The No. 2 Main Position.
Having the Commander's order.
The look in Chitong's eyes changed on the instant; she opened her own command system and said coldly, "The action begins!"
Chitong's order went down.
Within the No. 2 Main Position, the Owl Dragon Legion fleets, which had been holding off the hive fleets' attack, of a sudden launched a fierce counter-attack.
The interstellar missile ships, long since ready, made the first salvo.
That fierce attack broke the deadlocked quiet outright.
Chitong's Owl Dragon Second Legion was as though it had been given a shot of blood in an instant, clearing away the hive fleets beyond its line with astonishing fighting power.
And they were pressing forward of their own accord besides!
The Owl Dragon Second Legion had launched a counter-attack!
The Dragon-Tiger Legion's fleet commander assisting beside them, had he not been told of it early, would likely have been startled by this act of the Owl Dragon Second Legion's.
But for all that, he felt now that this was an exceedingly hazardous action.
Through this stretch of fighting with the interstellar hive-race, the feeling he had was that the hive fleets simply could not be finished, and that they had no fear of death; had they not had ample logistics and Owl Dragon-line warships holding the front.
Their own line would likely have been broken through none knew how many times.
And now they were to counter-attack besides.
Was this not to hasten their own death!
And this scene was played out at more than one main position.
Three main positions together sounded the horn of this counter-attack.
Severally, the No. 1, the No. 2 and the No. 5 Main Positions!
Perhaps because a sudden counter-stroke from a quarry that had all along been passively defending was wholly beyond their looking for.
At the first moment the Owl Dragon Legion's attack at these three main positions went exceedingly smoothly.
They cut swiftly into the hive fleets' array and began sailing toward the depths!
Whatever hive fleets they met upon the road, their attack was clean and past all shaking.
As though something in that direction were calling to them.
"How do the three lines of attack advance?" Zhao Chen kept his eyes upon a certain red district of the war sand table.
Had one been here watching, and set that district against the directions of those three Owl Dragon attacks, one would have found that the three lines pointed plainly at that very red district!
"The Owl Dragon First Legion's attack is the slower, for the hive fleets here are the most numerous of the three lines! The Owl Dragon Second Legion attacks the most fiercely, and has driven the deepest! The Owl Dragon Fifth Legion goes rather smoothly, with no great trouble," Lilith set it out for Commander Zhao Chen, one by one.
Zhao Chen nodded slightly; he pointed at the three lines, and at the last his finger came to rest upon that red district.
"This is the coordinate position we have projected for that T5 Leviathan-Shaman-class Hive Mothership! About it there were four T5 Leviathan-Sovereign-class Hive Motherships and their attached hive fleets in protection; two have now been drawn off by Charlotte. The strength of the defense has fallen by more than half in an instant. But the other side will very soon discover our intent. They must assuredly draw off the hive fleets about them to come in support. So we must value speed above all, and destroy this T5 Leviathan-Shaman-class Hive Mothership in the shortest time! This battle decides the final course of our campaign!" Zhao Chen said, with his face set.
This in fact was the plan Zhao Chen had thought of before.
To cry in the east and strike in the west!
Charlotte's part of the Owl Dragon Legion fleets had by now made a name; and since the hive fleets' head possessed a certain intelligence, it must assuredly handle Charlotte's legion fleets with care.
For upon Charlotte's side there were a dozen T5-grade interstellar warships and more!
In which too Zhao Chen was not out in his reckoning.
At the moment Charlotte showed herself making ready to fall upon the T5 Leviathan-Shaman-class Hive Mothership, two T5 Leviathan-Sovereigns and 2 million hive hulls at once came swarming across to intercept her legion fleets.
The crying in the east Charlotte had done well.
And what remained was the striking in the west upon Zhao Chen's side.
Because the Leviathan-Shaman's coordinates had in the main been inferred, they need only lay out the lines of attack.
And the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 Main Positions were the best points of departure Little Dragon Girl had calculated!
Whence this present counter-attack from three main positions.
But this was only a beginning.
For this plan of crying in the east and striking in the west.
Zhao Chen might be said to have moved every fleet strength he had — to fight with the river at his back.
"Can the legion fleets behind keep up?" Zhao Chen inquired.
"The Owl Dragon legions at the remaining main positions have now begun to make ready for spatial jumps. By the plan of battle we set beforehand, they will attack along these three lines, follow close upon the leading force, and can render the leading force help besides! By projection, the strength upon the three lines of attack can be wholly gathered within five hours," said Lilith.
Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction, and pointed at those main positions. "These messes must be tidied properly."
Little Dragon Girl said from beside them, "That I have already sent the drafted plans down for. Every legion fleet will work with us. Save for the three main positions that launched the attack, the lines of the other main positions will be withdrawn; the legion fleets that garrisoned them will fall back to the small positions behind and there intercept the hive fleets. And where it is needful, the small positions may be given up as well. Their chief task of battle is to delay, to tie down, and so far as may be to lessen the losses upon the other local fields. Once our strategic object here is smoothly reached, the crises elsewhere will of course be lifted."
With Little Dragon Girl, this top-order artificial intelligence, to assist, it was truly a great convenience.
Even with Charlotte away, plans of battle of every kind could be drafted in the shortest time.
"Let it be by this plan! These matters of detail you may handle with full authority, and report to me afterward," Zhao Chen ordered.
Since Zhao Chen used this artificial intelligence, he would give her the fullest trust.
As now, for instance: she held the right to give orders directly to the several legion fleets — she was as good as a deputy commander at Zhao Chen's side.
And where it was needful, the authority Zhao Chen granted let her issue orders one after another without reporting to him at all.
Extraordinary hours, extraordinary means!
"We must settle this Leviathan-Shaman-class Hive Mothership in the shortest time!" Zhao Chen clenched his fist and said it savagely.
Lilith looked at the murder in her Commander's eyes.
She knew it was because the longer it dragged, the greater Charlotte's losses would be.