Chapter 1549: The Arrival of the Drones
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Cortex Prime had malfunctioned. It issued an order prohibiting everyone from investigating the alien s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. But the Cortex Prime did not mention that the totaled alien s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was flying again. It did not even give instructions on the proper response one should adopt when the alien s.p.a.cecraft came face to face with the Zenith.
As there was a lack of instructions, the Zenith’s autonomous system responded as it should have. When Nolan accelerated towards the s.p.a.ce station, a large number of auxiliary devices that looked like antennas on the surface of the Zenith reacted. They spun and aimed at the uninvited guest as sirens blared throughout the s.p.a.ce station. A launchpad opened, and a large number of dual-fuselage s.p.a.cecraft rushed out from the silvery-white Zenith. They fired up their plasma engines and charged at the enemy.
At the same time, the defense turrets floating around the Zenith began to transform. With the control of the high-precision fire computer, the parallel electromagnetic acceleration rail quickly locked on the Petrachelys. The charging capacitors below the electromagnetic acceleration rail began to gradually light up in red, indicating that a high-powered strike was imminent.
“Seventy-five hostile targets detected… It’s a hundred and two now. The number is increasing. Small wars.h.i.+ps are detected…” Nolan stood next to the central projector on the flight deck. The data and figures flashed like a meteor shower in her eyes. “It looks like they are giving us a grand welcome.”
Hao Ren smiled. “After all, they have been fighting the First Born for thousands of years, even rabbit should have grown a pair of fangs now.”
N-4 and N-6 watched as the shocking scene in s.p.a.ce unfolded. The Zenith had opened up many s.p.a.cecraft launchpads while turrets popped out on its surface. Hundreds of s.p.a.cecraft spitting plasma flames were closing in. There were over a dozen wars.h.i.+ps called the Cutters were coming out. It seemed there were still more to come.
The two Executrixes used to be among these s.p.a.cecraft and wars.h.i.+ps, of which they were incredibly proud. But now, they found themselves on the wrong side and becoming the targets.
The Executrixes could control their “fear” in their software, but their logic circuits still inevitably sent out signals that represented their nervousness. N-6 finally could not help getting to her feet. “This is your plan? Are you not going to the fortress on the moon?”
“Do not worry, this is our plan, and it is a genius plan! No one is going to get hurt!” Lily, the self-proclaimed first officer with a military uniform that was slightly too big for her, stood near her seat with her ears standing erect. She had cut a hole in her outfit so that her tail could stick out behind her. She pointed forward with her hand as if a mighty female general. “We will sneak into that thing openly!”
Nangong Wuyue poked her brother’s arm with her tail. “Brother, I think Lily has just contradicted herself.”
“Come on, she is a philosopher. A philosopher would not say something contradictory.”
“You mean a philosopher who specializes in reviewing food?”
Lily’s ear flicked and turned to glare at the Nangong siblings. She had overheard them.
Meanwhile, the enemy had begun to fire at them.
“Armored charger is online. s.h.i.+eld charger is online. Power is transferred from the main power reactor to the s.p.a.cecraft’s defense system,” Nolan reported. “Incoming enemy fire!”
The first wave of attack from the Zenith defense force hit the front s.h.i.+eld of the Petrachelys. The electromagnetic bombs, focused ion beams, and the like hit the bright blue s.h.i.+eld like raindrops falling into the lake, but the Petrachelys did not suffer a single scratch thanks to its energy s.h.i.+eld.
“It is a drizzle compared to the divine storm,”Nolan said with a shrug. “I can fight—”
Hao Ren interrupted Nolan and said, “Do not underestimate the enemy. And we are not here to fight them. Where is the closest drone cl.u.s.ter now?”
Nolan pouted. A new stream of data flashed across her eyes. “The first group is just a jump point away and ready to enter.”
“Pick one before they arrive.”
“Let me see…” Nolan nodded and switched into the Petrachelys’ perspective, watching the Zenith fighters flying around her. The Petrachelys appeared like a little rock in front of the Zenith but compared to the fighters of only a few tens of meters long, Hao Ren’s hundreds of meters long s.p.a.cecraft was a complete behemoth. From Nolan’s perspective, those enemy fighters were just a group of annoying flies. The s.h.i.+p girl was not irritated but enthusiastic. “This one is too thin. This one looks ugly. This one… hmm, the decal is unstylish, and if swallowed, I will get a bad stomach. And—”
Hao Ren quickly interrupted the s.h.i.+p girl, who had gotten a little heady right now. “Stop it. I understand you are a little excited to be able to fly again, but we have something more important to do. Pick one, and we will finish the job.”
“All right.” Nolan shrugged and locked onto a target. “That one. It looks like it can seat many people.”
“Release the guiding beacon, inform the drone cl.u.s.ter to enter and initiate the capturing procedure after fifteen minutes.”
The Petrachelys transmitted a powerful signal across the hypers.p.a.ce to a drone nest of metal cavities, towers, pipes, and broken asteroids.
The drone nest was built only twelve hours ago. Earlier, there was only one dead red dwarf and a vast stretch of asteroid fragments circling the red dwarf. A drone mothers.h.i.+p had brought a group of new-generation drones arriving and building a forward base here. The forward base was a production, storage, defense, and signal relay station. Thousands of new drones were shuffling in and around the nest as if ants expanding their anthill.
Until they received the message from the Petrachelys.
The new-gen drones stopped their activities at once, like the most disciplined soldiers when they received the instruction. Two seconds later, this drone corps turned and accelerated toward the bright region of stars in the distance.
A second later, over two thousand new-gen drones disappeared into the distorted s.p.a.ce ripples.
The Petrachelys was under the increasingly intense fire of the squadrons of fighters and wars.h.i.+ps of the Zenith. The Zenith, in its highest level of alert, seemed to intend to unleash all its defense capability to intercept the alien s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, which was extremely agile and powerful as it hopped left and right, up and down and was able to evade 90% of the h.e.l.lacious enemy fire.
In the face of the increasing number of Zenith defense forces, Nolan was taking a more cautious approach.
She could still maintain her rhythm with her superb maneuverability and near-field teleporting capability amid the superior firepower of the enemy. She evaded those high-powered enemy turrets, which tried to radar-locked her, as she marked a Zenith fighter and awaiting the arrival of the drone cl.u.s.ter.
She did not have to wait too long.
Ripples appeared in the dark universe behind the Zenith s.p.a.ce station. The distant starlight, blocked by the s.p.a.ce station earlier, began to swirl around the s.p.a.ce station. It was as if the ancient silver “egg” was coated with a silver halo ring. Following that, a large group of strangely s.h.i.+ning objects appeared.
The drone cl.u.s.ter sent a message to Hao Ren. “Begin to initiate siege.”
The Zenith’s defense system seized with the sudden appearance of a large number of uninvited guests. But soon the AI of Zenith had shown its superiority when a large part of the defense forces, including the turrets on the Zenith, quickly turned to meet the armed drones.
But the behavior of the drone cl.u.s.ter differed from that of the Petrachelys. Their speed and coordination were vastly superior to the Zenith fighters.
As if machine-insect hybrids, the drones dispersed and headed toward various positions over the Zenith. The drones had shut off their weapon system and diverted their energy to the s.h.i.+eld and armor systems just as Hao Ren had instructed them. This allowed the relatively fragile drones to better withstand the bombardment of the anti-air guns of the Zenith. Instead of concentrating their firepower at a particular point, the drones had gotten into their respective positions around the Zenith, forming a loose network of encirclement in just a matter of a few breaths.”
Immediately, the belly of the drones opened and emitted a glaring light.
The drones were unleas.h.i.+ng an EMP warfare.