Chapter 77 Homecoming
Amber and the others, who were conducting a night march in the night hemisphere of Robert IV, did not know this.
At a position close to 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 the two sides.
Instead, they invariably followed the battle between the two high-speed destroyers and more than a dozen imperial warships.
One side is trying its best to break through the interception, while the other side is also trying every means to intercept under the orders of the fleet command.
On the two Jackdaw-class high-speed destroyers, only the minimum number of crews is maintained at this moment to maintain the operation of the warships.
Knowing that this battle was likely to lead to no return, the crews of the two battleships drove away all the young soldiers on board.
Although the shipboard HCP squadrons 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 current squadron leader of the 'Death Scythe' squadron, 46-year-old Captain Wallace:
"Such an exciting job is not yet available to those young boys. Come and do it!”
The ‘elderly’ HCP pilots who participated in this operation fully agreed with his words.
Blake, who is sitting in the cockpit of Block 20 of the ‘Shorty Bear’, is also a member of this operation.
And his identity may be more special than others.
Because he is a 'local' born on Robert IV.
His family was the first 'pioneering farmers' to immigrate to this planet and look after crops for the federal Department of Agriculture.
Although the federal military basically did not recruit soldiers on the Robert IV, Blake's driving talent in operating agricultural machinery made an HCP pilot in the local garrison take a liking to him. interest.
On this remote planet, boredom is the biggest enemy of these garrisons.
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 even recommended to enter the HCP pilot training camp of the Robert Galaxy Mobile Fleet.
For training camps that are always under-recruited, sending people is the best. 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 did not 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 really gave too much.
Although the salary of the Federation Army HCP driver is actually not high, it does not reach the average salary level of residents of the core galaxy.
But no matter what, it cannot 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 to all! A message from the destroyer! The enemy ship fired a heat source, number 84, the infrared signature is compared to the Empire's 'Zealot' series HCP, the specific model and configuration are unknown!"
In the headset The squadron leader's sudden voice 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 ridicule in a high-pressure environment triggered a burst of laughter from everyone in the channel.
"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, the 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 the 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."
"Meteor Squadron Attention everyone, 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 with the energy output of subcritical reactors, the firing power of these weapons is far less than that of battleships.
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 knows how much time has passed in this battle, because he has 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 high G that could 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 sharply 'down' to avoid the ray.
But his opponent's reaction was a beat slower. Before he could make an evasive action, he was swept by a white light.
This is a heavy particle cannon shot from a certain 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.
In battleship shooting, 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.
As for this enemy ship that helped him kill his opponent, Blake naturally planned to thank him.
The other 'Dwarf Bear' near him also 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 no problem in 'cleaning' the opponent's ship and removing 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 anxious voice of the squadron leader came:
"The 'Death Scythe' squadron has been breached! The enemy HCP is approaching the destroyer! Is there anyone who can rush over to support? ! ”
Happy New Year's holiday everyone, the plot will be a little tighter later
I, the author, have to speed up~
(End of this chapter)