Chapter 36

The Marines boarded the new fallows after it continued to glide in the void for half an hour.

General sola broadcast the bad news to them. According to the captain koperos, there was a problem with the energy system of the flight deck, and the landing guidance system could not work, which meant that the small landing ships on which the Marines took had to adjust their angles to enter the flight deck.

This is a technical job. If they are careless, they will hit the shell of the transport ship and become a pile of scattered garbage in the void.

"There may be some bumps later."

The young officer said on the communication channel, moved his shoulder armor to a more comfortable position, and cursed the sweat in his eyes behind his goggles.

The other Marines surrounded, four in the front and the rest in the back. They all wore protective shells produced by local foundries, which were no worse than the Star Army.

The two leading sergeants have raised their heavy ceramic steel shields, and the insurgents have at most some live ammunition. Such protection is obviously more than enough or even beyond.

The interior of the landing ship was bathed in ugly red light, and 200 heavily armed Marines were ready to fight at any time.

Soon, a harsh alarm sounded.

"Ready!"

The young officer ordered that when a shock hit his back against the armor of the soldiers behind him, he could only grasp the handrail along the top of the compartment.

For a moment, he thought they had successfully invaded the outer hull of the new Faros, and then he realized that the backward thrust was the damping drive of the landing ship.

The real invasion took a while to happen.

The inertia of the lander enabled him to stop when he tilted forward. When the lander instantly drilled into the side of the mast of the bridge of the new Faros, the metal around him trembled and groaned.

When the alarm bell was off, all the young officer heard was his rapid breathing.

"Thirty seconds!"

The pilot's voice rang out in the cabin. The officer saw the plastic steel and ceramic steel protective layer of the balancer advance with the automatic hinge lock, heard the heavy blow of compression, and felt the shaking of friction between the deck and the bottom of the landing spacecraft.

He suddenly reached the shotgun in his hand, which seemed to have an unbearable weight.

"Ten seconds!!"

The driver continued to roar.

"Get ready, soldiers."

The sound of filling weapons in the closed and hot space was loud. The officer put the armrest on the beginning and set up a sliding shotgun. His body looked like he had just received an injection of adrenaline.

The alarm bell rang again, only once.

The red light washed the amber flashing from the landing platform, followed by green.

When the cabin door was clamped, there was a crash first, and then a mass of steam hissed, and the air in the cabin began to depressurize.

"Forward! Forward!"

The Marines shouted, they rushed forward, and the young officer was among them, half forward and half taken away by them from time to time.

But their war roars only landed in the empty corridor.

The officer wanted to see the situation clearly, but found himself among the soldiers crowded into a regiment, with their shields in the front row and shotguns in the back.

According to the previous unit briefing, they will enter the bridge through one of the many service corridors surrounding the rear bridge mast.

As part of the outer hull of the transport ship, those narrow passages are used to repair the crew and maintain the network of machine servants to quickly reach more important areas.

They are narrow, overcast and inaccessible. Like the external context of most star ships, they are completely ignored, with only a little dim light, heat and maintenance functions.

Now the Marines found that it was just a dark, closed world composed of rusty pipes and grid decks blocked by fungi.

More importantly, there are no signs of life.

"Be quiet."

The young officer finally squeezed out of the crowd. He was the highest commander in the place.

"Regroup."

According to the structural drawing he got, there should be a gravity elevator 50 meters ahead.

"Proceed cautiously."

Soon, the Marines lined up in a tight line and were still ready for weapons.

Along the curved curve of the bridge mast, the passage continued to turn left, and the clang of the soldiers' steel nail boots and the grating and harsh friction of their shell armor echoed.

The young officers tried to concentrate, scanning the pipeline wall as they passed, and using shotguns to detect the shadows between the bright and dark light balls.

Before departure, general sola told them not to stay in the outer shell for too long. According to the captain's description, a small number of slaves who escaped on the ship may still be scattered in most areas, especially the outer shell.

The young officers didn't think the poor guys were a threat. As long as the transport ship reached the track, they had time to pull those guys out of the corner and send them to the ground to transform them into machine servants.

It was easier than hunting small animals in his family manor. He often took slaves as hunting objects, drove them into the dark Canyon and watched them cry in the trap. It was really a great pleasure.

Thinking of this, his mood is much better.

"Occupy the gravity elevator."

Soon, a voice came from the communicator. It was the vanguard of the team. They had reached the predetermined goal.

This is a large maintenance ramp, large enough to carry replacement circulating pipes or refined gold laths for the outer hull, when the Marines enter.

The officer pulled the switch last.

The platform began to rise with a trembling and rustling sound.

When the elevator reached the central mast of the tower, the officer realized that they had not encountered resistance so far.

In fact, there are no signs of life at all.

The readings of the bird divination instrument are uneven and strange feedback. The tactical display in front is always black.

Even if the message is received, the call is short and jumping, cut into several segments by electrostatic interference.

"Something is interfering with our system."

A sergeant said on the short-range telephone.

"Our communication with orbit has also been interrupted."

Suddenly, the gravity ladder trembled and stopped. The soldiers gathered in front of the door and locked their shields together to form an indestructible ceramic steel barrier.

A drop of sweat fell on the young officer's forehead. He clearly remembered that he was set to rise to the highest place. Why did the elevator stop halfway?

Unless something is ready to enter the elevator from the outside.

Then the door of the gravity ladder suddenly opened

Nothing.

An empty corridor appeared in front, and the only noise was the throbbing of ion drivers still operating in the distance.

"How --"

The young officer pressed the switch, but the elevator just couldn't work. But he could only lead the team out of the elevator and into a strange field.

It's far from as shabby as the outer hull, but the lighting ball still seems to be on the verge of collapse. It's like they sneaked into a ghost ship, abandoned centuries ago and listed here forever through the void.

However, the fact is that it should have left the port only a week.

Suddenly, the light ball was completely destroyed, and the darkness seemed to resist them, as thick and dark as their shield.

"Bayonet position binding lamp!"

The officer's flustered orders arrived, and then the lights flashed, revealing corroded metal stairs and mottled steam black rust.

"Move on, get out of here!"

The Marines began to climb, and the sound of boots hitting plastic steel went up along the stairwell.

For the first time since boarding the ship, the young officer felt something other than adrenaline and miscellaneous combat tension - surrounded by a dark and frightening feeling.

Something's wrong.

It was only when he found something missing that the feeling was even worse. When the narrow space was still making the sound of boots, he noticed that there was no more noise behind him.

A cold shiver climbed up his back.

The young officer ran up, holding a shotgun, turned and shone a bayonet flashlight on the dark interior of the gravity elevator where they had been before.

A thick smell of blood gushed from inside. The young officer's eyes widened. He wanted to shout.

But it's too late.