A certain planet of the Snake-folk system.
Within the planet's cities, at this moment, all was a dead-still calm. Every house had its doors shut fast; upon the streets, all the more, there were scarcely any people at all.
A little snake-girl lifted her head, looking out at the night sky beyond the crack of her home's skylight. She could see, in the night sky, a densely packed multitude of flashing points of light moving swiftly — nearly covering over the whole starry sky above her head.
"Mama, there are so many stars." The little snake-girl pointed at the night sky beyond the skylight, and said happily.
The snake mother hurriedly gathered her child into her arms, her face all worry and fear. She knew — those were no stars at all.
It was the joint fleet come to campaign against the Snake-folk!
A full 60,000 interstellar warships.
The flashing lights upon these interstellar warships' hulls, seen from the planet, were for all the world like glittering stars. Those were the ships' running-markers under standard navigation. And this showed that this fleet had, at bottom, no thought of hiding its whereabouts.
And early on, before this news had gotten out, all the interstellar warships of the Snake-folk system had been moved off to the Snake-Sovereign Fortress. And so these planets were, one and all, without any defensive force whatsoever. Even the original ground combat troops had, before this, been given the order by the Medusa Queen to abandon resistance and withdraw wholesale to the shelters. They didn't know what their end would be — but they had guessed that their Snake-folk queen meant to fight the enemy in a final decisive battle at the Snake-Sovereign Fortress.
But even scraping and patching together everything she had, the Snake-folk queen had only 18,000 interstellar warships. By contrast, the enemy's expeditionary army had a full 60,000 interstellar warships! In the count of starships alone, the gap was a whole threefold!
Time slipped by, bit by bit.
Happily, the disaster of the imagining did not come to pass. The snake mother, watching those "stars" recede away into the night sky, let out a slight breath of relief — but she knew this did not mean the disaster had passed. It had only come a little later, that was all. Once the great decisive battle was over, and Her Majesty the Queen defeated — the end awaiting these Snake-folk of theirs could well be imagined. Yet these ordinary Snake-folk, apart from waiting to die upon the planet, had no other recourse.
……
Within the joint fleet — the Starlight faction's interstellar fleet.
Aboard a T3 interstellar warship, a man sat in the captain's chair, his expression carrying a trace of excitement.
"Hmph — Snake-folk! Before, on account of you, a portion of the force our Prince Faction had developed in the Reef Star Region was destroyed! This time, I'll first wipe out the Snake-folk, and then storm and seize that Zhao Chen's Lion King System! Every loss you made me swallow before — I'm going to claim it all back!" Young Master Sun sneered.
This Young Master Sun was, after all, an old face. Before, on Zhang Haoran's suggestion, Young Master Sun had used a portion of the Prince Faction's force in the Reef Star Region to launch an assault upon Zhao Chen of the Lion King System. Who could ever have thought — he'd lifted a stone only to drop it on his own foot. For Zhang Haoran, dying had put an end to it all in one stroke; but the upshot was that he himself had been given a good dressing-down by His Highness the Prince, and it was only at the cost of his father sacrificing some interests that his position had been kept — and he was let off to atone through merit in the Reef Star Region. This time, the middleman between the Reef Star Region's Starlight faction and the Starlight Empire was precisely he! And the Prince Faction had, moreover, handed him an interstellar fleet of first-line-imperial-army configuration. Though it was only 300 interstellar warships, its configuration — 30 T3 interstellar warships, and all the rest T2 interstellar warships — was fully enough to look down loftily upon all rivals in the Reef Star Region. When the Warhammer faction's representative had met with them and put forth the proposal to first destroy the Independent faction, this proposal had truly struck Young Master Sun right in the heart's core. That grudge of years past — that he had, all along, kept well in mind. And in the end, he'd nailed down the plan to cooperate with the Warhammer faction.
Wipe out the Snake-folk first!
And so there came, too, the present scene of 60,000 interstellar warships pressing to the very gates of the Snake-folk system.
Soon enough, the mighty, vast 60,000 interstellar warships appeared upon the Snake-Sovereign Fortress's fortress-radar, arrayed in a pincer of horns! From the radar star-chart, one could see that the two fleets had encircled the Snake-Sovereign Fortress and that Snake-folk-system star gate right in the middle.
"Reporting — the enemy fleet is estimated to reach within combat range in 20 minutes!" a subordinate reported.
Medusa's expression was darkly overcast; for a long, long while she said nothing.
At this point, a video window appeared. Opposite was Red Rose — changed from her usual sexy, sumptuous manner of dress into a military uniform of leather material, sitting in a captain's chair.
"How's it going? That one still hasn't sent back word?" Red Rose inquired.
Medusa said nothing.
Red Rose looked at Medusa, and asked in earnest, "Medusa — I mean this seriously. If this battle holds not the slightest chance of victory — will you truly not use the star gate and withdraw with me? We can leave the Reef Star Region, go somewhere else!" The control of the star gate was still within their grasp. Though it was no use trying to flee with 18,000 interstellar warships, to withdraw with a small fleet was, still, a possibility.
"Rose, you know my nature." Medusa squeezed out a sliver of a smile. "That you could bring your fleet and appear here — for that I'm already very grateful. If, when the time comes, the fighting truly… then I hope you can leave."
The Independent faction was led by the Snake-folk and the Bramble Group, but there were, besides, some smaller forces. Yet at this moment, of those smaller forces' interstellar fleets there wasn't so much as a shadow. For, after all, in the eyes of outsiders this was a battle destined to be lost. Why come here to keep the Snake-folk company in death?
"And if he never appears at all!" Red Rose pressed on with a knitted brow.
"Then I'll lead my fleet, and fight to the death here!" Medusa said blandly.
"You…" Red Rose was angered right up out of her chair. This bosom-friend of hers — everything else about her was fine, it was just this character, stubborn to the point of death!
"Reporting — the enemy fleet's interstellar-warship data has been tallied." Qingman spoke from the side.
"Speak," Medusa said.
Qingman raised a hand, and holographically projected a string of data. "The joint fleet of the Starlight faction and the Warhammer faction — 20 legion fleets, 60,000 interstellar warships in total. Of which there are close to 100 T3 interstellar warships! And close to 3,000 T2 interstellar warships!"
As she spoke these figures out, even Qingman's heart quavered somewhat. The gap between the two sides' interstellar warships was truly too vast a disparity. There simply was no possibility of victory at all.
"I understand. Convey my order. The whole fleet, make ready for battle!" Medusa said in earnest.
"Yes!"
Qingman straightened her body and carried out the order.
18,000 patched-together interstellar warships of the fleet-legions ringed around the Snake-Sovereign Fortress and the Snake-folk-system star gate, forming ring upon ring of defensive lines. But set against those 60,000 interstellar warships bearing down outside with such ferocity — this was for all the world like a small stone set to bar the way before a mighty wave. The outcome could well be imagined.
Medusa closed her eyes; this would, perhaps, be the last battle she'd ever command. Laughable to say — she'd actually gone and believed that that man of unknown origin and mysterious identity truly had the ability to stem the raging tide. For, after all, opposite were 60,000 interstellar warships, and, behind them, two empires besides.
"Your Majesty the Queen, this is the star-gate command room. A moment ago we received a gate-navigation request coming from the Lion King System; in accordance with your instructions, we've here approved it."
The sudden voice made Medusa's eyes snap open all at once — and along with them, that pair upon pair of serpent-eyes upon her snake-tresses all turned, one and all, to look toward that star gate.
Swoosh —
Swoosh, swoosh —
Interstellar warship after interstellar warship came crossing out.
That was… the fleet from the Lion King System!
He'd come!