From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

Chapter 78 I will return as a shooting star

Hearing the squadron leader's inquiry, Blake glanced at the multi-function display on the right as he rushed forward.

According to his settings, this independent screen is displaying several strings of data calculated in real time by the combat assistance AI.

These data are the distance and relative speed between him and several major targets.

"The straight-line distance from Reckless is 1152 kilometers, and the relative speed is 25.6 kilometers per second."

While looking at these data, Blake aimed through his pupils and locked on a charged particle turret on the side of the heavy cruiser in front with the real-time correction of the combat auxiliary AI.

The heavy particle cannon and charged particle cannon on the rear weapon rack fired simultaneously, and two beams of light, one blue and one white, hit the turret one after another.

The hemispherical 360° omnidirectional turret is like a cake that has lost its original shape after being chewed.

Blake's body moved, and the entire HCP also twisted slightly to the left under the mapping of the control operating system.

At the same time, a large number of vector nozzles on the left side of the body also made an instantaneous injection, forcibly moving the HCP a certain distance to the right.

This evasive action based on the 'strong magnetic field' warning allowed him to avoid the ballistic trajectory of the electromagnetic close-defense cannon in advance. Immediately afterwards, his ambushing teammates also fired a shot to destroy the close-defense weapon.

Taking advantage of this gap, Black confirmed the distance and relative speed between himself and the Reckless for the last time, glanced at the list of few remaining teammates, and then said in the communication channel:

"Squadron Commander, I'm going to support the Reckless. Based on the current distance and relative speed, I can arrive in 50 seconds!"

At the same time as the report, he also sent a signal to the nearby friendly HCP, "I'll take the first step and see you in the next life."

Then, in the dazzling blue light erupted from the propulsion array, it rushed directly towards the location of the Reckless.

Blake's teammates immediately rushed between him and the enemy ship after receiving the signal, and set up a shield to cover his back.

After passing by the heavy cruiser that had just been targeted, according to Blake's search priority, the location of the Reckless was quickly marked on the all-circle display.

Among the two high-speed destroyers that launched the attack, the other one, the Libra, had been sunk by one of the empire's battleships. The Reckless had now become the last hope.

"Of course I have to protect my own home!"

With this belief, Blake raised the plasma propulsion array to its highest thrust.

The sudden burst of acceleration caused him to be pinned down on the seat. In this case, the main attitude control of the body has been temporarily handed over to the combat auxiliary AI management.

The Imperial HCP, who was chasing the Reckless at all costs, ignored Black who was chasing after him at this moment.

Until the cockpit of one of them sounded a warning of 'high energy reaction detected'.

The raging jet of heavy metal particles cut off a Zealot from behind. The pilot in the cockpit didn't even feel the pain and was vaporized in an instant.

The two remaining ‘Zealots’ had no time to mourn their lost teammates.

One of them continued to pursue the Reckless, while the remaining one, without changing its course, turned around and attacked the 'Dwarf Bear' driven by Blake.

Blake had no intention of backing down. He protected the cockpit with his shield and rushed forward to face the incoming torrential attack.

At the same time, the heavy particle cannon, charged particle cannon, and the 50mm HCP-specific Gauss rifle in hand are all firing!

Opponent.

At this moment, the two HCPs entered into a battle that had nothing to do with operations or technology, but only a test of courage.

The dense beams collided, the distance between the two parties became closer and closer, and the deflection force field almost ran at super power.

Blake's ears kept hearing 'The shield is damaged! ’, ‘The power of the deflection field has decreased! ’, ‘The right shoulder armor is damaged! ’ warning, and what was left in front of me was the bursts of white light that erupted after the deflection force field was hit.

When the battle reached the last moment, the indomitable Blake seemed to regard himself as a kinetic interceptor and directly hit it with the shield.

The shields of both sides collided, and the deflection force field turned into a disordered electromagnetic vortex at the moment of contact.

Blake, who had the advantage of speed, directly knocked the 'Zealot' into action and transformed.

Relying on the muscle memory implanted in hard training, he raised his right arm and pressed the Gauss rifle against the opponent's cockpit for a round of zero-range shooting.

Then get away before the fanatic explodes.

Although he won this round of duel, Black's HCP was not in good condition at this time.

The shield was almost completely damaged in the collision, and the vortex caused by the collision of the deflection field not only paralyzed the deflection field generator, but also made the two long-range weapons on the rear weapon rack temporarily unusable.

But the problem is, there's another Enthusiast chasing the Reckless. The zoomed-in picture of the optical lens shows that the fanatic seems to have lost all its long-range weapons, and is now taking off the physical heavy sword from its back.

"Are you imperial guys working so hard too?"

Blake couldn't help coughing, but he felt a sweet taste in his throat. It was obvious that the violent impact just now also caused damage to his body.

Seemingly thinking of something, Blake turned his head and glanced at Robert IV, which was so close at hand. It was still so spectacular and beautiful.

"Eve, abandon the weapon rack on the back, turn off the communication system and fire control system, supply all energy to the power unit, and let me have one last charge!"

Blake threw away the Gauss rifle that had empty ammunition, and also took off a simple physical sword from his back. After throwing away the weapon rack, he assumed a standard sword-holding sprint posture and charged towards the last fanatic with all his strength. Rush away.

The targeted fanatic seemed to realize something, and the blue trail behind it became more dazzling.

But the short-faced bear, which had thrown away all external weapons and shields and ran the plasma propulsion array at high power, still surpassed it in terms of instant push ratio.

When Reckless began to lower its orbit and crossed the twilight line into the night hemisphere, the two 'comets' finally met together.

Blake ignored the constant shouts of 'Gravity is too high! The body posture is abnormal! ’ warning, and started a fierce hand-to-hand fight with the fanatics who kept trying to attack the ship’s propulsion array with themselves.

Every time the physical swords clashed, it became more difficult for both parties to control the posture of the machine.

Near the huge wake ejected from the Reckless's main propulsion array, Black and the Empire's HCP turned into two blue trajectories, constantly intersecting, staggering, and then intersecting again.

Luck, or Blake, who had better driving skills, finally stood at the end of this melee on the track where the altitude continued to decrease.

As he watched the Imperial HCP with a heavy sword stuck in the cockpit drift further and further away and began to show signs of disintegration, Blake finally woke up from the fever of the battle.

He soon discovered that he had been completely captured by the planet's gravity and could not escape.

But Blake has no regrets about his decision.

He looked at the Reckless sailing into the distance on a higher orbit through the optical lens that had begun to become unclear.

This high-speed destroyer has opened a launch port, and autonomous communication terminals are being deployed one after another.

"The mission was successful."

The temperature in the cockpit became higher and higher, and dense warnings kept sounding like a convulsion.

The last moment had arrived, and a tear fell from the corner of Blake's eyes. He turned off all the alarms and used all his strength to turn the machine towards the planet.

Looking at the mother star who was about to embrace him in his arms, and remembering how his daughter looked when he saw her last time, Blake smiled and opened his arms.

The surface of Robert IV, on an automated farm in Northern Continent.

A ten-year-old girl has trouble sleeping tonight.

Even if she hugged a robot-shaped pillow that her father brought her last time home, she still couldn't fall asleep.

When the time on the electronic watch in the room reached three-thirty in the morning, the little girl, who had been tossing and turning, climbed out of bed holding a pillow.

Guided by a strange feeling, she put on her bear coat and walked barefoot outside the house.

The farm was so quiet at night, so quiet that she felt a little scared.

Just when the little girl was about to turn around and return to the house, she seemed to sense something, and then raised her head and looked at the night sky.

I saw a group of light streaking across the sky at high speed, and continued to break into more and smaller points of light.

The little girl's eyes lit up. She opened her mouth, which was missing a front tooth, and vaguely spoke a memorable noun:

"meteor!"

A gust of evening wind blew from a distance, blowing the little girl's hair.

At this moment, she seemed to hear a familiar voice ringing in her ears.

"Eve, daddy is back."

(End of this chapter)