Although Kirk had noticed from the bridge before that the other side didn't seem to have many people, he could never have imagined that there were only seven people on such a huge battleship?

Of course, there are warships that have achieved this level of automation. Kirk once encountered a warship that was set up so that even one person could operate it, and it was that warship that caused considerable damage to the Earth. However, that was only an extreme case after all...

"But it's not impossible for you to help us."

Fang Zheng looked at Kirk and then spoke.

"I need your help with something as well."

"What's up?"

"I want to ask, have you ever encountered any difficult troubles or disasters?"

"……?"

Hearing Fang Zheng's question, Kirk looked at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand you."

"In simple terms, it's like some kind of cosmic storm, or some mysterious catastrophic event?"

"Uh... isn't this what we are facing now?"

Kirk felt that the fact that a group of aggressive alien creatures were hiding behind a dangerous nebula was already a rather mysterious and unpredictable disaster.

"Oh, that's not it... Anyway, I hope the Star Alliance can provide me with information in this regard, such as a catastrophic event that suddenly occurred somewhere, or some incomprehensible cosmic phenomenon..."

"……?"

Kirk and Spock looked at each other in confusion, and the latter looked at Fang Zheng.

"Why do you need this intelligence?"

"Because I'm looking for something."

Fang Zheng did not hide it.

"That thing will bring a great threat to this world, so I have to find it. It should be somewhere in this world. That's why I came here, so I hope you can help me... By the way, I must find this thing. If any of you find it, it's best not to hide it, otherwise I will have to rob it myself."

“…”

Fang Zheng said it so directly that Kirk and Spock were speechless for a moment, and then Kirk nodded.

"I agree to your request. We are the elite of the Star Alliance. If we encounter something like what you said, it is likely our investigation mission, so I agree to your request. Of course, I will also report to the Star Alliance."

"It doesn't matter."

Fang Zheng shrugged.

"Well, let's finalize the plan..."

After turning on the stealth mode, the Lightning flew back to the previous battlefield. At this moment, the metal fleet had disappeared without a trace, but Fang Zheng did not relax his vigilance. He sat in the chair and stared at the screen in front of him. At the same time, Spock introduced beside him.

"When we scanned the entire planet before, we found a lot of signs of biological activity underground, but very few life forms on the surface."

"That means these rats are hiding in rat holes..."

Fang Zheng let out a light sigh.

"If I didn't have to save people, I would just blow up the entire planet."

“… I don’t think that’s a reasonable move.”

Hearing Fang Zheng's words, Spock's face darkened slightly, and then he spoke out in objection.

"I was just complaining."

Fang Zheng shrugged and looked forward.

"Have you found the prisoners, Tida?"

"Found it, Brother Fang Zheng."

"Can you lock on to them and teleport them back?"

“It seems not.”

Tita shook her head.

"There is some kind of interference here. I am afraid that there may be errors in the transmission process. After all, we have never tried to transmit living things under interference..."

"Then we have to go with plan B."

Originally, Fang Zheng had planned to directly transport the prisoners back to the warship, and then bombard the enemy base camp. Now it seemed that he had no choice but to use another more troublesome plan.

"Tio, are there any results from the analysis of the swarm network?"

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Fang Zheng... Yes, I have mastered the frequency of the swarm network and connected to their network."

"Great, can we make them destroy themselves?"

Although with the ability of the Lightning, these automata are just a group of mosquitoes, it would not feel good when a person is surrounded by thousands of mosquitoes.

"Sorry, that's not possible, because according to the information on the Internet, the one that attacked us before was an automatic unmanned mining machine... which does not have a self-destruct function."

"...Mining machine?"

"Yes, the analysis results are as follows. This is a drone that uses its own impact and rotational force to break through the earth's crust and dig deep underground to collect minerals."

"I see."

Hearing this, Fang Zheng understood immediately. He had also wondered why this group of alien creatures would use this kind of kamikaze tactical attack. You know, even the ELS cluster attack has long-range weapons, but this group of aliens just bumped into each other. Fang Zheng thought they just liked this kind of unrestrained hand-to-hand combat.

Hearing this, Kirk suddenly spoke.

"Wait, when they attacked us before, there were indeed people sitting inside?"

Kirk remembered very clearly that after that strange pointed fighter pierced the armor of his spaceship, the inside would open and fully armed soldiers would jump out. It was obviously controlled by someone and not a drone.

"It's probably because it's been modified. After all, drones don't usually carry people. They may have modified the part that carries the minerals..."

Fang Zheng shook his head.

"Forget it, it doesn't matter. Tio, can you hack into the network and directly block the launch permissions of these drones?"

If the little angel was here, Fang Zheng wouldn't have to worry about this problem at all - or rather, he wouldn't have to run before the little angel came here. As long as the little angel swipes his finger, the drone swarms will be destroyed.

But unfortunately, Ling and Tio obviously don't have the data processing ability of the little angel, so Fang Zheng asked this question.

"No problem, big brother!"

This time it was Ling who answered Fang Zheng.

"Theo and I have thoroughly analyzed their swarm network. Once we get in, we can shut down their control systems in a matter of minutes, turning those drones into scrap metal!"

At this point, Ling even confidently made a V sign to Fang Zheng, while Kirk stared at her, then was silent for a moment and then asked doubtfully.

"……but?"

"…What but?"

Hearing Kirk's question, Ling blinked her big eyes in confusion.

This time it was Kirk who was puzzled.

"No, according to my experience, generally speaking, this kind of good thing is always difficult. For example, we need to sneak into the enemy's command center and find a suitable operating platform..."

"No, we can easily plug into the swarm network. Why do we need to waste time looking for a control platform on the ground?"

"So what you're saying is... you can just press a button here and those drones will turn into scrap metal?"

"It's better to say..."

As she spoke, Ling turned around with a smile.

“They have become scrap metal.”

“…Is it that simple?”

"How much more complicated do you want?"

"…I'm sorry, this is different from my previous experience."

As the captain of the Enterprise, Kirk has faced danger more than once and turned the tide. He has had similar experiences several times, but every time Kirk has to face a very heavy choice or a difficult task that is almost suicidal. It is so simple that he can remove the threat with just a flick of his finger... Kirk has never seen such a thing even in his dreams.

"Okay, then let's get started."

Fang Zheng didn't care about Kirk's mental journey. Speed ​​is of the essence in war, and the most important thing is to act now that the decision has been made.

"Now that the enemy's fighter control system has been locked, what we need to do next is to rescue people..."

Having said this, Fang Zheng looked at Kirk.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what your Star Alliance is like, but the Lightning's teleportation was just a temporary emergency measure. We used group teleportation because the situation was urgent. Strictly speaking, we don't approve of using teleportation in non-emergency situations."

After talking with Kirk, Fang Zheng found that the people in this world seemed to regard teleportation as something very convenient. Whether it was going out or coming in, or moving goods, basically everything was done by teleportation. But Fang Zheng would not take such a risk. He knew that there were too many factors that could interfere with teleportation, such as space turbulence and gravitational fluctuations. Therefore, on the Lightning, Fang Zheng only used teleportation as a last resort.

Normally, he actually prefers orbital airdrops.

After all, this is more exciting.

"So this time, the Lightning will land near the target location, and then we will split into two groups. One group will attract the attention of those guys, and the other group will take the opportunity to cut in from the back and rescue the captured crew members. Then we will meet at the designated location and leave on the Lightning. If these guys still don't give up, we will just bomb them directly from the ground."

Having said this, Fang Zheng stared at the two of them.

"Any other comments?"

"I have."

The alien with pointy ears, bob hair, thick eyebrows and narrow eyes spoke again.

"Who will be responsible for luring the enemy?"

"Let me do it. I have nothing to do anyway, so it's good to stretch my muscles. As for rescuing the crew, I'd better leave it to you two. After all, you are the ones they are familiar with. If I run over to save them, I'll have to waste time explaining to them what's going on... I don't want to get into this trouble."

"clear."

Spock nodded and looked towards his captain.

"I will gather a group of combat-savvy crew members, Captain..."

"No, Spock, I want to go too."

However, before Spock could finish his words, he was interrupted by Kirk.

"They are my crew members, and in this situation, one more person means more strength. But Mr. Fang Zheng, you are not planning to go alone, are you?"

"Of course not. Altina will go with me."

"I want to go too, big brother!"

Hearing Fang Zheng's words, Ling jumped up and raised her hand, while Fang Zheng nodded and then looked at Kirk.

"Oh, now there's one more."

"Wait, you're kidding me."

Looking at Ling and Altina, Kirk was stunned.

"They are just children!"

"Don't underestimate me, Ling Ke is much better than you, uncle!"

Hearing what Kirk said, Ling immediately glared at him, but Altina was completely indifferent, as if she didn't hear it at all.

"But, this is too..."

Kirk looked at the two girls and was speechless. Although he had seen some short aliens, the two girls in front of him looked like ordinary human girls. Kirk could not do such a thing as asking them to lure the enemy's firepower and save people by themselves!

But unfortunately, his say did not count, and Fang Zheng did not care. Soon, the Lightning in stealth mode quietly stopped beside a hill outside the enemy base. Then, the hatch opened and a group of people walked out.

"Then let's do as we agreed before."

Fang Zheng ordered and Kirk nodded, but he was still a little worried as he looked at the two girls.

"Mr. Fang Zheng, don't you need weapons? If you do, I have some here..."

As he spoke, Kirk took out his phase pistol, which was the standard equipment for starship crew members and had the power to stun and kill enemies. Seeing that the three people in front of him seemed to be unarmed, Kirk was obviously still a little worried.

"Oh, no need, we have weapons."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng stretched out his hand and pulled out a pitch-black sword from the void, and Ling also grinned and stretched out her hand. Then Kirk saw that as the little girl stretched out her right hand, a pitch-black sickle suddenly bounced up and appeared beside her. On the other side, Altina raised her hand, and as she moved, a strange silver-white creature appeared behind the girl.

“…”

Seeing this, Kirk was completely confused.

This style of painting... seems a little bit off?