Qin Xiaolei sat in the "princess's chair" of her own flagship's pink-decorated bridge, attending to the various combat situations upon the interstellar holo-table before her. One could see upon it local battlefield after local battlefield in the midst of fierce fighting, along with the enemy's ceaselessly shrinking ring of encirclement.
"Reporting — the thirteenth breakout attempt has failed! The number of the enemy's interstellar warships is truly too great — at least 10,000 interstellar warships. And, moreover, all of them of a second-line-imperial-army scale. If… if we were in a complete legion-fleet state, there'd still be hope of breaking out. But…" a female adjutant at her side reported helplessly.
"Bastards — who could ever have thought that the Fourth Fleet, the Seventh Fleet, and the Tenth Fleet would, of all things, suddenly betray us and attack! And used an electronic-comm virus to directly lock down our external comm channels! Otherwise, we could still get in contact with the outside world!" another female adjutant, too, said.
Qin Xiaolei shook her head, and said in self-mockery, "Contact the outside world? To contact the outside world now is, by all estimates, of no use anymore. If my guess is not wrong, then those three fleets choosing this very time to betray and attack us must, without fail, have some ruse behind it. Blame me! Blame me for believing the rumored news that my elder brother had died in the Grey Moon Star Region, and rushing over in a hurry to investigate — otherwise we wouldn't have been ambushed here!"
She clenched her fists, and looked toward the true "commander" at her side, who'd been directing the fighting all along.
"Sister Yue. If it really comes to no way out, then use my flagship as bait; the rest of you withdraw to the other starships, and find a way to break out of the encirclement! This flagship — its engine was struck in the attack, its sailing speed damaged; the enemy is precisely meaning to deliberately drag down the other interstellar warships, wanting to wholly annihilate us here! I can't let you all go down to the grave together with me!" As Qin Xiaolei said these words, in the depths of her eyes there was nothing but timidity and trembling. She, too, feared death.
Zhao Ruyue looked at this little Princess — once so proud and self-assured — the luster somewhat gone from her eyes, and showed a trace of an encouraging smile. "Your Highness the Princess, this isn't like that willful, headstrong you. And besides — by the look of their posture, they have no wish to let a single one of our interstellar warships get out. Otherwise, they couldn't possibly have spread out so vast an array of battle." Zhao Ruyue lifted her head, looking at the situation-data of both sides' interstellar warships on the battlefield before her.
The remaining interstellar warships she could now command numbered only under 1,000. Among them were included three T4 Boreas-class Heavy Interstellar Battleships, and 500 T3 interstellar warships, along with 400 T2 interstellar warships. Only, two of those three T4 Boreas were in a gravely crippled state. But had it not been for these two T4 Boreas drawing off the enemy fleet's firepower all along, their situation would have been more grievous still.
The enemy they had to face had, from first to last, committed a total of close to 15,000 interstellar warships — and, besides, there were the 900 interstellar warships of the three betraying Princess's royal fleets. Only, up to now, of those there were, likewise, only under 10,000 interstellar warships left. Though the quality of the Princess's royal fleet's interstellar warships was high, there was nothing to be done — the enemy fleet's number was 10 times that of their own side, and, moreover, they were ceaselessly dispatching interstellar warships to hasten to the reinforcement. Going on this way, sooner or later they'd be defeated.
"Why has it come to this… my father-emperor gravely and irrecoverably ill… my elder brother suddenly gone… my mother-empress, too, become foggy and unclear of mind… I only wanted to look into the truth of all of it — and in the end, of all things, I'm to die here…" The little Princess Qin Xiaolei drew up her two knees, and hugged her legs, the rims of her eyes somewhat red and swollen.
Zhao Ruyue, seeing the little Princess in such a state of feeling, stepped forward and embraced this little Princess whom she regarded as a younger sister. As it happened, by a coincidence, the little Princess's age was, precisely, close to that of her own little sister. These two years, she'd heard tell that, under the lead of that brother of hers who'd suddenly had his wits opened, they'd developed the Owl Dragon System together, its progress not bad, and had even developed very powerful interstellar warships. She'd originally been thinking that, once she'd gotten through this busy stretch, she'd ask for leave to go back and take a look. And now it seemed… the Owl Dragon System, she'd not be going back to…
So be it.
So long as they lived well, that was enough; how she herself fared was of no importance.
"It's all right; whatever it comes to in the end, Sister Yue will be here with you." Zhao Ruyue lifted her head resolutely; she was, moreover, preparing to make one more attempt. Whatever it came to, she had to find a way to escort the little Princess out to safety!
"Zhao Ruyue, surrender! You've already been surrounded by us. A paltry under-1,000 interstellar warships, and you still mean to fend off our 10,000 interstellar warships? Though my royal fleet is no match for that pampered little sister of mine — I have numbers! I can mobilize yet more imperial-army fleets. Wiping you out is merely a matter of time. While there's still the chance now, Zhao Ruyue, surrender and hand over Qin Xiaolei. And I, seeing that you're of no bad looks, can even let you be my concubine, and pass out the latter half of your life in comfort!" A video image appeared — it was the commander of the enemy fleet. The Third Prince, Qin Hu! A warlike and lecherous fellow.
"This fellow lost in a fool's daydream!" Zhao Ruyue looked at this fellow with killing intent — but she could only look at him thus. Because she knew, too, that she had no means whatsoever of dealing with this fellow.
Zhao Ruyue clenched her fists and said in earnest, "All fleets, heed my command — this is our last charge. Whatever it comes to, find a way to escort the little Princess out! I, Zhao Ruyue, am most fortunate to have been able to come to this fleet and fight shoulder to shoulder with you all. This may well be the last time I hand down an attack order. Whole fleet… attack!"
Zhao Ruyue handed down yet another attack order. One T4 Boreas, in the best condition, charged at the very front, making ready to break out. But there was nothing to be done — the enemy, too, had a T4 Boreas, and had been seeking its chance all along. In the end, the enemy's T4 Boreas found the opportune moment; its bow cannon took aim at this breaking-out T4 Boreas, directly causing this T4 Boreas's hull armor to shatter, its hull to explode.
"Reporting — T4 Boreas ship No. X03… has lost comm signal!"
"Reporting — T4 Boreas ship No. X03… has fallen."
The worst of news came. The first T4 Boreas to fall dealt, in one stroke, a heavy blow to the morale of the remaining Princess's royal fleet. And what came in its wake was the breakout being obstructed and checked.
Zhao Ruyue watched yet another breakout plan go bankrupt, and within her there was, too, a deep sense of powerlessness.
But it was just at this moment that a sudden prompt-tone upon the starship radar shattered this stillness.
"Reporting — a great quantity of interstellar missiles has been detected upon the starship radar!"
Zhao Ruyue stared at the starship radar; she could see that, to the rear of the enemy fleet, there had suddenly welled up a great swath of interstellar missiles — and because it was at the very edge of their starship radar's detection, they simply had no idea just whose fleet it was that had launched these interstellar missiles.
And these interstellar missiles directly set the enemy fleet's battle-group alight. There appeared a great swath of "fireworks" of explosion.
Zhao Ruyue, seeing this scene, was dumbstruck.
Qin Xiaolei lifted her head, staring blankly at the scene relayed by the deep-space telescope, a whole face of astonishment and stupefaction upon her.