Annie was hauled up by the scruff and "tossed" down off the captain's chair.
"Very tired, are you?" Zhao Chen regarded Annie with a look that was and wasn't a smile.
Annie clasped both hands behind her back, drew circles on the floor with her right foot, and looked a touch sheepish. "I… I… isn't it just that… the sight of you set me all aglow?"
No sooner were the words out than Zhao Chen rapped her on the head.
"Talk sense," Zhao Chen said.
"I just wanted a little bonus… I may draw a deputy-captain-grade meal allowance now… but once we're back in the Owl Dragon Star System, I've still got my mother and my little brothers and sisters to look after… that's five mouths…" Annie muttered in a small voice.
Zhao Chen looked at Annie playing the little grown-up.
"You did do well this time. In a bit I'll specially approve a month's meal allowance for you." In the end Zhao Chen granted Annie a bonus, by way of encouragement.
Annie beamed at once and flung her arms wide, throwing herself at Zhao Chen. "Commander, I always said you were the best to me — I love you to bits!"
Zhao Chen held off Annie's chubby little face with one hand. "First, let's hear about this construction plan of yours."
Annie gave a heh-heh laugh, then straightened up at once and began to explain.
"By your requirements for building the T3 star gate — if it's borne entirely by T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships, then with 10 T2 Iron Hammers working at once, it takes two months. But if we set up an industrial base within a planet to handle the manufacture of some of the low- and mid-tier components and modules, then ship them to the 'gate worksite,' we can cut that two-month build time by 30%! At the same time, since we're short on raw materials just now, I've divided it into several construction phases; so long as the raw materials are in place before a phase begins, that phase will have no problem. Barring the unexpected, the gate here in the Owl Dragon Star System can be completed before the end of July. The gate over in the Lion King System can be completed before the end of August — we can have my father's planet there take on the production of some of the low- and mid-tier components. As for the raw materials, we'll use interstellar transports to carry them over; a bit of a bother, but there's nothing to be done. And here are the detailed construction steps…"
Zhao Chen listened as Annie laid it all out, step by orderly step — thorough and clear. The two star gates, linked together, were expected to be put into use before the end of August. Now, in theory, once the gate here in the Owl Dragon Star System was complete, it could be linked to other gates. But at present, without full certainty, Zhao Chen would never link to gates outside — not in the short term.
Everything was ready now; only the east wind was wanting. No — better to say, only the raw materials.
Just before Zhao Chen's fleet, at the border of the Arctic Fox Star System, was about to enter warp travel for the Owl Dragon Star System, Li Yaqi at last got in touch with Zhao Chen, saying Chitong was willing to sit down and negotiate a deal with him.
At the appointed time, Zhao Chen entered a holographic room. Across the table, arrived as agreed, was that masked, crimson-eyed girl.
"I hear you want to work with me?" Beneath the mask, Chitong's crimson eyes fixed on Zhao Chen; her tone was very cold.
"Yes," Zhao Chen said.
"Li Yaqi has told me the details. You want 5 billion star coins' worth of raw materials supplied, and by a route hidden enough. Where's the destination?" Chitong asked.
"The border of the Owl Dragon Star System." Zhao Chen gave a set of coordinates. Though these coordinates exposed the Owl Dragon Star System where he was, they were still some distance from the spot where he meant to build the gate. There was a risk of exposure this way still, but there was nothing to be done — in any undertaking there was risk; it couldn't be avoided.
"Any time requirement?" Chitong asked again.
Zhao Chen said, "You may transport it in several batches, but it must all be delivered before the end of July." It was the end of May now — which was to say, two months.
"By my rules, this business calls for 31% commission. No problem with that?" Chitong named her fee.
"No problem," Zhao Chen said. Costly, perhaps, but for the star gate, this much sacrifice was acceptable. In any case, he still had his "dear" Grandpa Chu over there to backstop him.
Chitong went on. "Over these two months, I'll transport this 5 billion star coins' worth of raw materials to the location you specified in two or three batches. Once the 5 billion in raw materials is delivered, you're to pay me one and a half billion star coins in commission; I accept any form of payment, including an Empire account or a Galactic Alliance account. As for the purchasing funds — three days before I procure each batch of raw materials, I'll send you the sum needed for that batch's goods. Since this is our first dealing, you may send it to Li Yaqi first, with Li Yaqi as the intermediary guarantor."
Empire accounts and Galactic Alliance accounts both had very high privacy protections; unless one were judged an extremely dangerous figure and publicly declared subject to a search of one's account information, not even the royal house had the right to view them. It was precisely this degree of secrecy that gave Empire and Galactic Alliance accounts such high trust — so that even people who moved in the gray industries would use them.
"No problem — we'll do it as you say," Zhao Chen said.
"Then that's settled." With that, Chitong cut off the comm outright.
Crisp and efficient indeed. And how she managed to lay hands on 5 billion star coins' worth of raw materials, there was no knowing. Zhao Chen had reckoned it: her means could be nothing other than smuggling, and smuggling meant the whole procure-and-transport process incurred a certain cost — figured at roughly 10% extra, that still left her 5% commission in hand. If this deal went smoothly, then hereafter he could do more business with this Miss Chitong — which counted, too, as widening his own paths.
Having nailed down the deal with Chitong—
Zhao Chen's fleet soon reached the inter-system fringe space, and after a long stretch of warp travel, in mid-June, Zhao Chen's T3 Blizzard, with its six T2 Iron Hammers, arrived in the Owl Dragon Star System. This counted as his second return to the Owl Dragon Star System. Because of that earlier "internal strife" — the bloody purge and exodus of a batch of nobles within — the Owl Dragon Star System had declined a good deal further than before. But relative to before, it had a whole heap fewer troubles too. Under the management of that Jiang Hong whom his elder sister had installed, it was, all things considered, in fair order.
Zhao Chen didn't return to his Owl Dragon home planet; he headed straight for the system's border. After about half a day's flight, the seven warships dropped out of warp travel. Before their eyes lay an asteroid belt. The fleet slowed, easing into the asteroid belt, and after a dozen-odd minutes of ordinary flight, the fleet passed through it. At this a planet appeared before Zhao Chen and the others.
"My mother and my little brothers and sisters — do they live here?" Annie, rather excited, all but pressed herself to the display window.