Zhao Chen's breathing, in this instant, seemed to stall for several beats.
A carrier starship!
A T3-grade carrier starship!
This was one of the two great main battle ship-types — a terror of an existence. And what's more, so far as Zhao Chen knew, in the Starlight Empire there was but a single T3 carrier starship, and a merely medium one at that. But this one of Zhao Chen's was a heavy carrier starship!
What did that mean? It meant Zhao Chen's carrier could load a greater number of interstellar fighters and interstellar drones. And for a carrier starship, its interstellar fighters and interstellar drones were its very fangs and teeth! The more of them the better, of course!
Zhao Chen could hardly wait to begin looking over the technical data of this great darling of his.
Phoenix-class Heavy Carrier Starship
Ship-type: Carrier Starship
Tech grade: T3
Hull armor strength: 2,000–2,300 units
Shield energy value: 40,000 units
Cruising speed: 80 star-knots
Warp engine: tier-6 warp engine
Length: 4,800 meters
Mass: 1.58 million tons
Crew posts: 1,000
Ship weapons: T3 Phoenix-class interstellar fighters, T3 Fire Phoenix-class heavy interstellar stealth bombers, T3 Black Phoenix-class medium interstellar drones, T3 White Phoenix-class electronic-jamming interstellar stealth drones; 100 medium point-defense guns, 10-unit missile silo (100 defensive short-range interception interstellar missiles).
Hangar standard configuration: capacity for 300 T3 Phoenix-class interstellar fighters, 30 T3 Fire Phoenix-class heavy interstellar stealth bombers, 3,000 T3 Black Phoenix-class medium interstellar drones, and 20 T3 White Phoenix-class electronic-jamming interstellar stealth drones.
Taking in the string of data descriptions, Zhao Chen found his breathing had, before he knew it, turned rapid and shallow; his chest kept rising and falling, his face flushed with a red glow, and in his eyes was a kind of naked craving. This T3 Phoenix-class carrier starship was simply too perfect for words!
First was its defensive power. It was fitted with the star-shield system that every T3 warship had — but with one point utterly unlike the rest. That is, it had not merely one shield face; it had a full six independent shield faces! Though this didn't measure up to the all-around shield of a T4 warship, set against a single lone shield face it was already a great deal finer. And beyond that it was fitted with ship point-defense guns and defensive interception missiles — one might say it carried prudence to the very extreme!
In the matter of the ship weapons it was fitted with, that too was quite terrifying. First of all were the interstellar fighters, which Zhao Chen possessed for the first time. The difference between an interstellar fighter and an interstellar drone was simple: the fighter was piloted — there was an interstellar fighter pilot aboard it. Its advantages were a large ammunition load, the ability to independently carry out all manner of missions, quick reaction on the battlefield, and great adaptability. But this also meant each T3 interstellar fighter was a good deal larger in volume than an interstellar drone, and costly to build; so their number was bound not to be very great. The T3 Phoenix carried 300 T3 Phoenix-class interstellar fighters — precisely enough to satisfy the configuration of one large combat formation.
Beyond that there were 30 T3 Fire Phoenix-class heavy interstellar stealth bombers! The interstellar stealth bomber was a technology the Starlight Empire had been developing all along, but in the matter of miniaturizing the stealth system, it had never once succeeded. Within the Galactic Alliance, at present only the Holy Radiance Empire possessed this technology! Recall the astonishing combat showing of the T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber earlier. And now consider these T3 Fire Phoenix-class heavy interstellar stealth bombers! That picture — Zhao Chen had only to think of it to feel a surge welling up in his heart. If the enemy were caught off their guard, a single round of attack alone would be enough to annihilate any T3 warship whatsoever! They were the most terrifying assassins on the interstellar battlefield. And should they work in concert with the T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber, it would be, quite simply, a match made in heaven! Too beautiful for words, oh!
Besides this, the T3 Phoenix's interstellar drones were likewise a force not to be taken lightly! A full 3,000 T3 Black Phoenix-class medium interstellar drones. This number! On the battlefield, it would surely strike the whole world with wonder. And they were of the comprehensive sort of interstellar drone, uniting in one the performance of both the interstellar interceptor and the interstellar fighter. On top of that it was fitted with 20 T3 White Phoenix-class electronic-jamming interstellar stealth drones — a functional sort of interstellar stealth drone. On drawing near an enemy ship, it could work an effect upon the enemy warship's electronic fire-control system. And when facing a T1 warship, it could even paralyze that ship's whole internal electronic system outright! Beyond doubt a nimble little master of support on the battlefield!
"A single T3 Phoenix like this has 3,350 interstellar fighters and drones!" Zhao Chen gulped. If one spoke of dominance over the battlefield, the T3 Blizzard was absolutely no match for the T3 Phoenix! Leaving defense out of the reckoning, at the sort of fleet standard seen earlier in the Reef Star Region, a single T3 Phoenix would be enough to slaughter an interstellar fleet of 300 warships!
Zhao Chen calmed the somewhat restless little stirrings within him and took a look at the build requirements. First was that it had to be built by a T3 interstellar industrial ship; a T2 interstellar industrial ship simply couldn't reach the standard. Were it built using that T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship now in Zhao Chen's hands, the build cycle for a single unit was two months! But it was permitted for multiple T3 Furnaces to jointly undertake the build, hastening the construction speed.
In build cost, too, it was extremely terrifying. The build cost of a single T3 Phoenix-class Heavy Carrier Starship ran as high as 70 million star coins — and that reckoned the hull's build cost alone; fitted out with all its interstellar fighters and drones, the total build cost ran as high as 100 million star coins! That was the equivalent of seven or eight T3 Blizzards! Zhao Chen could say for certain: this was, beyond all doubt, the most expensive to build of all the T3 warships known within the Starlight Empire and, indeed, the whole Galactic Alliance!
But so what!
So what if it was expensive!
I'm building it, damn it all!
Zhao Chen's eyes were so excited they'd gone somewhat bloodshot; a carrier starship like this — who wouldn't want one? Zhao Chen at once, before his departure, urgently convened Lilith and Chief Engineer Annie to hold an early meeting on the coming quarter's construction plan.
"Boo-hoo-hoo… Commander… a body's still sleeping here… I've told you, if I don't sleep well, I won't grow tall. And this counts as overtime… you have to pay overtime for it…" Annie, just now, was still in a pink one-piece nightgown, little bear slippers on her feet. Bleary-eyed, she kept yawning without pause, her body swaying to and fro as though she might keel over onto the floor at any second.
Had the three of them not been in a holographic video meeting just then, Zhao Chen reckoned he'd have gone straight over and pinched that little fat face of hers — a spot of manual wake-up service.
"I'm sending you a ship's technical blueprint — have a look," Zhao Chen said outright.
"A ship's technical blueprint? Which one is it?" Annie squinted half an eye, her head swaying.
"The T3 Phoenix-class Heavy Carrier Starship."
"T3 Phoenix-class…" In one instant, Annie was as though drenched with wisdom from on high, her whole self snapping wide awake.
"A carrier starship?" Annie looked at Zhao Chen in disbelief; had this not been a virtual setting, she reckoned she'd have flung herself bodily onto Zhao Chen this very moment.