Eudy flew the s.p.a.ceplane closer to their stars.h.i.+p. Already, there were plenty of Navigators surrounding their s.h.i.+p. If a fight broke out, the Third B Squadron would not be able to spare too many forces to aid their stars.h.i.+p, not to mention that their stars.h.i.+p had been moving at an accelerated rate since lowering its energy s.h.i.+elds. Some of the frigates were unable to keep up with it.
It was unknown why the Eleventh Squad had lowered its s.h.i.+elds. One thing for certain, it definitely wasn’t because it ran out of energy.
The s.p.a.ceplane sped toward the stars.h.i.+p. The Vanguard units in the area refrained from attacking even though they weren’t really pleased with the approach. They were on the same side after all.
“Czedow, hack open that hatch underneath the s.h.i.+p,” Cillin ordered.
Little Eleven wasn’t responding to their call, so they could not expect the super AI to complete the task. Also, he wasn’t asking Czedow to open the obvious hatch underneath the s.h.i.+p. The stars.h.i.+p had several hidden entrances that only they were aware of.
“It’s done!”
A small hidden entrance opened at the bottom of the stars.h.i.+p.
“Good luck!” Eudy said. He and Tesoro would not be entering the stars.h.i.+p with Cillin because they were weak. They would only slow down the strike team.
A hatch opened on the roof of the s.p.a.ceplane. After making a “Go” hand signal to the team, Cillin exited through the hatch and into the hidden entrance with the others following closely behind him. Everyone except Wheeze was wearing Armor, of course.
For obvious reasons, Wheeze did not allow s...o...b..ll to cling to its tail this time. There were few things it hated more than having its tail grabbed. If s...o...b..ll was a stranger, it would’ve bitten the c.r.a.p out of them even if they were a fellow Vanguard.
Unfortunately, s...o...b..ll was still absolutely horrible at s.p.a.ceflight, so Czedow had to fly it through the hidden entrance by hand. Cillin warned s...o...b..ll that it would not be allowed on future s.p.a.ce missions if it did not practice its s.p.a.ce skills, to which the bear swore it would do so as soon as this mission was over. It did not want to doze off in a fighter because it had nothing to do a second time, especially when everyone else was having fun.
Eudy flew the s.p.a.ceplane away after Cillin’s team had safely pa.s.sed through the hidden entrance. However, he remained close to the stars.h.i.+p and worked together with the elite frigates to fight against the Navigators.
Speaking of which, it took Eudy less than five seconds to park the s.p.a.ceplane beneath the hidden entrance, wait until everyone was through the hidden entrance, and fly away. For those who weren’t looking, it looked like the s.p.a.ceplane was simply making the rounds around the stars.h.i.+p. The s.p.a.ceplane was far more conspicuous than the team entering the stars.h.i.+p as well. In any case, it was likely that no one noticed their entry.
After pa.s.sing through the hidden entrance, Czedow tried to communicate with Little Eleven again to no avail. It was as if something was blocking him from establis.h.i.+ng communication.
“What should we do?” Czedow asked.
“Retake control of Little Eleven.”
Before Cillin left, he had instructed Little Eleven to shut down everything if someone tried to disrupt the s.h.i.+p’s systems, and it was unable to resist for some reason. Since the pa.s.sage they came through and everywhere else were shrouded in complete darkness, Cillin knew that Little Eleven had shut down all of its functions except flight. Not only that, Little Eleven had activated the stars.h.i.+p’s autopilot system before entering hibernation mode. This way, no outsider could use the super AI to take control of the stars.h.i.+p or even activate its lights.
The stars.h.i.+p had been designed with many, many emergency situations in mind. They had also prepared a good number of insurances when inserting Little Eleven into the stars.h.i.+p. As a result, they were more than prepared to face the current situation. For example, Little Eleven wasn’t the one and only ultimate authority of the stars.h.i.+p. There was a separate admin channel that would allow someone to a.s.sume control of the stars.h.i.+p; a channel that only the members of the Eleventh Squad were privy to. Not only that, it was complex enough that even a professional who specialized in this area of knowledge would have an extremely difficult time obtaining the admin right. The reason was simple. It was because the admin right could only be obtained using machine language; a specific type of machine language too.
The team waited as Czedow began taking the necessary steps to obtain the admin right. While waiting, Cillin closed his eyes and focused on his senses. It was pitch black inside the stars.h.i.+p, but he could sense everything within his range of perception. Not even the smallest disturbances could elude his senses.
A short time later, Czedow successfully obtained the admin right without any issues. He did not trigger any abnormality that might warn the outsiders that the team had retaken control of the stars.h.i.+p either.
And just in time, too. Cillin could feel Wheeze extending its claws unconsciously on his shoulder. It was because the gray cat was beyond furious right now. If Wheeze was alone, it would’ve gone on a rampage already. The only reason it hadn’t was because it didn’t want to spoil the mission, the poor thing.
The stars.h.i.+p was still pitch black because Cillin hadn’t asked Czedow to reactivate the lighting system. He did not want to alarm the outsiders until they learned more about the situation. Despite the non-existent lighting, everyone in the team was powerful enough to notice that many areas in the stars.h.i.+p had suffered varying degrees of damage. For example, the wall of the corridor just a short distance in front of them was riddled with bullet holes. Those with a sharp sense of smell could smell the faint stench of blood in the air as well. As for Wheeze, it had superior night vision, sense of smell and machine senses all at the same time. It was only natural that it was the angriest of them all. Right now, the gray cat wanted nothing more but to devour every last sonuvab.i.t.c.h that did all these damages to its territory before spitting them out like trash.
“I don’t sense anyone a hundred meters from our location,” Czedow said. The stars.h.i.+p had built-in surveillance cameras as a matter of course, and they were installed in fairly inconspicuous spots. They made very little movement when they were activated as well.
“What’s the current situation?”
Czedow projected a hologram from his eyes. It was a see-through image of the whole s.h.i.+p. Czedow had also marked everyone the cameras could capture on the hologram.
Right now, they could see a big group at the shooting range. Twenty or so people were holed up inside the shooting range while being surrounded by a separate group.
“They’re trying to break into the shooting range,” Czedow said. He could feel the doors being broken down even now. It wouldn’t be long before the hostile group succeeded.
“The attackers are probably the Navigators.”
“If they’re the Navigators, then where’s Mist? You said they would be on the s.h.i.+p, right?” Shusag voiced in puzzlement while staring at the hologram.
“I know they are. They’re just good enough to elude the cameras.”
Wheeze interrupted right as Cillin finished speaking, “Yeah! I can smell their disgusting stench all the way from here. They’re not escaping this time!”
Cillin took a few steps forward before crouching on the floor and pulling up a floor plate. He then wiped his hand across what looked like a smear of filth clinging to the bottom of the floor plate.
“Oh yes, I definitely remember that b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Wheeze said fiercely.
“I remember him too.” Cillin wiped off the stain before returning to the team. He ordered while looking at Shusag and s...o...b..ll, “As you may have noticed, there are some hard-to-detect substances on the stars.h.i.+p. They give off a kind of smell that only someone with an extremely keen sense of smell could perceive. If you accidentally catch it, the guy who left behind this substance will be able to sense you for as long as you’re within his range.”
“Well, s.h.i.+t. I suppose we should watch our step then,” Shusag replied with a frown. He didn’t like this because the s.h.i.+p was pitch black, and unlike Wheeze it couldn’t just sniff the air and know which areas he should avoid. It would severely impact his combat capabilities to split his focus like this if nothing else.
“No, you don’t need to do anything,” Cillin said while producing a can of spray. “Just spray this on your body, and it’ll be fine.”
Shusag accepted the spray and gave a sniff. He could not smell anything, however.
“I told Little Eleven to spray this scent insulator in most areas of the s.h.i.+p before we left. Most people would not be able to smell it, but those with an extremely keen sense of smell will.”
It was one of the counters he had come up with since that fateful day. The scent insulator would protect them to a certain degree even if they did catch the “signal markers” by accident.
“Also, our Armor has an automated purification system. Combined with the scent insulator, you should be able to operate at almost max capacity.”
This was an eye opener for Shusag. He had heard of something like this when he was still serving the military, but he had never experienced it until now. It would seem that he still had a lot to learn. If it wasn’t for Cillin, his enemy would’ve been able to track him as easily as they tracked a glowing target, and he wouldn’t have a clue until it was too late.
Cillin gave everyone their mission objectives after the spray was applied. The team would be splitting up into two teams; Cillin and Shusag, Czedow and s...o...b..ll. Czedow would keep track of everyone’s locations and progress using the s.h.i.+p’s systems. He would also be protecting s...o...b..ll in case the enemy turned out to be stronger than expected.
While the team was making their way toward the shooting range, the group inside the venue was busy defending themselves. The wounded were busy treating their own injuries, while the rest were spread out and waiting in position. They formed a protective circle around Mogas and the others.
“Boss, the door’s not going to hold up much longer. They’re coming in another minute or so,” One of Stanley’s people reported, to which Stanley responded with a wave of the hand.
The atmosphere in the shooting range was pretty heavy as their group of thirty plus had dwindled to just twenty; twenty five if he factored Mogas’ group into the equation. Meanwhile, they were facing not just the Navigators, but also the killers from Mist.
In fact, over half of the deaths they had incurred was due to Mist. In that sense, the Navigators right outside the shooting range wasn’t their biggest worry. It was the killers waiting to ambush them in the darkness. They didn’t even know how many killers Mist had sent to kill them.
Mogas’ group was doing their best to catch some rest as well. It was because they knew that a difficult battle lay ahead of them.
It was worth noting that Mogas, Phoebe, Kong Lujia and Mao were keeping Pango at the center of their small group. Moreover, Pango was just sitting on his chair quietly as if he could not sense the grim atmosphere or the looming threat. His apparent carefreeness chilled Stanley even more than he already was.
Sometimes, a harmless-looking person wasn’t necessarily harmless. Sometimes, they could even be the Devil himself. They just chose not to reveal their horns because it wasn’t time yet.