The Chu River Star Region.
The interstellar legions of the Chu River Star Region and its borders had, over the long years, reached a number of 20 interstellar legions, 60,000 and more interstellar warships.
Of these, the Chu family legion's 3,000 interstellar warships — though they belonged to the Chu family's own lord's fleet — had, in the battles of former days against the Mechanical Race, never once hidden themselves at the rear.
Wherever there was a battle, there the figures of the Chu-character interstellar warships would always appear.
And of the remaining interstellar legions, five were resident fleets assigned to the Chu River Star Region by establishment; the rest belonged to the border group-army, chiefly charged with the campaigns of former days against the Mechanical Race.
This border group-army was, too, called the Northern Border Interstellar Main Fleet Group — one of the Starlight Empire's several main fleet groups.
And now this battle-seasoned main fleet group was facing an undercurrent surging within.
The Starlight Empire's 57th Legion.
The handheld terminals of several hundred senior officers all received, in the first instant, a single message; and these officers began to swing into motion.
The bridge of a T4 Boreas-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship.
A brigadier general stepped onto the bridge, and walked toward the command platform.
"Legion Commander."
"Legion Commander."
The bridge soldiers round about, seeing the one who'd come, saluted one after another.
A legion fleet's commander was sometimes called the interstellar-legion commander, and sometimes, too, the Legion Commander.
"General Jin — isn't it your rest-time now?" The adjutant on watch-duty looked toward this Brigadier General Jin.
"I've come to have a look; hand the command authority over to me now," Brigadier General Jin said.
The adjutant looked at Brigadier General Jin.
"You ought not to appear here now."
Brigadier General Jin's body gave a pause; and thereafter his hand reached toward his waist.
But at this moment, that adjutant's laser gun was already pressed against his head — and at the same time, several crew members upon the bridge drew laser guns and took aim at several of the bridge soldiers.
This left the other bridge soldiers feeling it all beyond comprehension; they knew not just what had happened.
And that adjutant, in the first instant, took out a dark-gold Chu-character crest.
"The Chu Family Dark Section. I now declare that the command authority of this interstellar warship belongs to me; the interstellar warship is to shut off its engines and hold position, all soldiers are not permitted to leave their present positions, are not permitted to make any operation of the ship whatever, and are not permitted to conduct comms with anyone."
At the sight of this crest, those soldiers on the bridge who'd been at a loss now, too, honestly and obediently stayed where they were.
The Chu Family Dark Section.
The single most loyal department of the Chu family, kept over the long years in the zones of darkness.
What it chiefly engaged in were intelligence, espionage, counter-espionage, and the like.
No one knew who commanded the Dark Section, and no one knew just how many people the Dark Section had.
"I never imagined that, having worked together three years, you'd, of all things, be a man of the Chu Family Dark Section." Brigadier General Jin no longer reached for his own laser gun; he knew that a move of that sort would be of no use.
The Dark Section's soldiers were all elites, skilled in every manner of combat.
"Rest assured — the Marshal's order is that, so long as you offer no resistance and have done the Chu family no too-great harm, your life will be under no threat," the adjutant said mildly.
Brigadier General Jin inquired, "Can you tell me — at what point was I exposed?"
"From the moment you were transferred into the border group-army. Though the Prince Faction, to hide the identities of you and your kind, first transferred you — from your graduation from the interstellar military academy — to posts in other star regions, circling and turning about for three years before you were transferred into our border group-army — from that very moment, we'd fixed our eyes on you," the adjutant said.
"Why? There's one point I can't make sense of: since you knew my identity, why did the Marshal still confer on me the standing of a legion commander? Why, even… this star of mine was pinned on by him in person." Brigadier General Jin stroked that star of his, moved to some feeling.
The adjutant said, "The Marshal's assessment of you was that you're a qualified soldier, an excellent fleet commander — that the interstellar battlefield is your true home. Setting aside that hidden identity of yours, the Marshal thought highly of you; the border group-army has need of talents such as you."
Brigadier General Jin let a line of tears fall.
"Tell the Marshal for me that I… am sorry to have wronged him."
A thing of this sort was, moreover, taking place throughout the various legions of this border group-army — from the legions' command layers on down to the very lowest-tier soldiers.
So much so that, of all things, this same situation appeared even within the Chu family legion.
"Big Miss." The female adjutant looked at Chu Xuan, who was worrying over the Marshal's affair, and walked slowly up before the desk.
"What's the situation now?" Chu Xuan lifted her head, a weariness in her eyes.
The female adjutant answered, "Up to now, the Dark Section has finished cleaning out 90% of the Prince Faction's people planted here with us. All told, 3,542 will be cleared out, of whom 137 are within the Chu family legion. Along with the trusted personnel these people cultivated over the years — 26,000 and more. Among them, four of general grade, the highest-ranking being a two-star major general. Up to now, the overwhelming majority of the Dark Section's operations have gone very smoothly. The only mishaps were that three T3-grade interstellar warships of the border group-army were seized under enemy control — but they've now been destroyed or stripped of combat ability. And there were, besides, 39 interstellar warships in which small-scale disturbances and disorder broke out, which caused a degree of impact upon the interstellar warships themselves, and brought about some casualties among unrelated personnel. But all of these are still within controllable bounds."
Chu Xuan drew a deep breath, and looked at that list the Dark Section had reported up to her 10 minutes before this incident occurred.
When, at that time, she'd first learned of this list, she'd been left dumbfounded.
And, moreover, the related action-content had, of all things, all been arranged in advance by her grandfather — only with the relevant trigger-conditions attached.
Even Chu Xuan, this now-nominal supreme power-holder of the Chu family, had only just come to learn of it.
Only now did Chu Xuan feel just how terrifying her grandfather was — that even while in the Imperial Capital Star, he could hold the affairs of the Chu River Star Region firmly in his grip.
And what came next was the breaking of the matter of Chu Changhe's murder of the Emperor, and the Prince Faction's order to hunt down Chu Changhe.
In the first instant of receiving this news, Chu Xuan had made ready to order the Chu family legion and the other related legion fleets into combat-readiness the first thing — had even made ready to launch a surprise assault outright!
But once more a set of data had appeared before Chu Xuan.
It was information Chu Changhe had left behind in advance.
Its content was very simple: no matter what befell him in the Imperial Capital Star, the Chu family was not to take any action within one week's time.
This message had, straightaway, pressed down Chu Xuan's action.
Chu Xuan had a feeling for all the world like a fist sinking into cotton — but there was nothing to be done; this was a thing her grandfather had charged her with, and she could only honestly and obediently comply.
One week… in one week's time, a great many things might come to pass.
"I hope Grandpa can come back safe and sound. But should any mishap befall my grandpa, then even if I spend the whole Chu family down to the last, I'll cut my way to the Imperial Capital Star — and kick over that damned throne!" A whole air of murder hung about Chu Xuan.