The Sacred Elf Empire · the High Council
"I simply don't understand. You say over and over that it's for the good of the Sacred Elf Empire. But now you're unwilling to send troops to support the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefield. I've told you every report from the Owl Dragon Empire's battlefield, item by item. The fighting there is going very well right now, far better than the fighting in any of the other interstellar universes before. The one shortcoming is too few troops, while the Devourer Civilization keeps sending more interstellar fleets. Have you ever seen an interstellar universe, in the first round of the Devourer Civilization's invasion, have more than 25 million interstellar warships[1] sent against it in two waves one after another? No! As I see it now, it's at least around 30 million interstellar warships. What does that tell you? It tells you that they themselves know very well how strong the Owl Dragon Empire's legion fleets are, and they've begun to take them seriously. Even the enemy sees that clearly. Why can't you! You want to watch the fire from the far bank? Aren't you afraid the fire will spread to you? To put it plainly, the Owl Dragon Empire's universe is now our Sacred Elf Empire's defensive depth. If the Owl Dragon Empire is destroyed, we simply won't have the strength to resist the Devourer Civilization's universe as it comes on in full fury."
The Flame Elf Queen looked at the many elf members of the High Council before her, and at the four Elf Sovereigns.
Her tone was very heavy and urgent.
Her gaze was as sharp as a hawk's.
When the Flame Elf Queen had finished speaking,
elf members began to speak one after another. "As to Your Excellency the Flame Elf Queen's request that we send more reinforcements, we have discussed it several times already, and the conclusion we reached is that it remains to be seen."
"Yes. Right now we still can't be sure whether this is a scheme of the Devourer Civilization's, meant to draw our Sacred Elf Empire's main fleets into the Owl Dragon Empire's universe and then destroy them there. If that were so, it would be a disaster for our Sacred Elf Empire."
"And as things look now, the Owl Dragon Empire can still hold out. We may as well wait a while longer. Wait a while longer."
The Flame Elf Queen looked at the faces of these High Council members.
She was filled with indignation.
She turned straight to the four Elf Sovereigns.
"In the session before, the four of you didn't state your positions. Now I want to know where you stand!"
The High Council might not agree now,
but if she could win the agreement of most of the Elf Sovereigns, the operation would have backing too.
"I don't agree. We've fought for less than half a month, and already we're to send more reinforcements. Our Sacred Elf Empire's legion fleet groups aren't something you can move with a simple word," the Nightglow Elf King said, without the least courtesy.
The Flame Elf Queen paid him little heed either, for she knew this was simply his temper.
Conservative and shortsighted.
The Bluewater Elf Queen's[2] gentle voice sounded. "In truth I have no objection either way to whether we send a second wave of reinforcements. But our Sacred Elf Empire has always valued unanimity; if everyone is against it, Salaman, we may as well wait a while longer."
The Bluewater Elf Queen's attitude was rather neutral: she would not state a position, but she would side with the majority.
The Flame Elf Queen could only pin her hopes on the two remaining Elf Kings.
The Emerald Elf King said in a deep voice, "I support defensive operations on home ground. Over the years we've built a great many defensive installations in the Sacred Elf Empire. I believe our fleet groups fight best in our home universe. And, from a practical point of view, if more of the Devourer Civilization can be worn down in the Owl Dragon Empire's universe, the difficulty of our home defense will drop greatly."
The Flame Elf Queen closed her eyes.
Damn it; how had she come to pin a hope like this on a scholar? He had no idea at all what war was.
"Then I have nothing more to say either. Salaman, give us a little more time to discuss it. As things stand in the Owl Dragon Empire, there will be no collapse in the short term," the Radiant Elf King said, looking as detached as ever.
The Flame Elf Queen, seething, glared at them all. "Discuss! Discuss! This isn't playing house with you; this is war. This is a window for battle! In those interstellar universes before, it was in your discussing over and over, and weighing over and over, that we lost our chances. Now we have only one last chance left. Are you going to throw it away here too!"
Everyone present was silent.
"Fine, fine, fine. I'd like to see how you clean up this mess when the time comes." The Flame Elf Queen's hologram simply dissolved.
After the Flame Elf Queen had vanished,
the members of the High Council broke into talk.
They were all discussing the matter, but most felt that whether to send reinforcements remained to be seen.
"Ahem. As to whether to send a second wave of reinforcements to the Owl Dragon Empire, we still need to deliberate on that," the Radiant Elf King said coolly.
……
The Owl Dragon Empire's defensive war · hour 300
This was a critical line in time that the Owl Dragon Empire's Supreme General Staff had projected.
After many rounds of war-gaming, the conclusion reached was that, if current operations did not change, after three hundred combat hours the fighting on the five battlefields would take a sharp turn for the worse.
The Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship
"Three hundred hours: close to two weeks. Tell me how things stand now." Zhao Chen looked around at everyone attending the meeting.
This time it was an internal meeting of the Owl Dragon Empire's military, so the Flame Elf Queen's side did not take part.
Charlotte, as the Imperial Grand Marshal, spoke first. "Three hundred combat hours. All told, the number of interstellar warships we've put onto the battlefields has reached 3.7 million. That includes the interstellar warships just built and rolled off the lines in these two weeks and sent to the front-line legion fleets as replacements. And in these three hundred combat hours, our losses total 910,000 interstellar warships. That's somewhat fewer than our war games projected, but for the Owl Dragon Legion, whose fleets weren't large to begin with, it already counts as an enormous loss. The loss rate has reached 25%. Right now we still have 2.8 million interstellar warships able to fight. In these three hundred combat hours, the enemy destroyed comes to around 10 million interstellar warships. As for us, apart from the three newly formed legion fleet groups, which are still kept at a strength of 100,000 interstellar warships, the other six legion fleet groups are each down to 400,000 interstellar warships."
She paused.
Charlotte went on, "As for our allies, the Sacred Elf legion fleet groups: according to the battlefield intelligence we've recorded, the Sacred Elf legion fleet groups have so far put a total of 5 million interstellar warships onto the battlefields. Their total losses come to nearly 1 million interstellar warships; their loss rate has reached 20%. On the Sacred Elf legion fleet groups' side, the total of enemy destroyed is around 5 million interstellar warships. That is to say, between our two sides' allied armies, the enemy destroyed so far comes to 15 million interstellar warships. Across the five battlefields, the enemy still averages over 2 million interstellar warships each."
When Charlotte had finished, she looked at Zhao Chen.
"Go on; tell us your view of the situation," Zhao Chen said.
Charlotte raised her hand, and the interstellar holo-tables of the five battlefields all rose before everyone.
"As things stand now, the standoffs on the first three battlefields are much alike: on our Owl Dragon side, two legion fleet groups with 800,000 interstellar warships; on the Sacred Elf side, one legion fleet group with 800,000 interstellar warships. A total of 1.6 million interstellar warships. And the enemy on these three battlefields has only 2 million-odd interstellar warships. The gap in the number of interstellar warships is narrowing step by step; it's even about to even out. Judged by the surface of things alone, there's no great problem. The battlefield area in these three star systems has stayed under control all along too, and no line has collapsed or fallen. But the two new battlefields are not the same. On the two new battlefields, our allied armies together have 800,000 interstellar warships, and the enemy nearly 2.5 million; the gap in fleet numbers is still there. At the same time the star-system battlefield area keeps on growing. In Luoyang System No. 04, the battlefield area already covers a fifth of the star system, far beyond the other star-system battlefields. But right now we haven't the forces to check this expansion of the enemy's, let alone shrink the star-system battlefield area."
Charlotte, her face grave, pointed at Luoyang System No. 04 and Luoyang System No. 11 and said, "If I'm not mistaken, the Devourer Civilization will make its move next. And the move can only be one of two things. Either they pick one of these two star-system battlefields and send more reinforcements there to put on more pressure. Or they use their trump card, the Soul Altar, summon the Pitch-Black Legion fleets, and launch their fiercest attack on us!"
"Here I ask to be punished. It was I who didn't prepare well enough for battle, and let the Luoyang System No. 04 battlefield get out of control." General Wei Shishi of the Owl Dragon Seventh Legion Fleet Group spoke up of her own accord.
Qingman and Midai beside her were about to speak as well.
Zhao Chen waved a hand and cut them off. "Don't take the blame on yourselves. You each have only 100,000 interstellar warships in hand. True, on the logistics side, however many interstellar warships you lose, that many are replaced, and you get first call on interstellar missiles too. But the pressure you bear far exceeds that of the other battlefields. That you've held out three hundred combat hours without a line collapsing is already a great success."
Hearing the Owl Dragon Emperor say so, the three generals breathed easier, and at the same time felt warm inside; it felt as though what they had given had been recognized.
"How much strength do we still have to move?" Zhao Chen asked.
Charlotte answered, "The Blizzard ace fleet group and the Shadow Hunter ace fleet group. Apart from those, every other ace fleet group has already been thrown into the battlefields."
"Our Shadow Hunters can be thrown into any combat task on any battlefield at any time!" Zhao Waner said eagerly.
All this while she had only been waiting; for two weeks all she had heard were the battle reports of other legion fleet groups.
Her great blade had long been aching with hunger.
Chitong said nothing, but the look in those eyes of hers had already said it all.
"How are the preparations for that plan coming?" Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte.
Charlotte nodded gravely and said, "Everything has been deployed. At the same time, all personnel in the five star systems have been evacuated and dispersed; only some on-duty war-readiness staff remain. Those staff are all ready to evacuate at any time as well. Once that plan is carried out, we can guarantee that all our personnel in these five star systems are fully evacuated within half an hour."
Zhao Chen nodded; there was a trace of gloom in his eyes. "If it can be helped, I'd rather not use this plan. But for the sake of the larger picture, it's also the last resort, for when the final moment comes. Besides that, the means the Devourer Civilization may use, which Marshal Charlotte just described: every battlefield's legion fleet group commander must be prepared for them in their minds. And the combat data the General Staff has projected, you should all read it too. As things stand, we're the passive side. We can only wait for the enemy to make the first move, and then counter it. It's like two swordsmen locked in a standoff. So long as we can take the first few strokes after the other draws his sword, then afterward we'll likely meet him with far more ease."
When Zhao Chen had finished, everyone in the meeting gave their own views in turn.
This meeting, heavy in mood, came to an end there.
Zhao Chen watched the holograms dissolve one by one.
He leaned back in the captain's chair. "What I used to hate most was meetings. And now I have meetings every day," Zhao Chen said with a wry smile.
Lilith, standing beside Zhao Chen, said consolingly, "After all, things are completely different from before. Meetings are also for leading the whole, and passing on your thinking and guiding principles."
Zhao Chen saw that Charlotte's hologram had still not dissolved.
He asked curiously, "Charlotte, is there something else on your side?"
Charlotte looked at Zhao Chen and said gravely, "It's a tactic I worked through on my own a while ago. It's about meeting the threat of the Soul Altar that may appear later."
Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte with interest. "Tell me."
"From what I've learned about the Soul Altar from the Flame Elf Queen……"
……
When he had heard Charlotte out, Zhao Chen's face was very grave too.
He thought a moment, and looked hard at Charlotte. "How sure are you of this battle plan?"
"Less than fifty percent. And that's assuming that latest technological device of yours runs smoothly," Charlotte said frankly.
"I see. Keep this battle plan secret for now; it has too many risks, and it isn't fit to announce yet. But you can go on privately drawing up a detailed operational plan, as a reserve plan for now. Whatever you need, tell Lilith. The two of you work together," Zhao Chen said.
"Mm." Charlotte nodded; she knew very well how great the risk of that idea of hers was.
But sometimes, in such important campaigns and wars, it was exactly this kind of unbridled tactical plan that could break the deadlock!