"A special fleet raised out of 300 T3 interstellar missile ships! And a great quantity of the newest T4-grade classes lately taken into service besides. This Owl Dragon Legion's strength goes far past what we anticipated. Had you told me this intelligence in good time, the Dragon-folk Thirteenth Fleet Group and the Dragon-folk Seventeenth Fleet Group would not have been lost for nothing!" The Dragon Emperor was greatly angered.
The Dragon-folk subordinate lowered his head.
"Someone there — shut him into the dungeon for me! To await sentence!" The Dragon Emperor lifted a hand and handed down the decree.
"Your Majesty! This… this is not my fault; we have never paid the Starlight Empire any particular attention. That the intelligence should lag is only natural… Your Majesty… Your Majesty…" This Dragon-folk subordinate was dragged away by the soldiers; and cry out his grievance as he might, it was of no use.
"In truth his fault does not merit death." A slender woman's voice came from beside the Dragon Emperor.
"But someone must bear the responsibility for two fleet groups being annihilated entire. It can hardly be that we should admit publicly that this was our Dragon-folk royal house's carelessness in slighting the enemy?" Another woman's voice sounded, heavier than the first.
The Dragon Emperor looked toward them, a kindliness in both his eyes.
There before him stood a pair of Dragon-folk women.
They were his two most beloved daughters.
Yet the looks of these two daughters were utterly opposed.
One of them was covered head to foot in white scale-armor, which gave one a feeling of sanctity; and that dragon's head of hers, set beside the coarse, rough look of other Dragon-folk, seemed a great deal the softer.
And upon her back besides were dragon-wings of purest white.
By the Dragon-folk tribe's canons of beauty, this one was without question a great beauty of the dragon race.
The other was wholly different.
Upon her were the Dragon-folk features: dragon-tail, dragon-wings, dragon-horns.
But over her body the dragon-scales did not run in full covering.
And at the place of the dragon's head above all — there, astonishingly, was the face of a human woman!
Of the Dragon Emperor's children there were a great many.
Because the Dragon Emperor's wives were also a great many, and out of every race besides, which led to the children the Dragon Emperor begot being strange past all reckoning; though the dragon race's bloodline was very strong, and they commonly kept the greater part of the dragon race's features, differing perhaps in some particular part.
And among all these children of the Dragon Emperor, two above all had his favor!
Called the two pearls in the Dragon Emperor's palm.
One was called the Sanctified, the Pure-Blooded Royal Dragon-Maiden — Leona.
This was the child born of the Dragon Emperor and another woman of the dragon race, and so was called pure-blooded royalty.
The other was called the Wise, the Half-Human Dragon-Maiden — Blanche.
Both held posts of importance within the Dragon-folk fleet groups; and the former was in fact commander of the Dragon-folk Third Fleet Group!
Nor did Blanche fall short of her in the least, being deputy commander of the Dragon-folk Second Fleet Group, and at the same time a fellow of the Dragon-folk tribe's Supreme Institute of Science and Technology.
Who had taken part in the development, production, and manufacture of the T4 Ankylosaur-class Medium Interstellar Frigate!
Looking at these two pearls in his palm, the Dragon Emperor liked what he saw the more the longer he looked; but at the same time there was much in his heart to trouble him.
The Dragon-folk tribe's lifespan was long enough, granted.
But these two daughters of his were too outstanding by far, with the result that to this day neither was yet married — for among the Dragon-folk tribe, males worthy of them were near enough impossible to find.
Leona, besides commanding fleets in battle, was passionately fond of dueling; she had declared openly that whoever wished to marry her must first defeat her!
Blanche, besides commanding fleets in battle, was passionately fond of scientific research and invention; her life was spent, near enough, either in the army or in the laboratory.
Of marriage and of the affections she had not half a cent's worth of a notion.
Which left the Dragon Emperor at his wits' end.
"But where the responsibility is ours, we ought to own it of our own accord. The reason the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth has all these years failed to develop well is precisely this state of things — that no one dares take responsibility bravely!" Blanche said, staring at Leona.
Leona gave a cold snort. "Responsibility is one thing; standing matters more. Do you know what effect it would have upon our royal house, were others to learn that the Dragon-folk lost two fleet groups because we slighted the enemy? And in the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth's present unstable state at that! It might even affect Father's throne!"
Seeing that these two daughters of his were about to quarrel again—
the Dragon Emperor stopped them at once. These two daughters of his were fine in every way but one: they were born under clashing stars, and no sooner came together than they were at daggers drawn.
"Enough, enough — no quarreling. The most important question now is how to deal with the present situation. By the intelligence our inquiries have gathered so far, the Owl Dragon Legion has by some means unknown moved all five of its legion fleets here to our Warhammer! 15,000 combat-type interstellar warships only, granted. But you have both seen that terrible fighting strength. Even our own Dragon-folk elite fleets would find it hard to say they could gain the advantage upon a frontal field. Were it truly to come to a fight, we should certainly pay grievous losses. This is a thorny problem. Let me hear your thoughts." The Dragon Emperor looked toward this pair of daughters.
Leona said outright, "My proposal is that we begin the plan for unifying the Warhammer ahead of schedule, and walk the two moves — wearing down the interior and clearing out the Revolutionary Army — together. First, sweep up the several tribes' fleets by main force, gather them together, and form a combined army. But the authority over it must lie in our hands; and after that, let the great tribes' legion fleets and the Owl Dragon Legion wear each other down. The Owl Dragon Legion's way of fighting consumes enormously; I do not believe their interstellar missiles are truly inexhaustible! And at the end of it, our Dragon-folk tribe can sit still and take the fisherman's profit!"
"Foolish," Blanche disparaged from beside her without the least courtesy.
"What do you mean by that! You don't accept me? If you have the nerve, let us go outside and fight it out!" Leona shouted at Blanche.
Blanche did not so much as look at Leona, and said levelly to the Dragon Emperor, "We do mean to unify the Warhammer, but we cannot damage our Warhammer's overall fighting strength. The Holy Radiance Empire is still out there, after all; the Starlight Empire, by the look of things, will recover as well; and no one knows whether the Machine Race may not come rolling back. So we cannot expend the strength of the great tribes' legion fleets to excess. My proposal is that we borrow another's knife to do the killing. So far as I know, the Holy Radiance Empire's relations with this Owl Dragon lord are none too good. Not long ago, indeed, for the sake of opening up new star-region territory, they launched a Sacred War Duel — and the Owl Dragon Legion won it besides, and swept the Holy Radiance Empire's face clean off them. We may seize precisely this chance, and have the Holy Radiance Empire send troops to raise a combined army with us and destroy the Owl Dragon Legion together. By which we may take several birds with one stone. First: we destroy the Owl Dragon Legion while our own strength is kept whole. Second: in the course of it, we can control the losses of the great tribes' legion fleets as circumstances allow, so that their losses are not too heavy — while at the same time they do not hinder our plan of unification. Third: it draws our relations with the Holy Radiance Empire closer, and in future we may even cooperate in a joint campaign against the Starlight Empire!"
Hearing this plan, the Dragon Emperor praised Blanche without cease.
If Leona's plan walked three moves ahead, then Blanche's walked 10 outright.
"Heh, heh, heh. You make the Holy Radiance Empire sound like a beast kept in your own house. You say cooperate and they cooperate? Have you no fear of leading the wolf into the room!" Leona challenged.
Blanche said mildly, "In all things there is advantage, disadvantage, and risk. The greater the risk, the greater the gain. If you are so faint-hearted as that, you may as well go home and nurse babies."
"You—!" Leona glared at Blanche.
"Enough. I shall have people go over your two plans and weigh them afterward," the Dragon Emperor said.
Though in his heart he already stood on the side of Blanche's plan.
And at this same time, on the other side, Zhao Chen—
was receiving several guests of a particular kind.