As his fleet kept expanding, a manpower shortage was bound to hit sooner or later. And technical specialists for the auxiliary ships — a T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship, a T3 Andromeda-class Interstellar Medical Ship — were a gaping hole of their own. With a T3 Goddess Academy, all of that solved itself. He could hardly keep topping up his ranks by buying ready-made slaves forever: unreliable, and the quality of such recruits was all over the map.
"Commander, the report on this engagement is ready." Lilith's voice drew Zhao Chen out of his thoughts.
"Go ahead." He looked to her.
Lilith raised a hand, and a data panel bloomed before him, laying out in detail the T3 Blizzard's damage and their losses in the fight.
"All 50 Blizzard interstellar drones destroyed; all 50 Blizzard light interstellar missiles spent. A quarter of the 72 medium close-in guns damaged to varying degrees. Of the 16 medium pulse-laser secondaries, four were wrecked in the fighting. Of the four 2500mm medium electromagnetic main railguns, one has a minor wiring fault. The Blizzard-class Heavy Cluster-Laser Bow Cannon runs well. Star shield energy: 29%. Under normal cruise with adequate power, the shield restores itself within 48 hours — faster inside a T2 Iron Hammer or at a starport. Total ship power: 31%. Munitions and stores: 35%, the close-in gun ammunition the heaviest drain — nearly dry. What's left is more than enough to get us back to the Northstar Star System; if we had to fight another battle, though, I couldn't promise it. Composite hull-armor damage stands at 47%, the worst-hit sections at 80. The main skeletal structure is unaffected. No crew injured."
Zhao Chen chuckled and patted the arm of the captain's chair. "Quite the thrilling debut for our Blizzard."
"It also proves what she can do in a real fight." Charlotte put in from the side, eyes shining. "This ship — her speed goes without saying; nothing in the T3 line can touch her. In combat power she's long outstripped the battlecruiser type; you could rank her among interstellar battleships without a quibble. She's classed light, but to me she feels more like a medium warship."
Charlotte plainly adored the Blizzard; as she praised it, the tail behind her swished without pause.
"In this battle the Blizzard killed one T3 Hive Mothership, gravely wounded another, destroyed four T2 Hive Motherships and a number of T1 Hive Motherships. hive-race troop units slain — a rough first estimate of nearly 1 million, though better than 90% were low-tier T1 flyers." Lilith laid out the kill figures too.
Zhao Chen smiled wryly. "Every one of those was good hard star coin — pity we were in no position to haul the carcasses home." Nothing else even counted: that one T3 Hive Mothership's corpse, blown to ragged pieces and poorly preserved as it was, would still fetch a few million star coins by rough reckoning — enough to build another T2-grade ship.
"At our current speed, how long to clear the hive-race-controlled danger zone?" he asked.
"Around half an hour," Lilith answered.
Zhao Chen nodded. "Once we're out of it, no need to rush off. Hold normal cruise speed and let everyone get some proper rest. We've been pushing hard the whole way, and after a fight that intense, they're all worn out."
"Yes." Lilith noted it down.
They'd hurried on the way in; now that the job was done, there was no need to hurry back.
In the hangar
The two academies' people, their first joy at survival now ebbing, sat slumped about in the corners. Just then a student of the Heaven's Glory Noble Starship Military Academy made for the hangar door.
"Halt. Commander's orders — you're confined to this area." A crew member barred his path, laser gun in hand.
"Hey — is this some kind of joke? We've been stuck in here well over an hour. Never mind food or drink, you haven't even dragged out a single chair for us. We're students of the Heaven's Glory Noble Starship Military Academy, not prisoners — the least you could do is find us a comfortable room! Sitting on this floor, my backside's killing me!" the male student said, overbearing.
The boy came from no small family and had long been used to throwing his weight around at the academy; the bugs had frightened him witless earlier, but now that it was safe, the arrogance bred into his bones was back on show.
"The Commander has ordered that none of you leave this hangar," the crew member said, unmoved.
"How did your heads get so wooden? My father is a Lord Count, and I'm to be a Count myself one day. Why do you think your Commander came all this way to save us, if not to curry favor with us nobles? You beast-folk crew — out of my way, this instant! Back in our territory, low creatures like you don't even have the right to breathe the same air as me. Pah." The student spat contemptuously on the floor and made to force his way through the hatch.
The crew member's grip tightened on her laser gun — and yet she hesitated to fire. She didn't know whether offending this noble might bring trouble down on her Commander. Being cursed at herself, she didn't care about; what she cared about was the Commander who looked after their lives.
The other teachers and students, put off as they were by the boy's manner, held their tongues on account of his family's rank; all of them were nobles, and none wished to make an enemy for nothing.
"Hey! This is someone else's ship — on their ship, you follow their rules. Don't forget: if not for these beast-folk crew fighting for their lives, you'd still be back on that planet, feeding the bugs!" Chu Xuan stepped forward for the beast-folk crewwoman.
"And who do you think you are? I'm telling you, my father is a Count—" The student never finished. A hand reached in from beyond the hatch and clamped down squarely on his head.
Then came a thud.
The boy's head made intimate acquaintance with the floor; blood sprayed, and teeth skittered loose.
"The hell are you yapping about on my ship?" Zhao Chen crouched, regarding this so-called son of a Count with cold indifference.