Galactic Star Calendar, year 3034, mid-July.
Over on Zhao Chen's side came urgent intelligence from Charlotte, out of the Revolutionary Army's interior over in the Warhammer.
"It seems the hour has come." Zhao Chen looked at the contents of the intelligence; the situation he had wished to see had come about.
Because Charlotte had long been absent from the Revolutionary Army, certain mountain-top factions within it had begun to entertain notions — and now those notions were laid out upon the table.
"Lilith, make ready. We begin our next combat plan." Zhao Chen looked to Lilith.
"Yes." Lilith went to see to the relevant dispositions.
……
The Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth · the Sacred Plume Star Region.
This was one of the Warhammer's 18 star regions.
Originally this star region had been controlled by two great tribes: the Harpy tribe and the Golden Eagle tribe.
Originally the Golden Eagle tribe controlled 50% of this star region, the Harpy tribe 35%, and the remaining 10% of its systems were home to small and medium tribes.
But at present 20% of the Golden Eagle tribe's territory had been taken and held by the Revolutionary Army, and the Harpy tribe too had been forced to give up a part of theirs.
So the Sacred Plume Star Region's map now stood at a 3-3-3-1 division of control.
And perhaps because the Golden Eagle tribe and the Harpy tribe were among the weaker of the twenty great tribes, the Revolutionary Army's base had for the present been placed within this star region.
And at this hour, within the Revolutionary Army's base, a battle of lips and tongues was under way.
A Revolutionary Army starport · the Revolutionary Army's Council.
"I hold that we may talk peace with the other side now; there is no need whatever to go on fighting!" a beast-folk councilor said, slapping the table.
"Talk peace? Have you forgotten the original purpose for which we founded the Revolutionary Army! It was to overthrow utterly those shackles of the old Warhammer age — and now you would talk peace with those tribes! This is quite simply a betrayal of the covenant we swore back then!" an elderly beast-folk councilor roared.
Beside that councilor, a half-beast-folk councilor with a rooster's head upon a man's body said in a low voice, "I hold… that we should suit our course to the times; matters now are not what they were then. Our strength at present is very fine, granted, but… but to this hour the Dragon-folk tribe have not truly launched an attack upon us. The Dragon-folk tribe's might is plain for all to see. Of our Warhammer's 18 star regions, the territory the Dragon-folk tribe controls amounts to four — a quarter of the Warhammer's map lies under the Dragon-folk tribe's control. Even… even were General Charlotte here, she would agree with our notion of talking peace."
And the rooster-headed councilor did not forget to mutter a word or two more at the end.
"No! Were my elder sister here, she would never allow you to do such a thing. Your foolish, cowardly conduct has brought this stage of our strategic policy to a standstill — indeed, on several fields there have even been cases of avoiding battle and giving up territory of your own accord. To delay the chance of battle is a thing one may be court-martialed for! Does this conduct of yours answer to my elder sister's trust in you!" As the representative Charlotte had left here, Midai'er struck angrily at those councilors who urged peace.
But it was plain that Midai'er's authority fell far short of Charlotte's.
"Hmph. Then may I ask where General Charlotte is at present?" a female boar-folk councilor said with a cold snort.
Not waiting for anyone to explain, the boar-folk woman went on, "I hear General Charlotte is at present fighting for that human master of hers. Do not forget — she is a general of our Warhammer. And not a dog kept by the human race!"
"What did you say!" Midai'er glared at this boar-folk woman in fury.
But someone else moved faster: a black figure leapt straight onto the conference table.
"Xin'er!" A stern cry came.
The boar-folk woman looked in terror at the dagger a bare few centimeters from her eye. That gentle, refined eldest Miss of the Black Fox was at this hour like a tiger with its fur on end.
Eyes carrying murder stared her down without wavering.
The boar-folk woman did not doubt in the least that this Black Fox girl had truly meant to kill her a moment ago; had the Black Fox chieftainess not stopped her—
she would, at a guess, by now be a dead pig.
"The next time I hear you dare speak one word insulting General Charlotte— my dagger will scrape the dead pork off your body a slice at a time!" Having said this coldly, Hu Xin'er sprang back to her seat in a single bound.
Her expression indifferent, as though what had just happened had nothing whatever to do with her.
"Enough. This matter bears upon our Revolutionary Army's future. Since opinions differ, I hold that we should simply hold a vote. Let the leader-councilors seated here decide our Revolutionary Army's future," a half-beast-folk councilor said.
"I agree."
"Then let us put it to the vote."
Others echoed it.
And with everyone in agreement, the relevant voting procedure was naturally set in motion.
"Strange. By my understanding, that lot ought not to be able to win the support of half the council — not even a third of it. Why do they dare propose a vote?" Midai'er looked at Hu Xin'er, seated beside her, and asked it in a low voice.
Hu Xin'er knit her brows slightly. "Something is wrong. Something is very wrong."
Hu Xin'er looked toward her mother on her other side, who had said nothing throughout, and opened her mouth to ask, "Mother…"
"Only watch," the Black Fox chieftainess said mildly.
Hu Xin'er looked at her mother in puzzlement.
The voting procedure that followed was very simple: everyone need only make their choice before them.
There were three options.
Refuse to talk peace; talk peace; and abstain.
The council numbered 30 councilors in all.
The voting began.
The count for refusing to talk peace began climbing without cease, and soon passed 15.
Midai'er lifted her head and squared her chest, wearing the very look of just as I said, and eyed that crew who had sought peace in challenge besides.
But Hu Xin'er, at her side, felt something the more amiss: the voting data made it plain enough that peace had no possibility whatever — and yet that crew who had proposed it did not change countenance.
Where a thing runs strange, there is a demon in it!
"The voting is ended. I shall now announce the result of the vo—" And just as an elderly half-beast-folk was about to announce the voting result—
a voice cut his words short.
"Wait. I hold there is no need to announce the voting result at all." A ram-headed councilor rose of a sudden, his gaze sweeping across the whole council.
"What do you mean by that?" Midai'er demanded.
The ram-headed councilor raised a hand, and an electronic screen appeared before them.
Upon it stood, plain to see, the detailed data of the vote just cast: who had voted for peace, who against, who had abstained — all of it at a glance.
And as this page appeared, those councilors who had voted for peace walked quietly to stand behind the ram-headed councilor.
Among them the boar-folk woman who had spoken so insolently of Charlotte a moment before.
"Elder Ram, what in the world do you mean? What are you people about!" Chieftain Ted stared at him; not to perceive that something was wrong at this point would have made one a fool indeed.
The ram-headed councilor they called Elder Ram smiled coldly. "Chieftain Ted, the weather is about to change. If you would lay blame, blame only that His Majesty the Dragon Emperor offered far too much."