The Owl Dragon Base.
Zhao Wan'er came here together with Zhao Chen, the two of them piloting the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser. Three warships she'd never seen before were arrayed here.
"Is it this one?" Zhao Wan'er pointed at the most conspicuous of the ships — a ship painted pink, but with, apart from a few sparse gun positions, no large offensive weapons to be seen anywhere on the hull.
"That's the T3 Andromeda-class Interstellar Medical Ship," Zhao Chen said.
"A medical ship?" Zhao Wan'er was surprised; she'd never imagined her big brother would build such an obscure warship. True, on an interstellar battlefield there'd be many wounded, but ordinary injuries could generally be handled by the infirmary a ship carried. As for grave wounds — those were left to heaven; a lucky soldier might be carried back to a rear starport's interstellar hospital for treatment, an unlucky one might die on the way. As for the senior officers, they were treated differently, of course — they'd take the fastest shuttle to an interstellar hospital, or have a dedicated T2-grade medical ship provide their care. To this day, it seemed, the Starlight Empire hadn't a single T3 medical ship in service; a T2 medical ship was the most there was. Because such a warship was very poor value for money.
"Then it's this one?" Zhao Wan'er pointed at a rather strangely shaped warship beside the T3 Andromeda — a round ship, its whole form looking as though wrapped in a crystal sphere.
"That's the T3 Goddess Academy-class ship. As for its use… you'll find out in the future," Zhao Chen said.
Zhao Wan'er pointed at a warship of smaller hull — small, yes, but possessed of one terrifying main gun!
"That's the T2 Snow Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship," Zhao Chen said, at the same time opening this warship's data page for Zhao Wan'er to read.
Snow Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship
Class: interstellar battleship
Tech level: T2
Hull armor: 500–700 units
Cruising speed: 30 star-knots
Warp drive: grade-4
Length: 280 meters
Mass: 138,000 tons
Crew: 50
Weapons: one T2 heavy 1800mm-caliber Snow Mastiff railgun main gun (single shot, 180-second interval); six T2 heavy pulse-laser secondary guns (single shot, 90-second interval); thirty 130mm T2 medium close-in guns (no interval on fire).
"An 1800mm-caliber main gun!" Zhao Wan'er was startled. A main gun of so vast a caliber was unheard of among T2 battleships. Blizzard Zero had mounted a very large main gun before, and even that had been only 1200mm. This one raised the caliber outright by 50%! And the firing interval was a mere three minutes! What did that mean? One could well imagine. Among T2 warships, it was without question an overlord. On the strength of that terrifying main gun, if one set aside the star-shield technology of T3 warships, it could even take on a T3 warship single-handed.
"Didn't you say you'd prepared a T3 warship for me? This is only a T2!" Zhao Wan'er looked at Zhao Chen, uncomprehending.
Zhao Chen smiled and pointed at the space before them. "The T3 warship I've prepared for you has been right here all along."
"Has it?" Zhao Wan'er studied it carefully. Apart from the three newly commissioned warships and the four T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships, she saw no trace of any other warship.
"Ahem, ahem… that may be because you're too dim. For this T3 warship of mine has one feature — only the clever can see it," Zhao Chen coughed and said, deliberately.
Zhao Wan'er eyed Zhao Chen with suspicion, not believing a word of this nonsense of his.
"Then let me do a bit of magic for you: I need only snap my fingers, and that T3 warship will make its dazzling entrance!" Zhao Chen said mysteriously.
"Tch — playing at tricks and spirits. Let's just see what game you've got hidden." Zhao Wan'er folded her arms, wearing a look that said she was waiting to enjoy the show.
Zhao Chen snapped his fingers.
Just then, at a spot extremely close to the T3 Blizzard, the outline of a warship appeared out of nothing. This warship, materializing suddenly before her eyes, gave Zhao Wan'er a real fright — how could a warship appear out of thin air where, a moment ago, she'd seen nothing at all? The whole hull was streamlined, with next to no exposed weapon modules, and the whole thing was somewhat oval in shape.
"Report — testing complete. The T3 Blizzard's ship radar cannot scan the T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber while cloaked. The deep-space telescope, likewise, cannot detect its image." A video window appeared beside Zhao Chen — Sis Bull, who'd dined with Zhao Chen before. She was now in charge of the T3 Phantom Assassin's trials.
"Understood." Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied, then looked at the somewhat stunned Zhao Wan'er beside him. "Well? Rather a good bit of magic, wasn't it?"
Zhao Wan'er gulped; hearing what Sis Bull had just said, she understood at last. "This is an interstellar stealth bomber!"
"To be precise, the T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber — and this is the T3 warship I've prepared for you," Zhao Chen said.
Zhao Wan'er sized up the interstellar stealth bomber before her and muttered, "But isn't the interstellar stealth bomber a class about to be phased out on today's battlefields? Basically no fleet uses this kind of warship anymore."
"And why is that?" Zhao Chen asked, deliberately.
"Because, of course, today's T3 mainline warships are all fitted with star-shield technology, and the stealth bomber's advantage is lost," Zhao Wan'er answered.
Zhao Chen smiled faintly and sent Sis Bull a message. "Look again, more closely." He pointed at the T3 Phantom Assassin outside.
Zhao Wan'er looked once more at the warship out there. Again her eyes went wide; she pointed at the T3 Phantom Assassin opposite and, for a long while, couldn't get a word out. For at this moment the T3 Phantom Assassin, its whole hull, was wrapped within a layer of crystal-clear, translucent energy shielding.
That was star-shield technology!
That was T4-grade star-shield technology.
And it was mounted on a T3 interstellar stealth bomber, no less!
A T3 interstellar stealth bomber possessed of T4-grade star-shield technology!
In Zhao Wan'er's mind there was but one thought now: good heavens — what kind of subversive warship has my big brother built?