"Since this campaign has wiped out ten thousand of the Savage Beast Alliance's interstellar warships, it's also time to go and ask the Far Shore of Deep Space for this bounty. Though the sum isn't much, it must not go to waste either. Barbara, you see to this." Zhao Chen looked at Secretary Officer Barbara.
Dealing with the Korgi civilization was Secretary Officer Barbara's charge in the first place.
"Yes." Secretary Officer Barbara accepted the order.
——————
The Tenth System.
Though this system was not under the Fierce Dragon civilization's governance at present, the Fierce Dragon civilization had still named it the Tenth System.
Secretary Officer Barbara came here and met the Korgi civilization's Vice President in secret.
The Korgi civilization had now formally taken this Tenth System into its pocket and had built a star-gate here.
In the eyes of outsiders, this was simply the Korgi civilization gaining a new system.
Because it was out of the way, not large in area, and of medium to low resource output,
no other Trial civilization coveted it.
But in fact, its real purpose was as the meeting point between the Korgi civilization and the Fierce Dragon civilization.
In a stretch of space,
two starships were docked here.
At the docking port,
Secretary Officer Barbara saw the Korgi civilization's Vice President walking toward her from the other side.
"Your Excellency the Vice President. The thing we agreed on before: it's time for you to keep your promise," Secretary Officer Barbara said with a faint smile.
"I never imagined your Fierce Dragon civilization was hidden so deep. Within a single day, you annihilated ten thousand of the Savage Beast Alliance's interstellar warships. The Savage Beast Alliance is gathering word of the attackers everywhere right now." The Korgi civilization's Vice President looked at this Secretary Officer.
"It was nothing more than having the right time and the right place on our side. The enemy didn't know of our attack, which gave us an opening to exploit. Add the coordination of our interstellar warships. With the plan made complete, it naturally went very smoothly. But now the Savage Beast Alliance is on its guard. To fight a battle like this again from here on is all but impossible," Secretary Officer Barbara said, shaking her head.
"No wonder you chose this place before. At the time I thought your appetite was too big. Now it seems I was shortsighted. Ten thousand interstellar warships really isn't much. Give you a few more chances, and perhaps you could swallow thirty thousand interstellar warships too."
"This is drifting rather far off topic. This is the final bounty our side has tallied. Confirm it, please. As we agreed before: once our side has completed the kills, you pay us the resources, and we'll arrange interstellar transports to carry them off. The time is within half a month. You'd better be ready." Secretary Officer Barbara handed over the report.
In the most conspicuous place on it was written a figure: five trillion star coins.[1]
It should be understood that the Fierce Dragon civilization's whole year now came, all told, to only twenty trillion star coins.
This bounty alone amounted to a full quarter of Fierce Dragon's present output.
When the Korgi civilization's Vice President saw this figure,
he could not help wincing.
Though the bounty would in the end be shared out among the Far Shore of Deep Space's three civilizations,
even shared out, it was no small sum.
"What? You won't honor the bill?" Secretary Officer Barbara narrowed her eyes at the Korgi civilization's Vice President opposite, an air of authority about her that needed no anger.
Though she was now only a Secretary Officer,
after following His Majesty Fierce Dragon for so many years, the air about her had long since changed too.
"No, no, no. Of course that's not what we mean. I just… let my mind wander a little. These five trillion star coins' worth of resources, we'll of course have them all ready. But the sum is too large. If it's shipped to this system in a short time, it's bound to arouse other interstellar powers' suspicion. Among us Trial civilizations, we'd never believe no one has planted spies or moles. Everyone's intelligence networks have people inside everyone else's. So… this half month will be rather difficult."
"Then why did you agree to half a month before!" Secretary Officer Barbara frowned, displeasure on her face.
"Ahem… that's because before, we never imagined your side could wipe out ten thousand interstellar warships in one go. We'd thought that if you could wipe out three thousand or so interstellar warships, that would be pretty good. Counted that way, it'd be only a little over a trillion star coins. If we were a bit discreet about it, there'd be no problem at all. But this has tripled in one go. Five trillion star coins. Those resources put together are quite a weight. We truly don't mean to welsh on it!" the Korgi civilization's Vice President explained hurriedly.
The Fierce Dragon civilization's standing and value with them were now entirely different.
The Far Shore of Deep Space's three civilization leaders had stressed it several times too:
keep the Fierce Dragon civilization steady, whatever happens.
The Fierce Dragon civilization now was a trump card in the Far Shore of Deep Space's hand,
the hope that gave them a chance to contend for the place of the one and only victor of the Trial of the Gods.
"Then what do you mean to do?" Secretary Officer Barbara demanded, frowning.
"Then… shall we discuss it further? Work out a foolproof plan?" the Korgi civilization's Vice President asked tentatively.
In the brief silence,
the anger on Secretary Officer Barbara's face subsided, replaced by a trace of irritation and helplessness.
"In that case, I have a proposal."
"Please, go on!"
"Five trillion star coins of resources truly is a lot. If it's all shipped to this system, it truly will make people suspicious. You can arrange it like this: quietly raise the procurement demand of several munitions plants. Then, while the materials are being transported, I'll have my interstellar transports mix in among them and load these raw materials. For instance, of a hundred interstellar transports, three will be mine. Then, once they reach the destination, your interstellar transports load and unload as normal. My interstellar transports only register, open their hatches, but don't unload. That way, there's a transport route, there's a track, and there's data in the records. Afterward these interstellar transports return to our Fierce Dragon civilization, closing the loop."
"Then won't that drag the time out too long…" the Korgi civilization's Vice President said, somewhat worried.
"I've worked it out. Arranged this way, five trillion star coins of resources will take an estimated three months. Oh, well. This delay in time, I won't hold against you. But these three months absolutely must not change again. And our Fierce Dragon civilization's people must take part in the whole process, to make sure nothing goes wrong!" Secretary Officer Barbara said gravely.
"Mm! Please rest assured, Your Excellency; we'll certainly handle all this well!" the Korgi civilization's Vice President vowed solemnly.
And so the five trillion star coins of resources the Fierce Dragon civilization earned in this first campaign could be said to be settled.
Over the following three months, they were shipped by this very method to the Fierce Dragon civilization's territory.
And during this time,
the Fierce Dragon civilization did not act rashly again; the Savage Beast Alliance's side, though it kept investigating, got nowhere.
And during this time,
the Fierce Dragon civilization was also sparing no effort to develop itself,
and had also found an "Eleventh System" in the true sense.
Though before, to avoid exposing the existence of its various systems, the Fierce Dragon civilization had cut back its outward exploration by ninety percent,
it had still kept some rather well-hidden means of exploration, and though their efficiency was somewhat lower,
in the end they still produced results.
The Fierce Dragon civilization had discovered a new system.
And this system was a chaos system,
with a great deal of hive-race in it.
Zhao Chen did not mind this in the least.
The resources of this system, in Zhao Chen's view, were not its whole value.
Another value was that it could be used to train troops!
Though the crews turned out by the training schools Fierce Dragon had established were all of very high quality,
those who had never been through a battlefield were still somewhat different.
And so this hive-race system became the Fierce Dragon civilization's training ground.
In this hive-race system,
the Fierce Dragon civilization kept ten thousand interstellar warships stationed year-round,
with combat missions every week on average:
three hundred interstellar warships as one combat unit, with a small-fleet battle every week,
all to train these small fleets in fighting.
"Report. Our fleet has arrived above the target planet. There's a hive-race mother-nest on this planet, estimated at T3 grade. It will breed great numbers of T3 hive-race combat units. Around this system there were a thousand T3 Hive Mothership combat units before; after several earlier rotations of fighting, over ninety percent of these T3 Hive Motherships have been cleared away. The rest are holed up inside the planet. Our combat mission this time is to clear the hive-race units on this planet and establish a ground base on the surface, in preparation for clearing this planet completely later!" a fleet captain of the small fleet, who looked about ten years old, said gravely, standing on the command platform.
The crew officers on the bridge around her did not hold this fleet captain in the slightest contempt for her age.
For this fleet captain's ability, they had all seen for themselves.
First, at the academy, she had completed the examinations in every subject in under three months and become a crew member of the Fierce Dragon civilization.
After that, in three rotations of fighting in the hive-race system, she had played different roles.
The first time, she was captain of a single starship.
She exceeded her task, and even put up a record of annihilating five T3 Hive Motherships with a single T3 interstellar warship.
The second time, she served as leader of a squad, commanding thirty interstellar warships.
That battle was more remarkable still.
In one engagement, the thirty interstellar warships found a Hive-Mother unit of the enemy trying to flee.
Without a second word, she led her thirty starships straight after it, charging into a hive-race fleet several times their size.
In the end she destroyed that Hive-Mother unit by main strength, then brought the thirty interstellar warships safely back.
Afterward, nearly every one of those thirty interstellar warships had damage of some degree.
Two of them were badly wrecked; the repairers said they had nearly reached the edge of being scrapped.
Inside the starships' compartments, hive-race units that had swarmed in were found.
Even so, these thirty interstellar warships had not lost a single crew member, dead or wounded.
So astonishing a record
had her promoted on the spot to fleet captain in command of three hundred interstellar warships.
This was her third battle.
When every captain learned they had been assigned to her fleet,
they were all very excited.
For under this prodigy fleet captain, everyone knew one statistic:
whether in real combat or in simulations at the academy,
the fleet under her always had the lowest loss rate,
and often won merit besides.
Not only was her own rise very fast; the captains and officers under her also rose far faster than average.
A superior like that: how could everyone not like her?
"Report. We're about to enter the alert range of the hive-race sentry units. Once these bugs spot us, all the bugs will start moving," the adjutant said beside her.
The prodigy fleet captain looked at the combat star map before her.
She thought for only a brief instant.
She said directly, "Have the mecha forces get ready. Drop straight from our present position!"
"What? From our present position? Isn't that surely too far? However fast they go, their time in the air will be over fifteen minutes," the adjutant beside her said, greatly startled.
Everyone knew how the mecha forces fought: the longer their time in the air, the more danger they were in.
Though T3- and T4-grade combat mechas were now all fitted with star-shield defense systems,
in a state of high-speed fall, they were just targets.
"We have to drop them right now. Right now those bugs haven't spotted us yet. Once they spot us, the anti-air bugs on the surface of this hive-race planet will go to standby. By then, the pressure our airborne forces have to bear will be much greater. But if we drop our mecha forces at this distance now, they won't have time to react. By the time those anti-air bugs of theirs are ready to fire skyward, our mecha forces will long since have landed," the prodigy fleet captain set out her thinking.
"But… what about during the descent? What about those fifteen minutes in the air?" a mecha corps commander on the other side of the video window asked, frowning. "Fleet captain, I'm not afraid of dying. But first I need to be sure an order like this won't needlessly add to our casualties!"
The fleet captain said coolly, "I'll say this only once. We'll send our interstellar drones to cover you. At the same time, your T4 Thunder-Warrior-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mechas have a starfighter mode. In that mode, you can cover the T3-grade combat mechas. Besides that, our interstellar heavy-artillery ships and interstellar missile ships will give fire cover at the same time. A flight path will be planned out then; within that flight path, you'll be safe. And outside that path, our attacks will cover everything; those attacks are the net of fire covering you! And once you've landed, you'll need to set up a temporary military base on the ground in an extremely short time, working with our interstellar warships in the air in the attack. These hive-race swarms have some special combat units. Apart from those with anti-air abilities, there's a kind of bug that can release a defensive force field to protect the hive-race combat units on the ground. And the base you set up has the ability to interfere with it. That way, we can quickly clear out a safe zone…"