Galactic Star Calendar, year 3033, the 2nd of July.
The Third Prince's fleet, having received the safety report from the reconnaissance fleet that had set out ahead, thereupon used warp-travel to arrive at the position of that advance reconnaissance fleet.
Qin Hu sat in the captain's chair, looking at the holographic projection of outer space before him; the originally pitch-black cosmos had, at last, shown a faint scrap of light up ahead.
Within the interstellar edge-space, there were very nearly no glowing points whatever.
That a light should appear now meant they were, by this time, drawing near to a star system's sun.
They were about to, in truth, set foot into this star system.
"Report — our reconnaissance fleet has discovered Owl Dragon interstellar warships garrisoned ahead, at the Owl Dragon Star System's border!" the adjutant reported to the Third Prince Qin Hu.
"Owl Dragon Legion warships? How many of them?" Qin Hu asked with narrowed eyes.
The adjutant very soon had the answer.
"Reporting, Your Highness — latest word. It can be confirmed that what's there is the Owl Dragon Legion's fleet: 500 interstellar warships. Composed chiefly of T3-grade interstellar warships, and including, among them, three T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruisers! It's surmised this should be the whole of the Owl Dragon Legion's main fleet!"
Qin Hu rose to his feet, and raised a hand to open up the interstellar holo-table of this place.
On his own side, 20,000 interstellar warships, mighty and sweeping.
And there, at the border of that star system opposite, 500 interstellar warships, for all the world like so many grains of rice.
"That fellow Zhao Chen truly means to use 500 interstellar warships to bar my 20,000." Qin Hu laughed aloud, and covered his own face.
His eyes laughed out tears; he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
"Is Zhao Chen out to make me die laughing? 500 interstellar warships — how is he to bar my great host!"
"Relay my order — the whole fleet, full speed ahead. And at the same time, get me in contact with the other side's flagship; I mean to have a good talk with this lord called Zhao Chen." Qin Hu laughed coldly.
He wanted to see, with his own eyes, just how terrified the man who'd brought him such humiliation was at this moment — how he might, even, be brought to plead with him for mercy.
"Yes!"
The 20,000 ships of the Third Prince's fleet closed, little by little, upon the Owl Dragon Legion's battle-line; viewed from a god's-eye vantage, it was for all the world like a wave of the sea about to swallow up a few sparse little reefs.
"Quick! Get the recording ready! Deploy the filming drones, and connect the signal to the outside world at the same time!" A T2 interstellar warship hovered in a region farther off.
This was an interstellar-media interstellar warship, which had foreseen that this place would become the very interstellar battlefield where that Owl Dragon lord would stand against the Third Prince's fleet.
At once it deployed out a great mass of filming drones.
These filming drones would record this campaign from differing directions, differing distances, differing angles.
And at the same time, the comm system aboard this T2 interstellar warship would transmit all of it out in real time.
This would be an interstellar campaign with a great many "spectators."
The Reef Star Region · the Lion King Star System.
"The signal's received — the Third Prince's fleet has already made contact with Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon fleet!" Qin Xiaolei watched the broadcast feed.
She looked, with some worry, toward Zhao Ruyue beside her.
"Your brother — this campaign won't run into trouble, will it? After all, the far side has a full 20,000 interstellar warships."
"Since he's confident, then he has a notion of his own. If my guess is not wrong, he means, by way of this campaign, to make the Third Prince Qin Hu his own stepping-stone — to proclaim that he's formally set foot onto this chessboard that is the Starlight Empire. To turn from a chess-piece into one who plays the game." Zhao Ruyue fixed her eyes on the broadcast feed, and said, "What we need worry over now is not whether this campaign will be lost. Rather, we ought to be thinking about with just what battle-result Zhao Chen will proclaim, to the outside world, the rise of the Owl Dragon Legion!"
Qin Xiaolei nodded, as though understanding.
The Chu River Star Region · the Chu family.
Chu Xuan fixed her eyes on the two sides' interstellar warships in the broadcast feed, her expression steady and composed.
"Miss, how is it Lord Zhao Chen has brought out only 500 interstellar warships? Even if these 500 interstellar warships of his are mostly T3-grade, the Third Prince's fleet opposite has a full thousand T3-grade interstellar warships, and 20,000 interstellar warships all told. To fight this out… it's very dangerous, isn't it?" the female adjutant muttered at her side.
"The victory or defeat of this campaign needs no more thought. What I'm chiefly curious about is just how many 'hole cards' his Owl Dragon Legion means to show this time," Chu Xuan said.
The female adjutant asked in a small voice, "You mean — Lord Zhao Chen has, in fact, hole cards still hidden in his hand?"
Chu Xuan said nothing, her two eyes fixed on the broadcast feed.
The female adjutant began to feel some curiosity: just how great a capability did this Owl Dragon Legion have, that it could make her Miss trust it so?
The Imperial Capital Star · the Royal Palace.
Consort Zhen, the Second Prince Qin Ming, and Marshal Huang Zhixiong were all present.
"This is a live broadcast; at most there's a delay of a few minutes. By the look of this situation, the Third Prince is a sure thing this time. That Zhao Chen has only 500 interstellar warships; even if these interstellar warships truly are strong, can they really overturn these 20,000 interstellar warships?" Marshal Huang Zhixiong said with a laugh.
The Second Prince Qin Ming said mildly, "Victory or defeat no longer matters; this time it's chiefly a test for my younger brother. Though he's a decent fleet commander, his frame of mind isn't yet up to the mark. These several torments of Zhao Chen's have thrown Ah Hu's mind into disarray. If Zhao Chen does not die, then Ah Hu will never, his whole life long, walk out of this trough. It's to be hoped that, after this battle, Ah Hu can truly grow into himself."
Consort Zhen nodded in agreement.
"In the days to come, your younger brother will become your right arm and your left, helping you make firm your hold upon the throne!"
This campaign, neither great nor small, carried, in the eyes of the various forces, a wholly different significance for each.
And it would, at the same time, overturn no small number of people's original way of thinking.
It would change the whole configuration of the Starlight Empire.
But to return to the matter at hand.
"Report — there remain 15 minutes' time before entering combat range with the Owl Dragon fleet." a crew member reported.
The Third Prince Qin Hu said nothing.
And it was just at this moment that a comm window unfolded before Qin Hu.
"Report — the Owl Dragon Legion's commander, Zhao Chen, has agreed to the video-comm request." The word the adjutant reported set Qin Hu greatly agitated.
Excellent!
At last he could mock that brat Zhao Chen to his very face, could humiliate him a while, could see the look of him now, with death at his doorstep.
He could hear the sound of him pleading for mercy.
And when the time came, he could tell him, line by line, just what manner of end awaited his family and his kinfolk, once they fell into his hands!
At the mere thought of Zhao Chen's rage-consumed expression, there was no telling how delighted Qin Hu felt within.
But just as the video image fully opened, and he saw clearly the image on the far side, he very nearly retched blood in his fury.
For there he saw Zhao Chen reclining back in the captain's chair, and behind him a bewitching woman kneading his shoulders.
And, besides, standing to either side, several women of a beauty to make the fish sink and the wild geese fall.
And most crucial of all — that betrothed of his, Su Lan, was at this moment seated at Zhao Chen's left hand, feeding peeled fruit, one piece at a time, one morsel after another, into Zhao Chen's mouth.
In this instant, Qin Hu felt a mouthful of old blood surge up to the very top of his throat, his head all abuzz.