They waited for a whole day in the blind spot before they finally waited for the scene that Shen Chao wanted to see, and a ripple appeared in a dark space 22 million kilometers away from them, equivalent to one-seventh of an astronomical unit.

Then, a battleship suddenly jumped faster than the speed of light and appeared in the field of vision. The signal was observed simultaneously by the probes left behind by both the Budapest and the collectors.

With the appearance of this battleship, Shen Chao saw a fleeting thermal signal signature on the hologram of the CIC. This is the signal point searched by the electronic warfare group a few meters away.

Looking at the heat signature, this should be a small ship, but the signal is fleeting. And the optics on the detector disappeared before they could focus on each other.

Such a situation may lead one to suspect that the instrument is malfunctioning or that you are delusional, but this is neither a malfunction nor a delusion on the part of anyone.

But this little bit of information is enough, whether it is Shen Chao or the collector, they all know that there is only one ship in the galaxy that has such characteristics.

Only one warship was able to reveal its heat signature for a moment after jumping faster than the speed of light, and then conceal these features and remain hidden, silently disappearing under the tight detection net.

"It's Normandy, the coordinates are set here, calculate the parameters, and prepare to jump......" Shen Chao saw that the coordinate information was marked on the regional star map, and then ordered the navigation group to immediately set the parameters, ready to jump to 100,000 kilometers behind the location where the signal appeared just now.

The navigation team, though confused as to what he was trying to do, did as he was told, and with the help of the shipboard VI, it took them a few seconds to calculate the FTL parameters.

After the parameters were corrected, the navigation team entered the number jù, and the Budapest was ready to make an ultra-short faster-than-light jump within the galaxy.

: "The radar has found a new target, it's the Collector Cruiser!" Just as they were finishing their preparations for the jump, a lieutenant in the electronic warfare group immediately shouted.

A second target also appeared on the holographic star map in front of Shen Chao. The location is very, very close to where the Normandy appears just now.

Since the first time they observed the Collector battleship a few days ago, they had entered the number jù of the observed number into the number jù library of the ship's vi, and at Shen Chao's request, they had marked the name of this battleship that they had never seen before into the collector cruiser.

Although many crew members still do not believe that this is the battleship of the legendary collector. But they all obeyed Shen Chao's orders for the time being, and the captain said that this was a collector's warship, and they had no reason to object.

: "A warning message to Normandy while the countdown to the jump begins. Shen Chao asked the communication group to immediately send out the prepared warning message, which should help Normandy buy a few seconds earlier reaction time.

His warning message was very short, just a few sentences. It is sent through the encrypted channel of Guò Starlink. Only a Star-United warship like the Normandy can immediately pick up and parse the information inside.

22 million kilometers away, in the wheelhouse of the Normandy, the Joker is still sitting in the wheelhouse, operating the Normandy with his characteristic seemingly lazy but actually preoccupied attitude.

Normandy had just jumped faster than the speed of light under his manipulation. As usual, he was doing a nervous system check. In contrast, the first mate next to him, Lesley, was much more relaxed.

At this time, the theoretical second-in-command of Normandy was holding a cup of coffee, complaining that he had finally been treated as the first mate. Finally moved into the first officer's room......

While they were chatting and farting, suddenly, an encrypted message suddenly appeared on the control panel in front of the clown, which was an alpha-level priority message.

Immediately after receiving this message, the Normandy shipborne vi sent it to several important officers on Normandy. And succeeded in attracting their attention.

The alpha-class message is a kind of emergency message within the Star Alliance, which indicates two problems, one, there are friendly forces nearby, and two, there is danger nearby.

Usually. Star-United warships will only receive messages of this level on the battlefield. For example, some time ago, during the Battle of Citadel, during the battle, the various control panels on Normandy were crowded with alpha-class messages.

"Alpha-class information, what's going on?" First mate Pressley immediately put down his coffee cup, opened the information on his multi-purpose and began to read. As the first mate on the ship, he was naturally one of the people who were notified.

At this time, the senior sister, who was rolling the sheets with Liara in the captain's room, also reluctantly stopped the movements of her hand for a while and opened the information box that popped up on the universal tool.

While they were reading the text, the clown also clicked on the information box in front of him. However, he did not have the patience of the other two, and before he could finish reading the message, he immediately made Normandy speed up and make an emergency maneuver. Because the first sentence of the message is. : Danger, enemy ships are behind you......

At the same time, an unknown signal finally appeared on the control panel of the Normandy wheelhouse, it was obvious that it was a ship that had just escaped the speed of light, and it was only 400 kilometers away from them!

In the space station of the Mass Effect world, 400 kilometers is equivalent to face to face, and the optical equipment of both sides can clearly observe the details of each other's warships at any time.

"Continue to evade urgently, you go to the commander......" Pressley also reflected, and immediately ordered a communications soldier next to him when he saw this. Then he snatched the co-pilot's seat and worked with the Joker to get Normandy off the current course.

At this time, 20 million kilometers away, the FTL countdown of the Budapest was also nearing completion, and Shen Chao pressed the final authorization button.

Immediately, the Budapest's Mass Effect Core increased in brightness under the extremely high energy impact, and the entire battleship immediately disappeared in place, appearing in a space behind the Collector ship almost instantaneously.

At this time, the Collector destroyer had already launched its first strike at the Normandy, which was only 400 kilometers away, and although it had received a warning, 400 kilometers was still too close.

The fire of the ship's guns at this distance is like shooting a sniper rifle at the head of the enemy, and it is difficult to miss it. The Collector Cruiser's massive particle beam cannon fires a large number of elementary particles that are accelerated to nearly the speed of light.

With just the first blow, the particle beam with huge energy easily broke through the Normandy shield and the high-grade armor more than 1 meter thick. Like a hot knife cutting through butter, it left a huge wound in the hull of Normandy that pierced through the hull.

This blow hit the fire control device of the main gun, causing Normandy to lose the ability to resist, and could only passively dodge the particle beam fired by the Collector battleship and try to launch the FTL to escape.

However, Normandy had just completed a faster-than-light jump, and the Mass Effect Core needed to be warmed up again before it could be activated, and it took nearly 2 minutes to warm up the Mass Effect Core again.

In the heat of battle, they did not have 2 minutes left. Although the driver clown in Normandy tried his best to save it, he was powerless to save it.

As the second and third cannons of the Collector ship continued to fire, one of the thrusters and main circuit in Normandy was destroyed. The time to be able to enter the FTL has been greatly delayed. The speed at which the sub-light speed escapes has also been reduced.

Before she arrived at the wheelhouse, Sister Xue had already seen that she was powerless, and she decisively issued an order to abandon the ship. Under her orders, the crew rushed into the escape pods, and one by one the escape pods were launched.

At this time, the Budapest also turned around the hull. And began to try to lock on to the Collector battleship in the distance. At this time, they were about 110,000 kilometers away from the Collector battleship, and within the range, they also happened to be in a very good firing range area diagonally behind.

The collector must have spotted their storage when they jumped over just now, but the other party didn't seem to care. Still chasing down the Normandy, which has been battered by all its might.

After a few dozen seconds, the Budapest's combat readiness was finally completed, and its two heavy main guns locked onto the Collector battleship 40,000 kilometers ahead.

"The main gun barrels No. 1 and No. 2 are ready to be reloaded. Reach 100% charge, request command. "This is a message from the main artillery department.

"All systems are normal, the target is completely locked!" "The electronic warfare group is also good news for lockdown.

: "Fire." Shen Chao heard this. Lightly announced the order, and began the command of the space station for the first time in his life.

Under his order, the main guns of the Budapest immediately opened fire, and two massive projectiles with a speed of nearly 90% of the speed of light instantly crossed a distance of more than 100,000 kilometers and smashed heavily into the body of the Collector battleship.

Due to the huge kinetic energy, the shield of the Collector battleship was broken without even a little resistance, and the two shells instantly broke through the armor that was more than ten meters thick, and the countless cabins inside, and rushed out from the other side.

Breakdown. The first blow is a breakdown! That's a good place to start. The Collector cruiser slowed down, and the signal at the Mass Effect core weakened by an order of magnitude, seemingly hitting a significant part.

The first blow was a heavy blow, but that was it, and it took 1 minute and 30 seconds for the Budapest's main gun to recharge for such a powerful bombardment. And the other party seems to want to escape.

: "Enemy ship Mass Effect core warm-up. They were preparing to escape. The people from the electronic station team reported the latest situation again.

"Continue to track the target, pay attention to the main artillery department, and report back when it is 50% charged." Shen Chao then gave such an order.

The Collector gave up continuing to fire at the Normandy in order to escape, saving energy. And concentrate all the energy of the whole ship in the core of the Mass Effect, hoping to escape by jumping faster than light before being paralyzed.

Tens of seconds later. The gun commander of the main artillery department sent a message that the two main guns were already 50% charged, and at this time they were only 70,000 kilometers away from the collector battleship that could not be accelerated. After Shen Chao got the news from the main artillery department, he immediately ordered to open fire again.

The main cannon was fired again, and because it was not fully charged, the two shells only reached about 70% of the speed of light, and carried only about a quarter of the kinetic energy of the previous hit.

Even so, the two shells easily broke through the Collector ship's newly restored shield and inflicted heavy damage on it again. The blow seemed to have really hit some important part of the opponent, and the electronic warfare team's observations showed that the opponent's Mass Effect Core was offline.

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