She stripped off her pajamas and picked up the uniform she had long had ready.
In under three minutes from first to last,
she had dashed out of her quarters and was hurrying to the bridge.
In the image projected by her handheld terminal was the route laid out for her,
guaranteeing she would reach the bridge by the fastest way.
The people in the other departments were in the same situation.
Every crew member in the starship was on the move.
Five minutes after the alarm sounded,
Fire Lydia rushed onto the bridge.
Before her, everyone on the bridge was busy.
She heard Marshal Chu Xuan's voice giving orders too.
"Order the whole fleet to prepare for battle. All guns and interstellar missiles, aim at the target area. Once enemy interstellar warships are spotted, every unit may fire at will! We must deal the enemy the heaviest blow in the shortest time!"
"Yes!"
Fire Lydia rushed to her own post.
The other adjutant, seeing Fire Lydia appear, handed over some work tasks with a serious face.
The two adjutants began working at the same time, and efficiency rose greatly.
Fire Lydia was at work at once.
Every so often she looked at the pitch-black space far beyond the porthole.
In this space a ring of red points of light could be seen, forming a three-dimensional fan.
These red points of light were the warp-interception devices.
"About five minutes left!" a crew member on the bridge shouted.
Five minutes.
At this moment everyone's hearts were in their mouths.
"Are all the starships ready?" Marshal Chu Xuan asked.
Fire Lydia checked and reported on the state of every squadron.
Over ninety percent of the interstellar warships were already in combat position.
The remaining interstellar warships could also reach the best combat condition within the next three minutes.
The interstellar missile launch-silos of those several T2 Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ships were all open, and inside them interstellar missile after interstellar missile stood ready.
The main and secondary guns of interstellar warship after interstellar warship were locked on that space.
Some weapon modules able to store energy had finished charging in advance; they waited only for the enemy to appear, then fire!
At this moment every second seemed to pass very slowly.
At last,
starship after starship appeared within the warp-interception zone!
At this moment the Dax Imperial fleet had no idea at all that they were takeout delivered to the door.
The captain lying in his hibernation pod opened his eyes, a notification tone in his ears.
"Warp travel complete."
The Dax Empire captain, after a moment's daze, at once recalled what he had to do and where he was.
This was the composure a professional captain needed.
Ordinary people, after finishing a warp journey, would feel unwell, have a sense of vertigo, and some even had brief amnesia.
He was the fleet commander of the Dax Empire civilization, in command of three hundred interstellar warships.
He had been ordered to lead an expedition to a star system and clear away the Trial civilizations here.
Their Dax Empire civilization, by a good spawn point and a fast pace of development, had stepped into the T1 interstellar age in a very short time, and later into the T2 interstellar age too.
After that, their strategy as an interstellar civilization had been to strike fast with speed, clearing away the Trial civilizations in the surrounding star systems in the shortest time.
Under this strategy, they had destroyed five Trial civilizations one after another.
And by making war feed war, they had come to hold a great deal of territory in star systems, and with the resources developed from these systems they fed their civilization's pace of development in return.
And in those campaigns other fleets had been the main attackers; at most he had taken a share of the spoils.
At last!
After a new star system had been found,
he had got his chance, and was leading his fleet of three hundred interstellar warships on an expedition to this star system.
However many civilizations were here, however many interstellar warships they had,
he meant to sweep this place clean.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
Suddenly a piercing alarm rang out on the bridge.
The fleet commander's heart jolted.
What was going on?
They had only just finished warp travel; why was there an alarm?
Could the systems have gone wrong during warp travel?
But very soon the scene beyond the porthole struck him dumbfounded.
For he saw interstellar warship after interstellar warship lying in wait, their guns glowing, all aimed at them.
Enemy ships?
An ambush?
At this moment his instinct as a commander told him at once what he had run into.
"Enemy attack! It's an enemy attack! Raise the star shields!" the fleet commander roared.
But at this moment the interstellar missiles and guns were all let loose on them.
Fireball after fireball of explosions appeared on the Dax Empire civilization fleet's starships.
Some T1 interstellar warships were destroyed by the fire almost at once and broke apart,
without even a chance to call for help or strike back.
This fleet commander of the Dax Empire civilization roared, "Interstellar frigates forward; screen the fleet. All other starships, prepare for battle at once! Strike back! Strike back!"
The Dax Empire's interstellar fleet had strong fighting discipline too; after taking the first round of attack, it at once began preparing to strike back.
And on the other side, the Fierce Dragon fleet and the Frey fleet
also realized something was not right.
It was an interstellar warship wrapped in a defensive shield.
"It's a T3 interstellar warship!" Marshal Chu Xuan stared at that shielded interstellar warship.
The worst had happened.
The Dax Empire civilization already had T3 interstellar warships.
But the good news was that among the three hundred interstellar warships opposite, there was only one T3 interstellar warship.
That meant that in the Dax Empire civilization, though T3 interstellar warships existed, there were not many of them.
And what lay before Marshal Chu Xuan now was a hard problem:
deal first with this T3 interstellar warship with its star shield, or deal first with the other interstellar warships?
Almost in an instant, Chu Xuan had an idea in her head.
"Order all T2 interstellar frigates to charge up and tie down this T3 interstellar warship. All other starships, attack the other interstellar warships with everything! Pass our battle plan to the Frey fleet's commander!"
The Frey fleet beside them received this battle plan and at once began working with it too,
detaching some of its starships to besiege this T3 interstellar warship.
"Marshal? Why are we attacking the other starships first? If this starship is the greater threat, we ought to concentrate all our fire and destroy this T3 starship first," Fire Lydia behind Marshal Chu Xuan asked curiously.
Marshal Chu Xuan glanced at Fire Lydia; just now the battle orders had all been passed down.
She explained, "A T3-grade interstellar warship is a good deal stronger than the other interstellar warships, and extremely troublesome. Its firepower is stronger too. By rights it should be destroyed first. But T3-grade interstellar warships all carry star shields. An interstellar warship with a star shield is very hard to destroy; it would cost us a great many shells and a great deal of time. In that time our fleet would take very heavy losses. In other words, however strong this T3 interstellar warship's firepower, it's only one interstellar warship. So long as we have starships take turns going up to defend and hold it in check, we can greatly cut our losses. And all the other interstellar warships left can open full fire on the enemy's T2 and T1 interstellar warships!"
Fire Lydia thought this reasoning over and seemed to understand.
And at this point,
the T2 Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ships opened full fire.
Every interstellar missile was let loose on the enemy's interstellar warships,
striking above all at the enemy's interstellar battleships, interstellar battlecruisers and other main battle starships of that kind.
Under this round of interstellar-missile assault, these Dax Empire interstellar warships were badly damaged.
"Interstellar warships with badly damaged hulls, pull back. Don't linger in the fight!"
"Watch for flank penetration!"
"Pin down the T3 flagship opposite!"
Inside the encirclement the Dax Empire's interstellar warships grew fewer and fewer, and the encirclement smaller and smaller.
And though that Dax Empire T3 flagship had T3-grade weapons and equipment, it was held in check by the dozens of interstellar warships around it and could do nothing,
only watch helplessly as the other interstellar warships of its fleet were ground away bit by bit.
Time passed little by little.
Three hours later,
of the Dax Empire civilization's interstellar warships only that lone T3 flagship was left, and hardly a spot on its hull was whole.
Its weapon modules had all been destroyed, and a huge gash had opened in the starship, through which the starship's broken walls could be seen.
This T3 starship had wholly lost its fighting strength.
"Which Trial civilization are you?"
On the other side of a blurred video window, that Dax fleet commander stared hard at the two opposite him:
Marshal Chu Xuan and the Frey commander.
Marshal Chu Xuan said nothing; the more she said, the more intelligence she would leak.
If she guessed right, this Dax fleet commander was probably sending back every kind of message right now without pause,
telling his civilization what had happened here.
"If you're willing to tell us how things stand with the Dax Empire civilization now, perhaps I could spare your life," Marshal Chu Xuan said mockingly.
"Ha ha ha ha. I am a great warrior of the Dax Empire civilization. You lot, just wait to die. In this Trial of the Gods, our Dax Empire will surely win! Long live Dax! Victory to Dax!"
As his words fell, an explosion sounded from the other side, and the video picture was gone.
Marshal Chu Xuan raised her head and looked through the porthole at that T3 starship's bridge; a violent explosion had just happened there.
This explosion had been set off by this fleet commander, probably to destroy completely all the data in the starship's systems and leak them no intelligence the Dax Empire civilization might have.
"Clear the battlefield. Count our damage. See to the wounded promptly!" Marshal Chu Xuan gave her instructions.
Shuttle after shuttle flew out and began searching the damaged starships for the wounded.
With no dedicated interstellar hospital ship, at a time like this they could only rely on these shuttles to fill the role.
And at this time an interstellar transport sailed forward.
This interstellar transport's interior had been refitted; it had medical equipment more complete than the medical rooms on those starships, and could give better treatment to the seriously wounded.
Those lightly wounded in the fighting were treated on their own starships.
Those seriously wounded were transferred to this interstellar transport for dedicated treatment.
Though the fighting was over,
the mood on the battlefield was still somewhat heavy.
For both the Frey fleet and the Fierce Dragon fleet were still there.
"Is the Frey fleet making any move?" Marshal Chu Xuan asked her adjutant Fire Lydia.
Fire Lydia answered, "The Frey fleet is only clearing the battlefield too; some of its interstellar warships are still at combat readiness, their guns facing us. But they haven't made a move against us."
"It seems the commander opposite is no fool either." Marshal Chu Xuan let out a breath of relief.
Since the other side had not struck just as the fighting ended,
there was no point now in looking for a chance to strike either.
"Get me their commander."
"Yes."
The communication window opened.
The Frey commander opposite appeared, his face showing no expression at all.
"This battle is over. But our news has already gone back to the Dax Empire. Next time the Dax Empire sends a fleet, it won't be anything so simple as three hundred. And it's very likely they'll send great interstellar fleets to attack us in a very short time. So we can't let our guard down. Prepare for the next battle. After this battle, these Dax Empire starship wrecks will be split half and half between our two civilizations. As for this T3 starship's wreck, it goes by its remaining value. Whoever wants it pays for it in resources. How about it? And whatever we research from it afterward, we share."
Having heard Marshal Chu Xuan's words, the Frey commander thought a moment and nodded, saying, "We'll build a star fortress here and keep a fleet stationed here permanently. This time we could ambush them. Next time they're bound to be prepared, they'll surely be prepared. An ambush is basically impossible for us then. We can only rely on the outposts we've scattered to spot an incoming interstellar fleet."
"Mm." Marshal Chu Xuan nodded.
The two sides exchanged a few words, and the communication ended.
"Marshal. The post-battle figures are in. In this battle we destroyed over a hundred fifty enemy ships. We lost fifteen starships, and thirty-five more were damaged to varying degrees but can still sail. One thousand three hundred-odd killed. Thirty-nine seriously wounded. The seriously wounded are already being treated; they're being given emergency care."
Marshal Chu Xuan glanced at the casualty data reported; it recorded the details of every one of the fallen.
Thirty-nine.
In this battle, thirty-nine of their Fierce Dragon Kingdom's people had died.[1]
Thirty-nine of those ten thousand.
Marshal Chu Xuan could not help clenching her fists.
Though in these years it was not as if none of the ten thousand they had brought had died,
toward these people Zhao Chen's attitude had always been to cherish them greatly.
After all, of those ten thousand, every one who died was one fewer.
More important still, they did not know whether those who died in this Trial could be revived.