A shrill alarm rang throughout the entire ship. The shield expansion system began charging the moment the alarm sounded, and vast blue veins surfaced across the silver-white armor bands of the Giant Turtle Rock Platform. Powerful energy surged through the shield generators, causing several layers of translucent energy barriers to spring up around the ship in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, large numbers of secondary cannons, Close Defense Cannons, and catapult weapon platforms flipped out from beneath the transformable armor structures and unfolded, gleaming coldly in space like a monstrous beast baring its fangs.
Almost all emotion had vanished from Nolan's voice. Once she entered combat mode, she spoke as coldly and stiffly as a rigid AI: "All weapon systems online... Impact expected in five seconds."
In the past, Hao Ren would probably have been dumbfounded when the alarm sounded. But now, his first reaction was to calm down. As he linked his mind with the ship's sensory systems, he asked rapidly, "Where is the attack coming from? Who launched it?"
"Unknown. I can only sense extremely powerful energy focusing within several astronomical units of the ship. Hostility assessment extremely high... Impact incoming."
Almost as soon as Nolan finished speaking, Hao Ren saw dazzling expanses of light suddenly flare up across the ship's external sensors. The light appeared without warning, as if space itself had suddenly exploded into endless radiance. Then, structures resembling vines or branches extended from within the light. In the blink of an eye, they crossed the distance of space and spread rapidly over the Giant Turtle Rock Platform.
The ship had nowhere to evade, because the attack came from every direction in space. The high-energy reactions also seemed to be interfering with the Warp Jump Engine's calculations, and the emergency jump failed as well. Nolan