"Report — an estimated 10,000 Hive Motherships have entered the preset zone of fire!"
"Report — every interstellar missile of every model in every attack module aboard stands ready."
The wolf-girl Baixue, seated in the captain's chair, lifted the corner of her mouth and showed her own sharp wolf's teeth.
Having waited so long, the hour had come at last for this T4 Hell-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ship to open its slaughter in earnest.
Let her have a proper look at this Big Baby's first showing.
For a thing that could draw such a judgment from that Commander-in-Chief was absolutely not to be taken lightly.
"Saturation fire coverage, by the A1 attack-mode plan!" the wolf-girl Baixue gave the order to fire.
Receiving Baixue's order, the heads of every weapons department set to work at the first instant.
Every missile-launching installation aboard this T4 Hell-Angel opened, and missile after missile, long since gathered and ready, went out one upon another.
A launching that looked 'disordered and without pattern' — and yet all of it lay within the system's plan.
Even which missiles were to burst first, and at what positions, was clearly arranged!
While to an outsider's eyes, this was one missile ship loosing, upon the strength of a single hull, several hundred thousand interstellar missiles!
"This… this… this number…" Chu Wenxiong, seeing this second 'meteor shower', found that as a display it had not the splendor of that earlier million.
But to see that these several hundred thousand missiles had all been loosed from one missile ship — that was the truly magnificent thing.
Those 10,000-odd Motherships now began intercepting the incoming missiles as well.
This time they came prepared, so the Motherships' rate of interception rose greatly.
Missile after missile was detonated in mid-flight.
Only a pity that there were but 10,000 Motherships here, and what they faced was several hundred thousand missiles.
So the rate of interception came to next to nothing.
And at the last, several hundred thousand missiles fell among the hive-race fleets.
And the fireballs of those blasts were a great deal more terrible than the first round's!
Motherships of T3 grade and below, once struck, had near enough only the one end.
And Motherships within the blast radius were caught in it too.
So that seen from a distance it was for all the world a stretch of fire-burnt cloud.
And anyone watching closely would have found besides that these missiles were not all of one model.
Some were great in power; some rather less.
And some ran to very long range, sighted upon the furthest end of the hive-race fleets.
But the two that drew the eye most were of two particular kinds.
One was plainly a cluster missile: on reaching its strike zone it would split of itself into some thousands of submunition warheads, which flew off in every direction like a heavenly maiden scattering blossoms.
And the other laid its weight upon blast power, and its burst threw off besides a particular dark-black gyre; and whatever this missile struck — even a T4 Mothership — could scarcely come away from it.
And then a sight more astonishing still appeared.
Some Motherships at the edge of the hive-race formation attempted to break out.
And at that moment a certain missile burst about them.
And small black holes appeared, one after another, of all things.
Those Motherships that had been attempting flight were, before these small black holes, as though pinned in place; and then slowly drew backward, and were pulled in.
The appearance of these black holes formed a 'blockade line' outright.
Which left these Motherships no choice but to stay meekly within the bombardment zone and endure the missiles raining down upon them.
"These are… black holes!" Chu Wenxiong stared, dumbstruck.
Artificial black holes — it was not that he had never heard of the technology, but in the Starlight Empire it had only ever been at a theoretical stage.
And he had not thought he would see it with his own eyes.
Hsss, hsss, hsss.
Chu Wenxiong heard a video-comm alert from Marshal Chu's end, with whom he had kept the comm open throughout.
He looked over, and saw the Marshal tap a window open.
On the far side was a woman — a beast-folk of wolf form with white fur, wearing the Owl Dragon Legion's uniform.
"Marshal Chu, our fleet has completed its combat task; the sweeping-up that follows is left to you. We must take on munition resupply at once, and stand ready to support the Commander-in-Chief's side at any moment," the woman officer said.
"Our very great thanks for your help; what follows we can see to ourselves," the Marshal said in gratitude.
Having borne that round of bombardment, the Motherships remaining came to under 100, and the great bulk of them 'survivors' of T3 grade and below.
Clearing those up would be no trouble at all.
The woman officer hesitated a moment, and looked at Chu Changhe, and asked, "Marshal Chu, I have one question. Our coming in support this time, the Commander-in-Chief bade us follow your orders and dispositions. And our missile-ship special fleet could perfectly well have furnished fire support upon the field directly… so why did you… arrange it as you have…"
Chu Changhe looked at the Owl Dragon woman officer opposite with a smile. "Just so. Taken slowly, and leaning upon this missile-ship fleet of yours, I have confidence I could have destroyed the 50,000 Motherships opposite at the smallest cost in casualties. But… what we lack now is time. And not our Chu Wen system alone: Her Highness's side, the Northern Goose Group's side, and your own Commander-in-Chief's main field all want help. The more so when it is a missile-ship fleet of such decisive weight as yours. My fleets are not the equal of your Commander-in-Chief's Owl Dragon Legion; I had no full confidence of keeping your missile special fleet without a scratch under the hive-race's assault. And were you to lose 10 hulls, the effect of that would be greater than my Chu fleets losing 100 or 1,000. Upon a battlefield, for the sake of the final victory, some things must always be given up."
Hearing this, the Owl Dragon woman officer looked at the old general before her with admiration, raised a hand to her breast, and gave him a solemn military salute to show it.
Had the Marshal not arranged it so, then even with 300 missile ships under her hand she could not have achieved the effect just seen.
"Girl, what is it you call this ship of yours… the Hell-Angel…"
"The Hell-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ship," the Owl Dragon officer answered without concealment.
"And I saw you loose several hundred thousand missiles just now?"
"Fully loaded, she can carry above 300,000 missiles of the various models."
Chu Changhe did not press for the exact figure; he nodded with a laugh, and looked out at that Hell-Angel, now fallen quiet, in the starry space beyond.
"The Hell-Angel… a very fine name."
Something came to the Owl Dragon officer, and she said, "The Commander-in-Chief said besides that this warship has a motto."
"A motto?" Chu Changhe looked at her with interest.
"Where the angel's wingbeat reaches, the starry sky is made a purgatory, and stillness itself is annihilation!" The Owl Dragon officer lifted her head in pride and brought the whole of it out.
Chu Wenxiong, listening beside them, was as though struck by lightning, and that saying went round and round in his head.
And thinking back on the scene just past — was that not a starry purgatory indeed!
Which answered exactly to the name the Owl Dragon lord had given this operation beforehand.
So that was it.
"Good! Good! A fine thing — stillness itself is annihilation." Chu Changhe laughed aloud in his delight.