Under Chief Bajin's loving care, Annie forced down two whole nutrient rations — but she felt not the least bit happy about it.
"Ye Xiaotong, arrange it so you and your squad members can rotate over for a meal," Zhao Chen said over the comm channel, reaching the leader of the Black Knight mecha squad, Ye Xiaotong.
"Yes." Three T2 Black Knight-class Light Interstellar Combat Mecha walked over to the camp where Zhao Chen was, then began to lower themselves, like so many big children crouching on the ground. The hatches at the mecha's backs opened, and three crewwomen in tight-fitting combat suits climbed down. It had to be said — crewwomen in these close-combat suits had a charm all their own.
"Commander." Ye Xiaotong, leader of this mecha squad, stood before Zhao Chen; a pair of black ears stood erect atop her head, and behind her was a long black tail. All three of these mecha pilots were of the Black Cat clan; compared with the other beast-folk races, the Black Cat clan were far better suited to piloting a weapon like the combat mech. Ordinary beast-folk found it very hard to pull off high-difficulty combat maneuvers in a mech, but the Black Cat clan were extremely skilled at it. Which was how they'd become the first batch of mecha pilots in the Owl Dragon Fleet.
"You've been fighting half the day too — eat something first." Zhao Chen pointed at a special white container beside him.
Chief Bajin stood by, cradling a nutrient ration — this was already the third box he'd eaten. He'd felt rather embarrassed at first, but with Zhao Chen's leave, he'd sheepishly eaten a third all the same. He looked with curiosity at that white container, about a square meter in size, which Zhao Chen had kept beside him this whole time without ever opening. He was curious just what was inside.
Ye Xiaotong opened the white case with practiced ease; inside were several meal boxes resembling nutrient rations.
"Commander, what will you have?" Ye Xiaotong asked Zhao Chen first.
"Just get me a No. 3 meal," Zhao Chen said.
Ye Xiaotong handed a meal box to Zhao Chen with both hands, then she and her squad members each took out a box of their own.
When Zhao Chen lifted the lid of that meal box, a wave of heat drifted out along with a savory aroma. Inside were several compartments: the largest held a serving of white rice; the rest held, respectively, a big chicken drumstick, yuxiang shredded pork, a serving of vegetables, and a serving of bone broth.
Nearly every dwarf present was drawn by the aroma, looking, without meaning to, at the meal boxes in the hands of Zhao Chen and those mecha pilots.
"Commander, next time couldn't you just honestly take a shuttle down? Every time you have to jump down with me…" Ye Xiaotong bit into a meatball, gazing pleadingly at Zhao Chen. She was precisely the T2 Black Knight mecha pilot who'd twice now jumped down from the T3 Blizzard with Zhao Chen.
"Aren't I perfectly fine?" Zhao Chen spread his arms to show he was none the worse.
Ye Xiaotong rolled her eyes. "You're fine, but a few more times like that and my poor little heart's bound to give out sooner or later."
Zhao Chen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "All right, all right. There won't be a next time."
"You're the one who said so!" Ye Xiaotong fixed her eyes on Zhao Chen at once, the tail behind her swishing without cease.
"Hurry up and eat. You've only got 10 minutes of combat mealtime, and you still have to rotate the other fighters through." Zhao Chen took several bottles of juice from the white container and tossed them to the women, taking one for himself as well.
Just then Zhao Chen seemed to notice, belatedly, a pair of big eyes gazing at him resentfully from the side.
"Right — nearly forgot you. Want one?" Zhao Chen pointed at the meal boxes still left in the white container.
Annie made to reach for one, but the fullness in her belly told her she truly couldn't eat another bite. She hugged her knees, gazing at the Commander with resentful eyes. When there'd been combat meal boxes to eat all along, the Commander hadn't told her. The Commander must have done it on purpose! Making her eat another whole nutrient ration just now…
Boo-hoo… Annie wanted to eat that delicious food too…
Zhao Chen ignored Annie's aggrieved gaze and enjoyed the food in his own box. When a ship entered combat, then to make mealtimes convenient for the crew, the ship's canteen would prepare these simple combat meal boxes, in several different types. In the course of a battle they could be sent quickly to the various posts aboard, or, as now, dropped down to fighters on the ground. And each was kept warm — everything came out piping hot. Not as lavish as what one ate in the ship's canteen, perhaps, but the taste was quite good all the same. Each person also received a bottle of combat nutrient drink — a special wartime issue.
"Gulp…" Chief Bajin recognized the food in Zhao Chen's and the others' hands — all of it natural food. In that instant, the nutrient ration in his own hand suddenly seemed to lose all its savor.
"Forgive me — this is our crew's standard fare," Zhao Chen said, looking at Chief Bajin by way of explanation.
"The crew's standard fare? All the crew get to eat food like this?" Chief Bajin was startled.
Zhao Chen nodded, then pointed at the aggrieved Annie. "You can ask Annie. Annie's already a crew member aboard one of my fleet's interstellar industrial ships; she eats food like this every day."
Chief Bajin looked at his daughter.
Annie honestly recounted the food she'd eaten — and once she started, there was no stopping her; she went through every kind of food in the ship's canteen. Rice, vegetables, meat, and even fruit — and liquor besides! No few of the dwarf soldiers around heard what Annie said, every one of them listening as though to some myth or legend: there were actually ships where one could enjoy a life like this every single day?
"This… this can't be, surely? Eating food like this every day — think what an expense that would be!" one dwarf warrior said, rather skeptical.
Annie at once hopped up and down in agitation — how dare anyone doubt her! "Everything I said is true! If you don't believe me… oh, right, I've got photos here too!" Annie suddenly remembered she had photos she'd taken; at once she called up her image gallery on her handheld terminal and projected picture after picture in hologram. Every one was of some delicious-looking food — and photos of Annie posing with the food besides! At this the dwarf warriors around were convinced beyond doubt, and began asking Annie, envious and curious, what all these foods tasted like.
Watching Annie become his own "publicity ambassador," Zhao Chen was well satisfied. This amounted to planting a seed in these dwarves; in a while, all he'd need to do was water it a little, and these seeds would naturally take root and sprout.
Heh, heh, heh — the poach-the-best-workers plan is under way…
Just then, a system prompt sounded in Zhao Chen's mind.
Mission: Defeat the Fire Salamander fleet invading Annie's homeland.
Difficulty: C-rank
Reward: 5 task points and 2,000 points.
Penalty: Deduction of 2,000 points.
Ding — a two-choice mission option has been triggered. Please select the mission you wish to undertake.
Mission One: Protect Annie's home planet from Fire Salamander fleet harassment.
Difficulty: C-rank
Mission Two: Take control of and occupy the entire FY System.
Difficulty: B-rank