Chapter 66. Newscast: Captain Noah is arrested
Ingmar paced nervously back and forth in front of the commander's chair. He actually enjoyed sitting in the commander's chair in place of the captain. But not in this case. More than five hours had passed since the captain left. They haven't heard from the outside team since. All their attempts to contact them failed. They didn't react. Are they still talking to Parliament? is there any other reason? He almost certainly had another reason, as such a long period of radio silence was unusual. If they had foreseen that it might take longer, the captain would have sent word back.
Attempts to talk to the officers of the escort ships also failed. The other ships remained radio silent. Universal calls to Earth were equally unanswered. They are like deaf and blind people who do not know what is happening on this planet. What should he do now? wait? Send a team down? Or make the weapon work, destroy something? He knew the captain wouldn't approve of it, but he felt so helpless that he would rather shoot everything until they could hear him.
In addition, he also faces personal relationship problems with Shu Ran. She avoided him, only saying "hello" when she happened to meet him. Yet he missed her so much. What went wrong? The chemistry between them is obviously very good. Based on her behavior, he was convinced that she felt the same about him as he felt about her. Apparently, he was dead wrong. He wondered again if he had gone too far. He shouldn't have kissed her. That way, they could at least continue to see each other and enjoy each other's company. Even though it was just friendship, it was still much better than what he had now. And she avoided him, and he didn't even get a chance to talk to her. She also ignored his messages. There was nothing he could do.
Another situation beyond his control. Once again he felt helpless and could only wait for something good to happen.
To make matters worse, she was constantly on his mind. He had great difficulty concentrating on his work. The crisis required his undivided attention so that he could get through it relatively peacefully.
"Still no news?" He interrupted his stroll and tried to divert his thoughts.
"No, sir," the man currently at the Ops desk replied.
"Damn," Ingmar muttered, and continued on his way.
"What should we do, sir?" Nilf asked.
Ingmar thought, "If only I knew what to do." But he replied, "We'll wait a little longer, give the captain more time." He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.
"They're teasing us," Nilf said, not relenting. Is he expressing emotion?
"What do you mean?" Ingmar asked him.
"They're playing a trick on us. The captain is probably long dead and we're wasting our time waiting. They're probably already thinking of ways to destroy us."
Ingmar was convinced that Nilfer was clearly expressing emotion. Apparently, he can't deny his Klingon heritage. And after living with humans for a year, it seems to be affected. "We will wait," Ingmar reiterated. "They can't do anything to us."
"It's not time yet. Why don't we use our advantage? We can force them to answer us."
"Mr. Nilf, continue your work. Control yourself," Inge shouted, but he had to silence the half-Klingon. He cannot tolerate his authority being undermined. And Nilf mentioned the issue that he had been considering before. He didn't want to end up compromising.
The situation eased with the sound of the turbolift door opening. Alva Daisy hurried onto the bridge. "Any news?"
"No," Ingmar shook his head. "The situation has not changed."
Daisy just nodded and sat down on the technical table. "We've started repair work where we can. My technicians are trying to seal those parts of the hull that are cracked. That way, we'll be able to shut down the energy field soon and save energy. It's going to get a little crowded on the ship, though."
Ingmar nodded in understanding. The situation is so bad that they are orbiting the Earth and unable to use Earth's facilities to repair it. It was almost like they were light years away from home, or even further. They are entirely on their own.
"Commander," Callis reported excitedly. "I managed to connect to the news channel coming from Earth. We received a message."
"Finally," Ingmar breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone turned to Callis. "Who sent the message?"
"Well, that's not a message to us, sir," Callis explained. He suddenly realized that he had chosen the wrong words and might have evoked the wrong expectations. "It's this whole stream of data that's constantly being sent to Earth."
Ingemar had to restrain himself from letting his disappointment show. “Is there any useful information in it?”
Callis tapped on the console, then said, "There might be. I'll put it on the home screen."
A large logo appeared on the screen, and a voice announced, "Here is the Earth Channel Network, bringing a special report, direct from the Earth Federation Presidential Palace." A charming young woman wearing a fashionable suit appeared on the screen , sitting behind a desk. She appears to be a newscaster. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen. The Earth's military successfully carried out a sensational strike against terrorists today. Four of the leaders of the most dangerous terrorist organizations on Earth were captured by the military. According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense, their targets were assassinations President, overthrew the government and seized power through a coup. The spokesman continued that the reason this terrorist organization was able to be so powerful was because they had the help of aliens. The evidence is the aliens currently being held in orbit by the Earth's military Ship. This ship is no longer a threat."
"For more information about this organization's goals, subsequent capture operations, and follow-up plans, please pay attention to the Earth News Channel for exclusive reports, which will be broadcast soon after the commercial."
Ingmar slowly sat back in the commander's chair. There was silence on the bridge. Everyone was staring at the screen in confusion, while an advertisement about the resort Raissa was playing.
"Is that lady talking about us and our people?" Daisy recovered her words first, and she walked to the commander's chair.
Ingmar nodded. "Yes, that's my guess. Mr. Callis, turn off the audio and scan the Earth's orbit for other ships that match her description."
"Yes, sir."
"Do you think the captain is in danger?" Daisy asked quietly. However, faced with the silence on the bridge, everyone understood.
"She didn't mention that those captured would be killed. So, I assume they're still alive. But we should be prepared." He pressed the button on the armrest and opened the intercom. "Ms. Gladys, organize a rescue team. Six people, fully armed, on standby." He cut off the communication again, and then looked at Daisy. "What's the status of the teleporter?"
Daisy sighed. "It's going to take a few more hours for this to be operational."
"Transporters are the first priority. With them, we are more flexible than flying on the space shuttle." Ingemar's tone was firm. If the suspicion of kidnapping was established, then he could at least take some action without having to wait any longer. "Mr. Kallis, activate the shield." Daisy gave him a confused look, and he added, "I want to prevent anything we don't want from being transmitted to our ship."
"Yes, sir," Callis confirmed.
Ingmar looked at the screen again. The commercial is still playing, this time for a new hover scooter. It only costs 90,000 earth yuan. Ingmar didn't know whether that was too much or too little. Where he came from there was no money left. The economy works differently. And there's money here, which probably means there's also poor and rich people.
When he recognized the channel's logo, Callis was ordered to turn the audio back on.
"...Channel Network, here is a special report, coming directly from the Earth Federation Presidential Palace." The female anchor appeared at her desk again. "Welcome back. The Earth's military successfully conducted a strike against global terrorism today. The leaders of four dangerous terrorist organizations, believed to be supported by aliens, have been captured by the Federation. We will now turn the live broadcast to my colleague Song Lanzi At the Government House in Geneva." The screen is divided into two parts, and another woman appears on the left half, holding a small microphone and looking patiently into the camera. "Song Lanzi, can you tell us more?"
"Here at the Presidential Palace we have just received exclusive information. The four arrested are said to be alive and are currently being interrogated by experts. Among them are two humans, a male and a female, and an Andorian A male representative from a so far completely unknown race. This race has obviously become interested in the instability of the earth's situation." The female anchor reported emphatically.
"Do we know more about these two individuals? What role did the Andorran people play? Is it possible that the Andorran government was involved in this conspiracy?" asked the female anchor in the news studio.
"According to our information, the man is of indigenous North American descent. It is unclear what the woman's background is. The role of the Andorians is completely unclear at this time. But it is possible that the Andorran government supports terrorist activities on Earth. Little sex. The alliance between Earth and the Andorians of Andoria is solid, and government representatives have reconfirmed this."
"Do you know anything about the representative of this unknown race? What does he look like?"
"Unfortunately, we have received no information about this person. Therefore, we can only speculate," she answered vaguely.
"Thank you very much, Ms. Song Lanzi, we will connect again later." The screen cut back again. What is shown now is a picture of the entire studio. A gray-haired man wearing nickel-rimmed glasses was already sitting at the table. The hostess turned to him. "I have Mr. Mallaborg, a terrorism expert and government advisor in my studio. Mr. Mallaborg, how do you interpret this successful operation?"
"Well, in fact, this operation can be said to have cut off the leader of one of the most powerful terrorist organizations, causing the organization to temporarily lose its ability to act. This is undoubtedly a huge success." He said cautiously and thoughtfully. "But we cannot afford to be complacent. The next step in the attack must now be carried out to prevent the group from recovering and finding a new leader."
"Does this allude to a craft in orbit? Does it pose a threat?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm trying to point out." His demeanor showed how important he felt about himself. "And, yes, this is a threat that cannot be ignored. The enemies of freedom and democracy here have made all-out efforts. They have designed a craft that at first glance may look like it was made on Earth. But it is full of strangeness Weapons and technology that make it immediately clear that this is not our ship. They want to intimidate us by building a huge ship. After all, this ship is twice as big as an NX-class ship. For a terrorist organization, this is A monumental achievement that shows just how dangerous and powerful they have become. They are more of a threat to our security than ever before. Without alien help, such a huge technological achievement would be completely impossible for a terrorist group Possibly. If the leader of the group is not captured now, this could become the greatest threat to Earth since the Terran Wars."
"So what's going to happen to this alien ship now?"
"Currently, our troops have it trapped and it no longer poses a threat. However, the terrorists have managed to get trapped inside that ship and they do not want to surrender."
"Why not destroy the ship directly? Doesn't this eliminate the direct threat?"
Malayburgh smiled indulgently at the question. This was obviously not the first time he had answered such a question, and he knew reporters would ask all kinds of strange questions, usually just to make it clear to even the most uninformed viewers. “To defeat an enemy, you must understand him,” he explains. "This ship represents our enemy in some way. Studying it will let us know more about it. And this knowledge can be used. Besides, you must know that building a ship of this size has many problems." How expensive. If we get such a ship now, we should not destroy it easily. And as I said before, it is already surrounded by our troops and no longer poses a threat."
"That sounds good." The hostess smiled reassuringly at the camera. "But what are the goals of terrorist groups? Why would anyone try to overthrow Earth's elected governments?"
"Now, we cannot use common sense to answer this question," Malayburgh began to answer. "These misguided individuals are fascinated by chaos and anarchy. They enjoy the fear and panic they spread. They are not trying to establish a government of their own. They just want to spread fear and kill humans. Most of them are aliens People have been misled and are now unable to correctly identify who the real enemy is. They have become traitors to the human race without really realizing it themselves. Therefore, we must help these people and redirect them to the right on the road.”
"But what is the alien's purpose?"
"You see, humanity's own space journey has been going on for nearly two hundred years. Despite all the difficulties, we succeeded. And we are faster than other races. For example, the Andorrans have been able to travel in space for six hundred years, But they didn't leave their solar system for the first four centuries. This shows the superiority of us humans. Now please think further: If the future development continues to be as rapid as it has been in the past few centuries, where will we be in a century? ? Or what about two centuries later? Other races will naturally notice this and be afraid of us. In addition, they also want to use the earth. Look at our beautiful planet and compare it with the Andorran people. Compared with the home planet. The Andalian home planet is a huge gaseous planet. There is only one moon close to the size of the Earth and conditions suitable for life. It is an icy world. Or Danobra planet. There is only a surface there. 10% of the world is land, and most Denobrans have to live in artificial structures under the water. Therefore, it is easy to understand the jealousy generated by the invaders. If there is an open war with us, other races will be at a disadvantage, and we This has been proven.”
"You mean the Terran War," the hostess interjected.
"That's right. And the surrender of the Denobrans. Also, we have the Klingons in our hands. So, no one will openly attack us. So, the aliens resort to these methods and support terrorism. Only then will they have the opportunity to destabilize the planet and ultimately weaken us so that they can defeat us in the future. However, they did not anticipate human ingenuity. As a result, terrorists fall into our traps time and time again.”
"That's fine." The female host turned around and looked directly at the camera again. "Now, how will things develop regarding terrorism? What do we need to expect? What can everyone do? All of this will be answered for you after the commercial."
Ingmar leaned back in his chair, put his hands in front of his face, and listened intently to their conversation. What a twisted world. For conspiracy theorists, this must be heaven. But, how can they take advantage of this?
“It’s so fun,” Nilfer said. "People in this world seem to be completely deceived."
"Yes, it seems so. It takes quite a bit of imagination to call us terrorists in such a short period of time," Daisy added. "This is obviously a typical propaganda tactic."
"I think what's more interesting is that they think they've put us in a position where we can't resist," Ingmar said. "Maybe we should shoot down one of their ships and let them know we're still alive."
"That would put our team of captains in danger," Daisy retorted.
Ingmar closed his eyes. "No, of course not. If they really think we're defeated, we can surprise them. I don't want to give up this trump card. Plans for the rescue team may be on hold for now, though. They'll definitely shoot down every ship that leaves Republic ships. Our ships can't take a hit like ships. So, we have to use teleporters. Definitely."
"We're working on that," Daisy replied shortly.
