Another hour of fighting was on the point of passing.
Once more a gloom seemed to hang about the bridge of the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship.
"If the enemy sends another batch of Pitch-Black Legion fleets, the same number as before, can we still hold them?" Zhao Chen turned his head to Lilith beside him.
Lilith paused a moment, then said, "Suppose the same thing happens as before on the five main battlefields and the nearly one hundred small battlefields. First, the five main battlefields have no great problem, only the situation may turn passive and against us, and we'll have to pay no few casualties. And of the small battlefields, at least half will go out of control. And, like a dam bursting, it will set off a whole chain of bad consequences!"
Zhao Chen said in a deep voice, "For as things stand, every warship we can call up has already been drawn out."
"Yes. What's left is no more than sending the few flagships that have finished resting and refitting into the battlefields again. But… that too would be only a cupful of water on a burning cartload of wood. And besides, there's the drain on our battlefield resources. None of these are small problems," Lilith said.
Zhao Chen sat upon the throne with his head bowed, his hands before the tip of his nose, as though staring at the floor.
He had used up his hole cards once again.
All that was left was to wait,
to wait for that damned fate.
It was that feeling again: helpless, and hard to bear.
However he grew, however much stronger the power he came to hold, each time a worse plight was set before him.
The time passed little by little.
At last Lilith's voice came from beside him.
"The hour is up."
Zhao Chen made no sound.
"On the five main battlefields, no further reinforcements of the Pitch-Black Legion fleets have been found!" Lilith said suddenly, in delighted surprise.
Zhao Chen raised his head sharply and looked at the five huge battlefield windows.
Within those five huge blots of ink, the scene of before had not surged up.
Not a single pitch-black interstellar warship had appeared.
"And the small battlefields?" Zhao Chen pressed at once.
Lilith answered, "No pitch-black interstellar warships have appeared on the small battlefields either."
Lilith could hardly hide the excitement on her face; she looked at Zhao Chen. "Perhaps… perhaps we've come through the enemy's attack this time."
The corners of Zhao Chen's mouth could not help lifting, but he still held down the excitement within him.
"We can't let down our guard; perhaps the enemy still has some move in reserve. We must be ready to face every possibility." Zhao Chen stared gravely at the Owl Dragon Empire's holo-table.
After that came the waiting, minute by minute.
Three minutes passed.
No pitch-black interstellar warship appeared anew.
Five minutes passed.
No word of it from any ink battlefield.
Ten minutes passed.
The fighting on the ink battlefields large and small went on still, but still there was no word of any further Pitch-Black Legion fleet reinforcements appearing.
Nor had any quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warship appeared again.
Though by this time there was a thread of fair hope,
Zhao Chen still waited.
He dared not decide too early; he feared this was only a brief good thing.
He dared not tear this good thing open at such a time.
At last,
when the time had run to half an hour past,
Zhao Chen spoke; he looked to Lilith beside him. "In this half hour, not one blot of ink has shown a Pitch-Black Legion fleet, not so much as a single warship, has it?"
Zhao Chen's words carried a question, but were more like an earnest hope,
a hope for the answer he wanted.
Lilith nodded hard. "Yes. In the past half hour, no new Pitch-Black Legion fleet has appeared at any blot of ink."
When he had heard it,
Zhao Chen drew a deep breath and paced a few times back and forth before the Owl Dragon Empire's star chart.
He stood still once more; the smile on his face was already held in check, and he had gone back to his calm outward look.
He said, "Pass my order at once. Though no further reinforcements of the Pitch-Black Legion fleets have appeared, we can't let down our guard; we must make ready battle plans to meet them. And besides, pass my order: every region is to prepare to close up its battlefield and destroy these pitch-dark fellows, all of them. Not one of them is to be left in our universe!"
"Yes!"
Lilith began at once to pass on the order.
And Zhao Chen, his hands clasped behind his back, watched the fighting on every battlefield, and how things stood with the Pitch-Black Legion fleets remaining.
Very soon Lilith came back to Zhao Chen's side as well.
She saw what Zhao Chen was watching, and said beside him, "At present, of the battlefields large and small, the large battlefields are in the main all under our control. Battlefield No. 5, in the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet's charge, is the steadiest; it needs no worry from us at all. On Battlefields No. 1 to No. 4, because of the Pitch-Black Legion warships piled up and left over from the waves before, the pitch-black interstellar warships remaining have each come to a million-odd. But happily every quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warship has been destroyed. The remaining pitch-black interstellar warships need only some time to be cleaned up bit by bit. As for the small battlefields, most have been brought under control by our Household Legion fleets working with the local Great-Lord fleets. A few small battlefields are in rather serious condition. But since the enemy's reinforcements are no longer appearing, we can send the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group to support those small battlefields afterward. That way, clearing up these small troubles is no problem."
She paused, and Secretary-Officer Lilith said, "Marshal Charlotte reported just now as well. If the enemy has no reinforcements at all, clearing out every pitch-black interstellar warship within the Owl Dragon Empire, with the least loss to ourselves, can be done within thirty combat hours. Let Your Majesty rest easy."
Zhao Chen nodded.
The time Charlotte gave, Zhao Chen naturally trusted.
Zhao Chen sat back down upon his throne.
"Lilith, this attack by the Pitch-Black Legion fleets under Order has cost us no small losses, hasn't it?" Zhao Chen could not help clenching his fists.
Lilith said beside him, "The warship casualties and losses will still have to be counted after the battle. And as for what we've spent in strategic resources, by our estimate, once the fighting is over it will come to about three months of the Owl Dragon Empire's present output."
Three months of the Owl Dragon Empire's present output.
It did not look like very much.
But mind, this was the figure after Zhao Chen had founded the Owl Dragon Empire and raised its industrial production system.
In earlier times it would likely have been a year of this universe's output.
And that was without counting the value of the warships destroyed.
"Heh heh heh, Order. Order. It comes to make a little trouble for us as it pleases, and it has us run off our feet." Zhao Chen laughed at himself, clenching his fists, anger in his gaze!
In the time that followed,
perhaps it was just as they had guessed:
this invasion of Order's had come to an end.
The one thing that still gave people pause was that those 'ink' blots had not vanished,
but stayed where they were.
In the end, after twenty-seven hours,
every pitch-black interstellar warship within the Owl Dragon Empire had been cleared out.
Every region began the work of winding up its battlefield.
It had to be said that fighting the Pitch-Black Legion fleets had one peculiarity:
one had only to sweep up the wreckage of one's own warships, and never to clear away the enemy's.
So the battlefields had none of the chaos of an ordinary battlefield after the fighting.
"Your Majesty. Every fleet group has completed its combat task." Charlotte's hologram appeared before Zhao Chen.
Weariness could be seen on her face.
In the past few dozen combat hours Charlotte had not rested properly at all; in the main she had been fighting for the course of the war for the whole Owl Dragon Empire!
"Very good. For now you can have every fleet group rest and refit a while; everyone has been very tired these past hours. The count and repair of damaged warships can be arranged later."
Zhao Chen paused, and went on, "But as for each blot of ink, Household Legion fleets must be sent to seal it off. If an 'ink' blot is fairly close to some planet, Household Legion fleets must be stationed there long-term. And let it be made known outside that at present it poses no threat, and that we'll make every preparation to meet it. Don't let the people fall into excessive fear. Do your best to let order within the Empire recover."
This invasion by Order's Pitch-Black Legion fleets was bound to have some ill effects within the Owl Dragon Empire, and set some unpleasant rumors going.
Above all those 'ink' blots that did not vanish; who knew what rumors they would give rise to.
So some plans to meet it had to be made ahead of time.
"We'll make proper arrangements for all of it," Lilith said beside him.
After that they discussed some matters, and this storm of the Pitch-Black Legion fleets' sudden invasion could be said to have come to an end.
All was in the quiet of after the war.
But Zhao Chen took no rest.
Having been through this sudden invasion,
Zhao Chen knew very well that his time was pressing.
There was somewhere that needed him more.
"Lilith, from now on command of the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship goes entire to you, and the authority to deal with every affair of the Owl Dragon Empire along with it. You and Charlotte are in charge of it all. Unless something comes up that you can't deal with; then tell me."
When he had said this, Zhao Chen did not forget to charge Lilith once more. "But don't you forget to rest, either; take care of your body. Remember what we agreed before: I won't stop you working. But medical staff must be with you twenty-four hours a day. From a month before the due date you must cut down your workload, and if a doctor requires it, you're to stop what you're doing at any moment and rest!"
The last words Zhao Chen said looking at Lilith very gravely.
Lilith heard the second half of his words out and felt warm at heart.
But what she asked about was chiefly the first half. "Is there something you have to deal with?"
For Zhao Chen to be in such haste as to drop these important affairs, it must surely be something more important still.
Zhao Chen nodded and looked at the Owl Dragon Empire's interstellar map beside him, which still bore the traces of every battlefield marked before.
"This was Order's first attack. We don't know what technological means they used, but we've seen what they can do. Those quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships. This time we held them. But the next time? And the time after that? We have no T7-grade warships; if Order sends true T7 pitch-black interstellar warships, will we still be able to resist?"
Zhao Chen's face was very grave as he said, "This attack wasn't only Order's attack. It was also an alarm bell rung for me. We haven't much time. We need more and stronger warships. From here on I'm going to throw myself headlong into our starship industry. I'll find a way to raise the strength of the Owl Dragon's war industry as fast as I can!"
Somehow, unlike the times before when Zhao Chen had brought out those astonishing technologies,
this time, as he spoke, his tone was flat and decisive, as though he had made some decision.
But Lilith understood what he was thinking.
She reached out her hand and took Zhao Chen's large one, and said gently, "All right. Go and do what you want to do. Charlotte and I will be here, and take care of everything here for you."
When she had said it, Lilith drew Zhao Chen's hand and laid it upon her belly.
"The child and I… will both be waiting for you."
Zhao Chen felt a faint stirring beating against his palm, and seemed to feel something.
……
The Shadow Hunter ace fleet group · the bridge
Zhao Waner lay flat on the floor, spread-eagled.
"Finally done. This time I really was the chief of the fire brigade, sending corps fleets wherever they were needed. Holy crap. At one point seven quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships popped up at the same time, while four T7 pitch-black interstellar warship battlefields were still being fought. I felt like my brain was going to explode. Before, I thought our Shadow Hunter ace fleet group's missions were easy: lurk and assassinate, lurk and assassinate. Who knew we'd have to use our heads too," Zhao Waner grumbled on and on.
Squatting beside her was her secretary-officer.
The secretary-officer covered her mouth and laughed softly. "You're the Emperor's own sister. The Emperor is so outstanding, so naturally you're outstanding too. It's precisely because you're so outstanding that His Majesty the Emperor gave you such an important task. Could anyone else have carried out this task so perfectly?"
Hearing the secretary-officer's words,
Zhao Waner at once sat up cross-legged and looked at her secretary-officer suspiciously. "Little Qianqian, do you really mean that? With your mouth so sweet, you're not just humoring me, are you!"
The secretary-officer pouted and said in a low voice, "How would I be humoring you, my lady? I'm only speaking the truth. Look. Under your dispositions and dispatching, not one of the small battlefields within the Empire collapsed. And our Shadow Hunter ace fleet group has taken nearly thirty quasi-T7 pitch-black interstellar warships to its credit. Even on those main battlefields, that would be a dazzling record! Once we're back, His Majesty is sure to reward you handsomely!"
Pleasant words still worked very well.
The corners of Zhao Waner's mouth could not help lifting.
But on hearing the last words, Zhao Waner said with a touch of grievance, "I don't need any reward or any of that. This time I'm going to find my brother. He's got to come up with a T6 interstellar stealth bomber for me, one way or another!"