Under the cover of the T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship's interstellar drone swarm, Chu Xuan's imperial-navy fleet withdrew safely to the vicinity of the T2 Queen Bee.
And, taking the T2 Queen Bee as the core, formed up a one-directional carrier battle formation.
A one-directional carrier battle formation meant, simply, a battle formation built to present a single direction as its fighting face.
The T2 Queen Bee sat in the rearmost position; before it were a T2 Grey Wolf-class Light Interstellar Cruiser and a T2 Fire-Leopard-class Medium Interstellar Battleship.
Farther forward still were eight T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers and 20 T2 Guardian-class Medium Interstellar Frigates.
These 31 ships stood at strict readiness against the swarm about to arrive!
Very nearly the instant the bugs came within fire range, every imperial-navy ship opened up at once.
With their earlier fighting to draw on, these imperial-navy ships had grown a little more used to the rhythm of engaging the interstellar hive-race.
At the same time, the T2 Queen Bee kept deploying its interstellar drone swarm without cease.
Third echelon… fifth echelon… seventh echelon… tenth echelon.
By degrees, the number of drones returning each time began to fall — the vanished drones, of course, torn to shreds by the bugs.
Even with the T2 Queen Bee's support — and for all the surprising combat strength of the drone swarm — the sheer scale of the swarm was simply too vast, and the line was, bit by bit, pressed inward!
Seen from afar, it was as though a black tide were about to swallow those 31 ships whole.
"Go on like this, and the ending's still the same. Our firepower's nowhere near enough to hold off this swarm's assault!" the female adjutant said anxiously beside Commander Chu Xuan.
Commander Chu Xuan stared at the shifting interstellar holo-table, her expression grim.
By the look of things, in under 20 minutes the swarm would press up against their ships' line and pose a direct threat to the ships themselves.
"Get me the captain of that Black Dragon Fleet," Commander Chu Xuan said in a low, heavy voice.
The female adjutant reached him at once; the video window opened, and that man's face appeared before them again.
Before Commander Chu Xuan could speak—
—Zhao Chen spoke first. "Wait a little longer."
Commander Chu Xuan and the female adjutant were taken aback.
"Wait for what?" Commander Chu Xuan asked on reflex.
"Time." At this moment Zhao Chen's eyes were not on Commander Chu Xuan but on the interstellar holo-table on his own end, as though waiting for something to happen.
Both Commander Chu Xuan and the female adjutant found it beyond fathoming.
"10 minutes! 10 minutes more at the most!" Zhao Chen said gravely.
Commander Chu Xuan, who'd been about to speak, chose to hold her tongue, thinking inwardly: Then we'll wait 10 minutes more; and if in 10 minutes there's still no change, then I truly will lead my imperial fleet in retreat.
Time slipped by, moment by moment.
The tide of the swarm, too, pressed step by step toward the fleet's line.
The female adjutant, for her part, was frantic with worry.
Suddenly, the radar-watch soldier who'd been monitoring the battlefield cried out in alarm, "Report — a high-energy reaction has appeared to the rear of the swarm! At the same time… the life-signal of a T2 Hive Mothership… has vanished! A fast-moving, unidentified energy signal has suddenly appeared to the rear of the swarm."
Commander Chu Xuan and the female adjutant looked at one another. Could this be what the man had been waiting for?
"It's begun!" Zhao Chen murmured, a manic light flickering in his eyes.
Charlotte — let the show begin.
And just at that moment, the swarm-tide that had been pressing its all-out assault, of all things, slowed somewhat — and part of the swarm even began to withdraw!
"Launch recon drones — see what in the world is going on!" Commander Chu Xuan hurriedly gave the order.
Recon drone after recon drone was deployed; because the battlefield ahead was blanketed by the dense black swarm, the ships couldn't get a direct look at what was happening behind it.
They could only rely on the recon drones moving into positions with a clear view, then relaying the visual back.
Soon the visuals came through, one after another.
"Good heavens — that's a starship!" The female adjutant clapped a hand over her mouth and cried out. "This ship's speed is far too fast! By my estimate, at least 70 or 80 star-knots!"
"No — 100 star-knots." By her battlefield instinct, Commander Chu Xuan named the ship's speed precisely.
"100 star-knots?" The female adjutant was stunned.
Just then, the wreck of that detonated T2 Hive Mothership came into their view as well; the once-vast Hive Mothership had been split into three parts, and one could plainly see that one flank of the mothership's hull had taken a terrifying cannon-hit — pierced clean through!
"It's a cannon — a cannon of over 1,000 millimeters' bore." From the image alone, Commander Chu Xuan named the weapon that had dealt the damage on the spot.
Commander Chu Xuan said urgently, "Magnify it for me — that ship!"
The image was zoomed in, step by step; blurry as it was—
—one could still make out this fast-sailing ship, moving swiftly through the enemy host, paying no mind whatever to the swarm chasing it, simply sailing on without cease.
Because of its astonishing speed, the swarm behind it, of all things, couldn't catch up!
The Hive Motherships tried to fire on it with their bio-plasma cannons, but the ship's speed was truly too great; not one shot landed.
"Captain, sir — just what is going on here?" Commander Chu Xuan, unable to hold back her curiosity, asked Zhao Chen outright.
Zhao Chen folded his arms and explained mildly, "That's a ship of my fleet — Blizzard Zero, a T2 ship with high speed and a 1200mm-caliber cannon."
"A single T2 ship mounting a 1200mm-caliber cannon?" the female adjutant exclaimed.
"So this is your fleet's second ship. From the very start, in fact, you never meant to defend against the swarm's assault at all. You used us to draw off the Hive Motherships' swarm-forces; with the great mass of the swarm sent to attack us, the Hive Motherships were of course left thin on defense. And at that moment, this Blizzard Zero of yours closed in at tremendous speed and struck straight at the Hive Motherships!" Commander Chu Xuan laid out Zhao Chen's plan outright.
Zhao Chen nodded; this imperial-fleet commander not only had a sense of justice and duty — she was a soldier of no small gift besides.
"You madman! You're simply a madman! Have you thought — one slip, and that ship would be devoured clean by the swarm!" The female adjutant looked at Zhao Chen, aghast.
But Zhao Chen said, unshakable, "There'll be no mishap. Because that ship is named Blizzard Zero."
There was one more line Zhao Chen didn't speak.
The one directing the battle aboard that ship was the beast-folk race's legendary commander — Charlotte, General of the White Tiger!