From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

Chapter 77 Returners

Amber and the others, who were on a night march in Robert IV's night hemisphere, didn't know.

Near the twilight line in the day hemisphere, a brief but fierce fleet battle broke out between the Federation Task Force and the Empire's Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group.

At this time, the main force of the federal task force had separated from the imperial fleet, and there were only some "lucky"-style ultra-long-range shooting between the two sides.

Whether it is Brigadier General Duwell or the Marquis of Ascania and his tactical staff, the focus is no longer on the exchange of fire between the main forces of both sides.

Instead, they invariably followed the battle between the two high-speed destroyers and more than a dozen imperial warships.

One side tried its best to break through the interception, while the other side was also trying every means to intercept under the orders of the fleet command.

The two Jackdaw-class high-speed destroyers only maintain the minimum number of crews at this moment to maintain the operation of the warships.

Knowing that this battle was likely to end without a return, the crews of the two battleships drove away all the young soldiers on board.

As for the shipboard HCP squadrons, although they still retain the squadron names of 'Death Scythe' and 'Meteor', the personnel have actually changed.

The HCP pilots in these two squadrons are now the oldest on average in the entire fleet.

According to the words of the 46-year-old Captain Wallace, the current squadron leader of the ‘Death Scythe’ squadron:

"It's not the turn of those young boys to do such exciting work!"

The 'elderly' HCP pilots who participated in this operation fully agreed with his words.

Blake, who is sitting in the cockpit of the Block 20 of the 'Dwarf Bear', is also a member of this operation.

And his identity may be more special than others.

Because he is a 'native' born on Robert Four.

His family was one of the first 'pioneering farmers' to immigrate to the planet, tending crops for the federal Department of Agriculture.

Although the federal military basically did not conduct recruitment work on the Robert IV, Blake's driving talent in operating agricultural machinery made an HCP pilot in the local garrison become interested in him.

Boredom is the garrison's biggest enemy on this remote planet.

Therefore, after discovering such a talented youngster, the HCP pilot began to call Blake to the camp every now and then to do some basic training.

Later, he was recommended to enter the HCP pilot training camp of the Robert Galaxy Mobile Fleet.

For a training camp that is always under-recruited, the best thing is to send people. As for one's background, no one cares about it in this place where the sky is high and the emperor is far away.

In the end, Blake passed all subject assessments and became the first 'local' HCP pilot in this mobile fleet.

In fact, Blake didn't want to leave Robert Four at the beginning because he was already married and had children when he was only 20 years old.

But the federal army gave too much.

Although the salary of Federation Army HCP pilots is actually not high, it does not reach the average salary level of residents of the core galaxy.

But no matter what, it can't be compared to doing farm work on the planet.

So in order to let his wife and newborn daughter live a better life, Blake reluctantly separated from his family and traveled around the galaxy with the mobile fleet.

Ten years have passed since this cruise.

Blake only went home to visit family nine times in the past ten years.

Today is the tenth time he has gone home.

"Attention everyone! A message from the destroyer! The enemy ship fired heat sources, number 84, the infrared signature is compared to the Empire's 'Zealot' series HCP, the specific model and configuration are unknown!"

The sudden sound of the squadron leader's voice in the earphones brought Blake back from his momentary trance.

He shook his head to focus.

In the environment he was in now, being distracted would be fatal.

"20 versus 84! The advantage is mine!" The squadron leader's teasing in a high-pressure environment triggered a burst of laughter from everyone in the channel.

"Didi didi didi."

"A large number of enemy units detected, start marking!"

A warning and a child's voice from the auxiliary AI suddenly came from the cockpit. At the same time, a large number of hostile targets marked with red boxes appeared on the screen in front of Blake.

"Okay, happy hour is over!"

The squadron leader in the communication channel also stopped everyone's laughter at this time.

"The 'Death Scythe' squadron will be responsible for protecting warships from breaking through interception. Our mission is to interfere with enemy warships and HCPs as much as possible and reduce the pressure on friendly forces, so."

"Attention all members of Meteor Squadron, anti-ship and anti-HCP operations have begun, Formation No. 4 is deployed!"

At the squadron leader's order, the ten HCPs of the Meteor Squadron distanced themselves. They blocked their shields in front of them, and then deployed the small heavy particle cannon and charged particle cannon on the rear weapon racks.

Although at the energy output of a subcritical reactor, the firing power of these weapons is far less than that of a battleship.

However, the lethality of heavy metal particle jets and charged particle beams cannot be underestimated.

As the HCPs from both the empire and the federation increased the power of their propulsion arrays and charged each other like ancient knights, the battle began.

Heavy metal particle jets and charged particle beams are their lances, and their laminated armor shields and deflection force fields are their defensive shields.

And this universe is the battlefield where they gallop.

Blake no longer knew how much time had passed in this battle because he had no time to pay attention.

At this moment, while the HCP was advancing intermittently, he was playing a 'two-person spin' with an imperial HCP in space under a high G that would make ordinary people faint.

The two sides are shooting and defending each other, and are also trying their best to penetrate the other side's rear hemisphere and attack the unprotected plasma propulsion array.

Several thick red and blue lines were simulated on the cockpit all day long, one of which was sweeping towards his direction.

Those are the main gun beams of the enemy and our warships.

Blake immediately adjusted the propulsion direction of the propulsion array behind him to positive 75 degrees, and then stepped on the propulsion pedal.

The sudden burst of huge thrust from the plasma propulsion array caused the dark blue-painted 'dwarf bear' to sink suddenly downward, avoiding the ray.

However, his opponent's reaction was a beat slower. Before he could make an evasive action, he was swept by a white light.

This was a heavy particle cannon shot from an Imperial heavy cruiser.

When the light level in the cockpit returned to normal, Black saw the Imperial HCP he had just fought with. At this time, only two mechanical legs were left floating alone.

When warships shoot each other, both sides will position the other's warship as the first target and have the highest firing priority.

Such a battlefield is very dangerous for HCPs, because their seemingly rock-solid bodies will be torn apart by heavy metal particle jets even if they are struck by the rays of enemy ships or even friendly ships.

And for this enemy ship that helped him kill his opponent, Blake naturally planned to thank him.

Another 'Dwarf Bear' near him had the same idea. The two immediately formed a two-plane formation and rushed towards the nearest Imperial heavy cruiser marked on the tactical target.

Even HCP's small heavy particle cannon cannot directly sink the heavy cruiser at close range.

But there is still no problem if you 'clean' the opponent's ship and remove some high-energy laser turrets, electromagnetic reconnection cannons and various radar sensors.

Just when Black controlled the HCP and his teammates to alternately cover, he broke through the opponent's air defense network and approached this heavy patrol.

In the communication channel, the squadron leader's anxious voice came:

"The 'Death Scythe' squadron has been breached! The enemy HCP is approaching the destroyer! Can anyone rush over to support!"

　Happy New Year's Day everyone, the plot will be a little tighter later.

　　I, the author, need to speed up~

　　

　

(End of this chapter)