Time to the Swarm Surge's beginning: 1 hour 09 minutes
The T5 Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship · bridge.
"How stands the field's deployment?" Zhao Chen came up beside Charlotte and inquired.
Charlotte pointed at the interstellar war sand table before her. "Above 2 million interstellar warships, and 370,000 hulls of the angel legion fleets. Of these, 500,000 interstellar warships answer for holding down the interstellar hive-race that we had no time to destroy in the actions before, but have confined within set bounds. The remaining above 1.5 million are divided into elite fleets and regular fleets. And our own Owl Dragon Legion and the Angel Race's 370,000 hulls serve as the main-battle fleets. These three ranks of fleet will each play a different part upon the field."
Zhao Chen looked at the cursors upon the sand table; three different colors could be seen, and clicking one would show which fleets garrisoned that position, and how the case stood there at present.
All of it the field's great data, gathered together by the Dragon Emperor.
"And for the hive that is coming. I have set up defensive measures of great positions and small positions." Charlotte looked toward Little Dragon Girl, floating in the air. "Little Dragon Girl."
"Here!" Little Dragon Girl blinked her eyes and tapped lightly toward the sand table.
Whereupon a picture of pre-played war appeared upon it.
Outside the vast red district in the middle — the cosmic bug-nest and the compass the hive-race held — there appeared 10 vast golden dotted circles.
"These 10 golden circles are the great positions. Chiefly the main-battle fleets and the elite fleets working together. On average each great position is garrisoned by 30,000 to 60,000 interstellar warships. Ten golden great positions, near 500,000 interstellar warships in all. Among them a portion of our Owl Dragon Legion's fleets, a portion of the angel legions, the Dragon-Tiger Legion, the Holy Light Empress fleet groups, the Chu family fleet groups, the Starlight royal fleet groups, and the elite Dragon-Folk fleets within the Great Dragon Legion."
Zhao Chen looked to the outer ring of these golden great circles, and could see small golden circles scattered one by one.
These small golden circles stood at very nearly even distances, and were some times the number of the great ones.
"These small golden circles are the small positions, made up of main-battle fleets, elite fleets and regular fleets mixed; the detailed arrangement will be set by the case of each small position as Little Dragon Girl works it out. And the number of interstellar warships deployed within these small positions is not fixed. At present the looked-for deployment is some 3,000 to 10,000 interstellar warships within each. There are 300 small golden circles in all. The number now settled for deployment is 1.5 million interstellar warships. And besides these, a further 500,000 interstellar warships have no detailed task of battle set at present; they serve as reserve and as emergency fleets. They may support any local field where they are wanted, at any moment!" Charlotte explained.
At this time the war rehearsal upon the sand table had begun.
A great quantity of hive-race units began to swarm out of the cosmic bug-nest in the middle and pour toward what lay about it, like a tide.
The first to take the shock were of course those golden great-circle defensive positions.
And while the golden great circles held off the hive-race's attack, a portion of the hive fleets charged on, and thereafter met the small golden circles behind them.
But because the golden great circles had already blunted the great mass of the hive-race's attacking impetus, the hive fleets reaching the small circles thereafter would be no very great threat to them.
"We have considered that the interstellar hive-race are far too many in number. And at present, by the result of the investigation of the interstellar stealth scouts we put in, the size of that permanent Grade-5 cosmic bug-nest is by now equal to the compass of a star system! We have no means of closing this bug-nest. Our staff department did consider before killing our way straight in and fighting about the bug-nest. But by Little Dragon Girl's intelligent calculation, that would be exceedingly dangerous. First, we do not know how many of the interstellar hive-race we shall face this time; that is unknown. Second, in doing so we should lose the depth of space in which to work. So at the last we chose to let the interstellar hive-race come out and fight them. Which gives us depth enough to work in. And then, whatever sudden case may arise, we can meet it as it comes. At the same time, those interstellar stealth scouts and watch posts we put in beforehand can tell us what enemy we are next to face. Though it may be but half an hour's or an hour's warning. Yet that time is enough for us to make a proper answer." Charlotte set out first the core of this tactical policy.
All this Zhao Chen had known before as well.
Charlotte pointed at those golden defensive positions. "Thereafter we considered besides that if we set so great a depth of field, then though we hold above 2 million interstellar warships. It would be very hard to build a line without a gap in it across so vast a compass. We considered: since we cannot do it, then let us not make one unbroken line at all. But rather let the hive fleets through of our own accord. Just as we now pre-play it. By the 10 great defensive positions in front, first blunting the swarm tide's fiercest attack; and the hive fleets that divide off thereafter may then be left to those 300 small defensive positions behind. Under these two lines, our capacity for battle and our room to work upon the field are greatly increased. Suppose the pressure upon some defensive position runs too high — we can then draw off fleets to support it, and defend that position with weight!"
Having heard all these arrangements out, Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction.
"But… a plan of battle upon so vast a scale is a very great problem for the logistical guarantee. For the logistics fleets, the worst case when it comes… may well be that they must drive in through the interstellar hive-race and into a defensive position to carry combat stores to it." Charlotte said it, and looked toward the secretary Lilith beside her.
This side of it was Lilith's charge.
The secretary Lilith said, with her face set, "This business will be in the charge of our Owl Dragon's own interstellar transport fleets, and of the wartime interstellar transport fleets the Northern Goose Group has formed. Li Wei's side says that so long as the front positions do not fall, they will make certain the combat stores come up. And if they cannot be got up, he, Li Wei… will hold the line with his life, and make certain the supply of the front positions runs smooth!"
"That young fellow." Zhao Chen laughed a little; but within the laugh there was a thread of something deep.
He went on watching the interstellar war sand table; to another's eyes he might have seemed to be watching that.
In fact he was watching that flickering number.
There remained… but one last hour.
The Swarm Surge…