From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 767 Diamond Crack
Federation, Karot Galaxy, Renaissance Alliance controlled area.

The edge of the gravity well of Karot V, the largest Earth-like colony in the galaxy.

This regularly cleared area is the end point of the planet's main civilian waterway. Generally speaking, after civilian ships arrive here under their own power, they can then activate their jump engines to travel into deep space.

Compared with military ships with better jump engine performance, more durable hull structure, and the ability to take off directly under the influence of planetary gravity or even directly in orbit around the planet, most civilian ships, except for special ships such as large cargo ships and high-end customized cruise ships, can only enter the jump at the edge of the planet's gravity well.

This includes large jump drive arrays provided for ships without jump capabilities, commonly known as "star gates", which are generally located at the edge of the planet's gravity well.

However, there were no ships to be seen on this route at the moment, and even the large jump drive array in the distance was in dormant mode.

Since the Renaissance Alliance has adopted strict wartime control in the controlled area, many ships are forced to stay in the dock and cannot be used. Therefore, if you sail out of the port without the authorization of the Renaissance Alliance and encounter a patrol, the latter will only give a warning once, and the second time will directly open fire.
Although this strict no-fly measure is intended to ensure the safety and stability of the galaxy in wartime, from some perspectives it has indeed seriously affected the normal operation of the galaxy. The most obvious is that the efficiency of passenger logistics has been greatly reduced.

Therefore, not only the residents in the areas controlled by the Renaissance Alliance complained, but even some internal personnel of the Renaissance Alliance also had complaints about the "no-fly order".

Johnny Riding, who became the star of the Renaissance Alliance under the name of "True Red Lightning", is one of them.

"This shipping lane is dead, and prices in the galaxy are ridiculously high. If it weren't for the regular cargo fleet coming in from Atlas, I think more than half of the factories would have to stop working due to the lack of spare key components. Baron, don't you think the ban from above is a bit too much?"

"How many times have I told you not to call me 'Baron'?"

Listening to the voice of his friend on the contact communication channel, the Red Baron Manfred couldn't help but twitch his eyes.

"What's wrong? Isn't that what everyone calls you?"

"Yes, everyone calls me that, but not like you, who sound like a traitor!"

"Hahahaha!" Johnny Riding laughed, and then continued after a moment: "You haven't answered my question yet, Baron~"

"If you really want to ask me," Manfred's mind flashed through the detailed terms of the ban, and his expression became more serious, "I certainly think that this 'no-fly order' is not appropriate, especially in a galaxy that is already under complete control."

"Right! I told you that you must be thinking the same thing as me!"

Johnny Riding in the cockpit of Quan Zhoutian slapped his thigh excitedly, seeming very happy that his friend agreed with him.

"So I feel that today's mission is not right. Under such circumstances, we are lying in ambush here to catch 'Federation spies'. Let's not talk about whether there are really spies in the galaxy. Even if there are, how can these spies get ships under the no-sail order? And in the end, they are stupid enough to take this commonly used route? And all these actions have been discovered by the Alliance Control Area Inspection Committee?"

Right now, Johnny Riding's HCP team, just like cooperating with Manfred's team many times before, has three HCPs on three heavy armored combat boats, lurking at a position about 150 million kilometers in the zenith direction, with the coordinates of the end point of the route set by the Federation as the origin.

They arrived five hours ago, and 5 kilometers behind them in an asteroid debris belt that had not yet been cleared, a reconnaissance ship seized from the Federal Navy that was responsible for transporting them was hiding silently in it.

The optical camouflage is on, the subcritical reactor is operating at the lowest power, and the surface temperature of the fuselage has basically merged into the cosmic background. Only the cockpit wrapped in thermal insulation material maintains normal temperature.

Perhaps for military ships, it is not difficult for their detection units to detect these units that only have optical camouflage but no black body covering, but civilian ships, even modified armed merchant ships, cannot do this easily.

"Today's mission is indeed a bit strange."

Manfred spoke up. He actually had doubts in his heart, but he didn't say it directly like Johnny Riding.

"Right!" Johnny Riding saw that his friend was willing to answer, and immediately continued: "Let me tell you, the 'little genius' who applied for the job at the same time as us was also selected to carry out a similar interception mission. Before he left, he was still happily talking to me about random things, but after he came back, he didn't say a word, as if he was possessed by a demon!"

Manfred: "That's not a ghost, that's because they abide by the confidentiality regulations."

"Would you like to think about it again?"

Hearing Johnny Riding's words, Manfred was stunned for a moment, and then the scene of seeing Tierfin recently flashed through his mind. This fanatic who had been willing to sacrifice his life for the Renaissance Alliance since he applied for the job, seemed to have never made a similar declaration since returning from this mission.
Just as Manfred was about to say something else, a prompt tone suddenly sounded in the cockpit. This unique sound meant that the communication unit had received a triggered pulse neutrino communication, which was also an action order issued by the reconnaissance ship to their action team.

Apparently the reconnaissance ship hiding behind some asteroid debris had discovered the target.

"Received the action order, get ready to work!" Manfred immediately gave up the idea of ​​continuing to chat with Johnny Riding, instantly entered combat status, and sent the "prepare for action" order to nearby team members through blue-green laser communication.

Johnny Riding also knew that now was not the time to continue chatting. As he clicked a few buttons below the multi-function display, the full-circle screen in the cockpit was activated and lit up. In just a moment, Johnny Riding felt that he had gone from the spherical "iron coffin" to the vast space.

[Reconnaissance unit activated. Scanning begins according to the information sent by the mothership.]
[The infrared sensor detects thermal radiation signals, and feature comparison is complete.]
['Aurora' class medium cargo ship]
Looking at the information flashing continuously in front of him, Johnny Riding couldn't help but sneer.

"There is indeed a problem. Manfred, look at what spy would drive a cargo ship through the commonly used waterway under a no-sail order?"

"Johnny, I know what you're thinking, but now is not the time to talk about it. Follow the order first. We can deal with everything else after we stop it." Manfred naturally realized that something was wrong, but the idea of ​​'obeying orders' still overcame other thoughts.

"I'll do whatever you say, Lord Baron~"

"."
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"Boss, we will be able to enter the jump soon. The patrol fleet we contacted before has indeed not caught up."

On the bridge of the Aurora-class medium-sized cargo ship 'Red Copper', De Bruyne, the 'industrial giant' of the Karot galaxy, heard the captain's words and looked at the jump starting point getting closer and closer. He slowly breathed a sigh of relief and his heart was half relieved.

He squeezed his wife's hand tightly, and a smile finally appeared on his face, which had been full of gloom for some time.

"Yuli, once we meet up with the people from the Atlas Group, you won't have to worry anymore."

"I know, but if we leave like this, what will happen to the Renaissance Alliance?" De Bruyne asked with some concern.

"I have already communicated with the interim chief executive of the Renaissance Alliance in Karot. He did not stop us from leaving, nor did he continue to prevent our transaction with the Atlas Group. As I said, they are allies. As long as we make it clear, they will not embarrass us on this matter."

"I hope so. After all, there have been so many terrible rumors before, and there has been no news from The Simpsons so far."

"It's okay, Yuli. Relax. Why don't you go and spend some time with the children?"

Before De Bruyne could finish his words, a sharp alarm sounded from the bridge of the Copper, followed by a crew member shouting in a trembling voice:
"Heat source detected in the zenith direction, number three, approaching at an accelerated speed!"

"Laser identification code matching is successful. It is the HCP and combat boat of the Renaissance Alliance! The number has been corrected to six!"

"The other party sent a signal on the public channel, asking us to stop the ship immediately and cut off the energy circuit."

De Bruyne experienced the feeling of going from heaven to hell at this moment. He never expected that something would go wrong at the last moment before leaving this galaxy.

"This is impossible. They promised to let us go, so why would they send people to intercept us?"

"Boss, what should we do now? Should we listen to them and stop the boat or leave by force?"

The captain's voice immediately brought De Bruyne back to his senses. He looked at the red dot on the radar screen that was getting closer and closer, then looked at his wife who was looking frightened, and made a decision without hesitation.

"Captain, continue to speed up and prepare for a forced jump. We cannot be left behind by them."

"Yes, boss!"

A stern look flashed across the captain's face, and then he immediately issued a series of orders. Amid a slight vibration coming from deep within the hull, the 'Red Copper' began to accelerate and activated the jump engine.
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"The other party ignored our signal and continued to accelerate. It seems that they are planning to forcibly jump away."

Johnny Riding watched the actions of the medium-sized cargo ship in the distance with some surprise. After they sent a signal through the public channel, the other party sped up and ran away as if they had seen the god of plague.

"Is this really a spy?"

"We'll know if she's a spy in a moment. Pay attention, I'm going to speed up, and you'll find the right time to escape in a moment!"

Manfred spoke calmly, and without hesitation, he pushed the throttle to the top. The heavy armored combat boat and the HCP on board also suddenly burst out with a burst of blue light in the "cooperative propulsion" mode, and began to approach the "Red Copper" at a faster speed.

In the 'cooperative propulsion' mode, the acceleration of the HCP heavy armored combat boat was very terrifying. Johnny Ridden and Manfred felt as if they were pressed firmly on the chairs. The heavy hydraulic anti-gravity suits on their bodies worked frantically to prevent them from fainting under the extremely high acceleration.

The combat support AI also quickly gave the closing rate and roughly calculated the opponent's speed, thereby predicting the time when the "Red Copper" would enter the jump.

"After all, it's just a medium-sized cargo ship. There's more than enough time for the interception window." Johnny Riding said after adapting to the acceleration. At the same time, he was also paying attention to the rapidly shrinking straight-line distance between the two sides and waiting for the opportunity to break away.

When HCP and heavy combat boats are performing ship interception missions, although in most cases they directly cut into the blind spot of the opponent's anti-aircraft firepower and then slowly deal with the opponent at close range, for ace pilots like Johnny Ridden, sniping the opponent's power unit or internal jump engine from a long distance is also a method.

However, this method has considerable requirements on the pilot's personal ability, experience, and especially familiarity with the structures of various types of ships.

Because in most cases, interception operations are aimed at capturing people alive. If you are not familiar with the structure of the ship, long-range sniping can easily hit other parts of the ship by mistake. It would be a bit funny if you hit the fusion reactor.

Especially for civilian ships that have little protection and most of which are not equipped with deflection fields, long-range charged particle beam attacks are enough to make a hole in their external armor.

Soon, as the distance between the two sides was about to reach 10,000 kilometers, the machines of Johnny Ridden's team detached from the backs of their respective team's heavy armored combat boats amid the sound of mechanical unlocking and collision.

At this moment, Manfred immediately adjusted the course of the fighter boat and led his team to encircle the enemy from another direction in an arc.

Although he was facing a civilian ship, the Red Baron did not take it lightly at all and continued to fight according to the process of attacking a warship.

Johnny Riding, who maintained the original course, also took out a long-range charged particle cannon from the weapon container on his back, and deployed an auxiliary search array that looked like a "pot lid" on the gun body.

"True Red One, start sniping."

At the same time as the announcement was made on the communication channel, a separate aiming window appeared on the full-circle screen in front of Johnny Riding. After zooming in several times, the "Red Copper" was finally placed in the center of the crosshairs.

"Limia, help me stabilize the machine."

"Received, dear~Has taken over the body posture control unit."

After hearing the reply from the combat assistance AI, Johnny Riding focused his energy on long-range sniping. Although the key parts of the medium-sized cargo ship in the aiming window were marked according to the database of the onboard computer, this was only a rough direction for reference. If he wanted to truly perform high-precision sniping, the pilot's on-the-spot performance was still needed.

The plasma propulsion arrays on the back and the back of the calves of this blood-red "Holy Shield" have been temporarily shut down, and the attitude control nozzles in various parts of the body are constantly flashing under the control of the combat auxiliary AI Limia, allowing the body to maintain a relatively stable posture.

"Target locked. Switch to pupil aiming for fine-tuning."

After the sniper instruction window locked the image firmly on the upper deck of the 'Red Copper', Johnny Riding quickly fine-tuned the crosshairs of the long-range charged particle cannon to a specific position.

As the icon representing 'permitted irradiation' for the long-range charged particle cannon lit up on the weapon control panel, Johnny Riding took a deep breath and pressed the fire button without hesitation.

The purple charged particle beam shone between the machine and the Red Copper for two seconds, and then a burst of fire appeared on the upper deck of the Red Copper, and then a large amount of white mist gushed out the fire again.

"Hit the target! I destroyed the opponent's jump engine!"

"Got it, we'll stop it."

Manfred's calm voice sounded in the communication channel. Since the opponent had lost the possibility of escaping by forced jump, the interception operation had actually been completed by 80%.

Three heavy armored combat boats drew three elegant arcs and approached the "Red Copper" from three directions at the same time. A series of plasma rockets were detonated by Manfred and others in front of the bow of the "Red Copper".

These exploding blue plasma fireballs served as a final warning, and also forced the medium-sized cargo ship to slow down and evade the attack.

As a result, the 'Red Copper' even lost its speed.

Soon, three white flares were fired, and the main propulsion array at the rear of the cargo ship was extinguished, and the other party's surrender signal appeared on the public channel.

Manfred and his teammates began to fly in an '8' shape around the freighter.

Johnny Riding's team's two HCPs, equipped with heavy particle cannons, locked onto the cargo ship at the bow and stern, while he himself stood directly on the deck near the bridge with an electromagnetic machine gun pointing at the bridge.

As long as the opponent makes any unusual movement, HCP will use electromagnetic machine guns to tear the entire bridge to pieces in an instant.

After a while, the reconnaissance ship hidden behind the asteroid rubble also approached and directly ejected two assault capsules carrying marines to complete the boarding.

Johnny Riding, who completed the electronic virus injection through contact communication, also saw the surveillance footage of the bridge after the combat assistance AI hacked into the freighter.

The Marines took control of the bridge in an instant. At the same time, the on-site commander of the operation arrived at the bridge under the escort of two Marines.

"Mr. De Bruyne, why are you in such a hurry to leave? Didn't we agree to discuss the open source plan of your industrial machine with the Chief Executive?"

"what?"

"You left without even saying hello, are you planning to flee back to the Federation that has already abandoned you?"

"No! I'm planning to go to Atlas Group. I've already discussed this with the Chief Executive Officer, and he's already agreed."

"Agreed? Who told you he agreed?"

“He said it himself”

"But I didn't receive such instructions." The on-site commander called Duriel shook his head. "I now fully suspect that this is your excuse, Mr. De Bruyne. You just want to take this opportunity to escape to the Federation. Don't we in the Renaissance Alliance treat you well? Do you really want to leave with your family?"

Through the conversation between the two, Johnny Riding quickly found out the identities of the passengers on the cargo ship. They were not federal spies as mentioned in the mission briefing, but local entrepreneurs in the Karot galaxy.

Just as Johnny Riding was wondering what was going on, alarms sounded simultaneously in his and Manfred's cockpits, the reconnaissance ship, and the cargo ship.

[Unauthorized spatial fluctuations detected]
[Predicted countdown to exit hyperspace, 54321]
Then, with several white flashes, six warships appeared in the space 1500 kilometers away.

At this distance, Johnny Riding could clearly see the Atlas Group logo on the sides of these warships through the optical sensors of the aircraft.

Johnny Riding looked at the Atlas fleet that suddenly appeared and couldn't help but wonder: "A light cruiser, two destroyers, and three frigates are a rapid reconnaissance team. How come they are here?"

"I don't know. Suddenly I feel like this matter is becoming more and more complicated."

Manfred shook his head, and after receiving instructions from the reconnaissance ship, he was about to lead his team over to see what was going on, but he saw that the six warships suddenly adjusted their hull postures with extremely rapid movements and aligned their axial directions towards this side.

At the same time, the electromagnetic catapult tracks on these warships also flashed with electric light, launching a large number of units in a very short time.

"The enemy has detected launching ship-borne units! 10 HCPs and 6 heavy armored combat boats!"

Looking at the units directly arranged in battle formation, Johnny Riding immediately felt that something big might go wrong. Then he saw the information sent by these Atlas Group warships on the public channel.

"This is a subordinate unit of the Atlas Group's combat fleet. We are carrying out the mission of picking up the medium-sized cargo ship 'Red Copper' according to the group's instructions. The Renaissance Alliance ships ahead please report their affiliations and tell us why they are intercepting our cargo ship!"

Johnny Ridden and Manfred were stunned when they saw this information. They never thought that this cargo ship was going to meet up with the Atlas Group's ships.

And if the other party's identity was not fake, then their mission today was even more outrageous. They inexplicably intercepted the ship that was sent by their best ally to pick them up, and Johnny Riding even shot the other party's jump engine.
Well, at least in the eyes of young people like Johnny Riding and Manfred who have fought side by side with the Atlas Group, the Renaissance Alliance and the Atlas Group are a pair of "iron allies".

Not long after, the reconnaissance ship also verified the laser identification codes emitted by these suddenly appearing warships.

The other party was indeed a ship belonging to the Atlas Group's combat fleet.

Soon, a communication channel was established between the two sides, and Johnny Riding and Manfred recognized the captain who appeared in the communication window at the first time.

This was none other than one of the instructors who had led them when they were trained at the Atlas Group. At that time, he was just an assistant, serving as a communications staff officer on a light cruiser, but now he has been promoted to captain.

And their old acquaintance soon spoke in the communication channel, with a slightly serious tone.

"Commander Duriel, I hope you can give a reasonable explanation as to why you used force to intercept our ships."

(End of this chapter)