The Wolf-King Starport Fortress · the master control room.
A Black Wolf soldier sat with one leg cocked over the other, cast a glance at the radar screen before him, and then went back, all to himself, to watching the holographic video projected out of his own handheld terminal.
Upon it were the 3D holographic images of one she-wolf after another, swaying their bodies, each of them cooing "darling, darling," along with all manner of scorching-hot motions.
"This one's a looker… this one's fur-color's no good… this one's claws are too thick… this one's got too big a rump!" Catching sight of one ravishing she-wolf, the Black Wolf soldier at once tapped away wildly at the virtual screen.
His eyeballs looked fit to drop right out of his head.
And it was just at this moment that a red point of light appeared on the radar screen.
Three seconds later.
The alarm-tone sounded.
"The P99 anti-stealth radar system has detected a stealth unit — attention, please!"
…
It was only the ceaseless, one-after-another alarm-tones that at last brought this Black Wolf soldier back to his senses out of his wine and women.
And by this moment, upon the radar screen there had already appeared 10 red points — and these 10 red points were, at exceedingly swift speed, closing in on the Wolf-King Starport Fortress.
The Black Wolf soldier was stunned a moment; he hadn't yet made the leap to this being an enemy raid — but the training he'd received soon had him reacting.
He at once pressed a red button beside him, and in that instant, all across the starport fortress, alarm-tones went up on every side.
At the same time he got straight through to his own department officer.
"Reporting, officer — our anti-stealth radar system has detected 10 suspicious targets."
"The anti-stealth radar system? It's not that the system's gone wrong, is it?" On the far end of the video window, one could see a pot-bellied Black Wolf officer crawling down off a bed full of she-wolves, his face none too pleasant.
It was plain to see: the Black Wolf officer was much displeased at his subordinate's disturbing him mid-pleasure.
"This… I'm not sure… but going by starport operating protocol, I've already pressed the Level-2 combat warning," the Black Wolf soldier reported, careful and cautious.
"Level 2? You brat! Why didn't you notify me first!" The Black Wolf officer shot the soldier a glare; up to this moment he still hadn't truly taken the matter for anything.
For, after all, who at a time like this would be so blind to sense as to dispatch interstellar stealth warships to raid their Wolf-King Starport Fortress?
One must bear in mind — this place was their very home base!
Their Black Wolf tribe was one of the twenty great tribes.
Was such a move anything but a hunt for death?
The Black Wolf soldier lowered his head, aggrieved within; he'd only been doing things by the rules, that was all.
Thereupon, a video window appeared before this Black Wolf soldier of the radar department, and seeing the person on the far side of the video window, the Black Wolf soldier at once rose to his feet, expression grave.
"Lord Commander!"
This Black Wolf before him was, of all things, the Wolf-King Starport Fortress's starport commander — the Black Wolf tribe chieftain's own uncle.
Within the bounds of Black Wolf territory, he could be reckoned very kin to the crown.
"What's the situation?" the Black Wolf starport commander inquired, his face overcast.
It was plain his mood, too, had been affected.
A Level-2 combat-readiness warning — this was something that, since the Wolf-King Starport Fortress's completion, had never once occurred.
The Black Wolf soldier gulped, and answered, "Our P99 anti-stealth radar system has detected some 10 suspected stealth units closing in on our starport. It's already… been a minute now."
"Stealth units?" The Black Wolf starport commander muttered a moment; by the look of it, he too was in doubt whether this was true or false.
But at a time like this, better to believe it there than believe it not.
The Black Wolf starport commander at once handed down the order.
"I'll contact the starport weapons department immediately; you report the coordinate-positions of the unidentified stealth units over to them."
"Yes."
Half a minute later.
On the side of the Wolf-King Starport Fortress where the stealth units had been detected, dozens of defensive laser cannons began to move, taking aim, each toward some direction — those being the coordinate-positions where the 10 stealth units the anti-stealth radar system had furnished were sailing.
Very soon, these defensive laser cannons opened fire.
By now, close to three minutes had passed since the anti-stealth system detected the targets.
The Black Wolf soldier could not help but look, tense, toward a nearby image of the space outside the starport, captured by a deep-space telescope.
Dozens of pulse-laser beams shot out.
Suddenly!
The very fastest of the pulse-lasers seemed to strike against some unseen wall — it scattered and dissolved into a glow of particles, and at the point of impact one could see a certain figure flash by in an instant.
The Black Wolf soldier shot to his feet, disbelief written in both his eyes.
Thereafter the dozens of pulse-lasers all met the same result — every one of them blocked by an unseen "wall."
"It's star shields!" The starport commander understood in the first instant, his face overcast; he'd never imagined that at a time like this there would truly be interstellar stealth warships that dared appear at the Wolf-King Starport Fortress.
Though there was no knowing what force the other party was, to appear here in such a manner — they must surely have come with ill intent.
"The whole starport into Level-1 combat-readiness status; notify the two legion fleets to enter combat status immediately; all interstellar warships in port leave port at once! I repeat — leave port at once! Every weapon in the whole starport that can bear on those 10 stealth units, open full fire to intercept, immediately!"
The Black Wolf starport commander handed down order upon order in the first instant.
Only, regrettably, in the end it was still too late.
"Report — our 10 T3 Phantom Assassins have entered effective attack range." The adjutant looked toward Zhao Wan'er.
Zhao Wan'er gave a cold little smile.
"Since we've already been discovered, then let's hide no longer. Shut off the stealth systems; in accordance with the predetermined strike targets, conduct firepower attacks on the enemy units!"
"Yes!"
The 10 T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bombers exited stealth status at very nearly the same instant, laid bare before the Black Wolf legion fleet and the Black Wolf starport.
Revealed together with them were, besides, the launch-unit gates for the interstellar torpedoes and interstellar missiles upon these 10 T3 Phantom Assassins' hulls.
Interstellar torpedo after interstellar torpedo, interstellar missile after interstellar missile, thereupon launched.
Because of how close they were to the Wolf-King Starport Fortress, this left the Wolf-King Starport Fortress simply no time to intercept these attacks that had come so abruptly.
And what followed hard upon was fireball after exploding fireball, appearing at every position along one side of the Wolf-King Starport Fortress — the starport's main starship channels among them, and its main defensive weapons, and the rest.
At this moment the Wolf-King Starport Fortress had been thrown into utter chaos.
Hurrying back at a brisk pace toward his own master command room, the Black Wolf starport commander listened, as he ran, to the various situations his subordinates reported back.
"Report — No. 3 channel, No. 6 channel, and No. 7 channel are destroyed; the interstellar warships within the channels are unable to leave port for the time being."
"Report — three main-weapon defense systems are destroyed…"
"Report—"
The Black Wolf starport commander was beside himself with fury within; but just as he was passing through a gallery-bridge built of a transparent material, he stopped in his tracks.
He beheld the single most terrifying sight of his whole life.
Interstellar missiles by the tens of thousands, for all the world like a meteor fire-rain slashing across the cosmos, were falling down toward the starport fortress.