Galactic Star Calendar 3035, May 3.
Near 70 hours remained to the beginning of the Swarm Surge.
Under Charlotte's arrangement, the tasks of battle upon both fields began at once.
Above 2 million interstellar warships — a vast number to the eye, yet their arrangement and deployment were in perfect order.
Whatever case arose, once it was reported up, feedback and a plan of handling came back in the shortest time.
This left the fleet captains from the three great empires somewhat unprepared.
These captains and fleet commanders were not men who had never been through great battles and hard ones; they knew very well that even in this interstellar age.
The vaster a fleet's number, the higher the difficulty of command, and many an order can never reach the subordinate fighting unit at the first moment.
Never before had there been the free and frictionless feeling of this.
They did not even need to think too much themselves; they needed only carry out each order as it came down.
And every one of these orders came from the T5 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship!
Resting upon this powerful command ship, above 2 million interstellar warships.
A fleet upon so vast a scale, could all be managed and arranged in perfect order.
Zhao Chen sat upon the sofa and looked with satisfaction at Little Dragon Girl, hovering above the interstellar war sand table in a half-transparent state.
Set against her state before, Little Dragon Girl now was the more earnest, and wanted the more computing power moved.
But the scale of above 2 million interstellar warships was very far from her limit.
"With Little Dragon Girl, this top-order artificial intelligence, we are truly a good deal the easier," the secretary Lilith said with feeling, standing at Zhao Chen's side.
"Just so. It is as the saying has it — leave the professional business to the professionals; and that holds for different types of interstellar warship as well. With this command ship, the efficiency of our system of command is multiplied. It looks to be of no very great effect, but in fact it will show itself by degrees in our capacity in actual battle." Zhao Chen folded his arms and nodded in satisfaction.
And the most important thing was that this top-order artificial intelligence did not burn money either.
Not like Annie, who wanted certain staff benefits opened to her besides.
"How stands the case upon the front-line field?" Zhao Chen's eyes went to that interstellar war sand table.
Lilith said, "At present all goes very smoothly. After several discussions. Some modification has been made to General Charlotte's plan. For instance, we may take this chance to divide up the regular fleets, the elite fleets and the fleets that have had experience of fighting the interstellar hive-race, and mix them together. Which, while keeping down the fleets' losses in the fighting, lets every interstellar warship so far as may be come by experience of real fighting against the interstellar hive-race. By the historical record of fighting the interstellar hive-race, the greatest threshold in such fighting is that many a fleet, in its first battle, faces these creatures from outside. With no experience of fighting them, and in terror of them, a train of troubles arises, which leads at the last to defeat. Whereas by this chance we may temper every fleet once beforehand. And so, when the swarm surge's attack comes hereafter, we may avoid those fleets falling into panic."
Zhao Chen nodded; the point had good sense in it.
Certain troubles that look very small will as often as not show themselves upon a field, and may even change the whole state of a war.
"It must be said that the Holy Radiance Empire's wealth is truly great. Facing the interstellar hive-race this time, of the 50 trillion star coins in war-readiness stores we have made ready at present, two-thirds is provided by the Holy Radiance Empire and its several great families," Lilith said with feeling.
"A camel starved to death is bigger than a horse — still more when it is the Holy Radiance Empire, once the strongest of the three great empires. And now the interstellar hive-race is the greatest threat to them. Now that we take a hand of our own accord, and there is a chance besides of clearing away these remnant swarms of the hive-race, they are of course willing to give money and give strength. And if there are any without the eyes to see it, Saint Cana will likely reckon with them afterward." Zhao Chen said it as lightly as a passing cloud.
Saint Cana being mentioned, he asked in curiosity, "Ah yes — did Saint Cana ask of her own accord to go to the field in those three star regions and clear away the hive-race remnants?"
Lilith nodded. "She did; the business of those three star regions is truly a thorn in Saint Cana's heart. Now that the chance has come at last, she of course wishes to pull those thorns out herself."
Zhao Chen said nothing further, and went on watching the state of the fighting upon the interstellar war sand table.
And within his sight that flickering countdown stood all the while.
——————
The Krypse Star Region · a certain star system.
Here a fierce battle was breaking out.
Upon one side the strongest interstellar fleet the Holy Radiance Empire now has, the Holy Light Empress fleet groups!
Upon the other, the hive fleets that had squatted here some months.
Beneath the Holy Light Empress fleet groups' gunfire, the hive fleets were slaughtered away sheet by sheet.
Had it been the Holy Radiance Empire's fleets of former days, such crushing warfare would perhaps have been hard to accomplish.
But now that they were fitted out with a portion of Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships, their fighting power had risen by a wide margin.
And above all now that they had the T3 Judicator-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ship!
In dealing with hive fleets it came the more readily to hand.
Beyond this, the Owl Dragon Galactic Interstellar Group had before this provided them certain T4-series Owl Dragon classes.
The T4 Skull-King-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Destroyer, for instance; the T4 Paladin-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Escort; the T4 Vermilion-Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser; the T4 Tyrant-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Battlecruiser.
Though these were not the Owl Dragon's strongest T4 classes, they were more than enough for the hive fleets here.
For here the strongest Hive Motherships were no more than T4-grade.
And not many of those either.
Star systems with more T4 Hive Motherships were left to the Owl Dragon Legion to clear, and upon those fields the trend was the more crushing still — for there Owl Dragon T5 interstellar warships would appear!
"Reporting — we have cleared 30 percent of this star system's compass; to the present, 14 T4 Hive Motherships killed! And above 15,000 Hive Motherships of the other grades." The adjutant looked toward the Empress Saint Cana, reporting the state of the fighting.
The Empress Saint Cana kept her eyes upon the nearest planet.
Beyond the planet's atmosphere a great quantity of floating war-wreck could still be seen.
And looking to the planet's surface, one saw sheet upon sheet of black ground — already seized by the hive-race's ground swarms.
"That is… the chief world of this system, Krypse VII, is it not. I came here once before. A very fine planet." The Empress Saint Cana said it as though calling it to mind.
The adjutant lowered his head and said nothing; he had marked the Empress's clenched fist.
The ground swarm life upon this planet is very weak, and in the main no great threat to an interstellar warship; but to clear the ground swarms from a whole planet wants a vast investment of time.
Which is why, within General Charlotte's orders, only the hive fleets were to be cleared and not these planets.
"When we come back. Then I shall assuredly bring these planets back to the prosperity of former days! And clear those filthy bugs utterly from every inch of our Holy Radiance Empire." The Empress Saint Cana's eyes were like torches.
What had happened in these three star regions before, she would on no account see played out again!