Seeing Commander-in-Chief Zhao Chen come back—
Panther-Girl and the rest still wore a look of worry all the same.
The Commander-in-Chief's move a moment ago had truly come too suddenly.
Panther-Girl had heard before now that the Commander-in-Chief appeared to possess very strong ability as a single fighting man, though she had never thought much on it.
But by the look of things now — going by that fighting ability the Commander-in-Chief had shown a moment ago, it went clean past that of this whole guard squad of theirs.
"Reckon out the fastest way of withdrawing, and get us back to our own starship at once!" Zhao Chen said to Panther-Girl, Saint Cana still over his shoulder.
And now was the hour for the guard squad to come into its own.
"We have starships too—" Saint Cana had barely begun.
When Zhao Chen gave her a slap. "Don't talk. Those people were attacking you. And if I've guessed rightly, that warship you came in has likely had trouble of its own inside it too; whether it's still safe and sound at this moment is anybody's guess. Besides which, you have no right of choice just now."
The points of light on Saint Cana's face would not stop coming and going, and she looked at this black-armored man with resentment in it. If you have something to say, could you not say it without using your hands?
And if you must use your hands, could you not slap— slap— slap me there!
Those subordinates of Saint Cana's, seeing the scene, could only be furious and hold their tongues.
The most vital thing now was still keeping the Lady Saint Cana safe.
"Commander-in-Chief, I've made contact with our shuttle. The shuttle will come directly into this channel, and we can go across to it on foot — 15 minutes, by estimate, to reach that position. And then aboard the shuttle, 10 minutes after that will bring us to where our starship lies berthed!" Panther-Girl was a professional and no mistake; in the space of a few seconds she had the withdrawal route reckoned out.
"Then begin the withdrawal. Your lot keep up with us." That last of Zhao Chen's was addressed to Saint Cana's subordinates.
Panther-Girl at once ordered her guard squad into a covering formation, with the Commander-in-Chief protected in the middle, and began the withdrawal at the greatest speed they could make.
Along the way they did meet with some harassing attacks, but all from single-soldier arms, with no combat mecha to be had.
And Panther-Girl's guard squad, along with Saint Cana's, had rather more than enough in hand to deal with attackers of that sort.
Alarming but without real hazard, Zhao Chen and the rest came to where the shuttle lay berthed.
"Commander-in-Chief!" One of the women of the crews stood with a weapon in hand, posted near the berth well beforehand, and the weapons mounted on the shuttle were keeping watch on the surroundings as well.
At the same time a line of defense had been thrown up about the shuttle, to be sure that through all of this the shuttle should come under no attack.
"Withdraw." Zhao Chen wasted no words, and went aboard the shuttle with Saint Cana over his shoulder.
Those guard soldiers of Saint Cana's could only set their teeth and follow after.
The shuttle's interior, which had been reasonably roomy before, looked a good deal more crowded all at once with Saint Cana's people added to it.
"Here… you can put me down now… surely."
They were safe at this point, and everyone about had turned their eyes on Zhao Chen standing there, and on the Saint Cana over his shoulder.
Zhao Chen let go his hand, and Saint Cana landed square on her backside.
Saint Cana took the pain of it and glared, out of all temper, at this strange black-armored man in front of her.
What in the world was he?
He had stepped in and saved her — and yet his manner toward her was as disrespectful as this.
"What sort of man are you, in the end? Why did you save us?" Saint Cana asked with her brows knitted.
"Doesn't the Lady Saint Cana know me? We fought a battle together not so long ago, after all." Zhao Chen said it in a tone of open mockery.
Fought a battle?
Hearing which, Saint Cana was more at a loss than before.
And now Zhao Chen pressed the button at his neck, and the helmet of this single-soldier black armor released itself, showing Zhao Chen's true face at last.
Saint Cana looked at the familiar man in front of her, wearing a faint smile.
They had met but once — yet this man before her she knew far, far too well; all this while she had even seen him in her dreams a good many times.
Because he was the one who had brought that shame upon her, who had beaten her in the Sacred-War Duel — the Commander-in-Chief of the Owl Dragon Legion!
Zhao Chen!
In that instant, Saint Cana's hand went without thinking toward the weapon at her waist; and those guard subordinates of Saint Cana's, upon seeing Zhao Chen's face, likewise reached for their own weapons at the first instant.
"Don't move!"
But the next second, Panther-Girl and the rest, with a swiftness that gave no time to cover one's ears, had every one of Saint Cana's guards pressed to the floor and under control, and every weapon on them stripped away.
As for Saint Cana, she was naturally attended to by Zhao Chen in person.
Her whole face and the upper half of her body were pressed flat against the shuttle's viewport, the right hand that held her weapon brought under Zhao Chen's control, the weapon taken off her, and Saint Cana herself held firmly against the viewport wall.
"Good spring in that." Xue Xiaoxiao, beside them, had noticed certain regions undergoing compression, and her mouth had gone into the shape of an 'O'.
"Let go of me!" Saint Cana roared it out in shame and fury.
For all that she had said to her subordinates before, over and over, that the Sacred-War Duel had been a matter of her own strength falling short and the rest of it—
when she truly came face to face with Zhao Chen, her feelings got away from her at the first instant all the same.
"Well? Is that how you treat the man who saved your life?" Zhao Chen said with a smile.
"I never asked you to save me!" Saint Cana said, unyielding to the last.
I didn't want to save you either — but who told you to be worth a T4 interstellar stealth bomber?
"You may die if you like. But do you mean to have them die along with you?" Zhao Chen pointed at those guards of Saint Cana's whom Panther-Girl had under control.
Saint Cana's expression changed, and she bit lightly at her red lip.
That saying of Zhao Chen's had indeed struck her seven inches down. She might care nothing for her own life or death — but there was no possibility of her not caring for the lives of her subordinates.
"What is it you want!" Saint Cana stared at Zhao Chen.
"I never wanted anything to begin with. Do me the favor of remembering that I'm the man who saved your life. Is this the manner in which an enemy of your Holy Radiance Empire treats the man who saved her? Never mind. I'll not ask you to be overcome with gratitude to me, nor to pledge me your person or anything of the sort. Only be so good as to stay right here, and quietly." Zhao Chen let go his hand.
This time Saint Cana made no resistance, but only watched Zhao Chen warily.
"Panther-Girl, see to them. It'll do so long as we're sure they're no threat to us," Zhao Chen said.
"Yes."
Panther-Girl soon had it arranged: Saint Cana and her subordinates all had their hands bound by a device after the fashion of handcuffs, and were scanned over with an instrument to be sure there was no weapon or equipment of any kind about them.
And several people were assigned to keep watch over them.
A dozen-odd minutes later.
This shuttle of Zhao Chen's party ran out of the channel within Stellar City, and saw at last the wide sea of stars outside once more.
And the interstellar warship that had been waiting out there for them well beforehand.
"That's… a T4 interstellar warship? A T4 interstellar warship I've never laid eyes on!" Saint Cana's place happened to be beside a viewport, and she saw that rough-hewn warship.
At the first glance she was certain: this was a T4-grade interstellar warship — and a T4 interstellar warship of which there was no record anywhere.
"You ought to count yourself fortunate. Had I had this warship class back at the time of the Sacred-War Duel, you would have lost a great deal worse than you did." Zhao Chen sat there and said it mildly.
And this, besides, was but one class among the new T4 series.