Late August.
It had been two months since the Northstar Starship Military Academy let out for the break — which was also the span of time Zhao Chen and the others had spent at Arctic Fox Starport.
In the ship-building bay, which had held only a carrier starship's keel before, there now stood arrayed a brand-new carrier starship.
Fresh hull armor, a yellow-and-black paint scheme, the whole hull streamlined — whether judged by aesthetics or by practicality, it was a very fine thing indeed.
Blizzard Zero was, next to this new ship, rather like a child standing beside a grown adult.
Zhao Chen drew a deep breath and, dragging his weary body along, finished the last of the ship diagnostics.
Then his body swayed, and he very nearly dropped to the floor.
"Finished?" Zhao Wan'er came over, a meal she'd prepared for Zhao Chen in her hands.
"Finished. Next comes the shakedown testing." Zhao Chen took the food Zhao Wan'er handed him and, paying no mind to his grimy hands, set straight to eating.
Heaven only knew how he'd gotten through these two months.
In two months he hadn't slept a single whole night through; it was thanks only to the advanced medical technology here, and to the energy drinks that kept him going, that Zhao Chen hadn't dropped dead from overwork who-knew-how-many times over.
But at long last, his efforts had not been in vain: in two months, he had brought this T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship to completion.
Zhao Wan'er, who had witnessed the whole of it, was by now truly won over to belief in this brother of hers. To build a T2 Queen Bee by his own strength alone — and one of his own design and research, at that!
Were the mentors of the Northstar Starship Military Academy to learn of it, they'd all feel themselves outdone.
"How is it I never noticed before that you had such a formidable ability?" Zhao Wan'er asked, curious.
Before all this, Zhao Chen had been a thoroughly unremarkable presence — a bit bookish at most, and beyond that not a single distinguishing trait to him.
"Our family already has the great prodigy that is the eldest sister, and now there's a little prodigy like you cropping up too. If I went and showed off my gifts on top of that, don't you think some scheming sort would fix their eyes on me? I'd guess that lot in the Owl Dragon Star System, too, were afraid of you growing up — once you had, they'd have found it harder to move. That's why they chose this moment. A tall tree catches the wind." Zhao Chen made himself out an excuse.
"So you've been hiding your abilities all along?" Zhao Wan'er was quite surprised.
"It's called keeping a low profile." Zhao Chen folded his arms across his chest.
Just then Charlotte came over.
"Captain, you called for me?" Charlotte's state was much improved from two months ago; she'd grown used to life here at Zhao Chen's side.
Three meals a day of natural food, after all — who wouldn't like that?
"How's the training of those 500 beast-folk crewwomen coming along?" Zhao Chen asked.
In the span of a month, Charlotte had, through Arctic Fox Starport's slave-trading network, bought up 500 beast-folk crewwomen. Once she'd taken them in, she'd set about training them.
Fortunately they all still knew Charlotte, that legendary general, and so submitted to her management. And with the welfare Zhao Chen had set for his crewwomen — at the sight of those white steamed buns, they were already too content to think of anything else.
"The training of the 500 beast-folk crewwomen has gone very smoothly. If there were five Blizzard Zeros right now, they could be thrown straight into a battle-ready state," Charlotte answered.
"And this T2 Queen Bee?" Zhao Chen pointed at the carrier starship behind him.
Charlotte cast a glance at the great yellow-and-black ship and said with confidence, "Within three days, I can master this ship and form it into an effective fighting force."
Zhao Chen clapped Zhao Wan'er on the shoulder. "Charlotte — you take Wan'er and the hundred crew we've picked out and board her. Run the shakedown tests on this T2 Queen Bee."
"Me too?" Zhao Wan'er was taken aback.
"Didn't you say before that you badly wanted a carrier starship of your own? This ship is my gift to you. Though when we get back to the academy, you'll use your original ship for the time being — this carrier can't be exposed yet. A tall tree catches the wind," Zhao Chen said.
Zhao Wan'er stared at Zhao Chen in astonishment, pointed at the T2 Queen Bee, then at herself. "You mean to… give this ship to me?"
"Not for nothing, mind. You'll have to serve as my captain. What — unwilling?" Zhao Chen teased.
Zhao Wan'er rolled her eyes. "I… I'll just help you out for now… as if I cared for a ship of yours…"
With that, Zhao Wan'er, without another word, dragged Charlotte off to board and get familiar with this T2 Queen Bee.
The T2 Queen Bee's interior was better than Blizzard Zero's by an order past reckoning.
All of it was brand-new!
Not like Blizzard Zero, where you could see the marks of the years wherever you looked.
Zhao Wan'er came to the T2 Queen Bee's bridge; the whole bridge was a circular, enclosed structure — but when it powered on, every scene around the ship would show itself along the bridge's walls, by way of a 360-degree panoramic projection!
"Sister Charlotte, let's get ready right now! I can't wait to take this ship out for its shakedown run!" Zhao Wan'er said in a rush.
To command and pilot a carrier starship had always been a dream in Zhao Wan'er's heart.
Never had she imagined there'd come a day it was realized.
"We'll need some preparation time still, about half a day. First we have to let the crew get familiar with the ship's environment and their various posts. Luckily, some of the beast-folk crewwomen I brought in served aboard carrier starships before, so they have experience of this sort; they should come up to speed quickly. And besides, this is only a T2-tier carrier; the technical difficulty shouldn't be too high," Charlotte said.
Then she set about selecting the crew who'd serve aboard this T2 Queen Bee, and those chosen were soon notified to report to the T2 Queen Bee at once and stand by.
In a very large compartment, Charlotte looked out over the hundred beast-folk crewwomen mustered before her, each in clean, neat clothing, each with a smile on her face.
A month ago, when they'd been brought in, they'd been done up as slaves, each one terror-stricken, for all the world like caged birds.
In Captain Zhao Chen's words—
—the them of now had light in their eyes.
"I now announce this: from this moment on, you are the formal crew of this T2 Queen Bee. The detailed post assignments I'll send into each of your hands. This past month, in your life aboard Blizzard Zero, I imagine you've all been very happy. But you must know — who is it that gave you all this? Perhaps some of you still doubt that man, still harbor suspicions of him — but whatever the case, from now on you are to fight for him! And if anyone slackens at her combat post— —then even were you once my comrade-in-arms, I will drive you from this ship." Charlotte fixed her eyes on every one of them present. "Remember two words: gratitude! That man gave you a second life. Without him, you'd not be living in clean quarters and eating hot, fragrant food this very day! We beast-folk must know how to repay a kindness! Understood!"
"Understood!"
Zhao Chen lay on the big bed of his captain's cabin aboard Blizzard Zero, watching the scene of Charlotte's charge on a screen.
Through the "Eye of Insight," he could see that these beast-folk crewwomen, if not exactly deeply loyal to him, already bore him no hostility whatever, and held gratitude in their hearts besides.
Before long, he trusted, these women's outlook would change entirely.
"Let's have a look at my haul." Zhao Chen forced back his drowsiness and opened the system page.
For when he'd completed this T2 Queen Bee, there had in fact been a system-mission advisory of completion.
Quarterly Mission: Own one starship (system-produced).
Complete! Reward available to claim!
Zhao Chen tapped to claim the mission reward.
Quarterly Mission reward claimed; issuing reward.
Acquired: 5 task points.
Acquired: one T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship blueprint.
Acquired: 500 System points.
Acquired: one T1 Super-Soldier Serum.
Zhao Chen's drowsiness vanished all at once!
An interstellar industrial ship!