"Open out into combat formation; stand ready for battle! And notify the other legion fleets to keep in step with us." This commander handed down the order.
Come hastening in support along with them in this batch were a further eight Holy Radiance fleets, above 24,000 interstellar warships.
Though this was of course only the first wave of relief to receive the Sacred Wing Legion's call for aid; more would follow.
And just as he was watching the radar sweep closely.
A video window sprang open without warning and gave him a start.
Making out the face of the one who had come, he straightened at once and gave a military salute. "My lord Consul!"
"I have been unable to reach the Sacred Wing Legion all this while. Have you any word on your side?" Consul Ernest asked.
Consul Ernest himself was responsible for the Black Tiger Star Region; the operational task here at the Owl Dragon forward base had been given to the Sacred Wing Legion.
Yet now, of all things, the Sacred Wing Legion had lost contact.
In a state of war, for a forward legion fleet to lose contact suddenly is an exceedingly serious matter.
If contact is lost for long, it is commonly judged that the whole legion fleet has perished.
Had it been any other Holy Radiance legion fleet, it might have passed.
But this was the Sacred Wing Legion!
An existence among the Ten Great Sacred-Light Legions.
Annihilated entire?
And in so short a time, annihilated entire without so much as one message getting out?
How could that be?
Consul Ernest had modeled several Owl Dragon Legion operational schemes in his own mind — relying upon that interstellar jump ship, for instance, to bring several Owl Dragon legions.
And upon advantage of numbers to encircle and destroy the Sacred Wing Legion outright.
In such a case the Sacred Wing Legion would in all likelihood be no match for them; but surely it would not fail to send out even one battle report?
Which gave him a feeling of unease, and so he had asked repeatedly.
This commander answered at once, "In reply to my lord Consul: a moment ago we reached the Sacred Wing Legion's flagship, but the communication signal was lost within a few seconds. And owing to the poor quality of the communication. We could not make out what was said on that side; we are at present carrying out technical restoration upon the communication's content. Besides which, our fleet will, in… one minute, enter the range from which the last coordinate the Sacred Wing Legion issued may be observed. Should there be any intelligence, we shall inform you at the first instant."
"I understand. Keep in contact. I mean to know what on earth has happened to the Sacred Wing Legion!" Consul Ernest said gravely.
"Yes."
And just at this moment the adjutant called out hurriedly, "Commander, the content of that communication has been restored! Would you hear it?"
"Play it." Another voice sounded.
Only then did the adjutant notice the lord Consul in communication with his own commander, and salute at once.
His own commander glared at his adjutant and urged him on. "Did you not hear my lord Consul? Play the restored communication content at once."
"Yes." The adjutant played out the communication file just restored.
The earlier passage was their own words sent to the Sacred Wing Legion.
And soon they heard a passage past all imagining.
It was a man's terrified shouting, hysterical.
From the tone one could tell his mental state at that moment must have been utterly broken.
"Do not come! Flee! Flee! "All Holy Radiance interstellar warships withdraw at full speed, leave this place… withdraw from the Warhammer…
"Notify the Empire at once — the Owl Dragon—"
When this passage had played out.
This commander and Consul Ernest looked at one another, and neither took it in at the first moment.
"Has it been confirmed whether this voice is the Sacred Wing Legion's commander's?" Consul Ernest asked.
In fact he had made it out during the communication just now.
That man was, after all, no ordinary commander, but a Sacred-Light Legion commander; the two of them had met and worked together many times, and he knew the voice.
But Consul Ernest asked once more all the same.
"It has been identified; there is no question of the identity," the adjutant answered.
Consul Ernest knit his brows. This was very strange indeed.
What on earth had they met with?
That could make a Sacred-Light Legion commander so lose his composure, and cry out for retreat besides.
And not merely to withdraw from this battle — to withdraw from the Warhammer… and even, it seemed, to notify the Empire of some emergency.
Those last two words, Owl Dragon, they had heard very clearly.
So all of this was the Owl Dragon's doing?
All at once a riddle seemed to have appeared before them.
Though this riddle would not trouble them long; it would very soon be unveiled.
"Report. We have entered the coordinate area the Sacred Wing Legion last issued; but we… have detected the signal of not one interstellar warship. Please instruct." The petty officer responsible for navigation looked to the commander.
The commander looked hesitantly at Consul Ernest across the video window.
This uncanny business had left him at a loss how to proceed.
"Investigate and establish clearly what the Sacred Wing Legion met with." Consul Ernest handed down the order.
This commander drew a deep breath, and began ordering his subordinates. "Maintain first-grade combat status, all radar open, put out every interstellar scout craft. And notify the other legion fleets to keep sailing distance with us, and to make ready their emergency response plans."
"Yes."
Throughout this, Consul Ernest kept the communication open, but did not interfere with his subordinate's command.
Time passed by degrees.
The whole atmosphere had grown uncanny on account of that recording, and of the Sacred Wing Legion that had vanished.
But soon a message reported up broke that quiet.
"Report… ahead… an abnormal situation discovered ahead… possibly… connected with the Sacred Wing Legion…" The adjutant reported it, his face ghastly pale.
"Do not waste my time — put the image through to me at once!" the commander urged.
Soon several captured video images were displayed before this commander, and Consul Ernest could see them as well.
The pupils of both men shook in that moment.
Because they saw, out among the stars in the distance, a whole region filled with the wreckage of interstellar warships — for all the world like a graveyard of interstellar warships.
Seeing this, a thread of uneasy foreboding rose in their hearts.
"Scan this wreckage; establish the information on these wrecks." The commander handed down the order at once.
The task was of no great difficulty, for the wreckage here was truly far too much.
By rough estimate, at least 3,000 interstellar warships.
The wreckage of 3,000 interstellar warships… the vanished Sacred Wing Legion.
The answer behind it was plain enough already.
Only that no few of them were unwilling to believe it, or did not dare believe it.
The adjutant came running over hurriedly. "We have the information on this wreckage; indeed it is—"
"There is no need to say it. I have seen it already." The commander's voice was somewhat unsteady.
The adjutant followed his commander's gaze. It was one of the captured images — the wreck of an interstellar warship; and though it had been torn into four pieces and five, on account of its own vast bulk—
it could still be made out from the wreckage that remained.
And what mattered most was that this interstellar warship… they knew far too well.
A T4 Retribution-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship!
And at this point they saw, dimly, behind this stretch of interstellar wreckage, a blurred and enormous shape.
That… was an interstellar warship.
And it seemed to be waiting for something.