A Core Ship From The Start -
Chapter 1398 - 946: Heaven Has a Path You Don’t Take, Hell Has No Gate Yet You Come Knocking
Chapter 1398: Chapter 946: Heaven Has a Path You Don’t Take, Hell Has No Gate Yet You Come Knocking
Normandy SR-2.
After the great battle with the Reapers, this warship had undergone a series of modifications and was now cruising again.
"To be honest, Commander, I don’t understand why we have to travel all this way to patrol in the Ashali People’s galaxy."
Executive Officer Ashley Williams furrowed her brow, staring discontentedly at the screen before her.
"The former Ashali galaxy."
Shepperd’s younger brother corrected, then looked towards the screen. Although the war with the Reapers had passed, the aftershocks of this conflict had not yet subsided. Due to the Tribunal’s indulgence, the Reapers did indeed annihilate the majority of the Alien Races, but some Alien Races survived. The mission of the Normandy SR-2 was to search for any shelters on other planets or to see if anyone was sending out distress signals, to scout them out, and then rescue these survivors.
"Commander, we have received an indiscriminately transmitted signal."
"Oh? Play it."
Just then, the pilot reported in, and Shepperd’s younger brother quickly gave the order.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh------------!!"
Soon, a series of screams came from the speaker, accompanied by almost indecipherable mutterings, as if whispering prayers. The voice was so hoarse, so piercing, that the soldiers on the bridge couldn’t help but get goosebumps upon hearing it.
"This is.........."
"......"
Shepperd’s younger brother fell silent for a moment, then looked at his subordinates.
"Can you lock onto the source?"
"Yes, we have locked onto the coordinates of the message’s transmission point."
"Good, let’s go take a look."
"Yes."
Quickly, with a command from Shepperd’s younger brother, the Normandy SR-2 accelerated furiously, and after a moment, they crossed a great portion of the galaxy to arrive in a remote area of this galaxy. Then, shortly thereafter, everyone could see... a massive warship.
"Isn’t that the Tribunal’s warship?"
Seeing this, Shepperd’s younger brother exclaimed, and everyone else nodded. After all, the Tribunal’s warships, replete with religious artistic features, were truly unique. Not to mention, just by looking at the glittering churches atop and the dense array of Macro Cannon ports on either side, one could ascertain this was definitely a Tribunal warship.
"According to Tribunal records, this should be a Moon Class cruiser....."
Shepperd’s younger brother pulled out the records, comparing them as he looked.
"Why would it be here?"
"No particularly obvious signs of damage have been observed on the exterior."
"Connect to communications."
"Copy that! This is Star Alliance Normandy SR-2, please respond if you hear us."
".............."
"This is Star Alliance Normandy SR-2, please respond if you hear us."
".............."
"Reporting to the Commander, no response."
"What should we do now..."
Looking at the warship before him, Shepperd’s younger brother was also at a loss for a moment.
"Report the situation of this warship to headquarters, let them notify the Tribunal."
"Yes."
In Shepperd’s younger brother’s view, this was the safest measure, however, after a moment passed, the communications officer brought him an order.
"Commander Shepperd, you have an internal call from the Star Union."
"An internal call?"
Hearing the communications officer’s reply, Shepperd’s younger brother froze for a moment, then proceeded to the conference room at the back, connected the quantum communication, and then, Shepperd’s younger brother saw a Star Alliance Navy high-ranking official appear before him.
"Officer."
"Mmh, hello, Commander Shepperd."
The other party nodded.
"I’ve received a report from Normandy, you’ve encountered a Tribunal warship?"
"Yes, officer, preliminary judgment suggests it is a Moon Class cruiser. It had previously sent out a distress signal, but we’ve just attempted to establish contact with no response. We believe it might be more appropriate for the Tribunal to handle this."
"Yes, that’s true, however..."
"However?"
"We would like for that ship to be taken over by the Star Union."
"...Officer?"
Upon hearing what the Star Alliance high official said, Shepperd’s younger brother was completely taken aback.
"This......"
"The current status of that warship is unclear, and it’s not necessarily a Tribunal warship, right? Given that, we could send a scouting team first to investigate the ship, ascertain its precise identity, and then it won’t be too late to contact the Tribunal. What do you think?"
"This......"
Shepperd’s younger brother was no fool; the other party’s words were grand-sounding, but he knew that what it boiled down to was the Star Union coveting the Tribunal’s technology, wanting to take the opportunity to gain something...
"This is an order, Commander."
"Understood."
If it had been Sister Shepard, she might not have cared for these idiotic notions. But as Shepperd’s younger brother was more obedient, since this was a command from Star Alliance Navy Headquarters, he had no choice but to listen.
Thus, quite swiftly, Shepperd’s younger brother issued the order.
"Star Alliance Headquarters wants us to conduct a thorough investigation of this ship, to figure out exactly what happened inside."
"Commander, you must be joking."
Upon hearing Shepperd’s younger brother’s order, the soldiers all looked utterly bewildered. Joking, this warship is five kilometers long; a single glance would tell you that it’s not something you can finish investigating in a mere ten days or half a month. What are they asking us to investigate, ghosts?
"I have some understanding of these warships. In any case, all we need to do is check out the bridge to see what happened to the ship."
Back in the fight against the Reapers, the Shepard Siblings had briefly spent time on a warship of the Tribunal. They were familiar with the general layout, which was why Shepperd’s younger brother chose this mission. Soon after, he took his adjutant Ashley along with a team of Star Alliance soldiers and departed on a flying ship from the Normandy SR-2 towards the warship in front of them.
"It always feels... this warship looks so eerie."
As she looked at the silent, floating warship bathed in sunlight, Ashley couldn’t help but shiver.
"It’s like a steel coffin."
"Be careful."
Shepperd’s younger brother didn’t say much, just cautiously watched the warship ahead while indicating the direction of flight.
"That over there is the hangar. If there’s no problem, we should be able to open the hangar doors and go in."
"Yes, Commander."
As the flying ship drew closer, the hefty hangar doors slowly opened, and one by one, they entered the hangar in the flying ship. Just when they were looking for a place to land, suddenly, they saw the hangar’s plasma cannon turrets slowly move, quickly locking onto them.
"Report, sir, we’ve been targeted!"
"Boom!"
Before Shepperd’s younger brother could issue an order, a loud noise was heard, and in the next moment, the flying ship lost power and tumbled heavily onto the deck.
"Ugh...!"
It took a while before Shepperd’s younger brother managed to stand up and look around.
"Is everyone okay? Any injuries?"
"No problem..."
"Still alive..."
"I’m alright, Commander..."
Hearing the others gradually respond, Shepperd’s younger brother finally let out a sigh of relief. The group hurriedly climbed out of the wreckage of the flying ship, only to see the vehicle in front of them—well, it was clearly completely wrecked.
"What do we do now, sir?"
"I’ll try contacting the Normandy. This is Shepperd, to the Normandy SR-2, please respond if you hear this."
"................"
However, no matter how Shepperd’s younger brother called out, there was no response.
"Communication has been cut off. There must be something wrong with this ship."
As he spoke, Shepperd’s younger brother looked up and around. The entire hangar was deserted, dim and grim. However, the lights on the hangar’s ceiling could still indicate that the warship seemed to have an energy supply.
"Let’s head to the bridge, maybe we can use the warship’s communication system to contact the Normandy."
At this point, with no other choice, the group had to leave the deck and walk towards the door.
The entire hangar was devoid of people. However, one could see blood stains on the floor, suggesting that a fierce battle had taken place here, yet there was not a single body to be seen. Only the bloodstains and the scorching and bullet marks on the walls and floor spoke of what had happened here.
"Everyone stay alert, I’ve got a bad feeling about this."
At this time, Shepperd’s younger brother had also drawn his weapon, vigilant and scrutinizing his surroundings. He had been aboard Tribunal warships more than once. In his eyes, Tribunal’s warships were glorious, majestic, yet imposing. But this warship felt extremely cold, like entering a graveyard with silence everywhere, dark corridors, the hangar deck, without a sound, as though... everything here was already dead.
Soon, they encountered another problem.
"Report to the Commander, the door has been sealed off, it can’t be opened."
"Can’t we hack in?"
"We can’t, the scans suggest that the power has been cut..."
"What now?"
"We could try activating the backup power; it should be somewhere in the hangar."
"Alright."
Sighing quietly, Shepperd’s younger brother stood up once again.
"Let’s keep moving."
Luckily, with the scan of the omni-tool, the backup power source was quickly located.
"It’s been disconnected. It should be fine as long as we reconnect it..."
A Star Alliance soldier quickly wired up the connections and then nodded at Shepperd’s younger brother.
"It’s ready, everything’s normal, Commander."
"Good."
Hearing his subordinate’s reply, Shepperd’s younger brother also reached out and pressed the switch. Following a low humming noise, lights around began to flicker and light up. But then...
"—————!"
Suddenly, Shepperd’s younger brother saw a blood-soaked severed head skewered next to his hand on the control stick of the control panel. It glared at him with bulging, furiously angry eyes. Not only that, but the control panel, which had appeared clean and neat, was now under the light, showing gore and even torn human skin laid across it. Blood dripped incessantly down to the floor from the control panel, and everywhere lay dismembered corpses...
"Ugh!"
Startled, Shepperd’s younger brother immediately took a step back. At that moment, Adjutant Ashley’s voice rang out.
"What happened, Commander?"
"No, I just saw......."
Shepperd’s younger brother turned his head back to look at the control panel, only to find that it was just as before, completely normal with no anomalies, to say nothing of the human skin that was supposedly spread on it or the twisted flesh and blood around.
".......Nothing, let’s move on."
Gripping his weapon tightly, Shepperd’s younger brother swallowed hard.
He was becoming more and more convinced that entering this warship was not a wise decision.
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