Out of the Blue-Crystal Star-Port came a T3 Imperial-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship, voyaging slowly toward the resting-and-refitting Owl Dragon Legion position.
Nearing a T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser, it launched a shuttle-craft.
At the same time, from a few nearby interstellar warships, several shuttle-craft were launched too, entering the hangar of that T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser.
In the T4 Vermilion Bird's meeting room.
Zhao Ruyue walked in, and the next second a figure flung itself upon her, head burrowing between two peaks.
"Sister!"
Zhao Ruyue looked at Zhao Wan'er's worry-filled face, and felt warm within.
She looked to the head seat of the meeting room, where Zhao Chen was watching her with a smile.
"All right — how old are you now? You're a whole interstellar legion's deputy commander at least; mind your bearing a little." Zhao Ruyue looked at this little sister before her, reminding her.
When she'd earlier heard the Owl Dragon Legion was split into three legion-fleets, she'd learned her little sister held a legion deputy-commander post among them.
Truth be told, that her sister held so important a post, Zhao Ruyue had been quite worried.
But the battlefield scene she'd just witnessed, the interstellar stealth-bombers' attack operation—
—made her keenly aware that her little sister had long since grown; her strength was enough to bear the post she now held, and she was no longer the little girl who, in Zhao Ruyue's eyes, needed her protection.
After all, Zhao Ruyue herself now had to look to these two, her younger brother and sister, for protection.
"So what if I'm grown — grown, I'm still your little sister." Zhao Wan'er stuck out her tongue; now she and Zhao Ruyue each had their own affairs, and in daily life could scarcely meet, at most chatting by comm-device in their spare time.
"This girl." Zhao Ruyue looked at this little sister of hers, helpless, and gave a somewhat apologetic look to the company already waiting around the meeting table.
Besides Zhao Chen and Zhao Wan'er.
Present here were Lilith, Chitong, and the Second Legion's secretary-officer Bessie.
"Carry on — we're not in a hurry." Zhao Chen teased.
Zhao Ruyue shot over an eye-roll, and it took no small effort to get Zhao Wan'er to sit obediently in a chair.
In fact Zhao Chen could see this was Zhao Wan'er releasing the pressure within her; earlier, facing that Leviathan-Monarch-class Hive Mothership, to say she'd felt no fear within would be a lie.
Zhao Chen reckoned that even he, before that terrifying behemoth, wouldn't dare claim to be wholly without fear.
"Sister, how stand your fleet's losses?" Zhao Chen asked, coming straight to the point.
At the mention of this, Zhao Ruyue's gaze dimmed a little; she said: "In this campaign, we were assaulted by an out-of-nowhere hive-race fleet, and took great losses. But for these interstellar warships you provided, and the Blue-Crystal Star-Port at our back, we couldn't have held out at all until you came to our aid. Who'd have thought there'd be 100,000 bug-swarm here! As of now, of our original 30,000 interstellar warships, only under 10,000 remain, and most of these are damaged to varying degrees; likely they'll need to enter dry-dock for repairs once we're back. As for personnel losses… over 7 million interstellar warriors have fallen."
Hearing all Zhao Ruyue recounted, Zhao Chen found this was within his expectations.
Though Zhao Ruyue was fitted with Zhao Chen's Owl-Dragon-line interstellar warships, and had the related escape equipment, in the other interstellar fleets — including his own eldest sister's — the awareness on the escape front was in fact not very strong.
Most of what was learned from academy books, too, was the heroic spirit of sacrifice.
But in the Owl Dragon Legion, what Zhao Chen stressed again and again was: don't throw your lives away for nothing; when you should abandon ship, abandon ship decisively; when you should flee, flee!
So in Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon Legion, most of the time, even when an interstellar warship was destroyed, the crew's survival-rate was very high.
"And you? For coming to save us this time, you took great losses too, didn't you?" Zhao Ruyue looked at Zhao Chen, saying it with some shame.
Zhao Chen looked to Lilith beside him, and Lilith spoke: "In this campaign, the Owl Dragon First Legion and the Owl Dragon Second Legion lost near 1,000 interstellar warships in all, a loss-rate reaching near 20%. Above all it was on the strategic-materials-consumption front; in the span of a single day— —we burned through over 50 billion star coins' worth of strategic materials!"
Zhao Chen covered his face.
50 billion star coins.
They'd originally been amassing combat materials for the next-stage offensive, and now look.
This one fight of Zhao Chen's had again consumed 50 billion star coins.
Still, this consumption was worth it; but for that 50 billion star coins spent, the interstellar warships the two Owl Dragon legions lost might not have been 1,000, but 3,000!
Or even more.
"Among them we lost three T4 Paladin-class Heavy Interstellar Missile-Escorts," Lilith added.
Chitong, Zhao Wan'er, and the rest felt their hearts grow heavy at this too.
Three T4 Paladin-class Heavy Interstellar Missile-Escorts — in the earlier first civil war, the Owl Dragon Legion might not have taken so great a loss.
It was simply that this battle came too suddenly.
Add to that the hive-race fleet's style of fighting, and to have fought to this outcome counted as excellent already.
"All right, everyone — don't hang your heads. Though we paid a bit of a price, at the least we won this one, and we've seen what cards Qin Xiaotian holds. With that, in the fighting to come, at least on this front we won't be caught out," Zhao Chen said, looking at the women.
Everyone nodded.
Zhao Ruyue said in a low, heavy voice: "This Prince Yan, Qin Xiaotian, hid himself very deep — not only killed Qin Ming and seized the throne. Now he's even brought out this sort of technology, controlling hive-race fleets… Had I not lived through it myself, it would truly be hard to imagine. Does Qin Xiaotian not fear this technology he wields will turn and bite him? Will the others in their hearts be convinced? After all, this is the hive-race…"
In the records of the Galactic Alliance's various empires, of the hive-race there was near enough not one good word.
Zhao Chen said: "That's two separate matters; though I don't know how Qin Xiaotian managed all this. But so long as he can command this killing stroke, that pack that follows him won't dare kick up any waves. After all, whether it's a hive-race fleet or a beast-race fleet, so long as it's held in hand, it's one's own weapon — it can be used to overawe the crowd. Those who won't obey, Qin Xiaotian need only kill."
At this, Zhao Chen paused, then went on: "Too much off-topic talk — let's speak of proper business. This campaign we escaped by a hair, but our own losses are no small thing either, above all on the combat-resources front. The Owl Dragon First Legion has under 20% left, the Owl Dragon Second Legion under 50%. So my suggestion is that your Imperial Princess Fleet-Group's coming offensive against the Azure Star Region be put on hold for now. Wait until everyone has discussed a conclusion regarding this incident, then revise the earlier operational plan."
"All right; once communications are restored, I'll contact the Princess and the others at once." Zhao Wan'er nodded; the hive-race fleet in Qin Xiaotian's hand was a great threat, not to be acted against rashly.
Just then, the comm equipment on Lilith's side flickered; she received a message.
She looked to the Commander-in-Chief and reported: "Long-range quantum communication has been restored; it's word from the Owl Dragon System. When Qin Xiaotian moved against us, he moved against the Owl Dragon System too."