Zhao Chen looked at this red-haired High Elf before him.
He smiled faintly. "Salaman, whatever our positions, wherever we stand, whatever we stand for, at least with me you'll always be my friend. Thank you for all the help you've given us all along."
Zhao Chen said it sincerely.
The Flame Elf Queen paused, then said, "I count you my friend too. As for the help you speak of: I'm ashamed to say it, but up to now I haven't really helped you at all. This time I can't go with you on the expedition against the Devourer Civilization, and I deeply regret it. But I believe you and your Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets are bound to slaughter your way through the Devourer Civilization's universe. I won't see it, but I hope you'll destroy a few more of the Devourer Civilization's interstellar warships for me. Give those few bastard Sovereigns a good look. It isn't only they who can attack other people's home universes; now it's their turn to have their own attacked!"
As the Flame Elf Queen said this, her eyes were full of great regret.
For a soldier, to miss such a war was to regret it all her life.
"Very well; I'll carry your will with me on the expedition into the Devourer Civilization's universe. Let those bastards who only know how to destroy other people's homes get a good taste of what the people whose homes they invaded and destroyed felt in body and heart!" Zhao Chen said seriously.
The Flame Elf Queen nodded hard.
After that a few brief words passed.
The two of them exchanged a look and said nothing more; the Flame Elf Queen gave Zhao Chen a Holy Elf Empire military salute,
and the communication came to an end.
The Flame Elf Queen looked at the video window gone dark, her gaze complicated:
now ashamed, now indignant, now longing, now lost.
She murmured to herself, "Zhao Chen, I can't fight at your side. But I'll be waiting for your triumph. Then I'll have the Holy Elf Empire's finest wine ready to celebrate your triumphant return! I will!"
After that, the Flame Elf Queen stayed sitting in her captain's chair a long, long time,
as though thinking over some very important question.
And Zhao Chen had already boarded his interstellar warship by now, and was heading back to the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire with his guard fleet.
…………
At the same time,
the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's side had begun a whole series of preparations too.
If the preparations before this had had no great effect, nothing the people had felt,
at this point nearly every main star-system shipping lane of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire noticed something was wrong.
First of all, every star gate.
"Look, the star gate over there is flashing red lights fast!" the helmsman on the bridge of an interstellar transport suddenly cried out.
The captain came over at once.
His expression was somewhat grave. "Slow down at once, change course, and pull into the anchorage beside us. Then tell the owner how things stand with us; the delivery of the goods may be delayed."
"Delayed? How can that be! The penalty for breaking the contract on this lot of goods is huge," the merchant traveling with the ship cried.
The captain pointed at the red lights flashing on the star gate's lane and said, "Do you see those flashing red lights? A steady red light means the star gate's lane is under control, and may stop running or come under military control at any moment. Red lights flashing slowly mean this star gate has gone under second-grade wartime control; at such times only some urgent cargo may go on using the star gate; every other interstellar fleet must leave the main lane, and may travel the secondary lanes, or wait at an anchorage, or else leave. If a fleet still holds the main lane at a time like that, its owner may face a huge fine. And red lights flashing fast like now mean this star gate is under emergency first-grade wartime control. Apart from the military, and interstellar fleets escorting supplies for the military, no other interstellar fleet may stay in the main lane or the secondary lanes; they must leave at once or stop at an anchorage. And interstellar fleets that haven't entered the star gate's range yet can't get in now either; they either stop at an anchorage outside, or find another route. As for the penalty on the goods: the contract already says plainly that when goods under escort are delayed by force majeure of this kind, no penalty is owed. Contacting the owner now is only to see what the owner wants done. If this lot of goods is truly urgent, then transfer it now, while there's time, to a large interstellar transport that can make long cross-system voyages. So don't waste time here."
When he had said this, the captain sat down in his captain's chair, took out a cigarette, lit it, and held it in his mouth.
"Looks like we get to rest a while again. I just wonder where our Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire is fighting this time. Can it be that Devourer Civilization attacking again?" the deputy captain said beside him, stretching.
For people like them, who only did the work, resting on full pay was naturally the best thing there could be.
"That I wouldn't know. But this star gate is on the main lane inside the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's borders. If it's been put under first-grade wartime control, this move must be no small one," the captain said, as if it were nothing new.
For he had been through this sort of thing who knew how many times, and had long been used to it.
"I've contacted the owner. The owner wants us to wait at the anchorage; he'll find a way to get in touch with people." The traveling merchant came over, his face all helplessness.
"Don't worry; that's not ours to worry about. All we need do is our own work, properly." The captain handed the traveling merchant a cigarette.
"You don't have to deal with the other side. When we hand the goods over, they're bound to grumble a bit; what can I do about it?" The traveling merchant looked helpless, then asked, "Roughly how long will we be stopped? Do we just wait here?"
The captain glanced at the several lanes that had already been cleared and said calmly, "Going by how it's been before: the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire won't handle this with one blunt cut. Even before, when the Devourer Civilization's interstellar fleets invaded our Empire, with battlefields spread over as many as seven star systems, and the whole Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire on a first-grade war footing, they did everything they could to keep every part of the Empire running normally. First, they open some unimportant lanes so interstellar transports like ours that need to can go round the main star gates. It costs some time, but at least the effect isn't great. Our Empire's star-gate network is very well built, after all; you could say it reaches in every direction. It's only like this for the first few hours. After that they'll open up star-gate access bit by bit. I remember when I met this at a star gate before, the star gate's managers first reported to the Empire's department in charge of star-gate traffic and to the military department. Once the military's needs for voyages were settled, the star gate's managers would open the secondary lanes step by step as things allowed, a third to two-thirds of the right of passage. Arranged like that, even if a military interstellar fleet really does need the star gate, or important military supplies need escorting, nothing gets in the way. But at times like this, traffic jams can't be avoided. Then it comes down to the value of the goods you're carrying, and the strength of whoever stands behind you. If our owner has the pull, we can leave here once some routes are back open."
Hearing the captain out, the traveling merchant breathed easier; so long as they were not stuck here forever, it was all right.
"And mind the star port you dock at afterward too. At a time like this, some of the main star ports come under wartime control as well, and every berthing request from interstellar transports like ours gets canceled. So we need to be ready both ways; you'd best line up another star port as a backup." The captain, as one who had been through it, gave the traveling merchant a word of warning.
The traveling merchant went off at once to see to it.
The captain blew out a smoke ring and said calmly, "We're lucky enough where we are this time; it isn't one of those wartime hubs. At a star gate in a spot like that, don't even think about it; just leave while you can."
……
The Rose-Red-Dragon Interstellar Trade Group · Third Factory Branch
"Emergency order! Emergency order! Our factory goes under military control at once; no one who isn't staff of the group's factory may enter the controlled area. Every civilian starship order and goods order that can be stopped is to be stopped and moved to the warehouses. Any starship orders and goods orders that meet military standards and haven't been delivered are now all to go to the military first; every other order is put off. Every production line now serves the military's orders alone!" The factory manager hurried anxiously through every department, giving the newest orders on the spot.
"Manager, don't… don't run so fast. You can just give these orders over the communication channel," his secretary panted, running beside him.
The manager glanced at the secretary following behind him and said seriously, "Giving them once over the communication channel doesn't put my mind at ease. Every department, every production line, I need to see for myself. At a time like this, nothing can be allowed to go wrong!"
As the manager spoke, a trace of after-fright showed in his eyes.
He was so careful because before, when he was deputy manager, at a time when they had likewise gone into an emergency wartime state,
the manager then, through one careless slip, had caused a batch of military orders to be delayed by twelve hours.
Those twelve hours' delay alone
had cost that manager his post outright.
It had caused no other great loss,
yet it had buried that manager's prospects; now he could only be in charge at some mining area, and the gap between the two was as wide as between heaven and earth.
Ever since, he had kept that manager's experience before him as a warning to himself.
In the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire you might take other things lightly, but in anything to do with the military, every nerve in your body had to be strung tight.
Nothing was allowed to go wrong!
That was a red line.