From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 538: A perfect raid that also exists in reality
The Rubion galaxy garrison fleet, under the order of Major General Kimmel, had already entered a state of "full combat readiness", and the first wave of HCPs waiting to attack had already stood on the elevator.

So when he ordered the HCP squadrons to attack one after another to assist in air defense operations and fleet cover, the first wave of HCPs quickly completed the ejection.

However, unlike the exciting fleet attack scene that Johnny Riding saw when he attacked, the HCP pilots of the Rubion galaxy garrison fleet saw a purgatory-like scene after standing on the electromagnetic catapult track.

Everywhere you look, you can see huge fireballs produced by the explosion of battleships. These blue-white high-temperature plasma fireballs are dazzling and eye-catching, and at the same time illuminate this area of ​​the universe with incredible brightness.

As for the damaged ships that were not sunk on the spot, the working water in their cooling layer had been trying to cool the hull and damaged parts. Therefore, many ships were covered by white smoke formed by the evaporation of the working water while burning. This situation seriously obstructed the vision and sensor observation, which directly made the already chaotic fleet even worse.

So after the first wave of HCPs completed the ejection, they did not immediately light up their propulsion arrays and rush to their respective combat positions, but immediately began to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid the flying debris within the fleet formation.

In addition to the large wreckage left by the battleship being sunk, the airspace where the garrison fleet passed through also contained a large number of various parts, supplies, and ammunition thrown out from the damaged parts of the battleship.
For a warship, some small debris may just leave a little trace when it hits it, or it may be directly twisted away by the deflection field.

But for HCP pilots, if the aircraft collides with these wreckages that move in an irregular manner, there will be no other result except the destruction of the aircraft and the death of the pilots.

In addition to these wreckages, the covering salvos currently launched by the Atlas fleet also make the journey of HCP even more dangerous. Whether it is unlucky enough to be hit directly by the opponent's main gun, or encountering heavy metal particles that are refracted to the surroundings after hitting the deflection field, it is not a good thing.

But even though these HCP pilots were extremely alert and showed off their evasive abilities at high speed, some still crashed into the target due to their inability to evade in time, and ended up becoming one of the plasma fireballs that kept exploding in the fleet.
The remaining HCPs had managed to survive the "debris storm" and successfully break through the large wreckage to reach the designated defense area. Their pilots did not even have time to catch their breath before they had to immediately begin air interception operations in accordance with combat orders.

An HCP pilot of the garrison fleet, when he was the only pilot left in his squadron of four, finally arrived at the combat position that his squadron was supposed to be in charge of.

At this moment, in addition to the HCPs launched by nearby warships, many HCP squadrons from other warships arrived in the surrounding airspace to assist.

The high-energy laser turrets and charged particle cannons installed on the sides of several nearby warships were pointing straight in the direction of the Atlas fleet like a hedgehog.

These high-energy laser turrets and charged particle cannons are not fixed on the ship like axial guns, but have a hemispherical base that can rotate 180 degrees. Therefore, in addition to serving as secondary anti-ship firepower, the more important role of these weapons is actually to be used as anti-aircraft weapons.

The characteristics of high-energy lasers and charged particle beams make them relatively compatible during air defense operations.

Right now, these near-light-speed weapons that have switched to the 'air defense mode' are continuously flashing red or dark purple beams to intercept the incoming electromagnetic reconnection artillery projectiles.

Although the projectiles fired by electromagnetic guns are actually a relatively slow attack method in fleet warfare, their power cannot be underestimated, especially the alloy anti-ship penetrator rods that carry huge kinetic energy, which will make anyone who underestimates it regret it.
"Falcon Squadron has arrived at the battle position. Four aircraft were expected to arrive, but only one aircraft has arrived. The network has been established and the detected targets have been received to launch air defense operations!"

When the fleet is conducting air defense operations, it will be divided into multiple areas, and different air defense commanders will be responsible for command and coordination to prevent the overlap of targets or the omission of targets.

Half of the HCPs responsible for assisting in air defense operations come from the warships on the inner side of the fleet formation. After arriving at their combat positions, they will quickly access the command network of this air defense area and join the communication channel.

However, when the only surviving pilot of the Falcon Squadron took his position and reported in the communication channel according to the regulations, he did not receive any response except for seeing the "read" mark from the air defense commander and other warship liaison officers.

If it were someone else, they might feel that the air defense commander and the battleship liaison officers were a little cold. After all, this team had finally come to support at the cost of almost being wiped out, but they didn't even say "thank you".

However, the surviving pilot of the Falcon Squadron did not think so, because he knew very well that the pressure on the area air defense commander and the battleship liaison officers was not low at the moment. In addition, the huge amount of information and data that needed to be processed every moment left them with no time to reply.

The pilot knew that he only had to take care of himself, but these people were responsible for all the crew members on the battleship and all the battleships in their area.
Soon, the 'Bear' Block 20 piloted by the surviving pilot received the information synchronized from the tactical network.

A large number of densely packed red marks quickly appeared on the full-circle screen, enough to kill a trypophobic patient on the spot - these were all detected physical projectiles.

"Wow. So many."

The pilot of the Dwarf Bear suddenly felt a chill on his spine, and his throat moved involuntarily as he swallowed his saliva.

But he knew that all he could do now was to try his best to intercept.
"Bella, switch to 'coordinated air defense operations' mode!"

"Received. The battle mode has been switched. Do you need to increase the AI ​​assisted aiming strength?"

The soothing and sweet voice of the combat assistance AI rang in his ears, and the pilot nodded without hesitation after hearing it.

"Pull it all in, I can't hit so many targets by myself"

As he opened his mouth, the weapon rack on the back of the machine was deployed, and the charged particle cannon and heavy high-energy laser cannon extended from the left and right behind the shoulders.

The pilot had to be grateful for the god-like maintenance ability of his maintenance team. He managed to change his equipment from the anti-ship combination of "heavy particle cannon + electromagnetic reconnection cannon" to the anti-aircraft combination before the lifting platform was raised.
"Redistribute the body's energy to prioritize the continuous irradiation of charged particle cannons and high-energy lasers!"

"Received. The energy circuit has been readjusted. You can start the attack!"

As soon as the combat assistance AI finished speaking, the pilot immediately began the attack. After indicating the target through pupil aiming, the combat assistance AI immediately obtained information such as the target's relative speed and current trajectory - after entering the tactical network, this information was automatically shared by friendly ships.

In less than half a second, a red mark on the full-circle screen was put into a 'lock frame', and the pilot opened fire without hesitation.

The charged particle cannon fired first, and at the same time the pilot locked onto another target, this time using a heavy high-energy laser cannon to attack.

As the attack began, the pilot also raised the electromagnetic machine gun held by his mechanical arm, ready to intercept any fish that slipped through the net if they got too close.

In addition to the 'Dwarf Bear' he was driving, the friendly HCPs nearby also began to attack. A large amount of high-energy rays flashed on the flanks of the fleet like a rain of light. The entire garrison fleet also began to slow down and adjust its axis in the process.

However, as the fleet was currently attacked first by the enemy and suffered several rounds of salvos, the speed of adjusting its axis was also affected and greatly reduced.

Then, the voice of a real person issuing orders finally rang out in the communication channel: "Attention all HCP guards, advance the front line, the enemy assault force is advancing with the help of physical warheads, prepare to intercept!"

The pilot did not think much about the command that sounded on the communication channel. He quickly followed the other HCPs around him and flew to the periphery of the fleet, preparing to form an interception line to attack the "assault force" sent by the Atlas fleet.

But they soon discovered that there were still a large number of projectiles fired by electromagnetic reconnection guns ahead that needed to be intercepted, and these projectiles quickly entered the fleet's final air defense circle. The extremely high relative speed and angular velocity made this "terminal defense" rapidly more difficult.

Each HCP also had to start adjusting its position according to the air defense combat regulations to prevent its body from being smashed to pieces by the electromagnetic reconnection gun due to bad luck.

"Team Four, evade! Evade!"

The sudden shout in the communication channel made the pilot involuntarily cast his eyes towards the location of the 'Fourth Team', but the next second he saw the electromagnetic cannon projectile that was supposed to pass through the gaps between the squadron's bodies explode instantly in front of this HCP team.

The clustered directional prefabricated fragmentation warhead directly set off a hemispherical arc of electricity dancing wildly in the space, but this was just the beginning, because it was followed by the second, third, and fourth 'AHEAD bombs'.

The continuous directional fragments were not completely blocked by the deflection force field after all. When the power dropped sharply and it was under continuous attack, the defensive effect of the deflection force field became worse and worse.

The team didn't even have time to evacuate from the enemy's attack beam before they were held in place by the endless stream of AHEAD shells. Then two HCPs were hit in critical parts and immediately turned into two fireballs. However, the only pilot in the Falcon team couldn't feel sad for the death of his allies because he was also suppressed at the moment.

The air defense commanders in the garrison fleet never expected that Atlas' combat fleet, contrary to its usual practice, did not use tungsten alloy anti-ship piercing rods, but instead used AHEAD shells that are more commonly used in air defense and anti-HCP combat.

So when the HCP responsible for coordinated air defense passed the warship and moved forward, it was soon attacked by the AHEAD missiles that penetrated the air defense network.

Generally speaking, the acceleration track of battleship-class electromagnetic reconnection guns can be split for use. The 50-meter-class can be split into two guns, while the 2-meter-class and 75-meter-class can be split into 3-4 guns.

The 'energy supply unit' arranged under the track can be used as a turret connected to the separated acceleration track in the split state. In this way, when air defense operations are required, the 25-meter-class electromagnetic reconnection gun with faster charging can exert greater combat effectiveness.

Moreover, in the case of "one becomes many", the air defense network of the ship will be strengthened as the instantaneous firepower delivery increases, which will have a higher deterrent effect on enemy units that are penetrating.
However, in the 'multi-gun-in-one' combination state, the battleship-class electromagnetic reconnection gun has a worst-case acceleration track of 50 meters, and the combined AHEAD projectile fired will have a higher basic mass, and will naturally be more powerful than ordinary ammunition.

This is like asking a main battle tank to defend against the high-explosive shells of another tank. The most it can do with armor protection is to destroy some external parts.

But if this unfortunate main battle tank is facing a "classical" 460 naval gun, then even a high-explosive shell fired by the opponent will be equally deadly.

The last HCP of the Falcon Team is facing a similar situation at this moment.

After being caught in the attack range of the combined AHEDA shells fired by two cruiser 100-meter-class electromagnetic reconnection guns, the two consecutive rounds of directional fragmentation attacks not only pushed the deflection force field of the body to the edge of overload, but also the left mechanical arm holding the heavy protective shield was shattered into pieces.

However, relying on his excellent skills, the pilot managed to evade the third AHEAD bomb before it exploded.

But the other two friendly planes behind him that reacted more slowly were not so lucky.

An already exhausted HCP was instantly blasted into a hole-ridden rag by a massive amount of directional fragments.

As for another HCP, due to the pilot's panic-stricken control error, the rear side of the aircraft, which had little protection, directly collided with the deflection field of a light cruiser further behind.

The plasma propulsion array at its back was overloaded by the electric arc produced by the battleship-class deflection field, causing the internal superconducting battery stack to quench. The machine was quickly reduced to a pile of unrecognizable debris by the "double treatment" of the electric arc and high-temperature plasma.

"The third interception zone needs to be filled! Repeat, the third interception zone needs to be filled!"

After seeing this scene, the last pilot of the Falcon Squadron immediately called for support on the area's air defense channel, while continuing to make evasive maneuvers with the aircraft he controlled.

He did not forget that in addition to the continuous attack of AHEAD shells, the enemy's assault troops were also approaching rapidly.

However, the good luck of this lone pilot ended there.

A sudden heavy particle cannon shot hit the chest of the machine squarely. The deflection field, which was already on the verge of collapse, couldn't hold on for even half a second under this blow. The surging heavy metal particle jet instantly tore apart the upper body of the machine.

Soon, the initiator of the heavy particle cannon shooting, the red 'Holy Shield' controlled by Johnny Riding, led his team to break through the air defense gap, and in the next second they smoothly split into two double-plane formations to meet the enemies coming from all around.

"'Red Baron', hurry up! Rush through this gap!"

Johnny Riding's excited voice rang out in the communication channel, but this time his face no longer had the confident smile of the 'genius pilot'.

But filled with irrepressible fear
After hitching a ride on the heavy armored combat boat squadron commanded by Manfred, Johnny Riding, who was participating in actual space combat for the first time, experienced a breakthrough that he will never forget.

The high-energy rays flying all over the sky, the trajectories pulled out by the physical warheads, and the blue-white beams bombarded by the heavy particle cannons almost covered the entire full-circle screen.

Manfred's 'Baron' team, on the other hand, used a round of 'something a normal person would never want to experience a second time' to narrowly avoid all threatening attacks.

But the situation was different for the other friendly forces around. Johnny Riding had seen more than once that friendly forces were destroyed in an organized manner by the enemy's anti-aircraft fire.

The "ultimate combat weapon" that Johnny Riding once believed to be omnipotent in land battles has completely become a consumable in this fleet battle, and is even more fragile than infantry in land battles.

The cognition of this 'True Red Lightning' was greatly shocked during the short and exciting breakthrough, but fortunately he did not lose his combat effectiveness. Instead, he became stronger due to the activation of his 'survival instinct'.

At the last moment of the breakthrough, after releasing the "fusion" with the heavy armored combat boat driven by Manfred, he quickly activated the disposable solid rocket booster mounted on the body, and rushed out first with his team at a faster acceleration.

Then he performed the high-speed shooting 'special skill' with the same accuracy as before.

After he and other HCPs in the team tried to maintain the gap, Manfred, who followed closely behind, immediately led three other heavy armored combat boats and completed the final breakthrough in a dense wedge formation.

The battle started with a salvo of heavy particle cannons from four heavy armored combat boats. After weakening the already weak deflection field on the side of the light cruiser in front, two plasma torpedoes, with the acceleration given by the combat boats, hit the side of the light cruiser despite the opponent's anti-aircraft fire.

Two brilliant white plasma fireballs expanded rapidly. Manfred even saw the moment when the high-temperature plasma melted the battleship's external armor. However, the battleship automatically adjusted the amount of light entering in the next second.

The plasma torpedo's size gave it an incredible destructive effect, leaving two huge and hideous wounds on the side of the light cruiser, and even the internal titanium alloy hull frame had multiple fractures.

This directly resulted in the light cruiser breaking into three pieces a few seconds later due to the fatal impact of the imbalance in the ship's vector control.

Although Manfred was extremely excited to get his first career kill, he also knew that in such a situation, uncontrolled excitement would mean that he was not far from death.

So he immediately and calmly led his team through the bottom of the light cruiser wreckage. After pulling out an X-axis 'big loop' around the huge battleship wreckage, the four heavy armored combat boats also split into two and went to support Johnny Riding's team while charging their heavy particle cannons.

The 'gap' they created in the air defense network of the garrison fleet was soon discovered by Jacob, who was moving through the anti-aircraft fire and serving as the bombing commander.

Under his order, other heavy armored combat boats near the gap also rushed forward with HCPs at all costs, trying to expand the gap and eventually break through the air defense network of the garrison fleet.

At the same time, the Infinity had completed the deployment of the 'battle module', and all energy output was now concentrated on the weapon unit and the deflection field.

The battleship rammed into the flank of the garrison fleet like a speeding dump truck, while also launching a wide-area electronic warfare attack.

Randall's thinking was very clear at this moment. He knew that even the Infinity could not use electronic warfare viruses to hack into all enemy warships in this situation, so he directly asked the shipborne control personality to focus the attack on blocking all of the enemy's means of communication.

The result of this decision was that the Rubion Galaxy Garrison Fleet only had time to send one message to the two federal fleets after being attacked.

"My unit was attacked by the Atlas main fleet!"

(End of this chapter)