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Secretary Officer Barbara stepped forward and reported, "Our Dragon Palace Starport dock is working overtime to build the T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship. The first T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship is expected to take another two months. Two months from now, we'll be able to use this T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship to build an interstellar industrial base, and raise our production capacity with a great many production lines!"
"Capacity has to rise. Then resource demand will rise too. If this civilization hadn't suddenly popped up, we'd probably be starting to plan mining on other planets by now. But who can sleep soundly with another man snoring beside his bed![2] Until this nail is pulled out, our Fierce Dragon civilization can't be at peace for a single day! Barbara, keep this civilization under close watch; if images of those starships can be taken, find a way to learn just what civilization it is and what line of technology it's developing. Know the enemy and know yourself, and you'll win every battle!"
"Understood!"
A war about to break out in space; the smell of gunpowder had already begun to spread.
On that side, the thirty-five T1 Frey starships were drawing closer while doing trial runs and training.
On this side, the fifteen Fierce Dragon warships had begun combat training too and drawn up the battle plans concerned.
And this news was known only to the Fierce Dragon Kingdom and the ten nations of the Dragon Star Alliance's Upper House.
Among the common people of the other countries within Dragon Star, all was still harmony and happiness, and they still held beautiful dreams of the future,
looking at those unbelievable creations of technology and thinking life was about to get better fast.
Little did they know that over their heads
those interstellar warships were about to set out for a distant battlefield,
to fight a war that would decide their future fate.
Zhao Chen had ordered the news of this interstellar war kept secret.
For this war was no longer anything the people on the ground could change.
Rather than causing them panic, better to let them live well and keep order.
Ten days later.
One side of the star.
The Frey civilization's thirty-five starships had already crossed the "midline" and reached the side of the star near Dragon Star.
And the Fierce Dragon side's fifteen starships were ready too, in a posture to meet the enemy.
Marshal Chu Xuan was on the bridge of a T1 Snow Bear-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship.
This was an interstellar battleship, a T1 interstellar battleship Zhao Chen had specially brought out as the best suited to the present: good fighting strength, high tolerance for error and a short build time, very fitting for the Fierce Dragon civilization's present transitional stage.
In fact, no battle had originally been expected.
Who would have thought they would actually run into one?
The others were interstellar warships of every type.
The fifteen interstellar warships could be said to have gathered the most basic set of starship classes needed:
ten T1 Wolf-Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers, one carrier starship, one interstellar battleship, one interstellar heavy cruiser, one interstellar cruiser, and one interstellar missile ship.
Though all of them were T1-grade,
by Chu Xuan's calculations, these interstellar warships were still quite considerable.
"Report. The enemy interstellar fleet closing in has been detected; their starship classes can be told by their shapes. One interstellar battleship, one carrier starship, two interstellar battlecruisers, five interstellar cruisers, ten interstellar destroyers, sixteen interstellar frigates. By their shapes, it can be confirmed that these are all biological interstellar warships!" a subordinate reported.
Marshal Chu Xuan said gravely, "When we make contact in a while, there's no need to hurry. First make a probing attack, to establish the enemy starships' combat performance. If the enemy starships' combat performance is rather strong, we withdraw from the battlefield at once. If we have a chance in a fight, we fight them!"
"Yes!"
The crews on every starship were very nervous at this moment.
For over eighty percent of these fifteen interstellar warships' crews were in fact natives of Dragon Star.
After all, the Fierce Dragon civilization numbered only ten thousand; it could not possibly put all of them on starships as crew.
Fortunately, before becoming interstellar-warship crew, these crew members had all been outstanding navy sailors on Dragon Star; after some training, all had become qualified starship crew.
"Remember, all of you. Don't be nervous. When the fighting starts in a while, do as we trained. Imagine you're on a pitch-dark sea right now, and we're aboard a warship. Empty your heads; don't think too much."
In every department there were at least one or two Fierce Dragon veterans in charge of that department's work.
"Yes!" After a round of morale-boosting work, the crew of every department waited at their battle stations for the combat orders to come.
Everyone held their breath, and every thought in their heads but the fight was shut away.
Breathe!
Breathe!
Breathe!
"Weapons department, ready; all main and secondary guns, traverse…"
The department heads received the orders from the bridge and at once relayed them to the weapons departments.
"Main gun No. 1, traverse complete!"
"Main gun No. 2, traverse complete!"
…
Every gun on the fifteen starships was now turned toward the thirty-five Frey interstellar warships approaching in the distance.
Both sides were at daggers drawn.
After this battle, there were bound to be heavy casualties.
Just as both sides were about to give the order to fire,
almost one after the other, an order
reached both fleets' commands.
"Cease the attack at once, fall back to a safe area, and await further orders!"
Both fleets' commands were taken aback for a moment, then the fleets began to pull back.
"What's happened?" Marshal Chu Xuan contacted Zhao Chen in the rear at once.
That message just now had come straight from the Fierce Dragon Emperor.
"We've received a message," Zhao Chen said gravely.
"What message?" Marshal Chu Xuan was puzzled; what message could make His Majesty the King order the withdrawal so suddenly?
Most important of all, the interstellar civilization opposite had withdrawn too.
"From a Trial civilization calling itself the Baba civilization. The message says, in its star system, it ran into a Trial civilization that rose fast and has now entered the T2 technology stage, and may even be building T3-stage weapons and starships. It has the ability to travel between star systems. And this fast-rising interstellar civilization is called the Dax Empire civilization; this Dax Empire civilization appeared in the Baba civilization's star system and destroyed three Trial civilizations at one stroke, the Baba civilization among them! In this message they sent out the coordinates of the Baba civilization's star system. It's… very close to us!" Zhao Chen said gravely.
Hearing this,
Marshal Chu Xuan understood at once why two civilizations had withdrawn their forces at the same moment.
It was because a powerful outside enemy had appeared.
A powerful civilization that could wipe out three Trial civilizations at once, very possibly about to step into the T3 technology stage.
If their Fierce Dragon civilization and the other Trial civilization kept up their civil war now, then when the day came that the other arrived,
the result would only be the same fate as the civilization that sent this message.
"Then the Trial civilization that sent this message meant to stir up the other interstellar civilizations around to attack this Dax Empire civilization together. They must have used some means to send this cosmic broadcast out all around," Marshal Chu Xuan said in a deep voice.
Zhao Chen nodded: "Yes. From the broadcast we can work out that we and this destroyed Trial civilization are right next to each other. At the same time, that Dax Empire civilization, on its line of attack, has already mastered warfare between star systems. Then before long they're bound to find our star system's coordinates and make war on us. That time could be years, or it could be half a year!"
Marshal Chu Xuan frowned: "With the number of starships we have now, and our pace of development, if it's half a year, there's no way we can fully step into the T2 technology stage; even if we get there, the number of T2 interstellar warships will be limited."
"So we can't go to war with that interstellar civilization opposite; we have to ally with them too," Zhao Chen said earnestly.
Marshal Chu Xuan nodded; she agreed with this view too.
Before this, there had been only the two of them, Trial civilizations, in this star system; naturally they were rivals, each putting the other's destruction first.
But now a powerful enemy had suddenly appeared.
Then naturally they had reason to join hands.
"Chu Xuan, find a way to make contact with the fleet opposite. Tell them we'd like to talk," Zhao Chen said.
"All right!"
Next, the Fierce Dragon fleet sent one starship forward and at the same time broadcast a message on the open channel.
Almost as if by agreement, a starship from the fleet opposite came forward too.
The two sides' starships, like envoys, came within a very close distance of each other.
At this point, by means of the two sides' communication links, Zhao Chen met the leader of that Trial civilization opposite.
"Hello. Let me introduce myself: the leader of the Fierce Dragon civilization." Zhao Chen came straight to the point.
"The Lord of the Frey civilization," the Lord of Frey said coolly.
"I imagine you received that cosmic broadcast just now on your side too. I'll come straight to the point. With a powerful enemy out there, the two of us are about evenly matched in strength. Though your fleet is bigger than mine, if we really fight, I can still bite a few chunks out of you. If it comes to that, I'll stay mainly on the defensive. That way your development is bound to be slowed greatly. So we may as well live in peace for now, with the star as the border line, each developing on our own side, so as to deal with that Dax Empire civilization," Zhao Chen said his thinking outright.
"I agree." The Lord of Frey wasted no time either and agreed to this condition outright.
An interstellar war everyone had thought about to begin; no one would have imagined it would end this way.
But it left a sharp blade hanging over everyone's heads.
Zhao Chen went at once to Chief Engineer Annie.
"Annie. Let me ask you. If a T2 interstellar civilization wants to make war across star systems, how much time does it need?" Zhao Chen looked at Annie and asked.
Annie thought a moment and said, "For T2-grade interstellar warships, we can rule out space folding and wormhole technology first. And without a star-gate, what they use must be a warp drive. And a warp drive depends on the distance between the two star systems. I've looked at the data you gave me. If they set out directly from the Dax civilization's star system, it would take a month to get here. That's the time if they could be sure of our coordinates. But for now they don't know our star system's coordinates, so it depends on whether they have system-survey equipment. And whether system-survey equipment can find a star system is a matter of probability too; the time can't be calculated."
Hearing this whole string of words from Annie,
Zhao Chen frowned slightly.
That way, when the enemy would appear, they had no idea at all.
If the enemy were lucky, it might be a month from now.
"Not counting the enemy's internal situation, three years at the latest!" Annie added a point. "That's the result of a T2-grade system-survey probe scanning its surroundings at the lowest efficiency. It's as if you were dotting a sheet of white paper bit by bit with a black pen, and behind the white paper a treasure was hidden. So however bad their luck, within three years they'll find our star system's position."
A month to three years.
This span of time was truly very wide.
But for them, the only choice was to grow strong fast.
"Annie, can you draw up the most complete and fastest development plan? I want to enter the T2 stage of technological civilization in the shortest time, and build T2-grade interstellar warships in great numbers!" Zhao Chen said gravely.
Annie thought a moment: "That needs us to plan together the resource planets we can find later and the efficiency of resource extraction afterward, which will directly affect the development of interstellar industry later on. By my estimate, entering the T2 technology stage will take us at least half a year; building a fleet of thirty T2 interstellar warships will take another half year. If it's to reach a scale of three hundred, about fifteen months."
The time was somewhat tight.
But they had to push themselves.
"From now on, our Fierce Dragon Kingdom and the whole Dragon Star system will go all out on industry. Whatever you need, I'll have Secretary Officer Barbara cooperate with you unconditionally. What I want is to see T2-grade interstellar warships within half a year!" Zhao Chen said gravely.
Annie knew how urgent things were now too; she nodded and said, "I understand; I'll go and see to it right away."
In the time that followed, the Fierce Dragon civilization and the Frey civilization opposite both entered a new period.
In the first month, the Fierce Dragon civilization developed its first resource planet and built a habitable settlement on it.
In the second month, the number of resource planets grew by three.
In the third month, the Fierce Dragon civilization found a second habitable world, and on this world there were good resources, and no intelligent life.
The Fierce Dragon civilization formally launched the Second Home settlement plan.
Interstellar transport after interstellar transport carried the people of the pioneer corps to the world of the Second Home.