Arctic Fox Starport · interstellar-mission headquarters.
"Sir, there's no use in your calling us here. This is a tier-2 cosmic bug-nest — three or more T2 Hive Motherships at the least, and 30 or more T1 Hive Motherships! With adventurer fleets like ours alone, how could we possibly hold them off for hours?"
"Bounty of a full 500,000 star coins or no, one has to be alive to spend it, doesn't one? Everyone knows that dealing with the bugs, one slip and your whole ship's overrun — and they don't give you the chance to surrender and be taken prisoner."
"So 5 million people die — so what? If you ask me, the sensible thing is to fall back to asteroid P300 behind us; it has 20 million people, and holding a defense at that position, we'd need to hold out two hours at most before the first relief force arrives. But at asteroid P331, we'd have to withstand the interstellar hive-race's assault for at least three hours to see those 5 million safely evacuated. The risk is too great."
In a certain room, the chief liaison of Arctic Fox Starport looked, brows knit with worry, at the three commanders of the largest private fleets currently at the starport.
All three had, on one pretext or another, refused to take the mission.
"In my own name, I'll add a further hundred thousand star coins! Won't you reconsider? This mission isn't asking you to fight the bugs to the death — you need only stall them three hours… perhaps two would be enough." the chief liaison pressed.
"Never mind 600,000 — even 1 million, whoever wants the job can have it. I, for one, won't do it. And come to think of it, that fleet commander who dragged a fleet off on his own to safely evacuate P331's 5 million — has he had his head slammed in a door? And you lot, too — why not just have the Arctic Fox lord give the order and pull his fleet back?" one of them said with a curled lip.
The chief liaison heaved a long sigh; his was a bitterness there was no telling of.
The lord above him, of course, wanted that imperial-navy fleet pulled back. Though the imperial navy wasn't under his direct command, ordinarily a fief's lord carried some authority all the same.
The more so as the Arctic Fox star system's lord was a count, and the Arctic Fox star system was one of the North Wind Star Region's most flourishing systems, its standing no small thing.
But as ill luck would have it, that imperial-navy fleet commander's identity was… more remarkable still.
The Arctic Fox lord had said as much: those 5 million — indeed, throw in the 70 million on the worlds behind them, let them all die to the last — and he'd not feel the pinch.
But should any harm come to that commander, then he would have a great deal of trouble on his hands.
Just then, a message flashed onto the chief liaison's handheld terminal; seeing its contents, he was, all at once, overjoyed.
He patched it through on the instant.
"Hello — you say there's a fleet willing to take this bounty mission?"
The three men present all heard the chief liaison's excited words, and looked at one another.
None of the three of them dared take this mission; where had some greenhorn sprung from who did?
"Paperwork's not complete? It's fine, it's fine — at a critical moment like this, we'll keep every procedure to the barest minimum. Best of all if they can set out at once," the chief liaison said.
Something occurred to him, and he asked, "What's this fleet's background? How many ships do they have?"
"The Bla… the Black Dragon Fleet? Currently at our starport… just two ships?" The chief liaison was dumbfounded.
The Black Dragon Fleet?
The three men murmured the name over. In all the North Wind Star Region, they'd never heard of any such figure.
And only two ships?
Granted, it was possible the greater part of their ships weren't berthed at the starport.
But was there truly someone who dared take on this mission?
"Never mind — whatever fleet they are. Tell them, please, that they must set out at once. If they complete this mission smoothly, Arctic Fox Starport will add a further hundred thousand… no, 200,000 star coins to their reward!" the chief liaison said.
The comm ended.
The chief liaison looked at the three men present and asked once more, "Won't the three of you truly reconsider? This bounty mission has no cap on numbers; if you all went together, perhaps…"
"Forget it, forget it. Such an easy score — best leave it to this Black Dragon Fleet, whatever they are," one of them said in a mocking tone.
"I'd rather like to see whether they can get those 5 million people safely away," another said, teasing, his tone and eyes wholly disbelieving that the other side could pull it off.
……
T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship · the bridge.
"Mr. Zhao Chen, we've registered you on our end; you've accepted the mission. And we've further added 200,000 star coins to the reward; complete this mission and you'll receive 700,000 star coins in all." The woman spoke to Zhao Chen over the video comm.
"Understood; thank you," said Zhao Chen.
"I wish you a triumphant return," the woman said.
The comm ended.
Zhao Chen looked at the other video-comm window — Charlotte's.
"What's this about a Black Dragon Fleet?" Charlotte asked, curious.
Zhao Chen explained, "Registering for the mission needs a name; I thought it over and decided against using the name of the Owl Dragon Fleet — too conspicuous. So for outside purposes we'll go by the Black Dragon Fleet for now."
His explanation done, Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte. "Aren't you curious why I'm so set on taking this mission?"
Charlotte said, "What mission to accept is your affair, Captain. As your subordinate, the one thing I need do is go and fight."
It had to be said — Charlotte truly was a most excellent ship-commander.
Right now the T2 Queen Bee and Blizzard Zero were pulling out of Arctic Fox Starport; there was still some time before they'd enter the warp-travel state.
So Zhao Chen went on, "How many chances of winning do you think we have, taking this mission with just the two of us?"
Charlotte's expression turned grave. She raised a hand and summoned up a holographic image of the mission briefing. "This is a tier-2 cosmic bug-nest — assume three or more T2 Hive Motherships and 30 T1 Hive Motherships. Slug it out to the end, and we have little chance of winning; because those bugs… we have no interstellar supply ship at present, and even if we spent every last round of ammunition, we couldn't necessarily wipe them all out. But if it's only a matter of stalling for time — of buying the 5 million people on asteroid P331 the window to evacuate — then that's a far easier thing. About 80%, I'd say."
"That high? I thought you'd say I was being reckless." Zhao Chen was a little surprised by Charlotte's judgment.
Charlotte said, "For two ordinary T2 ships, the odds wouldn't reach 30%. But these two ships of yours can't be described as ordinary T2 ships. And besides, I've had a few brushes with the interstellar hive-race myself; so long as it isn't the hive-race on a truly massive scale, the threat isn't really so great."
With Charlotte saying so, Zhao Chen's confidence swelled.
"Warp route pre-set complete; we now enter the acceleration phase, and will enter the warp phase in 10 minutes. All crew, enter deep-sea mode within 10 minutes! I repeat — all crew, enter deep-sea mode within 10 minutes!" Zhao Chen gave the order.
Target! The edge of the Arctic Fox star system, asteroid P331!