"The Fire Salamander clan may not be the strongest interstellar power in the Reef Star Region, but they have close to 3,000 warships — no small strength. After the loss they've suffered this time, they'll surely send more fleets. With but a single warship, you may find it… somewhat difficult…" Chief Bajin put it delicately; what he really meant to say was that it was simply impossible. A single warship might, perhaps, deal with those 300 or 400 Fire Salamander ships. But what if next time they came with 1,000 or 2,000? However strong Zhao Chen's T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser truly was, under the siege of so many warships there would always come a moment when its munitions ran dry.
"Who said I have only this one warship?" Zhao Chen smiled mysteriously.
Annie, at his side, planted both hands on her hips and said proudly, "Dad, this is what you don't know — the Commander's fleet is ever so strong. Those stinking lizards are no match for the Commander at all. Isn't that right, Commander!"
Listening to Annie's flattering words, Zhao Chen poked her little head. "As if I didn't know what's going on in that head of yours. You just can't wait for me to take control of this system, so your parents and your people will all be safe."
Annie stuck out her tongue.
"And who was it who said that, so long as I was willing to save her people, she'd work for me without food or drink?" Zhao Chen deliberately dredged up her earlier words.
Annie wilted at once. She shrank her head down, clutching the hem of her clothes, and said in a small, aggrieved voice, "But… but if Annie doesn't eat her fill… she'll have no strength to work…"
Zhao Chen teased her no further. He looked to Chief Bajin. "I'm simply informing you of this matter — prepare yourselves for it. As for the particulars, I'll see them properly arranged. And those dwarves willing to leave — please have them chosen within three days. These five T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ships will set out on the return journey within three days."
With so many excellent interstellar artisans on hand, Zhao Chen wished he had a portal to send them straight back to his Owl Dragon domain.
"Understood — I'll see to it at once." And Chief Bajin went off to do as Zhao Chen had instructed.
Zhao Chen leapt alone onto the shoulder of a T2 Black Knight-class Light Interstellar Combat Mech, sat down atop it, and opened a video comm with Charlotte.
"Commander." Charlotte's image appeared before Zhao Chen, the T3 Blizzard's bridge behind her.
"Give me the picture of this battle," Zhao Chen said.
Charlotte answered without the least pause. "In this battle, the T3 Blizzard destroyed over 200 enemy warships — one T3 warship, 37 T2 warships, and the rest all T1. The remaining Fire Salamander ships all fled. The T3 Blizzard's star-shield energy stands at 37%; once we stand down from combat, it should restore itself fully within the next 40 hours. Ship energy is at 55%; munitions at 64% — 38 interstellar missiles expended, 12 remaining. Overall hull-armor damage reaches 13%, with the worst-hit section at 30%. No casualties."
Listening to Charlotte report these battle figures, her face never changing, one might have thought this battle no more than some trifling game. And indeed, the only true clash had been those few minutes of head-on battle with the T3 Arkham-class Medium Interstellar Battleship at the very start. Once the T3 Arkham fell, the Fire Salamander fleet lost all will to fight. Had the other side kept up fighting quality enough to trade blows with the T3 Blizzard to the death — or had the commanders been switched — Charlotte would still have reckoned herself at least 51% chance of victory. A pity there was no such "had."
Zhao Chen now explained to Charlotte his intention to bring the whole FY System to heel. A flicker of animation crossed Charlotte's eyes — the same stir that had appeared only when facing the million-strong interstellar bug-swarm before. It seemed this "game" had, only now, kindled Charlotte's interest.
"Judging by the Fire Salamander clan's situation, for them to reorganize a fleet and attack again would take at least half a month or more of mustering and preparation. On the matter of timing, then, there's no great problem with our follow-on fleet reaching here within half a month," Charlotte said.
Zhao Chen nodded. "Then you can begin drawing up several battle plans."
"Yes," Charlotte said.
Back when he'd first learned of the Fire Salamander clan's attack on the dwarf planet, Zhao Chen had found a way to send a message to Lilith. Owing to the distance, the comm had been quite difficult, but they'd managed to connect all the same. By now Lilith should already have arranged the follow-on fleet, and it would be on its way. Once the Owl Dragon Fleet had fully mustered, then cleaning up those Fire Salamander fleets would be no trouble at all.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
The remaining Fire Salamander ground forces on the planet had all been cleared away, and the planet had once again returned to the dwarf race's control. And the word that Zhao Chen wished to recruit dwarf artisans had spread through the various dwarf shelter bases. Compared with the First Shelter Base, where Zhao Chen himself was present, the dwarves at the other shelter bases who trusted Zhao Chen were fewer in number.
In the end, over those three days, only 50,000 dwarves were willing to board Zhao Chen's T2 Moose and leave — the great majority of them by family unit, and most of those families with many old, weak, women, or children among them. It was precisely because of such wretched circumstances that they'd resolved to take the desperate gamble and go to the fabled Owl Dragon Star System, to stake something on the future.
Zhao Chen didn't mind this in the least. With family units, it would be all the easier to "keep" these dwarves in hand in future — why fear they wouldn't serve him loyally? And afterward, word could be passed back to the dwarves here of how he treated them. Why fear there'd be no second batch, no third batch of dwarves willing to leave with him?
"This is the list of the dwarves willing to leave with you." Chief Bajin handed Zhao Chen an electronic list.
Zhao Chen ran an eye over it. 20,000 male, 30,000 female. Adult labor totaling 30,000, of which adult, able-bodied female dwarves came to 20,000. Of course, these 20,000 women dwarves weren't every one of them possessed of superb manufacturing skill; they'd need some screening in due course. But of those 20,000, screening out 2,000 or 3,000 should be no problem; the rest, after a course of training, could take up posts too. These qualified women dwarves would be assigned to his interstellar industrial ships; the remaining dwarves, men and women both, would all be assigned to the industrial factories on the designated planet.
Zhao Chen saw a few names on the list and looked at Chief Bajin with some surprise. These past few days he'd met Annie's mother and her five brothers and sisters. And these six people were on the list.
Chief Bajin scratched his head, abashed. "I have to stay here and look after these people of mine. But my wife and children are willing to go with Annie to that place she speaks of, the one that's like 'heaven.' These kin, I entrust to you, Commander."
With that, Chief Bajin made Zhao Chen a bow — an ancient courtesy of the dwarf race.