From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 436: Attack and Defense of A.Bawa.Ku Fortress (Part )

"Compatibility test. Passed"

"The 'Giant God Soldier' ​​component has begun self-checking. 80% 90% 100% self-check completed, no abnormalities in any subsystem!"

"The initial settings for 'Excalibur' have been completed. The authority to adjust subsequent parameters has been handed over to the pilot."

"The energy circuit inspection of the entire aircraft has been completed! The basic ammunition supply has been completed! The cooling water in all areas of the entire aircraft has been replenished! The subcritical reactor cooling components have been replaced!"

"Pilot 001, all subsystems of the aircraft are green, and the fixed components in the deployment bay have been unlocked. You can attack again at any time!"

'001' was Amber's unit number in the Atlas HCP, while Murat and Louis' numbers were 002 and 003 respectively.

As for the voice maintenance prompt just now, it was the automated management system of the A.Bava.Ku Asteroid Fortress, which was developed by Lilith based on one of her own clones, and she can also access it personally in an emergency.

Soon, the "Giant" with a pair of giant mechanical arms behind its shoulder armor rushed out from the open door of the G14 deployment bay again.

The huge fuselage, the dazzling propulsion light and the eye-catching red paint almost immediately attracted the attention of both the enemy and us.

"Major General! A super-large HCP has been detected in the lower half of the asteroid fortress, charging towards the fleet!"

At the same time as the tactical information coordinator reported, the target images captured by the fleet were also displayed on the main screen of the bridge.

On the bridges of the flagships of the 23rd and 24th fleets, the reactions of the people were similar to the reactions of the previous Enterprise Combined Fleet after it discovered the Titan. Most people had nervous, uneasy, and even fearful expressions on their faces.
Unlike the previous corporate fleets, which only had a rough understanding of the "Giant" through partial combat information shared by the Federal Navy, as the newly formed main fleet of the Federal Navy, senior officers within the fleet have all seen the detailed analysis given by the Navy's Combat Intelligence Department.

Therefore, they know much more about the 'Giant' and its pilot Amber than the people in the military-industrial complex, but this also makes them more nervous about the 'Red Devil's' raid.

"Don't panic! The enemy only has one plane, it can't cause any trouble!"

Rear Admiral Mueller, in the captain's seat, saw that the morale of everyone in the bridge had visibly dropped. He suppressed his uneasy feelings and spoke loudly to comfort everyone.

"The Marines have begun the third wave of assault! The HCP squadrons on the ships continue to provide cover! The main battleships continue to suppress the enemy's fortresses and garrison fleets! Other warships enter air defense and interception mode!"

After issuing a series of orders, Major General Mueller looked seriously at the 'Red Devil' that was getting closer and closer. Although his reaction just now was quick and calm, his hands tightly gripping the armrests of the captain's seat still exposed his true emotions.

He was a little scared.

However, the joys and sorrows of human beings in this world are not shared. When the two fleets of the Federation Navy were in a state of tension due to the attack of the "Red Devil", the nearby Atlas Garrison Fleet and HCP Squadron, upon seeing the arrival of their own boss, their morale was instantly boosted as if they had been injected with a shot of adrenaline.

"It's the Boss! The Boss is here to support us!"

"Look, Boss has replaced the Giant God Soldier components!"

The Atlas defenders near the asteroid fortress were in a state of excitement, especially the pilots of the HCP squadron. After seeing the red machine carrying a pair of "giant arms", they were so excited that their breathing became rapid.

Originally, given the huge disparity in numbers between the enemy and our side, the HCP squadron responsible for defending the fortress was not only under tremendous pressure, but also suffered the heaviest casualties since the establishment of the team under the fierce attack of the Federation.

But at this moment, everything changed.

When the main monitors of each machine captured the picture of the 'Giant' slowly raising its two huge mechanical arms and grasping a huge 'column' with a slightly rough external structure, many pilots could not help but control the machine and wave their fists.

"'Excalibur' is the sword of promised victory!!!"

"Fuck! I'm so excited now!"

"The Atlas HCP force is the best in the world!"

The Federation carrier-based HCP pilots who were fighting with the Atlas HCP squadrons found that their opponents were like chicken blood. They were supposed to be on the passive defense, but suddenly they started to attack them frantically.

Many federal pilots were unable to adapt to the sudden change in combat rhythm in a short period of time. Their movements were distorted under the fierce attack of the Atlas HCP, and they were eventually shot down by the enemy.

But this is just the beginning.

Soon, both sides fighting near the A-Bava-Ku asteroid fortress saw a huge and somewhat exaggerated "light sword" rising in the hands of the giant god who was advancing at high speed.

At the same time, the voice of 'that man' was heard on the public communication channel that could be heard by both the enemy and the friendly forces.

"The battle is not over yet!

Atlas will never stop today!
Everyone, gather around the Giant God!"

At this moment, the communication channel of the Atlas side completely exploded. The morale that had been greatly weakened in the asymmetric battle was almost completely restored in this instant.

On the other hand, the federal attacking force seemed to be stunned, especially the HCP pilots who were fighting back, each of them looked as pale as death.

Amber, who was in the cockpit of the Titan, breathed a sigh of relief after seeing this scene.

Although the 'famous scene' he just imitated could easily turn into a 'death scene' if he was not careful, it was obvious that the federal forces did not have unreasonable weapons such as 'steel nails', so in terms of effect alone, it still met Amber's expectations.

"Very good. Now that morale has been stabilized for the time being, we need to do something ruthless to completely turn the situation around!"
-
"Something bad is going to happen." This was Major General Mueller's first thought after hearing the battle declaration on the public channel and seeing the red machine holding a huge "light sword" and "disemboweling" a heavy cruiser.

If before this, he thought that the rumor that the boss of Atlas could single-handedly turn the tide of the battle was some kind of "battlefield legend", then now he has begun to think that this "legend" may be true.

The huge 'light sword' raised by the Amber machine cut through the haze of the battlefield with its brilliant light, just like the dawn, illuminating the edge of despair in the hearts of the Atlas defense forces.

Of course, this anti-ship weapon system named 'Excalibur' is not actually a real 'light saber', but a plasma saber made based on the technology provided by Saleh.

If it was the Jeram people's - that is, the 'genuine' plasma saber of the Forerunners, its size should be small enough to be carried and used by a single soldier.

But it is obvious that Atlas or the current technological level of mankind is not able to maintain the power supply for the "Plasma Saber" at this size, so the people in the Atlas Equipment Research and Development Center can only adopt the clumsy method of proportional enlargement to carry out research and development.

The short-term result is the 'handle' of the plasma saber that the 'giant' is holding in his giant hands.

According to Saleh, if the 'handle' is this large under normal circumstances, theoretically the length of the emitted plasma 'blade' should be tens or even hundreds of kilometers. However, at this stage, everyone in the equipment research and development center has tried their best to only make the length of the plasma saber reach 4 kilometers.

This is not only due to the insufficient effectiveness of the confining magnetic field, but also the energy supply problem is one of the difficulties faced by the research and development team - this even directly leads to the superconducting battery stack built into "Excalibur" only being able to maintain energy supply for 20 seconds.

If you want to continue using it beyond this energy supply time, you can only replace the superconducting battery stack urgently during battle. For this reason, the designers have specially optimized this point to facilitate Amber and others to replace the superconducting battery pack urgently during battle.

However, Amber did not have much opinion on this point. After all, in his opinion, "energy management" is also a compulsory course for every excellent pilot, and it is impossible to use this thing all the time in battle.
In any case, although the prototype of "Excalibur" still has a big gap in technological level compared to the Forerunner civilization, for Amber, having such a 4-kilometer-long "giant beam sword" is enough.

Although the "Giant" with an extremely fast combat speed is equipped with a large number of advanced sensors and fire control units, it is not easy to carry out long-range attacks at an extremely high relative speed.

Therefore, Amber had been planning to equip the 'Giant' with a 'Ship-Cutting Sword' that was large enough to perform anti-ship missions since a long time ago.

And now, this wish has been initially realized.

Under Amber's attack, every swing of 'Excalibur' was accompanied by destructive power, especially when he specifically targeted those ships whose deflection fields were overloaded or whose vulnerable hulls were exposed.

Whenever the "Giant" intersected with the target warship, the dazzlingly bright plasma saber would leave a hideous wound on the target ship, and if it was a small unit such as a frigate or destroyer, it would basically be cut in half.

Under the cutting of the high-temperature plasma beam, the battleship's external armor and internal titanium alloy frame seemed so fragile. The wailing of metal and the explosion of energy intertwined into a tragic symphony, silently echoing in this universe covered by war.

Under Amber's guidance and his leading charge, the Atlas HCPs that gradually gathered around him were like a storm, sweeping towards the federal fleet and the third batch of assault boats they deployed.

When four other mass-produced "Giant" tanks including Murat and Louis, who arrived from another battlefield, joined the battle, the sudden offensive made the federal fleet a little flustered.

High-threat units such as cruisers were quickly dealt with by Amber, or killed on the spot by the coordinated attacks of Murat, Louis and others, so the pressure on the remaining Atlas pilots was suddenly much less. They only needed to follow Amber and others to attack and kill those enemy HCPs who were not afraid of death and surrounded them.

Major General Mueller, commander of the 24th Federal Fleet, looked at the advancing Atlas troops on the three-dimensional tactical diagram with a grim face, but his emotions eventually calmed down because he realized that he was most likely witnessing a change.

Before this, HCPs had always been regarded as chess pieces and consumables on the battlefield - even though they were nicknamed "Titans", they were considered invincible by conventional infantry.

In the eyes of battlefield commanders, the existence of HCP has always been to perform tactical tasks rather than to determine the direction of a battle or even a war.

But the emergence of the 'Red Devil', to which Atlas belonged, completely overturned this perception in just a few months.

Since the debut of Pyra IV, every action of the 'Red Devil' seemed to be writing new laws of war and shocked all witnesses.

It's not that the federal military brass didn't notice this. On the contrary, they have always attached great importance to this new type of unit derived from the conventional HCP and have also carried out some development.

However, they have not been able to produce any decent results so far. Many of the problems that Atlas asked Saleh to solve using the pioneer technology and experience are an insurmountable chasm for the Federation to overcome in a short period of time.

Of course, the more important point is that when the designers selected test pilots based on the design performance data of the aircraft, they found that they could not find anyone who could control this new type of unit.
To be honest, the Federation's pilot pool actually contains quite a few strong men who have undergone extensive physical modifications and are theoretically able to adapt to the operation of this new type of unit.

But it is precisely because their bodies are too highly modified, with too many prosthetic limbs and implants in their bodies, that researchers dare not allow these people who may have symptoms of "cyberpsychosis" to conduct test flights.

One step at a time, one step at a time.

While Atlas' heavy HCPs were being put into mass production and put into combat, the Federation was still designing them slowly.
"Report to the General, the losses of the third batch of assault boats have exceeded 60%! Should we notify the fourth batch of assault boats to prepare for deployment?"

"Well, let the fourth batch of assault boats try again, but this is the last time. Stop loading personnel on subsequent batches of assault boats and let all ship-borne HCP squadrons retreat after covering the fourth batch of assault boats!"

"Yes, General!"

The tactical information coordinator quickly went with the fleet staff to issue orders, and after hearing Mueller's words, the commander of the 23rd Fleet, Barak, asked with some confusion:

"Mueller, are you planning to withdraw from the battle?"

"Of course, Atlas's defense and counterattack strength exceeded our pre-war expectations. If we drag it out, it will only result in a pure exchange of casualties. The 23rd and 24th fleets have other tasks to arrange. If the doctor fails to make a breakthrough, we cannot let our precious ships be lost here."

Muller spoke in the communication channel, looking at the red dot on the three-dimensional battlefield diagram that was constantly attacking the fleet, and finally sighed.

"There is also this 'Red Devil' that keeps attacking the fleet. He hasn't completely let go of his hands and feet yet. It's more of a test. But if it continues to drag on and he completely penetrates the fleet's air defense network, then there will really be big problems."

(End of this chapter)