"USG Ishimura, this is the USG Kellion's emergency repair team. I am Security Chief Zach Hammond. We received your distress call. Ishimura, do you copy?"
"Ishimura, do you copy?"
"This is the USG Kellion, do you copy!"
However, only silence answered them.
Just a few days ago, the Ishimura suddenly sent a distress call, which also included a female security consultant speaking in an incomprehensible, chaotic language. This made Isaac, the Chief Engineer of the CEC, feel a deep sense of unease.
"Nicole—"
Isaac looked at the world Cracker ship suspended above the S.H.I.E.L.D. VI orbital space, his eyes filled with deep worry.
"Their communication array might be having problems." Another member of the rescue ship, Daniels, shrugged, running her fingers through her short blonde hair, and comforted him, "Don't worry, we'll fix it as soon as possible, so you'll have time to have a good chat with Nicole."
"Thanks."
Isaac responded dully.
"Get us in there." The Security Chief and Captain, Zach Hammond, immediately said to the two pilots, "Until we figure out what happened on the Ishimura, everyone be careful."
Over the years, the CEC's frantic establishment of various mining platforms across the universe had led to much dissatisfaction.
Hammond's gaze was sharp. He was a former Marine, responsible for both team armament and tactics, and for dealing with some… human problems.
Like rebels!
Perhaps due to Benefit issues, perhaps for other reasons, it was not uncommon for anything to happen in the lonely expanse of space like this.
"Gravity tether connected, initiating auto-docking!" Johnston carefully piloted the rescue ship, completing the docking.
A pale blue halo formed a tunnel, and the rescue ship slowly entered it. If nothing unexpected happened, they would soon be able to board the Ishimura and find out what exactly had occurred.
But, an accident still happened!
The system that was supposed to assist the rescue ship and the Ishimura in completing orbital docking, due to unknown factors, actually detached from the gravity tether's range.
"Oh no, the gravity tether is out of control!"
Johnston screamed in terror, desperately pulling the control stick, trying to prevent the ship from crashing directly!
"Aim for the emergency stabilizers!" In a moment of extreme crisis, Isaac stepped forward, helping the pilot stabilize the ship's attitude control.
"Impact!"
"Deploy impact shields!"
Seconds before impact, Hammond issued an emergency order to ensure the rescue ship would not disintegrate.
Boom!!!
After a brief, deafening crash, the force of the violent impact felt like hundreds of pounds pressing down on them. If it weren't for the seatbelts, everyone would have been thrown out.
Inside the rescue ship, sparks flew everywhere.
Scattered circuit boards and cables twitched wildly, and multiple areas were visibly on fire.
"Quick, get out!"
Hammond was also thrown quite hard, his head hitting the control panel and cracking open a several-centimeter gash.
Blood stained half of his face, making him look terrifying.
"Everyone, evacuate." Isaac, suppressing dizziness and nausea, stumbled to unbuckle his seatbelt.
Leaning on Daniels, he hurried out of the hatch, limping.
Although the rescue ship was severely damaged in the crash, it wasn't to the point of exploding, which was the only good news.
Everyone successively evacuated the rescue ship, and then Isaac looked at the rescue ship, its hull almost twisted and deformed, feeling speechless for a moment.
What is going on?!
They were ordered to rescue the Ishimura, but it turned into Calabash Brothers saving Grandpa. The rescuers became the rescued. Can these people be a little more reliable?!
As if sensing the Chief Engineer's speechlessness, Hammond, with a cold face, defended his crew, "I trust Johnston. He has ten thousand hours of piloting experience; he would never make such a rookie mistake."
"It wasn't my fault, I swear to God!" The disheveled Johnston immediately spoke up, "I really did calibrate the orbit, but that damn gravity tether suddenly failed, which caused our ship to deviate from its orbit!"
"Alright, discussing this now is meaningless."
Hammond spoke calmly and collectedly, interrupting Johnston's argument, and turned to survey the surrounding environment, "Whatever the reason, no casualties is already the best outcome. Now we need to figure out what happened on the Ishimura and then find a spare escape pod."
"Report the damage status." Hammond turned to Johnston and said.
"Communication system is down, the side thrusters are finished, one stabilizer is on fire, and the singularity core is a total mess—" Johnston sighed, "This is about as bad as it gets."
To fix these problems would take at least a dozen hours—Isaac raised an eyebrow, thinking this might not be so bad, allowing him to have some in-depth communication with his girlfriend whom he hadn't seen in months.
"You look like you're secretly smiling. Are you thinking about Nicole?" Daniels noticed his subtle expression and couldn't help but tease, "Alright, fixing the ship is up to us. You go find your girlfriend."
"Stop messing around."
Hammond reprimanded the two lighthearted individuals in a stern tone, "Don't forget, we still need to investigate the problems on the Ishimura. There's no time for jokes now."
"Alright, you're the Security Chief, you're right." Daniels shrugged, not looking very concerned, but in her mind, she was thinking about something else.
Her ostensible identity was a CEC Security Liaison, but secretly she was a spy for the United Government of Earth, specifically sent to investigate the CEC's hidden secrets.
According to evidence held by the United Government of Earth, the CEC's large world Cracker ship, the Ishimura, was not just here for mining; there was an unknown secret.
Just then, Hammond's face looked as if he had seen a ghost, veins bulging on his forehead, pupils rapidly constricting. He aimed his pulse rifle directly at the position behind them and roared, "Stop, who are you?!"
Hammond's sudden shout made Isaac and Daniels freeze for half a second. When they came to their senses, they immediately turned to look.
They saw that, at some unknown point, many figures had appeared around them. Those people, like ghosts, stood in the shadow, almost without a sound, like sculptures, making them hard to detect.
And even more terrifying was that each of those figures was almost over two meters tall. Under the cover of the dark shadow, only two blood-red gazes, like eyes, watched them eerily.
At this moment, even Hammond, a former Marine, felt a chill down his spine.
Like ghosts, who wouldn't be scared?
Especially in a place like the Ishimura, where no one knew what had happened, it undoubtedly instilled an invisible fear in the rescue team who had just arrived.
"Report your identity, immediately!"
Hammond held his pulse rifle, his index finger already on the trigger, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He sternly shouted, "According to CEC safety regulations, you need to verify your identity immediately, or I will shoot!"
However, as soon as his voice fell, he felt as if he had flown.
Was it an illusion?
No, Isaac, standing nearby, widened his eyes.
Because he was on the side, he could see more directly that just after Hammond uttered the words 'I will shoot,' one of those figures disappeared like lightning. Immediately after, their Security Chief was slammed hard against the twisted hull of the rescue ship, like a kicked ball, his head lolling as he passed out.
Isaac, Daniels, and Johnston stiffly turned their heads. Only then did they finally get a clear look at the true face of that figure.
They wore heavy, steel-like armor, with complex and ornate patterns carved into their semicircular shoulder pads. On their skull-like helmets, two blood-red mechanical eyes stared at them.
And the dark armor, along with the skull patterns on many of them, highlighted the terror of these 'people'!
"You are Isaac Clarke, CEC Chief Engineer?" The warrior, clad in armor, burly and giant-like, spoke in a deep, hoarse voice, containing a terrifying sense of oppression.
"I, I am—"
Isaac couldn't help but tremble, already imagining his tragic death in his mind.
"Very good, identity confirmed."
The warrior walked past Isaac with heavy steps, "Disarm them, and take them all back!"
Just like that, Isaac, bewildered, along with Daniels, Johnston, and the unconscious Hammond, were led by these tall, devil-like terrifying giants to the Captain's quarters.