Chapter 534: Rescue Operation

Shepard's new ship, the Normandy, is the crystallization of cutting-edge technology that Cerberus hacked into the Star Alliance system, stole the design drawings of the original 'Normandy' and upgraded it. The stealth-type fast assault cruiser known as 'SR-2' is now silently jumping short distance to the orbit of planet AN-5367 in a stealthy and silent posture.

Then, after it carefully adjusted to the synchronous orbit, it quietly shut down the main engine, as if it didn't exist, and quietly suspended in the orbit of this barren mining planet that had been temporarily abandoned by the Star Federation. Above, silently scanning this huge planet.

"The track has been set up, and no abnormalities have been found!"

"..."

"The scan of the surrounding star field is complete, and no hostile or unknown spaceships have been found!"

"..."

"The planet scan is continuing, no threatening targets have been found!"

"No traces of other spaceships jumping around..."

"IES cloaking system is working fine... due to the slow discharge of heat from the blue shift..."

"Tantalus Modified Drive Core is working fine!"

"The lithium cooling system is normal, and our ship can remain invisible for... six hours!"

"..."

"Report to the captain! My ship and the surrounding star fields are all normal, please instruct!!"

When the data reported by the crew members in all important positions on the bridge was collected on the holographic interface of the first officer of the No. 2 Normandy, he immediately walked to the straight Shepard ship wearing the N7 gray and black armor. The leader reported in front of him.

"Continue to observe and stand by!"

Shepard didn't say much, but waved his hand with a cold face, telling him to go back to his duty.

Ever since Shepard's Normandy One jumped out and was attacked and killed by someone, she has had a lot of shadows on jumping or flying with a mass repeater. Every time she always let the spaceship Stealth, and then start to move and jump, for fear that when his new spaceship jumps to the other end of the destination, there will be those guys who ran out to ambush him again.

However, the things she was most worried about haven't happened yet.

They waited in full force, and didn't find anything wrong here! Here on this planet, there doesn't seem to be any traps specifically aimed at her Shepard or other human ships.

"..."

Standing here on the bridge, frowning and staring at the huge yellow-brown planet outside the window.

This planet is different from the blue and incomparably beautiful earth of human beings. This yellow-brown ball always looks gray, and the air is also full of suspended dust, which just fills the entire planet. Atmosphere... Then, large and small storm vortices kept raging, stirring the thick cloud layer of this planet like mud...

Above the planet's orbit, if you rely on the naked eye alone, you can't see anything on the planet's ground at all!

Therefore, Shepard did not continue to speak, she just waited silently, waiting for the intelligence officer of the Normandy and other CICs to use the chaotic holographic display screens connected to various detection instruments to analyze and receive the intermittent The distress signal sent out so that they can lock on to each other's exact location.

"Miranda, what do you think of that distress signal?"

Since the other party's distress signal had disappeared for a long time, the Normandy just jumped out and could not locate it, so the technicians had to wait and wait for the other party's next transmission before they could capture the other party's exact position!

Therefore, she, Shepard, can only wait patiently now...

After thinking about it for a while, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that something was wrong, so she turned to look at her companion, Miranda, a big beauty with black hair and black eyes, who was wearing a black and white tight-fitting cosmic casual uniform, and asked road.

"Shepard, in fact, I've been thinking just now..."

"This planet AN-5367 should have been raided by those collectors a year ago... I checked the information of the Star Alliance just now, and it shows: this planet, except for those remaining Apart from the half-life, half-mechanical transformation monsters without self-awareness, there shouldn’t be any living people left!”

Miranda, like Shepard, was silently watching the huge yellow-brown planet outside the window.

She herself is not at peace now... Because, after watching the video calling for help, she also agreed with Shepard to come here for rescue, but now thinking about it, she felt that It's incredible!

She herself... When did she suddenly become so sympathetic? She would actually agree with Shepard not to carry out the important and arduous recruitment task, but to come to this desolate and broken planet with a little girl whom she never knew? !

"A small Starfleet rescue fleet came here about a year ago."

"According to the mission records, they scanned the entire planet, and when they found that the several colonies above had no signs of life and no valuable enemy targets, they had to temporarily announce the end of the rescue and gave up here."

"So, I don't understand now, what happened to the little girl who suddenly sent out a distress signal more than an hour ago after a year?!"

"If I hadn't found any enemies here until now, I almost thought this was another old trap of interstellar pirates!"

In short, according to the information Miranda has consulted, and what she has been thinking about since she jumped here, on this planet, except for the remaining cyborg monsters that the collectors transformed with humans, they are still on the planet. Apart from being active, there shouldn't be any living people!

But now, what happened to the little girl who sent out the message for help, and how did she survive to this day? Anyway, she didn't quite believe that a little girl could survive for so long in the harsh environment of the planet in front of her.

So, she originally wanted to remind Shepard to be careful, but now, after seeing that the other party didn't seem to be confused and became vigilant, she didn't say anything more, just said what she thought. Some things and my own confusion.

"Ah!"

"Miranda, you may not believe it, but I'm also thinking about this interesting question..."

"I don't even... don't know why I gave the order to abandon our original mission and let the spaceship immediately jump to this barren mineral planet to save the little girl..."

"If I think about it now, at that time, I felt as if I was hypnotized by the other party..."

"It was a weird feeling... maybe it was my intention, maybe it wasn't?"

Shaking his head, Shepard expressed his feelings at that time, somewhat dumbfounded.

Perhaps, this is the sequelae after her resurrection, her rationality and judgment began to decline, and she became more emotional?

Before, she only remembered that when she saw the holographic video calling for help and the little girl crying in it, her brain suddenly became hot, and she lost the ability to think in an instant, so she just ordered the Normandy No. 2 to run at full speed regardless. Go forward and jump over to the rescue.

But now, after she finally calmed down, thinking about her previous behavior, she always felt a very magical and strange feeling.

That little girl, something is wrong...

If there is really a problem here, then they may have fallen into the enemy's trap now! If that was the case, it would be very detrimental to her fulfilling the arduous mission on her shoulders.

"You actually have this strange feeling too?!"

Miranda exclaimed directly, and looked at the human heroine next to her with some surprise, the ghost of the former castle. She, Miranda, just thought that she was the only one who had that weird feeling, but she thought, so did Shepard?

"You mean 'also'?"

"Very good! If you had the same feeling just now, I think today's incident seems to be very interesting... But no matter what, since you have come here, you might as well investigate first !"

Looking at the planet below, Shepard's tense face suddenly burst into laughter.

She felt that there must be something wrong with the video of the little girl calling for help! Perhaps, this planet is a trap set for rescuers, and in the image of the little girl calling for help, there must be some strange factor of suggestion, hypnosis or temptation that they don't know?

"How's the scanning and analysis of the video calling for help? Did you find anything special?"

Shepard, who found that he was not alone, breathed a sigh of relief, and began to look at a member of the CIC combat intelligence processing team, and asked him.

"Report sir!"

"After multiple scans and analyzes, the video of the distress call is normal. Neither I nor EDI found any hints of special wave bands or sounds or images that interfere with biological interference!"

"I'm sorry, sir! My judgment on the video calling for help is: everything is normal!"

Soon after, an intelligence officer from the CIC turned the seat innocently after operating for a while, and spoke cautiously to Captain Shepard standing behind him in the middle of the bridge.

He used all the equipment and technology to conduct in-depth research on that video, and even decomposed it into the most basic digital code, filtered the sound, image, etc... Anyway, in the end, he didn't find any extra !

"..."

"Sir, could it be that you are thinking too much?"

The clown who was the helmsman of the former Normandy No. 1 who was sitting idle in the helmsman's seat suddenly turned around and asked his old officer.

He had been paying attention to eavesdropping on the conversation between his aloof officer and that beautiful Miranda just now, but he had watched that video before, but he didn't think there was any problem with it! He felt that for a cute little girl like that, it was impossible for anyone to abandon her after receiving the crying distress signal from the other party, right?

Therefore, the clown finally couldn't bear to exceed his authority and asked a question.

At the beginning, he was rescued by the brave and fearless officer Shepard, and he was able to escape from the escape cabin of Normandy No. 1 successfully. Because of this, he didn't think there was anything wrong with his heroic, beautiful, and righteous old officer who came to this planet to rescue a little girl. This was a normal thing in the first place.

His old officer, Captain Shepard, was originally a great hero and heroine who saved the galaxy!

"Please do your job, Mr. Clown!"

Seeing that the other party still wanted to interfere with his decision, Shepherd folded his arms and stared at the other party expressionlessly.

"Okay, sir, you have the final say!"

After shrugging his shoulders and spreading his hands to signal a helpless gesture, the helmsman Joker (Joker) stopped pointing fingers at his beautiful savior and captain, and honestly turned back to his seat , and continued to be vigilant for any information on the orange-yellow holographic screen.

He actually has nothing to do now, and now they have turned off the main engine of the Normandy II spacecraft this week, and they are idling silently and stealthily flying in the orbit of the planet. All things are naturally controlled by artificial intelligence. He doesn't need to do more, just keep staring at the screen interface and keep an eye on the status of the spaceship.

"Etty!"

After waiting for a while, finding that the intelligence officer still hadn't been able to pinpoint the specific location of the signal source, Shepard, secretly startled, simply called the artificial intelligence EDI of the Normandy II.

The full name of artificial intelligence EDI is "Enhanced Defense Intelligence". It is an artificial intelligence defense program specially developed by Cerberus for the Normandy SR-2, which is not available in her original Normandy 1.

It is said that Itti "she" is not only very helpful for the crew's daily inquiry information, but also can provide a lot of key information, or provide the best feasible action plan for each mission, etc.

‘What are your orders, Captain Shepard? '

A holographic image of a silver woman wearing a silver and gray tights and looking amazing appeared on the bridge in an instant, projected directly in front of Shepard, and looked at the just now with a smile. The captain Shepard who called her was waiting for further orders from the other party.

"Is there any way for a little girl to survive in the harsh environment of the destroyed planetary mining colony AN-5367 for more than a year, and at the same time successfully avoid those collector monsters? raids and raids?"

"Also, tell us your judgment about the distress image we received!"

Shepard, who always felt that her mind was disturbed by some unidentifiable factor, finally thought about it seriously, so she could only ask for help and asked about this Cerberus research that she always thought was unreliable. artificial intelligence program.

Now she has no choice. If there is really some factor in that video that interferes with their judgment, then the pure artificial intelligence in front of her will definitely not be disturbed, and it will definitely be able to give her Fair analysis.

'Of course there is, Captain Shepard! '

'According to the information I obtained: as early as 2142, when the Gagarin space station, the space equipment named 'jump point', started construction outside the orbit of Pluto, the human beings on the earth wanted to be able to travel in the long space. After arriving outside the solar system for colonization, he started to develop a low-temperature dormancy device! The purpose is to immerse the human astronauts in a deep sleep state, so that in the limited life of human beings, they can realize the distant and long space travel. '

"This low-temperature dormant chamber was quickly developed. The initial code name was D-101, and a series of upgraded models were derived from it..."

'But then, in 2148, when explorers accidentally discovered the ruins of Prometheus in the Prometheus Plain of Mars: a Prothean observatory that had been in operation for 50,000 years... In 2149, the deciphered Prothean The data allowed humans to find the Charon mass relay in the solar system, and then the Galaxy Alliance began to form and coordinate the survey, security, and colonization of extrasolar planets. '

In 2152, based on the discovery of Charon mass repeaters and more repeaters almost all over the galaxy, with a faster and more efficient navigation method that can be reached almost instantaneously, the cryogenic dormancy plan was finally abandoned . '

‘To this day, the Star Alliance only retains a small number of medical life-support dormant cabins to meet the safety of the battlefield hospitals for the seriously wounded or the wounded in certain special conditions that cannot be rescued in time, but the number is very small. '

‘But according to my database, the Star Alliance should also have a low-temperature dormant life-support emergency rescue dormant cabin that was once assigned to the pioneering colonies. Its code name is D-257. Although it is a bit old, it should be able to freeze the human beings entering the life support cabin at a very low temperature in an emergency, and eliminate the vital signs to almost nothing, so as to maintain them until the arrival of rescue or avoid certain dangers . '

Speaking of this, the artificial intelligence EDI of the beautiful girl with silver short hair looked at Captain Shepherd. When it saw the other party's clear expression, it knew that the other party should have understood what he stated and what he wanted to express. Therefore, It went on to say:

‘If the AN-5367 planetary mining colony had that kind of rare and outdated dormant chamber, the little girl’s success rate of successfully avoiding the sweeping attacks of those collector monsters would be as high as 50%. '

'Through my analysis of planet AN-5367 just now, the results show that the planet has too much dust in the atmosphere and the visibility is extremely low. Although it has the minimum environmental requirements for humans to breathe directly, humans can breathe without wearing protective gear. Breathe and survive under the environment, but that will endanger the health of the upper respiratory tract mucosa. I do not recommend staying in that environment for more than three hours without wearing protective gear; -20 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature is 12 degrees Celsius, without protective gear, it will make humans feel very uncomfortable, which is also in line with the 'very cold' described by the little girl! '

'In summary……'

'Although I can't analyze what caused the rescue capsule to automatically release the dormancy and release the little girl, but according to the results of my logical thinking calculations and the lie detection of the distress video, the conclusion is: the little girl, she The truth of the stated things can be as high as 99.999%. '

‘So, Captain Shepard, you can go to the rescue as soon as possible! '

'I received the distress signal again, determined the specific location of the other party, and also scanned the other party's vital signs, so it is undoubtedly human. If you start now, there is a 52% chance of successfully rescuing the opponent and completing the rescue operation! '

‘The countdown to the mission is now 20 minutes. If you cannot reach the rescue target within 20 minutes, then I suggest that you cancel the rescue operation and leave here. '

The artificial intelligence EDI of the holographic image stretched out her finger, and after operating for a second on the holographic 3D model of planet AN-5367 projected by it, she successfully marked a small green dot on it, and that green dot , exactly where the little girl in the red dress sent the distress signal, right in the middle of an abandoned mining colony.

As Itdie continued to zoom in on the holographic image of the planet, Shepard and Miranda at the side finally managed to find the small figure that seemed to be curled up in the corner of the dilapidated room in the ruins of a colony.

"..."

Seeing that his advanced Normandy II actually scanned a living human girl hiding in the ruins, Shepard's breathing couldn't help but stagnate, and even his breathing became a little unnatural up.

Although she couldn't see the specific appearance of the other party from the holographic image enlarged by EDI, but judging from the green digital figure, she was sure that the other party must be crying helplessly and trembling there now, right? It is really rare for a little girl to calmly send out a distress signal and hide in that environment.

"Wait! Itdie!"

"I don't understand why we only have a 52% chance of successful rescue now? Such a simple thing, why not 100%?!"

Now, Shepard has decided to go to the rescue! However, for this unreliable artificial intelligence to say that they only have a 52% chance of successful rescue, she expressed a little incomprehension.

"Report!"

At this time, without waiting for the artificial intelligence EDI to answer, the clown helmsman who was taught a little lesson by Shepard just now turned his head and reported to the captain who was in doubt.

Because, at this moment, on the map in front of him, he saw three big red dots moving at high speed towards the ruins of the colony where they found the small green dot.

"Captain Shepard, I know this question! That's because: now there are remnants of enemies on the planet rushing towards that dilapidated colony, the three low-altitude aircraft with different mass effect and nearly 300 collectors transformed it A monster cyborg zombie is on its way!"

"There are still many mechanical monsters following..."

"It is estimated that they will arrive at the little girl's hiding place within 20 minutes! Our Normandy II cannot force a landing operation in this planetary environment, because it will cause huge damage to the stealth paint and engine!"

"If you don't set off quickly, the chances of a successful rescue later will be zero!"

Mr. Clown, who was the helmsman but was doing the work of CIC, exclaimed at this moment, and yelled and anxiously reported to his Captain Shepard and urged him faintly.

He didn't want such a cute little girl to be found, killed and transformed by a group of monsters. It was cruel to think about such a thing!

"strangeness……"

"Those guys, why did they find that little girl and surrounded her?"

"Could it be...is this really a trap?"

Some things, once you start to doubt, it is difficult to gain absolute trust again...

Therefore, Shepard did not rush to make a decision right away, because they still had a lot of time. She still doesn't understand why the monsters created by the collectors are dispatched on a large scale when they find the little girl, as if forcing them to go down immediately?

The more she thought about this, the more she felt something was wrong!

"Report to the captain, this is definitely not a trap!"

It was Mr. Clown who was still the helmsman speaking hastily. Judging by his impatience, he seemed to want to land on the planet by himself and rush in front of those collector monsters to rescue the little girl?

"Say your judgment, Mr. Helmsman!"

Captain Shepard expressed his dissatisfaction with a certain guy's behavior of exceeding his authority and speaking indiscriminately! If it weren't for the fact that Normandy No. 2 doesn't need the other party's control now, she must give the other party a good reprimand!

"Because that little girl just sent a message for help through all channels without any restrictions, so it will definitely be received and discovered by the enemy!"

The clown felt that it must be caused by the little girl who was frightened and helpless, randomly pressing the signal for help! Thinking about it, a little girl, in such an environment, can persist until now, and still think of sending a signal for help, that is already amazing.

"Edie, is that what he said?"

Shepard looked at the holographic image of the artificial intelligence EDI still standing in front of her, and asked.

'Yes, Captain Shepard! '

‘The other party did not use the encrypted band that only our human ships and instruments can receive as before, but changed to full-band transmission! '

'So, you still have eighteen minutes and twenty seconds...eighteen minutes and eighteen seconds...'

The artificial intelligence program EDI confirmed it expressionlessly, and gave Captain Shepard a time countdown, which was the arrival time calculated by 'she' based on the speed of those enemies.

If this time limit is exceeded, there is no need for rescue.

"..."

"Let the hangar prepare a UT-47 Kodiak landing machine immediately!"

"Miranda, go and ask A and me to take a walk on this planet AN-5367!"

After confirming that it wasn't an enemy's conspiracy, she, Shepard, didn't have any hesitation, and walked to the gate behind the bridge on the spot, issuing her own order and telling Miranda.

As for the other Jacob, who was experienced in combat, she didn't plan to take him down with him. Because it was just to rescue a little girl, as long as you landed in the colony as quickly as possible, found someone, and then turned around and left, there was no need to mobilize troops and dispatch too much combat power.

"Yes, Officer Shepard!"

Miranda didn't talk too much nonsense, she nodded, turned around and ran out quickly, she needed to equip her armor and weapons, and of course, her universal tools.

'Good captain! '

‘UT-47 drop-down shuttle landing craft Kodiak is ready, the system has completed self-inspection, the shuttle landing craft is in good condition, ready to go at any time! '

Behind Shepard, the electronically synthesized voice of artificial intelligence EDI sounded without the slightest emotion...

The somewhat crowded cargo compartment of Starlink's UT-47 drop-down shuttle landing craft can generally accommodate twelve soldiers. Compared to the Star Alliance's official name 'Kodiak', the Star Alliance team prefers to call this small shuttle landing craft 'Battle Cockroach'! Because it has a flat appearance and is as durable as a cockroach, it is not easy to damage and fail.

The powerful and excellent environmental sealing technology and armor of this special landing spacecraft make it very rare to expose the fragile large and small components inside! According to Starlink official test results in the sulfuric acid cloud and extreme temperature of Venus: "Kodiak" can make a forced landing in absolute vacuum, high pressure and temperature close to absolute zero to over 900 degrees Celsius!

In addition, "Kodiak" is also a real mass effect anti-gravity vehicle, and its substantial zero-element core can even allow the spacecraft to directly levitate and fly in the strong gravity of the planet! It can also actively shield the enemy's scanning, or launch a certain degree of electronic confrontation with the enemy, and there is a powerful kinetic energy barrier system that can defend against the enemy's kinetic energy weapons, so it is very suitable for concealed airborne Marines, and It has gradually become the main equipment of the Star Alliance.

Of course, Cerberus had prepared four of these excellent landing craft for Shepard on board the Normandy II spaceship, even though the unit price of each of them was as high as three million star coins.

"Uh..."

(??????`??)

Huddled in the corner of this dilapidated ruin, Annie first threw the leftover food box away, sucked it a few times, and took a sip of a can of sweet and sour energy drink from the Koprulu sector. After the light, he burped with satisfaction, stretched his waist beautifully and took a breath.

??(????0`??)??

After eating and drinking, she immediately picked up her little bear, curled up her knees, and retreated into the corner. Now, she needs to lean on this fairly clean place and digest it well. If no one comes after passing through a house, she is afraid that she will release her spaceship and try to leave here.

Because... it's dirty here, and it's not suitable for her to sleep in after eating and drinking!

(…)

(Cute and charming little master, will someone really be fooled by your useless trick just now and come here to 'rescue' you?

⊙(??????)?

More than an hour has passed, and Tibbers felt that no one would come here to rescue its poor little master! )

"Why not?"

(￣▽￣)?

Annie was a little sleepy. She had just eaten and drank enough, and now she chatted with her little bear to pass the time. It didn't matter. Anyway, she was idle.

(Because you just lied! If someone really receives the signal you sent, they will definitely know that you are lying!

(????????????)????

Anyway, Tibbers thinks that no one will come, so he should release his spaceship early and wander around the universe casually. If he can't find a place with living people, then he will continue to encourage his little master to change the world What)

"I didn't lie just now!"

╮(￣▽￣)╭

(Why not?!)

(?????????)

"Tibbers, take a look..."

"A moment ago, I was really cold, hungry, and sleepy! Also, the sky outside was already drowsy and looked pitch black. How could I have lied?"

o(??^｀)o?

(But you are not scared at all, just now you pretended to be scared and sent a distress signal, isn't that a lie?)

Σ(っ°??°;) っ! ?

"I didn't!"

"I was really scared just now..."

(￢??￢)??

(The little one didn't see any signs of fear in you!)

(,,??????????,,)

"I have it!"

"Just now... I was really afraid that no one would come after the signal was sent out! Look, isn't this fear? If there are no earthlings, people from crooked stars or monsters coming, then people may not have anything to play with. !"

"So, people are really scared, so they didn't lie or pretend!"

(￣︶￣)

(…)

(You are really good, little one admits defeat...)

＼(????????｀)／

"Huh?!"

"Aha! Tibbers, they are really here, have you noticed it?"

●ヽ(??????)??●??

Suddenly, Annie, who seemed to have sensed something, suddenly jumped up from the ground and began to cheer.

Because, she just sensed that in the sky, there seemed to be a landed spaceship breaking through the atmosphere of this planet quickly, rubbing the air and rushing towards her here! On the other side, on the north side of the land, there seemed to be a group of villains who were malicious towards her and rushed towards her aggressively. If this was the case, she would soon have fun.

(…)

(●￣??￣●)

(Tibbers had stopped talking to the little girl who was fiddling with those weapons on the ground while hoping someone would 'save' her.)

"Tibbers, look, how about this sniper rifle?"

Holding a long weapon that was slightly taller than herself, little Annie asked her little bear excitedly.

Star Alliance standard weapon: M-92MantisSniperRifle, code name, Mantis!

A powerful sniper rifle, very accurate in long-range combat! However, the rate of fire is relatively slow, and it is very effective against armored targets, but not effective against shields and biochemical barriers.

(Don't you have your own ghost suits and weapons, those customized for you should be better, why use these weapons?

(?????????)?

Tibbers looked at the bad-hearted little master who was fiddling with weapons and ammunition while putting a troublesome universal tool on his hands, and then experimented with using the universal tool to keep those ammunition away and asked. )

"If you use your own weapons, it will be troublesome to explain later. Let's use the ones here. Anyway, they are scattered all over the ground, and there are many more outside!"

(????ˇ??ˇ??)

Annie naturally has her own ideas in what she does, so don't let Tibbers meddle too much!

https:

Please remember the domain name of this book: . Mobile version reading website: .