A dozen-odd minutes' time.
Every manner of interstellar warship arrived, treading upon each other's heels, and hovered, one and all, within this assembly region.
Among them were some ship-classes Xue Xiaoxiao knew — the T2 Black Rhino-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigate, the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser, and the like.
But more of them were interstellar warships Xue Xiaoxiao had never once seen.
The number of interstellar warships wasn't very great — around 500, by the look of it.
And a portion of those were, besides, interstellar supply ships and interstellar transport ships.
But looking at these mere 500 interstellar warships, Xue Xiaoxiao dared not slight them in the least.
For among these 500, upward of two-thirds were, by all appearances, T3-grade interstellar warships.
"Wan'er, these… these… and these too… don't tell me they're all T3-grade interstellar warships?" Xue Xiaoxiao gulped, and inquired, careful and cautious.
Zhao Wan'er, a proud smile on her, hid nothing; rather, she raised a hand straightaway and called up the brief descriptions of one class of interstellar warship after another.
First, naturally, were the T2-grade ones — the several classes Xue Xiaoxiao was fairly familiar with.
The T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship, the T2 Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ship, the T2 Snow Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship, and the most famous of all, the T2 Black Rhino!
The T2 Black Rhino was, too, the most numerous among these T2 interstellar warships before them — a full hundred and more of them!
And the rest were T3-grade interstellar warships.
Of these, the one Xue Xiaoxiao knew best was, naturally, the T3 Blizzard!
As for the rest…
Xue Xiaoxiao was left staring, dumbstruck.
"The T3 Phoenix-class Heavy Carrier Starship, the second T3-grade interstellar warship our Owl Dragon Legion put into service. The T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber — that's the one we're aboard; mine is the No. 1 ship." Zhao Wan'er had just introduced this far—
Xue Xiaoxiao cried out in astonishment, "An interstellar stealth bomber? You mean the one we're aboard is an interstellar stealth bomber?"
"That's right. Don't tell me that, in all your idle wandering about this interstellar warship these past days — with this ship's hull-form and weapon loadout besides — you never saw it was an interstellar stealth bomber?" Zhao Wan'er looked at Xue Xiaoxiao in astonishment.
She'd assumed Xue Xiaoxiao had known this ship-class long since.
Xue Xiaoxiao, guilty of conscience, shifted her gaze away.
Back at the Northstar Academy, her studies had been badly lopsided; never mind so exceedingly out-of-the-way a ship-class as the interstellar stealth bomber — even of the knowledge of the several other great ship-classes, she'd understood but little.
For she'd thrown herself heart and soul into the sea of interstellar battleships, in pursuit of her big-ship-big-gun doctrine!
For the other ship-classes, Xue Xiaoxiao hadn't cared in the least.
*…No, that's not right.
Zhao Chen's interstellar warships are all quite fine.* It was chiefly that they'd performed so outstandingly in those several real engagements.
Above all that T3 Blizzard.
"But isn't the interstellar stealth bomber pretty much a waste of a ship? As it stands, I've never heard of any interstellar power that has this ship-class in service." Xue Xiaoxiao changed the subject.
Zhao Wan'er gave a mysterious smile.
"Later on, you'll come to know why it is we have this T3 interstellar stealth bomber in service."
"How is it you're always telling things by halves?" Xue Xiaoxiao looked at her bosom-friend peevishly.
Zhao Wan'er went on with her introductions, all to herself.
"This most numerous class is the T3 Triceratops-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigate; you just take it as the upgraded version of the T2 Black Rhino, and that'll do. As for how strong it is… you imagine that for yourself."
Xue Xiaoxiao, her two eyes ablaze, looked at those three big black horns, her mouth falling faintly open.
For she still remembered the T2 Black Rhino's outstanding showing in those several battles of before.
"This one is the T3 Judicator-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ship; this is the Wind-Eagle-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser, the very newest interstellar warship to be built and put into service…"
And it was just as Zhao Wan'er was introducing these various interstellar warships of the Owl Dragon Legion that Xue Xiaoxiao suddenly, in her excitement, seized hold of Zhao Wan'er's arm, and, pointing at the figure of one interstellar warship within the display, said in a trembling, agitated voice, "This one… this one… what is this one?"
Seeing the interstellar warship Xue Xiaoxiao was pointing at, Zhao Wan'er rolled her eyes; she'd known it — this bosom-friend of hers had had her giant-cannon obsession flare up again.
"That's the T3 Imperial-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship." Zhao Wan'er introduced.
"The Imperial-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship!" Xue Xiaoxiao's besotted look was for all the world like some lovestruck fanatic's; her two eyes scorching, she ran her gaze over this interstellar warship's hull-lines.
"These lines! This hull! And that main gun! By the size, that's a 5000mm-caliber heavy electromagnetic railgun at the least! And a full six of them, no less!"
Worthy indeed of the battleship-loving Xue Xiaoxiao — merely by looking, she'd made out the caliber of those six main guns.
"To be precise, it's a 5600mm caliber," Zhao Wan'er added.
"A 5600mm caliber? A T3-grade interstellar battleship has never once had so large a main weapon!" Xue Xiaoxiao's cheeks flushed crimson, the gaze she fixed on this class of battleship hotter still.
"That's not its main weapon." This line, dropped by Zhao Wan'er just now, left Xue Xiaoxiao's expression frozen stiff.
She looked toward Zhao Wan'er.
Zhao Wan'er pointed at the position of the T3 Imperial's bow.
"There, besides, is a heavy cluster-pulse bow cannon."
"A concealed bow cannon!" Xue Xiaoxiao reacted at once.
She gulped, and looked at Zhao Wan'er with something of a plea.
"Sister Wan'er, couldn't you have your brother let me have a look at this giant cannon of his! Just let me see it the once! Just once!"
"Want to see it, do you?" Zhao Wan'er looked at Xue Xiaoxiao teasingly, deliberately paused a few seconds, and then said, "Next time there's a chance, I'll show you."
At this, Xue Xiaoxiao stamped her feet in her impatience, and looked at Zhao Wan'er with her lips pursed.
Seeing Xue Xiaoxiao in such a state, Zhao Wan'er couldn't have said how satisfied she felt within.
Back in their academy days, this lass had bullied her in just this way — deliberately telling a thing by halves, simply refusing to tell her the rest.
Well, and now the wheel of fortune had turned, hadn't it.
As for whether Zhao Wan'er's telling Xue Xiaoxiao the names of these interstellar warships counted as leaking secrets?
These, in fact, Zhao Chen had already lowered the secrecy grade of a few days before; internally they could be discussed — it was only that they wouldn't be actively broadcast to the outside.
Telling Xue Xiaoxiao didn't count as a leak.
For, after all, Zhao Chen had already made ready, in this operation, to bare the Owl Dragon Legion's fangs a little.
"If only I had a class of interstellar battleship like this — this is truly the ship of my dreams! This giant cannon! This shape!" Xue Xiaoxiao bit lightly at her lip, wearing the very look of one forcibly holding back a craving.
And when her gaze fixed on the bow position, it turned so scorching-hot that she could scarcely keep from reaching out with her own hands to shove it open and make that "bashful" bow cannon show itself!
And it was just at this moment that an order was relayed to the bridge of every interstellar warship, along with which, relayed together, was a flight-route map.
"One hour from now, the whole fleet sets out." Zhao Chen handed down the order in person.