From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 734: Tonight's Airborne Landing in Saint-Saunière
"Tell me, what the hell do you mean by a warship entering the atmosphere? With such a large length and volume, it will disintegrate directly during the entry!"

When the commander of the Imperial Capital's air defense received the news from various air defense positions, his first reaction was to completely disbelieve the other party's words. After all, according to his experience, "a warship breaking into the atmosphere" was indeed an impossible thing.

But when the optical and infrared images captured by the sensors from various air defense positions were synchronized, the air defense commander was dumbfounded when he saw the 18 fallen "door panels". At the same time, he also learned that these "door panels" did not respond to the enemy identification signal, which means that these were not friendly units.

"This doesn't look like a warship. How can a warship look like this?" The air defense commander looked at the falling target in the picture in confusion. "Is it some kind of kinetic impact weapon suicide satellite?! Attention, all positions, start intercepting with all your strength, don't let these things fall to the ground!"

As his orders were given, the anti-aircraft defense positions deployed in various parts of the imperial capital began to launch anti-aircraft attacks one after another. The target size of the "airdrop fortress" was actually very easy for ground-based anti-aircraft weapons to capture.

locking
Capture
The intercepting firepower net was instantly opened, and colorful energy beams intertwined into a web of death, trying to wrap and strangle the eighteen huge airdrop fortresses.

The air defense commander of Saint-Saunière, as well as the operators of air defense positions throughout the imperial capital, were all staring at the screen, praying that nothing would go wrong in the interception operation.

In a sense, these air defense positions have done a good job. Their interception operation did not go wrong. The beams of the anti-aircraft heavy particle cannon and the charged particle cannon successfully hit the target.
Unfortunately, the explosion they expected did not happen.

On the contrary, when the energy beam touched the bottom of the fortress, it was like hitting an invisible barrier. The brilliant light was either refracted in all directions or absorbed by the fiery red light below the airdropped fortress.

It was not until this time that the commanders of various air defense positions suddenly realized that the thick plasma layer surged after the violent friction between the bottom of the airdrop fortress and the atmosphere, like an indestructible shield, which completely invalidated the energy weapon attacks.

Seeing this scene, the air defense commander's anxious roar was heard in the air defense command channel: "Attention, all positions! Switch. Switch to live ammunition weapons!"

"Received! Anti-aircraft missiles ready!"

"The anti-aircraft electromagnetic reconnection gun group begins emergency charging!"

The rapid voices of command were like a tide in the air defense command channel, and various air defense positions quickly adjusted their firepower configurations. Since the weapons of choice for air defense operations are all kinds of near-light-speed weapons to increase interception accuracy, all kinds of live ammunition weapons are often used as alternatives.

One by one, the anti-aircraft missile silos buried underground were slowly opened, and bursts of white mist were discharged. The high-performance anti-aircraft missiles inside the silos that had never been thought to be used were also loaded into place.

The 'Stonehenge' electromagnetic railgun arrays arranged as fixed artillery positions on the surface also raised their long acceleration tracks and pointed them at targets that were getting lower and lower in the sky. A new round of interception firepower was about to be poured out.

However, just as these air defense positions that had completed the conversion of backup weapons were preparing to launch a new round of strikes, the air defense commander also received a warning from the fleet in orbit - the heavy cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers that had been accompanying the super flagship "Dawn" had quietly entered the low orbit of Saint-Saunière at some point.
Since the number of these accompanying ships was not large, neither the Regent Fleet, Duke Soren's fleet nor the orbital defense platform paid too much attention to these warships.

Because in front of an organized fleet, no matter how powerful these Atlas warships are, they cannot compete with it.

However, no one expected that the warships that Amber arranged to accompany the "Dawn" operation were not originally intended to conduct anti-ship operations, but to launch orbital strikes on the imperial capital of Saint-Saunière.
Even Princess Agnes did not know this, because Amber knew that the other party would never easily agree to the Atlas Group launching an orbital strike on the imperial capital.

The orbital defense platform surrounding Saint-Saunière should have been the biggest barrier to restrict these warships in the outer space of the planet, but at this moment it is useless.

The unreasonable surprise attack by the Immortals, coupled with the close-range firepower of the Dawn's huge secondary weapon groups, had already paralyzed many of the unprepared orbital defense platforms - if the Dawn had been moored a little further away, perhaps the orbital defense platforms might have been able to struggle.

But Princess Agnes directly arranged it in the 'VIP seat' very close to the platform, which greatly facilitated the 'Dawn' to launch a surprise attack.

At the same time, the electronic warfare virus that invaded the orbital defense platform continued to spread. Although the platform's control personality had mobilized most of the computing power to resist, these electronic warfare viruses created by Lilith herself were still slowly and steadily eroding the core system of the defense platform.

This also allowed the Atlas warship to enter low orbit without any hindrance.

The Imperial Capital Air Defense Commander on the ground was also suddenly awakened after seeing these warships entering low orbit with their bows pointing down, but it was all too late. He did not even have time to issue an order for the emergency transfer of the mobile units in various positions through the command channel.

Dozens of blue-white beams of light descended from the sky like divine punishment, tearing through the atmosphere and heading straight to the ground.

The targets of the attack were precisely those air defense positions whose coordinates had been exposed in the previous air defense operation.

The torrent of heavy metal particles, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, hit the target at an unpredictable speed. The last scene that the units on the air defense positions saw in panic was the doomsday scene.

The heavy particle cannons of destroyers and light cruisers were as powerful as tactical nuclear bombs when performing orbital strike missions, and the main guns of heavy cruisers were comparable to those of battleships, and their power was far beyond imagination.

At this moment, the troops on the ground in Saint-Saunière, whether it is the Princess Guards guarding the Grand Palace, the Imperial Guards and the Martyrs Legion that are besieging, or the orbital paratroopers who are airborne under the Regent Fleet and the Duke of Sauron Fleet.

Everyone witnessed this miraculous scene.

Dazzling balls of light rose up one after another around the imperial capital, like "little suns" that suddenly exploded. Shock waves and heat waves spread at an extremely fast speed and devoured everything they touched.
After many revisions, the Atlas Group combat fleet's process for executing orbital strikes has been perfected.

With the assistance of the ship-borne control systems of each ship, the attack accuracy has reached a level that is unimaginable with traditional orbital strikes.

Each beam of light hits the intended target with incredible precision - the center of each air defense position - without the slightest deviation.

Faced with the orbital strikes of battleship-class heavy particle cannons, the anti-aircraft positions deployed on the ground were extremely vulnerable and had no power to resist.

Even storing and relocating mobile air defense equipment has become a luxury.

In the continuous huge explosions, the air defense positions around the imperial capital disappeared completely as if they were erased by an eraser.
"You launched an orbital strike on the Imperial Capital without informing us, Lord Amber."

Agnes, who saw this scene in the Grand Palace, felt a bit complicated at the moment. Although she also expected that Atlas' combat forces would be able to turn the tide after being put into battle, this kind of "bombardment of the imperial capital" without any prior notice was a bit too "stimulating" for her, the crown prince of the empire.

Jacques Cole, who was standing beside her, quickly noticed the princess's worry. After thinking for a moment, he stepped forward and whispered:
"Your Highness, we should focus on the overall situation. Amber's move is also to intervene in the ground battle as soon as possible. And I believe that these broken bottles and jars can be replaced in the future."

"Of course I understand this, but I still feel a little strange, seeing the capital being attacked by the orbit with my own eyes."
-
Just as the Atlas fleet ruthlessly destroyed the ground air defense positions around the imperial capital through this round of swift orbital strikes, the 18 airdrop fortresses that had entered the atmosphere finally broke through the black barrier zone and entered the deceleration phase.

The huge fortress group began to adjust its posture according to the landing procedure, and the large gravity control units deployed in various places also started to start up, so that the subsequent "hard landing" could be as gentle as possible.

On the sides of these fortresses, disposable multi-purpose launch silos were slowly opened. These launch silos, which were simply used to perform "procedural cleaning" of the landing area during the fortress landing process, also quickly began to attack.

Tactical ground-attack missiles poured down like raindrops, covering the entire designated landing area. The ground turned into a sea of ​​fire in an instant, and all the imperial troops that might be hiding there suffered heavy losses.

Inside the airdrop fortress, the First Army's soldiers, combat vehicles, and HCPs were lined up and secured according to the attack waves.

At this moment, Van Fleet's slightly fanatical encouragement was also heard in the communication channel. Although the former lieutenant general of the Federal Army tried his best to suppress his excitement at the moment when he was about to set foot on the land of the capital of the Star Dragon Empire, everyone could hear the excitement in his words.

"Landing countdown! 30 seconds!"

"Countdown 20 seconds!"

"Countdown 10 seconds!"

"987"

"321!"

"boom!"

Amid violent tremors, eighteen airdrop fortresses as big as hills, with the full operation of the gravity control unit, successfully landed on the surface of Saint-Saunière, the capital of the Star Dragon Empire.

At the moment of landing, Van Fleet's excited voice was heard in the command channel: "Attention all fortresses, deploy to 'battle fortress' mode, all defense and support weapon groups are activated! All units of the First Army, quickly complete the landing and deploy according to the predetermined combat plan!"

"Attack target, the Grand Palais of Saint-Saunière!"

(End of this chapter)