Chapter 222 HCP’s new style of play (6000 words, don’t say I’m short~)
“Attention, attack squadron, deploy the formation ‘GrooveAlong’ and start the offensive barrel roll maneuver!”
“I don’t want to If you are targeted by lasers and charged particle beams, don’t just fly straight ahead!”
“Believe me, after this period of training, your technical and tactical skills have far surpassed those of the pilots on the other side! ”
Amber’s calm voice sounded in the communication channels of the two HCP squadrons.
The Atlas Force, with Lilith at its command, did not have to worry about electronic warfare at all when facing these civilian armed forces.
Therefore, there is no need to use less efficient quantum encrypted communication for communication between combat units.
When Amber's order was issued, all the pilots also obeyed his instructions and began to control the aircraft to draw huge 'concentric circles' with a certain virtual relative coordinate as the center.
The pilots, who used abdominal breathing and hydraulic anti-gravity suits to resist the G-force, watched as they gradually distanced themselves from them, doing various irregular and inhuman acute-angle and fold-line maneuvers, and started one step ahead. The boss and instructor of "Operation Kick the Door".
They all lamented that this guy is indeed a pervert.
After collecting the "prisoners" of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense last time, Atlas also gained 15 HCP pilots.
From a technical and tactical level, the strength of these pilots can be said to be uneven.
But in the test simulation battle for squadron reorganization, they were all defeated by Murat and Louis, who had been 'trained' by Amber.
So the two reorganized squadrons made Murat and Louis the squadron captains respectively.
Up to this point, these pilots have not raised any objections. After all, in the battle of HCP, 'food is the original sin'.
But when they saw the training content customized by Amber for them, they couldn't hold it any longer.
Because in addition to the regular HCP pilot training content, Amber has added materials.
There are also a bunch of additional training subjects that don’t look very safe.
For example, under full thrust, it can perform high-speed maneuvers in the asteroid belt, and in the process, avoid enemy anti-aircraft firepower.
Another example is breaking through the interception of the enemy HCP and launching an attack on the target warship at a relative speed of 50-80 kilometers per second.
There is also the HCP chaos in the asteroid belt.
These training subjects are not even conducted in a simulation cabin.
But under the leadership of Amber, he drove the machine in the asteroid belt for real.
Immediately, many newly recruited pilots backed down.
After all, they are not soldiers, they are all mercenaries fighting for money. Even if they risk their lives in battle, now they are required to risk their lives in training?
Faced with this situation, Amber's approach was simple and crude.
He directly engaged in a shocking simulated battle.
Two squadrons, with a total of 16 HCPs, serve as defenders to cover an inflatable target ship. (The brother who drives the reconnaissance HCP is independent of the two squadrons)
And Amber is the only one on the attacking side.
The result of this battle was that the modified special machine was used to test Amber in combat, and the target ship was easily destroyed.
He also used various tricks to annihilate all 16 HCPs on the defensive side.
Many pilots only felt a red HCP flashing from the front with a long wake, and then their own aircraft was judged to have been shot down.
Several pilots who were brutally beaten by the "killing stick" were still in a state of confusion for a period of time after the battle.
The 'Red Devil' has also become the nickname used by these pilots to call Amber privately.
Amber's simple and crude method did work.
In this era, those who are willing to drive HCPs into space, regardless of their skills and courage, still have a "big robot plot" in their hearts.
So when a strong man appeared in front of them whose driving skills exceeded their knowledge, and this strong man planned to train them himself.
The mentality of these mercenaries finally changed.
In line with the principle of 'bleed more in peacetime and save your life in wartime', when Amber led Atlas's HCP pilots for training, no matter the intensity or the degree of danger, in this world The middle one is the one that is full.
As long as you can’t practice to death, practice to death.
Inadvertently brushing against an asteroid during maneuvering, causing the aircraft to lose attitude control, it can only be regarded as a minor accident.
However, with the full support of the maintenance team and the medical team, these pilots also practiced with Amber. It grows very quickly.
When the combat operation officially started today, they finally understood why Amber took them to train in the dangerous asteroid belt during this period.
Because this is already the battlefield that Amber has set up in advance.
The timing of the Atlas fleet's attack was clever.
At this time, not only the combined fleet and the Timler family fleet had fallen into brutal hand-to-hand combat.
And the vitality of both of them was quickly consumed in the battle.
The strangulation only lasted less than half an hour. Among the 15 warships in the Timler family fleet, 5 warships were completely sunk and 3 warships lost their combat effectiveness.
The remaining battleships that can fight are only two light cruisers, 4 scarred destroyers, and a frigate with full luck.
As for HCP, there are ten squadrons composed of dragon knights and fanatics, with a total of 100 HCP units.
Currently, there are only 38 units left that can detect the pilot's vital signs.
There are many HCPs among them who have lost their combat effectiveness, but the pilots are lucky enough to survive.
Especially those HCPs who guard the rear hemisphere of their respective battleships and form formations to protect the main propulsion array at the stern of the battleship. Basically, there is only one HCP out of ten.
After being flexibly linked, three or five HCPs can use their respective deflection field generators together to form a stronger deflection force field.
Although this allows them to withstand attacks from frigates and even a main gun fire from a destroyer, in a fierce fleet battle, this is just a drop in the bucket.
But no matter what, these eye-catching HCPs completed their mission at the cost of almost total destruction.
Except for a few battleships that were hit in the main propulsion array, most of the battleships still entered the strangulation stage.
On the other side of the battle, the combined fleets of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense actually suffered greater losses in the battle.
As mentioned before, federal warships often rely on numerical advantages to gain the upper hand in fleet battles.
But if the scale of the battle is reduced to more than thirty ships, then this numerical advantage cannot turn them into a victory.
On the contrary, the imperial warships that work slowly and carefully can show greater advantages in such small-scale battles with their stronger comprehensive performance.
This also led to even if the combined fleet was divided into two and adopted a pincer attack strategy, allowing some warships to rampage wildly in the rear hemisphere of the enemy fleet.
But the battle damage ratio is still not very good.
Up to now, the only ships that the Combined Fleet can still fight are the flagship Financial Freedom light cruiser, 4 destroyers and 2 frigates.
From the perspective of a simple battle of beasts, the Timler family fleet with two light cruisers may still have the upper hand at this time.
However, there are more HCPs left on the United Fleet side, and these locust-like 'cuties' can already pose a threat to the battleships at close range.
At the same time, there were several heavy assault cabins that broke through enemy interception and hit the target ships, especially the two light cruisers that were under special care.
The Marines who have completed gang jumping are spreading like cancer from the cabin they broke into to other areas.
Although the marines on these ships have also begun to block the attack, the news that the warships have been jumped by the enemy will still have a certain impact on the morale of the crew.
So when the Atlas fleet attacking from the zenith was discovered, the first reaction of the fleet commanders on both sides on the battlefield was: "What? The other side has a back-up plan?!"
But no matter which side it is, it is now impossible to adjust the axis to face the new enemy.
So they could only watch helplessly as the fleet rushed from the direction of the zenith, getting closer and closer to them.
Staying alone in the 'VIP viewing seat' of this battlefield, the Atlas pilot driving the 'reconnaissance type' Zealot has discovered the Amber aircraft that is approaching at high speed. .
At this time, the relative speed between the two sides was close to 90 kilometers per second. Even the upgraded optical sensor could not completely and stably capture this eye-catching red body.
But just a slightly blurry freeze-frame picture captured by the sensor has already highlighted the characteristics of this special machine in the eyes of the pilot.
Heavy armor, heavy firepower, and high thrust.
As a fan of the main body, in the impression of most HCP pilots, it is the noble and classic walking knight style body.
So now this ‘fanatic modification’ has completely lost its so-called noble and classical style features.
The thickened laminated armor at various key locations on the body, due to temporary modifications, does not have much aesthetic appeal, and it has lost the original distinctive arc style of the fanatics.
The completely remodeled main head monitor, due to the integration of more sensing components, is not only larger in size, but also no longer looks like the previous 'knight helmet'.
But the most eye-catching thing is the modification of the 'legs' of this machine body.
The maintenance team leader boldly abandoned the original walking component and directly replaced the two mechanical legs on the lower body with two sets of additional propulsion units.
Since the 'crotch' electromagnetic joint still exists, these two additional propulsion units are not completely fixed like the propulsion array on the back.
Instead, the angle can be adjusted within a certain angle, toward the front, back and sides.
This modification directly greatly improves the mobility of this heavy HCP.
Since there is no need to consider aerodynamic and gravity issues in space, a large number of vector nozzles + high-power propulsion arrays have become the optimal solution to improve maneuverability.
At present, this modified machine does not need to adjust the direction of the body when it needs to slow down. Instead, it can directly use these two additional sets of propulsion units to perform 'reverse thrust'.
The only thing that will limit its maneuverability may be how far the pilot in the cockpit can hold up
The last thing is the armament of this aircraft.
Because the photos taken were a bit blurry, the pilot of the reconnaissance fanatic could not clearly see all the weapons mounted on the aircraft.
However, there was one weapon that he caught at a glance.
That is a large heavy particle cannon that is deployed on the weapon rack behind the shoulder. Its overall length has completely exceeded the body of the machine, and it looks like a lance.
This giant cannon makes this modified machine look like a charging prairie heavy cavalry.
Heavy cavalry accompanying the fleet charge. This is also one of the responsibilities of the increasingly heavy-duty HCP and the upcoming new units in space in the future
Looking at the HCP that streaked across the battlefield like a comet, and the people behind it The battle formation was unfolded, and the other aircraft were moving in huge concentric circles. The long-buried fighting passion in the pilot's heart was completely ignited.
The moment Amber's huge red landline flew past him, the pilot finally couldn't help but scream.
"Go! Red Devil!!!"
"The auxiliary propulsion unit is operating normally, the energy output of the subcritical reactor is normal, and the temperature of the dual superconducting battery stack is within the controllable range."< br>
In the cockpit of Amber's special aircraft, temporarily codenamed 'Experimental MK1', Lilith, who has transformed into a combat auxiliary AI, is simultaneously reporting various parameters of the aircraft.
Although these key data are also displayed on the multi-function display on the lower right side of Amber's sight.
But in the midst of a high-speed advance, he focused more on the battlefield in front of him.
Especially when the various parameters of this special machine have not yet been adjusted to the best state, Lilith is needed to assist in monitoring the body's condition.
These data are also synchronized to the Gnaku screen of the rear battleship through the neutrino transmitter installed on the body.
At this time, the atmosphere inside the Gnaku, which had sent away all its airframes, was the same as the P rooms of various teams during F1 competitions.
The maintenance team leader responsible for the modification of this machine, together with Eugene, Oens and others, were staring at the data on the screen nervously, and praying that this machine, which they had 'hand-made', would not fail at this juncture. What a problem.
"Boss, isn't this a little too aggressive? Each of these data is dancing on the edge of the safety threshold."
The look on Eugene's face was a little nervous, especially in a certain item. When the data went straight to the red line, his fists clenched nervously.
"You forgot what the boss said before he attacked. This battle is to test the limits of this machine."
Oens replied, while glancing at the machine. The maintenance team leader said nothing.
The maintenance team leader, whose spacesuit in the cabin was stained with oil and had a lot of tools strapped to his waist, was probably the most nervous person in Gnakuli right now.
After all, Amber’s special machine is his work.
Oens was not very interested in the preparation team leader at first.
In his opinion, this person is just a ground crew leader.
It was only in the later exchanges that he discovered that this maintenance team leader, who had served in the federation, had really studied HCP very deeply.
After the other party proposed such a radical transformation idea that "the HCP's walking device is of little use in space battles and can be replaced with an additional propulsion array more suitable for use in space."
Oens began to look at him differently.
“Tell the truth”
The maintenance team leader who had been silent finally spoke now.
“I always thought that Boss might not be able to drive this modified machine to its limit.”
"What about now?" Oens, who was holding his arms, asked with interest.
"I think I underestimated the Boss. What we see now is obviously the limit of the machine, not the limit of the Boss."
The maintenance team leader's answer, Jean Gene Curry suddenly became quiet.
Because of his words, Amber's image in these people's minds gradually surged in the direction of 'dehumanization'.
At this moment, the lights in Gnaku dimmed suddenly, changing from bright white light to dark red light that made the atmosphere tense instantly.
"It seems that we are about to enter the attack range." The preparation team leader whispered.
Then, he turned around and kicked hard on the ground, and his whole body floated in the other direction of Gnaku.
At the same time, his rough voice echoed throughout Gnakuli.
"Stop looking! Get back to the fighting position! Prepare to accept the damaged aircraft and prepare for wartime repairs!
Notify the medical team to prepare for rescue. Now these A pilot’s life is extremely precious!”
When Atlas's fleet had just entered the attack range and was preparing to use its main guns to target the enemy ships 'below' one by one.
Amber has already started attacking.
He stared with a calm expression at the densely packed pile of enemy units locked by red frames on the screen all over the sky.
These enemy targets identified by reconnaissance enthusiasts during long-term surveillance of the battlefield have been transmitted through the data link.
The large number of red frames and the red light emitted by the adaptive warning system dyed the glass of his helmet visor red.
Amber's eyes were fixed on a frigate of the Timler family.
The experimental MK1's fire control system also quickly locked onto the warship, which was maneuvering towards the flank of a Combined Fleet destroyer.
"Heavy airborne heavy particle cannon, ready to fire at full power!"
The moment Lilith's announcement sounded in her ears, Amber opened fire without hesitation.
On the target frigate, the air defense commander who was already paying attention to the direction of the zenith saw only a tiny light spot in front of him, like the reflection of cosmic dust, which suddenly turned into a dazzling white light and rushed up.
"HCP's long-distance bombardment?!"
As soon as this thought came to mind, the air defense commander felt a violent tremor in the entire battleship.
On the top of the battleship, which was not protected by a deflection force field, the jet of heavy metal particles bombarded from a nearly vertical angle easily tore open the outermost armor.
The multi-layered composite armor structure inside the battleship failed to divert these heavy metal particles too much.
This heavy-duty airborne heavy particle cannon did not disappoint Amber, who was staring at the frigate's superconducting battery stack attack.
As a dazzling plasma fireball exploded out of thin air in the distance, the locked frame that originally symbolized the frigate also disappeared.
“Very good, at least this thing is not too powerful in terms of power.”
Amber is quite satisfied with this heavy particle cannon, which has reached the level of a frigate’s main gun in terms of firepower. of.
"Master, the superconducting battery stack is being recharged and is expected to be ready for a second shot in 20 seconds."
"Received, just use this gap to cool the accelerating orbit."
Amber, who continued to maintain an aggressive stance, switched the weapon control from the heavy particle cannon temporarily named 'Test-1' to laser-guided combat bombs.
Under his guidance, the aircraft's fire control system locked onto the two HCPs that were coming towards them, and began to guide the attack through laser irradiation.
The disposable missile pod mounted on the outside of the aircraft also fired six combat bombs.
The harsh buzzing sound of the laser warning device also sounded in the cockpits of the two HCPs that were targeted.
Without a second thought, the two pilots followed the standard operating procedures and switched the aircraft's fire control mode to 'close defense mode'.
The two HCPs also raised the electromagnetic rifles in their hands, together with the close-range defense lasers on both sides of the main monitor on their heads, to intercept incoming combat bombs.
“The skills of the pilots of these private military companies are indeed much worse than those of the regular army.”
Looking at the two aircrafts moving in a straight line and at a constant speed, Amber sighed that this was like While fighting like a "turkey hunt", the guidance of combat bombs is handed over to the fire control system.
I switched the weapon control to charged particle cannon and HCP electromagnetic machine gun.
After a few breaths, a blue beam of light and a series of orange-red lines of fire tore through the dark universe.
At the end of the trajectory, a dazzling white light also flashed.
This is a sign that the deflection field carried by the HCP has begun to operate.
But soon, one of the shining white lights was replaced by a huge plasma fireball.
The experimental MK1, which has an upgraded energy supply unit, can now support long-term irradiation with a charged particle cannon for more than three seconds.
Such an attack has obviously exceeded the defense threshold of the deflection force field carried by HCP.
The screams of his companions when they were destroyed still echoed in the cockpit of the other HCP. The pilot had not yet had time to open the vector nozzle on the front of the body to distance himself.
I saw a group of red machines with long tail flames, already approaching in front of me.
The moment the two sides passed each other, the driver's last thought in his life flashed through his mind.
“Fuck, what a long knife”
“Lilith, I leave the electronic warfare to you!”
Amber controlled the machine to pass through the dense line of fire, and the white light of the deflection field flashed from time to time on the screen all over the sky.
In addition to the non-stop lock warning, there are also constant crisp sounds of 'ding, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong. The sound of armor plates popping open.
However, the extremely high relative speed and angular velocity make it more difficult for enemy units to intercept by several orders of magnitude.
The weird maneuvering trajectory made the combat units responsible for interception feel like they had seen a ghost.
“Understood, Master! But I need you to keep maneuvering within the enemy formation and not stray too far away”
"Huhu. I know I will find a way to maintain it."
After entering the battle area between the two enemy fleets, the density of firepower attacking Amber also increased to a higher level, and the aircraft evaded it. The frequency and amplitude of maneuvers required also increased rapidly.
A psyker like Amber who has undergone physical transformation feels like dough being kneaded by G-forces from different directions in the face of physical laws that cannot be ignored.
At the same time, in the ‘A Bawa Ku’ asteroid base (under construction) 60,000 kilometers away from the battlefield, a space of several thousand square meters was opened up by miners.
The large server array, which had filled nearly half of the space, turned on the blue light after ending sleep and entering the running state, and made a "buzzing" sound.
A proud female voice also sounded in the virtual space.
"Hey, it's time for Lilith to show off her skills~"
(End of this chapter)