The Owl Dragon System · Owl Dragon base.
"This is the starship order the Medusa Queen's side placed with us this time. On the premise of not affecting our own production plan, this order is to be delivered before mid-June." Zhao Chen handed the catalog of ships the Medusa Queen had earlier asked of him to Lilith and Annie before him. For, after all, this matter touched upon the Owl Dragon base's finances, as well as the interstellar warships built.
"This many? By mid-June!" The moment Chief Engineer Annie caught sight of the figures on the order, she gave a start of fright, her head waggling for all the world like a rattle-drum. "Even if you were to cleave Annie into two halves, there'd be no producing this many interstellar warships in so short a time. There truly is no squeezing it out…"
Lilith looked over what was demanded upon it. Three T3 Blizzards, 10 T2 Snow Mastiffs, and 100 T2 Black Rhinos.
"This quantity is, indeed, somewhat much; though our original production plan does have some spare output, to complete the production plan for these interstellar warships before mid-June is, all the same, of no small difficulty," Lilith said objectively from the side.
Zhao Chen explained, "It's not that I want you to build interstellar warships anew. It's simply to retire a portion of our active-service old, worn interstellar warships; and this portion of retired warships' quota — we can make it up by building afterward, isn't that so."
Hearing what Zhao Chen said, Chief Engineer Annie let out a breath in one go. "The Commander really is an old slyboots — selling folk secondhand interstellar warships at the original price."
A few seconds later, Chief Engineer Annie clutched at her own somewhat-reddened cheek, a trace of crystalline glimmer in the rims of her eyes. Meek and honest, she reported there, "If it's according to the Lord Commander's requirements, then delivering this batch of interstellar warships before the end of June is no problem. As for these interstellar warships we'll be left short of, those, too, can all be made up before mid-July."
Zhao Chen looked at Chief Engineer Annie's cheek — the feel of it was, after all, rather nice.
Chief Engineer Annie sensed Zhao Chen's gaze, and at once retreated behind Lilith, muttering under her breath, "Pinch Annie's face any more and it'll swell up…"
"Ahem, ahem… we'll go by this plan, then. You need only ensure that those delivered interstellar warships have no problem in quality or performance, then carry out some modifications to their outward appearance — and, at the same time, remember to install this backdoor system," Zhao Chen said, his eyes narrowed.
Chief Engineer Annie squinted her eyes at Zhao Chen; she'd just made to open her mouth, but, calling to mind that hot, stinging feeling in her cheek, she at once bottled up the words she'd wanted to say. Still, she muttered in her heart: sly old silver-piece[1]!
Zhao Chen swept a look over her way.
"Annie will go and see to it right now!" Chief Engineer Annie at once scampered off in a puff of smoke to go about her work, in dread that, should she be a step slow, that little face of hers would come to grief once again.
"Lord Commander, by the look of it this Reef Star Region situation is about to erupt into a great crisis." Lilith, from this matter, saw the further reach of things.
Zhao Chen nodded. "Yes. The Mechanical Race's withdrawal has set off a whole series of chain reactions. It's broken a great many of the old balances."
"Our Lion King System, in the war and turmoil of the Reef Star Region to come, will find it hard to keep itself alone unsullied; we must think out well the method of dealing with what comes next." Lilith reminded him.
The Reef Star Region!
Zhao Chen was pondering it.
System mission "The Reef Star Region Campaign, 1/3" triggered.
The System's prompt-tone sounded within Zhao Chen's mind.
The Reef Star Region Campaign? This System came at just the right time. Keeping right up with current affairs.
The Reef Star Region Campaign, 1/3
Please first select a faction: the Surrender-to-the-Starlight-Empire faction, the Surrender-to-the-Warhammer-Interstellar-Commonwealth faction, the Independent faction.
Wasn't this precisely the three factional situations the Medusa Queen had told him currently obtained in the Reef Star Region? Surrendering to the Starlight Empire was certainly no good — that ran counter to the original intent behind Zhao Chen's founding of the Lion King System. Surrendering to the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth had, though, a bit of feasibility — but there the initiative would be held in Warhammer's hands, and should they prove capricious in their moods, then it was Zhao Chen's side that would come to grief. The one of the highest freedom was, of course, the Independent faction.
Select the Independent faction.
Zhao Chen's thought stirred.
The Reef Star Region Campaign, 1/3
The Independent faction has been selected.
Please complete the first-stage mission: In the internal turmoil of the Reef Star Region, aid the Independent faction to rise, and defeat the main military forces of the other two factions.
The appearance of this mission was, in the main, within Zhao Chen's expectations. The missions for choosing the other two factions were, by his guess, similar as well. Looked at in terms of strength, the Independent faction's strength was, beyond doubt, the weakest. Because the other two factions would surely, to some degree, come by the covert support of the two star empires. Otherwise the Medusa Queen wouldn't have been driven to her wits' end and chosen to procure interstellar warships from him.
"Commander… Commander?"
The sound of Lilith's calling at his ear brought Zhao Chen back to his senses.
"Ah… I was just thinking something over," Zhao Chen said in earnest, "The Reef Star Region, this region, is comparatively special; we cannot let it be grasped by any one force. And we can't enter the game too early just now either — so I think we can make our preparations ahead of time first. Providing the Medusa Queen this batch of interstellar warships is the first step; we ourselves must, too, grow our interstellar fleet greater as swiftly as we can, and make ready to campaign at any moment. And at the same time — though on the surface we won't enter the game, we can dispatch the T3 Silver-Rats into the various parts of the Reef Star Region to spy out intelligence. To keep watch, in real time, over the shifts in the Reef Star Region's situation — this can let us fix upon a fitting moment for our formal entry into the game."
Lilith understood Zhao Chen's meaning, and was, comparatively, in agreement with the Commander's notion. The party-and-faction strife within the Starlight Empire was, now, exceedingly complicated as well; the Lion King System, and indeed the Reef Star Region, might well become one of Zhao Chen's future roads of retreat.
"In sum — for now we first watch the fire from across the river, and merely raise up our own strength; that will do." Zhao Chen drew out the crux of it.
Lilith nodded.
……
In the blink of an eye, the time came to mid-June of Galactic Star Calendar year 3032.
Within the Starlight Empire, on account of the Northern Goose Group's incident, as the date for the delivery of the second batch of arms-purchase-order starships drew nearer and nearer, the fever-pitch of this affair reached a very apex.
And at the same time, the Reef Star Region, too, saw several armed conflicts erupt one after another. From the various forces first discussing the future prospects of the Reef Star Region, to, at the last, none of them being able to persuade the others — they began a large-scale armament. Great numbers of interstellar warships produced in the Starlight Empire and in Warhammer began to flow ceaselessly into the interstellar fleets of the Reef Star Region's various forces. The gunsmoke of the Reef Star Region was already growing more feverish by the day, for all the world as though it might explode at any moment. Among them, the Independent faction's forces were the weakest — for, having no channel by which to purchase high-quality interstellar warships, its fortunes waned as the others' waxed. This led no small number of the interstellar forces originally standing on the Independent faction's side to defect, one after another, to the other two factions.
The Lion King System · star gate.
The Medusa Queen, who'd been waiting all along for Zhao Chen's word, upon coming by the detailed delivery time at once brought her prepared crew members and hastened to the Lion King System. Within the bounds of the star gate's no-combat zone —
A T3 Venomous Scorpion-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser · bridge.
The Medusa Queen was, just now, craning her neck in wait; her countenance appeared somewhat haggard — by the look of it, this stretch of time's affairs of the Reef Star Region had left her much wrung with anxiety within.