Mid-August, Galactic Calendar 3032

Zhao Chen rushed back to his own Xiaolong star system from the capital star without stopping. It has to be said that the status of an Imperial Marquis is still very useful.

When using those star gates, Marquis Zhao Chen had priority and unimpeded access.

The journey home took half the time compared to going to the capital city.

"Report, our ship has deactivated warp drive mode. We have now returned to the Xiaolong system and are expected to enter the Xiaolong base area in ten minutes," the captain of the T3 Blizzard reported to Zhao Chen.

"Finally back." Zhao Chen stretched.

Five days ago, Zhao Chen ordered his Xiaolong Legion to travel to the Cangyue Star Region to rescue his elder sister, Zhao Ruyue.

Zhao Chen received feedback immediately after the rescue operation was successfully completed.

That would naturally be a notification that the task is complete.

The reward for this mission is relatively simple.

10,000 system points, 50 mission points, and T3 Templar-class medium-sized starfighter mech technology blueprints.

While starfighter mechs may not be as important as starships, they are an indispensable part of interstellar warfare.

Originally, Zhao Chen had planned to exchange for a T3-level interstellar {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} combat mech to equip his interstellar warship.

Now things are much better; someone's just offering a pillow when you're sleepy.

As we drew closer to the JF-17 base, the T3 Phoenix appeared in the distance in the images on the bridge.

Zhao Chen stood up and looked at the female captain beside him, who seemed a little reluctant to leave: "I have to go back now. This trip has been very pleasant."

The female captain watched Zhao Chen's departing figure, and the female soldiers on the bridge all looked heartbroken.

I don't know if I'll ever have another chance to spend so much time with the Commander.

T3 Phoenix-class Heavy Aircraft Carrier Starship - Bridge

Zhao Chen looked at the familiar crimson hull paint, and the crew members stood up to greet their commander.

"Welcome back, Commander." Lilith smiled at Zhao Chen, with a captain's chair already prepared beside her.

Zhao Chen returned to his familiar spot: "Because we were all on the move, we didn't get a detailed understanding of your battle situation in the Cangyue Star Region."

Now give me another report.

“Okay.” Lilith raised her hand, brought up several data panels, and said, “This rescue operation.”

We mobilized almost our entire force, relying on our newly commissioned second T4 Radiant-class interstellar warp ship. The cooperation between the two T4 Radiant ships allowed us to quickly withdraw after completing the rescue mission.

During the battle, we faced a fleet of nearly 10,000 interstellar warships led by Qin Hu, the third prince of the Star Glory Empire. Their combat strength was equivalent to that of a second-line imperial army.

The campaign cost approximately one billion Star Credits, resulting in the loss of three T3 Triceratops, five T2 Black Rhinos, and a number of Starfighters and Stardrones.

There were 323 casualties.

Enemy casualty statistics: The engagement lasted one hour and fifteen minutes, with nearly three thousand enemy interstellar warships destroyed.

Looking at the loss figures, Zhao Chen said, "Our losses are quite significant; this is probably the biggest loss we've suffered in all the battles we've ever fought."

"Yes. Mainly because this enemy is the strongest we've ever encountered."

Ten thousand interstellar warships of the Starshine Empire's military force, although only the combat power of a second-tier imperial army, still caused us a lot of trouble.

Fortunately, we were only conducting a rescue operation. After rescuing the target, we quickly withdrew. Vice Commander Charlotte said that if we continued to fight with our current strength, we would undoubtedly be defeated.

"And the enemy also has a T4 Borei-class destroyer. Two of our T3 Triceratops were destroyed by the T4 Borei-class destroyer," Lilith said.

The opponent in this battle.

Although the fleet size is similar to that of the three legions that the United States of Warhammer previously clashed with.

However, the combat format is completely different, so the difficulty is drastically different for the Wraith Legion.

When facing the three fleets of the Warhammer Starfleet Union, they employed warp drive interception and ambush tactics to catch them off guard.

Some Warhammer enemy ships were destroyed without even activating their Star Shields.

At that time, the JF-17 Legion held an absolute advantage.

This time, the Starshine Empire's 10,000-strong imperial fleet was kept in a state of combat readiness.

Although the JF-17 squadron still launched a surprise attack, this time the opponent was prepared and their formation was relatively loose.

To achieve the strategic objective of annihilating 3,000 enemy interstellar ships and rescuing the princess's royal fleet with such minimal casualties is already a remarkable achievement.

But this sudden rescue operation also illustrates one point.

That is the lack of strength of the Dragon Legion.

The JF-17 Legion is not yet capable of engaging in large-scale, head-on battles with equally matched opponents. If the battle lines are stretched out and a large-scale interstellar war is waged, even if the JF-17 Legion ultimately wins, it will most likely be a Pyrrhic victory.

This is the difference in their fundamental backgrounds.

"How are things going with the princess's royal fleet?" Zhao Chen asked, concerned about the troublesome issues he had just resolved.

If the current high-ranking officials of the Starry Empire found out that the little princess was in their hands, the princes who were truly in power would definitely not let Zhao Chen go.

"As per your previous instructions, the entire Princess Royal Fleet has been deployed to the Lion King System and is under closed management. No interstellar warship may leave the military control zone of the Lion King System without permission," Lilith replied.

Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction.

To be honest, Zhao Chen hadn't figured out how to deal with the little princess after she was rescued.

Regardless, we cannot reveal that the little princess is in our hands for the time being, so we will first arrange for them to be placed in the Lion King Galaxy.

"How many interstellar warships does the Princess Royal Fleet currently have?" Zhao Chen asked.

"We rescued a total of 832 interstellar warships this time, but one-third of them were severely damaged."

If it weren't for our Wisdom-class interstellar warp ships, those interstellar warships wouldn't even be able to travel at warp speed and wouldn't be able to escape at all.

The remaining two-thirds of the starships also suffered varying degrees of damage.

Of the two T4 Borei-class ships, one was severely damaged and may be difficult to repair.

"The remaining ship, which is the little princess's flagship, is somewhat better, but only relatively speaking," Lilith reported one by one.

"Where is my sister? Where is she now?" Zhao Chen asked.

"During your absence, Miss Wan'er accompanied your eldest sister on a tour of the Xiaolong Galaxy."

"With your permission, Miss Zhao Ruyue is granted Level 1 clearance, allowing her access to all interstellar warships," Lilith said.

Zhao Chen nodded; it was time for him to go and meet his older sister.

"Make arrangements, I need to see my older sister."