From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 540 Impact
When the Infinity passed through the external light signal array, hoisted the 'Z flag' and displayed the flag signal 'Atlas hopes every soldier will do his best' to start the charge, the morale of the Atlas Third Task Force reached a new climax.

If Randall simply led the entire fleet to charge, the morale of the fleet might not have reached this level.

But the order he just issued clearly stated that only the flagship 'Infinity' would initiate the charge, and the other ships in the fleet would provide maximum fire support, which also meant that the risk was basically concentrated on the 'Infinity'.

The two situations of "the commander ordered the brothers to charge" and "the commander led the brothers to charge" were very common, but "the commander charged for the brothers" was something that even the "old hands" in the fleet who had been "received" from the Federal Navy had never seen.

It was at this moment that most people suddenly realized that the concept of "leading by example" in Atlas' combat troops might be more radical than they thought.
Not only the warships of the Third Task Force, but also the HCPs and heavy armored combat boats that had been launched to attack, also saw the translated flag signals on the global communication channel.

The Renaissance Alliance trainees, including Johnny Riding and Manfred, were in awe at this moment. They had never expected that the Atlas Group, their "ally" and "second party", would be so ruthless.

If the previous actual combat drills of Murat and Johnny Riding were an enlightenment education for this "newcomer in mecha warfare", then this fleet battle can be said to be a good lesson for all the trainees of the Renaissance Alliance by the Atlas Fleet.
However, 'True Red Lightning' and 'Red Baron' did not have much time to digest the 'class content' because they were already caught in a fierce and tense battle.

The gaps torn by the two of them and their respective teams began to grow bigger and bigger as the surrounding HCPs and heavy armored combat boats came to support them.

The first to arrive were Johnny Riding's 'old friends', the 'Avengers' squadron, with whom he had previously fought in actual combat exercises.

In Johnny Riding's opinion, the opponent's condition in actual combat was much better than in the previous simulation battle.

The coordination between the four teams under the squadron, and between the machines within the teams, was as synchronized and exquisite as shadows, and a large number of 'combination skills' were performed smoothly.

Even though there was an anti-aircraft fire threat from two destroyers nearby, the Avengers squadron catapulted two HCP squadrons from the destroyers and "annihilated" them without any damage, and also wiped out a large number of anti-aircraft weapon groups and sensor arrays on the side of the destroyers.

When Captain Stark and the other machines passed by Johnny Riding and his team at high speed, this "genius pilot" even received a message from the other party.

"Boy, don't be dazed on the battlefield. Also, watch carefully and learn well~"

Although Johnny Riding was very upset about this message, he could not refute it. After all, among the HCP pilots, "being a bad pilot is the original sin."
When Murat, Jacob and their "ACE Squadron" arrived, the garrison fleet's plan to plug the gap in the air defense network was completely shattered, and the air defense network, which had originally had an orderly arrangement of firepower, was thrown into chaos.

If in previous actual combat exercises, Johnny Ridden, Manfred and others only knew that these Atlas trump cards were very strong, then now they have a more intuitive and profound understanding.

Individual skills, teamwork, on-the-spot command. With perfect performance in all these aspects, Johnny Riding and his team finally knew how strong the attack power of these 'ACE Squadrons' was.

Just like a group of 'comets' streaking across the battlefield, the advancing troops are the 'core', and the flames formed by the enemies that were blown up on their way are the 'tail'.

Even the heavy cruisers, whose firepower and armor were second only to the battleships, were quickly wiped out by the external anti-aircraft weapon arrays after being penetrated by the HCP at extremely close range and losing their escort.

Finally, Jacob, who was drifting and dropping bombs, used a plasma torpedo to hit the plasma propulsion array of the battleship directly.
"Major Murat is so strong, but he couldn't even survive ten moves from 'that man'. How strong is 'that man'? Is he a monster?"

This untimely question flashed through Johnny Riding's mind, but he was interrupted by Manfred's shouting on the communication channel the next second.

"True Red Lightning Team, prepare to finish off!"

"Roger that!"

Johnny Riding came to his senses and looked forward quickly, only to see Manfred and three other heavy armored combat boats passing by at high speed near a squadron of HCP.

At the same time, a large barrage of laser-guided melee shells equipped with plasma warheads was launched.

The densely packed laser-guided melee missiles were quickly intercepted by the opponent's close-in defense laser. However, since Manfred and his men almost emptied the remaining melee missile magazines in this round of attack, it was impossible to intercept all of these massive melee missiles.

Soon, when the plasma warheads of these combat bombs exploded on the deflection field of the HCP, they immediately caused the electric field of the deflection field generator to become disordered, and a burst of fireworks was released.

The moment when the enemy HCP needs to cut off the power and restart the deflection field generator is the time for what Manfred calls "finishing the job".

Long-term cooperation in training, including the joint operations just now, has already established a tacit understanding between 'True Red Lightning' and 'Red Baron'.

So Johnny Riding didn't hesitate at all, and rushed forward with his team, while letting the combat assistance AI quickly complete target allocation.

"Fire with all your strength! Fire with all your strength! Power up your plasma heavy sword! Once this round of attacks is over, draw your sword and follow me into hand-to-hand combat!"

"Yes, Captain!"×3
Johnny Riding quickly pre-powered the heavy plasma sword in the weapon box behind him, and then simultaneously set up all long-range weapons to lock onto the four targets assigned to him - the remaining six HCPs were to be attacked by the other three members of the team.

Although the remaining three members of the team he commanded were following his instructions at the moment, they were actually a little nervous about suddenly preparing to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

After all, although the three of them formed an elite team with Johnny Ridden, the 'First Pilot of the Renaissance Alliance', because of their excellent skills in various aspects, they, like other trainee pilots of the Renaissance Alliance, were experiencing actual space combat for the first time.

During their previous training at the A.Bava.Ku asteroid fortress, Murat had indeed assigned them a considerable portion of HCP hand-to-hand combat training.

But drawing a sword and slashing someone in training is completely different from drawing a sword and slashing someone in actual combat.
This is not a problem for these trainees, but almost all new mobile phone technicians will go through this process.

There is no pressure of death in training, and it is really cool to draw out the plasma heavy sword and fight the enemy in close combat, so it is common for pilots to be keen on using the heavy sword to complete the "end" during training.

But in actual combat, drawing the sword is often the lowest priority option.

Because HCP's hand-to-hand combat is completely uncontrollable, no one knows what will happen after entering the fight.

Moreover, the Plasma Heavy Slash Sword is one of the few weapons that can ignore the existence of the deflection field, and its damage effect is among the best, so even the most elite pilots may be overturned in hand-to-hand combat.
But now the three members of Johnny's team didn't have time to think so much. The situation on the battlefield changed rapidly. No matter how much you thought about it, you couldn't predict what would happen in the next second, so sometimes you could only do it first and talk about it later.

They also obediently followed Johnny Ridden's orders and powered up the plasma heavy sword in the weapon container on the back of the HCP so that it could be used directly after being pulled out.

At this time, Johnny Riding had already opened fire on his target.

The first direct hit from the heavy particle cannon melted the cockpit of the first target. Although the last bit of the deflection field was still working desperately, it could basically not provide any protection against the close-range bombardment of the heavy metal particle jet.

Next came the second round of charged particle cannon fire, which directly blew up the plasma rocket launcher on the weapon rack behind the second target, and then damaged the plasma propulsion array under the weapon rack.

Before the pilot of the HCP could readjust his posture, Johnny Riding's quickly deployed electromagnetic reconnection cannon fired a double round of shots, completely smashing the opponent's cockpit and subcritical reactor into pieces.

Although the superconducting battery pile did not explode, Johnny Riding knew that the enemy was definitely dead.

After quickly dealing with these two targets, Johnny Riding did not hesitate at all. He placed the heavy shield attached to his left shoulder armor across his body, pushed the throttle to the bottom, and rushed directly towards the third target in the distance.

Although the fully equipped 'Aegis' was equipped with plasma rocket launchers and combat bays installed on the left and right sides of the HCP's calves, Johnny Ridden had already used up all of these close-range weapons in the previous battle, and had discarded the launchers and bays to reduce the weight of the aircraft.

As for the remaining long-range weapons, since the superconducting battery stack of the body has consumed most of its power, it is now in a state of "charging while firing", so it is impossible to fire as quickly and continuously as before.
With the sudden acceleration and the push on his back, Johnny Riding pulled out the pre-powered plasma heavy sword, and then kept the deflection force field generator running at maximum power and crashed into it.

The opponent's pilot had just come back to his senses from the 'plasma fireworks' and was operating the power-off restart of the deflection field generator, but he saw the logos of two nearby friendly forces disappear on the full-circle screen - in battle, this often means that they have been destroyed.

"what's the situation."

The pilot subconsciously turned the front of the aircraft towards the direction where the friendly forces were attacked, and just as he was about to turn the shield sideways to protect the cockpit, he was hit directly by Johnny Riding who rushed from the direction close to the zenith. The omnidirectional viewfinder on the head of the aircraft was crushed on the spot, and various external sensors on the upper body of the aircraft were also scrapped by the arc drawn by the deflection force field and the impact of the heavy shield.

This directly resulted in the loss of most of the outside view in the full-circle cockpit of the aircraft, and the pilot did not know how to respond at that moment.

However, the kindhearted Johnny Riding helped him solve the problem very efficiently. After flexibly adjusting the posture of the machine to become parallel to the target, the heavy sword in the hand of the red "Holy Shield" completed a clean and neat horizontal slash.

Without even needing to confirm, Johnny Riding knew that the other pilot was deader than dead.

But the words of the Atlas instructors and Murat during the training were already imprinted in his mind, so he used the high-energy lasers on both sides of the head viewfinder to scan the gap in the opponent's cockpit again.

When he destroyed three planes in a very short time, the rest of the team just started firing at full force.
But he couldn't care less about that now, because he found that the last target also drew out the heavy sword and rushed towards him. Judging from the opponent's position and actions, it was most likely the wingman of the "Sword of the Dead".

"Well done!"

Johnny Riding's fighting spirit was immediately aroused. He lightly controlled the body of the machine to roll. Just as he was about to go forward to have a "man-to-man encounter" with the other pilot, Manfred's team, which had completed a big loop in the distance, came back again.

"I'll help you!"

Several beams of charged particles shot at the opponent's face in an instant, and finally shot directly through the superconducting battery pile, turning this last enemy into a fireball.

Johnny Riding was interrupted halfway through his charge and could only readjust his course towards the enemy that his teammates were responsible for.

It was at this time that all eyes, including his on the inner battlefield, regardless of friend or foe, were focused on the super flagship moving at full speed.

Under Randall's command, the 'Infinity' rushed out of its own fleet's formation with an unstoppable momentum, and rushed towards the garrison fleet's flagship 'Balkan' in full view of everyone.

Everyone had guessed what the Infinity was going to do, and on the Balkan, which was targeted, Major General Kimmel yelled like crazy:

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! All warships concentrate their firepower on the enemy flagship and sink it! Helmsman, prepare for emergency evasion, don't let the enemy hit us!"

Although Kimmel didn't know what would happen to Atlas's super flagship after the collision, he knew that the battleship under his feet would definitely not be able to withstand it.

Even if it was hit by a battleship of the same tonnage, both sides would be destroyed, let alone being hit in the face by such a larger super flagship.

But even if he gave the order to focus fire on the Infinity, the only ships that could respond to the order were the nearby warships.

Not to mention that the warships a little further away were besieged by Atlas's HCP and battleships, even adjusting the axial aiming of the Infinity would take time.

With the main propulsion array of the Infinity running at super-powered speed, its relative speed had already reached a very high level, leaving insufficient time for the garrison fleet to launch a concentrated attack.

Looking at the Infinity approaching, Kimmel and everyone on the bridge were all nervous.

Just when everyone thought it was too late to evade and began to pray in a low voice, a battleship forced its way "overtaking" from the left, squeezed in between the "Balkanist" and the "Infinity", and continued to rush in the direction of the former.

"It's the 'Rock'! They've restarted the main propulsion array!"

In a flash, Rear Admiral Kimmel had no time to say anything. He could only watch the battleship, which was wounded in many places and emitting thick smoke and flames, protecting the "Balkan man" like a shield.

At the same time, the communications officer also translated the light signals sent by the other party.

"Our ships will cover the flagship's breakout at all costs."

On the other side, looking at the 'Rock' that suddenly appeared, Randall couldn't help but frowned, but by this time it was too late for the 'Infinity' to evade.

Because even if they avoided the "Rock" in an emergency, they would not be able to readjust their course in time to hit the opponent's flagship.

"Tsk, don't worry about that, just ram it! All ships get ready for the impact!"

"Understood. Attention, all ships, prepare for impact! I repeat. Attention, all ships, prepare for impact!"

The extremely high relative speed between the two ships caused the final distance of more than 2000 kilometers to return to zero after more than ten seconds.

The size difference between the battleship and the super flagship made the 'Rock' look like Don Quixote rushing towards the 'Windmill Monster', but it still did not hesitate at all.

The moment the two ships collided, time seemed to freeze.

The huge impact force caused the space between the two warships to seem to be distorted in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, all the crew members on the Rock heard a deafening sound of metal tearing - the battleship's hull could not withstand such a powerful force and began to break into pieces.

The deflection field concentrated at the bow of the Infinity was no longer just a defensive measure at this moment, but like Thor's hammer shining with arcs of electricity, it completely smashed the battleship in front of it.

The Rock didn't last even a second in the collision. The battleship's massive hull quickly broke into several pieces, and the external armor fragments scattered like fireworks.

Each piece of debris was spinning in the vacuum away from the center of the battlefield, leaving silvery-white tracks in the light of the Big Rubion, like a meteor across the night sky.

In contrast, the Infinity, which had initiated the collision, passed through the chaos almost unscathed.

Her extremely strong hull and the deflection field generator that concentrated the force field on the bow and operated at super power allowed the battleship to withstand the damage caused by the collision.

Although there were a few minor scratches on the surface of the hull, these were insignificant for this super flagship that took the initiative to take on the task of attracting fire.

At the moment of the impact, damage control teams from all over the ship were quickly dispatched to check all modules that may have hidden damage and confirm that all systems were operating normally.

Randall and other personnel on the bridge finally breathed a sigh of relief after pausing for several seconds.

But everyone forced themselves to suppress the urge to cheer, because they all knew that the battle was not over yet and the enemy's flagship had not been sunk yet.

However, because of the collision just now, the 'Infinity' suffered a serious deviation. The helmsman tried his best but found that he could not readjust his course before crossing with the 'Balkan Man'. This also meant that the 'Infinity' could no longer launch a collision with the enemy flagship.

"Colonel, it's too late!"

The tone of the officer on duty was somewhat anxious. He knew the reason why Randall wanted to initiate the ramming, and naturally he also knew the consequences of failing to sink the opponent's flagship.

"No, there's still time." Randall suddenly smiled.
"Don't forget, we are a battleship, and we have more than just the main gun and ramming methods of attack.
Pass on my order! Activate all weapon groups except the Axis Cannon, and let them see the firepower delivery capability of the Infinity!"

(End of this chapter)