Zhao Chen opened his eyes, holding his own head.
Somehow, a moment ago, Zhao Chen had lost consciousness.
Looking at the crew lying sprawled every which way upon the bridge, it seemed he was not the only one who had lost it.
Only that because his body had undergone reconstruction, he was the fastest to come back to his senses.
"My great cannon… my great cannon…"
Zhao Chen of a sudden heard a voice speaking beside him, and at the same time a hand was reaching toward his waist.
It was his acting captain, Xue Xiaoxiao; by the look of her, her case was very hopeful indeed — she was still dreaming a sweet dream.
Zhao Chen kicked that Xue Xiaoxiao away without ceremony, and even that kick did not wake her.
Zhao Chen got to his feet, walked quickly to the operating platform, and began calling up the relevant control interfaces.
Never mind that he did nothing at all in the ordinary way: in fact, of every class of interstellar warship in the Owl Dragon Legion's present service, Zhao Chen had them all by heart.
Restart the starship system.
Zhao Chen set the starship system restarting, and the bridge lighting soon came back.
But upon the whole ship's data panel Zhao Chen saw one red point after another, and each of them stood for a district in trouble.
Hull armor strength, comprehensive damage 13 percent; in the worst districts, hull armor strength damaged above 40 percent.
Communication equipment gravely damaged…
Spatial fold-jump engine out of order…
Warp-run engine out of order…
Starship core energy store, 3 percent remaining…
The damaged modules were a fair number, and the starship's core energy was near the bottom; happily the core energy source had not gone out of order, and could be left to recover of itself.
Certain basic life-support systems still ran as they should.
Zhao Chen started up the ship's intelligent medical robots throughout, and the repair robots besides.
Emergency treatment for such of the crew as were hurt within the ship; waking those who lay unconscious still.
The repair robots too, within the compass of their capacity, could repair those damaged modules.
While certain software programs that had failed wanted a stretch of time for the starship itself to build afresh.
Several electronic screens appeared before Zhao Chen, and his fingers began to leap quickly over them.
He needed to repair these as fast as might be.
Half an hour passed.
The crew upon the bridge began, one after another, to come to themselves.
There were no lives lost.
By Zhao Chen's reckoning, it should have been some high-energy fluctuation at that moment that had put the whole crew into unconsciousness.
And those of the crew who were hurt had all, while unconscious, struck against something or other, and taken flesh wounds by it.
"Commander… where… where are we now?" Xue Xiaoxiao, holding her still-aching head, came over to Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen said, without turning his head, "I do not know either; the starship's navigation and positioning function has failed, and the communication function is under repair still."
"Then is there not a very great possibility that we are within the compass of the Machine Race's territory?" Xue Xiaoxiao said, her brows drawing slightly together.
Though the Machine Race had not appeared for some years, the Machine Race's threat had stood all along; the overwhelming force with which they had crushed each of the empires in that year was before her eyes still.
At this time Secretary Nancy, who had come to herself earlier than Xue Xiaoxiao, came running over. "Some repair personnel were assigned to look over the districts that failed. Those failures are none of them very great, and all fall within the compass of what can be repaired. Within 50 hours all can be repaired complete. Of these, the repair of the communication module wants 20 hours at the least."
"Fifty hours? We are to stay 50 hours in this devil's own place?" Xue Xiaoxiao spread her hands helplessly.
Secretary Nancy, seeing Xue Xiaoxiao's face, forced down her laughter and pointed at her own. "Captain, it seems there is something upon your face?"
"Upon my face?" Xue Xiaoxiao was blank a moment; then she called up a mirror, and saw plainly upon her own face — a shoe print.
"How comes there to be a shoe print on my face!"
Zhao Chen paid no heed to Xue Xiaoxiao beside him, but went on losing no time in repairing the several software programs, and above all the communication module.
Only after repairing the communication module could he find means to get in contact with the outside, and at the same time with the fleet that had travelled with them, to learn how their case stood and whether they had come to grief.
Several hours passed.
Within the Hades by now order was in the main restored, and those who had been hurt were all seen to.
"Xiaoxiao, control of the interstellar drone system is recovered. Go and take charge of setting some interstellar scout drones on patrol and reconnaissance about our starship. At the same time have every weapon module enter a state of readiness. This is the Machine Race's ground, when all is said; we cannot take it lightly," Zhao Chen said in reminder.
"Yes." Xue Xiaoxiao nodded.
Fifteen hours later.
Five hours remained until the communication equipment was restored.
The work in Zhao Chen's own hands was in the main finished too; thereafter he could only wait upon the self-repair running at the back of the starship system.
He stretched himself, sat upon the sofa, and drank a mouthful of the beverage the Panther-Girl of his guard brought up.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
Just at this time Zhao Chen heard an alarm come from the equipment over on the radar side.
At the first moment the officer in charge of that department reported, "Reporting — the small radar carried by the interstellar drones we sent out has detected the energy fluctuation of a fleet. That fleet is sailing in our direction. It is projected to reach the position where we lie in half an hour."
At hearing this news Xue Xiaoxiao and Secretary Nancy entered a state of high alert at the first moment.
And looked, both of them, toward the lord Commander.
"Do not startle them; find means to withdraw from this fleet's course!" Zhao Chen said calmly.
It was not yet settled whether the other side's object was this starship of his; try first whether they could get away safely, and speak of the rest after.
The Hades began to sail slowly.
But very soon a new alarm sounded.
"This is bad — another fleet has appeared behind us as well… wait… not only behind us; unidentified fleet energy fluctuations have appeared in many places about us. Their object is to come straight at us. We… we are surrounded!" The officer in charge of the radar department said it in tension.
At a stroke their case had become very bad.
Isolated and past all help, to meet with encirclement by so many interstellar warships — it might be called a desperate pass.
"Make ready for battle. But without my order, none is to open fire," Zhao Chen said, his voice low.
"Yes!" Xue Xiaoxiao went at once to make the preparations for battle.
The weapon systems began to be brought into motion, and one ship's cannon after another took aim at an enemy still beyond their range.
The star-shield opened.
The whole crew entered a state of war.
Very soon, in the images the interstellar drones sent back, the shapes of these fleets appeared.
Interstellar warships in sheets of them, so many in number as to be a thousand at the least.
And this was but one direction.
Reckoning in all the directions from which they were closing about, there were tens of thousands of interstellar warships at the least.
And these interstellar warships were, without exception, every one of them Machine Race interstellar warships.
In this moment the bridge fell into a silence as of death.
Secretary Nancy was worn to distraction with anxiety; her own life or death was a small matter, but if the Commander came to harm here, to die ten times or a hundred could not redeem her guilt.
And just at this time an unlooked-for turn appeared.
"Reporting — the other side has sent a communication request!"