From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 437 As long as we can get to that place

Major General Mueller's guess about Amber was not wrong. Although he had already "slashed" a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser, and several destroyers and frigates with his sword, his attack was indeed just a test.

According to Amber's radical style when driving HCP, which was completely different from other situations, if he had finished his exploration, he should have headed for the flagships of the two fleets this time.

Despite this, Amber and other Atlas troops still caused considerable trouble to the two federal fleets. With the support of the fortress's defense weapons, not only did they prevent the federal fleets from closing the distance, but they also caused considerable damage to the assault boats they released.

The third wave of assault boats released by the Federation Fleet originally carried a number of lightly armored units specifically designed for fortress breakthroughs. However, due to the interception by Amber and others, only less than 3% of the assault boats successfully followed the path opened up by the previous two waves of assault boats and rushed into the interior of the A.Bava.Ku asteroid fortress.

So far, less than 1500% of the first three waves of assault troops have completed the landing. According to the information sent back by Van Fleet, the size of the federal assault force currently discovered is about people, with more than new multi-legged tanks and a large number of unmanned spider machines.

According to Van Fleet, the unmanned spider machines that move with the multi-legged tank as the core node are autonomous units created by the Federal Army Equipment Research Center to imitate the "worker bees" on the Atlas side.

However, due to the limitation of technology level, the intelligence level of this unmanned spider machine is not as high as that of the "worker bee", so a multi-legged tank is needed as the core node to command the action.

In addition, Van Fleet also reported that many federal special operations units entered stealth mode after entering the fortress, and continued to infiltrate the interior of the fortress. Many defense forces that encountered these special operations units suffered relatively heavy casualties.

Of course, the most crucial point is that these defense forces have confirmed that there are psychics among these federal special operations units.

"It seems that psychic agents have been dispatched?" Amber took the time to ask in the communication channel while the body's deflection force field was resisting several charged particle beams.

"Eighty percent of it is certain," Van Vleet said in the communication channel:
"Unless the Federation has formed some special forces that I'm not aware of, based on the characteristics reported by the defense forces, these psychics should be psychic agents, and the special operations units they lead are the 'Deep Diver' special operations forces that specialize in coordinating operations with psychic agents."

When Amber heard the name of this special operations force mentioned by the Army Lieutenant General, her brows jumped unconsciously.

He was also deeply impressed by the name "Deep Divers". In the previous life's "Starry Sky OL" game, the "Deep Divers" special forces were considered to be famous "dung monsters".

High desire to attack, strong tactical coordination, excellent equipment, and most importantly, as long as you encounter a "deep diver", it means that psychic agents will immediately join the battle.
After a moment, he immediately said:

"Tell the defense forces not to confront them head-on. They should retreat if necessary. Let's follow the previous arrangement and find a way to lead them to the data center."

"Understood. But to be honest, there's no need to deliberately lead them. The other party should have found the approximate location of the data center. Currently, most of the federal troops that broke in are heading in that direction, and they are also organizing to block the defense forces from supporting the data center."

Van Fleet frowned as he looked at the real-time situation map on the command interface, and asked with some confusion and concern:
"Mr. Amber, are you sure you want to let them go? To be honest, fighting in this kind of terrain inside the fortress will greatly increase the combat effectiveness of these special forces units."

"No problem. We have arranged a 'professional team'. When the time comes, we can just let the defense forces cooperate and surround them."

Amber responded in the communication channel, and at the same time, he couldn't help but sigh after thinking of the "backup plan" that Lilith admitted to him before.
-
When Amber and Van Fleet ended the communication and led the assembled HCP troops to prepare to intercept the fourth batch of assault boats released by the Federation Fleet, the battle in the A. Bava. Ku asteroid fortress reached its most intense moment.

After forcing back the Atlas defense forces, Dr. Mephisto and the special task force escorting him, also known as the "Deep Divers" force by Amber and Van Fleet, quickly obtained the approximate location of the data center through the "regional guide map" inside the invading fortress.

In the process, they joined up with two other 'Deep Divers' forces, and the number of psychic agents in the team reached six.

Such combat power has great advantages in all aspects in the relatively narrow and closed environment inside the asteroid fortress.

After all, these psychic agents in A.Bava.Ku will not be covered by the firepower of the 155 self-propelled artillery group like the "Hanged Man" on the Pella IV.

The federal assault force's advance is going relatively smoothly so far, but the Atlas defense force is under great pressure.

Needless to say, the defense forces that were blocking the Deep Divers head-on were basically fighting and retreating, trying to minimize casualties while trying to hinder the Deep Divers' advance.

The situation of other defense forces was not much better. The assault troops that entered the fortress seemed to have redeployed their tactics and began to obstruct the defense forces' support in the direction of the data center.

"Doctor, we are close to the data center. You and your technicians can get ready. The enemy will definitely counterattack after we complete the breakthrough. We may not be able to hold out for long."

At the corner of a passage near the data center, the frontline commander of the Deep Ones pulled Mephisto, who had accidentally floated into the air, to his side and quickly explained the arrangements for the next moment.

While he was speaking, two psychic agents directly put up psychic shields, and then rushed into the passage using psychic impact to "clear the way".

Following their actions, many "Deep Diver" special forces and spider robots also rushed out, and a "Wolfhound" also leaned out from the corner and turned its turret to aim the charged particle cannon over.

"I've already made all the preparations here. As long as you can get us in, it will be done in 10 minutes at most!"

There was a hint of trembling in Dr. Mephisto's words. For this elderly researcher who had never been to the battlefield, his first time on the battlefield was such an exciting fortress assault. The fact that he had not lost control of his bladder during the battle was a sign of his strong mental and physical qualities.

"Okay, Doctor, get ready. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Several consecutive explosions were heard along the corridor. Even though the combat exoskeleton helmets of the people present had built-in vacuum extraction layers, they could still hear the explosions.

Dr. Mephisto and the captain of the 'Deep Diver' turned their heads to look in the direction of the passage, and saw that the 'wolfhound' that had just been showing off its might and preparing to irradiate with the charged particle cannon had now lost control and drifted to the other side of the passage. From time to time, a mixture of engine oil and blood floated out of the two large through holes on the body of the car.

At the same time, the 'Deep Divers' who were still attacking a minute ago retreated again under the cover of the psychic agents, and left a large number of corpses in the passage.

At this moment, these special forces and psychic agents were frantically pouring fire into the passage, as if they were blocking something.

The commander of the Deep Diver, who had never thought of encountering such a situation, immediately accessed the command interface to view the battle video.

It was seen that many things like 'secret doors' had been opened on the inner wall of the originally ordinary passage. More than a dozen heavy power armors that seemed to be hidden in the wall before and an unknown armored unit that looked larger, under the cover of a larger number of 'soldier bees', were launching a counterattack towards the 'deep divers'.

"Wait. What is this weird thing?"

The commander of the Deep Diver looked at these suddenly appearing units with some surprise. The heavy power armor and those autonomous mechanical units were easy to deal with, as they had been mentioned at the intelligence sharing meeting before the war.

But he had never seen a humanoid armored unit whose size was between heavy power armor and HCP, and whose height was less than 5 meters.

At this moment, one of the unknown armored units was suppressing the enemy with an electromagnetic multi-barrel machine gun that had replaced the right mechanical arm. The two electromagnetic reconnection cannons deployed behind it were also staring in this direction, ready to fire at any time.

Soon, the electromagnetic multi-barrel machine gun that was firing at high speed stopped firing and suddenly emitted a burst of white smoke, as if it was urgently cooling down. At this moment, a psychic agent at the entrance of the passage shot out, and with the help of his own burst and the individual propulsion device, he turned into an afterimage and rushed towards the tall heavy unit.

then
Nothing happened next. The commander of the Deep Ones looked in surprise at the heavily armored unit, which should have been a bit bulky, and suddenly locked onto the psychic agent that was flying towards them.

The right arm, which looked like a heavy mechanical glove, hit the psychic agent's face with such precision and speed that at that moment, an arc similar to a deflection field seemed to flash on the huge mechanical glove.

The next second, the psychic agent flew out of the passage at an even faster speed, and finally hit the wall hard and fainted. After seeing this scene, the others present even heard a "pop" sound in their ears.
"What the hell is going on here?!"

Looking at the psychic agent who was smashed into the wall with his body twisted, the Deep One commander, who was originally just a little surprised, was now completely dumbfounded.

He never expected that such a powerful unit would suddenly appear near the fortress data center that was the target. According to common sense, shouldn't such a defensive force be deployed in the outer areas that would first come into contact with the enemy?
Then he thought of the fact that the previous terrain scans and motion detection had not found these units, and suddenly realized that he and his team might have fallen into a carefully prepared trap?

The enemy had obviously guessed their team's goal, so they planned to deploy these high-powered units in the outer areas, rather than hiding them secretly on the road they had to pass through.
"Sir, the walls are made of special anti-detection material and have a special coating on the outside, so we didn't detect these units before!"

A member of the Deep Diver team who had retreated from the passage came up to the commander and spoke loudly into his tactical visor.

“It’s really a trap.”

"Sir, what should we do now?!" the team member asked. At the same time, another psychic agent floated over and said:

"No matter what the situation is now, our mission is the top priority and cannot be changed. If you can continue to command the troops to launch an attack, the other two brothers and I will do our best to support the battle, and then you can find a chance to send the doctor and others in!"

This psychic agent, who had always been relatively taciturn in the previous collaborations between the two sides, spoke a lot this time.

"As long as the doctor and his team can complete their mission, we still have hope of a comeback. Otherwise, we will be trapped here and die!"

Hearing the words of the psychic agent, the commander of the 'Deep Diver' nodded. Anyone who could enter the federal special operations unit and serve as a commander would naturally not be a coward, so he had no objection to the words of the psychic agent.

Just as he was about to arrange a wave of attack to launch a strong charge and try to create an opportunity for the psychic agent, the other passage in the 'T'-shaped intersection suddenly became lively.

The commander of the Deep Diver saw through the command interface that a squad on guard at the far end of the passage had engaged in a firefight with the Atlas defense force that had arrived.

Among the Atlas defense forces that came to support, in addition to those infantry units, the proportion of heavy power armor was much higher this time, and some large unmanned units providing direct fire support appeared.

If we take into account the defensive weapons that could be activated at any time, such an offensive combination is obviously beyond the ability of the alert team to contend with, so the commander of the 'Deep Diver' also knows that time is running out.

"It's too late. We can only use force!" He looked at the psychic agent who was also watching him and continued:

"There's no cover in this passage, so we can't use any tactics. I'll lead a frontal attack to attract the enemy's attention. You take the other psychic agents and wait for an opportunity to escort the doctor and the others over!"

After saying that, the commander of the Deep One patted the psychic agent on the shoulder and finally said, "I didn't expect you to be so talkative. I'll treat you to a drink after the battle."

"We Psychic Agents Are Prohibited"

The psychic agent was about to say something in rebuttal, but the commander of the Deep Diver did not give him the opportunity and directly led the surrounding Deep Diver team members to launch a new round of attack.

"One-time deflection force field and mobile shield ready! Pay attention to the attack formation, wave attack! Don't gather in a group!
'Wolfhound', prepare fire support! After the temporary deflection force field effect ends, you will push forward!

Electronic warfare team, do everything you can, even if it means causing disruption for just one second!"

The commander of the Deep Diver gave orders while rushing to the edge of the passage and standing against the wall. After seeing that everyone around him was ready, he waved his arms forcefully.

"Smoke cover! Attack team, follow me to attack!"

"Dong-dong-dong-dong!"

A large number of smoke bombs were immediately thrown out by the electromagnetic projection devices equipped by other soldiers after the order was given. Densely packed high-speed steel needle bullets were also shot from the other end of the passage, mixed with a number of high-energy laser beams.

Although many smoke bombs exploded in mid-air before they could even start to smoke, the remaining smoke bombs were successfully detonated, and thick anti-infrared thermal energy smoke instantly filled the entire passage.

And at the last moment before the smoke completely obscured the view, two "wolfhounds" popped out of the car body, one on the left and one on the right, and irradiated the charged particles through the "gap" that had not yet completely closed.

However, the crews of the two Wolfhounds also observed a chaotic flash of electric arcs on the opposite side almost at the same time.

"Tsk, they also have a deflection field, and it doesn't look like it's disposable."

"boom!"

The crew of one of the Wolfhounds had not yet finished their strike assessment observation when two heavy-duty penetrating rods shot through the smoke and pierced the body of the multi-legged tank from head to tail, followed by a shriek that resounded throughout the entire passage.

"What a quick counterattack!"

The commander of the Deep Diver felt a heightened sense of crisis after seeing this scene. The enemy in front of them was not only well-equipped, but also had a lot of combat experience.
The destruction of the 'Wolfhound' did not affect the attack of the 'Deep Divers'. They still threw out multiple disposable deflection field generators forward according to the combat plan, and at the same time deployed multiple layered armor shields and fixed them to the wall.

The fire suppression effect on the other side of the smoke was also reduced a lot with the construction of the temporary position. Taking this opportunity, the "Deep Divers" also quickly took turns to provide cover and advanced forward.

The psychic agents also carried Dr. Mephisto and other technicians as if they were carrying "chickens" and floated forward.

But the Atlas defenders who suddenly appeared at the other end of the passage obviously would not let them advance so easily. With the roar of rocket boosters, the huge humanoid armored unit rushed out of the smoke, waving its fists flashing with arcs of electricity.

The punch was delivered at such a speed that it was almost impossible to tell. Several members of the Deep Diver team who were hiding behind a mobile shield were blown away along with the mobile shield they were hiding behind. Under the dancing of the shining arcs of electricity, their bodies were charred black.

As this unidentified armored unit, full of mechanical and violent aesthetics, blocked the passage like a wall and suppressed it with the large-caliber electromagnetic multi-barrel machine gun on its right arm, a rational, cold voice, which was also very familiar to the surrounding Atlas Defense Force soldiers, sounded in the communication channel.

"Immortals, attack!"

(End of this chapter)