"What! The Owl Dragon Legion is refitting where it stands?" Qin Longcheng knit his brows.
"Yes. Having entered our system, the Owl Dragon Legion did not press on but refitted where it stood… as though… as though… it were waiting for something," the adjutant answered.
Qin Longcheng looked at the interstellar holo-table before him, where the Owl Dragon Legion's present position was marked out.
"Waiting… he is waiting…" Light came into Qin Longcheng's eyes, and he pointed beyond the Owl Dragon Legion, at the edge-space outside the system.
"He is waiting for those mutated hive-race swarms!"
"What? The Owl Dragon Legion is waiting for the mutated hive-race?" the adjutant said in astonishment.
Qin Longcheng stared at the interstellar holo-table, his face sullen. "A madman! This Owl Dragon lord is quite simply a madman. He is waiting now for the mutated hive-race behind him; and once the mutated hive-race have caught up with his Owl Dragon Legion, he will 'lead' these mutated hive-race swarms in an attack upon us."
"Has he lost his mind? Those mutated hive-race swarms — we have no technology to control them either; they set about destroying every other race and living thing out of sheer instinct. To do such a thing, and the Owl Dragon Legion itself will take the mutated hive-race's attacks when the hour comes!" The adjutant was astonished beyond measure.
Qin Longcheng smiled coldly. "If that boy were not a madman, he could never have crossed so many star systems, insisting on coming here to fight me to the death."
"Marshal… this… this is… an all-system open-channel broadcast we have received from the Owl Dragon Legion." A comm trooper came over, an odd look on his face.
"What broadcast?" Qin Longcheng asked.
"You… had better hear it yourself." The comm trooper did not dare relay it, and could only open the broadcast.
"Qin Longcheng, I have come to take your dog's life!"
"Qin Longcheng, I have come to take your dog's life!"
……
The adjutant at his side gulped. This Owl Dragon lord truly did not play by any ordinary rules — at such a moment he was still provoking Marshal Qin Longcheng.
Qin Longcheng's fury turned about into laughter, and he pointed at the interstellar holo-table. "Since he means to be mad, then I shall be mad along with him to the very end. Mutated hive-race, is it. Let me see, then, which of us cannot bear it first! Pass my order: every fleet is to make ready for battle, and whatever happens upon the field, not one warship, not one soldier, is to leave their post! Even I, Qin Longcheng, shall not draw back half a pace. And whoever draws back half a pace — put them to death without mercy!"
So Qin Longcheng gave his orders.
Time passed, bit by bit.
Qin Longcheng sat in the captain's chair, seeming to wait for something.
And at last!
With the radar's shrill alarm.
Qin Longcheng opened his eyes and looked at the interstellar holo-table updating before him in real time.
Upon the far edge, one could see small red points moving slowly.
"Marshal, the Owl Dragon Legion fleet has appeared within our radar's scanning range. Three Owl Dragon legions, in a triangular formation, average speed 80 star-knots; expected to enter our fire coverage in 30 minutes! And by our interstellar scouts' finding, great numbers of mutated hive-race have already appeared behind the Owl Dragon Legion!" As the adjutant spoke, his forehead was beaded with sweat.
"What is there to panic over? It is not as though we have never seen bugs. We have 30,000 Hive Motherships at our own backs." Qin Longcheng snorted at it.
The adjutant lowered his head and said nothing with his mouth.
But inwardly he griped: Can these be the same thing?
Opposite them were mutated hive-race wholly beyond control, and above 100 million units of them at that; the great majority were T1 mutated hive-race, true, but… but… there was nothing to be done, the numbers truly were far too many.
He had seen some of the imagery sent back: near enough the whole of the area the lens captured was one dark, dense mass, without a single beam of light able to pierce through it!
It was too terrible.
Qin Longcheng sat in the captain's chair and said not another word.
Because everything that wanted arranging, he had already laid out.
What remained to be done now was to wait.
To wait for the coming of the melee ahead.
At the center of the Owl Dragon Legion's formation there was a special fleet — the wolf-girl Baixue's Owl Dragon interstellar missile-ship special fleet.
"Baixue, your missile ships have all finished reloading, I take it?" In the video window before the wolf-girl Baixue, Commander-in-Chief Zhao Chen was asking.
The wolf-girl Baixue nodded. "Reporting, Commander-in-Chief: every missile ship has finished reloading and stands at combat readiness, able at any moment to press an attack upon any area or target within range!"
Having said it, the wolf-girl Baixue could not help licking her lips.
This Owl Dragon interstellar missile-ship special fleet she had used twice already.
Once upon the Chu Wen system's field, in concert with Marshal Chu Changhe.
And once when the Commander-in-Chief had summoned her to come in support, and she had torn open the mutated hive-race's ring of encirclement with interstellar missiles.
To speak the truth, the second time was nowhere near so satisfying a feeling as the first.
Because the need was to break out, what had been used was a bombardment in echelon, and the visual effect of that was naturally not the equal of the Chu Wen system's.
But that time in the Chu Wen system had been under Marshal Chu Changhe's careful arrangement.
Which had left the wolf-girl Baixue feeling that it was not altogether a free hand.
So she looked forward keenly to her special fleet's third showing to come!
"This is the area you are to attack next. The instant every missile ship is within firing range, tell me at once." Commander-in-Chief Zhao Chen sent the whole of the battlefield strike-zones Charlotte had edited over to the wolf-girl Baixue.
The wolf-girl Baixue needed only a few glances over them and had the measure of it in her mind.
"Understood."
Having passed his instructions to the wolf-girl Baixue—
Zhao Chen looked then to the other two video windows before him.
"This time the state of the field will be rather particular. The mutated hive-race at our backs will attack us and Qin Longcheng's fleets alike, without distinction. And when the hour comes, the first to take the attack will be our Owl Dragon Legion's rear. Chitong, your Owl Dragon Second Legion has the rearguard; make certain we can bear the mutated hive-race's assault. Mind this — the task is of the utmost importance! Once our formation is broken through, the Owl Dragon Legion's losses will be enormous!" Zhao Chen warned.
Commander Chitong laid a hand over her heart and said, calm and unhurried, "Set your mind at rest, Commander-in-Chief. I can guarantee that not one mutated hive-race unit will break through our Second Legion's line!"
Zhao Chen looked next to Shen Bing. "Shen Bing, once Chitong's Owl Dragon Second Legion has held off the mutated hive-race's charge at the rear, the mutated swarm will scatter outward in every direction. They will press attacks upon our flanks, and at the same time go on forward to threaten Qin Longcheng's fleets opposite. Over that span, the flanks of our formation are left to your Owl Dragon Third Legion. The Owl Dragon First Legion will work with you when you have need of it; but bearing in mind that the Owl Dragon First Legion has a more important task to follow— I hope you can shoulder this heavy burden."
Commander Shen Bing said plainly, "Commander-in-Chief — we of the Owl Dragon Third Legion guarantee the task will be completed."
Having laid all this out, Zhao Chen looked to Charlotte beside him.
The two of them exchanged a glance, and looked together at the interstellar holo-table.
And now the wolf-girl Baixue's voice came through as well.
"Reporting, Commander-in-Chief: the Owl Dragon interstellar missile-ship special fleet has every target of every designated strike-zone within attack range. Your instructions, Commander-in-Chief!"
"Baixue, your special fleet stands at combat readiness from this moment. Save for those hundred black-hole missiles, every other interstellar missile is to enter launch-ready state — and upon my order, open fire at once!"
"Baixue understands."
"All fleets of the Owl Dragon Legion, reduce speed! Hold where you stand, and establish a defensive position!"