"But I've heard that the dwarf race is actually quite unwilling to join other interstellar powers — that they hold a natural way of life in higher esteem. I wouldn't want to force your people to work for me either." Zhao Chen put on a show of being sorely conflicted.
Annie said at once, "It's true that no few dwarves are unwilling to be bound to anyone. But most dwarves have one defining trait! And that's a great love of drink! Grown dwarves especially! You have to understand — in the present state of the cosmos, grain is terribly precious, let alone liquor. That's a luxury far above fruit. So long as you can satisfy their drinking needs once or twice a month, Commander, you can absolutely have them working for you heart and soul!" With that, Annie wore a look of being terribly clever.
"And do you drink too, Annie?" Zhao Chen looked at her. It was hard to picture a little slip of a thing like this drinking.
Annie gulped, then put both hands to her trouser pockets and turned them inside out. "No money."
Then, swallowing again as she gazed toward the serving counter, she said in a small voice, "Besides, that liquor's too expensive! Just now… I didn't like to have you treat me either, Commander. After all, you've got your own meal allowance, and it wouldn't do to have you stand a plain, ordinary artisan like me a whole bottle of liquor, now would it~"
As she spoke, Annie put on the most pitiful air and heaved a long sigh. Off to the side, Lilith fought down her laughter — she could see Annie's lowered head, the corner of her eye darting over and over toward Zhao Chen beside her.
Whatever this little lass had in mind, how could Zhao Chen not know it?
"What liquors do we stock these days?" Zhao Chen asked Lilith.
Lilith answered promptly, "At present we offer only beer, rice wine, grape wine, bayberry wine, and a small quantity of other fruit wines."
"Rice wine's actually quite good, really." Annie nodded with great solemnity.
"Use my meal allowance — go and fetch a bottle of rice wine." Zhao Chen placed the order outright.
Soon a bottle of rice wine was brought before Annie. Watching her cradle that rice wine in her hands, Zhao Chen couldn't shake a guilty, almost criminal pang of conscience.
"Weren't you unwilling before to even tell us which planet you came from? How is it you're all ready now to arrange work for your people?" Zhao Chen regarded Annie teasingly.
Cradling the rice wine like a treasure, Annie said in earnest, "To be honest, at first I really was worried about what things would be like here with you, Commander. But after these few months together, I can trust you completely. Your radiance, Commander, is more dazzling than the very stars; your charm surpasses the whole firmament; even a black hole is beneath mention before your pull—"
"Stop! Stop! Say all you like, there's still only the one bottle today." Zhao Chen cut short Annie's florid praise-craft.
Annie stuck out her tongue, then, this time truly in earnest, said, "That first line of mine just now was sincere. You really are a good person; you treat all of us crew so well. Beast-folk, succubi, and a dwarf like me — you make no distinction at all. Everything you promised, you've done. So I think having my people follow you is the wise choice. And I miss my family too; I want them to be able to sleep in clean, warm beds, to eat their fill every day, and never again to have to face all manner of dangers just to stay alive! So… Commander, I can vouch for their ability and their loyalty — please, do let them join your Owl Dragon Fleet!"
With that, Annie actually set down the bottle of rice wine in her hand and gave Zhao Chen a military salute.
By rights it was a solemn scene — but a dwarf slip of a thing, barely a meter and change tall, with grease still at the corner of her mouth, saluting you? Zhao Chen simply couldn't manage to be solemn.
"All right, all right, I understand your meaning. Tell me — where's your people's planet, and how large is the population? I can dispatch a fleet to bring them back." Zhao Chen came to the crux of it.
Annie raised a hand and opened a star chart — an enormous one, taking in the Galactic Alliance and part of the Mechanical Race's stellar territory as well. Besides those two great blocs, there were a great many gray regions.
"The planet I'm from is right about here — though I'm not certain of the exact system or planet. But once we get to that area and find a detailed star chart from the locals, I can pin down exactly where it is." Annie pointed at a gray region on the cosmic chart.
Lilith studied it carefully, and soon told Zhao Chen, "This area lies within the Reef Star Region. The Reef Star Region sits at the boundary between the Mechanical Race and the Starlight Empire — a very barren region, easy to attack but hard to hold. So neither the Mechanical Race nor the Starlight Empire is willing to take it over; it's remained self-governing all along. If we're to go to this Reef Star Region using the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser — and given we can't be sure the local systems have usable Star Gates — it will take roughly half a month."
Half a month one way, a whole month there and back — no short span of time.
"How many of your people are there?" Zhao Chen pressed further.
Annie counted on her fingers. "On the planet we live on, there are about 200,000 dwarves. And in our star region there are several other tribes besides; from what my father says, 3 to 5 million people in all."
Three to 5 million…
Even allowing for some who were old, weak, women, or children, that left at least 2 million in their prime — and if half of those were women, that was no small number either. And every one of them a starship artisan!
Zhao Chen's eyes gleamed, as though he'd caught sight of gold.
Go!
He had to go!
At this moment Zhao Chen had utterly forgotten Governor Chu's earlier warning. As the saying goes: fortune's won in the teeth of danger! And this time Zhao Chen would be leaving the Starlight Empire outright — which, if anything, made it less dangerous.
"There's one problem, though. This many dwarves — even if we can't yet be sure how many we'll be able to bring away, even just tens of thousands — how to transport them is a serious matter." Lilith raised the issue now.
Transporting the dwarves would require some ships. Relying on the T3 Blizzard alone — even packed to full capacity with people — meant only 1,000 or so. Against a dwarf population base in the hundreds of thousands, that was nowhere near enough.
"That's a problem. Let me think it over." Zhao Chen looked at Annie. "I'll need some time to prepare on my end; when the time comes, I'll take you along back to your homeworld, and you'll be responsible for persuading your people to join us. In the meantime, Captain Jenny has said herself that she isn't up to coordinating an industrial ship; so you'll serve concurrently as deputy captain of the two interstellar industrial ships, and help them with the coordination and scheduling of the construction plan for now."
Annie nodded hard. "Understood! Annie's been wanting to go home and see her family too…"
Then Annie blinked her eyes at Zhao Chen. "Commander… does this count as an increase in my workload, a promotion in post? Shouldn't there be a bump in the pay and benefits, then?"
A raise?
"That question… I'll think it over when I get back." Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes.