"As for being a bit more specific, let me give you an example. Have you ever found a chaos system?" the Korgi civilization's Vice President asked.
"A chaos system?" Secretary Officer Barbara looked at him in puzzlement.
"Chaos system isn't any official name; it's one we gave them. Some also call them calamity systems, fallen systems, dark systems and so on. Concretely, these systems are the same as other systems at the material level. The only difference is that these systems have masters. And their original masters are beings like the hive-race. Not only the hive-race; there's mechanical life too, and other extreme life forms besides. We've found them all. Where we are ought to belong to one star domain. The systems within a star domain are limited, and as we've found more and more Trial civilizations, we've already found many of this star domain's borders. But soon someone found these chaos systems outside the star domain's borders, and discovered that so long as the creatures inside these chaos systems were wiped out, the whole system's resources could be won. That has led every Trial civilization, while developing itself, also to go looking for these chaos systems and take them of its own accord. And this is in fact a chance for us. When some Trial civilization sends a fleet to attack one of these chaos systems, we can step in and wreck it. Annihilate these fleets, and so achieve the aim of weakening these Trial civilizations. And you, as this card our Far Shore of Deep Space keeps hidden, can play exactly this role," the Korgi civilization's Vice President said, laying out the plan they had worked out.
Secretary Officer Barbara at once asked back, "Then let me ask one thing. Suppose a power now sends a fleet to attack a chaos system. We get the coordinates and the information. We go to ambush them. Does our Fierce Dragon civilization act alone, or will you send fleets too?"
Secretary Officer Barbara stared at him.
The Korgi civilization's Vice President caught what Barbara wanted made clear.
"You guessed right. What we have in mind is to use only your fleets' strength. Because the fleet data of our Far Shore of Deep Space's three Trial civilizations, they all know very clearly. So the moment our fleets appear, they're bound to find out it's our doing. But you're different! So far, I've kept all information about you secret. We'll package you as a hidden Trial civilization, just like a submarine hiding under the sea!"
Secretary Officer Barbara smiled faintly and clapped her hands: "You've really worked out a fine calculation. With a few simple words, you want our Fierce Dragon fleets to take risks and strike for you. Then, once those Trial civilizations are weakened, you're the ones who come out ahead. And if our fleets are damaged, you don't lose anything either. So you come out ahead either way!"
"No! We've thought of that too. We can give a certain compensation!" the Korgi civilization's Vice President said at once.
He naturally knew that, on those earlier words alone, this woman before him would never agree.
"What compensation?" Secretary Officer Barbara asked directly.
The Korgi civilization's Vice President plainly paused; there were probably a number of fallback plans in their minds.
Only he was now weighing which approach would be most cost-effective to propose.
Before he could speak,
Secretary Officer Barbara got in first: "In that case, I have a proposal. You can consider it. Suppose we cooperate just as was said a moment ago. Our Fierce Dragon civilization joins your Far Shore of Deep Space in private, but no one outside knows. We're a hidden card of the Far Shore of Deep Space. And when we launch military operations, our Fierce Dragon civilization doesn't need you to make a move either. But after we strike, we need compensation. The compensation is counted by substantive results. Isn't what you want just for us to weaken those Trial civilizations' military strength? For instance, we destroy one T3 interstellar destroyer of the enemy's; take a middle value: it costs about five million star coins to build. Then you give our Fierce Dragon civilization one million star coins; how about that? This deal won't lose you anything. For starships of other grades and other ship types, we can all fix prices this way. We hunt down those Trial civilizations' interstellar warships, and you pay the resources after the job."
The Korgi civilization's Vice President narrowed his eyes, listening to this proposal.
Their earlier fallback plans had held something similar too,
but not as detailed as pricing by the single starship; rather a price per sortie, with compensation afterward for damaged starships' losses.
"Then how are your battlefield losses in the fighting to be counted?" the Korgi civilization's Vice President asked.
"Battlefield consumption, starship losses: all borne by us ourselves. But before every sortie, you must pay a sum in advance. Let me work it out. Generally, in one sortie we can destroy at least three thousand T3 interstellar warships. Counted that way, how about you prepay a billion star coins' worth of resources first?"
A single sortie, a billion star coins' worth of resources prepaid?
The price was not expensive; it could even be called quite a bargain.
This cooperation would do!
The Korgi civilization's Vice President already had his answer in his heart.
But he did not agree at once.
This matter was very important; it was not something he alone could decide.
He still had to report to the Korgi civilization's President, and to the leaders of the Far Shore of Deep Space's other two powers.
"Personally I think your proposal is good, but I still need to go back and report first, and wait for an answer from above," the Korgi civilization's Vice President answered.
"Fine. But remember one thing. As few people as possible should know of our Fierce Dragon civilization's existence. Only that way can our cooperative plan go smoothly. Otherwise, if those Trial civilizations learn of our Fierce Dragon civilization's existence, none of this can go on."
"Mm, I understand that."
"Then that's it for this meeting. We'll wait for your answer."
The first meeting between the Fierce Dragon civilization and the Korgi civilization, representing the Far Shore of Deep Space, could be said to end here.
And to conceal the Fierce Dragon civilization's existence,
this Tenth System would for the time being be governed by the Korgi civilization, but two-thirds of its resource output would go to the Fierce Dragon civilization.
In the future the two sides could also meet in secret here.
"Lady Secretary. Are we going back now?" A subordinate looked at Secretary Officer Barbara.
"Yes, back now. Use warp travel. But don't go straight back, or they'll catch our warp trail. Fly in that direction for a while first, then change course," Secretary Officer Barbara instructed.
"Right you are; you can rest assured on that. I guarantee that without delaying our journey, I absolutely won't let anyone find our warp trail!" the navigator said confidently.
After a good deal of maneuvering,
the fleet Secretary Officer Barbara was with returned to the Fierce Dragon Sixth System.
This too was something Barbara had specially instructed:
go straight from the Fierce Dragon Sixth System's star-gate back to the Fierce Dragon First System.
That way, the risk of the Fierce Dragon civilization's systems being exposed could be greatly reduced.
"Five great powers. Chaos systems outside the star domain. So this is what things are like out there already. No wonder. We spent far too long in this place with those few Trial systems," Zhao Chen said, having learned all this from Secretary Officer Barbara.
"As things stand right now, choosing a power is an inevitable choice. If what that Korgi Vice President said is right, then choosing the Far Shore of Deep Space is our most suitable choice. And this form of cooperation suits us very well. Using the intelligence we're given, we hunt down other Trial civilizations' fleets; on one hand it weakens these Trial civilizations' military strength, and on the other we can also get handsome bounties from the Far Shore of Deep Space's side. For us this is without doubt the best arrangement!" Secretary Officer Barbara said.
Zhao Chen nodded: "That's right. If the facts in this intelligence are sound, this truly is what suits us best."
"And I suggest that from now on we stop the operations of our reconnaissance fleets outside. Cut down on such activity unless it's necessary, and so reduce our risk of exposure," Secretary Officer Barbara proposed.
Zhao Chen nodded, thought of something, and said, "Then we can use something else: star-system shielding technology."
Secretary Officer Barbara's eyes lit up.
She knew this technology too.
But because it was of rather marginal use, it existed only in the laboratory, and was seldom actually brought out.
As the name suggested,
this equipment could reduce the signals and disturbances inside a system to the lowest degree,
reducing the risk of exposure.
Only reducing it, not removing the risk of exposure entirely.
It was like putting on a night-prowler's black garb in the dark of night:
unless someone was observing from very close, or touched you, or looked for you with radar equipment far beyond the present level of technology,
you were generally very hard to find.
And this technology belonged to the T4 grade.
It would take T5-grade radar equipment to have a chance of finding them.
"Then that's settled. The nine systems we have now are enough for our development for a long time to come. Bite off more than you can chew, and you can't chew it. If we're short of resources again, we can get them through cooperation with the Far Shore of Deep Space."
Zhao Chen raised his hand and opened the Fierce Dragon civilization's present interstellar map,
the nine systems within it.
"The work on the Seventh System, the Eighth System and the Ninth System is to be sped up. Within a three-month deadline, they're to agree to merge into our Fierce Dragon civilization. If persuasion fails by then, we use force. Three months from now, the nine systems are formally closed off. No more radar equipment used outward. Shield the nine systems' signals across every frequency band. Cut down warp travel between them too, to reduce the warp-trail signals in our region. Use star-gates for everything. And the system connecting outward is set as the Sixth System. The Sixth System has no natives; they're all our people. It's easier to manage. If outsiders slip in, we can find them more easily and keep spies from appearing. From now on, all traffic in and out of our Fierce Dragon systems goes through the Sixth System. The Sixth System will count as our gateway for dealings with the Far Shore of Deep Space too. If necessary, the Far Shore of Deep Space can be told where our Sixth System lies. Of course, if it can be kept from them, so much the better."
Zhao Chen gave his latest orders.
This also meant the Fierce Dragon civilization had entered a whole new era.
Over the next three months,
a series of changes began taking place inside the Fierce Dragon civilization.
And outwardly, Secretary Officer Barbara was in full charge.
They dealt with the Korgi civilization's Vice President over a single line.
The Far Shore of Deep Space also agreed to the form of cooperation proposed before.
The Fierce Dragon civilization would appear as a hidden card of the Far Shore of Deep Space.
And they also began preparing to look for their first prey.
"These are the three most suitable among the intelligence we've obtained so far: battlefields the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society and the Savage Beast Alliance are currently opening up outside. The information is all in there. Our recommended targets are among them too. For instance, this point. In this system, the Golden Pupil Mutual-Aid Society has a thousand-ship interstellar fleet patrolling year-round; it's one of their rather important space fold-jump anchor points."
Secretary Officer Barbara looked at this target and shook her head: "Not suitable."
"Then how about this? On the Savage Beast Alliance's front-line battlefield, there's a starport built here. An estimated three thousand interstellar warships are stationed here year-round."
"Not enough."
Still not enough?
The Korgi civilization's Vice President gave several suggestions in a row, and the answer each time was not enough.
"If none of these are enough, then just which do you think is suitable?" the Korgi civilization's Vice President said helplessly.
Secretary Officer Barbara's gaze settled on one entry:
a system battlefield of one of the Savage Beast Alliance's Trial civilizations,
with over thirty thousand interstellar warships there.
This system was very likely to be the Savage Beast Alliance's next new star-system territory.
"This one's suitable."
Seeing the area Secretary Officer Barbara pointed at,
the Korgi civilization's Vice President was greatly startled.
"For your very first battle you want to swallow the Savage Beast Alliance's thirty thousand interstellar warships? You should know that the Savage Beast Alliance's interstellar fleets are T3-grade and above, every one of them."
"There are thirty thousand here, but that doesn't mean our target is thirty thousand. We expect it's enough to annihilate ten thousand interstellar warships. Of course, if circumstances permit, the more the better, naturally. This is our Fierce Dragon civilization's first battle. A rare chance to take them by surprise like a first battle should naturally be made good use of. In later operations, those Trial civilizations are bound to be better prepared. There won't be a chance like this one again. As for the specifics of the battle, we'll arrange them ourselves. You only need to work with us and provide the corresponding intelligence: for instance, what ship types of interstellar warship are there specifically, how many interstellar warships of each grade and type, and what they're doing right now. Just tell us all that! The rest, just leave it all to our Fierce Dragon fleets!"
Secretary Officer Barbara said confidently.
In fact, long before she came, Marshal Chu Xuan, Marshal Medusa and the other officers had discussed it:
the first battle's target had to be the Savage Beast Alliance, and it had to be at least ten thousand interstellar warships or more.
Only that way could the time of the Savage Beast Alliance's decisive battle be put off.
"Since you've already decided, I won't try to talk you out of it any further. Whatever help you need, our Far Shore of Deep Space will provide. When exactly will you move?"
"The time we move, we'll arrange ourselves."
"Then we'll wait for your show."