The Bizarre Adventure of Tartaros Fleet

"Thank you very much," Lex said in a low voice, "but Shepard's driving skills are terrible, is this car insured?"

"Oh, I used to drive a Mako."

"I know I know, the gentleman who landed two sideways in a Mako Shark last week and said it was a little bump is standing in front of me now."

Sparta obviously didn't expect this, he tilted his head and thought for a long time before popping out a sentence:

"It's fine if the car crashes, as long as the person is fine... and this." He obviously didn't want to continue on this topic, turned around and took out a strangely shaped weapon from the equipment cabinet next to him. Throw the weapon to Galas "Type [-] plasma launcher, which can fire twelve rounds. After aiming, pull the trigger to lock, and release the trigger to launch a plasma cannonball that can be tracked - remember to stay away, this thing It's powerful—keep your finger on the trigger, the Covenant designers didn't put any safety on this thing."

Galas took the big gun, bumped it twice, and fiddled with it up and down:

"Is there an armored unit on the opposite side?"

"Yeah, we've had a firefight with the 'Argent' before. It's hard to shoot that thing without a big gun."

"Sounds good, I get it."

The so-called consul is a kind of suspended tank that will appear in the Collector army, and it is also a mixture of biological and mechanical structures.It comes with additional systems that wrap several humans (or whatever) inside, is equipped with a particle beam weapon that fires from the front, and can also unleash devastating bursts of energy at close range, great for lightly armed troops Threat, its shield and armor can withstand the shooting of MA rifles, even the C-14 must hit the same position continuously to have a chance to penetrate.

But when it comes to real anti-armor weapons, it's another matter.

[This is Apophis, the nerve anesthesia sac is ready to be dropped, and the countdown is 30 seconds...]

"it's time!!"

In the rain, the soldiers stepped on the muddy ground, turned over and boarded the vehicle.Then a red light flashed in the clouds, and a large number of biological capsules passed through the clouds and exploded in the air. Clouds and mist fell from the sky, covering the entire Benin colony—that was the suppressive attack of the bug ship Apophis, and anyone who was not protected The creatures will have to lie down on the ground in the future.

At this time, the Marine Corps also launched a march from all over the city, and the sound of gunfire and explosions continued to echo in the streets and alleys.

On the other side, Shepard and his group took two warthogs and headed towards the research institute from another secluded path. Everyone was equipped with equipment to deal with mental attacks. Apart from encountering two 'Skin' along the way, It's safe.

Scrin are abominable, blasphemous alters whose bones are covered in metallic resin.Studies of their carcasses have shown that their skin color is similar to that of the Reapers, but their modification seems to be more extensive.For example, the use of nanotechnology-made shells allows them to move in a vacuum.Hoses, the equivalent of blood vessels and muscle tissue, are the main building blocks of the body.One hand was transformed into a rifle, transforming it into a humanoid weapon.

Its upper body contained a large, bloated bag of flesh containing brain tissue and a spine, mostly from one of its victims.This suggests that the Scrin is a hybrid of several organisms, with a single victim controlling several different types of organ tissue through a decentralized nervous system that allows them to effectively resist gunshot wounds - even if headshot. Will die, is excellent structural resistance design.

But the revolving barrel heavy machine gun never pursues any headshots.There is no problem of structural resistance when the whole thing is broken.

When it was about to arrive, Liana reminded:

"It's almost time to get out of the car, the goal is too big to continue driving... Lex?!"

Before she finished speaking, she saw Lex, who had been sitting in the back of the car holding the machine gun, exert all his strength, and with the sound of the bolt snapping, the rotary machine gun was dismantled for him.He held the gun in one hand, picked up the ammunition box from the ground with the other and hung it around his waist, patted the ammo belt, and said happily:

"We will say later that it was an accident during the battle, and that Spartan soldier won't mind...Don't look at me like that, we will definitely need this later."

"The goddess is above..."

The krogan fighting master imitated humans and raised the corners of his mouth. He obviously wanted to imitate humans to smile, but that appearance was a bit scary. If he suddenly saw such a big face while walking at night, most people would definitely cry in fright. come out.He carried the heavy machine gun and followed behind, looking like he wanted to have a big fight.

A group of people cautiously approached not far from the research institute - judging from the data, it was originally a research station belonging to the Star Federation, and the research was on local mineral samples in Benin.Through the analysis here, Benin's mining agency was able to find rare veins hidden deep underground.This is different from the kind of research room where UNSC studies Sparta or the Tyrannian Empire trains ghost agents. It is basically a private institution, so it doesn't have very strong defense equipment. It is usually security guards rather than sentries who are responsible for security work.

But now it is heavily guarded, with vigilant collectors and pawns everywhere.They have arranged a kind of placed shield, and the generator looks like some kind of biological structure, full of vesicles and protrusions, but the shields emitted are genuine—they are faintly orange glowing there, Like a screen, the figures of collectors and pawns come and go behind, and some places have erected cannon turrets and anti-aircraft guns. As far as the eye can see, at least two 'Sijin' equipped with heavy firepower can be seen ...and the Archons.

That Spartan was right, there really are these big headaches out there.

It is like a crab floating in mid-air. It seems that there are many heads of humanoid creatures wrapped in the cracks in the carapace. Several metal legs hang from the ground on both sides.It swam around the force field, its propulsion system vibrating the air with a slight hum.

Shepard stuck out half of his head from behind the cover, took a quick glance, and thought about it in his heart-obviously intending to hold on, but what's the point?Seizing a city in the middle of the enemy's line, holding civilians as hostages to fight against the orbiting fleet, has gone beyond the scope of 'combat', and has begun to move to the side of 'politics'.Because it is meaningless to hold back like this, the orbit has been blocked, and the mothership has been destroyed. If it is a war between civilizations, choosing to stick to it at this moment must be planning to use diplomatic channels, such as exchanging the safety of the people for troops Withdrew, the two sides conspired against each other openly and secretly to put pressure on each other.

However, no such operation exists for collectors.So far the Collectors have not intended to make any negotiations, they just follow the instructions of the Reapers to attack and then deflate.Then their persistence must have other meanings.

Shepard instinctively felt that the purpose of those collectors was that 'equipment'... At this time, sticking to it can only buy time, and the collectors are likely to intend to activate that device, or recycle that device.If it's a weapon, or some kind of signal transmission device, it's dangerous to wait for them to succeed.

He pointed to the 'armored tank' floating in the air, and whispered in the communication:

"Get rid of that thing first."

Galas shoulders the covenant plasma launcher (Covenant product) he just found on the Warthog:

"I've wanted to try this for a long time, just waiting for your order."

"Okay, then get ready..."

"Wait! I've got an idea!" Tully patted Shepard on the shoulder and moved her head closer. "That Spartan just said, 'It's okay to get hit by a car', right?"

"I think . . . he did."

"Give me a few minutes."

Although Tully's face could not be seen, Shepard could tell from the tone of her voice that she must be smiling.

----------------

Collector pawns, armed with rifles, stood guard behind cover, while a geth-made machine gun turret hissed nearby.The mission of the collectors on this planet is of great significance, but these collectors who have lost their basic personality and thinking programs cannot understand this. They are just "organic machinery" that act according to instructions and procedures, which is essentially the same as ZERG's Springtails are pretty much the same.The former glory of Prothean is gone, and what remains are only biological weapons to prove their failure.

But that doesn't mean they're dumb.

The sound of tires crushing gravel and the roar of the engine attracted their attention, and the pawns turned around, only to see an off-road vehicle rushing towards them.The roar of the engine was like the roar of a beast, and the mud splashed under the car, obviously intending to rush directly into the research room.But there wasn't even a single person in the car.

If it was an ordinary army, both humans and turians would be stunned for a moment, but the collectors would not.In an instant, the weapons in their hands whistled sharply, and dozens of tongues of flame jumped almost simultaneously.

The Collectors don't just use Mass Effect weapons. When they were Protheans, particle beam weapons were already practical, and played an important role in their hundreds of years of fighting against the Reapers. This technology was used by them to deal with the species of the next reincarnation - and the off-road vehicle speeding in front of them.

But just one second before the off-road vehicle was about to be hit, an orange shield suddenly unfolded in front of the off-road vehicle. It was the Collector's own placed shield—the quarians are excellent mechanics , and Tully is one of the best.Using her own technology, she temporarily installed the collected enemy equipment on this light tank, and activated it at an appropriate time.The bright white light bullets fired by the Collector shook the shield, but it was still unable to move forward amidst the hail of bullets.

Until the 'Consul' turned its body with unimaginable flexible movements, the four eye-shaped muzzles directly in front of the crab-shaped carapace lit up with blue light, and the four rays containing amazing power and heat came without any warning. The emitted, continuously irradiated particle beam is like a laser weapon, without giving people the slightest time to react.With just half a second of irradiation, the shield turned into a cloud of light particles and collapsed, followed by the armored front cover of the vehicle—when fighting the Covenant, the UNSC used a large number of heat-resistant coatings to help its soldiers and vehicles. It has the ability to resist the attack of high-energy plasma weapons, which makes it last for a moment longer.

The light beam traveled from the right side of the front cover all the way to the left rear wheel, completely cutting the passenger compartment and leaving terrible scars. The polymer bulletproof glass evaporated on the spot, the tires were also heated and exploded, and the shock wave overturned the light vehicle. The chariot rolled uncontrollably on the ground, scattered parts, and slammed into the fortifications erected by the collectors outside the research room.It stopped there, unrecognizable and bursting into flames.

The car crashed and it's okay.jpg

Before the collectors could react, the bombs pre-planted under the vehicle's chassis were detonated.The shock wave destroyed the shield next to it, and blasted several collectors into the sky. A total of [-] incendiary grenades hidden in the vehicle body were also thrown out by the shock wave. They flew everywhere and burned rapidly. In an instant, the entire yard, the green belt, and the parking lot inside turned into a sea of ​​flames.Many collectors were surrounded by flames, which seemed to throw them into chaos. Even the 'Consul' turned around, looking for targets.

The moment Gelas saw the Consul turn around, he leaned his upper body out of the cover, raised the plasma launcher in his hand, locked the huge body of the 'Consul' and pulled the trigger.This is a very delicate weapon, apparently designed with other civilizations in mind, and the proof is that everything is a fool's operation-there is no letter in the sight, you just need to align the center of the mirror with the target, and the buckle Press the trigger, and there will be a fan-shaped progress bar, and wait for about a second when the four fan-shaped shapes turn into circles...

How to do?Galas, who touched this weapon for the first time, of course didn't know it, but of course the first reaction of most people is to release the trigger, so he did so.And what happened next showed that his choice was right.

With a bit of recoil, the four blue plasma clusters passed through the rain like will-o'-the-wisps. The flying chariot seemed to want to evade. It rose and accelerated, but the plasma clusters didn't give it a chance. After a The small-angle arc steering is all attached to its side.In the next moment, with a loud noise, all the energy contained in the plasma group was poured into the armor of the 'Consul'.The ejected armor fragments shone dazzlingly, forming irregular arcs, and sprinkled into the surrounding sea of ​​flames. The remaining parts fell to the ground, and the contents flowed all over the place.

Not letting go of this opportunity, Lex put on his helmet, held the M41 machine gun in his hand, and pulled the trigger on the collectors.

The barrel of the gun rotated, and the bullets spewed out with a screaming sound like a cracking silk.This revolving machine gun is extremely powerful, and it has shot down the Covenant's Banshee fighter jets more than once in the Covenant War-it can tear shields and light armor as easily as cutting newspapers with a paper knife.Collector pawns and collector hunters couldn't resist at all, and the flying bullets brutally shattered their bodies. The collectors who were suddenly attacked fiercely only had time to counterattack sporadically, but the rifles of the pawns were under the shield of the M41 machine gun. Only dents and scratches remain.

Because the design index of the shield is to be able to withstand the needle guns of the Star Alliance...

"Hahaha! Krogan is here!!!"

The mighty warrior laughed and fired, and no moving target escaped his shots. Liana watched as a Collector pawn, charred and blackened by the flames, just stood up from behind cover, and his chest exploded— ——The huge bullet passed under its chest cavity, smashing the armor, musculature, internal organs, and the spine behind it into pieces, and the upper body was separated from the lower body and fell to the ground.

Tully glanced at the excited krogan battle master:

"How about we just sit here and wait for him to finish? Surely he can handle it by himself."

But as soon as the words were spoken, the machine gun stopped—Lex dropped the ammunition box on the ground, and the metal box clanked like it was just an empty soda can.

"No more bullets, this gun has so few bullets..."

"You just brought a bullet box?!"

"I didn't learn how to reload, this is a UNSC gun." The combat master released the machine gun and took off his favorite big spray gun from the back of his waist. "Go in now? There are still many bastards waiting there." Eat bullets."

Nilus continued to maintain a vigilant posture, but the atmosphere on him was much lighter:

"Our goal is in the building."

Liana turned on the scanner and aimed it at the building:

"Judging from the energy response, it should be in the laboratory on the third floor, and a device is supplying energy to it. It seems that it is in the activation state at the moment." Her expression became serious, "Then we have Hurry up."

This made Shepard's heart tighten.He wants to order the attack immediately, clear out those stubborn collectors inside, and then turn off the alien device——The actions of the collectors are confusing, and no one can analyze and understand it at present, and it is not clear What they are doing, the only thing that is clear is that what they are doing is harmful to all intelligent life.

So this device, which collectors are very concerned about, is definitely an extremely dangerous thing.They've apparently started using this device for their nefarious plans.

"Gellars, Lex, come with me!" he said, taking a few steps forward with his rifle in hand. "Ash, you take someone to cut off the backup power here."

"Yes!"

But Liana grabbed Shepard's hand and said seriously:

"No, wait... Shepard, look at this!"

The sensor in her hand showed that there were other collectors in the building, but for some reason none of them moved—even though the fighting outside was so fierce, they didn't see much movement.The collectors at the other exit tried to reinforce this side at this time, but were shot to the ground one by one by the team members who had already prepared.The second Archon caused some trouble, but it was reduced to iron filings just as quickly when Galas fired the plasma launcher again.

During this process, the collectors in the building remained indifferent.They walked around the room with a demented look, without even looking outside.

This is absolutely not normal.

Reminiscent of the extreme religious activities mentioned in the previous intelligence, and many people are "delirious", this has to be reminiscent of enlightenment.However, enlightenment can only happen to ordinary people... How could a guy like a collector, who is in the Reaper camp, experience the process of enlightenment dementia again?

Is it really just a Reaper device in there?This made Shepard's back feel slightly chilled.I have to act cautiously, but the word "starting" on the scanned image reminds me all the time, if I don't start to act immediately, what will happen to this colony and even this planet in the future, even a god can guess less than.

But suddenly, piercing gunshots and explosions sounded.Although I couldn't hear clearly through the rain curtain, judging from experience, the distance didn't seem to be far away.He looked up, and the trajectory outlined by the tracer bullets was passing through the air, but then there was the screeching sound of the 'consul' firing, the sound of explosions, and the sound of metal tearing when heavy objects hit the ground.

Several people fell silent for a moment, and everyone knew what this meant.

"Shepard! We have to hurry!" Ashley stared at the road coming with the sights on her rifle, and she saw the collector pawns rounding the corner in her sight, and she shot them immediately without hesitation. Here we go! We need to get in there right now and turn that damn device off! How long has it been on?"

"No! Ash!" Shaking his head, Shepard shouted, "Tully! Deploy the drone! We need to see exactly what's going on inside! We might have a few more minutes..."

But the communication came in immediately——

[This is Buck, Shepard!act fast!There are troops going to your side! ] It’s that Sparta, the sound of firefights in the background of the communication is continuous [Is there anything unusual on your side! 】

"Yes!" Shepard immediately replied, "Some collectors are still entrenched indoors. They don't make any movements, and they don't plan to support their companions. Their behavior is very dull. It looks like... enlightenment?"

【enlightenment? !You mean collectors?Not human? 】

There was silence on the other side for a while, and that Sparta seemed to be lost in thought—it is absolutely not normal for a collector to have such a situation.CONCORD's research on indoctrination has shown that exposure to Reaper indoctrination for a short period of time is not a problem, as indoctrination affects the brain over a long period of time.The risk of sending a Psychic-equipped team to recover 'Suspected Reaper Parts' is extremely low.

But if the collector is also caught in this state, then the situation is completely different - from known to unknown, the risk also rises sharply.Therefore, the correct operation is to avoid contact and let professionals trained in mental confrontation deal with it.

[Don't act rashly, Shepard. 】Sparta said【We will send a troop over to support immediately!Before they arrive, you must not even set foot in that institute! 】

"But that device has been on for a long time! We can't just watch these bastards do what they want!" Ashley yelled "Tully! Scan the line! Where's the backup power here! Gotta go blow it up, shut off the power supply and stop that ball!"

Shepard knew something was wrong.Ashley ran into Saren's assault when she was on Eden. As a Star Alliance soldier, she felt the overwhelming power of the enemy, and she also faced a large number of civilian casualties afterwards.This is the main reason why she can't calm down now - because she doesn't want the scene at that time to reappear in front of her eyes again.

But losing your cool on the battlefield is a big taboo.This will not only kill yourself, but everyone who believes in you.

He took Ashley by the shoulders:

"Calm down, Ash..."

Before he finished speaking, Ashley's helmet suddenly disappeared in front of his eyes.Horrified, Shepard took a step back, only to find himself stepping into darkness.There is nothing around, the flames that are being wiped out by the rain, the sound of rain, the sound of gunfire, and the corpses everywhere, the research building full of bullet holes, and the muddy street full of gravel, my comrades-in-arms , all disappeared.

Standing in the darkness, I looked around and saw nothing, and there was no sound in my ears. There was a sticky feeling under my feet, as if I was standing in a pool that hadn't been cleaned for a long time, and the boundless chill was penetrating through the lining of the armor. Slowly penetrate into his body.Shepard felt his heart beating wildly. He reached for the pistol on his waist, but found nothing—there was nothing on the weapon rack.

Suddenly, a shimmering right hand appeared in the darkness in front of him, grasping in the air, as if trying to grab something.Shepard knew at a glance that it was Liana's right hand. He just stretched out his hand to hold it, but it slowly disappeared before touching the hand, and he only grabbed the phantom.The surroundings turned into darkness again.