From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 148 Professional Team

In the sortie area of ​​the Gnaku in the bottom cabin of the Hermes.

The No. 1 machine piloted by Amber is ready to stand on the lifting platform and will attack as soon as it reaches attack range.

Although Murat, who was responsible for driving the No. 2 machine, did not need to perform assault missions, he still put on a heavy-duty hydraulic anti-gravity suit and sat in the cockpit.

He will serve as a backup force to support Amber in case of emergency.

As a destroyer, this Dragoon class can actually carry a squadron, that is, 10 HCPs.

But Amber hasn't had time to fill up the HCP squadron yet.

It is not difficult to buy a new or second-hand HCP. The difficulty is that there are not so many skilled pilots available for a while.

Although Amber's current idea is to let Lilith refer to her idea of ​​​​instant shipboard control personality, and think about it to see if she can create a group of AI pilots.

After all, this was how Lilith played in her previous life.

But this work obviously cannot be completed in a short time, so the plan to replenish the HCP squadron is still on hold.

"The Gnaku gas is drained! The maintenance team conducts the final sortie inspection!"

The Hermes had removed its optical camouflage at this time, and the ship's main energy circuit was switched to the main gun.

There is no doubt about the big capitalists.

"All personnel in the cabin, check again whether their safety ropes have been fixed!"

"Open the sortie hatch! Lift the platform and send Unit 1 into the sortie ejection track!"

The indicator light group in the center of the Gnaku also lit up with a yellow light.

All in all, they are constantly squeezing out all their potential.

The driver of the assault boat is Tom, who has received training in driving small ships.

Time continued to pass, and when the attack countdown came to 3 minutes, the indicator light group turned red.

And he has now achieved his goal in life at this stage - becoming the leader of the vehicle maintenance team of a warship, responsible for the maintenance, preparation, and sortie work of all vehicles.

While everyone in the bottom cabin of Gnaku was busy, the countdown to the start of the attack came to 10 minutes.

The squad leader, who was temporarily transferred to Amber's assault team during the space elevator assault, also led his team members to follow Amber until now.

"Close all hatches in the Gnaku! All personnel turn on the constant temperature and oxygen supply systems! HCPs and assault boats pay attention to enabling external oxygen supply lines!"

In addition to Amber and Murat, the Marines who were about to jump out of the gang also boarded the assault boat. They would also eject after Amber's attack.

Even the heaven-defying Marine who missed the target with two shots before was able to take up the position of part-time gunner after training.

Under the flashing red light, Amber, who was sitting in the cockpit, also followed the HCP to the outside of the ship.

Although the marines in the assault boat had been cheering him on, the pilot, who had not driven an assault boat for several years and had only become familiar with the operation again in the past two days, could not help but feel panicked.

"Ten minutes countdown!"

The entire Gnaku also suddenly lowered the brightness of its lights.

The amplifier device played the slightly excited voice of a middle-aged man.

There are not many people under Amber, but he has placed everyone in the right position.

As the countdown entered its final countdown, Amber, who was in the cockpit, could feel the location of the fusion reactor in the middle of the ship, and a huge amount of energy began to emerge.

"321 fire!"

At the same time, the Eric brothers in the operations base had received an early warning—a destroyer-class warship had entered the warning circle and was heading here without concealment.

Before the two of them could give any instructions, they saw through the skylight of the operations base a flash of white light in the direction of the zenith where the enemy was attacking.

Immediately afterwards, 8% of the air mines deployed nearby were collectively detonated in an instant.

"Brother." Just as John was about to say something, he felt another flash of white light.

Having had many interactions with warships, he recognized this as a standard shot from a heavy particle cannon.

At the same time, the panicked voices of the younger brothers also sounded on the communication channel.

"Boss! A high-speed heat source was detected, and the opponent ejected the HCP!"

"Where are our HCPs? Get them dispatched urgently!"

The two 'pirate ships' of the Eric brothers also carried HCP.

It's just that with their method, the only ones they can get are the previous generation HCP, four federally produced 'Platypus' Block30.

Although it is a previous generation product, it can at least use an airborne heavy particle cannon, which is enough to ambush merchant ships.

But in the current situation, to be honest, Marvin was starting to feel unsure.

The other party can quietly reach a distance of 1 kilometers, indicating that it is a military ship equipped with optical camouflage and black body components.

Although civilian ships also have similar optical camouflage, the effect is not comparable to that on military ships.

Not to mention the black body, this kind of component that can absorb radar waves has always been only qualified to be equipped on military ships.

Therefore, the incoming ships were either private soldiers of the Timler family or the Imperial Navy called to 'suppress bandits'.

"Boss! Another assault boat was discovered! They seem to want to join the gang?"

This time, the voice on the communication channel became a little hesitant.

After all, the patrol fleets we met on weekdays would just open fire when they saw pirates like them, without even thinking about capturing them alive, so naturally they would not release assault boats to join the gang.

"Isn't that right? Do these idiots not want to pay the ransom but want to rescue people?!"

Marvin was angry, but before he could release his anger, he saw two blue beams of light shining on an armed merchant ship docked nearby.

The charged particle cannon falling from the zenith easily tore open the top armor plate of the armed merchant ship.

These pirates do not have the discipline of the regular army, and wearing space suits is not as comfortable as wearing regular clothes.

Therefore, they did not evacuate the cabin air on alert and inject inert gas at key locations inside the ship.

The result was an attack from the charged particle cannon, which naturally caused a fire in the area hit.

These pirates under Marvin do not have professional damage control personnel, and usually rely on the civilian-grade automatic damage control system that comes with the ship.

It was okay to take care of minor injuries, but when attacked by such a military-grade weapon, it stopped immediately, so the fire quickly spread throughout the ship, and several explosions occurred.

Immediately afterwards, there was a violent flash of light.

The subcritical reactor of the armed merchant ship exploded.

The high-temperature plasma formed a huge fireball, and Marvin watched in pain as 50% of his belongings were reduced to ashes in the universe.

He realized that this time there was definitely no way to end well. If he wanted to survive, these hostages in his hand were his only trump card.

"Everyone! Bring all the hostages to the control room! And bring me those bombs and detonators!"

On the bridge of the Hermes, 'ten-year veteran' Leah was still reporting in real time the situation captured by the sensors.

"The charged particle cannon hit the target! It has been confirmed that the enemy ship No. 1 exploded! The main gun has an emergency cold cut and is expected to be able to fire again in 30 seconds!"

"It's not our turn to fire. The remaining ship is Amber's prey."

Randall looked at the HCP with the green logo of friendly forces and a long trail on the main screen, his expression relaxed.

"This ship begins to slow down, and the deflection field activates the automatic defense mode to prevent these pirates from jumping over the wall."

(End of this chapter)