By the time Zhao Chen made it back to the Owl Dragon System, it was already mid-March.
After a separation of a month and a half, when Zhao Chen returned once more to his own Owl Dragon base, this place had — compared to when he'd left — already undergone changes of no small size. First of all, there were several brand-new interstellar warships added to the count.
T3 Phoenix-class Heavy Carrier Starship · bridge.
Zhao Chen looked at the interstellar warships hovering in the distance, and felt a small stir of excitement within. The secretary at his side, and Chitong, were staring all the harder at one interstellar warship among them.
"So that's the T4… Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ship?" Deputy Captain Chitong gazed at that interstellar warship, which was for all the world like a work of art. It bore not a single weapon module, and yet the value it held within even surpassed that of interstellar warships of the T4 Boreas's kind.
Beep, beep, beep.
A comm request came in. It was Chief Engineer Annie. Zhao Chen tapped to accept, and a holographic image appeared at Zhao Chen's side.
"Lord Commander, Annie's missed you to death!" Annie put on the excited air of a die-hard fan.
"Let's talk business — the T4 Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ship is completed?" Zhao Chen inquired.
Annie at once said proudly, "Under my, Annie's, wise and mighty leadership, in the end the T4 Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ship was brought to completion a full half-month ahead of schedule!"
"And the trial voyage?" Zhao Chen asked.
"The trial voyage was entirely normal; we carried out a trial-voyage run to the Lion King System, and it went very smoothly!" Annie said.
"Very good." Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied. In truth, in Zhao Chen's heart, having one was but a start; a warship of this kind was best in a pairing of two, for then there could be one going and one returning — a perfect partnership. Only, the present situation still couldn't meet a requirement of that sort.
Zhao Chen went on to inquire, "And which other interstellar warships have had their construction completed?"
Annie began to introduce, one by one, her "meritorious achievements" over this stretch of time.
Of the construction plan originally set for this year's first quarter: as of now the T4 Reviver-class Clone-Human Starship was over half built, and could be completed before mid-year. The four T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships had been the first to finish construction. The T3 Virgo-class Heavy Interstellar Supply Ships, originally set at five to build, had — on account of the suddenly erupting hive-race campaign — had their build time moved up, and their number expanded to 10. The T4 Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ship, too, had been smoothly completed and delivered. Besides which, of the T3 Triceratops originally set at 50 to produce, 30 had already rolled off the line and been delivered, and an estimated 20 more would be delivered within the coming week.
In sum, then — this whole series of construction plans had not only been fully completed, but completed with nearly 10 days' worth of work ahead of schedule besides!
Zhao Chen looked at Annie before him, and felt, more and more, that this was a little treasure. This Annie seemed, for all the world, to come with an "industrial-acceleration halo" of her own.
"Lord Commander, aren't you going to give me a great big reward!" Annie looked at Commander Zhao Chen with eager, pleading eyes.
Commander Zhao Chen rubbed at his chin. "A reward there can be. But our Chief Engineer Annie has toiled hard and her merit is great; this reward absolutely must be bestowed before the faces of all the Owl Dragon Fleet's top brass! It must be grand! It must have a sense of ceremony!"
Hearing these words of the Commander's, Annie felt herself getting a little carried away. Without meaning to, the corners of her mouth spread into a grin; she waved her hands over and over and said, abashed, "Keep it low-key… low-key…"
"This can't be low-key! This is glory we've won by our own true skill! What sort of business is it to keep it hidden and tucked away. No day chosen beats the day at hand — let's make it this very evening! I'll gather our Owl Dragon Fleet's top brass and convene a commendation ceremony!" Zhao Chen said in all earnestness.
"That'd be ever so embarrassing…" Annie laughed, heh-heh-heh, those eyes of hers all but narrowed to a single happy slit.
……
Half a day later.
Dressed in her most exquisite full outfit, having even gone to the trouble of spraying on perfume, Annie stared at all before her with a blackening face.
How was this any grand commendation-ceremony venue — this was, plain as day, a spread for a camping picnic!
"Bessie, the grilled fish is out; help me bring over some more fish." All around Zhao Chen was a ring of barbecue grills; at this moment he had transformed into something like a god of the grill.
"Wu-wu-wu… I want three more grilled-fish skewers! Who'd have thought… Commander, that you… had a craft like this in you, besides." Charlotte, a grilled blackfish in her left hand, a fish steak in her right, was still sucking a fish bone in her mouth.
"Bro, this could obviously be handled by robots doing the grilling — why must we go doing it ourselves?" Zhao Wan'er, at his side, looked at Zhao Chen in puzzlement.
Zhao Chen, both hands at work, drawing bow left and right, said as he operated, "This thing called good food — machine-made and self-made, the feel of the two is different, all the same. Look at our starship dining halls: apart from a few steps that don't affect the taste and can save time, most of it uses hand-cooking. That's what you call the deliciousness on the tip of the tongue."
"Wu-wu… I… concur…" Charlotte said as she gnawed at her fish bone.
"The Commander's grilling really does taste quite fine," Shen Bing praised from the side.
"Go give Lilith's craft a taste too, the lot of you." Zhao Chen pointed to the stall beside them. Lilith was cooking up fine food. Set against the "flurry of busy hands" over on Zhao Chen's side, over on Lilith's side it seemed a good deal more elegant, and what she made was, as well, foods of every style and kind. In the days of drifting before, there'd been no such opportunity. Now, the moment Lilith had time, she'd study up on cooking crafts of every kind. Zhao Chen's afternoon-tea refreshments, ordinarily, were all Lilith's responsibility.
Annie stood up with a jerk; pouting, she fixed her stare on Commander Zhao Chen. "Lord Commander, didn't you say before… didn't you say… everyone gathered together was to hold… a commendation ceremony for me… how has this turned into a barbecue picnic?"
"Oh, right — the commendation! Bessie, take out the thing I had you prepare earlier. Shen Bing, mind the fire for me a moment, don't let it burn." Zhao Chen stood up as if there were grave matter to it, wiped his hands carelessly on the apron on his body, and then said with a solemn expression, "Everyone, pause what's in your hands a moment. Over this stretch of time, Chief Engineer Annie has been dutiful and devoted, has established for our Owl Dragon Fleet a well-rounded construction plan, and has, with high efficiency, completed the construction tasks. Herewith, I specially grant Chief Engineer Annie the Outstanding Employee… ahem, ahem… the Outstanding Crew Member commendation! Everyone applaud — congratulations!"
So saying, Zhao Chen clapped a few quick claps. At the same time Bessie produced, from who-knew-where, a firework-tube, and set it off behind Annie; a kind of pollution-free particle firework bloomed behind Annie, and after a few seconds scattered away. Everyone around applauded in turn.
Zhao Chen clenched both hands into fists. "And — cut! Good; let's carry on with the barbecue. Charlotte, don't just eat fish — eat some other things too, you want balanced nutrition!"
The applause, at this point, came to an abrupt halt. Everyone carried on enjoying themselves at their leisure, for all the world as though nothing at all had just happened.
Annie stood rooted dumbfounded in place.
"Commander… this is what you called… grand? A sense of ceremony?" Annie looked at the Commander with some resentment.
Zhao Chen gave his own forehead a slap. "I nearly forgot an important thing."
With that, Zhao Chen took out, from off to the side, an enamel tea-mug, and set it down before Annie. "This is the gift I prepared for you."
Upon the enamel mug, written in red lettering, were the words Model Worker.
Annie cocked her head to one side, her whole face a blank of bafflement.
Was it that she'd gone about the unwrapping of this the wrong way? It was utterly unlike anything she'd imagined beforehand.
"Oh — right! There's one more important thing besides!" Zhao Chen thought of something again.
Annie looked at Zhao Chen expectantly; she'd known it — how could the Commander possibly handle these matters in so slapdash a fashion!