The Nightingale had retreated to a relatively safe distance, but at this distance, its shipborne weapons posed virtually no effective threat to the planet's surface, which was undergoing violent geological changes and energy bursts.
What to do? What other options were there?
Kane's mind raced, almost overheating. All conventional methods had failed. Option four, "Tombstone," the "Ultimate Annihilation" that required the highest authority… triggering a celestial-scale structural collapse…
His gaze was fixed on the planet on the screen, crumbling from within. Tectonic plates shifted under immense stress, volcanic eruptions erupted one after another, and even the planet's rotation began to destabilize. The disaster they had caused had shaken the very foundations of this planet.
Perhaps… there was one last way, a mutual destruction.
An idea even more extreme, even more insane than the "Tombstone" option.
"Leah," Kane's voice was unusually calm, eerily calm, "Calculate the consequences if we…concentrate all the remaining energy of the Nightingale—engine power, weapon power, even the life support system's reserve power—for an overloaded, target-locked-on…high-energy pulse attack on **G-173 red dwarf**, what would be the outcome?"
A deathly silence fell over the bridge.
Even Rex was stunned, his scanning eyes turning blankly to Kane. Attack…a star?
Leah also experienced a brief malfunction, and after a few seconds, she replied in a dry, synthesized voice, "Commander... G-173 is a stable red dwarf star in its main sequence phase. Even if 'Nightingale's' energy level is overloaded, its impact on the star itself will be negligible, like a drop of water in the ocean."
"I know," Kane's gaze sharpened. "I don't want to affect the star itself. What I want is for this high-energy pulse to **extremely intensify flare activity on the star's surface** in a short period of time? Especially if the pulse happens to target a pre-existing, large group of sunspots or a flare region on the star's surface?"
The data stream in Leah's eyes began calculating frantically again. "Theoretically, it's feasible! The high-energy pulse could act as a fuse, instantly igniting the magnetic energy in a localized area of the star, triggering a... **massive coronal mass ejection (CME)**! If the ejection direction is precisely aimed at planet G-173c..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood the consequences.
A massive CME, carrying a colossal amount of high-energy charged particles and intense radiation, will hurtle towards the planet at speeds of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers per second. For a planet whose geomagnetic field is already on the verge of collapse due to internal upheaval and whose atmosphere is already thin, this will be a **complete and devastating baptism**!
The high-energy particle stream will be like billions of invisible blades, sweeping across the entire planet's surface, destroying all complex molecular structures, including… crystals! The intense radiation will completely alter the planet's environment, far exceeding the power of a nuclear explosion, and is a global saturation attack launched from the stellar level!
This is no longer an attempt to starve the planet by altering its environment, but rather a most thorough **sterilization** using the most violent stellar power!
The cost will be that the Nightingale will exhaust all its energy, becoming an iron coffin floating in space. Moreover, they must calculate the CME's ejection direction and velocity with extreme precision to ensure they can escape its reach before the destructive energy torrent arrives—a feat requiring astonishing calculation and luck.