"Crew-member Chu Xuan, reporting to the Commander-in-Chief." Chu Xuan had changed into a set of Owl Dragon Legion regulation uniform, her lovely figure standing straight before Zhao Chen.
A black hip-hugging military jacket above, black stockings below, paired with leather boots — dashing and spirited.
On the breast of the uniform was the Owl Dragon Legion's crest besides.
This uniform was one of the Owl Dragon Legion's current designs.
As the Owl Dragon Legion grew mightier, many regulations kept being refined.
Take the uniforms — as of now the Owl Dragon Legion had no fewer than several dozen sets of uniform.
By the difference of work post, uniforms of different colors were issued.
Ordinary crew were mainly in white, department heads mainly in blue, and some of the command tier on the bridge mainly in black-with-gold-trim.
Besides, interstellar-fighter pilots, mecha pilots, hangar crew, and so on all had their own regulation uniforms too.
More than that, every branch's uniform had at least three designs of the same style.
For instance a hip-hugging skirt with stockings, a short skirt with over-the-knee socks, and trousers types too.
This could both meet the crew's needs and let one easily tell apart the crew of each department and branch.
And Chu Xuan herself had a fine figure; whether the old Chu-family legion uniform or the present Owl Dragon Legion one, worn on her, there was nothing to fault.
Looking at the beauty before him, why did Zhao Chen feel a black shadow of a wicked old man appear at his back, heh-heh-heh-ing?
"That grandfather of yours, honestly — you were doing fine in the Chu-family legion, and he had to have you come to the Owl Dragon Legion," Zhao Chen said, caught between laughing and crying.
The first instant Chu Changhe had put it forth, Zhao Chen had in fact refused.
Because — with Chu Xuan's ability, learn at Zhao Chen's side?
Don't make jokes; was she to learn from Zhao Chen how to be a hands-off boss?
"What? You look down on me?" Chu Xuan shot back.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem… what a thing to say — you were a deputy commander in the Chu-family legion to begin with. What could you even do in this shabby little place of mine?" Zhao Chen spread his hands.
Chu Xuan narrowed her eyes, looking at Zhao Chen seated in the captain's chair: "Shabby little place? A shabby little place with hundreds of T4 interstellar warships? A shabby little place that could beat the Sacred Angel Legion? A shabby little place that can produce interstellar warships in the thousands a month and supply two great star regions? A shabby little place whose monthly output-value tops 50 billion star coins? A shabby little place that, in the Starlight Empire's first civil war, wiped out over 100,000 enemy interstellar warships with a few thousand? Fine, then — since this is a shabby little place, I'll have a word with my grandfather; you go be a deputy commander in my Chu-family legion, I'll give you my post, and I'll be your deputy. How about it?"
Zhao Chen was dumbfounded; how had this slip of a girl Chu Xuan grown so glib now — and was even poaching at his corner?
"Ahem, ahem — to business. What post do you want to hold here with me?" Seeing "persuasion" avail nothing, Zhao Chen said no more; the Chu-family eldest miss would tire of playing here soon enough, and naturally go back.
As for worrying Chu Xuan might steal secrets or the like.
At present, besides the few T4 interstellar warships still under construction, and Zhao Chen's own System, and the doings brewing in the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth, there were near enough no other secrets kept from the Chu family.
These matters, in fact, were not things that couldn't be told.
And as for the technologies of the interstellar warships and the like, only Zhao Chen held the full set of complete starship technical blueprints; in the whole Owl Dragon Legion, top to bottom, those with clearance to view them numbered no more than three.
Chu Xuan could all the less possibly see them; relying on wandering blindly about inside an interstellar warship, to fathom the starship technology — no telling how many years that would take.
Chu Xuan herself was of no small talent, and this stretch in the Chu-family legion hadn't been tempering for nothing.
As it happened, Zhao Chen was short of hands now; perhaps Chu Xuan really could help him handle no few affairs.
"I can be your secretary-officer." Chu Xuan thrust out her chest, saying it with a confident gaze.
Lilith, handling her work beside them, was startled — a face of innocence and utter incredulity.
This woman had come to steal her job?
……
After the hive-race attack incident, Zhao Chen's four-party alliance held a video conference for the first time.
The four parties were chiefly: Chu Changhe, North Wind Governor Zhu Kai, Princess Qin Xiaolei, Zhao Ruyue, Zhao Chen, Lilith, and Chu Xuan.
Looking at Chu Xuan standing behind Zhao Chen in the video window, Chu Changhe wore a look of it's-all-within-my-grasp.
Chu Xuan did now hold the post of Zhao Chen's secretary-officer, but that didn't mean Zhao Chen no longer wanted Lilith.
Lilith's position was one no one could replace, but that didn't stop Zhao Chen having a few more secretary-officers.
As it was, with the Owl Dragon Legion growing mightier, Lilith's workload had grown; Zhao Chen had long had the notion of setting up a new department.
Taking this chance, it was now settled.
The Commander-in-Chief's Dedicated Secretariat.
With Lilith as the highest secretary-officer, and all the legion-fleets' secretary-officers included within it; besides, Lilith could here cultivate future secretary-officers she deemed fit.
And it could share her workload too.
As of now, this Secretariat's numbers had reached near 100 — and this was only the first batch; in future the number would grow further.
Chu Xuan's present post was to assist Lilith's work.
And in this conference, with Zhao Chen's central thinking as the strategic guideline, the coming plans were settled.
First was to put the offensive on the Imperial Capital Star on hold; the various legion-fleets, while holding firm to their own defense-lines, would establish a localized battlefield in the Azure Star Region.
The aim of this localized battlefield was not to occupy the place outright, but "besiege the point to strike the relief" — to lure Qin Xiaotian into bringing out more of his trumps and committing them to the Azure Star Region.
The Azure Star Region was the knocking-brick Zhao Chen tossed into the deep well, to sound out how deep it ran.
Besides, Zhao Chen had another plan — the Owl Dragon Legion would find a chance to open a second front.
Only so could Qin Xiaotian be forced to show his hand.
There was one more thing to be done.
Earlier, when Qin Ming was not yet dead, Zhao Chen and the others had thought to settle it swiftly, and could disregard the Holy Radiance Empire's possible war-aid entirely.
But now this civil war had been dragged into a fresh quagmire once more.
Zhao Chen had to find a way to sever any covert dealings the Holy Radiance Empire might have established with Qin Xiaotian.
The specific plan, though, would be the Owl Dragon Legion's to draw up; after all, the others hadn't even settled the matters under their own noses, and had no strength to spare for opening a new front.
This thing could only be Zhao Chen's to do.
"Oh, right — if you have any interstellar-procurement plans down the road, you can contact me directly; I can pass it to the Northern Goose Group and have them supply you first, at the most favorable price. And if you have no ready funds or resources, no matter — you can pay by other means." Zhao Chen didn't forget to strike one more piece of business at the end.
After all, nothing could be more important than raking in money.