From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 222 HCP’s new style of play (6000 words, don’t say I’m short~)

"Attention, attack squadron, deploy the 'Groove Along' formation and begin the offensive barrel roll maneuver!"

"If you don't want to be hit by lasers and charged particle beams, don't fly straight ahead!"

"Believe me, after this period of training, your technical and tactical levels have far surpassed those of the pilots on the opposite side!"

Amber's calm voice sounded over 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 were using 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 sharp-angle and line maneuvers, and took the lead to start the 'door kicking action' Boss and instructor.

They all lamented that this guy was indeed a pervert.

There is also the HCP chaos in the asteroid belt.

As for HCP, there are ten squadrons composed of dragon knights and fanatics, a total of 100 HCPs.

Instead, under the leadership of Amber, he drove the machine in the asteroid belt.

Because this is already a battlefield that Amber has set up in advance.

At this time, not only the combined fleet and the Timler family fleet had fallen into brutal hand-to-hand combat.

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.

As long as you can't practice to death, practice to death.

There are also a bunch of additional training subjects that don’t look very safe.

Up to this point, these pilots had not raised any objections. After all, in the battle of HCP, food is the original sin.

There are also many HCPs among them who have lost their combat effectiveness, but the pilots are lucky enough to survive.

Several pilots who were brutally beaten were still in a state of confusion even after the battle.

However, in the test simulation battle for squadron reorganization, they were all defeated by Murat and Louis, who had been 'trained' by Amber.

These training subjects are not even conducted in a simulation cabin.

Therefore, the two reorganized squadrons were made with Murat and Louis as squadron leaders respectively.

For example, under full thrust, it can perform high-speed maneuvers in the asteroid belt, and in the process, avoid enemy anti-aircraft firepower.

The mentality of these mercenaries finally changed.

And he changed his tactics to annihilate all 16 HCPs on the defensive side.

Amber's simple and crude method did work.

And 'Red Devil' became the nickname these pilots used to call Amber privately.

Moreover, the vitality of both of them was quickly consumed in the battle.

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?

The timing of Atlas' fleet's attack was clever.

So when a strong man appeared in front of them whose driving skills exceeded their knowledge, and this strong man planned to train them personally.

If it accidentally brushed against an asteroid during maneuvering, causing the aircraft to lose attitude control, it could only be considered a minor accident.
However, with the full support of the maintenance team and the medical team, these pilots also grew rapidly under Amber's training.

But when they saw the training content customized by Amber for them, they couldn't hold it any longer.

Faced with this situation, Amber's approach was simple and crude.

The result of this battle was to drive the modified special machine to conduct a combat test on Amber, easily destroying the target ship.

From a technical and tactical level, the strength of these pilots can be said to be uneven.

Currently, there are only 38 units left that can detect the pilot's vital signs.

Immediately, many newly recruited pilots backed down.

Another example is to break through the interception of the enemy HCP and launch an attack on the target warship at a relative speed of 50-80 kilometers per second.

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.

Because in addition to the regular HCP pilot training content, Amber has added materials.

He directly engaged in a shocking mock battle.

There are only two battleships left that can fight, plus 4 scarred destroyers and a frigate with full luck.

After collecting the 'prisoners' of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense last time, Atlas also gained 15 HCP pilots.

In line with the principle of 'bleed more in peacetime and save your life in wartime', when Amber led the Atlas HCP pilots for training, no matter the intensity or the degree of danger, they were all in this world. That one.

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.

When the combat operation officially started today, they finally understood why Amber took them to train in the dangerous asteroid belt during this period.

Many pilots only felt a red HCP flashing from the front with a long wake, and then their aircraft was judged to have been shot down.

The two squadrons have a total of 16 HCPs, which serve as defenders to cover an inflatable target ship. (The brother who drives the reconnaissance HCP is independent of the two squadrons)
Amber is the only attacker.

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 can allow them to withstand attacks from frigates and even a main gun shot 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 superiority 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 loss ratio is still not very good.

So far, 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. 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, which broke through the enemy's interception and hit the target ships, especially the two light cruisers that received special attention.

The Marines who had completed the gang jumping were 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' Fanatic had already spotted the Amber aircraft 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.

However, 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 characteristics.

The thickened laminated armor at various key positions of the machine 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 has integrated more sensing components, making it not only larger, but also no longer the same 'knight helmet' shape as before.

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 is still present, 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, in the front, rear and side directions.

This modification directly greatly improved the mobility of this heavy-duty 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 it.
Finally, there is the armament part of this machine body.

Since the photos taken were somewhat blurry, the pilot of the reconnaissance fanatic could not clearly see all the weapons carried 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.
Seeing the HCP streaking across the battlefield like a comet, and the other aircraft that had formed a battle formation behind it and were rowing 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.

"Come on! 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 a controllable range."

In the cockpit of Amber's special aircraft, temporarily codenamed 'Experimental MK1', Lilith, who transformed into a combat auxiliary AI, was 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 optimal state, Lilith is needed to assist in monitoring the body's condition.

These data were also synchronized to the gnaku screen of the rear battleship through the neutrino transmitter installed on the aircraft body.

At this time, the atmosphere inside the Gnaku, which had sent away all the aircraft, was the same as that of 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 is the problem.

"Boss, isn't this a little too aggressive? Each of these data is dancing on the edge of the safety threshold."

Eugene's face looked a little nervous, especially when a certain data went straight to the red line, and his fists clenched nervously.

"You forgot what the boss said before he attacked. This battle is to test the limits of this machine."

Oens opened his mouth to answer, and at the same time glanced at the maintenance team leader who had been silent.

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.

At first, Oens was not very enthusiastic about the preparation team leader.

In his opinion, this person is just a ground crew leader.

It was only during 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.

"to be honest"

The maintenance team leader, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke.

"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 body, not the limit of the Boss."

The preparation team leader's answer made Gnakuli suddenly quiet down.

Because of his words, Amber's image in these people's minds gradually surged in the direction of 'dehumanization'.

It was at this moment that the lights in Gnaku suddenly dimmed, changing from bright white light to dark red light that instantly made the atmosphere tense.

"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! Be prepared to accept the damaged aircraft and prepare for wartime repairs!

Then notify the medical team to prepare for rescue. The lives of these pilots are very precious now! "

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 begun her attack.

With a calm expression, he stared 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 rang 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 the air defense commander's mind, he felt the entire battleship shake violently.

On the top of the battleship, which was not protected by a deflection force field, the heavy metal particle jet blasted from a nearly vertical angle easily tore through the outermost armor.

The multi-layer 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.

"Master, the superconducting battery stack is being recharged and is expected to be ready for a second shot in 20 seconds."

"Got it, we can use this gap to cool down the accelerating orbit."

Continuing to maintain an aggressive stance, Amber switched the weapon control from a heavy particle cannon temporarily named 'Test-1' to a laser-guided combat projectile.

Under his guidance, the aircraft's fire control system locked onto the two HCPs that were approaching them, and began to guide the attack through laser irradiation.

The disposable missile pod mounted on the outside of the fuselage also fired six combat bombs.

The harsh beeps of laser warning devices also sounded in the cockpits of the two HCPs that were targeted.

Without thinking, the two pilots switched the aircraft's fire control mode to 'close defense mode' in accordance with standard operating procedures.

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 the incoming combat bombs.

"The skills of pilots from these private military companies are indeed much worse than those of the regular army."

Looking at the two machines moving in a straight line and at a constant speed, Amber lamented that the battle was like "turkey hunting" while handing over the guidance of the combat bombs to the fire control system.

He himself switched the weapon control to charged particle cannon and HCP electromagnetic machine gun.

A few breaths later, a blue beam and a series of orange-red fire lines 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, the shining white light of one of them was replaced by a huge plasma fireball.

The experimental MK1, which has an upgraded energy supply unit, can already 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 the 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 turn on the vector nozzle on the front of the machine to distance himself.

Then he saw a group of red machines with long tail flames approaching in front of him.

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 never-ending lock warning, there was also a constant 'dinging' sound in the cockpit, which was the sound of gravel decomposed by the arc of the deflection force field or fragments of kinetic energy warheads being bounced off armor plates. .

However, the extremely high relative speed and angular velocity make it more difficult for enemy units to intercept by several orders of magnitude.

The strange 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's 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 frequency and amplitude of maneuvers required for the aircraft to evade also increased rapidly.

A psyker as strong as 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) 6 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, simultaneously turned on the blue light that ended sleep and entered the running state, and made a series of 'buzzing' sounds.

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)