Chapter 565 Shine at My Location!
As the saying goes, the first bird to stick its head out gets shot, and this is especially true on the battlefield.
When two fleets engage in battle and fall into a "shooting stalemate", those ACEs and meritorious ships on the battlefield - especially those units that are not afraid of death and show their "extremely strong combat power" on the battlefield, are often marked as "high-risk units" by the enemy's battlefield information control officer in a purple frame.
Because a large number of battle examples in history have told the participants that these "elite monsters" will evolve into "hero units" in accordance with fate after performing operations such as "single-ship assault", "burning the boats", and "taking off the helmet".
And this kind of "hero unit" often has the ability to break the deadlock - especially when there is a "psychic power" in this world, which is against the sky.
In classic battles where the ‘hero units’ influenced or even directly changed the situation, those so-called ‘possibility’, ‘wish’, ‘belief is magic’ and other abstract statements, after further investigation, will eventually reveal traces of psychic energy.
So in the early days when psychics were cultivated and involved in the war, they did have the ability to change the situation on the front battlefield.
However, as the combat troops became more and more proficient in following the combat rules of ‘prioritizing high-risk units’, all ‘elite monsters’ including psychics were targeted.
As long as the tactical information control officer marked the ‘high-risk unit’, the nearby friendly forces would immediately focus their fire or directly use AOE to cover the firepower after seeing it, adhering to the principle of rather killing a thousand by mistake than letting one go.
So when Johnny Riding and the team he commanded successfully became the ‘stars’ of the left-wing combat space, they were immediately targeted by the nearby federal fleet.
The moment the nearby federal fleet discovered this purple ‘high-risk unit’, the overwhelming attack poured down like a rainstorm.
The high-energy laser beam was like a dense light net, and the anti-HCP missiles that entered the practical attack range passed like meteors, and the light of the heavy particle cannon illuminated this dark corner.
Although the HCP pilots of Johnny Riding's squadron tried their best to dodge and counterattack, HCPs were still being hit under such fierce attacks.
The flames of the explosion bloomed brilliantly in the universe, like the last swan song of life. Every explosion made Johnny Riding, the squadron leader, feel nervous.
Although relying on the strong survivability of the "Sacred Shield" series and the configuration of the main and secondary double shields, these "explosions" were more of a "special effect" when the machine was hit, and only two machines were directly destroyed. But the remaining machines in the squadron were all injured except Johnny Riding.
"Damn! Their firepower is too strong!"
"Fuck, I found that we are being targeted by four light cruisers!"
"Have they maxed out the attack priority of the anti-aircraft weapon group? Why is the anti-aircraft firepower so strong?"
"Fuck! I was E! I was E!"
"Damn, my deflection field is going to be overloaded"
In the communication channel, the voices of the squadron members were full of fear and confusion.
They didn't have a long training time to fly HCP for space combat, but now they are facing a "high-end game", which really makes them a little flustered and at a loss. They can only deal with it through instinct and muscle memory of training.
"Don't panic! Maintain the formation and look for opportunities to counterattack!"
Johnny Riding's voice became calm and firm at this time, because he knew that at this time, any panic could lead to the annihilation of the whole army.
But deep in his heart, he was actually full of worry and anxiety. Seeing his squadron members fall into danger one by one, he was actually more anxious than anyone else.
Everyone is a trainee selected by the Renaissance Alliance. They came to the Atlas Group to receive training and participate in the battle for the ideal of "liberating Lubyon". There is no such thing as who is nobler than who.
I was promoted to the commander of the HCP squadron only because I have some talent in HCP driving and some prestige among the trainee pilots of the Renaissance Alliance.
In fact, after becoming the squadron leader and chatting with Major Murat one day, Johnny Riding's personality has been restrained a lot. In the battle, he pays more and more attention to his teammates instead of simply continuing to engage in personal heroism.
But even if he has been trying to reduce the losses of his squadron, the cruelty of the battlefield is still beyond his imagination.
The Mandela team, which has just taken over Johnny Riding's direct squadron and is responsible for the vanguard, lost two aircraft in a short period of time, and the remaining two "Sacred Shields" were also in a precarious situation.
Johnny Riding, who has been called "True Red Lightning" by more and more teammates, naturally can't watch his teammates die.
"Mandela team, retreat in my direction! Mobila team! Don't save ammunition, fire all the bullets to suppress the firepower, and go back to resupply after this wave!"
Immediately afterwards, Johnny Riding drove his red 'Full Equipment Holy Shield' forward and ordered in the team channel:
"No. 2, No. 3, follow me to attack, but control the distance and don't get into close combat! Provide me with long-range firepower support, and keep an eye on my back!"
After that, Johnny Riding controlled the HCP to rush towards the position of the Mandela team.
It's not that he wants to be heroic, but in the 'Team Member Status Monitoring' in the command system, two teammates in his team are a little bit bad both physically and mentally.
At this time, let them go up and fight with the professional pilots of the Federal Navy?
That would only allow the opponent to spray two more kill marks on the shield.
The Mobila team, which was responsible for supporting on the flank, could not go up to mince meat. Speaking of which, Johnny Riding originally asked the members of this team to stay in the distance to support because they were seriously biased in shooting ability and were not as good as "man-machine" in fighting ability.
In the distance, the two HCPs of the Mandela team who received the order also knew that they could not fight anymore.
The two pilots quickly raised the mechanical arm and fired the "visible light interference bombs" in the multi-function launcher on the mechanical arm, and then quickly retreated under the cover of this moment.
Johnny Riding, who saw the actions of his teammates, quickly used the preset command to control the weapon container behind him, and changed the ammunition box of the electromagnetic machine gun temporarily stored in it from the conventional rod to the AHEAD bullet.
As a green light lit up on the interface representing the weapon container, Johnny Riding also changed the weapon held by the right mechanical arm to the electromagnetic machine gun for HCP on the firearm control interface.
When the fire control HUD integrated on Johnny Riding's helmet panel had a crosshair representing the direction of the electromagnetic machine gun's shooting, his pupils immediately scanned the six HCPs in front of him that were being interfered by the "visible light jammer".
The fire control system of the "Sacred Shield" also immediately locked onto the six targets, and after Johnny Riding pulled the virtual trigger, it automatically controlled the electromagnetic machine gun to start firing from left to right until the 70 rounds of AHEAD bullets were emptied.
Under the action of electromagnetic force, these "silver gadgets" flew towards the target at a speed of hundreds of kilometers per second after being ejected from the barrel, and then quickly exploded after approaching their respective targets, bombarding the directional fragmentation warheads at the enemy HCP.
Generally speaking, the AHEAD bullets of the electromagnetic machine guns in the hands of HCPs are actually difficult to cause damage to HCPs from the front, so this type of bullet is more used for sneak attacks, air defense or doing odd jobs.
However, Johnny Riding did not intend to destroy the enemy with this round of attack. He just wanted to use these densely packed directional prefabricated fragments to continue to interfere with the opponent and take the opportunity to "clean up" the fragments on the outside of the opponent's body.
This move was taught to him by Major Murat during a "fighting" sparring.
However, according to Major Murat, this move was actually taught by Atlas's "big boss", Mr. Amber, who was the real master.
At this moment, Johnny Riding's ears were also echoing with Murat's "earnest teachings".
"AHEAD bullets are usually hard to work from the front, but occasionally they can still work wonders. When you have the chance to use AHEAD bullets on the enemy, don't be stingy, just strafe and empty the ammunition box!"
"Don't be too rigid about using AHEAD bullets to hit weak points, just fire when you have the chance, and wait for the chance to win! The main viewfinder on the head, the external sensor, the electromagnetic joint, the auxiliary mechanical arm, the heat dissipation device. As long as you hit these parts, you will win~"
Soon, Johnny Riding saw that among the six enemy planes locked by the fire control system, two of them had conspicuous flames.
Although he didn't know which part of the enemy he hit, he knew that it was a perfect time to attack, so he didn't hesitate to use his left mechanical arm to pull out the plasma heavy sword that had been powered on.
Then he didn't put away his gun, and rushed to the first target with a posture of "hand-held machine gun, left-handed heavy sword", and fired the plasma rocket mounted on the leg.
The pilot of the federal HCP in front had just waited for the all-white full-circle screen to return to normal, and then he was shot in the face by a plasma rocket.
After receiving the laser warning signal, the pilot only had time to use the muscle memory engraved in his bones to control the nozzle to push back a distance, but he still couldn't avoid Johnny Riding's heavy sword.
The light blue plasma blade, with the help of the high-speed impact of the body, easily cut through the cockpit armor and titanium alloy frame, evaporated the pilot and melted the subcritical reactor and plasma propulsion array behind.
When the two sides crossed for a distance, the plasma fireball produced by the explosion lit up from the back of Johnny Riding's body.
After more than ten seconds, the second and third ones lit up.
However, Johnny Riding, who rushed into the enemy camp at lightning speed, was eventually entangled by the remaining three HCPs. Judging from the tacit cooperation of the opponent, it was probably an experienced elite team.
The other side obviously knew that Johnny Riding was not easy to mess with, so they simply didn't fight with swords, but simply used long-range weapons to contain and control the distance. Then they called on the four nearby light cruisers to greet this "outsider" with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons.
The other members of the squadron tried to rush up to support Johnny Riding, but they were entangled by more federal HCPs who rushed to this area, and they were in a situation of being wiped out in an instant.
However, just when the squadron was in a desperate situation, the nearby "Avenger" squadron and its heavy cruisers rushed to support like a god descending from the sky.
Although there was a huge wound on the left side of the bow of the "Space Rider" heavy cruiser that could directly see the cabin, it was still like an indestructible mobile fortress compared to the huge body of the HCP.
The anti-aircraft weapon units and secondary guns on the hull spewed angry flames, providing powerful firepower support for the HCP squadron, and also began to harvest the four light cruisers in the distance.
After all, for a light cruiser that is "thin-skinned but big-stuffed" and focuses on being "multi-functional" and "all-rounder", the heavy cruiser, one of the main output of the fleet, can drink a pot of water with its secondary guns alone
Under the leadership of Captain Stark, the HCPs of the "Avengers" squadron quickly joined the battle and jointly resisted the attacks of nearby federal units with Johnny Riding's squadron.
Their arrival, like a ray of light in the darkness, saved the "genius pilot" of the Renaissance Alliance and the entire squadron from despair
However, their heroic behavior also made themselves the focus of the federal fleet.
In the burning universe, the HCPs of both sides shuttled and maneuvered like meteors, and the HCP thrusters sprayed blue flames, pushing them to draw a gorgeous and cruel trajectory in the darkness
"Area A2 in the left hemisphere, charged particle cannons are ready to fire!"
"Lock on the target, open fire!"
The shouts and commands of the team members echoed in the communication channel. The HCPs flexibly avoided the enemy's attacks and kept looking for opportunities to counterattack.
The beams of directed energy weapons intersected in the darkness, and plasma rockets and combat missiles flew by with long tail flames. Every shot and every dodge of the HCP was a test of life and death for the pilots of both sides.
As more and more troops were invested in this small area of space by both sides, both Atlas and the Federation Navy were already blood-thirsty.
Although the Federation's wave of attacking HCP troops was seriously damaged in the previous battle, they rushed forward with the determination to die together with the heavy cruiser "Space Rider".
In the launch bay behind one of the HCPs with low visibility paint, several tactical nuclear bombs were loaded.
"They are going to get close to detonate the nuclear bomb!" A member of the "Avenger" squadron shouted.
But Captain Stark, who saw this scene, shook his head.
"No, they want to get into the interior of the 'Space Rider' and detonate the nuclear bomb."
The captain of the 'Space Rider' immediately realized the seriousness of the danger, and he decisively ordered: "Air defense weapons group, all HCP squadrons, intercept with all your strength!"
Even if the captain did not issue this order, the HCPs of the 'Avenger' squadron would rush forward without hesitation and use their bodies to block the crazy charge of the Federation HCP.
They knew that once these anti-ship nuclear bombs exploded at zero distance or even inside the ship, if the 'Space Rider' heavy cruiser sank, the crew would not survive at all.
At this moment, the pilots of the Atlas HCP force had no fear in their eyes, only firm belief and fearless courage.
Atlas' high pension mechanism made them have no worries, and they only wanted to protect their mothership and their comrades.
In the fierce battle, the HCP of the Avengers was constantly hit, and the flames of the explosions rose and fell.
Every explosion meant the death of a life, but they did not retreat at all, and stubbornly held the defense line. They had only one belief in their hearts, that is, the nuclear bomb could not explode.
But there were too many HCPs in the Federation, so many that everyone, including Johnny Riding, felt desperate.
In the end, when almost all the troops were annihilated, the captain of the Avengers, who had already emptied all the ammunition of the body and the plasma heavy sword had long been broken, hugged the last HCP carrying the nuclear bomb without hesitation, and used the last power of the plasma propulsion array to fight against the opponent.
"'Space Rider'! Irradiate my position!" The captain's voice sounded in the communication channel, extremely firm.
Johnny Riding's heart suddenly shook, and he immediately thought of the previous actual combat exercise confrontation, and the opponent also rushed up and hugged him without hesitation.
At that time, this ‘genius boy’ didn’t believe that the other party would do this in an actual battle with only one life, but today he finally saw it.
But this price was not acceptable to him
“Fire!”
The captain of the ‘Space Rider’ gritted his teeth and gave the order. His voice was full of pain and helplessness, but he also knew that this was the only choice.
Because at this time, Stark and the enemy were less than 400 kilometers away from the battleship, for the high-speed maneuvering HCP, that was a few breaths of time.
The fire control system on the heavy cruiser instantly aimed at the squadron leader and the federal HCP, and several charged particle beams were fired, instantly covering their position.
Then, the light illuminated the entire universe.