Charlotte stepped back, a trace of blood on her tiger-fang, and even, of all things, licked it deliberately.
"What was that for?" Zhao Chen was startled by this move of Charlotte's.
If that was meant as a forced kiss… this method was plainly all wrong.
Zhao Chen didn't need to look to know that his lip, top and bottom, had likely taken four small wounds.
But with Zhao Chen's powers of recovery, by now it had already healed as before; only some smears of blood remained.
"In a TV drama Annie shared with me, when you like someone you go up and give them a kiss." Charlotte lowered her head, wearing the look of one who'd done wrong: "Just now… just now I got nervous… and bit down without thinking…"
Zhao Chen didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
How was it that everywhere he turned, there was that fellow Annie's shadow?
"I'm sorry… I… I…" Charlotte wore the look of one afraid she'd angered Zhao Chen; even her ears drooped.
Looking at this endearing great white cat, Zhao Chen stepped forward of his own accord, and folded Charlotte into his arms.
In an instant, Charlotte's tail went stiff and straight, and her cheeks turned red at a speed the eye could follow.
"Come back safe and sound; when you're back, I'll teach you," Zhao Chen murmured softly in Charlotte's ear.
Charlotte's heart went soft and fluttery; she didn't even notice when the Commander had let her go.
She looked at the Commander across from her, and, mustering her courage, called out: "Commander — you have to keep your word!"
With that, Charlotte turned, and in a streak was gone without a shadow.
Zhao Chen touched the place he'd been bitten.
This little thing bit hard, at that.
"Lord Commander, I have some data here to report to you." Lilith's comm window came through at this point.
"I'll come back to the bridge right now. Oh — and I see our Chief Engineer Annie seems to have rather a lot of free time on her hands lately; go arrange some more work for her."
Lilith paused, thinking to herself: and just when did Annie offend the Lord Commander this time?
…
Three days later · the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth
In a remote, desolate star system, several interstellar fleets lurked furtively.
The commanders of a few of the fleets were talking by video.
"What's Ted, that fellow, called us all the way out to this place for?" a Ram-Head commander muttered.
"Who knows. He's been all mysterious this stretch of time; that White Tiger clan of his vanished clean out of sight. Their battle at the Black Wolf Tribe before — that stirred up no small number of people. Blew up the Black Wolf Tribe's home star and that Wolf King star-port fortress both. I hear the Black Wolf Tribe's people are combing the whole cosmos for them. And after searching half a year and more, they've turned up not so much as a single white-tiger hair." another Bull-Head revolutionary-army commander exclaimed.
"That battle truly fought out the spirit of our revolutionary army. To this day I don't believe it was something the White Tiger clan could have pulled off. Those interstellar warships of theirs weren't even as strong as this one revolutionary-army force of mine." a Pig-Head revolutionary-army commander said in puzzlement.
Toward Chief Ted, there was now no end of mystery.
For that battle of the Black Wolf Tribe's before had been, in truth, too hard to believe.
The Ram-Head commander said mysteriously: "I hear — Chief Ted's daughter, General Charlotte, is still alive. And she's found herself a most formidable ally besides; it was that ally who led a fleet and rescued Chief Ted out. This whole stretch of time Chief Ted has been convalescing at this mysterious ally's place. This time he's come back — to strike back!"
The Pig-Head revolutionary-army commander gave a snort: "I've heard that rumor too, but I have my doubts about how true it is. Strike back? Our revolutionary army's too weak right now; forget striking back — even scraping out a bare survival is a great problem. If this ally of Ted's is truly so strong, why not send a fleet over directly?"
The Bull-Head revolutionary-army commander looked at that Pig-Head commander; he knew this Pig-Head was on poor terms with Chief Ted in private.
Comrades in the revolutionary army as everyone was, there'd often be conflicts over the dividing-up of interests all the same.
"Then how do you explain the business earlier of the Black Wolf Tribe's home star system being attacked?" the Bull-Head revolutionary-army commander returned.
The Pig-Head revolutionary-army commander was at a loss for words, but said, still unwilling to yield: "In any case — what I haven't seen with my own eyes, I don't believe!"
Just then, from the bridges of all three revolutionary-army commanders came a report from the radar crews.
"Report — we've detected a great number of interstellar warships emerging from the star region ahead!"
Hearing this news, the three revolutionary-army commanders pressed for the particulars.
"The number of starships is still climbing; the count now showing on radar has already reached 10,000!"
10,000?
"Could it be we've been discovered by a Warhammer legion fleet!" the Pig-Head revolutionary-army commander said in alarm.
"Order all fleets — make ready for battle!" The steady Bull-Head commander was the first to give the order.
But the revolutionary-army fleets here came, all told, to only 3,000 interstellar warships.
If the ones opposite truly were a Warhammer legion fleet, then a pack of rotten fish and rotten shrimp like theirs wouldn't be enough to fill the gaps in the enemy's teeth.
Just at this moment, into the comm programs on their end came a string of garble.
The instant they saw this garble, all three revolutionary-army commanders froze.
They recognized this garble — it was the friend-or-foe identification the revolutionary army used internally.
Could it be… the ones opposite…
"Open the deep-space telescopes — I want to see clearly just what's going on over there!" the Ram-Head commander at once ordered.
The detection range of a deep-space telescope was nowhere near a starship radar's, so there was no choice but to wait slowly.
At last!
In the silent cosmos far off, points of flashing light appeared — the glow given off by the engines of interstellar warships.
Drawing nearer bit by bit.
Dense and teeming, giving one the impression of a resplendent host of stars.
Very soon, the true face of those interstellar warships appeared before their eyes.
A vast number of interstellar warships, sailing up in neat, uniform ranks.
Of these, the overwhelming majority were T2-grade interstellar warships — and all of them, besides, models the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth had never had.
"That's… a T3-grade interstellar warship!" the Bull-Head commander pointed at some of the 'brightest-glowing' interstellar warships among them.
The hull form and structure… beyond doubt, these were T3-grade interstellar warships.
T3 interstellar warships didn't much astonish them, in fact; in the revolutionary army's best days, they too had had T3-grade interstellar warships.
But this number… was, in truth, rather a lot.
"Report — up to now, the interstellar warships showing on radar have exceeded 20,000 and more. By our radar scans, confirmed: the other side's T3-grade interstellar warships number upward of 200!" a crew member reported.
Just then, a crew member suddenly cried out in alarm: "Report — we've detected three exceedingly powerful starship energy signals! At exceedingly high speed, they're crossing through the other side's fleet formation, sailing toward our position."
The three revolutionary-army commanders at once looked to the deep-space-telescope image.
They saw three streaks of red closing in at exceedingly high speed; looking carefully, they found — to their astonishment — that these were three interstellar warships of a crimson-red hull.
"These are T4-grade interstellar cruisers!" the Pig-Head commander's voice trembled a little now.
They discovered, too, that on the hulls of these interstellar warships there was a dragon-and-tiger-patterned crest.