Like a silver bird freed from gravity, its engines belched out dazzling blue flames as it soared rapidly, leaving the planet devoured by the gray-white plague below. Inside the bridge, the atmosphere was as heavy as lead. On the main screen, the image of planet G-173c gradually shrank, but the ever-expanding gray-white scar became increasingly glaring and sinister.
"We have escaped the planet's gravity well and entered a safe orbit," Leah reported. Her voice had regained its composure, but a hint of fatigue and the subtle murmur of system overload could still be heard. Engineering robots were performing final emergency repairs beside her, replacing a burned-out circuit board.
"Energy interference has diminished, and long-range communications are gradually being restored. We are attempting to connect to the Alliance Security Department network to upload mission logs and emergency reports," she added.
"Upload that shit!" Rex interrupted brusquely, his scanning eye fixed on the spreading "white spot" on the screen. "By the time those bureaucrats are done wrangling, this thing will give birth to a litter of stone pups! Commander, give the order! Use the main guns to blast the hell out of it! Blast that damn lab and that piece of stone back to its atomic state!"
Kane stood at the commander's chair, but didn't immediately sit down. His gaze remained fixed on the planet on the screen, but deep within his eyes, he was rapidly calculating and weighing options. His personal terminal displayed the authorization screen and options for the "Decontamination Protocol."
The Decontamination Protocol isn't a simple orbital bombardment. It's a multi-layered response plan tailored to different threat levels and scenarios.
Option 1: Conventional sterilization.
Use ship-borne weapons to saturate the infected area, ensuring the elimination of all visible and detectable anomalous targets. Suitable for localized, controlled infections.
Option 2: Deep decontamination. ** In addition to conventional sterilization, use specialized earth-penetrating warheads or focused energy weapons to conduct a devastating strike on deep underground structures, ensuring the eradication of hidden dangers. This is suitable for situations like "Lonely End."
**Option Three: Planetary Sterilization (Codename: Plowing). ** Utilize strategic weapons (such as the two "Apocalypse"-class tactical nuclear fusion bombs installed in the Nightingale's hidden weapons bay) to carpet-bomb the infected planet, completely vaporizing the surface and shallow subsurface structures, vitrifying all organic and inorganic matter. This is the most extreme measure, typically used to confirm irreparable and highly contagious biological or anomalous threats.
**Option Four: Ultimate Annihilation (Codename: Tombstone). ** This option is grayed out and requires the highest level of authority and special conditions to trigger. Its contents are unspecified, stating only "Trigger structural collapse of the target celestial body, ensuring absolute containment of the threat."
Looking at these options, Kane frowned. Options one and two might be effective against conventional threats, but he had no confidence in their effectiveness against a "Pandora's Stone" capable of transforming matter and energy, perhaps even possessing the potential for faster-than-light consciousness diffusion. If even a trace of it remained, the consequences would be disastrous.
Option three, "Plowing," was immensely powerful, enough to plow through the outpost area and even the entire planet's surface. But could it completely destroy the crystal? It was buried deep underground, perhaps even penetrating deep into the Earth's crust. The high temperature and pressure of a nuclear explosion might destroy most, but who could guarantee that no trace would escape? Moreover, wouldn't the immense energy and radiation generated by a nuclear explosion actually act as a catalyst for further mutation or spread of the crystal?
As for option four, "Tombstone," his current access wasn't sufficient to unlock it, and the description was vague yet chilling. Triggering a celestial structural collapse... that would mean the complete destruction of the planet. The cost was prohibitive, and there was no guarantee of effectiveness. What if the crystal survived the planet's devastating energy explosion, or even absorbed it?