group side had gathered 100,000 warships, and with the Great-Lord fleets and lord fleets drawn in from round about, 200,000 warships more:
300,000 warships in all, to encircle and destroy the 100,000 pitch-black interstellar warships here.
In scale it looked like three times the enemy's.
But in actual effect on the battlefield, it was the Household Legion fleet's side that was hard put to hold on.
And had it not been for one warship holding the line,
perhaps the Household Legion fleets would not even have had the chance of holding on at all.
That was the most numerous T4 warship in active service in the Household Legion fleets:
the T4 Star-Vault-Sentry-class Interstellar Unmanned Guard Ship!
It was the one and only T4 warship in the Owl Dragon Empire now built especially for the Household Legion fleet groups,
and not one served in the main fleet groups.
Its duty was very simple: guard duty!
And because of its low cost and its needing no crew to fly it,
its overall building cost was quite low.
Of the T4 warships in active service in the Household Legion fleet groups, more than half were this warship.
And at this moment its showing was quite outstanding.
Though an unmanned interstellar guard ship, against T4 pitch-black interstellar warships of the same grade it did not give the least ground.
And when facing T5-grade pitch-black interstellar warships,
the T4 Star-Vault-Sentry-class Interstellar Unmanned Guard Ships present would work together and form a combat squad,
to wipe out the target T5 pitch-black interstellar warship at the least cost.
Even for facing a higher-grade T6 pitch-black interstellar warship, the T4 Star-Vault-Sentry-class Interstellar Unmanned Guard Ships' combat plans had provision too.
Only that plan was one that would cost a very high price.
But at least for now those T6 pitch-black interstellar warships appeared in no great numbers on the small ink battlefields, and relying on the decapitation plan of the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group under Marshal Zhao Waner, they were destroyed quickly once found.
Only so had the situation been steadied.
But the most important thing of all on every small ink battlefield was still these T4 Star-Vault-Sentry-class Interstellar Unmanned Guard Ships!
The same was happening on the other battlefields too.
Likely no outsider would ever have guessed
that the T4 Star-Vault-Sentry-class Interstellar Unmanned Guard Ship, all along unknown to fame, would become the Owl Dragon Empire's last line of defense.
"I never thought our T4 Star-Vault-Sentry-class Interstellar Unmanned Guard Ship had such strong combat ability. If only we'd built more of this kind of warship back then, would things be a little better now?" Lilith said beside him, with some regret.
Lilith naturally knew this warship.
From the standpoint of resources, it was beyond doubt the most cost-effective warship of all.
But because it had never had a showing in real combat, Lilith had had no great confidence in her own mind about what fighting power it could bring to bear on a battlefield.
"The T4 Star-Vault-Sentry-class Interstellar Unmanned Guard Ship is very good indeed. But the fighting it's suited to is very limited. If we built too many, it would, if anything, affect the production of our other warships," Zhao Chen said coolly.
He watched this T4 Star-Vault-Sentry-class Interstellar Unmanned Guard Ship intently.