"This… let me think it over a while more; if there's need, I'll discuss it with you in detail," Queen Medusa said.
"Very well — I'll await Your Majesty's word." Zhao Chen looked at the Queen, all smiles.
Before long, Queen Medusa's subordinates had tallied a rough figure for the profits of this battle.
The direct gains, the ones that could be clearly reckoned, ran as high as 1 billion star coins!
This part included the wreckage of the enemy powers' warships they'd destroyed, the starports, and some of the strategic materials in storage.
And the indirect gains ran to somewhere between 3 billion star coins!
This part was the tax revenue of the territories those interstellar powers had controlled, and the output of their mining stars. And this was reckoning only the indirect returns of the coming 10 years or so — the next 20 years, 50 years… none of that was counted in.
"In that case, I'll ready 1 billion star coins for you here. How does that suit you?" Queen Medusa proposed.
Zhao Chen shot a glance at Secretary Aili beside him.
Aili had, in fact, tallied a rough figure of her own; by the original plan, to come away with a gain of somewhere between 1,300 million star coins would already have counted as a fine result.
For Queen Medusa to offer a full billion outright was, in truth, a gesture of goodwill toward Zhao Chen. A small part of it was raw materials, and some of it was funds Queen Medusa meant to set aside for him.
"Then let's leave it there. Might I ask whether it can be turned, as far as possible, into raw materials and the like — the sooner the better?" Zhao Chen asked.
"I'm acquainted with an interstellar trader in the Reef Star Region who can exchange it into raw materials — though there may be some shrinkage in the process," Queen Medusa said.
"Shrinkage is no problem. So long as, within a month, I'm brought raw-material resources worth around 800 million, that will do." Zhao Chen conceded 21% margin of the profit.
Queen Medusa nodded. "Very well — I can make the contact for you."
"Then I'll trouble you with it."
"Our cooperation this time has been most pleasant. I look forward to the next."
"Indeed. And if Your Majesty takes an interest in that T2 interstellar missile ship, don't forget to reach me."
"Ah…" Queen Medusa cut the comm with a perfunctory word.
One campaign, and a harvest of 800 million star coins' worth of raw-material resources.
Sure enough — war was forever the surest road to sudden riches.
"Commander, the battle report for this campaign has been fully compiled." Seeing that the Commander's comm had ended, Secretary Aili stepped up to report.
"Go ahead," Zhao Chen said.
Aili raised a hand and put up several electronic documents — the campaign report, in all its various aspects. It covered the enemy losses inflicted, the losses among their own ships, and the consumption of ship munitions, energy, and the rest.
The enemy losses needed no dwelling on — 2,500 interstellar warships, eight T3 warships among them.
"Some of our interstellar warships took hull damage, and there's the rebuilding and replenishment of interstellar drones. By our calculations, the repairs are projected to cost 500,000 star coins. As for the consumption of ship munitions, energy, and so on — setting aside the interstellar missiles of the T2 Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ships, the remaining warships consumed one and a half million star coins in total. The three T2 Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ships expended, this campaign, 2,000 interstellar missiles in all, worth 1.2 million star coins. Total battlefield consumption for this campaign: 3.2 million star coins. 45 wounded; none killed," Aili reported.
Three-odd million star coins of consumption, set against 1 billion star coins of direct gains — a profit margin of over 300 times. And that was on the premise that Zhao Chen had given up a great part of the long-term returns. Worthy of the name of "war."
Still, it had to be said: those three T2 Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ships truly did burn money. The ammunition consumption of those three missile ships alone nearly matched the combat consumption of the entire rest of the fleet. And that was still reckoning by the interstellar missiles' build cost; were it reckoned by the sale price he'd just quoted Queen Medusa, it would come to a good 10 million star coins and more!
"I see." Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied.
Aili's capability in this line of work was really quite good.
Afterward Zhao Chen gave the order for the fleet to return to the Owl Dragon temporary garrison here, to take on repairs and resupply from the T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships. By rights, a task like resupply was the charge of dedicated interstellar supply ships — that was the fastest way of it. But Zhao Chen had no interstellar supply ship for now, and could only lean on the interstellar industrial ships to moonlight at it. If it was a little slower, then a little slower it would be.
This campaign, the one pity was that they'd let that Han Tianwang get away.
Once Han Tianwang had fled, he'd no doubt carry word of Zhao Chen back to the power behind him.
But as to whether the other side would let that word of him spread further, Zhao Chen was, on the contrary, quite at ease.
The power behind Han Tianwang had to be some faction within the Starlight Empire serving as his backer. And since they operated quietly in the Reef Star Region, they surely wouldn't want word of their own faction exposed within the Starlight Empire.
So in a case like this, Zhao Chen and the power behind Han Tianwang were, on the contrary, in a state of tacit mutual understanding. Each knew of the other's existence; each remained the other's enemy; but at the same time, neither would leak the other's intelligence to the Starlight Empire — not openly, at least.
And so it settled into a kind of balance.
In any event, the Lion King System couldn't stay hidden forever; in three years, or five, or 10 at the most, it would sooner or later be exposed. Nor did Zhao Chen count on hiding it forever; the main thing was to get through this hard opening stretch, so that he might have an interstellar fleet strong enough to protect itself.
"It's precisely because we haven't enough warships that every time we can't fully annihilate the enemy fleet," Zhao Chen muttered to himself.
He was in urgent need of expanding the number of his combat-type interstellar warships.
The System, true, required only 30.
But 30 fell far, far short of Zhao Chen's own demand.
Set a small goal first: to establish a corps-grade interstellar fleet — 300 interstellar warships! With T3 warships as the main force, and T2 warships in support!
"Charlotte, Aili. The two of you stay on in the Lion King System; I'm to return to the Owl Dragon System first. Apart from the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser, I'll leave all the other warships to you. The building-up of the Lion King System proceeds by the original plan. Those captured Fire Salamander interstellar warships can be handed to the Dwarf clan — aren't they short of warships just now? Those T1 interstellar warships happen to meet their need exactly. And once the Snake-folk deliver the raw-material resources on their end, they can go first toward building our star gate here." Zhao Chen laid out his itinerary for Charlotte and Aili before him.
The reason he was in such haste to return to the Owl Dragon System —
The main reason was to look at that reward the System mission had granted.
A high-quality interstellar resource… just what, in the end, would it turn out to be?