The Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom's northern holdings.
Zhao Chen and the rest did not hurry back to the Owl Dragon Star System at once; they merely arranged for certain interstellar warships in urgent need of repair to return to the Owl Dragon Star System first for refitting and repair.
For with so vast a number of starships, to crowd the whole lot back for repair at a stroke would only mean queuing.
And as it happened, with the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom's senior people all here, Zhao Chen called them together for a brief meeting.
The meeting's business was very simple. First he set out the Demon Race threat: this campaign was over, but that did not mean the threat hereafter was gone.
Beyond that, there was the encouragement of industrial revival within the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom, the encouragement of interstellar trade, and so forth.
And there was one further important decision.
"Considering how matters stand at present, I think it is nothing like enough to build a defense line here in the northern holdings alone. The best position for blocking the Demon Race is still the mouth of this demon lane! Because of the particular character of the country about the lane, this is a place easy to hold and hard to attack. So I shall build a military base in this district." Zhao Chen pointed beyond the northern holdings, at a position rather near the mouth of the demon lane, and drew a circle.
That lane, being the one that leads to the Demon Race, had by now been given the simple name of the demon lane.
"To build a military base afresh, and from nothing besides. That calls for very great investment, and for time. And should the Demon Race fleets come at us again before it is done, we may be caught unprepared by the enemy," said Princess Blanche.
Zhao Chen said, "For the time, I have set three months. Before the end of March next year this military base will be built. The interstellar industrial fleets responsible for the building will be furnished by us; and as for the raw materials required, our Owl Dragon and the Warhammer will bear them half and half. The lower-end labor within it falls wholly to the Warhammer's charge."
Chieftain Ted and Chieftain Big Bear both wore looks of consideration.
Princess Blanche finished her analysis very soon, and said, "Upon labor there is no problem. The funds this building requires, we are willing to bear half of; but we must be given a detailed figure, for the Warhammer's own reserve of funds is not very great at present. And last, this limit of three months. By the building requirements you have given for this military base, it cannot possibly be completed within three months."
Princess Blanche looked at the requirements for building this military base, which had been sent into every hand present.
They included star gates, trade-type starports, military starports, an interstellar fortress, interstellar space stations, and a whole train of installations besides.
"Whether it can be built within three months is no concern of yours; that we shall answer for. So long as the labor and the funds are in place on time, none of it is a problem. As for the budget." Zhao Chen looked toward Lilith beside him.
Lilith, that mistress of the household accounts, came forward at this. "For this military base, by the building items we have set down at present, it is projected that raw materials or funds to the value of 5 trillion star coins must be in place across three months."
5 trillion star coins?
At hearing that figure, even Zhao Chen himself took a fright; before this he had only run his eye roughly over it, and knew it would not be cheap.
But he never thought it would be so dear as this!
Even sharing out these 5 trillion star coins of raw materials and funds, the Owl Dragon would still have to bear 2.5 trillion star coins.
Yet Zhao Chen raised no question of the figure, nor of the proposal.
Because he knew there were a great many purposes in building this military base.
The first: the purpose everyone was speaking of just now — to hold off the Demon Race's possible attacks hereafter.
The second: though the Owl Dragon Legion's military strength was very great now and the three great empires all well-behaved, the further one goes from the Owl Dragon Star System, the more this force of deterrence weakens — and weakens exponentially.
But to build military bases of this kind, controlled by the Owl Dragon Legion, at certain positions, is to strengthen the Owl Dragon Legion's deterrence indirectly.
And it can at the same time make good the guarantee for the vast trade system of the future Owl Dragon Galactic Interstellar Group: wherever there is need, a military fleet can be sent in the least possible time to support and put it down.
The third, and the most veiled: this military base can overawe certain family powers within the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom who harbor little designs.
Like a collar fastened about the Warhammer's neck.
So even at no small cost, Zhao Chen would agree to establishing this military base.
The Owl Dragon Legion, developed to what it is now, looks very strong.
But its foundations are too weak; whether it be the "Owl Dragon Galactic Interstellar Group strategy" Lilith had drawn up before, or the building of military bases of this kind, both are for consolidating the Owl Dragon Legion's foundations.
With unsteady foundations, and so vast a spread of ground held, the least slip would set this great tree of the Owl Dragon Legion swaying in the wind, at risk of falling.
And this would be only the first military base the Owl Dragon Legion established; in Lilith's and Charlotte's conception, given the present map-range of the three great empires and the Owl Dragon Fifteen Star Districts.
A great many more military bases would be needed.
The next should be in the Holy Radiance Empire.
"Very well; we shall have this arranged in the least possible time." Princess Blanche's deep gaze rested a moment upon Zhao Chen.
Clever as she was, it was not possible she should fail to know what this thing meant for the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom behind the face of it.
But there was no help for it while the Demon Race threat stood; without this great mountain of the Owl Dragon Legion here, the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom's territory would be drowned by the Demon Race fleets in an instant.
So for the present, they could only take one step and look to the next.
The brief meeting ended.
As Princess Blanche and Zhao Chen walked out of the meeting room, the two of them went together.
"Your Highness, will you not go and see your elder sister Leona?" Zhao Chen inquired.
Hearing Leona's name, Princess Blanche rolled her eyes. "My lord has ability indeed. This elder sister of mine, after such a hoodwinking from you. Set aside outright her posts as princess of the Dragon-folk tribe and fleet commander. And ran off to your Owl Dragon Legion. And it seems the post she holds now is that of a fleet leader commanding 300 interstellar warships."
At Princess Blanche's raillery.
Zhao Chen gave a heh heh of a laugh. "I never forced Leona; it was wholly her own notion. As for her post — within our Owl Dragon Legion, rank and the rest are not measured by family background or standing. They rest upon one's own ability. That Leona could graduate from our Owl Dragon Military Academy and become straightaway the captain of a small fleet already counts as a rarity among rarities. Which shows well enough that her gift and her capacity for command far surpass others'. By my estimate, once merit is weighed and rewarded after this campaign, her post will rise further still. Here with us in the Owl Dragon, so long as you are gold, you will assuredly shine. Princess Blanche, will you not consider joining us?"
"Poaching my elder sister is not enough for you — you would poach me across as well? I thank my lord for the kindness; the Dragon-folk tribe still needs someone to manage it." Blanche said it with a light laugh.