Starborn Zero II: Tales of the Dragonmen

Underwater

Nightmare dived into the water and turned on the infrared scanner, and the surrounding area was deserted and there was nothing.He turned on the ultrasonic scanner again, and there was a weak reaction in the depths of the sea.

"There is something below." Gene's voice sounded from the mech communicator.

The other mechs received the contact, and together with the submarine catcher, they headed for the depths of the sea.As the light became increasingly dim, Nightmare and the other mechs turned on the searchlights, and found many small creatures like fish and shrimp floating around.The team dived deeper and deeper, and finally found a sword horned dolphin at a depth of 300 meters.It was a huge male with a strong and perfect body. He was standing still in front of a rock crevice, as if he was waiting for his prey.

"It looks so beautiful." A voice of admiration sounded from the communicator.

"Prepare to hunt," Genn ordered.

Several mechs turned off their searchlights, scattered and slowly approached the sword horned dolphin from all directions.At this time, it seemed to have noticed the abnormality, flicked its tail and turned away from the crevice of the stone, and swam quickly towards the top of the water.

"It found us!" A mecha contacted immediately.

"I still want to run!"

Nightmare started the engine, stepped on two jets of water from the thrusters under her feet, and quickly rose to catch up.It closely followed the trail of the sword horned dolphin, one person and one dolphin got closer and closer, and it was only a few meters away from its tail fin.At this time, the male porpoise suddenly turned around, stabbing towards the nightmare with its sharp horn of nearly two meters.Genn had been guarding against it returning the carbine for a long time. He dived deep under its body and punched it hard in the abdomen.

The male dolphin also reacted very quickly. He flicked his body to avoid the nightmare's attack, and then stabbed at him again with his sharp horn.Nightmare dodged left and right, but never showed her weapon, because the experiment required living samples.However, the mecha's movements in the water are destined to be less flexible than the opponent's, and it will avoid its attacks several times.

"Captain, the anesthesia bomb is ready, please leave the battlefield." A call came from the communicator.

"receive."

The horns of the male porpoise struck again.Nightmare grabbed its horns with both hands, and tried to shake him off.At this moment, a jet of black liquid suddenly spewed out from the tip of the pointed horn, instantly blackening the sea water around the nightmare.

"Is this an octopus..."

Before Gene could finish his sentence, an alarm suddenly sounded inside the mecha, which was the notification sound when the mecha was seriously damaged.Gene started the engine immediately, and dived out of the range of the black ink.

"Report losses."

"5% of the surface metal is corroded and damaged, and the defensive mask system is unavailable. Water began to enter the three photomask holes at a rate of 34 ml/s, and the water baffle was activated."

During the conversation, the horns of the male dolphin came before his eyes again.Gene sneered, turned out the particle knife with his right hand and held it in his palm, "It seems that I gave you face, little beast!"

When the particle knife touched the sea water, it formed a light yellow halo that acted as isolation.The next moment, Nightmare raised the particle knife and slashed at the male dolphin.The male porpoise seemed to understand that it was a weapon. After spraying out black ink from its sharp horns, the male porpoise immediately turned around and left without rushing up to fight in close quarters.Nightmare tried its best to avoid the black ink areas, but they spread quickly in the sea water, and even areas without obvious color were stained.

"Water has entered the light holes of the 7 photomasks. The water intake rate is 1.25 liters per second, and the water baffle is invalid. Gene, prepare to activate the emergency release device."

The emergency release device is a life-saving measure prepared for the escape of the mech pilot, allowing the entire cockpit to eject the mech.But the cockpit is where the operating system of the entire mecha is located. Once the cockpit is separated, the mecha will be like scrap iron and unable to move.

Gene stopped and gave an order in the communicator, "Nightmare is going to leave the battlefield and float up. The rest of us will continue the hunting mission. I must catch this little beast alive."

"Yes!" The communicator rang in response.

"Jin, it takes 90 seconds to float up, and the cockpit will be flooded in 20 seconds, so we can only activate the emergency release device!" Nightmare said urgently.

The corners of Gene's mouth rose slightly, and he took a deep breath while fully starting the engine, "I can't leave you at the bottom of the sea, baby. Let's go up together!"

The next moment, Nightmare's engines were fully turned on, and six - Unicorn VIII power engines spewed out white flames, rushing straight towards the water.

red giant star

At the door of the mech cabin, one after another the mechas slid out of the slide and entered the water.Rodney's mecha-Dragon Knight (Imperial Knight) was the first to enter the water, and the infrared scanner immediately showed signs of the mecha engine at a position 50 meters from the water surface. 1 minute ago, he had lost contact with Gene.At this moment, in the communicator, Nightmare's artificial intelligence autonomous help message was received again.

"The cockpit has been flooded for 75 seconds, call for support!"

Dragon Knight couldn't wait for the others to dive immediately, and a few seconds later he came to Nightmare, who was being chased and intercepted by several sword horned dolphins and was unable to surface.The laser cannons on Rodney's arms opened at the same time, firing at the besieging sword horned dolphins.The laser beam passed through the water, and the sword horned dolphins immediately swam away, leaving room for Nightmare to float up.

"Float immediately, and then pop out of the cockpit!" Dragon Knight ordered.

Red Giant Star, the exit of the mecha chute

Mo Ba looked at the sea worriedly at the exit.Suddenly a mecha surfaced, and then something popped out of the water, floating on the sea like a coffin.Mo was taken aback, but he instinctively felt that it might be Jin.He stepped on the slippery ground at the exit, grabbed the door with both hands so as not to fall, and tried his best to hook the thing that popped up with his tail.

"Come on a bit more... come on... almost... ah, that's enough!"

Mo wrapped his tail tightly around a corner of the cockpit, and then pulled it back to the exit of the slide.He dragged and dragged the cockpit into the door. The cockpit was constantly leaking water from the inside to the outside. Mo guessed that Gene should be inside.

"What to do? What to do? What to do……"

Mo slammed on the door of the cockpit in a panic, but he didn't know where the switch was, so he began to bite his mouth in a hurry.At this moment, the cabin door opened suddenly, and with a large wave of water flowing out, Gene sat up coughing and took two deep breaths.

Then, Mo was seen biting the nerve connection wire outside the cockpit.

"That can't bite..."

Slap, one of the butt wires is broken.

Gene's heart ached.The nerve connection is the most complicated and important part of the entire mech, and a broken one means that the entire set of equipment and systems must be replaced.

Mo was stunned for two seconds, then suddenly jumped in front of him and hugged him tightly, crying out with the corner of his mouth curled up.

Gene was hugged by him, and an inexplicable feeling came to his heart.He had just heard a flapping sound outside the cockpit, and he could guess it was because he was worried about himself.He sighed deeply and patted him on the back.

"I'm not dead yet, don't rush to cry, okay?"

Mo sobbed and let go of him, wiping his tears with the back of his hand and nodding.

Jean stood up and immediately contacted the soldiers working underwater.Fortunately, Rodney had already joined them with his backup force, and successfully captured the first end seen underwater.

"Don't be reluctant to fight, bring the living samples back to the ship immediately. The researchers are ready to start work!"

Two hours later

Gene came to the experiment area.A huge sword-horned dolphin was lying quietly in the tank, and the anesthetic had not yet expired.It is suspended from the water by two ropes hanging from the roof, so that it will not struggle out of the tank, and secondly, its blowholes will be exposed to the air so that it will not suffocate.On the other side of the room, researchers are working nervously on the instruments.They took multiple biological samples from its body and are testing its effectiveness as a stabilizer.

When Rodney saw Gene, he immediately saluted, "Captain."

"How about it?"

"It will take another 10 hours for the results to come out." Rodney Hui reported, "A state of alert is placed around the mothership. There are still more than ten sword horned dolphins staying nearby, but they show no signs of attacking."

"Since their IQ is equal to that of humans, they should know how to retreat in spite of difficulties." Gene snorted.

"How's the nightmare?" Rodney asked tentatively.He knew that Jean had always been a warlike man, and that he regarded his mech as a soul mate, more than anyone else or anything else.

"Send it back to the Empire for repairs. It doesn't matter if it got in water or anything. The most fatal thing is the damage to the neural docking device. I'm afraid I won't be able to return within a month." Gene said lightly.

Rodney swallowed dryly, "Captain, Mo is worried about you..."

"I know." Gene cut off.

Rodney looked at his face and said nothing.

"Be wary of nearby creatures. If there is any sign of attack, fire and warn immediately!" Gene said, turned and left the experiment area.

He came to the mecha cabin alone.Nightmare's berth is empty, and since the neural docker is a core part of the operating system, even Nightmare's artificial intelligence was sent back to the Empire along with it.Jean stood in front of the berth, and his heart was also empty. For him, nightmares are an indispensable part of his life.

There was a rustling sound behind him.Jin turned around and saw Mo standing behind him, peeking at him with his mouth pursed, as if he knew he had done something wrong.Gene didn't get angry, but waved to him.Mo immediately ran over and threw himself into his arms, holding his waist and looking up at him.

"Sorry, Gene..."

"It's my fault. If I didn't show my strength and retreated immediately underwater, I might not have caused Nightmare to be seriously injured."

Mo seemed to feel his loss, and patted his head to comfort him, "When it comes back, I won't bite it again."

Gene couldn't help laughing, and then remembered something, "It is said that you can communicate with those creatures, how did you do it?"

"I'm just talking to them." Mo said normally.

Gene stared at him, which reminded him of another neglected question, why could Mo communicate with himself as soon as he came out of the eggshell?Thinking about it now, to Mo, whether it is human beings or sword horned dolphins, they are all alien civilizations.Perhaps his race was born with the ability to detect and learn how the other party communicated, which is an advanced ability that humans do not possess.

Who is the low civilization and who is the high civilization, do I really have the qualifications and ability to judge?

Seeing him staring at him in a daze, Mo waved his hands in front of his eyes, "Jin? Jean?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing." Gene came back to his senses and coughed lightly, "You haven't eaten this morning, have you? Are you hungry?"

"Hungry!" Mo nodded heavily, he was already so hungry that his stomach stuck to his heart.

"Let's go, let's eat." Gene said and walked towards the elevator.Seeing that he was not angry, Mo was so happy that he jumped up and took his hand, and followed him out of the mecha cabin.