The ships of the imperial-navy fleet poured their fire, one and all, into a single point, sparing nothing, and by main force tore open a breach.
But how could the swarm suffer the very culprit that had destroyed three of their T2 Hive Motherships to slip away so easily? They too began to seal the gap, and, together with the swarm charged with pursuing that ship, started closing a ring around it.
Forming a two-sided pincer!
In this moment they'd even given up the target of the imperial-navy fleet; in the will of the swarm there was but a single command — destroy that damnable ship, whatever it took.
"Report — the breach has been sealed again!" the female adjutant said tensely.
Commander Chu Xuan clenched her fists. "Keep up the attack — whatever it takes, we must let that ship break through!"
In Chu Xuan's heart, that ship was, now, the very equal of a hero.
How could she stand by and watch a hero's ship be ringed in and devoured by the swarm?
But at this moment, however her ships fired, there was no blasting a breach open at all.
And by now Blizzard Zero had drawn near this hive-race line.
In Blizzard Zero's present state, there was simply no way it could withstand the damage of ramming through the swarm one more time.
Commander Chu Xuan bit lightly at her lip, a pang of guilt within.
The female adjutant heaved a long sigh. A pity — such a pity about that ship…
Suddenly, within the hive-race line, a dazzling burst of light bloomed, swallowing a great mass of bugs and clearing that patch of space straight out.
Then the long-readied T2 Baby-Bee-class Light Interstellar Drones and T2 Killer-Bee-class Medium Interstellar Drones rushed in, falling on the bugs around that gap to keep them from sealing it up again.
"That's the main-gun shell of that interstellar missile ship! They set it to timed detonation, and calculated the burst-distance to the exact point!" Commander Chu Xuan, through the gap in the hive-race line, could now see directly that Blizzard Zero racing in from afar.
And that gleaming 1200mm giant gun — she grasped the reason of it at once.
"Quick! Give covering fire!" Commander Chu Xuan hurriedly ordered.
Under the imperial-navy fleet's covering fire, and under the T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship's drone assault, a ship's silhouette shot through this hive-race line at tremendous speed.
None other than the Blizzard Zero that had held every eye.
At this moment, the imperial-navy fleet's ships could plainly see the marks the swarm-collisions had left on this ship.
The places where the hull armor had crumpled inward from the impacts numbered in the hundreds — "riddled with wounds," one might well say.
Above all at the ship's bow, a great crater had been driven fully 20 meters across and near three deep — the "medal of merit," of course, from ramming that T2 Hive Mothership to death.
Bug corpses too clung all over the hull, splattering green juices everywhere.
And… bugs that had followed it in and were still trying to attack the ship, clinging to the hull, working at the armor with mouthparts, sharp claws, corrosive acid.
But soon these bugs were cleaned off, one by one, by the T2 Baby-Bee-class Light Interstellar Drones that came to the rescue.
"Just what sort of ship is this…" Commander Chu Xuan gazed at this ship, and in her heart there was, of all things, a trace of envy.
And admiration, too, for the one directing the battle aboard it; the fight just now — mad, one might call it, and yet flowing like water — was, quite simply, too perfect.
She asked herself: were she the one set in that position, could she have done as well?
Chu Xuan had no answer.
"Report — Blizzard Zero has completed the operation smoothly. Partial hull damage; seven crew lightly injured," Charlotte reported to Zhao Chen over the video comm.
"Beautifully done!" Zhao Chen was, in truth, full of praise for Charlotte's showing.
Though beforehand he'd talked over with Charlotte, in private, how this battle should be fought.
Charlotte had proposed the very idea at the time, and Zhao Chen had agreed to it; but the detailed steps of the fight Charlotte couldn't promise — for on the battlefield, and against the interstellar hive-race no less, everything had to be met as it came.
Yet Charlotte had guaranteed Zhao Chen she held at least 80% certainty — and that even failing, she could bring Blizzard Zero out safely all the same.
Charlotte had made good on it!
Sssss, ssss, ssss.
"It's a comm request from the imperial-navy flagship," Secretary Lilith said beside him, pointing at the request that had popped up.
"Patch it through," said Zhao Chen.
The video comm opened once more.
The woman officer appeared before Zhao Chen again.
"Captain, sir, we've just received word from asteroid P331; the evacuation of the people there is already 80% complete, and we estimate another half-hour will see it finished. That being so, we need only hold another dozen-odd minutes, and we can begin pulling out of the battle, step by step." Commander Chu Xuan fixed her eyes on the man before her.
Her heart was, by now, brimming with curiosity about this man.
This man, like a god come down to earth, had — on the strength of a mere two ships — helped them, who'd utterly lost hope, break the crisis before them, and delivered the 5 million people on that world.
Just what was this man's background?
And those two ships — just what were their backgrounds?
There were far too many riddles and questions in Chu Xuan's heart.
"Understood; then we'll fight and withdraw at once. With three of the hive-race's T2 Hive Motherships destroyed, the swarm's command system will be in disorder for a while, which will greatly cut into their fighting efficiency. There'll be, in the main, no great threat left," Zhao Chen said mildly.
"Then…" Commander Chu Xuan was about to chat a little more.
"Let's leave off here for now; until the very moment the battle ends, we mustn't let our guard down."
His piece said, Zhao Chen ended the comm outright.
Commander Chu Xuan was left staring blankly at the video screen, gone dark before her.
This was the first time a man had ended a comm with her so briskly, so swiftly — she was, whatever else, one of the flowers of the imperial-navy fleet.
Treatment like this — had she opened the whole thing the wrong way, somehow?
Zhao Chen, of course, had no idea he'd already set this imperial-navy fleet's flower to spinning fancies, and feeling rather put out.
"Give me a report on the state of both ships." Zhao Chen sat in the captain's chair; only at this moment did he truly relax, pressing at his temples and drawing a deep breath.
For all Charlotte's earlier assurance, to say he hadn't been nervous would be a lie.
Lilith, at his side, had already finished tallying the two ships' data in advance, and began her report.
"To this point, the T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier Starship has lost near 200 T2 Baby-Bee-class Light Interstellar Drones, 60 T2 Killer-Bee-class Medium Interstellar Drones, and seven T2 Hornet-class Heavy Interstellar Drones. Drone losses have reached 70%, ammunition and materials expenditure 50%; no casualties."
The T2 Queen Bee done, next came Blizzard Zero.
Blizzard Zero's condition was not so heartening.
"Blizzard Zero's frontal armor overall damage is past 70%; the rest of the flank armor's overall damage reaches 30%; three compartments at the bow position have been crushed and deformed, and are now sealed off. The ship's main frame-structure strength is down 5%, though it doesn't affect Blizzard Zero's ability to keep fighting or sailing. The limiter-released engine currently reads normal in all respects; whether there's a hidden fault needs a deep inspection back at port. Power system, energy system, control system — all normal. Ammunition and materials expenditure, 30%."