3,000 interstellar warships — 3,000 T3-grade-and-above interstellar warships, no less — arrayed there before you.
Just what sort of feeling that was, this second son of a marquis's house came, this time, truly to know.
It was for all the world like being fixed in the sights of 3,000-odd giant beasts, that the next second would swarm up and rend you apart to be devoured whole.
The marquis's second son gulped, and said tensely to his subordinate: "Give the word again — without my order, not a single interstellar warship is to make any rash move! Whoever the devil dares so much as stir, this daddy will crush his skull!"
"Yes… yes… yes!"
Resist?
Who'd dare harbor such a notion.
In this system, the interstellar warships they'd brought came, all told, to fewer than 300; two-thirds of those were auxiliary-type interstellar warships of one kind or another, and the true combat-type interstellar warships numbered under 100 and some.
Of T3-grade interstellar warships there were but three or four.
Little fish and little shrimp such as these wouldn't be enough to fill the gaps in the other side's teeth.
The marquis's second son, his heart quailing, fixed his eyes on that enormous crimson-red interstellar warship in the star-universe opposite; he'd heard tell of this interstellar warship.
The T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser!
The Starlight Empire's third class of T4-grade interstellar warship.
That, no doubt, would be the flagship of the great personage opposite.
When the Mechanical Race had withdrawn its forces before, these vacated outer-ring ownerless star systems had been reckoned a fine windfall of wealth.
And so these nobles had swarmed in, taking up these systems and beginning to develop and work them.
But who could have foreseen that, before they'd made anything of it, civil war would break out in the Empire!
When this news came, these nobles 'opening frontier and extending territory' out on the Empire's fringe were, every one, cursing inwardly.
Going by geography, the Chu River Star Region lay between them and the Starlight Empire.
With the Chu River Star Region now waging civil war against the Prince Faction, that amounted to cutting off their line of contact with home.
Were the Chu River Star Region to leave them be, well and good — their resources could hold out here a few decades without trouble.
The fear was that the Chu River Star Region would take the knife to them.
And so these noble scions were, every one, most displeased at heart with this operation of the Prince Faction's.
Even if there was to be war, they could at least have sent word!
Let them pull back home first, at any rate!
How had it come to this present plight — reduced to the standing of a discarded pawn?
"We've received a comm request from the interstellar fleet opposite." the subordinate, at this point, looked toward the noble lord, trembling all over.
The marquis's second son drew a deep breath: "Patch it through."
The video window opened; on the other end was a man seated in a captain's chair.
Very young, without the ferocious look he'd imagined — but that pair of eyes carried an authority one dared not meet.
"My name is Zhao Chen. By order of the Governor of Chu River, I've come to take over these systems on the Empire's outer ring," Zhao Chen said.
He was clever enough: though what he did was for his own gain, since he could fly old Chu's banner, there was no need to go parading himself about in the open.
"Ah… ah, I'm of the Zhou clan, lords of the K766 Star System in the Empire's Pegasus Star Region; my father is a marquis of the Empire, and I'm his second son. My father's on rather good terms with the Governor of Chu River…" the marquis's second son said gingerly.
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes: "So what is it you mean to say?"
"Ah… by the developer's agreement we signed with the Empire back then, we were charged with developing this system… we paid the Empire's side 5 million star coins in advance…" the marquis's second son said in a small voice.
When the Mechanical Race had pulled its troops back before, a great many ownerless star systems had been left vacant.
On its own strength alone, the Empire found it hard to swiftly swallow up and set to working and developing these systems.
And so the best method was to take up this sort of cooperative arrangement — having the nobles at home step forth to open up and operate these systems, whereby the Empire could both come by a sum of funds and, once development was complete, take a later share besides.
And of course, on the surface, the Empire would step forth to protect these 'pioneers' as well.
Only… as things now stood… it had all grown rather delicate.
"So — you want us to pay you back this sum of money?" Zhao Chen let a trace of a smile show.
"I'd not dare… I'd not dare… we… we…" the marquis's second son was, by now, near to weeping with anxiety.
Inwardly he cursed that damnable Second Prince Qin Ming who-knew-how-many times over.
"I'll give you three days. Whatever you've invested and built here, whatever you wish to carry off — carry off, all of it. Three days from now, this place belongs, formally, to us. And we'll pay you no compensation whatever. An agreement we never agreed to — that's so much paper in a latrine-pit," Zhao Chen said coldly.
"Yes… yes…" the marquis's second son said timidly.
When one stands beneath another's eaves, one has no choice but to bow the head.
Seeing the other side's yielding attitude, Zhao Chen's manner, at this point, suddenly shifted: "Still, we do rather sympathize with your plight. If you're willing to work with us, then here with us, you can likewise come by no small benefit."
Zhao Chen was, just now, very short of people here — above all of non-combat management personnel.
On the strength of the Owl Dragon Star System's little patch of turf alone, how many of this sort of personnel could be cultivated?
The more so when what Zhao Chen had to manage was an interstellar domain spanning the bounds of several star regions.
Even Li Yaqi of the Northern Goose Group and Red Rose of the Bramble Group were, just now, fretting over this very matter.
And so, as regarded these noble figures out opening frontier across this stretch of the star-universe, Zhao Chen had, well in advance, ordered Lilith to run a whole series of background investigations — sorting these people into categories, ruling out any on close terms with the Prince Faction, and giving priority to developing any with whom cooperation was possible.
"You… this is… what do you mean?" the marquis's second son inquired probingly; he'd already caught a thread of something out of the ordinary in the other's air.
Zhao Chen explained: "We'll be carrying out development work on these systems hereafter too. By our own capabilities, we can indeed fully take on this task. But we hope as well to have partners take part in it — to share some of the load for us."
The marquis's second son seemed to catch the scent of opportunity, and at once inquired: "Is it a partnership to mine the system's resources together?"
Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes, and said slowly: "If you want to work with us, the resource-mining side is nothing you need trouble over; I have people to take charge of that. What you'd mainly be charged with is this system's public order, logistics, civil affairs, and the construction and upkeep of other basic infrastructure. To speak plainly — though this pie can't compare with resource-mining, it's a considerable one all the same."
The resource-mining side had Zhao Chen's two established mining groups to take charge of it; this vital industry, Zhao Chen would never let others get a hand into — at the least, not for now.
But as for the other, related auxiliary trades, Zhao Chen didn't mind outsiders stepping in to share a little of his burden.