This was the innate ability of a juvenile Star-Planter. While it was moving, it wouldn't care about our feeble attacks; it would simply follow its instincts and head for the sun. But its innate immune response would also be triggered. Its defensive cells would automatically detach from its body and attack every target in the star system that posed a threat.
Professor Jinov's explanation flashed through Deng Zhengqing's mind.
...Cells? Who the hell had cells this big?
Deng Zhengqing stared at the image coming in from the radar. All he could see was something the size of a fighter, with an oval body and mouthparts like an insect's. Its entire body was covered in spikes and crooked tentacles. If the Star-Planter looked like a divine creation, these so-called cells looked like demons that devoured anyone in their path. Their appearance truly challenged the limits of human aesthetics. They spread their wings of light, much like those of the New Shenzhou 2, and brazenly lunged toward them.
Never mind. They might be called immune cells, but human white blood cells looked pretty damn vicious too. Maybe thinking of it that way would make it easier to accept?
He gritted his teeth and said to Brigadier General Bazan, who seemed a little hesitant, "Your Excellency, we can't let these things hold us up."
The old general nodded gravely. A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes, then he immediately gave the order for the escort detachment to hold the line. The rest of the warships were to turn thirty degrees clockwise as they advanced, accelerate to ramming speed, and intercept the Star-Planter along a curved trajectory.
But that brought them to the problem at hand.
Based on intelligence estimates, these Star-Planters' "cells" could briefly reach speeds equivalent to a sublight charge, but their