Chapter 167 Titan Fall (Two in One)

"Romeo team has been dispatched! Next is Juliet team, everyone hurry up!"

On the electromagnetic catapult track leading from the hidden hangar to the ground, three HCPs belonging to the garrison of the headquarters of the Ains family, with the call sign of Romeo team, have been ejected.

With the help of the initial velocity given by the electromagnetic track ejection, and with the thrust of their own plasma propulsion array, these HCPs can fly at a high speed in the planet's atmosphere over a distance of 60 kilometers and quickly enter the battlefield.

These TGT-A2 "Dragon Knights" specially customized by the Ains family and proudly produced by Holy Fire Heavy Industry are currently one of the most cutting-edge HCPs in the Star Dragon Empire.

Due to the upgrades in various materials, action devices, power components, etc., coupled with the current low production volume, it is impossible to share the high R&D costs.

So compared with the old model such as the Zealot, the cost of the Dragon Knight has reached twice that of the other.

This is why this type of HCP, currently in the various branches of the Star Dragon Empire, is only equipped in small batches by some elite troops or experimental troops.

Most of the orders for Holy Fire Heavy Industry come from the wealthy imperial nobles.

Although the price of a single machine is high, the nobles who use it to equip their private soldiers do not have as high a demand for HCP as the military, and the price of an order is within their acceptable range.

Therefore, these nobles are willing to spend a little more money to make the HCP equipped by their private soldiers better.

After all, it is used to protect their own troops, so they still have to pay attention to the equipment.

This has also led to a strange phenomenon in the Star Dragon Empire.

That is, the private soldiers of the nobles, although the training level is not high, are often better than the regular army of the empire in equipment other than warships.

However, at present, these HCPs with the emblem of the Ains family painted on the cockpit armor plate and shield are not trained by the Ains family.

Instead, they are pilots from the mobile forces under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Empire.

Just as Amber guessed, the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs had already completed the control of the headquarters of the Irons family.

Not only were the people in the manor under house arrest, but the private soldiers guarding the manor and the exclusive area were also disarmed, and all of them were replaced by people from the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs.

And with the help of Bill Water, the "inside ghost", they were still issuing orders to various places on the planet Westminster as usual with the Irons family, causing family members and private soldiers in other areas to have not yet discovered the abnormality here.

This hidden underground hangar 50 kilometers away from the manor began to be dispatched urgently after receiving the order from the manor.

The preparation team from the mobile force of the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs ejected the first team of HCP at a faster speed than the private soldiers of the Irons family.

But just when the second team of HCP, that is, the Juliet team, just stood on the electromagnetic ejection track.

The modified version of Lilith's special virus V2.0, which was infected by the previous communication with the manor, began to work.

While all the networked electronic systems in the hangar were malfunctioning, this electronic warfare virus with adaptive and self-learning functions also played new tricks.

For example, it made the voltage of the electromagnetic catapult track too high in time, thus successfully triggering the insurance mechanism to directly cut off the power.

Doing so did not have much impact on the HCP standing on it, but the excessive voltage in an instant still burned some vulnerable components.

Although it is not difficult to replace these components, the HCP that has already stood on the track has to get off again and wait for the track to be repaired.

Not to mention that because of the connection to the internal communication channel of the hangar, the three HCPs of Juliet's team were unfortunately infected with the electronic warfare virus.

Of course, compared with the old model HCP such as the enthusiast, the dragon knight's onboard computer performance is more powerful, and the electronic warfare level is also higher, and the onboard auxiliary AI will not be killed by Lilith's virus all at once.

But in any case, all of this takes time.

And every extra second wasted and every second late, Amber's chance of escaping will be greater.

Such scenes also occurred in other nearby hiding places and manors.

Especially in the manor area that was most seriously infected by the electronic warfare virus, the core drivers of the infantry's exoskeleton and power armor were completely destroyed by Lilith's virus.

Their vehicles also had the same problem. After the telex and electronic components of the whole vehicle replaced a large number of mechanical parts, the disadvantages were also exposed.

So the pursuers of the manor directly presented a strange scene of "people and horses falling down" while chasing.

On the other side, Amber also ran at full speed and successfully completed the reunion with Isabel at the scheduled No. 1 evacuation point. On the way, he also killed four brave sentries who jumped out to block him.

Although Amber also respected their spirit of "complete orders under any circumstances", he still sent them to the west without mercy.

After getting on the all-terrain vehicle, Amber also started the hurricane mode directly.

But the danger was not over. According to Lilith's report, at least three HCPs had rushed towards his position.

They also all turned on quantum encryption communication and temporarily interrupted some unnecessary data information exchanges, making it difficult for Lilith to attack them for a while.

The worse news is that before the manor was paralyzed, the order to arrest Amber was sent out.

Now, as the capital of the planet, Ravenhawk, the private soldiers of the Irons family stationed there have also been mobilized.

It can be said that there is no way to escape next.

"Amber, what should we do?"

After hearing the bad news from Amber, Isabel asked this crucial question.

"Would you believe me if I said that I had no intention of escaping after being exposed in the first place?"

"I believe it." Isabel said without hesitation, her eyes full of trust in Amber.

"Harmful"

Amber, who failed to show off, raised her eyebrows uninterestedly, and then asked Lilith who was busy:

"Lilith, what's going on with the cargo ship above us?"

"Master, I'm sorry! Information transmission was interrupted 5 minutes ago. The ground control center took back control of the satellite. However, according to the information 5 minutes ago, the cargo ship has begun to lower its orbit as planned!"

"Come on Lilith, the success of the battle depends on you!"

"Roger that! Master!"

At the same time, in the outer space of the planet Weiminster above Amber's head.

The cargo ship St. Russell, which has completed its 'transformation', should not be said to be the low-orbit assault ship St. Russell. At this time, the altitude in orbit has been reduced to 1,100 kilometers.

The elf crew members on the bridge, including Ellenita on the captain's seat, were all sweating.

However, the latter's emotion is more of a sense of excitement brought about by a novel experience.

The Thousand Stars Empire, which had basically never fought a few wars, had no such thing as a 'low-orbit assault ship' before.

The only ship capable of ground support is a large warship called the 'Orbital Purifier'.

When it is necessary to carry out a ground attack, this kind of warship will 'scrub' the ground through the twelve heavy purification beam generators on the bow.

So when Amber proposed the idea of ​​needing the St. Russell to 'transform' into a low-orbit assault ship in an emergency, the elf engineering team accompanying the ship shouted 'awesome and exciting'.

Of course, it was in Elvish.

Moreover, during the jump, Amber and the ship's engineering team worked out a complete 'transformation process'.

His understanding of the structure of elf ships and the principles of deformation made these elf engineers wonder if the elf in front of them was an elf in human skin.

The "transformation process" that Amber created was naturally the work of a large number of players. Some high-level players even created a strategy to transform a "scrubber" like the Orbital Purifier into an "ultra-long-range sniper battleship."

However, the process that Amber came up with at this time was a full 50 years earlier than the time it appeared in the game.

It is indeed a novelty.

As the St. Russell continued to lower its orbital altitude, this move naturally attracted the attention of the orbital control center.

After discovering that this was a cargo ship from the Thousand Stars Empire, the control center also hired a controller who could speak the common language of elves.

"Dear cargo ship CT2023 'Saint Russell', this is the Westminster Orbital Control Center. Your orbital altitude is too low. Please adjust it in time and explain the reason. Thank you."

On the bridge of the St. Russell, the correspondent looked back at Ellenita at the captain's seat. After seeing the other party nodded, he came up with the words he had prepared.

"Weidminster Orbital Control Center, this is CT2023. We are performing a special transportation mission for the Irons Family Headquarters. We are now transmitting the mission identification code of the Irons Family Headquarters."

"The task identification code has been received and related tasks are being inquired, please wait"

Just when the controller at Westminster Control Center sent the mission identification code into the sandbox environment to confirm whether it was safe.

I saw the diamond-shaped icon representing the Saint-Russell on the screen, and it moved downwards a lot, and the orbital height was almost 700 kilometers.

This abnormal phenomenon prevented the controller from using honorifics at this time.

"Hey, CT2023, why did your altitude drop again? Please fly according to the guided orbit. If there is any abnormal orbit altitude change, we will call the patrol warship."

Just as he was speaking, the height of St. Russell on the screen suddenly dropped a lot, causing the little controller's heart to beat violently.

The abnormal situation on the track naturally attracted the attention of the supervisor on duty at the track control center. He had just drifted behind the controller and was thinking about calling the patrol warship in advance.

Several screens in front of the controller's eyes went dark at the same time. When they lighted up again, they turned into the interface of the underlying operating system.

"What the hell?"

Before he could say anything, the same situation appeared on the screens of several controllers around him.

"The mission identification code contains an electronic warfare virus and breaks through the security sandbox!"

There was a tremor in the controller's voice. He had never seen anything like this before.

Moreover, there are currently quite a few ships in the orbit of the planet. If the orbital control center is paralyzed, there may be a big problem.

"Technicians! Call all the technicians over! Quick!"

"Director, communication has also been blocked!"

"Then just run over and inform!"

While the orbital control center was in chaos, the St. Russell continued to lower its orbit under the operation of the helmsman.

"The current orbital altitude is 340 kilometers, the ground speed is 5.6 kilometers, and it is expected to arrive at the airdrop location in five minutes, which is in line with the planned airdrop time!"

When the elves on the bridge reported this string of information, Alanita also quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

For this special cargo delivery mission, Amber and them planned it to the minute.

According to him, if the airdrop landed one minute earlier or later, it might be possible for him and Isabel to not come back.

"No activated ground air defense units have been found yet, and the other party should not have reacted yet. The buffer inside the airdrop spores is confirmed to be encapsulated for the second time!"

"No flying objects have been found on the airdrop diagonal line, and the airdrop countdown is 1 minute."

As the elves who reported the situation kept saying this information loudly, the people on the bridge became more and more nervous. After all, this was the first time for these elves from the Thousand Star Empire to play low-orbit airdrop support.

According to the standard low-orbit airdrop process in the human world, the low-orbit assault ship will start to suppress the ground firepower at this time.

The suppression method is usually to throw a few tactical missiles such as thermobaric warheads or submunitions at the airdrop area.

However, this freighter obviously did not have these things for fire suppression, so this step was also omitted by Amber.

"Airdrop countdown 10 seconds, airdrop spores disconnected from the biological tentacles of this ship."

".3, 2, 1, airdrop begins!"

A hole suddenly opened at the bottom of the Saint Russell, and a huge group of airdrop spores was thrown out like a larva from its mother.

At the end of this "biological airdrop capsule", there are also a large number of tentacles used to stabilize the course after entering the planet's atmosphere.

When the Saint Russell began to increase the orbital altitude and gradually accelerated, preparing to enter the jump with the other two escort ships that also left the port.

The electronic warfare virus in the orbital control center also strangely stopped its activity and began to self-destruct.

When the control center fully returned to normal, the controllers began to anxiously restore the orbital scheduling.

They also found that the excellent performance elf freighter had climbed higher in orbit and was ready to leave.

However, they could not care about the Saint Russell at this time, because the radar showed that the cargo ship had thrown out something and had entered the thermosphere of the atmosphere.

On the other side, Amber and Isabel had already driven most of the distance in their all-terrain vehicles. At full speed, they were leaving the area at a speed more than ten times faster than when they came.

At the same time, Lilith also captured the short-frequency communication signal from the airdrop spores through other communication devices around her that were still under her control.

"Master, the cargo is 120 kilometers from the ground and the speed is 2,800 meters per second. According to calculations, it will land at the scheduled time and place!"

"Very good, the time it takes us to get there is also within the calculation."

Amber, who was racing, just breathed a sigh of relief, and heard Lilith continue:

"Master, I must remind you that the number of HCPs chasing has risen to 5, and the nearest one will contact in 10 minutes!"

"So fast?!"

The other party's reaction speed surprised Amber a little. It seems that the pilots of the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs are not fake.

"But it doesn't matter, there's still time!"

Amber looked up and saw that he could see the falling spores with his naked eyes.

If someone could observe near the airdropped spores at this time, they would find that the biomass on the surface of the spores had been burned black.

As the airdrop height dropped further, the spores opened the tentacles at the back to stabilize the course, and a large number of petal-like deceleration plates rose on the surface.

Unknown gas began to spray out from the front of the spores to assist in deceleration.

When the altitude reached 60 kilometers and the speed dropped to 2000 meters per second, the whole group of airdropped spores suddenly exploded.

In the scattered buffer, the main monitor on the head of a steel giant lit up red.

Thanks to all the book friends for their support last night, especially to the brother who asked me to buy etoricoxib tablets. I really slept well after taking them.

I went to the hospital today and it was indeed gout. The uric acid level was more than 600 and the blood sugar was a little high.

I have to pay attention to healthy diet and work and rest in the future. Everyone should also pay attention to their health!