"Thank you for your trouble." The Flame Elf Queen returned the courtesy, then stepped up warmly to chat with Major General Wang Min, the captain.
The other Elf Sovereigns behind could only follow in silence.
In the Owl Dragon Emperor's message there had been not one word about them.
One could see that the Owl Dragon Emperor was probably very displeased with the Holy Elf Empire's attitude this time.
Had it not been for the Flame Elf Queen's actions, there would have been no such contact at all this time.
But none of that mattered now; the most important thing at hand, naturally, was to tour this legendary interstellar warship.
"Lady Salaman, Elf Queen, would you like to go to the bridge first? Or look around the other departments first?" Major General Wang Min, the captain, asked beside her.
"Look around first, of course…" the Emerald Elf King could not help saying.
He was eager now to explore every department and module of this interstellar warship.
The others said nothing, but only looked at the Flame Elf Queen.
For they knew very well that they were only the supporting cast now, and their views did not matter at all.
Everything turned on the stance of Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen.
It was the very opposite of how things had stood earlier at the High Council.
Salaman, the Flame Elf Queen, glanced at the people following her, and noticed the Emerald Elf King's eager eyes as well.
She said slowly, "Then let's tour this interstellar warship's departments first."
"Very well, please follow me." Major General Wang Min, the captain, led the way ahead.
First, naturally, they boarded a compartment of this interstellar warship.
It was only an outermost compartment, but here one could see a good deal of clever design.
The Emerald Elf King's eyes at once swept around, and he at once found some special features.
On the compartment's walls and ceiling there were some unusual designs.
Set into one compartment wall, one could see something like a conduit for carrying strategic supplies, and in another place in the floor there was a very plain, very large lift platform taking up nearly a fifth of the whole compartment's area.
And this compartment was very large besides.
"This wall seems to be movable? And this lift platform too. I've heard about the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought's battles before, and one description was that it's an interstellar warship with boarding-action capability. It's fitted with the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's strongest interstellar combat mecha. From these little details you can tell that in ordinary times this compartment can be used to receive people, take people on and off, and berth shuttles and such vehicles. And in wartime this inner wall can probably move, to make the whole compartment's space larger. Then this lift platform can probably carry the interstellar marines needed for battle, or interstellar combat mecha, quickly up to this battle position. And here there's a channel for resupplying weapons and ammunition; if needed, the interstellar marines can take on ammunition right here." The Emerald Elf King had very soon found this compartment's features.
The others who had come along were all surprised.
They had never imagined that a compartment which looked so ordinary held so much ingenuity.
"This is our Holy Elf Empire's Emerald Elf King, an expert in starship military technology; he is very interested in such things. If anything touches on your side's secrets, you need not explain," the Flame Elf Queen said, looking at Major General Wang Min, the captain.
Major General Wang Min, the captain, nodded slightly; how could she not know who these Elf Sovereigns and high-elf councilors were?
Long before she set out, she had received very full material on every side of the Holy Elf Empire.
After all, she was to be stationed here for at least three months, and in those three months she could not avoid contact with the local leadership; it counted as a kind of diplomatic activity.
And the reason she had been chosen was that she had some ability in diplomacy.
"I've heard of you Elf Sovereigns, my lords. His Excellency the Emerald Elf King is right. These detailed designs are indeed meant for our interstellar heavy marines," Major General Wang Min, the captain, answered and explained frankly.
Whatever these people could be shown was, by and large, no secret.
If it had touched on secret matters, she could not possibly have brought these people on a tour at all.
And this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought had long since given away a great many details of its fighting in the earlier battles.
Many interstellar civilizations' powers that took an interest would have analyses of this interstellar warship.
In such circumstances, apart from some core secrets, the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought had, by and large, no secrets to speak of.
"But in the battlefield conditions of today, isn't using a weapon like interstellar combat mecha rather unreliable?" a high-elf councilor put forward his thought.
Many thought so too.
For in most people's minds, interstellar combat mecha today were mostly used for keeping order, not for fighting on the battlefield.
Spending an interstellar warship's precious space to carry these interstellar combat mecha: wasn't that rather more loss than gain?
But before Major General Wang Min, the captain, could speak,
the Emerald Elf King spoke first: "Foolish. You must judge a weapon's usefulness from many sides. Interstellar combat mecha aren't as strong as interstellar warships of the same grade, but they're very cheap to build. When two interstellar warships come within a very short distance, using interstellar combat mecha in a boarding action is beyond doubt the simplest way. Once interstellar combat mecha are aboard an enemy interstellar warship, it means more than ninety percent of the weapons on the enemy interstellar warship can't threaten the interstellar combat mecha. And the interstellar combat mecha can find every way to break straight through this interstellar warship's hull armor. However thick the hull armor, you need only break one opening. Plant explosives inside to wreck it, and the effect is very marked. The reason interstellar combat mecha gradually declined in T5, T4 and T3-grade interstellar wars is largely that weapons grew stronger and could destroy enemy interstellar warships faster, with no need for boarding actions. But at the T6 starship grade, hull armor made another huge leap, and interstellar warships' hulls grew larger besides. Some interstellar warships you can hardly destroy outright with ship guns alone. Crippling such an interstellar warship may take only half an hour, but to destroy it utterly may take three hours or even longer. That showed when the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought fought the super-flagships of the Devourer Civilization's three Sovereigns. Those two, the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer and the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship, were crippled time after time over several battles, yet neither was destroyed. That's proof enough. Even the strongest firepower of interstellar warships of the same grade can hardly break up an interstellar warship completely in a short time. And that's with interstellar combat mecha used in those battles; had they not been used, the outcome might have been quite different. So I think that in future battles, at least in wars fought with technology at T6 grade and above, the interstellar combat mecha as a weapon may well regain its glory!"
The Emerald Elf King set out his thinking with great excitement.
But the high-elf councilors and the several Elf Sovereigns only listened, with the air of having understood, without truly grasping this way of thinking.
After all, to change one's former thinking about war in a short time
is a very hard thing.
That was entirely understandable too.
"Then, everyone, please come along with me." Major General Wang Min, the captain, did not explain anything further on this question, but led these guests out of this compartment; outside, a hover-lift had been got ready beforehand.
The party boarded the hover-lift, and it began to travel slowly along one side of the passageway.
"The route of our tour this time is a circle. We're now heading toward the stern; after that we'll take the internal passageway on the starship's other side to the bridge." Major General Wang Min, the captain, was acting as a guide now.
She began, bit by bit, to introduce to everyone some of what lay inside this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought.
As for some of the small details tucked away behind, apart from the Emerald Elf King, who was very interested, the others only glanced at them in passing, until a huge compartment appeared before everyone's eyes.
It was a very huge compartment; one could not see its end at a glance, and within this compartment were separate bays, one after another.
Some bays had their gates lowered, so one could not see clearly what was inside.
Some bays stood open, and in them, plain to see, starships lay berthed one after another.
"These are the interstellar interceptors this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought is rumored to carry!" someone exclaimed.
Plainly everyone was very interested in this magnificent sight.
Major General Wang Min, the captain, explained just then, "That's right. This is one weapon module of our Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought: three thousand T6-grade interstellar interceptors.[1] This is the compartment where they berth; it can also be called a dock."
"But… this doesn't look like three thousand?" a sharp-eyed high-elf councilor put his question.
Major General Wang Min, the captain, explained, "On this deck there really aren't three thousand. There are only a hundred. Because every T6 interstellar interceptor has a large hull, storing them all here would take up a great deal of the space inside the ship. So we have two different compartments. The compartment we see before us is for inspecting, maintaining and resupplying these interstellar interceptors, and below is the compartment where these interstellar interceptors are really stored. The use of space there is higher, so as to store the most interstellar interceptors in the least space. If needed, these interstellar interceptors can launch at any moment, whether from this upper compartment or the lower one."