A voice of this kind was playing across every factory base upon this planet.
Some looked up at the drones in complete bewilderment.
Because they had never heard of any Chu River Star Region, nor of any Chu family.
But some wore, at this hour, an expression of disbelief.
A middle-aged man who had been at his labor heard the Chu family… heard Marshal Chu Changhe… heard the words to take you home.
His face went blank, and then he dropped straight to his knees on the ground and wept behind his hands. "The Marshal has come to save us! The Marshal has come to save us! Father… if only you could have held out a little longer… only a little."
"Chu Xuan! It's Miss Chu! I've seen her in the papers — she's Marshal Chu's granddaughter!"
"Oh, thank goodness. We're saved!"
"I knew it. I knew Marshal Chu wouldn't forget us."
Upon this planet, the people who had come from the Chu River Star Region broke out at this hour into the strongest feeling — some going so far as to rise against their monitors and attack them outright!
…………
The T4 Skeleton-King-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Destroyer · bridge.
Zhao Chen watched Chu Xuan as she spoke; what Chu Xuan said had been said with his leave.
To use the Chu family's signboard at an hour like this was the fittest thing there was.
And it would raise the Chu family's name into the bargain — which one might call a free gift of his own to old man Chu.
Zhao Chen saw flashes of firelight appear in the imagery covering the hull's surroundings.
"Were we under attack just now?" Zhao Chen asked; he had felt nothing at all of it.
"Report, Commander-in-Chief. Six anti-air batteries on the ground opened fire on us and struck our hull, but did our hull no harm of any substance," reported the crewwoman charged with hull defense.
"Report — several approaching T1-grade interstellar warships detected! There are ground mecha units on the surface too, along with tactical squads and manned and unmanned flyers. By the energy-signature reading, most are T1, a small number T2-grade weapons. The batteries that fired on us are of T2 technical standard as well," the radar crewwoman reported.
Xue Xiaoxiao laughed disdainfully from beside them. "A few T2 weapon batteries — that's a little toothpick, isn't it? Not even enough to scratch us an itch. There's no need to raise the star-shield at all."
For this was a heavy interstellar armored destroyer, and T4-grade besides.
With armor of that strength, those attacks could at the very most take a little paint off her.
And that with Zhao Chen having allowed the star-shield to stay down.
"Don't waste time. Finish the action as soon as may be," Zhao Chen said mildly.
To use the Little Skeleton to settle enemies of this sort was truly a cannon fired at a mosquito, great timber put to a small use.
But to quiet this secretary-officer of his own, Zhao Chen was willing enough.
And besides, there was some displeasure in Zhao Chen's own breast.
Transmigrator though he was, with time he had come to feel something for the Starlight Empire as well.
This was, for what it was worth, the beginner's village he had crossed over into — which came to Zhao Chen's own ground; and to seize people on his own ground was to break earth on the King of Hell's own head. What was it but a wish to die!
"Yes." Chu Xuan, having the order, began laying out the battle plan that followed.
And the first of it was to fix upon every armed unit and defensive installation on this planet.
Those drones put out a moment ago had been for announcing Chu Xuan's coming on the one hand, and on the other for reconnoitering exactly this intelligence.
And now the intelligence reconnoitered was laid out before Chu Xuan, with red crosses marked at position after position across the map of this planet.
These were the targets to be struck next!
And with Chu Xuan's order coming down—
this beast of steel first set upon those who had dared to fire on her.
Boom, boom, boom.
Enormous reports of blasts rose one after another across this planet.
Lasers came down out of the sky upon the ground like the punishment of heaven.
Those several Qian T1 warships charged with this planet were destroyed to the last.
Some burst apart in the air outright; some fell toward the ground.
The slaves upon the surface looked up at the sky, and at the scenes of blasts not far off around them.
At first they were afraid, dreading to be caught in the overflow.
But very soon they found that they were not the targets of the attack, and that so long as they stayed meekly where they were, they were quite safe.
And in that moment tears streamed down their faces, and they began to let out the fury of all this time.
Some roared; some laughed aloud; some cursed at those falling Qian warships.
"Call for aid! Call for aid! Send to the Qian family for aid at once! Put out every armed force we have, and attack that enemy ship!" The planet's overseer, startled awake out of his own bed, came running in a panic to the control room, and looked at that vast warship with nothing but terror in his eyes.
"Report — our armed forces on the ground are being wiped out… this warship is too strong, and… and a great number of interstellar drones have appeared besides, 10,000 of them at the least! They are even making identified, precision kills upon our individual armed personnel on the ground! We have no power of resistance whatever!"
"Report — the call for aid has gone to the Qian family, but… but relief will want several hours at the least to arrive!"
Several hours?
It does not sound a long time — but everyone present understood well enough.
It would not take several hours; by the look of things as they stood, it would take a few minutes.
And they would be destroyed to the last.
"Withdraw! Ready a shuttle at once and prepare to withdraw!" The planet's overseer made his decision on the spot; since this planet could not be held, then the most important thing before him was to see to his own safety.
But the next second, the corridor behind him snapped clean through at the middle.
The sand and wind outside blew full in his face!
The planet's overseer forced his eyes open, and what he saw was the frame of an enormous white mecha.
And four autocannons at this hour were sighted upon where they stood.
Within the mecha's cockpit, the pilot was scanning these people's identity data with an instrument.
The T3 Silver-Rat-class Light Interstellar Stealth Scout Ship had earlier broken into this planet's internal network, gathered the data on the Qian family personnel garrisoning it, and sent it straight into the combat systems of every one of their fighting units.
"Identification complete. Target is this planet's overseer…"
A mechanical voice sounded at the pilot's ear.
The next second, the pilot pressed the firing stud.
Four autocannons fired together, and the planet's overseer was turned to dust on the spot.
Not a trace of change came over the mecha pilot's face; it was as though she had put out no more than a few bedbugs.
She went on to carry out her tasks elsewhere — for there were no few bedbugs left upon this planet yet.
10 minutes later.
Word reached Zhao Chen's side.
"Report. With the assistance of the interstellar drones from the T4 Fallen-Angel-class Super-Heavy Carrier Starship, Ship No.1— every armed force upon this planet has been cleared away, and this planet is under our control," a subordinate reported.
Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction, and asked, "And how do our own losses stand?"
"No casualties among the personnel, no interstellar drones lost, no mecha lost. Er… Commander-in-Chief, does losing a bit of paint count?" the subordinate asked, after a moment's hesitation.