Chapter 436: Attack and Defense of Abawaku Fortress (Part 2)

Attack and Defense of the 43rd Ku Fortress (Part 2)

"Compatibility test. Passed"

"The 'Giant God' component has started self-checking. 80% 90% 100% self-check completed, no abnormalities in each subsystem!"

"The initial setting of 'Excalibur' is completed, and the subsequent parameter adjustment authority has been handed over to the pilot."

"The energy circuit of the whole machine has been checked! The basic ammunition supply is completed! The cooling water of all areas of the whole machine has been replenished! The subcritical reactor cooling components have been replaced!"

"Pilot No. 001, all subsystems of the body are green, the fixed components of the deployment bay have been unlocked, and you can attack again at any time!"

"001" is Amber's number in the Atlas HCP force, while Murat and Louis' numbers are 002 and 003 respectively.

As for the voice preparation prompt just now, it is the automated management system of the A. Bava Ku asteroid fortress, which was developed by Lilith based on one of her own clones, and she can also access it in person in an emergency.

Soon, the "Giant" with a pair of giant mechanical arms behind the shoulder armor on both sides rushed out from the open door of the G14 deployment bay again.

The huge fuselage, the dazzling propulsion light and the eye-catching red paint almost immediately attracted the attention of both the enemy and us.

"Major General! The lower half of the asteroid fortress detected a super-large HCP attacking the fleet!"

At the same time as the tactical information coordinator reported, the target image captured by the fleet was also presented on the main screen of the bridge.

On the flagship bridge of the 23rd and 24th fleets, the reactions of the people were similar to the reactions of the previous corporate fleet after discovering the "Giant". Most people showed nervous, uneasy and even fearful expressions on their faces.

Unlike the previous corporate fleets that only knew about this "Giant" through some combat information shared by the Federal Navy, as the newly formed main fleet of the Federal Navy, the senior officers inside have read the detailed analysis given by the Navy Combat Intelligence Department.

Therefore, they knew much more about the Titan and its pilot Amber than the people in the military-industrial complex, but this also made them more nervous about the Red Devil's raid.

"Don't panic! The enemy only has one plane, it can't cause any trouble!"

Rear Admiral Mueller, who was in the captain's seat, suppressed his uneasiness and spoke loudly to comfort everyone after seeing the visible decline in the morale of the people in the bridge.

"The Marines will start the third wave of assault! The HCP squadrons on the ships will continue to provide cover! The main battleships will continue to suppress the enemy's fortresses and garrison fleets! Other warships will enter the air defense and interception state!"

After a series of orders were issued, Rear Admiral Mueller looked at the Red Devil, which was getting closer and closer, with a serious expression. Although his reaction just now was very quick and calm, his hands tightly holding the armrests of the captain's seat still exposed his true emotions.

He was a little scared.

However, the joys and sorrows of human beings in this world are not the same. When the two fleets of the Federation Navy fell into tension because of the attack of the "Red Devil", the nearby Atlas garrison fleet and HCP squadron were instantly boosted in morale after seeing the arrival of their own boss.

"It's the boss! The boss is here to support us!"

"Look, the boss has replaced the Giant God Soldier components!"

The defenders deployed by Atlas near the asteroid fortress were boiling, especially the pilots of the HCP squadron. After seeing the red body carrying a pair of "giant arms", they were so excited that their breathing became rapid.

Originally, under the huge difference in the number of enemies and us, the HCP squadron responsible for defending the fortress was not only under great pressure, but also suffered the most serious casualties since the establishment of the team under the fierce attack of the Federation.

But at this moment, everything changed.

When the main monitors of each machine captured the picture, the 'Giant' slowly raised two huge mechanical arms and grasped a huge 'column' with a slightly rough external structure. Many pilots couldn't help but control the machine to wave their fists.

"'Excalibur' is the sword of the promised victory!!!"

"Fuck! I'm so excited now!"

"Atlas HCP troops are the best in the world!"

The federal carrier-based HCP pilots who were entangled with the HCP squadrons of Atlas found that their opponents were like chicken blood. They were supposed to be on the passive defense, but suddenly they played crazy against them.

Many federal pilots did not adapt to the sudden change in the combat rhythm for a while. Under the fierce attack of the HCP of the Atlas side, their movements were deformed and they were finally shot down by the opponent.

But this was just the beginning.

Soon, both sides fighting near the A. Bawa Ku asteroid fortress saw a huge and exaggerated 'light sword' rising in the hands of the Titan who was advancing at high speed.

At the same time, the voice of ‘that man’ was heard in the public communication channel that could be heard by both the enemy and the enemy.

“The battle is not over yet!

Atlas will never stop today!

Everyone, gather around the ‘Giant’!”

At this moment, the communication channel of the Atlas side was completely blown up. The morale that had been greatly weakened in the asymmetric battle was almost completely restored in this instant.

On the other hand, the federal attacking force seemed to be stunned, especially the HCP pilots who were fighting back, each of them looked as pale as death.

Amber in the cockpit of the ‘Giant God’ also breathed a sigh of relief after seeing this scene.

Although the ‘famous scene’ he just imitated could easily turn into a ‘death scene’ if he was not careful, it was obvious that the federal forces did not have unreasonable weapons such as ‘steel nails’, so from the effect alone, it still met Amber’s expectations.

“Very good. After the morale is temporarily stabilized, we will do something ‘hard’ to completely reverse the situation!”

——

“It’s going to be bad”

This was Major General Mueller’s first thought after hearing the battle declaration on the public channel and seeing the red machine holding a huge ‘light sword’ ‘disemboweling’ a heavy cruiser.

If before this, he still thought that the rumor that the Atlas boss could turn the tide of the battle alone was some kind of ‘battlefield legend’, then now he has begun to think that this ‘legend’ may be true.

The huge 'light saber' raised by the Amber machine, its brilliant light cut through the haze of the battlefield, like the dawn, illuminating the edge of despair in the hearts of the Atlas defense forces.

Of course, this anti-ship weapon system called 'Excalibur' is not actually a real 'light saber', but a plasma saber made based on the technology provided by Saleh.

If it is the 'genuine' plasma saber of the Jeram people, that is, the forerunners, its size should be small enough for a single soldier to carry and use.

But it is obvious that the current technological level of Atlas or humans cannot maintain the power supply of the 'plasma saber' at this size, so the people in the Atlas Equipment Research and Development Center can only adopt the stupid method of proportional enlargement to carry out research and development.

And the short-term result is the 'handle' of the plasma saber that the 'giant god' is holding in a pair of giant hands at this moment.

According to Saleh, if such a large 'handle' is made under normal circumstances, the length of the plasma 'blade' emitted should theoretically be tens or even hundreds of kilometers. However, at this stage, the people in the equipment R&D center have tried their best to make the length of the plasma saber reach 4 kilometers.

This is not only due to the insufficient effectiveness of the restraining magnetic field, but also the energy supply problem is one of the difficulties faced by the R&D team - this even directly leads to the superconducting battery stack built into 'Excalibur' only being able to maintain energy for 20 seconds.

If you want to continue using it beyond this energy supply time, you can only replace the superconducting battery stack in battle. For this reason, the designers have also optimized this point specifically to facilitate Amber and others to replace the superconducting battery pack in battle.

However, Amber did not have much opinion on this point. After all, in his opinion, 'energy management' is also a compulsory course for every excellent pilot, and it is impossible to drive this thing all the time in battle.

Anyway, although this 'Excalibur' prototype still has a big gap in technical level with the Forerunner civilization, for Amber, having such a 4-kilometer-long 'giant beam sword' is enough.

Although the 'Giant God' with a very fast combat speed is equipped with a large number of advanced sensors and fire control units, it is not easy to carry out long-range attacks at extremely high relative speeds.

So from a long time ago, Amber has been planning to equip the 'Giant God' with a large enough 'ship-slashing sword' to perform anti-ship missions.

And now, this wish has been initially realized.

Under Amber's attack, every swing of 'Excalibur' is accompanied by the power of destruction, especially he also specifically looks for those ships whose deflection force field is overloaded or whose fragile hulls are exposed.

Whenever the ‘Giant’ crosses the target warship, the dazzling plasma saber will leave a hideous wound on the target ship, and if it is a small unit such as a frigate or a destroyer, it will basically be cut in half.

Under the cutting of the high-temperature plasma beam, the outer armor of the warship and the internal titanium alloy frame appear so fragile. The wailing of metal and the explosion of energy interweave into a tragic symphony, silently echoing in this universe covered by war.

Under Amber's leadership and his leading charge, the Atlas HCPs that gradually gathered around him were like a storm, sweeping towards the federal fleet and the third batch of assault boats they deployed.

When the other four mass-produced ‘Giant’ models, such as Murat and Louis, who came from another battlefield, joined the battle, the sudden offensive made the federal fleet a little flustered.

High-threat units such as cruisers were quickly dealt with by Amber, or killed on the spot by the coordinated attacks of Murat, Louis and others, so the remaining Atlas pilots were relieved of much pressure. They only needed to follow Amber and others to attack and kill the enemy HCPs who were not afraid of death.

Rear Admiral Mueller, commander of the 24th Federal Fleet, looked at the Atlas troops that were constantly advancing on the three-dimensional tactical diagram with a grim face, but his emotions eventually eased slowly because he realized that he was likely witnessing a change.

Before this, HCPs had always been regarded as chess pieces and consumables on the battlefield - even though they were nicknamed "Titans", they were invincible to conventional infantry.

In the eyes of battlefield commanders, the existence of HCP has always been to perform tactical tasks, rather than to determine the direction of a battle or even a war.

But the emergence of the ‘Red Devil’ to which Atlas belonged, completely overturned this perception in just a few months.

From the first appearance of Para 4, every action of the 'Red Devil' seemed to be writing a new law of war, shocking all witnesses.

It is not that the top military leaders of the Federation have not noticed this. On the contrary, they have always attached great importance to this new type of unit derived from the conventional HCP, and have also carried out some development.

It’s just that so far, they haven’t been able to produce any decent results. Many of the problems that Atlas asked Saleh to solve using Forerunner technology and experience have become insurmountable for the Federation in a short period of time. The natural moat of the past.

Of course, the more important point is that when the designers selected test pilots based on the design performance data of the airframe, they discovered that they could not find anyone who could control this new type of unit.

There is a saying that among the Federation's pilot pool, there are actually many tough men who have undergone extensive body modifications, and can theoretically adapt to the control of this new type of unit.

But it is precisely because their body modifications are too high and there are too many prosthetics and implants in their bodies that researchers simply dare not allow these people who may have symptoms of "cyberpsychosis" to conduct flight tests.

One step is slow, each step is slow.

When Atlas's heavy-duty HCPs begin to be put into mass production and participate in battles, the Federation is still designing them slowly.

"Report to the general, the loss of the third batch of assault boats has exceeded 60%! Do you want to notify the fourth batch of assault boats to prepare for launch?"

"Well, let's let the fourth batch of assault boats try again, but this is the last time. Subsequent batches of assault boats will stop loading personnel and let all shipborne HCP squadrons retreat after covering the fourth batch of assault boats!"

"Yes, General!"

The tactical information coordinator quickly went to issue the order with the fleet staff, and the commander of the 23rd Fleet, Barak, asked with some confusion after hearing Mueller's words:

"Mueller, are you planning to withdraw from the battle?"

"Of course, Atlas's defense and counterattack have exceeded our pre-war expectations. If it continues, it will be a pure exchange of battle losses. There are other mission arrangements than the 23rd and 24th fleets. If the doctor's side If we are unable to achieve a breakthrough, we cannot let our precious ships be lost here.”

Mueller said in the communication channel, while looking at the red dot that was constantly impacting the fleet on the three-dimensional battlefield diagram, he finally sighed.

"There is also this 'Red Devil' who keeps attacking the fleet. The opponent has not completely let go of the attack yet. It is more of a test. But if he continues to drag it and he completely penetrates the fleet's air defense network, then it will really be There’s going to be a big problem”