Xu Yifan looked at Li Wei weeping in Zhao Chen's arms like a child, and felt a great stirring within him.
Before this, Li Wei had never shed a single tear.
Even after the defense of the Northern Goose Group ended, when he learned that the whole of that pack of brothers of his had fallen, he had merely said quietly that their remains were to be gathered as far as it could be done.
But it must be borne in mind that in interstellar war, to gather the remains of fallen soldiers is a very difficult thing, and to identify the bodies afterward harder still.
Even so, Li Wei had shown no stir of feeling to anyone; he had merely finished all his work in silence, and then, on receiving his orders, hastened to the Imperial Capital Star.
Li Wei wept a long while, and wept until he was worn out, and then slept where he lay upon the floor.
Zhao Chen took off his own coat and laid it over Li Wei.
"This wound of his?" Zhao Chen looked to Xu Yifan.
Xu Yifan explained, "In the last stage of the defense of the Northern Goose Group, we had only one line left to hold, and behind it stood the Northern Goose Group's industrial base. In the fighting, Li Wei's ship faced an oncoming T3 Hive Mothership without the least fear. And in the end it was struck at the bow by that Hive Mothership's attack; Li Wei's ship lost its fighting capacity, and the bridge was wrecked. Happily, Li Wei was pulled clear by the crew — but he lost a hand. In fact, by present technology, he might have been fitted with one of those simulated artificial arms, just like a real one; only their performance falls short of a mechanical arm. Li Wei refused that sort of artificial arm and chose the mechanical one. He said this way was more like a man."
There was a bitterness in Zhao Chen's heart; he clapped Xu Yifan's shoulder. "You are all heroes of this civil war. Rest easy — you shall have the honor that is due you. And do me one favor besides: find whether that pack of brothers of Li Wei's have any kin — that Sister Ma's son and daughter, for instance. If they are still living, and if they are willing, let them come and live in the Owl Dragon Star System. I promise they shall be given the best terms of life there are."
"These things I have already given instruction on; set your mind at rest, my lord." Xu Yifan nodded.
This meeting with Li Wei had had its turns, but it went smoothly enough on the whole.
After Li Wei came to himself, they all talked a while more.
Because Zhao Chen had matters still to see to, and Li Wei, as the Northern Goose Group's present representative, had business meetings of his own to hold upon the Imperial Capital Star—
they each went off about their own affairs.
Back on the bridge of the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Battleship.
Zhao Chen sat in the captain's chair. Though he had seen Li Wei safe and well, his mood was very poor still.
"What is it?" Lilith saw that Zhao Chen was in low spirits, and asked with concern.
Zhao Chen told Lilith of Li Wei's affair, and at the last said heavily, "Traced to its root, this is still because we are too weak. If our Owl Dragon Legion had then had not four legion fleets but 10, or 20! Would such a thing still have happened?"
Lilith looked at Zhao Chen reproaching himself; she went round behind him, laid slender hands upon his temples, and pressed gently.
"Do not put so great a weight upon yourself. There are, after all, some things in this world that cannot be avoided. You have already done your utmost to change some of them." Lilith said it softly.
There seemed a certain magnetism in Lilith's voice, and it eased Zhao Chen's heart a good deal.
Seeing his mood much improved, Lilith turned the talk aside. "The data from every quarter on this civil war has all been tallied."
"Give me a few of the important figures; that will do," Zhao Chen said.
Lilith raised a hand, and an electronic screen appeared before Zhao Chen; she enlarged several of the figures upon it.
"This campaign ran close to a month. We committed four Owl Dragon legions, with above 12,000 combat-type warships. In this campaign we lost near 2,000 warships, 13 of them T4-grade. The dead come to near 200,000. The war's direct expenditure reached 800 billion star coins — and that figure does not include the warships we lost. And to this hour, the strategic resources our Owl Dragon Legion holds in reserve come to only 100 billion star coins. It is projected we cannot mount a campaign on such a scale again within three months."
800 billion star coins of war expenditure — and the greater half of that, at a guess, was the expenditure of interstellar missiles.
Had it not been for so vast an input of interstellar missiles, the Owl Dragon Legion's losses would not have been a simple 2,000 warships.
"200,000 — that should be the greatest loss of personnel since the Owl Dragon Legion's founding." Zhao Chen looked to Lilith. "How stand the relevant arrangements?"
Lilith knew the meaning in the Commander-in-Chief's words, and murmured, "These 200,000 are already arranged for. Only, with so vast a number of personnel, to fold them into the serving Owl Dragon Legion cannot wholly guarantee against acquaintances meeting face to face."
To this hour, word of the revived stood at the Owl Dragon Legion's highest grade of secrecy.
Before, when it was a few hundred or a few thousand, one need only shuffle them and fold them into the serving fleets — a few small stones thrown into the sea draw no notice.
But now it was near 200,000.
And the whole Owl Dragon Legion's crew numbered only just 10 million.
That ratio of 50 to one was very high indeed.
"Since they cannot be blended in, then simply fold these 200,000 entire into newly established Owl Dragon legions," Zhao Chen said. "By our original construction plan, the Owl Dragon Legion is to be expanded to 10 legions this year. At present only four are at full establishment; the remaining six can all be arranged."
Lilith nodded; this was a method she had thought of as well.
They were all revived in any case, and gathering them all together suited perfectly — it would ease the pressure upon the revived of having to conceal their own secret.
"And these are the losses of the others. The royal Princess fleet groups lost above 60,000 warships, with near 20 million dead. The Chu family legion fleets lost near 30,000 warships, with near 10 million dead. The North Wind Star Region fleet groups lost near 10,000 warships, with near 3 million dead. And there is the Northern Goose Group's defensive fleet besides, whose loss rate reached an astonishing 90% — quite grievous… had the Owl Dragon Fourth Legion not reached the field in good time, the Northern Goose defensive fleet might well have been annihilated entire. Beyond that, the imperial fleets under Qin Xiaotian's hand lost near 300,000 ships outright, with above 50 million soldiers dead. And… there is the Snow-Swallow Star Region's hive-race virus affair, which caused the deaths of above 1 trillion living souls," Lilith added.
"How do matters stand in the Snow-Swallow Star Region now?" Merely to think of that shambles made Zhao Chen restless.
That tier-4 cosmic bug-nest was there still.
"We have sent some interstellar scouts and unmanned recon craft in to reconnoiter. The Snow-Swallow second system is now utterly occupied by the hive-race, and there are signs of their spreading without cease toward the systems about it. The mutated hive-race have all died off; by observation, the mutated hive-race must have a limit upon their lifespan," Lilith said.
Zhao Chen said gravely, "Order the Owl Dragon Star System to establish a research department devoted to the study of space. I shall have Qin Xiaolei cooperate, and recruit every expert in that line within the Starlight Empire. Before that tier-4 cosmic bug-nest passes out of control, a way must be thought out to close it. For… there are nine hive-eggs besides, whose whereabouts are unknown."
Until this crisis was lifted, it would be a sword hanging forever above Zhao Chen's head.