At so critical a moment, to lead a fleet to come in support!
Looking at this man before him, the Morton eldest son genuinely felt as though his heart had been touched. It was for all the world like the fluttering, thumping feeling of a first love!
The Morton eldest son said with emotion, "Your Excellency Commander Zhao Chen, your fleet has come so timely! Truly… thank you… thank you so very much…" In the midst of his stirred emotions, the Morton eldest son didn't for the moment even know how to put his thoughts into words.
"Words of thanks can wait for later; the most important thing now is to hold fast to the star gate, and to endure until the follow-on reinforcements arrive!" Zhao Chen entered the proper state of things at the first moment. "I need all the intelligence and data of the battlefield now; but my fleet will be commanded by me myself — after all, the two fleets aren't familiar with each other, and to force a coordination between them would, on the contrary, be counterproductive."
The Morton eldest son looked at the man whose face didn't change color, and marveled all the more at the other's steadiness and composure. In such a situation as the Morton System's, to still dare come and support — and, seeing so mountain-collapsing, sea-surging a swarm, to show not the least panic — this showed that the other party was absolutely a person of ample combat experience and possessed of a strong combat bearing.
He called to mind the words this man had just spoken. The Owl Dragon Fleet? This name seemed a touch unfamiliar, and yet seemed, too, as though he'd heard it somewhere. But whatever the case, the other side had brought these dozens of T3 warships; though, set against the swarm opposite, it still counted for little, to have them was better than not — all the more so at a moment like this of sending charcoal in the snow.
"Very well; we'll do just as Your Excellency says. On my end I'll provide any help unconditionally!" And at the last the Morton eldest son didn't forget to add, "If… if the star gate truly is about to fall, then when the time comes, I too will spend my last strength to cover your withdrawal. This is the Morton System; you shouldn't, for no cause, be buried here alongside us."
These words of the Morton System lord's eldest son took Zhao Chen somewhat by surprise.
Zhao Chen said with a smile, "Set your mind at ease. We will most certainly hold the Morton System. Most certainly!"
Looking at the smile on the man's face, the Morton eldest son had a feeling as of bathing in a spring breeze. For the first time, he had, of all things, felt toward a person other than a woman a kind of subtle emotion stirring within him.
The comm paused for the moment.
Zhao Chen's body gave a shiver, and he murmured to Lilith beside him, "That Morton eldest son is of no bad character, but why was that look he gave me just now… I keep feeling it was a bit off…"
"I couldn't say." Lilith shook her head.
"I've heard some nobles have special tastes…" Zhao Chen wore a look of revulsion; though he held no prejudice against such tastes of another's, when it came to being drawn onto himself — that simply wouldn't do! It seemed he'd best keep a bit clear of this Morton eldest son afterward.
"How is the acquisition of the battlefield intelligence data coming along?" Zhao Chen drew back his thoughts and looked at the battlefield situation before him. In the battlefield imagery captured by the deep-space telescope, one could see a vast bug-sea! A number exceedingly terrifying! Set against the hive-race fleet Zhao Chen had faced before in the Sapphire System, this was, quite simply, two different grades!
"The T3 Phoenix's radar system is still scanning and tallying; because the enemy's numbers are far too vast, it needs a bit of time," Lilith answered.
Zhao Chen, seizing this interval, looked to another video window. "Charlotte, how does the fleet's deployment stand?"
"Reporting, Commander — all the Owl Dragon Fleet's warships are spreading out into battle formation; it's projected they can be fully deployed in three minutes' time," Charlotte reported.
"Good — as fast as you can! By the state of this defensive line, it can't hold much longer. We have to steady the situation!" Zhao Chen said in earnest.
"Understood!" Charlotte said.
Over on Lilith's side, too, there was fresh news. "Commander, the latest enemy situation has been updated. But because the hive-race fleet's scale is far too large, a portion of the hive-race fleet is beyond our ship radar's scanning range, and its detection data can't be obtained. This is the enemy intelligence obtained within our ship radar's scanning range."
A data screen appeared before Zhao Chen, and Zhao Chen looked at these figures. First were the Hive Motherships of the hive-race fleet.
T1 Hive Motherships: close to 3,000!
T2 Hive Motherships: close to 300!
T3 Hive Motherships: close to 30!
The counts of the T1 Hive Motherships and T2 Hive Motherships were terrifying — but in truth they counted for nothing. It was the count of the T3 Hive Motherships that genuinely made Zhao Chen's scalp go numb and prickle at the mere sight. For, mind you, before this, the Owl Dragon Fleet had toiled bitterly for close to half a month, and only then destroyed under 30 Hive Motherships. And now, in that dark, dense swarm opposite, there were around 30 T3 Hive Motherships. Were it not that the Morton System's fall would affect the Owl Dragon System, Zhao Chen reckoned that his very first thought now would be to turn and run.
"No T4 Hive Mothership has been observed?" Zhao Chen hadn't seen any T4-Hive-Mothership information, and asked in earnest. In this star-gate defense battle, the thing of the utmost importance was the enemy's T4 Hive Mothership. For, after all, a difference of one whole tier meant an enormous gap of a stretch of technology!
"As of now, no trace of a T4 Hive Mothership has been observed; but by the intelligence data the local defending fleet has shared with us, it can be confirmed that within this hive-race fleet there exists at least one T4 Hive Mothership!" Lilith answered. Since there was a tier-4 cosmic bug-nest, then a T4 Hive Mothership would beyond doubt appear; the key was how many there were!
"Keep close watch on the enemy fleet; the moment a T4 Hive Mothership is discovered, report at once!" Zhao Chen reminded her. Thereupon he went on sweeping his eyes over the other intelligence data. On account of there being over 3,000 Hive Motherships, the numbers of the swarm were likewise quite terrifying!
T1 Flying-Bugs: around 70 million.
T2 Thorny Serpents: around 600,000.
T3 Self-Detonating Beetles: around 5,000.
T3 Corrupted Wyverns: around 40,000.
Data terrifying as this!
Zhao Chen needed not even to think to be certain: relying on the defense fleet here at the Morton star gate alone — never mind five hours — they couldn't even hold out a single hour.
"Report — we've detected an enemy T4 hive-race unit!" deputy captain Chitong cried out.
"Is it a T4 Hive Mothership!" Zhao Chen's eyes went wide.
"Not a T4 Hive Mothership, but a T4-grade hive-race unit; this is the imagery captured by the deep-space telescope!" deputy captain Chitong put up several rather blurred stretches of picture. But because the Galactic Alliance's database had long since had the relevant data and intelligence on the hive-race recorded within it — including the T4 Hive Mothership, and the hive-race units it carried — even a merely blurred image was enough to make the identification.
Zhao Chen stared at this hive-race creature — a full T1-warship in size, of extreme speed, and at the same time able to spray forth a bio-plasma cannon of a destructive power no less than a T3 battleship's main gun! Its shape was somewhat like a whale, an ichthyosaur, or a plesiosaur. Upon its body were hard scale-armor, sharp teeth, and several lengths of tentacle besides. Its form was exceedingly savage and terrifying!
In the hive-race data Zhao Chen had studied at the Northstar Starship Military Academy, there was a record of it.
One of the hive-race units of the T4 Hive Mothership!
The T4 Hunter-class Leviathan!