Zhao Chen looked at Li Yaqi before him — face ghastly pale, plainly in low spirits.
"You said just now that, one day ago, the industrial parks under your Northern Goose banner suffered an unexplained attack. Over 90% of the starship production lines were destroyed?" Zhao Chen gave a brief summary of the course of events Li Yaqi had, in her panic just now, told him.
"Yes… included among them were all of our T2 Tibetan Mastiff production lines! And the several hundred T2 Tibetan Mastiffs originally under construction, besides…" Li Yaqi said in her fluster. "For interstellar industrial parks to be destroyed is no great matter — at worst we rebuild them… But by the arms-purchase order we signed with the Starlight Empire military, 15,000 T2 Tibetan Mastiffs are to be delivered in four batches, at the end of each quarter, with no batch to fall below 3,000 T2 Tibetan Mastiffs. And at last, before the end of this year, all 15,000 T2 Tibetan Mastiffs are to be delivered in full, at which point the whole of the payment would be settled. The first batch of 3,000 T2 Tibetan Mastiffs we've already delivered before the end of March. But now, with the production lines gone — if we're to rebuild the production lines, the time in between requires, at the least, three to five months! Then the second batch's T2-Tibetan-Mastiff delivery order will surely be delayed. And this one delay… by the breach-of-contract rule of the arms-purchase order, we'd have to pay a penalty of 10 times over; and should we be unable to pay the penalty… they might even demand we hand over the T2 Tibetan Mastiff's production technology — and the whole of Northern Goose might, indeed, even be swallowed up and annexed by the Starlight Empire…"
A penalty of 10 times over — that was close to 500 billion star coins!
However one looked at it, there was no way the Northern Goose Group could produce such a sum.
Zhao Chen asked, "Are there any leads on the attackers who destroyed your industrial parks?"
"The attack came very suddenly! I myself only got the word half a day after the incident. When I dispatched the nearest personnel to go to the industrial park and take a look, all they saw was a stretch of ruins and wreckage. And, moreover, there was a great mass of bug carcasses besides," Li Yaqi said.
Bug carcasses?
"That star system where you're located — did any cosmic bug-nest appear?" Zhao Chen asked.
Li Yaqi shook her head. "No! The North Wind Star Region did erupt into a hive-race disaster this time, but the system where we are is very safe; no cosmic bug-nest appeared. And, what's more, we suspect that this was, at bottom, a premeditated attack. At the industrial park I'd arranged a corps-grade fleet to escort and patrol — though the greater part of it was T2 and T1 interstellar warships. But if it had been a hive-race attack, there's no way not a scrap of word would have gotten out. And, besides, within the ruins and wreckage of the industrial park, we discovered attack traces suspected to be from starship weapons of the T3 technology grade!"
"Have you reported these matters to the higher-ups?" Zhao Chen inquired.
"I reported to the local star-system lord, and got in contact with the North Wind Governor as well. The feedback I got was all that they'd investigate and gather evidence — but… by the inside word I got, the higher-ups came by no useful leads, and it's more than likely to be defined as an attack by a hive-race fleet that strayed and drifted to this place… And it's still because I… we haven't any evidence in hand…" Li Yaqi said in indignation. She guessed there was someone playing tricks behind the scenes — but with no evidence, whatever she said was of no use.
Zhao Chen knew that the industrial park of Li Yaqi's Northern Goose Group was built within one of the several star-system fiefs directly subordinate to the North Wind Governor. For, after all, Northern Goose's standing after winning the arms-purchase order was no ordinary thing; there was no way the North Wind Governor would overlook this newly risen commercial star. Were it any other time, the North Wind Governor would surely have investigated this matter strictly, and at once. But, as ill luck would have it, the North Wind Star Region was, just now, in the very thick of a troubled autumn; the hive-race disaster had only just been quelled, and great numbers of stricken star systems needed seeing to. There genuinely was no spare capacity to deal with the Northern Goose Group's affair.
"If there really were attackers, then in all likelihood they're competitors who can't stand to see your Northern Goose deliver on the arms-purchase order," Zhao Chen said in a low voice.
"The Hurricane Conglomerate!" Li Yaqi ground out this name through gritted teeth. As everyone knew, the Hurricane Conglomerate was, right now, the Northern Goose Group's greatest competitor. In that arms-purchase conference, on account of the Northern Goose Group's sudden charge onto the scene, relying on the T2 Tibetan Mastiff it had directly cut down the Hurricane Conglomerate's money tree, shoving it down off its altar. If one were to ask who the Northern Goose Group's greatest enemy was, it was, beyond doubt, the Hurricane Conglomerate.
"The Hurricane Conglomerate doesn't have this great a capability; my guess is there's a backing mountain behind it. Only, we have no evidence for the moment, so the matter of revenge can only be set aside for now — the most important thing before us is how to settle this business of delivering on the arms-purchase order. Can you get in contact with the Empire-military side, and demand they defer the delivery date of the second batch of interstellar warship orders?" Zhao Chen inquired.
Li Yaqi shook her head, and said feebly, "I contacted them just now, and reported the situation of our Northern Goose Group's suspected attack. But the meaning of the Empire military's arms-procurement department is: no matter what circumstance arises, it must all be handled by the contract! And if there's a breach, it's to be carried out by the requirements of the contract-breach clause!"
So hardline an attitude — it was very strange. By rights, for an order of this sort to be deferred a few months was not, in itself, anything so very strange a thing. It seemed this behind-the-scenes hand had, moreover, a very high power and standing — able to influence even the arms-procurement department.
Zhao Chen closed his eyes, and, after thinking a few breaths' worth, looked toward Li Yaqi opposite. "How much in funds does the Northern Goose Group have on its books just now?"
Li Yaqi found this sudden question of Zhao Chen's somewhat baffling, but she answered, "We relied on the sales revenue of the T1 Wolf-Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer and several other classes of interstellar warship — all of it put toward expanding and building out the T2 Tibetan Mastiff's production-line industrial parks. After that, we came by the arms-purchase order's advance payment of 13 billion star coins; deducting some raw-material procurement, along with labor costs and the like — as of now, we still have on our books 10 billion star coins. But now… merely having these funds is of no use either; if we can't deliver the arms-purchase starships on schedule, then no amount of money is of any use at all."
Li Yaqi was frantic to the point of a scorched head and singed brow.
"I've already thought of the way to handle it. Since the solution is to deliver, on schedule, the interstellar warships on the arms-purchase order — then we simply deliver them," Zhao Chen said.
"This… how do we deliver them?" Li Yaqi was dumbfounded.
Zhao Chen looked at Li Yaqi. "Before I speak of my plan, let me first ask you a question. Those rentable starship workshops within the star-ports of the North Wind Star Region — the ones able to meet the manufacture of T2-grade starships — how many can you rent within a short span of time?"
"The North Wind Star Region has 365 star-ports in active service, large and small; of these, 35 are equipped with T2-grade starship-manufacturing workshops. Among these 35, there are, in total, close to 300 manufacturing workshops able to build T2-grade interstellar warships; and, as things stand now, on account of the hive-race disaster, these manufacturing workshops are, too, in tight demand. A portion of them have, by my guess, already been rented out; I could rent, at the very most, a third." Li Yaqi answered Zhao Chen's question. She seemed to have guessed at Zhao Chen's train of thought, and shook her head, saying, "If the aim is to rent these star-port manufacturing workshops to build T2 Tibetan Mastiffs — there's simply no catching up to the delivery of the Empire arms-purchase order!"
"I'm not going to use them to build T2 Tibetan Mastiffs — I'm going to use them to build this interstellar warship!" Zhao Chen raised a hand, and a holographic projection appeared before Li Yaqi.
It was a T2-grade interstellar industrial ship.
"What I need from you now is, in the shortest time possible, to obtain the rental rights to these starship-manufacturing workshops! And, at the fastest speed, to arrange for technical personnel to be at these workshops, awaiting the commencement of work! Time may, perhaps, still be a touch rushed — but I'll find a way to win you the time. For now, you just go and do these things I've assigned you! Trust me! This will be our counterattack from the dead ground!"