Early March, Galactic Star Calendar 3034.
More than a month had gone by since the battle at the Blue-Crystal Star-Port in the Azure Star Region.
Through this stretch of time, the interstellar powers on Qin Xiaotian's side and Zhao Chen's had fallen once again into a quiet with something uncanny about it. Small-scale fighting did break out here and there, but the scale of it was held to no more than a few thousand interstellar warships.
Taking the larger picture, it was Chu Changhe and the rest who had the advantage of it: the ground actually under control in the Azure Star Region now stood at two-thirds in the hands of Chu Changhe and his allies. As for the fleets Qin Xiaotian had deployed in the Azure Star Region, they had, without exception, gone over to a defensive strategy.
And this calm — most saw plainly enough what it was. Both sides were merely laying their plans for the next decisive battle. The questions were only these: where to fight, how to fight, how many ships to commit, and when.
On which points, one hardly needed to guess: there was no telling how many war-games the various powers had run in private, and every manner of contingency plan was long since sitting in the databases.
The Owl Dragon System · a T3 Silver Eden-class Starship · the Eden resort zone.
Because of the fine environment aboard the Edens, Zhao Chen had specially had portions of them refitted into resort zones — on the condition, of course, that the production tasks took no harm from it.
"Commander-in-Chief, this is the sweetest fruit we have here!" A rabbit-eared girl stood prettily at Zhao Chen's side, peeling the fruit with her own hands and holding it up to his mouth.
At which action, the corner of Lilith's mouth — for she had taken note of the scene — gave a small twitch.
"Good… my thanks." Zhao Chen noticed none of this and swallowed the fruit as a matter of course.
And say what you like, the taste was truly beyond quarrel — bigger and fuller than the fruit the starship canteens served, and juicier by far.
Zhao Chen had barely finished the one when another was held up to his mouth.
"Commander-in-Chief, try this one of mine." Lilith had crouched down at some point beside Zhao Chen's chair, a peeled fruit cupped in her own hands too.
"Mmf— I hafn't— fnished th'one—" Zhao Chen had got no further when Lilith pushed the flesh of the fruit straight into his mouth, her fingertip brushing his tongue in passing.
Lilith looked across at the rabbit-girl opposite, and there was a flourish of triumph in it.
"Commander-in-Chief, this one is very sweet." The other was not moved in the least, and went on gently holding up a fruit of a new variety.
Zhao Chen chewed a few times, and his eyes lit. "Truly — thlick."[1]
Soon enough, though, Zhao Chen came upon the seeds inside, and he looked about him for somewhere to spit them.
"Forgive me, Commander-in-Chief — no waste-bin was set out. Spit them into my hand for now." The rabbit-eared girl wore the look of one who had done wrong, and cupped both hands before his eyes.
This woman!
For the first time, Lilith felt the standing of her own 'succubus' shaken.
Chiefly because, for all that the rabbit-eared girl did these things, that guileless face of hers had nothing of the coquette showing off about it — it gave one, instead, a sudden turn of the heart.
Zhao Chen hesitated, but looking at those bright red eyes of hers he spat the seeds out after all.
The seeds were very small and very many, and seemed to carry a chill of their own.
The first few fell into the rabbit-eared girl's hands, but some slipped and flew wide, and several of them came to rest square upon the rabbit-eared girl's own soft slopes.
"Mmm—" The rabbit-eared girl's body gave a shiver, and a low, soft gasp escaped her.
Because those seeds were cold.
"Forgive me, I—" Without thinking, Zhao Chen made to retrieve the seeds that had landed where seeds had no business landing.
But a pair of hands caught his own, and held it fast.
Lilith squeezed out a thin smile at his side. "Commander-in-Chief, this is a thing you may leave to me."
So saying, Lilith planted herself between the Commander-in-Chief and the rabbit-eared girl, and set about picking up the seeds — and at the same time, as if by pure accident, gave one heavy grasp.
The rabbit-eared girl took the pain of it, and turned great swimming eyes upon Lilith.
Lilith's brow arched a little, for all the world as though she were declaring her sovereignty.
The rabbit-eared girl, not the least bit daunted, thrust out her chest.
At which action Lilith cast a glance down at her own front. Hers could not be called small, it was true — but set against the rabbit-eared girl's…
"A-Na, you and your sister really do look very alike. When you received us just now, I nearly failed to know you." Zhao Chen looked at this rabbit-eared girl beside him, who waited on him for all the world like a maidservant.
Her standing was no ordinary one.
Under the Owl Dragon Legion, the chief head of the Eden Grain-Trade Group: A-Na of the rabbit-folk.
Full sister to A-Yun, whom Zhao Chen had met before — the head of the Reviver-class Clone-Human Starship.
"In truth there are a great many places where my sister and I differ. Next time, if the chance offers, the Commander-in-Chief may look more closely." A-Na said it in a soft voice.
Rabbit-eared girls — and a pair of sisters?
Lilith felt a jolt go through her. Where a man was concerned, that was a weapon of slaughter!
"Aah, I've lost again. Another round! I don't believe it — I won't have it that my interstellar battleship tactics can't beat your carrier starship tactics!" Some way off, Xue Xiaoxiao scratched at her head in vexation.
Xue Xiaoxiao was running war-games with Su Lan: identical interstellar legions on both sides, meeting within one patch of space, and then fighting it out. Xue Xiaoxiao, naturally, went by her own style, with interstellar battleships for the core of the fleet. Su Lan brought out hers, with carrier starships for the core.
Thus far Xue Xiaoxiao had fought three and lost three.
Chitong, Zhao Ruyue, Medusa, Zhao Wan'er and the others were all off to one side, enjoying the good food and watching the match.
Zhao Chen caught sight of a figure in the distance moving with a furtive air; he rose and walked over.
The rabbit-girl A-Na made to follow, but Lilith barred her way.
Lilith narrowed her eyes at A-Na. "I believe I understand now why you'd go out of your way to receive the Commander-in-Chief in person. So this was the intent you had tucked away!"
The rabbit-girl A-Na was not daunted in the least. She shrugged and said with a smile, "Secretary-Officer Lilith, is there some problem with my being as I am? The Commander-in-Chief has all along been the idol of every young woman in our Owl Dragon Legion, high and low. Is there some problem with my liking the Commander-in-Chief, with my longing after him?"
Lilith was taken aback; she had not thought A-Na would be so direct about it.
Her temper truly was the exact opposite of her sister A-Yun's.
"And have you not seen a crisis lying latent in our Owl Dragon Legion at present!" the rabbit-girl A-Na said, and of a sudden she was in earnest.
"What crisis?" Lilith asked.
"The Owl Dragon Legion's successor! The passing-on of the Commander-in-Chief's bloodline!" the rabbit-girl A-Na said, her face grave. "The Owl Dragon Legion has come now to nearly four years. And now, though the Owl Dragon Legion would not dare call itself the strongest interstellar power in the Starlight Empire, it is an existence enough to give any power on any side cause for fear. And with things standing so — never mind an heir of his blood, the Commander-in-Chief has not, to this day, so much as one woman. That is the greatest crisis the Owl Dragon Legion faces at present! It may not be pleasant hearing, my saying it so, but suppose that some day the Commander-in-Chief were to meet with some danger — what then becomes of the Owl Dragon Legion? I can promise you that if it truly came to that, this Owl Dragon Legion that looks so strong now would fall to pieces in an instant. Because we are not like those old-line powers — we have no roots under us and nothing laid down beneath. It has all been drawn together by the Commander-in-Chief and no one else! The Commander-in-Chief is the soul of the Owl Dragon Legion's arms."
Hearing this of the rabbit-girl A-Na's, there was a complicated look in Lilith's eyes. It was not that she had never turned the matter over herself.
But seeing how easy and unbothered the Commander-in-Chief was in his own manner, she had never raised it.
"The Commander-in-Chief's life is fated not to hold only one woman. A man of his kind will not belong to any one woman either. So — if the Secretary-Officer has a mind to it, I can let you go first. But if you have no thought of it in that line, then I ask you to put the legion's interest foremost."
The rabbit-girl A-Na leaned close to Lilith's ear and said, very softly, "Leave the chance to your sisters, then."