Blue-Crystal Star-Port.
"Report — the Zone-Three defense-line is breached; the T011 fleet is wiped out to the last!"
"Report — the Zone-Six defense-line has been retaken; the T088 fleet's loss-rate is over 80%, that fleet's commander fallen in battle."
"Report — the Zone-12 defense-line is under assault by a great mass of bug-swarm; the T101 fleet is charged with holding that zone, and the T103 and T104 fleets have been arranged to support!"
Intelligence-report after intelligence-report gathered into the high-command room of the Blue-Crystal Star-Port.
Zhao Ruyue was, at this moment, right here.
She'd given up commanding the battle from her own flagship, choosing instead to move the command post here — for this was a semi-military star-port, with a military-grade star-port command room; commanding the battle here was the fitter arrangement.
Zhao Ruyue gazed at the interstellar holo-table before her; centered on the Blue-Crystal Star-Port, the whole 360°, with no blind angle, was under assault by hive-race fleets.
The number was vast beyond measure!
Had she not relied on this star-port as her position, and on the fine performance of the Owl-Dragon-line interstellar warships, Zhao Ruyue felt she might have been unable to hold out to now at all.
Five hours!
From the attack to now, five hours had passed.
Zhao Ruyue touched her own brow — it was all sweat.
Five hours ago, with the appearance of one hive-race fleet, Zhao Ruyue had paid it no mind; but soon fleet after hive-race fleet came swarming in.
Ringing the Blue-Crystal Star-Port round and round.
At its peak the number even reached 100,000!
And what sort of a notion was 100,000?
That was the count of hive-race fleet that would emerge from a full 30 tier-4 cosmic bug-nests; never mind in the Blue-Crystal star system — set it in any star region of the Starlight Empire, and it was a threat of the gravest kind.
But the surprising thing was—
—though these hive-race fleets were vast in number, T4 Hive Motherships were near enough nowhere to be seen among them.
As of now, the count of T4 Hive Motherships detected was but three!
Among 100,000 hive-race fleet, only three T4 Hive Motherships.
Not normal!
Far too abnormal!
Or rather — the very way these hive-race fleets fought gave off an air of the uncanny.
But however it be, all Zhao Ruyue could do now was hold.
Someone might say — break out?
Zhao Ruyue's subordinates had proposed a breakout too; but Zhao Ruyue looked at the bug-swarm ringing the Blue-Crystal Star-Port three layers within and three without on the interstellar holo-table.
The outcome of a breakout had already surfaced in her mind.
This fleet of 30,000 Imperial Princess Fleet-Group interstellar warships she led would, under the encircling assault of bug-swarm in the tens of thousands front, back, left, right, above, below, be devoured clean by the swarm!
So the only plan was to hold.
To wait, to wait for a miracle to appear.
"Report — our strategic resources are being consumed very fast! There are simply too many bugs!"
"General Zhao, the combat resources we carry are only enough to sustain the present fighting another five hours! We must find a way!"
Looking at her subordinates' expectant eyes.
Zhao Ruyue at this moment had no other way either.
The combat materials they carried, under normal combat conditions, were enough to sustain 100 combat-hours of regular fighting.
But who'd have thought what they'd meet would be a hive-race fleet.
Everyone knew: against a vast hive-race fleet, what one had to ensure was ample ammunition!
Hive-race fleet individuals weren't very strong, but they were many, and there were small-type hive-race units in the tens of thousands besides.
So in fighting a hive-race fleet, combat resources were consumed at a rate several times over regular fighting.
The interstellar warships on the defense-lines — their gun-muzzles had near enough never stopped.
Some interstellar warships' muzzles had, in the span of these five short hours, fired off perhaps a whole year's ordnance-consumption of ordinary times!
Not stopping!
Not for a single moment could they stop.
Once a bug-swarm unit closed in, the outcome was one everyone knew all too well.
"Hold! Keep holding! Keep trying to contact the outside — we must believe our friendly forces will surely discover we're under attack, and come to our aid!" Zhao Ruyue clenched her fists, going on rallying the fighting spirit.
"Report — here's the new radar-scan data. Because there are too many bug-swarm units around, the star-port's radar range has shortened to 30% of the original." a subordinate updated the radar data.
But the radar range was too small.
There was nothing to be done, though — the bug-swarm units were truly too many.
Zhao Ruyue raised her head and looked out the viewport several meters behind her; in that direction there had originally been a star, and by this hour of times past, that star would shine straight upon their star-port.
But now.
Because of the dense bug-swarm units, the scene outside — save for the firelight the fighting threw off — was pitch-black all over!
That scene weighed on Zhao Ruyue's heart like a black mountain.
Zhao Ruyue lowered her head, her mood heavy.
"Look! Look over there!"
Suddenly, someone — there was no telling who — cried out in astonishment, pointing at the far star-sky.
At the same time, a crewman at the energy-type radar-detection cried out: "Beyond the Zone-Nine defense-line — dense explosive energy-fluctuations have appeared!"
Dense explosive energy-fluctuations?
Zhao Ruyue jerked her head up, and gazed toward the Zone-Nine direction through the star-port's deep-space telescope.
She could see a burning "fire-cloud."
That "fire-cloud" was swallowing hive-race fleet sheet by sheet.
"It's interstellar-missile bombardment! It's interstellar-missile bombardment! It's my kid brother's Owl Dragon Legion! We're saved!" Zhao Ruyue cried in excitement.
She knew this well.
Firepower bombardment so dense — who else but the Owl Dragon Legion?
"Ssss… ssss…"
Just then, in the comm channel that had been trying without cease to reach the outside, a blurred, indistinct voice appeared.
Not waiting for the crewman to report, Zhao Ruyue at the first instant routed it before her.
"Ssss… this… is… ssss… Owl Dragon… First… please… your side… keep… ssss… holding… stand by…"
Blurred and indistinct though it was, the voice could roughly be made out — and it was, moreover, a magnetic male voice.
Zhao Ruyue could not have been more familiar with it.
And as all knew, in the whole Owl Dragon Legion there was only one man.
That was her own kid brother, Zhao Chen.
Zhao Ruyue dragged her somewhat weary body over and sat in a chair, letting a small, eased smile surface: "Come to think of it, this makes twice now. As the elder sister, I now have to rely on my kid brother to save my life."
This feeling of being watched over — Zhao Ruyue had felt it a second time now.
She still remembered the first time — when she'd been fleeing through the Grey Moon Star Region with the little princess Qin Xiaolei.
They'd been in utter despair then too, but Zhao Chen, like a god of war dropping from the heavens, had brought them hope.
And spirited them out.
This time.
He'd appeared all the same.
"Patch me through to the whole fleet's internal comms — I want to speak!" Zhao Ruyue suddenly ordered.
"Whole-fleet internal comms open," a subordinate said.
Zhao Ruyue looked at the comm interface before her, and drew a deep breath: "My kid brother — Owl Dragon Legion Commander-in-Chief Zhao Chen. Has come to save us! You hear me! Every one of you, hold on for me — the end of our journey is not here!"