Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 172: Entering the Nuclear Reactor

"Canyue, we're in the engine room. All the equipment here has been shut down for too long. The baron is looking for the power switch," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Make sure you turn on the ship's power. Dodo is already looking for the captain's password," I said.

"We found the power switch. The main power switch is probably in the command room. We only have a backup switch here. According to the data here, there is actually some equipment on the ship that is still running," came Zhang Bao'er's shocked voice a short while later.

There was no doubt that this ship had brought me many surprises.

"Can you check which equipment is running?" I asked.

"Canyue, according to the data in the engine room, the ship's life-support system is still running with the reserve power. If we forcefully turn on the main power, the things preserved by the life-support system might suffer damage," said Baron Sisse.

"Can you see what the life-support system is preserving?" I asked.

"No, this ship is too old. The search function does not provide detailed results. However, I can see that the life-support system is located in the cockpit. We will only know after entering," replied the baron.

"Canyue, I think it might be the surviving pilot who had frozen themselves with the life-support system," said Old Du.

"But that doesn't make much sense. We're not in outer space but on Planet Cloudcast, which is the empire's. Shouldn't all the discarded ships be inspected by Eternal soldiers before being scrapped?" I said.

The baron said, "Therefore, I believe that this is a massive unsolved mystery. We will only get the answer from the cockpit. But we can't turn on the power unless we're willing to risk waking up the life form preserved by the life-support system."

"Yeah. It might be the pilot, or it might be a virus or even a rare monster," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Canyue, we're only here to steal a ship. The creature preserved here is unrelated to us. We should just pick a different ship. Stop looking for trouble," said Wind Spirit.

We all heard her suggestion. She was right. Our goal was to only steal a ship. Finding out the secret in the cockpit wasn't part of the mission.

"I believe we still need to take a look. What if there is someone alive waiting for our rescue? For us, leaving is very simple. But for the life waiting inside, perhaps our departure would mean that it would lose its sole chance of surviving," I said.

Everyone sank into silence. It was indeed important to save lives. That had been a principle we had been sticking to.

"But we can't turn on the system now. And without power, even if we have the password, we can't open the locked cockpit from the outside," said Baron Sisse.

"Baron, are there no air vents or some other tubes connected to the cockpit?" I asked.

"The imperial ships generally use vents of the bee's nest style for their cockpits and not the more traditional tubing system. Only nano morph-capable probes can go through such vents. There is no way for us to get through them," said Baron Sisse.

"And where can we find a nano morph-capable probe?" Zhang Bao'er asked.

"That's a technology from Blue. Why are you asking me?" said the baron.

The three of us sank into silence. The nano morph-capable probe he mentioned had remained suspiciously absent from all the downloaded knowledge we had received during training.

"Let's not talk about the probe for now. We should think of a way to get inside the cockpit. Dondon, try to contact Spacetime again and see if we can find other ways," I said.

"Yes. Also, a new update just came in from Dodo," said Dondon.

"What's the update?" I asked impatiently.

"I'll connect the call. It's better if they tell you themselves," said Dondon as he connected the call.

"Canyue, can you hear me?" Dodo's voice rang out.

"Yes. Dodo, what update do you have? We have encountered a new situation," I said.

Old Du proceeded to tell Dodo about our discovery in the engine room.

"Canyue, while hacking into the imperial database, I gathered a large amount of information. I couldn't find the captain's password, but I have a new discovery about a vessel called Lightning," said Dodo.

Those words grabbed everyone's attention. We started to focus on what Dodo had to say next.

"The ship you selected randomly is actually a famous ship from the past. Twenty years ago, it participated in the wars against Rumble, Akko, and many other planets. The ship was captained by someone called Fangfang, someone who had earned countless merits from numerous wars," said Dodo.

"Captain Fangfang, that sounds like the name of a woman," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Yes, and I did not expect this to be Fangfang's ship. She is an extremely influential female captain in the empire's history. She was also an Eternal. Unfortunately, she went missing after an accident during a mission," said Baron Sisse.

"Captain Fangfang had gone missing when carrying out a special mission. According to the database, the mission was carried out near the Orion Constellation's Horsehead Nebula. The accident had caused the ship Lightning to sink into a stellar cloud," said Dodo. Their version of the story did not differ much from Baron Sisse's.

"Horsehead Nebula again? Is this a coincidence? Also, the records indicate that Lightning had dropped into a stellar cloud, but the ship is actually here. There must be some major secret at play here," I said.

"Perhaps Captain Fangfang had accidentally discovered the secrets of the empire's beast army? That was why she was murdered by the emperor?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"That might be possible. The emperor might have lured her here in order to eliminate her. To protect herself, the captain activated the emergency door and locked herself inside," said Old Du. We all came to a similar conclusion.

"Sigh. There are so many loopholes to your guesses. Also, none of your guesses involve a way to enter this room. What a waste of time," said Wind Spirit.

"Little female cat, do you have a better idea?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"If the emperor really wants to go in, can this door even stop him? Sure, Emperor Fille was still young 20 years ago, but there was no way he would be so stupid, right?" said Wind Spirit. None of us could refute her.

"Canyue, we don't have any other choices. We don't have the password nor can we risk turning on the system. We can only use force," said Old Du.

"There is a place we can try. This ship's nuclear reactor must have stopped operating a very long time ago and should still remain how it was. There is a tube connecting the reactor to the energy starter in the cockpit. You can consider gaining entry through that tube," said Dodo.

"What stupid idea is that? Going through the nuclear reactor? Are you dumb? The radiation inside can instantly kill anyone. Only an iron doll like you can go through there," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Using the morph-capable shield and exploiting the fact that the reactor has not been operational for many years, there is a chance you can avoid the radiation. But based on the data I checked, the tube is quite small. Only someone small can get through it. Zhang Bao'er would be too fat to do it," said Dodo.

The moment the word "small" was uttered, my gaze landed on Dondon and Wind Spirit.

"Why are you looking at me? I will never go into a nuclear reactor. Only a madman will," rejected Wind Spirit defiantly.

"Commander Canyue, our options are clear. Either we blow our way in or we enter through the nuclear reactor. We don't have much time. You need to make a decision," said Baron Sisse.

Silence descended upon the communication channel as everyone waited for my decision while my brain churned.

"Commander, I'll go. I have the suitable size for this mission," volunteered Dondon.

In fact, everyone knew that Dondon was the only person here who could carry out the mission.

"Dondon, we will be troubling you. I'll accompany you to the reactor. If you encounter any trouble, do not stick around and fight. Retreat immediately," I said.

"Don't worry. I'll run the moment I notice something wrong," said Dondon as he reversed the role and comforted me instead.

Since we had decided, Wind Spirit did not say anything. The two of us followed Dondon to the engine room. Lightning's engine room took up a very large space in the ship. After more than ten minutes, we arrived at the entrance. Old Du and the others were already waiting there for us.

"Canyue, we have located the reactor's entrance. It is big, and the reactor has long stopped operating. Even the heavy water in it has dried up. The radiation level inside is very high, but it is still within the morph-capable shield's limit," said Old Du.

"Commander, let's not delay. I'll go now. Let's see if there's really a path into the cockpit," said Dondon decisively.

"Dondon, a map of the tubing system has been uploaded to your visor. Just follow the route," said Dodo.

"Are you sure the map is accurate?" asked Dondon.

"After comparing over a hundred battleships of the same model, I can confirm that this map is accurate," said Dodo.

When Dodo was speaking, we arrived before the reactor under Old Du's lead. An airlock stood before us. Right behind the airlock was the reactor without any heavy water remaining.

"Canyue, this is as far as we can go. We'll have to count on Dondon for the rest of the journey," said Old Du.

"Canyue, why don't we just blast our way in? This is too dangerous," said Zhang Bao'er.

I also wavered upon hearing Bao'er's suggestion. After all, Dondon's safety was more important than anything else.

"Canyue, let me go. I believe the morph-capable system won't fail me," said Dondon firmly.

"Let him go. This glorious moment belongs to the Storm race," said Wind Spirit, who was behaving extremely gravely, a behavior she rarely showed.

Looking at the solemn look in her eyes, I firmed my heart and said, "Dondon will carry out the infiltration mission. Baron, Wind Spirit, and I will be on standby for rescue. Keep the communication channel active. The moment you encounter any danger, abort the mission."

Dondon nodded at me. At this moment, all the crew members on Spacetime were also paying close attention to the mission Dondon was about to embark on. And when the airlock opened, Dondon's thin figure stepped inside resolutely.