The Fire Salamander chieftain pushed aside the three sultry, come-hither Fire Salamander women at his side and strode quickly out to the conference room beyond, looking at the several Fire Salamander generals projected before him in hologram.
"Chieftain, the latest word: the T3 Arkham-class Medium Interstellar Battleship, Ship Two, under Kuru's command — destroyed! And our Fire Salamander Fifth Fleet has taken over half its number in casualties…" one of the Fire Salamander generals reported gravely.
The chieftain's face darkened. He fixed his eyes on these fleet commanders of his. "What in the world happened! You couldn't even settle a mere dwarf planet, and threw away a T3 Arkham in the doing?"
"By the word sent back from the Fifth Fleet ships that fled home, they came under attack from a warship — seemingly a T3 interstellar cruiser, possibly a T3 interstellar battlecruiser. The T3 Arkham gained no advantage in the clash with it, and was destroyed. After that the Fifth Fleet withdrew, ship by ship," the general answered, and at the same time put up the imagery captured by the Fire Salamander ships that had fled back. One could see a gray warship — and the scene of it firing a cluster-laser.
"This one ship! Defeated my Fifth Fleet? And threw away a T3 Arkham besides!" The chieftain could scarcely hold down his fury now. Consider how much time it took them to amass a single T3 warship — how much wealth to accumulate! He could care nothing for the loss of any number of T1 or T2 warships, but a T3 warship was the trump card that decided one's standing in the Reef Star Region!
"By the situation we've grasped so far, this is how it stands," the general said.
The tail behind the chieftain slammed hard against the floor, sounding a heavy thud, thud.
"You can't find out which power it is?" the chieftain demanded in anger.
"This class of warship has no data in the records anywhere, so for now we can't make it out. But by the word sent back from our ships still garrisoning the FY System, that T3 warship is still in the FY System," the general said.
Hearing that the chief culprit who'd destroyed his T3 warship hadn't even left—
The chieftain's eyes, in that instant, seemed to kindle with the fires of war. "How many fleets can we mobilize right now?"
"At present we can mobilize the Fire Salamander First Fleet, Third Fleet, Fourth Fleet, Seventh Fleet, and Eighth Fleet — nearly 2,000 warships in all," the general answered.
The chieftain gave his order at once. "Dealing with one warship doesn't call for 2,000. Have the Third Fleet stay and guard headquarters. The remaining four fleets, muster and set out — we're going to the FY System! I'll make that warship pay the price; I'll make those accursed dwarves kneel on the ground and be the lowest, meanest slaves for the rest of their lives!"
"Yes!"
From that moment, the Fire Salamander fleet began a large-scale movement; once resupplied with strategic resources, they set out from the nearest star gate for the FY System. But because the various fleets were rather scattered, simply gathering them together took over a week. Add other matters of preparation, and by the time this Fire Salamander fleet passed through the star gate and appeared in the FY System, it was already half a month after the events.
The Fire Salamander chieftain, seated in the captain's chair on the bridge of his T3 warship, watched his warships come through that aged star gate one by one, his expression cold and hard. In this region he had no fear of being attacked. For the Reef Star Region had an unspoken rule: the various powers might fight one another, but fighting within a certain range of a star gate was not permitted. That range around a star gate was, in effect, a no-combat zone. Star gates were an extremely important strategic resource, and the various interstellar powers of the Reef Star Region were themselves very poor at building them — these gates had all been handed down from thousands of years ago. Destroy one and there was one fewer; that was all. So this rule had arisen, to protect the star gates. Naturally, there were those who broke the rule. And the result? Whoever broke the rule, the several leading interstellar powers of the Reef Star Region would gather their strength and root that power out entirely. After a few such examples, no one dared defy the rule again. And those who operated the star gates were, more often than not, neutral interstellar trade groups; they collected a gate usage fee and maintained the gate, and whoever paid could use it.
"The Fire Salamander fleet's actually turned up in this system." In the FY star gate control room, a man smoking a cigarette watched the Fire Salamander ships appearing one after another in the display. Their number exceeded 1,500 — with even two T3 warships among them. To move a fleet with such fanfare — plainly there was some big operation afoot.
"I hear that earlier, on the third planet, the dwarf race's world, a Fire Salamander T3 Arkham and over 200 T1 and T2 warships were destroyed. All by a single warship!" His companion beside him now put up an image — a gray T3 warship, in the scene of it crossing the star gate and appearing in this space.
"A single T3 warship, taking on a whole fleet single-handed? It seems the Fire Salamander clan has provoked something formidable. I'd best report this to the big boss." The smoking man at once began composing a message, transmitting what had happened here, and what was about to happen, to a certain large trade conglomerate of the Reef Star Region.
"Report — the Fire Salamander First Fleet has passed through the star-gate to the last ship."
"Chieftain, our Fourth Fleet is assembled in full!"
"Every ship of the Seventh Fleet is present!"
"Report — the Fire Salamander Eighth Fleet is assembled in full."
Receiving word that his several fleets were all assembled, the Fire Salamander chieftain pointed at the position of the FY System's third planet on the star chart. "Move out. Let's go teach that T3 warship whose turf this really is!"
"Yes!"
Over 1,500 warships, in a mighty, sweeping tide, set off for the third planet of the FY System.
"Brother, tell me — that T3 warship of unknown origin, how do you think it'll turn out this time?" the young man in the FY star gate control room asked the man who'd finished making his report.
The man stared at the receding warships. "What other outcome could there be? That's over 1,500 warships, with two T3 warships among them; however strong that one T3 warship is, could it really take on 1,000 at once? A pity we've got our rule — no leaving the star gate's no-combat zone — or I'd truly love to go watch this fine show."
The man lit himself another cigarette. And just as this cigarette was about to burn down, the console showed a dozen-odd more warships about to cross over.
"Why's it so lively today? In the old days, this godforsaken FY System might not see 100 ships in a whole day." No sooner had the man spoken than he caught sight of the several dozen gray-painted warships that had crossed the star gate and appeared before his eyes.
The expression on his face went a little stiff.
These warships… why did they carry such an air of menace? And this gray paint scheme — why did it look so very like that T3 warship's?