The Fire Salamander chieftain led his fleet in flight back to the system where his home base lay. When the system's gate manager saw the Fire Salamander fleet in so bedraggled a state, it astonished him beyond measure. He remembered that when they'd set out, several interstellar powers had mustered over 3,000 warships — of which only 1,500, true, were Fire Salamander ships. But the Fire Salamander warships returning now numbered only some 600. Of the three T3 warships he'd taken out with him before, only one came back! And this T3 Arkham-class Medium Interstellar Battleship looked in a very sorry state indeed — as though it had suffered some ravaging beyond describing.
The Fire Salamander chieftain lay slumped in his captain's chair now, all but paralyzed, his soul as good as fled. The Fire Salamander fleet they'd built up over close to a century — 3,000-odd warships — had, through these two successive battles, been reduced to under 1,500. Of five T3 warships, four had fallen; only this fleet flagship he was aboard remained, and it was gravely wounded. The full 500 T2 warships he'd had were now under 200, a remnant of beaten stragglers.
Defeat! Never had the Fire Salamander chieftain tasted so crushing a defeat. At the thought of the scenes on that battlefield — the terrifying assault of the T3 stealth bomber, the terrifying firepower of the T2 missile ships, the terrifying combat power of that T3 battlecruiser — just what was this "Lion King Fleet"?
Enough; there was no time now for such thoughts. Happily, for some reason, the several systems the Fire Salamander clan controlled hadn't been struck by the Snake-folk. The chieftain led his fleet back to the home base to regroup; those T3 and T2 warships all needed repairing, and fast. At the thought of the raw materials that repair would consume, he felt his heart bleed. This was all money!
A starport at the Fire Salamander home base.
The T3 Arkham entered port; the remaining T2 warships too began, as their state required, to dock and refit, leaving only the T1 warships hovering outside. This, too, sowed the seeds of the tragedy to come.
The Fire Salamander chieftain, only just escaped from peril, never dreamed of what was about to happen. As he was enjoying a massage from several lizard-girls, someone suddenly threw open the door.
"My lord Chieftain, this is bad! Something's happened!" the Fire Salamander adjutant cried, his face full of terror.
The chieftain snatched up something beside him and hurled it at his adjutant, roaring, "Did I not say I was not to be disturbed while I rest!"
The adjutant seemed not to hear the scolding at all. He said hurriedly, "The Lion King Fleet has appeared outside our home base! Only 10 minutes' flight from us!"
The chieftain shot up. "The Lion King Fleet? Impossible… how could they be here!"
"I don't know either… but the patrol ships we placed outside did indeed detect the Lion King Fleet! This is the feed they sent back." The adjutant put up the imagery captured by the patrol ships. In it were several warships — not many, a dozen-odd or so. But those dozen-odd warships were, in the adjutant's eyes, like demons crawled up out of the abyss. That battlecruiser! That missile ship! Those frigates!
"10 minutes… and they'll be here?" the chieftain said, trembling.
"Yes." The adjutant nodded. "The moment I got word, I came to report to you, Chieftain."
"Why didn't you report sooner! Quick — have every warship make ready for battle at once!" The chieftain shoved aside the lizard-girl still draped over him, at a loss, threw a garment over himself, and hurried off with the adjutant toward the T3 Arkham docked within the starport.
"We did have patrol ships stationed at the star gate. But for some reason, none of them can be reached now!" the adjutant said helplessly.
"None of them can be reached? Impossible…" The chieftain, mid-fury, suddenly halted his steps; into his mind rose that terrifying warship. The T3 stealth bomber! If it were that stealth bomber, then perhaps it could have destroyed his patrol ships without a soul the wiser.
Just as he thought of this ship, the chieftain happened to be standing at a transparent corridor in the starport, through which the scene of space outside was visible. Out of the corner of his eye he saw, in a stretch of once-empty space, a warship suddenly appear. The chieftain narrowed his eyes and looked closely. In an instant, his whole body felt as though drenched in ice water. For the warship he saw was the very T3 stealth bomber he'd just been thinking of!
"Quick! Quick! Get every warship in the starport out of port at once!" the chieftain screamed in terror. Because of his own earlier order, the lone T3 Arkham and the surviving T2 warships were, for the most part, docked within the starport for repair and resupply. If the starport came under attack now — what would the result be?
T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber — Bridge.
"Report — the Commander's fleet will reach our combat position within 10 minutes." the deputy captain reported at Zhao Wan'er's side.
Zhao Wan'er nodded. By the plan she'd talked over with her big brother, the T3 Phantom Assassin would go on ahead, lying in wait near the Fire Salamander home base. By the intelligence, the home-base starports of the interstellar powers in the Reef Star Region basically had no anti-stealth equipment installed — for there were no stealth ships here, and so no need for it. So the T3 Phantom Assassin could steal right in. Supposing the Fire Salamander fleet were all docked in the starport, then the T3 Phantom Assassin would strike the starport directly, sowing chaos among the enemy ships; after which Zhao Chen's main fleet would enter and "cleanse" the field.
"Relay my order — deliver fire on those ships docked in the starport! Every interstellar torpedo and missile — fire them all!" Zhao Wan'er gave the order to attack without hesitation.
The T3 Phantom Assassin, its 30% resupply complete, trained every interstellar torpedo and missile it carried on that Fire Salamander home-base starport. Before, a T3 Phantom Assassin loaded to only 30% could hardly have faced this many ships single-handed. But now, with these T2 and T3 ships all docked within the starport — that was, beyond doubt, the finest opening the T3 Phantom Assassin could ask for!
The Fire Salamander chieftain watched, terror in his eyes, as that nightmare of a T3 stealth bomber loosed torpedo after torpedo and missile after missile, all falling toward the starport where he stood.
It was the most terrifying scene he'd witnessed in all his life.