The stars, but they become the gray wind

"Xixi... The reinforcements from Renlong's side who will take over from us are coming soon. Let's prepare for the handover." Yuki reminded as he walked in.

"Ah...coming!" replied Carlisle.

"It looks like our teaching has to come to an end for now. I'll teach you this knowledge again when I have the chance in the future." Carlisle touched the back of her head and comforted everyone present.

"Actually, I think compared to your teaching, maybe our upcoming handover will make them more interested?" Yuki said leaning against the door at the entrance of the shooting range.

"Well... that seems to be true. After all, the thing we are handing over is..." Just as Carlisle was about to continue, she saw the man leaning against the door with his index finger on his lips.

"It's better to keep this kind of thing as a surprise. Just treat it as another small surprise for the new candidate members!" Yuki looked at the confused people in the shooting range and made riddles with a smile.

"Um...can you guys just be frank?" Dorothy asked, scratching her head.

"Just think of it as a surprise, Miss Dorothy, and it will definitely be the kind of surprise that will brighten your eyes." Yuki said mischievously, squinting one eye.

"I always have a bad feeling. It's more of a shock than a surprise, right?" Dorothy complained with a certain emotion as she looked at Yuuki and Calisi who were both confused about her and their companions.

"Don't worry, Miss Dorothy. This is definitely a pleasant surprise, not a shock."

At the same time, on the other side of the earth, on Taylor Island, there were still about three hours before the Banshee would reunite with the three people who were still in Europe. Renlong had already opened up and built an area of ​​about two square kilometers on the island as his own tank training simulation field.

"Okay, it's done, but I can't play with so many of them by myself. How about..."

"Miss Cabot, are you there?" Renlong called out on the thought network.

"Hey! You need me for something?" Renlong suddenly felt a pat on her shoulder from behind. She turned around and saw the flaxen-haired girl in black combat uniform standing behind her with a pair of sunglasses on her head.

"It looks like you've made a lot of toys." He said after looking around at the at least hundreds of various types of tanks parked in the area.

"I built so many tanks all of a sudden that I figured since they're useless anyway, wouldn't it be more fun to just treat them as consumable toys and have a real-life game of War Thunder?"

"Besides, I'm the only one on the island. Although Aze and the others can remotely control these tanks and play actual combat games with me on the island, it always feels a bit lacking."

"Hmm... that makes sense. So you called me here because you want me to play a real-life version of War Thunder with you? But speaking of this, I really want to try out the feel of it." Having said that, Cabot licked his lips with his tongue, looked around, and selected the tanks around him.

"Let me see what's there?"

"Abrams X, KF51, upgraded T14 Armata, EMKV90 Thor electromagnetic tank modified with CV90 chassis?"

"I'll choose the last one!" said Cabot, patting the armor of Thor's electromagnetic tank.

"Wait...are you sure you want this?"

"what's wrong?"

"Uh... As you can see, this simulated training ground is only about this big, about two square kilometers in total. The tank confrontation will most likely be a relatively close-range armor-piercing confrontation."

"Then... you know about the Thor electromagnetic tank. It needs a short charging period before firing, which is very disadvantageous in close-range armor-piercing shell confrontations. Moreover, the Thor electronic tank was not designed for direct close-range armor-piercing shell confrontations. It is positioned as a shooter suitable for long-range sniping from the rear, rather than charging head-on into the opponent's forward line." Renlong made a detailed analysis.

"Of course I know, but the electromagnetic tank is more in line with my aesthetic taste. Don't worry, even if the combat environment is not favorable to me, don't underestimate me." Cabot said confidently, patting his chest.

"By the way, it is forbidden to use things like anti-tank missiles." Renlong added at the right time.

"Without using anti-tank missiles, are you sure this thing can win in a close-range head-on confrontation with armor-piercing shells?" Renlong questioned.

"Don't underestimate me, I'm Cabot. How could a mere tank battle be a problem for me?" Cabot boasted confidently, raising his thumb.

Chapter 94: Armored Shells and Power Display

On the training ground, a T14 aimed its electrothermal chemical gun at a reinforced concrete bunker several meters thick in front of it. At this moment, a rectangular gun barrel extended from the corner of a building on the side of the T14's direction of travel and locked onto the side and rear area of ​​the T14 turret where the protection was weak.

"Bang!" With a loud bang, a fin-stabilized armor-piercing discarding sabot projectile launched by the electromagnetic acceleration track of the Thor electromagnetic tank's main gun instantly penetrated the armor on the side of the T14 Armata's turret and accurately destroyed the T14's turret steering mechanism. Because of the damage to the turret steering mechanism, the turret was stuck and unable to turn. The T14 could only drive the tracks again and try to maneuver quickly to hide in the reinforced concrete bunker in front to avoid the Thor electromagnetic tank's close-range and fatal sniper. But this was obviously futile. Before the T14 approached the concrete bunker in front, as the barrel was charged, the second electromagnetic steel needle came at a high speed and directly penetrated the engine compartment at the rear of the T14 Armata. The engine was severely damaged after being hit and penetrated by the steel needle far exceeding the speed of sound. The T14, which lost power, was paralyzed on the spot and could not move.

Soon, the third steel needle from the Thor electromagnetic tank followed, and this steel needle directly penetrated the position of the tank cab from the side and rear, completely depriving the entire T14 tank of all combat and mobility capabilities.

……

At the edge of the training ground, in the control room, Ren Long, who was sitting at the control console, looked at the red words "crew killed" and "exercise lost" displayed on the screen in front of him. He threw down the joystick on the table with both hands and leaned back on the soft chair in exhaustion.

"You... stole my back?" Renlong said, raising his hand to cover his forehead.

"Hehe, as my subordinate, you're still a little inexperienced when it comes to tactics compared to mine!" Capote, who was sitting at another table opposite, poked his head out from behind the display screen with a happy look on his face and showed off to Renlong.

"Have you forgotten? The weak points of any modern main battle tank are the sides and rear. The protection is very weak. What's more, neither of our tanks are equipped with explosive reactive weapons, right?"

"You are careless, my dear man."

"I thought you were using the terrain to your advantage and hiding the tanks behind that reinforced concrete bunker wall."

"That was a tactical miscalculation. I could have made you think I was behind that wall, but in reality, I had already taken advantage of your sudden rush towards it to get around to your side and rear."

"Even if I was attacked, your first shot was incredibly accurate, wasn't it? It happened to hit the steering mechanism connecting my turret to the hull, and my turret was instantly jammed. I couldn't fight back at all, so I had to find cover to avoid your second shot."

"The second needle shot penetrated perfectly and disabled the engine. The third shot was even more outrageous. It penetrated the front cab from the side and rear, killing all my crew members on the spot."

"Even if you're skilled, aren't you overly accurate? All three hit vital parts, and the armor didn't even withstand a single one?"

"That's your shortcoming, my dear subordinate. When dealing with an enemy, you must be quick, accurate, and ruthless. Like a scalpel, you must instantly and precisely disable the opponent's ability to counterattack. If the first blow isn't fatal, the second must ensure it's instantly fatal."

"Actually, my second steel needle doesn't need to hit your engine compartment at all. I can guarantee that it will penetrate the cab directly, killing all your crew. I deliberately chose not to hit the cab with the second needle, but to disable the engine first, completely eliminating your ability to move and counterattack. The third needle is actually a finishing blow, ensuring that the crew will also completely lose their combat capability."

"Damn... So your second shot can kill me? And your accuracy is so good that I even suspect you're cheating."

"It's just the basic qualities of a high-level Star Governor. Just like when you shoot someone, you have to hit the head. When dealing with such a large and powerful steel target, you naturally have to ensure that every shot hits the vital points of the other equipment.

"Furthermore, your tactics were too reckless. You rushed headfirst into cover, completely ignoring your flanks and rear. In this situation, you were inevitably outmaneuvered by a more mobile opponent."

"In fact, if you had been more cautious about the areas behind the bunkers where enemy armor might be located, instead of just charging in blindly... you might have noticed the enemy coming from the side and rear, and used your mobility and the surrounding buildings to maneuver around them, instead of being caught off guard by my sneak attack."

"Your current situation is just like that of a Tiger tank that has been robbed by a T34/85. Lacking the three-dimensional reconnaissance capability of aerial vision, you should be more alert and watchful, paying attention to your surroundings instead of letting the bait in front of you, which may be a false target, distract you." Cabot summarized for Renlong.

"Also, both of us were driving stock tanks without any additional accessories or modules. Forget anti-tank missiles, we didn't even have explosive reactive armor installed. While being defeated by me isn't shameful, you really need to improve your tactical habits.

"If you had been more attentive, you might have noticed the tank approaching from behind and taken me out before I could launch a surprise attack." If you simply rushed behind cover, you'd already lost, Cabot detailed, summarizing Renlong's defeat.

"Uh... I think I understand where the problem lies. I want to play another round..." Renlong rubbed his temples and replied after listening to Cabot's criticism and reminders.

"Anyway, we still have a lot of tanks, so it won't be a problem to consume a few more..." Renlong said calmly.

"Now that we have a question, should we consider adding something else to the tank? Like explosive counter-attack or an active defense system?" asked Cabot.

"No, I just want to see if I can beat you using a blank tank?" Renlong began to dwell on his recent failure and decided to defeat Cabot in this regard by using a blank tank without any additional components.

"I think in this regard... you probably won't be able to win..." Cabot muttered to his subordinate.

"Gotta try, right?"

"Besides, I can improve my shortcomings while trying to defeat you."

"So be prepared, Cabot... I won't make the same mistake twice."

"Haha, it's not a matter of making the same mistake, but the possibility of you defeating me in this area... to put it nicely, it's extremely slim."

"But since you want to try it, I'll stick with you until the end," Cabot said with a sigh.

"Let me use actual examples to make you understand the objective gap in this area." Cabot clapped his hands lightly and returned to the tank's remote control console.

At the same time, on the other side of the earth, in London, Charlotte and others, led by Carissa, came to the bridge of the Hundred Titan. Looking at the sky and clouds outside the bulletproof glass and panoramic display, Charlotte subconsciously reached out to touch it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" At this time, the purple-haired girl who walked up to Charlotte from behind asked Charlotte who was looking at the blue sky in front of her.

"Hmm...it's certainly beautiful, but I also know that without the protection of this layer of glass in front of me, I'd probably get severely frostbitten from the low temperatures at high altitude, or be knocked unconscious by the high-speed air currents."

"So this sky only looks romantic. But for fragile humans, it's actually full of dangers, isn't it?" Charlotte said in a daze, looking at the sky outside the window.

"Hmm... what you said does make sense. After all, the human body wasn't developed for flight. For a species that has lived on the ground for millions of years, the challenges it faces in trying to fly are often enormous."

"As far as I know, even for those aerial battleships, their maximum flight altitude is actually not very high, because they need to consider the oxygen supply for the internal members. The sealing of the entire aerial battleship is not particularly strong. If the flight altitude is too high, the internal crew may suffer from hypoxia. Therefore, considering the tolerance limit of the internal crew, whether it is the aerial battleship of the Kingdom or the Republic, the maximum flight altitude that can be reached is quite limited. Basically, the ceiling and flight altitude of most aerial battleships will not exceed 8,000 meters." The purple-haired girl elaborated on the information she had collected before.

"Even with the help of technology, it is still quite difficult for humans to survive in the air for a long time."

"As for exploring higher altitude regions, humans in this world clearly still have a long way to go. The accumulation time required is definitely not something that can be achieved in a day or two. This kind of scientific exploration requires long-term accumulation."

"Of course I understand that... But could you tell me what that little 'surprise' you mentioned preparing for us is?"

Charlotte tried to sound out the purple-haired girl's attitude.

"Oh, you mean that? Wait a moment, let me check..." As she said that, the purple-haired girl turned around again and confirmed the specific time with her two companions.

"Yuuki? How long until we meet up?"

"Don't worry, it will be soon. In about three minutes at most, we should be able to see it directly." Facing Carlisle's questioning, Jiecheng on the center console replied slowly.

"Three minutes, please wait a moment. Charlotte and Miss Angel, don't worry, it will only take three minutes."

.........

Time passed by minute by minute, the second hand on the clock went around three times, and three minutes were soon up. Calisi turned around and looked at her companions silently, and finally confirmed it. After seeing Yuki's affirmative answer and look, Calisi asked Charlotte and others to pay attention to the sky outside the window.

Following a huge roar and a huge whistling sound that reached the ears of several people, a black shadow covered the body of the Hundred-Handed Giant from above. The Banshee with a three-layer flying wing structure was like a giant steel bird that fell from the sky and covered the huge body of the Hundred-Handed Giant from directly above.

"This...what is this?" Charlotte asked calmly, looking at the huge aircraft above that almost blocked the sun.

"This is the reinforcement that will be handing over to us."

"The Banshee, or perhaps you could call it the Stratospheric Fortress, has a wingspan exceeding 1400 meters, a true symbol of absolute air supremacy. Its carrying capacity is an order of magnitude greater than that of the Hundred-Armed Titan you're currently on."

"It can be said that in this era, nothing can pose a threat to this Banshee. It can cruise permanently at an altitude of 18000 meters for a long time, and it has a complete set of carrier-based aircraft operation and maintenance systems inside."

"Furthermore, this Banshee has been specially modified, with enhanced firepower. It possesses the ferocious firepower to completely sink any surface dreadnought-class ship in a matter of seconds."

"The high-power laser weapons it carries can even completely vaporize an entire fleet of surface ships in a short period of time."

"We can't stay in Europe forever, so this completely unmanned Banshee aircraft carrier formation will replace us to patrol Europe for a long time and ensure the stability of the situation." The purple-haired girl said calmly.

"Compared to the Hundred-Armed Titan, which requires regular resupply and has the ability to land at sea, the Banshee wasn't initially designed to land after launch. If it lands, that could mean two things: one, it has reached the limit of its service life and service life, and the day it lands is the day it's retired. The other is that it was shot down by firepower far beyond its ability to withstand, and crashed to the ground."

"Of course, you also know, Princess Charlotte, that the former scenario is long overdue, and the latter scenario is almost impossible. It is the most appropriate means of military deterrence for us to use against all of Europe and the kingdoms and republics that are still in the political transition stage."

"Also, we are going to do something next that you may not like, but it is indeed necessary." Yuki, who was sitting on the center console behind her, suddenly said to Charlotte.

"Excuse me, what is it?"

"It's simple. The premise of using force to intimidate is to demonstrate one's strength to the other side and make everyone on the other side understand the huge difference in power between the two sides."

"And what we have to do next is to give the Kingdom, the Republic, and other European powers a military parade as a show of force!"

On this day, witnessed by representatives of the two governments, the Kingdom and the Republic formally completed a preliminary agreement on the handover negotiations. Although there were still a large number of people within the Kingdom who opposed this, the agreement was ultimately passed.

At the handover ceremony being held that day, a government representative from the kingdom was reading out the official announcement in his hand step by step.

"The Kingdom will fulfill our responsibilities... We also hope that the Republic will abide by the relevant agreements... and...???"

At this moment, a huge and deafening roar came from far away, and a huge shadow blocked the light and covered the ceremony scene below, which seemed so small.

The kingdom representative who was reading the official announcement on the stage raised his head, and then he saw the largest "monster" he had ever seen in his life. A huge aerial fortress with a three-layer flying wing structure descended from the sky and slowly flew over the ceremony site at a low altitude.

"Greetings everyone, we are the Banshee Air Squadron, a subsidiary of Atlas, and the facilitators of the peaceful reunification negotiations between the Kingdom and the Republic. We are honored to use this ceremony to announce our presence."

"We are an armed force with independent sovereignty. We come for peace and stability. Anyone who attempts to provoke large-scale war and conflict, whether individual or national, will be our enemy."

"We remind you again that any attempt to artificially create chaos and large-scale war will be regarded as a hostile act, and we will impose severe sanctions. Our original intention is to build a more peaceful, stable and beautiful society."

"We will become the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of every nation, a constant reminder and warning to everyone. Call over."

Yuuki's calm voice echoed over London, shocking everyone present.

Yilin I Chess V Jiusi Ba (Happy New Year 2024 to everyone, first update of the new year!!!)

Chapter 95 About Mass Accelerator and Skyhook

"Anyone who provokes war and conflict will be punished with an iron fist!" On this day, the Republic of Albion, the Kingdom of Albion, and even countries throughout Europe received such a message on their radios.

According to information obtained by ambassadors and intelligence personnel of various countries in London, the capital of Albion, a giant "air battleship" with an estimated long axis of more than 1400 meters was broadcasting this information while maintaining a speed of about 200 kilometers per hour and circling at an ultra-low altitude above the city of London.

The leaders of various countries who received this information were shocked at how anyone could have the engineering and technical capabilities to build such a huge air battleship. They also wondered where the organization with such technical strength came from.

Diplomatic officials and intelligence personnel from various countries in London obtained more information about the origin of this giant aerial battleship and the background of the organization behind it through official or private channels. It was also the first time that European countries learned the name "Atlas".

After more photos and detailed written records taken by reporters at the scene of the appearance of the giant aerial battleship were transmitted back to various countries, almost all the major European powers were shocked. Each country urgently summoned its best engineers and technicians to analyze and speculate on the so-called "aerial battleship" in the photo.

.........

"This is impossible! With such a long axis, the structural stress should directly cause it to break!" In the conference room, an engineer with a German accent said excitedly while patting the photos on the table.

"But you can see it exists. If something like this can be created, it means it's completely feasible in terms of technology and engineering."

"And that thing is still hovering over London. It's impossible that the instance you mentioned has already appeared."

Another designer across the table countered this.

"But such a massive size implies an unimaginably large mass. Even the largest aerial battleship we could build would be around 300 meters long, with a total mass of around 11000 tons. If we were to estimate based on this thing's size, its mass would have to be at least 100,000 tons. There's no way it could possibly have the power to fly."

"But it's right here in front of us. No matter how much you argue that it can't possibly exist, it's there, in London."

"I know you all think this thing's existence is unrealistic and goes against our understanding, but it does exist. Not only has it been manufactured, it can fly, and it can even suppress and intimidate Albion's entire air force. It's causing fear in almost every European country."

"After all, ask yourselves, do the armies of the European powers have anything that can withstand this thing?" said a chief engineer who looked very calm and collected at the host seat at the conference table.