[1]
Some crimes of medium severity had originally been raised to death sentences.
And later still, a law was brought out:
the Points Law.
Everyone's life would be under the Frey Empire's watch, and every breach of the rules would cost points.
Even such infractions as running a red light, or breaking some road or community rules, cost points.
Dropping litter, swearing and the like cost points too.
When your points fell below sixty, you would be taken away, and of those taken away, not one ever came back.
Some thought they would be better off staying home, but from some time no one knew, even staying home was not safe.
Some found that the Frey Empire could use every kind of electronic device to monitor everyone's daily behavior.
So even staying home was not safe.
Only like this, cutting off everything to do with electronics, could one have a little sense of safety.
But under such a life of pressure, how long could anyone hold out?
The man's wife had already been driven to shutting herself in this little room, not daring to take a step outside.
Lately, suicides of every kind had kept appearing too.
And some rumors had got out:
that at some time no one knew, every crematorium had been taken over by the state, said to be for handling these bodies in a greener and more efficient way.
And the bodies of the newly dead would be taken over by someone at once.
Even the bodies of suicides would be carried off promptly.
So some guessed whether the Frey Empire was carrying out some experiment, all to collect more bodies.
And the strict laws, too, came out of this consideration.
That way, they could get a great source of bodies.
But under the rule of the Frey Empire, talk like this could only be passed around in private; no one dared say a word more about it.
"One day the sky over this world is going to change." The man stroked his wife's head and drew his wife into his arms.
His tone was utterly firm.
And in his pocket lay a badge.
It belonged to one of the rebel forces formed on the Frey planet.
The Lord of Frey paid no attention to these; as he saw it, these people were nothing but ants.
——————
"Blood-forged starships?" Zhao Chen looked at this report sent back, somewhat surprised.
"Yes. It's one of the Frey civilization's innate means: the power of their bloodline. It's something science can't explain," Secretary Officer Barbara said.
"How is the spy we placed there?" Zhao Chen asked with some concern.
"He's fine. He's of the demon folk, with the gift of mimicry. He can mimic any race he's seen, appearance and biological information alike," Secretary Officer Barbara said.
Zhao Chen nodded: "Next time you send word, tell him. His own safety comes first in everything; intelligence that isn't essential, he's not to risk exposing himself to send us."
"Understood."
Zhao Chen went on looking through some of the material on the Frey civilization.
"Extremely strict laws, great numbers of missing death-row prisoners. All of this is blood the Frey civilization is stockpiling to blood-forge its starships. A single T1-grade interstellar warship needs the blood of over a million people. And a T2-grade interstellar warship needs the blood of tens of millions, even a hundred million. This planet has no more than ten billion people at the very most. Consuming at this rate, they could never collect enough blood by normal means alone. Soon these rule-breakers alone won't be enough. They're bound to quietly round up living people in great numbers and draw their blood," Zhao Chen judged with a frown.
Secretary Officer Barbara nodded and said, "Yes. Now, on this planet of the Frey civilization, under such high-pressure rule, problems have begun to appear; some rebel organizations have already sprung up in secret. Only, because they have no advanced weapons and equipment, they can't threaten the Frey civilization's rule."
Zhao Chen made a note of this.
"For now we and the Frey civilization are still cooperating, but this information is useful to us."
Over the next six months,
the Fierce Dragon civilization and the Frey civilization cooperated closely.
The Frey civilization built its lure devices at the edge of the star system, and the Fierce Dragon civilization worked alongside, installing warp-interception devices.
At the same time all sorts of strategic installations were built around them too,
among them a battle starport and a refitted planet.
All of this was preparation for the fighting to come.
At the same time, both sides' interstellar warships were all massing toward this area.
Marshal Chu Xuan looked through the video window at the Frey commander opposite.
"For this operation, our Fierce Dragon civilization's side has massed a hundred fifty T1 interstellar warships and forty T2 interstellar warships." Marshal Chu Xuan raised her hand.
A page window appeared: the data for every interstellar warship, ship types and classes, in great detail.
The Frey commander was somewhat surprised to see this, but followed suit and said, "This time we have a hundred fifty T1 interstellar warships and fifty T2 interstellar warships on our side."
The two sides' interstellar warships together made a fairly considerable number:
three hundred T1 interstellar warships and nearly a hundred T2 interstellar warships.
Against the invading Dax Empire interstellar civilization, they had every chance in a fight,
and might even fight a fine battle of annihilation.
As for whether these were all of either side's interstellar warships, only each side itself knew.
"By the battle plan agreed before, the battlefield is split in two. Each of us takes our own half. Any problem?" Marshal Chu Xuan fixed her eyes on the other side.
"No problem." The Frey commander nodded.
After that they exchanged a few words,
and the two sides ended the call.
Marshal Chu Xuan turned to look at the assembled officers under her.
"What I say next, just keep it in your own heads. Though in this operation we and the Frey civilization are cooperating, we and they are rivals. So in the fighting, you can't give them your back entirely! Above all as the fighting is about to end. It's not impossible that they'll turn and bite us at the last; we have to make every preparation!"
"Understood!"
Marshal Chu Xuan looked around once more and went on, "And in the fighting, you have to change your old fighting habits. This isn't one of those great campaigns of the past with hundreds of thousands or millions of interstellar warships. Each of you has only a few dozen interstellar warships in hand. Though the numbers are smaller, the demands on your command are higher too. For what I want isn't only for you to win this war; I want you to win it handsomely and keep our losses down!"
"Rest easy, Marshal; our squadron guarantees zero casualties!"
"Whoever's squadron takes casualties first buys the dinner!"
As they talked, they settled the battle plan.
At this very moment,
on the bridge of Marshal Chu Xuan's flagship,
Fire Lydia, in Fierce Dragon uniform, stood at Marshal Chu Xuan's side: "Marshal, this is our fleet's latest data report. Every interstellar warship is ready for battle. Besides that, five interstellar transports fully loaded with interstellar missiles are on standby, ready to resupply our interstellar missile ships at any moment!"
Fire Lydia, ever since graduating from the Fierce Dragon Starship Academy in the shortest time, had joined the Fierce Dragon fleet, and had been picked by Marshal Chu Xuan herself to be her adjutant.
As for the reason behind it,
Fire Lydia naturally knew it too:
Marshal Chu Xuan was grooming her.
Fire Lydia did not naively think she could hold a place in the Fierce Dragon fleet on the strength of who she was.
For there were many crew like her with backgrounds from the countries of the Dragon Star Alliance.
In her intake, several others had served as Marshal Chu Xuan's secretary officers too.
The shortest had been moved to other posts after a day; the longest after a few months.
Fire Lydia had watched how all these people performed; she knew that those moved away early had all been moved for lack of ability.
They might once have been fine navy officers.
But aboard a starship there was a great deal to learn anew; some simply had no talent for it, so they had been placed early in other combat posts.
And Fire Lydia had lasted until now entirely by her own hard work.
She did not care about her own background; what she wanted was to stay on by her own ability, and not only to stay, but to hold a place in the Fierce Dragon fleet!
"I see. For the time to come, every twenty-four hours you need to check the state of the fleet. Logistics and supply matter a great deal too. …"
Marshal Chu Xuan's instructions and the words she urged on her, Fire Lydia noted down confidently and carefully.
For the time that followed,
every interstellar warship at this ambush point was on combat readiness around the clock.
For the warp-interception warning gave only fifteen minutes.
So these interstellar warships of theirs had to be in combat condition within fifteen minutes of the alarm sounding.
Once Fire Lydia had done her work,
another adjutant came to take over.
"Big sister Fire Lydia, I'm here." The other adjutant, a young woman, walked up to Fire Lydia with a cheerful grin.
"I hear the starship mess has new dishes today."
Fire Lydia told her what she needed to watch during this shift.
After a few words of instruction, she left the bridge.
The moment she stepped off the bridge, she took a deep breath.
She looked at the porthole beside her, at the sea of stars outside, and the starships.
Though she had looked at scenes like this for over a year,
every time she looked closely, she still thought the sight truly too beautiful,
more beautiful than the sea,
a feeling wholly unlike the sea.
She walked to the lift, thought a moment, and entered the location of Starship Mess No. 1.
The levitating lift carried her toward Starship Mess No. 1.
It was the nearest to her quarters.
She did not want to waste time.
She walked into the starship mess.
The starship mess was open around the clock, with Fierce Dragon Kingdom specialties, and dishes from every country of the Dragon Star Alliance too,
almost all arranged according to the tastes of this starship's crew.
Fire Lydia ordered a plate of dumplings and found a seat by the window.
While waiting for her food, she opened a holographic screen and checked what she had recorded over the past while.
As she checked, she added a few words now and then.
"Hello, here are the dumplings you ordered." A food-delivery robot appeared with a plate of dumplings and set them before Fire Lydia.
Fire Lydia looked at the steaming dumplings, smiled and raised her handheld terminal.
She took a photo of herself, the dumplings on the table, and the porthole behind her through which the sea of stars outside could be seen.
She opened her messaging app
and sent the photo to one of the few contacts in her device:
her brother, Fire Phoenix.
Then she wrote a few lines and sent them off.
It sent very slowly.
For communications technology was not very advanced now, and they were at the edge of this star system.
Besides, this message would also be checked once by people assigned to it.
Every message crew sent their families had requirements: file size, text and pictures.
Only after being checked would it send.
Fire Lydia put down her handheld terminal, picked up her chopsticks and ate the steaming dumplings.
It had to be said, the food in the starship mess was very good.
When Fire Lydia had finished the dumplings, she got up and went back to her quarters.
As the captain's adjutant, she was not like ordinary crew; she had quarters of her own.
Though not as big as the captain's,
they still counted as single quarters with everything one needed.
She walked to her quarters; her identity was scanned, and the door opened.
Inside was a standard single room, with a bathroom, a window and a little desk.
Under thirty square meters, but very complete.
Fire Lydia took off her uniform and went into the bathroom, first washing her body.
She felt the hot water rinsing over her,
as if washing away all the weariness of this past while.
The living conditions on this interstellar warship were much better than on their warships before.
Here water was inexhaustible; she had a bathroom of her own, and even the other crew had bathhouses of their own to wash in.
This made life aboard the starship very good for everyone, not oppressive at all.
"Play music."
Fire Lydia came out of the bathroom and said to the artificial intelligence.
Soothing music began to play in the room.
Fire Lydia did not go to sleep at once, but sat at the desk, called up several study files and began to study.
Almost whenever she had free time she would study; whatever she did not understand she would note down, and when the Marshal had time, she would ask her questions.
The Marshal almost always told her everything she knew.
This was the homework Fire Lydia had set herself.
Two hours later,
Fire Lydia glanced at the time, closed her study files and lay down on the bed.
"Sleep mode."
At the command, the lights in the room dimmed.
Fire Lydia closed her eyes.
Who knew how long had passed.
Suddenly!
Red lights flashed in the room, and her handheld terminal began vibrating violently too.
Almost in an instant, Fire Lydia sprang up.