Qian Dafu watched in excitement as those 19 warships, wholly unaware of their danger, came slowly into the ring of encirclement he had set.
He truly could not make out whether this crew did not know it for a trap, or whether it came purely of that stupid, stubborn nature of theirs.
"Report. The Sacred Lancer Legion's Fifth Fleet commander has sent his order: our battle positions are to open fire one minute from now, and our fleet is to make a feint at the enemy three minutes from now. And the Sacred Lancer Legion's three fleets will surround and annihilate every enemy warship five minutes from now!" the adjutant reported.
Something dark passed across Qian Dafu's eyes.
He knew that the Sacred Lancer Legion's fleet commander was making cannon fodder of their Qian family's fleet.
Though so long as the Qian family's importance to the Holy Radiance side was secured, warships lost could be bought again in time.
Which weighed lighter and which heavier — even Qian Dafu understood perfectly well!
"Pass my order! Every battle position and gun emplacement stand ready, and open fire on the enemy ships one minute from now! And every warship of the fleet to charge the enemy's 19 warships head-on three minutes from now." And having given the order, Qian Dafu—
did not forget to give his adjutant one further order in private.
Which was that the several T3 warships, this flagship of his own among them, should hold where they were and give no more than long-range fire support.
T2 warships could serve as cannon fodder; but if T3 warships were used as fodder too, the Qian family would feel it in the flesh.
What could be spared should be spared.
And at the very moment the Qian family were making these military dispositions—
suddenly, alarms flashed at the edge of the radar aboard every Qian family warship, and small red points appeared, thick past counting.
Spreading along the edge of the radar map and swarming toward them.
"Report! We detect a great number of interstellar drone and interstellar fighter units appearing behind the enemy fleet! The number is not yet clear, and is still rising!" the adjutant warned nervously.
Qian Dafu knit his brows. "A pack of interstellar drones and interstellar fighters. What in the world is there to fear? Shoot them down and be done!"
"But… to this moment, the enemy's interstellar drones alone have passed 70,000… no… now it's… 100,000 craft!" The adjutant had been staring at that rising red figure, and in the space of a few breaths it had gone from 70,000 to 100,000.
"100,000, what's there to— the hell? 100,000 what?" Qian Dafu's tone turned about; he rushed up in front of the adjutant and stared at the figures the radar had scanned out.
Enemy interstellar drone units currently detected, estimated: 130,000 craft……
"And going by the outward form of the interstellar drones we've imaged, and… and the strength of their energy signatures, it is very likely they are T3-grade interstellar drones at the least. Indeed… I suspect these may be T4-grade interstellar drones of the enemy's…" the adjutant said, his face grave.
Qian Dafu felt as though a bolt had come down out of a clear sky upon him.
"The enemy might have a T4-grade carrier starship… how is that possible? So far as I know, the three great empires have only one T4-grade carrier class in service between them! This is impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" Qian Dafu denied the possibility outright.
"Pass my order. The attack plan as it stood is cancelled. The whole fleet is to go to air-defense mode and prepare to intercept the incoming interstellar drone swarm. And send out every interstellar scout craft to search for me — the position where the enemy's carrier starship lies berthed must be found!" Qian Dafu changed the battle plan without hesitation.
He did not believe the other side had a T4 carrier — but a number of interstellar drones like this, and still rising, could not be taken lightly either.
The more so with the enemy carrier's position still undiscovered.
The best course was to find the enemy's carrier and destroy her.
The adjutant hesitated a moment, and looked with heavy care at those blurred pictures of the interstellar drones.
He very much hoped it was no more than his own supposing.
Qian Dafu at this hour stared hard at the number of the enemy's drone swarm as the radar system scanned it out.
From 100-odd thousand craft it very soon broke past 200,000!
Seeing that figure still climbing, and the drone swarm thick across the ship's radar—
the color of Qian Dafu's face turned exceedingly bad.
Above 200,000 interstellar drones… how many T3-grade carrier starships would it take to put out so astonishing a number!
Even of the T3 heavy carriers with the largest capacity he knew of, it would want above 100 at the least!
Above 100 carrier starships, hidden in the space round about.
This…
Was it possible?
Qian Dafu could not help thinking of his adjutant's supposition a moment ago — a T4-grade… carrier starship…
And in that moment an unknown dread began by degrees to close about his heart, and he could only cast that terrible notion out of his head as best he could.
It is not!
It certainly is not!
It cannot be!
It absolutely cannot be!
"Report. The unidentified interstellar drone swarm has reached near 300,000 craft… and all of them are within radar scanning range. Their position at this moment is behind the enemy's 19 warships. At their present speed, they are estimated to enter the initial combat range in 50 seconds!" the adjutant reported.
The good news was that the number of interstellar drones had stopped rising.
The bad news was that the number of interstellar drones came to a full 300,000!
It was a figure past belief.
"There's no waiting now! Send word at once to the Sacred Lancer Legion's three fleets: the enemy has a great interstellar drone swarm, and we ask their support. And our battle positions are to open fire at once, and find a way to break up the incoming drone swarm!" There was a tremor in Qian Dafu's voice as he spoke now.
Over on the other side—
Chu Xuan looked at the ship's radar, at that field of friendly interstellar drones, and her expression was one of astonishment.
She knew Zhao Chen had a T4 carrier class in hand, by the name of Fallen-Angel.
And that her captain was Su Lan, Zhao Chen's old classmate.
But never in the world had she thought the number of interstellar drones would come to the terrifying figure of 300,000.
Though thinking it over, with that carrier starship so vast in bulk as to be an island in space, to load 300,000 drones seemed no very hard thing after all.
And now a video window appeared before Chu Xuan.
On the far side was Captain Su Lan of that T4 Fallen-Angel-class Super-Heavy Carrier Starship.
Captain Su Lan looked at Chu Xuan. "Secretary-Officer Chu, my carrier's interstellar drones and interstellar fighters are fully launched, and are about to enter the zone of fire."
"Understood. We'll furnish you the first round of covering fire," said Chu Xuan.
Captain Su Lan nodded.
Chu Xuan looked at Su Lan and gave a laugh. "Captain Su has kept her secrets rather well. 300,000 interstellar drones… past belief…"
Captain Su Lan said, somewhat abashed, "It wasn't a keeping of it from the secretary-officer; the data on this carrier starship has all been held at a stage of secrecy until now. A great deal of it is known to fewer than five people in the whole Owl Dragon Legion."
"No need to explain. I understand." Chu Xuan looked at her and laughed. "Then let me sit and enjoy Captain Su Lan's waltz properly."
With that, Chu Xuan opened the command network of the 19 warships, and gave the order to open fire on the first phase.
A dozen-odd warships, every gun-muzzle turned toward the enemy opposite.