Beneath the ambush of the Owl Dragon interstellar stealth reconnaissance ship special fleet, which Zhao Wan'er had laid in position early, and the encirclement of the Owl Dragon fleets that followed, near 3,000 Demon Race interstellar warships more were ringed about and killed.
And with that, this first crossing of hands between the Owl Dragon Legion and the Demon Race came for the present to a close.
T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought · bridge.
"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief: the fighting is in the main at an end; only the work of tidying up remains. Besides which, against the fleeing remnants of the Demon Race fleets, I have detailed several T4 Banshee-class Light Interstellar Stealth Scout Ships to track and observe them. Should there be any development, it will come back to us in the first instant." Charlotte reported it to Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction, and thereafter gave his instructions. "Very good indeed. Make arrangements to refit here in place for a while. Gather in the damaged interstellar warships of our fleets, clear the field, and of the Demon Race's wrecked interstellar warships bring back as well whatever can be carried away. Then pass the word down: have the commanders of every legion fleet come here to me, so far as may be, for a meeting face to face. And invite besides Princess Blanche and Princess Leona from the Dragon-folk tribe's side. Before you meet, have the work of summing up this battle well in hand. As for the clearing of the field, you may hand that straight to the Dragon-folk tribe and those Warhammer tribal fleets. It is not every day they make so long a journey; they ought at least to do a little work."
"Yes." Charlotte went at once to give the necessary orders.
"Should someone go and meet those two princesses?" Lilith asked at Zhao Chen's side.
"Those two princesses, unless they are fools past all curing, will know what is to be done now." Zhao Chen said it with narrowed eyes.
Lilith went on with her work and said nothing further.
This battle.
The Owl Dragon Legion had brought out very nearly the whole of its combat strength. In part this was to give the Demon Race a fight with everything in it, and take this first victory.
And in part it was to strike the mountain and shake the dragon.
The Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth being so vast, Zhao Chen could not possibly clear away every tribal power that had ever set itself against him, and the high men of these great tribes above all.
Zhao Chen had the capacity for it; but to raise up such a system again after would cost far too much time.
In days past, Zhao Chen might well have had the patience for it.
But without there was the threat of the Demon Race and the Machine Race.
And within there was the hidden trouble of the interstellar hive-race, and a Doctor who came and went like a ghost besides.
Zhao Chen had not so much time.
He must, in the shortest time possible, raise up an order in the Warhammer with Charlotte at its head, steady the Warhammer's inward parts, restore the Warhammer's production and its living, and use the Warhammer's resources to sustain the Owl Dragon Legion.
And so Zhao Chen needed to put the existing high men of the Warhammer's great tribes through a sorting of the fit from the unfit.
By which, having two great empires for a backing behind him.
Then even in the worst case to come, should he need to fight upon two fronts against the Holy Radiance Empire's interstellar hive-race and the Demon Race both, he would have strength enough to give battle.
For this end Zhao Chen had brought out his whole strength in this first battle to overawe the Demon Race; upon which the Demon Race's high men would in all likelihood not open a war again in any short time.
Though this signified as well that the next crossing of hands with the Demon Race would be fiercer still.
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"Your Highness, do you truly not require us to attend you?" A crowd of staff officers and senior generals stood in the hangar, watching Princess Leona make ready to board the shuttle.
"It is not as though I were going to fight. What use is your attending me?" Leona said impatiently. "Even should that Owl Dragon lord mean us ill. And we went to war with them, do you suppose we should have any chance of victory? Which of you can defeat that T5 super-starship?"
Hearing Princess Leona's demand, these staff officers and senior generals fell silent.
"You are to do the post-battle tidying honestly and well. And remember one point above all. When the field is cleared, once the wreckage of those Demon Race interstellar warships has been put in order, not one of you is to lay a finger upon it for me! Without the Owl Dragon Legion's permission, let any dare to move so much as one of them. And bear the consequences himself!" Leona's tone as she said this was exceedingly grave.
These generals nodded heavily. To dare put out a hand at such a time would truly be to die without anyone thinking it a pity.
As for how these spoils and these post-battle materials were to be divided when the hour came, that of course was for the Owl Dragon Legion to say, and them alone.
Having given these instructions, Leona went aboard the shuttle alone.
Though aboard the shuttle there was a pilot besides.
"Let us go." Leona gave the pilot her order.
"Very well." The shuttle's pilot started up and left the starship's hangar.
And thereafter set course toward that largest of interstellar warships in the distance.
"It is truly big." The shuttle's pilot looked at that colossal thing and swallowed whether he would or no.
The nearer they came to this T5 super-starship, the more they could feel that terrible weight of oppression about it.
Leona turned her head and looked through the viewport at the T5 super-starship drawing gradually nearer, and the cast of her eyes was very complicated.
There was worship in it, and reverence, and tension, and fear, and excitement…
After a while, having received the target starship's clearance order, the shuttle drew slowly in by its directions, and entered at the last into an enormous hangar.
Within this hangar several shuttles were already berthed.
Whether by coincidence there is no telling, but as Leona stepped down from her shuttle she saw beside her another shuttle likewise belonging to the Dragon-folk tribe — for upon it was the Dragon-folk tribe's crest.
"Leona." A voice came calling.
Leona looked over. Her gaze flickered; she walked over slowly, and looked at the other with a somewhat constrained air. "Blan… Blan… che."
Blanche looked at this half-sister of hers. Upon her face there was no longer any of that arrogance of former days; there was even a weariness born of long command at high load, and of the pitching and heaving of the battle's fortunes.
Her eyes were all bloodshot.
"Hold out a little. When the meeting is over. Rest well." Blanche took Leona's hand and said it gently.
This gesture left even Leona astonished; her body stiffened where she stood.
Blanche stood at Leona's side and said, in a voice only the two of them could hear, "The Dragon-folk tribe has only the two of us left to rely upon now. Elder sister, we must carry the Dragon-folk tribe onward. This was our imperial father's hope."
Into Leona's body there seemed at a stroke to well up a strength.
She gripped Blanche's hand tight. This seemed to be the first time she had ever held this younger sister's hand — very soft, not thick and full of strength as a pure-blooded Dragon-folk's would be.
And yet the owner of just such a pair of hands had saved her, and saved those Dragon-folk fleets.
"Mm. Younger sister — let us guard the Dragon-folk tribe together." Leona said it gravely.
In this moment these two sisters, who had striven against one another since they were small, came together for the first time.
The two of them, guided by a crewman, left the hangar and boarded a hovering elevator within the ship, passing swiftly through the ship's inner corridors.
The hovering elevator was very fast.
But for all that, the two of them waited five minutes still.
Before they reached the position where the bridge lay.
"If you please." The crewman pointed to the bridge's wide-open doors.
Which gave Blanche and Leona a shock at heart.
They had supposed this meeting would be held in some conference room or the like aboard this super-starship, and had never thought it would actually be upon the bridge.
The two of them gulped; princesses of the Dragon-folk tribe though they were, at this moment they grew tense whether they would or no.
The two exchanged a glance, and walked slowly into the bridge.
This was the largest bridge either of them had ever seen.
Upon this bridge alone there were several thousand crew busy at their work.
And its height was a full several dozen storeys.
And at the bridge's center there was a platform.
A man sat squarely upon it.
And behind him stood several women generals.