Arriving at the lobby of the hub station, Shirley followed the tourists and returning colonists and took a sightseeing elevator together, preparing to descend to Ordgar on the surface.
Gabriel and the new recruits will stay on the Punishment.
Although there are many pictures, videos and forums about the Astartes circulating on the Internet, it is impossible for them to appear in public places arrogantly.
Inside the elevator.
The comfortable single seats are arranged in a circle in the shape of an "O", facing a large sealed window with a good view.
Shirley put her luggage into the holder next to the seat, then fastened her seat belt and sat down, waiting for the elevator to be full.
About half a minute passed.
The elevator door closed, and a standardized female voice came over the announcement:
"The elevator is about to start. Please do not move around at will. If necessary, please negotiate with the staff in charge of this elevator. Thank you for your cooperation."
As soon as the words fell.
Shirley first felt a slight tremor, then a falling sensation like riding a roller coaster, and finally an obvious feeling of weightlessness.
If there were no seat belts and fixed racks, Shirley and her suitcase would definitely "fly" around uncontrollably with the passengers in the elevator.
The picture outside the sealed window also changed from the metal bulkhead inside the hub station to the natural scenery in the deep space of the universe and the surface of the Harvest Star.
As for the reason for the feeling of weightlessness, it is because the elevator has left the hub station with artificial gravity and is currently in an orbit at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters.
The elevator descends rapidly, and the hills, lakes and forests on the surface become increasingly clear.
When it dropped to about 10,000 meters, the scene of deep space disappeared, and the elevator was shuttling between the clouds.
Decelerate at 1,000 kilometers.
The announcement also issued a reminder again, indicating that passengers can remove their seat belts and move appropriately in the elevator to view the scenery outside.
Shirley, standing by the window, looked down at the golden wheat fields and livestock farms outside the city, feeling relaxed both physically and mentally.
This kind of strange experience cannot be brought by ships.
Not long after, the elevator entered the lobby built on the ground and opened the gate to let Shirley and the passengers leave.
Come to the hall.
There was a male passenger who seemed to be afraid of heights. He was holding his hands on the wall and his legs were shaking uncontrollably. He was extremely unhappy and complained to his friends around him:
"I told you, I can't take the observation elevator! Why don't you listen! Ah?!"
There was even a hint of crying among the complaints.
Friends laughed and comforted each other. One friend even patted the male passenger on the shoulder and said boldly:
"Don't feel bad! I'll cover your food, clothing, housing and transportation for these two days! How about it?"
"Really? Then I'm fine. Brothers will testify for me. Don't break your promise."
"Wait! So you're just faking it?!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
the other side.
There was a boy carrying a schoolbag who said to his mother with unfinished thoughts:
"Mom~! The sightseeing elevator is more interesting than the roller coaster. I will ride it next time!"
The mother with a gentle smile on her face gently stroked the boy's short hair and responded: "Okay, mommy will take you to sit."
Shirley, who was mixed in among the crowd and secretly observing the surroundings, couldn't help but sigh that everything was peaceful now.
She pulled her suitcase and left the lobby, and found a black SUV parked on the street that was incompatible with other private cars and private airships.
Seeing this, Shirley walked straight towards the SUV.
Come closer.
The driver's and passenger's doors opened, and two young operators wearing dark overalls, short-sleeves, and sunglasses got out.
Someone quickly stepped forward, helped Shirley pick up the suitcase, and put it into the trunk of the SUV.
The other person wanted to raise his hand to salute Shirley, but the latter refused with a slight shake of his head. Then he stretched out his right hand to express his respect:
"Director Birken, welcome to Harvest Star. It's an honor to have a legend like you lead us."
"It's not a legend, but it's an honor for me to be on the Harvest Star."
Shirley reached out and shook hands with the other person.
Letting go of her hand, she opened the back seat door and continued: "Let's go, take me to get to know my colleagues first."
"Okay, Director Birken."
The next three people got into the car, started the engine and left the street, driving in the capital city of Ordega.
Shirley, who was sitting in the back seat, admired the neighborhood buildings outside the car window. She felt as if she had returned to Raccoon City in the 1990s.
It's just that the architectural style is more novel, there are a lot of holographic signs or advertisements on the roadside, sky trains and airships, etc., which are far beyond the civilian technology of the 1990s.
Enjoy it for a moment.
Shirley asked: "You two just graduated from Minos?"
"Yes, I just graduated half a year ago."
"And we are in the same phase and were assigned to the Harvest Star together."
The two operators replied.
"okay, I get it."
After Shirley finished speaking, she continued to look out the window and remained silent.
Ordega is a small city with only over 400,000 people. Within ten minutes, the three of them arrived at a three-story low-rise office building disguised as a courier company.
Then Shirley followed the two operators and walked into the conference room on the third floor.
More than thirty intelligence agents in various casual clothes have been sitting here waiting for Shirley for a long time.
Shirley walked to the front and introduced herself to the intelligence agents, telling some of her personal experiences, especially the importance of taking a taxi to collect intelligence.
After all, Shirley is regarded as the apprentice brought out by Leon.
In addition, after personal practice, the feasibility of collecting intelligence by taxi is indeed good, so Shirley helped her mentor Leon share it with these new intelligence agents.
At the end of the story, Shirley arranged for her next work to focus on whether there are ancient ruins on the Harvest Planet.
——————
…
More than two months later.
Earth Atlantic Time: August 11, 2072.
Harvest Star Northern Hemisphere.
On the west bank of a freshwater lake in a dense forest, there is parked in the open space a Umbrella-owned Fishing Europe 4 that opens its tail hatch and provides strong lighting.
At this time, this area seems to have just entered night, and the local time is 19:17.
More than a dozen armed security guards, equipped with simple power armor painted black and armed with improved Gauss and pulse firearms, were scattered around the lake to maintain vigilance.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Located on the low hill rock wall on the west coast, there are six technicians wearing white jumpsuits and equipped with mechanical skeletons, using portable instruments to conduct on-site
Inspection and analysis.
Not far behind the technicians were three intelligence agents who had taken off their disguises and were dressed in black suits with red and white umbrella buttons on their collars.
The one in the middle is Shirley.
"Director Birken."
An intelligence officer holding a dedicated mobile phone looked at the information displayed on the screen and reported to Shirley Hui, who was staring at the rock wall:
"The metal structure we see in front of us was discovered half an hour ago by a father and son named Michel. His father, Corporal Michel, is an active soldier in the UNSC Army.
According to the corporal's account, he took his children into the deep woods during his vacation, preparing for a five-day camping and hunting trip.
It wasn't until the Michelle father and son came to camp by the lake that they discovered the metal structure embedded in the rock wall when night fell.
Because he is an active soldier, Corporal Michel chose to report the matter to his regiment headquarters, so we learned about it as soon as possible."
As he spoke, the intelligence officer raised his head and looked forward.
The object that the technicians inspected was a corner of the metal facility exposed outside the rock wall.
The dark gray surface and the regular gaps oozing blue light, details, and style are consistent with the metal remains found in the Merrines colony.
If it hadn't been for the night, when the blue light seeping out of the cracks became obvious, it would have been extremely difficult to observe that there were non-artificial metal facilities embedded in this rock wall.
Therefore, Michelle and his son, who had already set up their tent, only discovered the abnormality on the rock wall after the sunlight disappeared.
After listening to the brief report, Shirley said: "Move Michelle and his son to the nearest town, and then perform standard memory modifications on them."
"Okay, supervisor." The intelligence officer nodded.
"What does the company say?"
After hearing the inquiry, the intelligence officer continued to report:
"The company sent the head of the archeology department, Laura Crawford, and her team to our Harvest Star to assist in the investigation. Before they arrive, the company hopes that we will conduct excavation work first."
"Crawford?"
Shirley didn't know Laura, who was about the same age as her, very well, and had only met her a few times at annual meetings.
But she knew that the other party was good at analyzing ancient ruins, otherwise how could he have been the head of the Archeology Department for more than thirty years.
Then he said: "Notify the engineering department and ask them to assign some people to help us dig.
Then contact the Hell Paratrooper Combat Company on the Punishment and the Thutmose Recruit Platoon, tell them there may be threats in the ruins, and please provide fire support if necessary."
"Yes." The intelligence officer used his exclusive mobile phone to convey Shirley's order.
But soon, the latest notification displayed on the mobile phone screen caused the intelligence officer's expression to change suddenly, and he said to Shirley in a deep voice:
"Director Birken, Harvest Star is in a state of emergency. The company needs all armed personnel of Harvest Star to assist civilians in entering underground air defense facilities and prepare for war."
"War?" Shirley was stunned.
But she ordered without too much entanglement: "Stop the operation and evacuate the civilians immediately!"
———————
…
While Shirley and others concluded their investigation of the ruins, air raid sirens were sounded in every town on Harvest Star.
Although people crowded on the streets were a little panicked, most of them maintained order, followed evacuation rules, and entered the air defense facilities in an orderly manner.
The Sheriff also cooperated with the UNSC Army and Krieger to station fortifications in various towns and prepare for ground battles.
Junction station above the capital Ordega.
More than a dozen cargo ships, cruise ships and civilian ships filled with people left the peripheral ports of the hub one after another.
And without waiting to adjust the angle of the ship's bow, it opened the jump entrance, sailed into the fault space, and evacuated towards the colonial system where the Umbrella Corps or the UNSC fleet was stationed.
As the only warship on the Harvest Star, although the Punishment also left the port of the hub station, "she" did not and would never choose to evacuate.
The Retribution turned its back to the star and gradually moved away from the Harvest Star using normal navigation speed.
Inside the bridge.
Standing around the center console were Gabriel, the second lieutenant in command of the Hell Paratrooper combat company, the captain in charge of three companies of UNSC Marines, and Miranda Matcha, the captain of the Retribution.
Affiliated to Umbrella, the second lieutenant who led the paratroopers to temporarily station on the Punishment because Harvest Star needed to conduct small-scale actual combat exercises. The power armor he is equipped with is a fully upgraded exclusive TPS.
Even the UNSC captain wears simple power armor similar to armed security.
Its airtightness and life support system allow the captain to fight in harsh environments such as vacuum, high radiation, and low temperatures.
As an Astartes, Gabriel has power armor as standard equipment.
But Gabriel's power armor is not the Mjolnir series, but the thicker and rougher "ceramic armor".
As its name.
The shell of this type of power armor is made of ceramic steel. Without relying on energy shields, its defensive performance is even better than that of the early Mjolnir 1 and 2.
Although it seems extremely cumbersome, in fact, the electronic muscle bundles inside the ceramic armor can achieve complete synchronization with the wearer, greatly enhancing the wearer's reaction speed and strength.
But as mentioned before, "without relying on energy shield", because the ceramic armor itself does not have the ability to generate energy shield.
Mainly due to the cost of the shield generation device, as well as the extremely high maintenance and upkeep costs.
Let’s use another metaphor.
Umbrella's latest Mjolnir model is the Mark V (5), and the cost of ten sets of Mark V is enough to build a Kingfisher-class light cruiser.
More than sixty years have passed since the successful research on the G gland, which has brought the total number of existing Astartes to have exceeded one hundred thousand, reaching a scale of one hundred and fifty thousand.
Among them, 30,000 are still underage recruits, and 70,000 are full members of the ten legions.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The remaining fifty thousand are "reserves" like Gabriel who will not follow the legion for the time being.
A total of 150,000...
Putting aside underage recruits and a very small number of special forces such as the Gray Knights, Umbrella still has 120,000 adult Astartes.
No matter how rich the funds and resources are, Umbrella currently cannot equip all Astartes with Mjolnir series power armor.
After all, the process of creating a set of Mjolnir and nanosuits is extremely time-consuming and cumbersome.
Therefore, the ceramic armor was born as a transitional product and became the standard equipment for "reservists" before they were promoted to full members of the legion.
Adult recruits who have been promoted to the reserve force and have just reached adulthood and have just been assigned to the reserve force can also recycle ceramic armor.
at last.
Among the four, only Miranda, who had a cold face and short brown hair, was not wearing the so-called power armor, but just an ordinary gray navy uniform.
At this moment, the center console is imaged with a three-dimensional star map of the Harvest Star.
And on the edge of the center console, there are three unknown ships marked with yellow dots, which are rapidly approaching the Harvest Star.
Miranda looked at the three yellow dots and said in a deep voice to the three senior officers present:
"Everyone, one minute ago, we detected three unknown ships sailing out of the fault space 400,000 kilometers away from the Harvest Star.
It is estimated that our ship will meet the opponent head-on in fifteen minutes, and this is the image captured by our ship."
Miranda said, and brought up the holographic images of the three unknown ships.
I saw that they were two small and one big, with a sleek appearance, very thin heads and tails, but very wide in the middle.
And the two smaller ships also have two pointed slanting wings under their bows, like insect tentacles, like an oversized version of a space cockroach.