Though everyone knew what was at stake,
in the fighting, still no one shrank from battle or feared death.
Those who made it onto the list of these ten thousand were all ready to die for the Fierce Dragon Empire.
And in this one battle thirty-nine had died.
And in interstellar war, losses on starships would only be greater.
Often when a starship was destroyed, the people on it would most likely die; those who lived were few.
Marshal Chu Xuan took a deep breath.
She said, "Take the wrecks of our starships back. And if the bodies of our fighters can be found, gather them all up too. They are our martyrs who fell in battle. We can't let their bodies drift in this universe."
"Who's there!"
——————
The Dragon Palace Starport.
The moment the battle was over, Zhao Chen received the news sent back.
At the news of victory, Zhao Chen was not surprised.
Ambushing the enemy, winning was only to be expected.
What concerned him was this:
the enemy had a T3 interstellar warship.
That meant the Dax Empire already had starship factories and production lines making T3 interstellar warships.
It meant the Dax Empire's T3 interstellar warships would grow more and more numerous in the future.
In this battle,
the Fierce Dragon's starships and the Frey civilization's starships opposite had lost nearly fifty together.
Had that T3 flagship not been there, the losses would have been at least halved.
"T3 interstellar warships?" Zhao Chen closed his eyes and thought.
One T3 interstellar warship; reckoning from that,
the Dax Empire's present stock of T3 interstellar warships should be around ten.
Not too many.
Otherwise it would not have sent only one T3 interstellar warship with a fleet of three hundred starships.
But there was still one question:
the Dax Empire's future output of T3 interstellar warships.
"Nearly two years ago, when the Dax Empire attacked the neighboring star system, it had no T3 interstellar warships yet. In two years it has built ten T3 interstellar warships. Reckoning from that, if it were our Fierce Dragon Kingdom, output now would be around thirty to fifty a year. At most no more than a hundred. Next time, at least a third of them will come as T3 interstellar warships." Zhao Chen frowned.
——————
The Dax Empire.
The Dax King sat in his temple, listening to his subordinates report every kind of news.
He raised his hand, and a holographic star map appeared.
The star map covered nearly ten star systems.
At its very center was the star system of their Dax Empire, the system where his Dax civilization had been spawned in this Trial of the Gods.
And two star systems around this Dax system were already marked with the Dax Empire's flag.
That meant both these star systems were in the Dax Empire's hands.
And on another star system was a battle marker, along with the Dax Empire's flag.
That meant the Dax civilization was at war in that system.
Besides these, there was a fifth star system, but on this one there was no flag; instead a red arrow pointed at it,
meaning the Dax Empire had sent a fleet against this star system.
"Your Majesty. Our fighting in the Fourth System isn't over yet, and we're attacking the Fifth System. Won't this cost us too much?" a subordinate said with some worry.
The Dax King said carelessly, "The pace is a little fast. But speed is also the means by which our Dax Empire holds three star systems; had we not attacked at such a pace, could we have taken this system in so short a time, and then taken the other two? We have to take the other star systems while their technology lags behind ours. With the resources of our many star systems we feed our war machine in return. At our present pace of development, even if this Fifth System is strong, it can never surpass us. At worst they'll be our match. Even then we won't lose by it. Find out how things stand with them, build a beachhead position first, and once we've taken the Fourth System, attack the Fifth with everything we have. That way, this war machine of ours can keep turning without end."
The Dax King spoke with confidence.
"Report, report, report!"
Just at this moment,
a Dax officer rushed in from outside the temple
and knelt on the floor.
"Word has come from the Fifth System. The fleet we sent has been wiped out to the last ship!"
"What?"
Hearing this, the ministers in the temple and the King all looked astonished.
"We've just received word from the Fifth System. The three hundred interstellar warships we sent were ambushed by two fleets on reaching the Fifth System; the enemy knew our intention to attack long beforehand, and set up lure devices and warp-interception devices. They ambushed our three hundred interstellar warships, and our three hundred interstellar warships were wiped out to the last ship!" the officer said, trembling.
The Dax King looked incredulous: "How is that possible? We sent three hundred starships, and a T3 interstellar warship among them. Could the Trial civilization of this star system already have reached the T3 technology stage?"
The officer said shakily, "According to the intelligence reported, there are two Trial civilizations in this Fifth System. But neither of these two Trial civilizations has T3 technology. But the two of them fought side by side, with T2 interstellar warships. And with an ambush laid in advance besides, they caught us completely off guard!"
Two T2 Trial civilizations fighting together?
Hearing this, the Dax King was somewhat surprised, but his face grew a little calmer too.
Two T2 Trial civilizations truly might threaten their three hundred interstellar warships,
and in an ambush at that.
It was all understandable.
"Do we know which two Trial civilizations they are?" The Dax King, having digested this, asked with a flat expression.
"From the video images sent back, matched against the images in our big data, they can be identified as the Fierce Dragon civilization and the Frey civilization," the officer said.
"The Fierce Dragon civilization? The Frey civilization? I seem to have heard something of this Fierce Dragon civilization. This Frey civilization has some skill, I remember," the Dax King said, thinking.
"Your Majesty. Then how shall we handle this Fifth System battlefield?" a minister beside him asked.
The Dax King thought for a while and asked, "How many interstellar warships do we have now?"
"May it please Your Majesty. Our interstellar warships in service number twelve T3 interstellar warships, three hundred T2 interstellar warships, and two thousand T1 interstellar warships," a minister answered.
The Dax King said, "By the present military strength of these two Trial civilizations, to defeat them we'll need at least three times the starships we sent before. That's a thousand interstellar warships."
Another minister stepped forward and said, "At present each of our three star systems has three fleets stationed in it, nine hundred interstellar warships in all. On the Fourth System battlefield we've placed four fleets, twelve hundred interstellar warships. The idle fleets we have now are only three fleets, nine hundred interstellar warships.[1] If we send all three of these fleets to this Fifth System, we have a chance of winning. But our margin for error drops sharply. Once we're attacked by another Trial civilization, or something goes wrong on the Fourth System battlefield, our whole system will be in great trouble!"
There were interstellar warships that could be sent, but once they were sent, there would be no margin for error.
This was the problem now before their Dax Empire civilization.
"How is our Dax Empire's development now?" the Dax King asked his ministers.
"May it please Your Majesty, our Dax Empire now directly governs three star systems, administers over sixty-nine habitable planets, and rules over eighty billion people," a minister stepped forward and said.
"May it please Your Majesty, our Dax Empire now has thirty-six starship factories in all across the three star systems. Among them is one T3 starship production line, able to produce three T3 interstellar warships in a single month. There are also three T2 starship production lines, able to produce fifty T2 interstellar warships in a single month. The rest are all T1 starship production lines, able to produce over three hundred T1 interstellar warships in a single month," another minister responsible for industrial production stepped forward and reported.
The other ministers each reported the various figures within the Dax Empire too.
The Dax King thought for a while and said, "Of these interstellar warships we have now, a third must go to make up the Fourth System battlefield. Though that Trial civilization of the Fourth System hasn't reached T3 technology, its starship output is terrifying beyond measure, above all its output of T2-grade interstellar warships. Its monthly output is said to exceed three hundred! Were it not for our T3 interstellar warships holding the field, we could never chew through that whole Trial civilization. But the Fourth System battlefield has been opened, and we've made enemies of them. If we can't destroy them before they step into T3 technology, they're bound to be a huge hidden danger to us in the future. But the Fifth System is no small problem either. They could know of our expedition in advance; either they've planted eyes in our star system, or they have some technology that lets them know of our expeditions ahead of time. That means these two Trial civilizations also have very high potential for development. Leaving them to develop is a big problem too."
In the middle of the temple, everyone fell quiet.
This truly was the greatest trouble of the present.
The Dax Empire civilization made war feed war, raising its strength fast by settling other Trial civilizations at high speed.
But the risk in it was enormous too; once it could not keep pushing forward,
or once it had provoked a Trial civilization it could not swallow for a long time,
the present situation would arise.
The reason it had opened the Fifth System before the Fourth had been eaten
was in fact to use the Fifth System's resources to feed the Dax Empire civilization in return, so that the Dax Empire civilization could defeat the Fourth System's enemy head-on.
And now
the Fifth System battlefield had been blocked, and this had driven the Dax Empire to the edge of a cliff.
Now only a few choices lay before the Dax Empire:
split its forces between two lines and fight on both battlefields at once,
or else stake everything on one of the battlefields.
"No one's speaking? Don't you all call yourselves the talents of the Dax Empire civilization!" the Dax King, seeing the crowd below say nothing for a long while, roared somewhat angrily!
An old minister stepped out and said, "Your servant believes we can't fight on two fronts. We must win quickly and take one of them first. On the Fourth System battlefield, our four fleets can't be pulled out. The starships we can move aren't many!"
"But that Trial civilization of the Fourth System is very tough; they have territory in two star systems too. Even if we push with everything we have, we can't take the Fourth System in a short time!" someone retorted.
"So I believe we should first stabilize the situation in the Fourth System and turn from attack to defense. We won't seek to advance, only not to lose the valuable territory we have now, making sure we keep a beachhead position in the Fourth System. So we should gather a batch of starships, then fight our way back into the Fifth System. Take the Fifth System, and follow our original line of attack!" This minister was the one who had argued for opening the second battlefield before.
The others began to argue.
The Dax King looked at that minister and asked, "Then if we send troops into the Fifth System again, how long will it take to prepare? How many starships should we send?"
That minister thought a moment and said, "No need to prepare too long. Half a year is enough. Within this half year, besides the starships supporting the Fourth System battlefield, we can have ten more T3 interstellar warships, a hundred more T2 interstellar warships and at least a thousand more T1 interstellar warships. We can put together at least three standard fleets. When the time comes, we send five fleets outright, at least fifteen hundred interstellar warships, and five more T3 interstellar warships besides!"
The Dax King thought a moment, and at last made his decision: "That's settled! We must eat up this Fifth System. Whatever Fierce Dragon civilization, whatever Frey civilization, they'll all become nourishment for our Dax Empire!"
"Yes!"
——————
The system the Dax Empire called the Fourth System.
"I hear the Dax Empire has attacked another star system?" said an intelligent humanoid, female, blue-skinned and many-eared.
"Yes. That's what the word we've received says. The Dax Empire calls it the Fifth System. But by the look of things, it's been checked in the Fifth System."
"Anything that can check a fleet the Dax Empire civilization sends out: the Trial civilization of this Fifth System is certainly no ordinary one. This Dax Empire civilization is like a mad dog; before, the moment it found us it suddenly attacked, and greatly slowed our development. Had it not been for this war, our Lanners civilization would long since have stepped into T3 technology. If we don't defeat this Dax Empire, we're bound to run into great trouble. But on our own we're no match for this Dax Empire civilization."
The leader of the Lanners civilization thought a moment and said, "We alone can't do it. Then we ally with other interstellar civilizations."