"What? A starship? You mean the kind of flying thing they talk about in novels and movies?"
"The Fierce Dragon Kingdom has built a starship? How is that possible!"
"Don't you disbelieve it. Watch the live broadcast yourself. At eight this morning, this starship of the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's will formally set out for the three combat moons from the earlier hive-race campaign. It'll clear out the hive-race life left up there and bring back the heroes trapped there!"
For this maiden voyage of the T1 Wolf-Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer, the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had gone straight to a live broadcast synchronized around the globe.
It had even invited the leaders of every country to witness it in person on site.
Before takeoff,
these countries' leaders all saw this starship with their own eyes.
It was not very large, only a little bigger than the surface vessels now in service.
But the thought that a thing like this was to fly through the air
still left everyone more or less unable to believe it.
They knew the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's technology was developing faster than imagination.
But… this was bringing the creations of movies and novels to life outright; that was surely a bit too frightening.
"Big brother. Can this thing really fly?" Fire Lydia pointed at the colossus before her and asked, blinking.
"If it were anyone else, I wouldn't believe it. But this is the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's doing." Fire Phoenix's expression was grave, as if he were a witness to a great age.
Fire Lydia clenched her fists and said excitedly, "If this thing can really fly and cruise through space, I have to have one whatever it takes. Even if it means joining the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's fleet!"
Fire Phoenix looked helplessly at his sister.
A single starship, and his country's Commander-in-Chief of the Navy had been lured away.
But on reflection it was understandable; if he were not the present supreme leader of the Frost Dragon Kingdom, he might well have done the same.
After all, they had both come up as soldiers,
and navy at that.
How could they not be interested in an interstellar warship?
Above all a man like him.
This was simply the big toy they had dreamed of.
"Everyone, please follow me into the safe zone beside us. There we'll witness the arrival of this great moment." The staff responsible for receiving and guiding these countries' leaders took the leaders onto bus after bus and drove away from the dock.
At a hotel halfway up a mountain a dozen-odd kilometers from here,
they would watch this starship's first formal voyage.
Time passed little by little.
The time of the maiden voyage drew nearer and nearer.
Everyone stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows, growing nervous in spite of themselves.
As the hands reached the last ten minutes before eight,
everyone in all the open areas of the dock was evacuated.
Every mechanical arm used to hold this starship in place was retracted.
It was now like an exhibit, set on a tray, waiting for its first performance.
"Five minutes left." In the viewing area, many people checked their watches every few seconds.
On several television screens beside them was the broadcast too.
At this very moment, the broadcast channel the Fierce Dragon Kingdom provided
was being watched by nearly the whole world.
Wherever they were on this planet, whether by day or by night, everyone was watching.
Grown-ups, children and old people were all watching this moment.
This moment mattered beyond all measure.
The researchers and scholars all clenched their fists.
If this succeeded, it would mean their first step into the interstellar age!
"Three minutes left." Fire Lydia, ordinarily chatty and a touch hyperactive, had gone quiet at this moment too and said not a single word more.
Beside her, the Nancy Empress held a stemmed wineglass, the red liquid in it swirling little by little.
She had held this glass of wine for over ten minutes, just swirling it, without taking a single sip.
The last minute.
Nearly more than half the people in the whole world began counting down at this moment.
Sixty seconds.
Fifty seconds.
…
Thirty seconds.
Ten seconds.
Five seconds.
…
At this moment the hands pointed to eight o'clock exactly.
In the control room for this starship's maiden voyage:
"Starship 001 maiden voyage begins. Energy core start."
"Energy core starting."
"Starship engines start."
"Starship engine No. 1 started."
"Starship engine No. 2 started."
…
"Energy core running normally."
"All starship engines running normally."
"Prepare for takeoff."
After a whole series of operating commands,
this starship at last had the moment of its takeoff.
The starship engines gave off a blue light, and blue rings of light could be seen appearing one after another.
Then this starship could be seen slowly rising.
It was very steady, without the slightest wobble.
Ten centimeters.
Half a meter.
One meter.
Ten meters!
Everyone's heart seemed to be suspended at this moment.
Some could not believe their own eyes.
Some even suspected it was a fake video the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had made with some advanced technology.
Only those on site knew it was indeed real.
For at this moment they could already see with the naked eye that starship hovering above that mountain.
"It really flew!" Fire Lydia's mouth fell open in astonishment.
The leaders of the other countries were in an uproar too.
Then, who knew who began it, applause broke out at once.
This moment stood for a great stride by the intelligent life of this planet toward the interstellar age.
After that, this starship began slowly to sail forward,
heading toward the sea,
gradually speeding up.
In the eyes of these people, it went from a colossus to a small black dot.
But on the live broadcast beside them, they could still follow the footage shot by the helicopters chasing after it.
A few minutes later,
this starship reached the waters off the Fierce Dragon Kingdom.
Then
this starship's bow began to tilt slightly upward at an angle.
It could be seen very plainly that the starship engines' power kept increasing.
This starship began accelerating up into the sky.
From the bow only tilting slightly at first, to rushing into the clouds like a rocket at last,
everyone held their breath.
They knew this step was very important!
If this starship could break through the atmosphere successfully and enter space,
it would mean the maiden voyage was a complete success.
The video footage gradually faded out.
All that remained was text coverage, and footage now and then taken by satellites.
But very soon footage from other angles appeared,
from the view aboard this starship.
"Hello, everyone; I'm a reporter for Fierce Dragon TV. I'm now aboard this Fierce Dragon starship, bringing you a firsthand report. I'm at a spot on the hull now; through this porthole you can all see the view outside. Though I know this starship is leaving this planet at very great speed, as you can all see, inside the starship I don't feel the least discomfort."
Through the view the cameraman shot, everyone could see the planet outside and the scenery of the universe.
Very soon this starship flew to where the first combat moon was.
Looking down, many marks of fighting could be seen on this combat moon's surface, and great numbers of hive-race corpses gathered here.
There were also some living hive-race units, and some Hive Motherships that had crashed here.
It gave one the feeling that this place was nothing less than a hive-race nest.
"Begin the clearing operation! Commence orbital bombardment!"
the captain on the bridge gave the order.
All the main and secondary guns of this starship were aimed at the hive-race combat units on this moon's surface.
Fireball after fireball burst on the surface, clearing away those hive-race combat units.
This scene made those watching feel it was just like a science-fiction blockbuster.
Time passed little by little.
Very soon, once one area of this world's surface had been wholly cleared and it was confirmed there was no living hive-race life,
this starship began slowly hovering over this position.
An opening appeared in its belly, and combat mecha after combat mecha were dropped down, along with interstellar marines in individual exoskeleton combat armor.
This cleared spot
was in fact exactly where this combat moon's shelter was.
"Quick, quick, quick! Get moving. Hurry!" The interstellar marine captain charged at the front into the base, now nothing but ruins.
The weapon in his hands swept carefully over every piece of wreckage.
At last, beneath some ruins, they found a sealed great door.
On this great door were many marks of hive-race attack.
But this great door still held.
The interstellar marine captain began searching the great door for something, and at last found a connection port, linked it to his handheld terminal,
and began sending a signal inside.
——————
Inside the shelter,
there was only dim light.
The people in every area followed the shelter handbook strictly.
Food, daily life, everything had to go by the rules.
"We've been trapped here over half a year already. The food that's left can last three months at most," the most senior person in charge of this shelter said anxiously.
"Cut the food rations further, so we can survive as long as possible."
"Food can be cut. But the problem is our water and oxygen. Though we have water-filtering equipment, after half a year of filtering there isn't much water left in itself. If there's still no outside supply of water, in three months the water will be gone too. And then there's oxygen. It's also come to the three-month limit. These two things are vital to our survival. We'd originally planned for a thousand people in the shelter, but now there are fifteen hundred here, far beyond the number we planned for."
"The biggest problem now is whether Dragon Star survived that hive-race disaster. If… if Dragon Star's civilization was long since wrecked by the hive-race, then hiding here, we're only waiting to die. I think we should go out early. Whatever happens, we have to be ready for both outcomes!"
In the shelter's meeting room, what everyone discussed every day in this time was nothing but these things:
whether to go out early,
whether Dragon Star still existed.
The longer time went on, the more they despaired.
If one asked what profession was busiest here now, it was the psychologists.
Many people already had psychological problems, and some even showed signs of suicide.
All this meant that most people in the shelter were nearly at the limit of what they could endure.
If it went on, sooner or later something would go wrong in this shelter.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
Just at this moment,
the meeting room's lights flashed,
a flashing of red and blue lights by turns.
On seeing these lights flash,
everyone stood up.
"This is…!"
"Someone outside has sent the door-opening signal!"
"Someone's come to get us!"
Almost at once, these people rushed toward the main door.
By now, many people who had seen the signal had already gathered around the main door.
Were it not for the soldiers keeping order here, everyone would probably have rushed to the door already.
"Sir, do we open the door?" Everyone looked at the person in charge of the shelter.
Whether to open the door was up to him and the other few people in charge.
Opening this door needed the keys of the shelter's several people in charge.
By the procedure set out originally,
this door could only be opened from inside; it could not be opened from outside.
And if someone outside had come to get them,
they would send this kind of signal to tell them,
and then they would open the door from inside!
"Open the door. But at the same time, be at grade-1 combat readiness!" The person in charge of the shelter prepared for both outcomes.
He looked at the people crowding around outside and said gravely, "Everyone else, withdraw to the second blast door. If anything unexpected happens, close the second blast door at once."
"Yes!"
Under these orders,
far fewer people were gathered here than before.
Those who remained were all fully armed, wearing combat suits usable in a space environment.
They kept their wits about them twelve times over; some were excited, some nervous.
The several people in charge took out their keys and walked to the great door together.
After a round of operations,
a kind of muffled sound came from the great door.
Then lock after mechanical lock could be heard opening.
A full minute passed
before this great door slowly rose.
Light appeared outside, and figure after figure standing there.
The combat suits were somewhat familiar yet strange, but they bore the Fierce Dragon crest.
At this moment everyone's eyes seemed to fill with tears at once.
The interstellar marine captain looked at the people inside the blast door; though through a visor, he could feel these people's emotions.
He raised his hand
and made hand signs.
Because communication in a space environment could have problems, in case communications cut out they could only use hand signs.
And the meaning of his hand signs at this moment was very simple:
We… have… come… to take… you… home!
A simple string of hand signs
stirred the people in the shelter deeply.
At last they could go home!
Their home was still there!