The Reef Star Region.
In one starport, a T3 Arkham-class Medium Interstellar Battleship lay docked in a berth.
The Fire Salamander chieftain lifted his head, watching the two human males across from him — each with a woman on his arm, flirting and jesting.
"Didn't the Fire Salamander chieftain refuse our terms of cooperation before? How is it he's come to us of his own accord today?" one of the men said, regarding the chieftain with a light laugh.
The chieftain said, with an ingratiating smile, "Before, I hadn't considered it properly; now I feel that working with Young Master Sun and you gentlemen is the wise choice. Might I be permitted to meet Young Master Sun in person?" Compared with these two lazy bums before him — all appetite and no action — the chieftain far preferred to deal with that Young Master Sun.
"Oh? Are you looking down on me, Han Tianwang?" Han Tianwang narrowed his eyes, staring at him.
Had Zhao Chen been here, he'd surely have been astonished to meet Northstar Academy's Han Tianwang and Zhang Haoran in the Reef Star Region!
"That's not my meaning…" The chieftain said, smiling in apology.
"As if we couldn't see through that little scheme of yours. I hear you fought someone in one of the systems under you and lost close to half your fleet. It's left your Fire Salamander clan badly weakened, so you have a mind to throw in with us and keep that little patch of turf of yours. And take revenge on your enemy into the bargain, am I right?" Zhang Haoran said with a light laugh.
The chieftain hung his head.
Han Tianwang lifted his chin and said, in an arrogant posture, "Young Master Sun you'll not be seeing; Young Master Sun isn't in the Reef Star Region just now. Before he left, he entrusted the affairs of the Reef Star Region wholly to me to handle."
"Then, Young Master Han, you…" The chieftain could only look again, hopeful, at Han Tianwang.
"Your Fire Salamander clan joining us isn't out of the question — but the terms are no longer what they were. Your share, from before, gets halved," Han Tianwang said, eyes narrowed.
The chieftain was furious inwardly, but had no recourse whatsoever.
"Your word is law — so long as you're willing to send a fleet to help me take my revenge! My Fire Salamander clan will remember your kindness, Young Master Han!" the chieftain said.
"Since you're brimming with such sincerity, then tell us — who is this enemy of yours?" Han Tianwang asked with interest. The Fire Salamander clan's strength, in this Reef Star Region, might count only as second-rate, but it was no trifle either. Anyone who could cut down half the Fire Salamander fleet in so short a span was absolutely no ordinary figure.
"What power it is, I don't know." The chieftain shook his head.
Zhang Haoran gave a snort of a laugh. "You got beaten till you ran in all directions, and you don't even know what power did it?"
"That's right. That lot appeared suddenly in the FY System; I never made sense of it. But that lot has now occupied the FY System, and rumor is they've renamed it the 'Lion King System.' They may have only a dozen-odd warships, but every one of those ships is extremely strong — and among them is a very powerful T3 warship. That T3 warship's speed is astonishing, and its firepower terrifying! And they have a frigate of great fighting strength besides — best at close-in assault, fearing not even my T2 battleships!"
Listening to the chieftain hold forth without pause, Zhang Haoran, for some reason, felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"A mere dozen-odd warships beat your fleet till it ran in all directions… and you still don't know who they are. How are we to help you take revenge like that?" Han Tianwang shook his head with a light laugh.
"I… I have battle footage!" The chieftain raised a hand and put up several segments of battle footage. In them were a T3 warship, a T2 carrier, a T2 missile ship, and a T2 frigate.
Zhang Haoran suddenly rose to his feet, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at the footage.
"These warships… are Zhao Chen's!"
Han Tianwang came up close now too, studying the footage carefully — and indeed, it did look the part, the fighting style above all, closely matching what they knew. That formidable frigate, for one, was it not the T2 Black Rhino-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigate that had made its name in that battle at Northstar Academy? And that T3 warship of astonishing speed — how like it was to that legendary ship, the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser.
"Is there any clearer material!" Han Tianwang asked the chieftain gravely.
"That is… I… I have a comm recording with that fleet commander!" The chieftain put up the recording. Though the man opposite wore a mask, Zhang Haoran, without a word, pointed at the figure and roared, "That's right! It's Zhao Chen! Mask or no mask on this fellow — I'd know him even if he were burned to ashes!"
That Zhao Chen had humiliated him at the academy before — made him kneel, and bled him of a fortune besides. And the kneeling had even spread through the academy, so that, left with no choice, he'd fled out here with Han Tianwang this term, and had basically not shown his face at the academy since.
Han Tianwang narrowed his eyes. He'd never thought to run into Zhao Chen here, of all places.
"Young Master Han, this is a rare chance for us. If we can kill Zhao Chen here — or take him prisoner! The former rids us of a hidden threat; the latter lets us wring those ship technologies out of him! Rumor has it this Zhao Chen holds no few ship technologies! Even the Governor of the Azure Star Region wanted to imprison him before," Zhang Haoran said, rather excited.
Han Tianwang was a little worried. "But Zhao Chen is Governor Chu of Chu River's grandson-in-law now; if we move against him and Governor Chu learns of it, the two of us will be in more trouble than we can handle."
"Young Master Han, have you forgotten? The one above Young Master Sun has always been on bad terms with the Chu family — this amounts to us venting a grievance on that one's behalf! And this is the Reef Star Region; if we do away with Zhao Chen, who could ever know it was us? What's more… you've surely not forgotten the rumor at the academy — Senior Su Lan is deeply enamored of Zhao Chen! So long as Zhao Chen lives, do you imagine you have any hope with Senior Su Lan?" Zhang Haoran, eyes narrowed, stoked Han Tianwang's enmity toward Zhao Chen. Zhang Haoran had waited far, far too long for a chance to deal with Zhao Chen. He dreamed of killing him.
"Very well — then we'll do it! I'll mobilize the fleets of the several powers Young Master Sun left in the Reef Star Region, and make for that Lion King System!" Han Tianwang, recalling Su Lan's cold attitude toward him, and the rumor at the academy — and Zhao Chen's manner toward him before — resolved to seize this chance.
"No! We mustn't move too fast!" Zhang Haoran said.
"Why?"
Zhang Haoran explained, "The academy's near its graduation month now; rumor is Zhao Chen won a commendation in that earlier affair and will graduate at the end of June — so he's certainly not in the Reef Star Region right now. Our target is him; if he isn't in the Reef Star Region, moving now would only strike at empty air. So we must put out word of an attack on the Lion King System, and lure Zhao Chen back!"
Han Tianwang wore a look of understanding. He looked at Zhang Haoran. "It seems you truly hate Zhao Chen to the very bone."
"I could wish nothing more than to butcher him with my own hands!" Zhang Haoran said viciously.
The Fire Salamander chieftain beside them, though he hadn't quite followed what was going on, grasped roughly that these two were also enemies of the man who'd attacked him. However that might be, so long as they were willing to send troops, it was enough.
"That is… young masters both, that fellow's fleet is very strong! That T3 warship above all!" the chieftain reminded them now.
"Rest easy — this time we'll muster at least five T3 warships. I refuse to believe that Zhao Chen's tricks can defy the heavens themselves!" Han Tianwang was full of confidence.
The look on Zhang Haoran's face was one of excitement. His chance for revenge had come at last!
And at this moment, Zhao Chen, hurrying back toward Northstar Academy, sneezed several times in a row. He'd no idea who it was thinking of him so.