From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 290 Outpost War (Part )
Leading the team on a CSP (combat airspace patrol) mission, they encountered the enemy in an asteroid rubble zone in deep space.

Support from the rear is far away, and the enemy's specific information is not clear.

If you want to get out of trouble and return to the mothership, you must rely on team members to deal with the threat in the gravel belt before you can leave safely.

Of the two team members under his command, one is a rookie with little combat experience.
As for the other one?
He was nearly 50 years old and still only held the rank of second lieutenant, which made it difficult for Larry to believe in his abilities.

In other words, the next battle will most likely only rely on your own judgment.

From Lieutenant Larry's point of view, there could be no worse situation.

"Damn it, why did this happen to me?"

Larry Scott took a few deep breaths to calm down, and then began to analyze their team's current situation.

When the signal flare was just launched, two electromagnetic rifle ballistics were swept out of the asteroid rubble belt, indicating that the opponent was at least a two-machine formation.

In the previous enemy intelligence sharing meeting, people from the fleet intelligence department also shared with each HCP squadron the identification characteristics of enemy units summarized by the units that had fought before.

Larry remembered that the federal fleet's reconnaissance detachment had a forward reconnaissance team configuration of a two-plane formation.

One is a conventional model, and the other is a specialized model for electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare.

The task of this two-machine formation is to reach the periphery of the local warning zone for forward reconnaissance, especially in asteroid gravel areas where fixed probes or enemy HCPs are suitable.

The enemy characteristics discovered so far by the Venus team include heavy particle cannon fire, electronic interference, and the trajectory of two electromagnetic rifle fires.
They are all moving in the direction of this kind of two-plane reconnaissance team.

Lieutenant Larry glanced at the team channel. The blue-green laser communication that was connected just now was interrupted now.

Because the three HCPs are now hiding behind different asteroid rubbles and are invisible to each other, this point-to-point communication method naturally cannot continue.

The complex environment of the asteroid belt has also affected other communication methods to some extent.

Although the shortwave communication was still connected, the signal was not very good. Larry tried several voice calls, but the intermittent voice made it impossible to communicate at all. In the end, it could only be cut to the most primitive shortwave text communication.

In order to prevent being cracked by the other party's electronic reconnaissance model, Larry directly used encrypted text communication, which was the least efficient way to send.

"The other party should be a reconnaissance team in a two-plane formation. The probes we deployed are probably destroyed by them."

"Then what do we do now?"

"We can't waste time here. The opponent's support troops will appear at any time. I will pull the 'gun line' and you will take the opportunity to attack!"

"Received!"×2
Looking at the reply in the team's communication channel, Lieutenant Larry sighed and then added.

"If I am shot down, you should use the time I bought to evacuate!"

Immediately afterwards, regardless of the reactions of the other two people, he directly placed the shield in front of him, released the hook lock fixed on the ice crystal, and rushed out with full thrust.

"Warning! You have been locked!"

As soon as the aircraft escaped from the cover of giant ice crystals, the combat auxiliary AI issued a warning that it was locked by enemy fire control.

The threat perception unit also marked two red inverted triangles in the cockpit all day long, with a straight-line distance of less than 2000 kilometers.

The next second, a charged particle beam irradiated the deflection force field, and a series of high-speed penetration rods also swept over. The electric snakes dancing wildly in front of the machine made Lieutenant Larry lose his frontal vision, and he could only drive blindly for the time being. .

"It's really a two-plane formation."

Lieutenant Larry did not panic under the opponent's concentrated fire, because he knew that among the two HCPs, only the conventionally configured machine would be equipped with heavy particle cannons.

In order to ensure that the reconnaissance and electronic warfare units have sufficient energy supply, the electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare specialized types generally only carry one HCP electromagnetic machine gun for self-defense.

If this is the case, the Priest's improved subcritical reactor and energy recharge unit can completely withstand the intermittent firing of a single heavy particle cannon.
Thinking of this, he calmly controlled the machine to maintain a frontal attitude towards the enemy, and then continued to maneuver towards the upper left with the help of the inertia that had just rushed out and the vector nozzles on the right side of the machine.

The path and trajectory of the opponent's charged particle beam followed suit as he expected.

The other two members of the Morning Star team were not slow to respond. Lieutenant Larry lowered his head and glanced downwards, and the two green inverted triangles representing his teammates also began to move.

While his lead machine was pulling the gun line, the two of them also used the cover of the asteroid rubble to flank it from the side.

Lieutenant Larry used the huge gravel that floated in front of him from time to time to continue approaching the position of the federal investigation team ahead.

Then he quickly realized something was wrong.

Because the opponent's heavy particle cannon misfired after firing once, and the irradiation frequency of the charged particle cannon was completely lower than normal.

During the advance, what caused the most interference to him was the shooting from the two electromagnetic machine guns.

However, after Lieutenant Larry maneuvered to avoid these high-speed pole penetrations with initial speeds of hundreds of kilometers per second, the hit rate became very low. "What's going on? Is the other party's energy insufficient?"

As soon as this idea flashed through Lieutenant Larry's mind, he was immediately overturned by himself.

The other party is also performing long-distance cruise missions away from the mothership, and will definitely carry additional superconducting battery packs, so in theory there is no possibility of insufficient energy supply.

“Something’s wrong”

Lieutenant Larry immediately decided to speed up his advance and charge forward slowly under cover. He didn't know how much effort it would take.

So, when the next round of charged particle beams and high-speed penetrating rods swept over, he deliberately slowed down his movements, and then suddenly took a photo of the group of lights that represented 'abandoning the external battery pack'.

Several conformal superconducting battery packs near the mechanical legs and main propulsion array were immediately thrown away from the body.

The charged particle beam also hit one of the battery packs very proudly.

The detonated battery pack quickly formed a plasma fireball, which continued to expand after engulfing several surrounding battery packs.

Lieutenant Larry, using the cover of the plasma fireball, suddenly sank downwards, almost clinging to the outside of a huge piece of gravel, and circled forward.

The distance of more than 1000 kilometers only takes more than ten seconds in front of the priests pushing at full power.

When Lieutenant Larry controlled the Priest and rushed out from the shadow of a huge piece of rubble on the side of the federal two-plane formation, he was shocked to find that there was only the specialized electronic reconnaissance unit here.

The other target he had just attacked with an electromagnetic machine gun was just an autonomous weapons station deployed on the gravel.

The charged particle cannon that should be mounted on the weapon rack behind the HCP is now being held by the electronic reconnaissance HCP.

This is also the reason why the irradiation frequency of this thing is so low. After losing the active energy supply of the body, the charged particle cannon has to wait for the recharge unit to recharge every time it irradiates.
"Fuck! I've been plotted!"

Lieutenant Larry's heart suddenly went cold.

It was obvious that another federal HCP was also outflanking, and anyone who could make such a tactical plan in an instant must not be a rookie.

The electronic reconnaissance HCP that stayed here had discovered the cleric on the side, and it immediately turned its gun and faced this way.

Lieutenant Larry reacted faster. He blasted the autonomous weapon station with a burst of fire, and then shot towards the electronic reconnaissance HCP, which looked like it was carrying a 'turtle shell'.

Unexpectedly, the reconnaissance HCP in crisis did not panic. It even took the initiative to greet him, and raised its electromagnetic machine gun and fired at Larry.

As a pilot with certain talents in driving skills, Larry continuously controlled the roll of the aircraft body, avoiding the dangerous high-speed pole penetration, and at the same time rushed to the front of the federal HCP.

Unexpectedly, this federal HCP did not dodge. He drew a one-handed dagger-style plasma slashing sword from his waist and stabbed straight into the cockpit of the priest.

Larry immediately turned his shield sideways to block the vital point, but the opponent's pilot reacted very quickly and directly changed from stabbing to slashing, and the sharp plasma blade immediately sliced ​​off a section of the shield.

But this kind of one-handed short sword, which can only be used for self-defense at the last moment, is obviously not as good as a serious heavy sword in terms of output power and structural strength.

Therefore, several consecutive attacks by this federal HCP were resolved by Lieutenant Larry with his shield.

The HCP pilot of the Imperial Royal Navy was also glad that the opponent was not holding a standard heavy sword.

Otherwise, with the smooth movements and skillful body control skills displayed by the opponent, his shield would have been useless long ago, and maybe the body would also be destroyed.

Within a few seconds of the exchange of blows between the two sides, the priest's heavy sword was also held in his hand and energized.

When Larry again barely dodged a slash from the opponent, the heavy sword in his hand quickly slashed out, with a slashing trajectory like a crescent moon, directly cutting off the opponent's sword-holding mechanical arm.

Larry, who thought the opponent would be captured without hesitation, before he could shout for the opponent to surrender, he saw the scarred federal HCP in front of him, shining the close-range defense lasers on both sides of the main monitor on his head, and at the same time, a mechanical leg also Kick yourself hard.

"Buzz!"

Seeing this scene, Lieutenant Larry, who already knew the opponent's determination, no longer hesitated. After avoiding the opponent's final counterattack, he directly cut off the opponent's cockpit with a sword.

Then he flew towards where his teammates were without looking back.

Even this under-armed electronic reconnaissance HCP was so difficult to deal with. He couldn't imagine what would happen to another federal HCP that went outflanking and 'caught' his teammates.

"Hold on!"

Lieutenant Larry, roaring in his heart, pushed the throttle to the highest level. The silver-white steel giant rushed forward and disappeared behind a huge rubble in an instant.

Only the severed Federation HCP is left floating here quietly, forever surrounded by the cold universe.

(End of this chapter)