Chapter 297: A Battle that Starts Strong but Ends Poorly

"Tsk! The rods are all gone."

Looking at the remaining ammunition values ​​on the multi-function display, Lieutenant Larry couldn't help but let out a 'tsk' sound.

The entire screen in front of me now turned into pieces, some were very clear, and some were just a whole blurry screen.

Although the combat assistance AI has tried its best to maintain the integrity of the screen, due to the severe damage to the sensors throughout the fuselage, the view of the cockpit has begun to become poor.

"I don't know which side has the upper hand now."

Since most of the warships are also trying their best to carry out electronic warfare attacks while firing, the electromagnetic environment in the entire combat space has never been worse.

The enemy-finding efficiency of the comprehensive detection unit has also been greatly reduced. In many cases, Lieutenant Larry even needs to use his own eyes to make judgments.

After just crossing paths with a team of Federation HCPs and falling into a melee, he had been separated from rookie Jeff and other comrades in the 809th Squadron, and was now flying alone in this dangerous space.

Although Lieutenant Larry finally eliminated the enemy he was fighting with, after being hit by a shrapnel fired at close range, a lot of the external 'bits and pieces' of the Priest, including the sensors, were washed away.

Moreover, the body's shield has also been scrapped, and the ammunition reserves are starting to run out.

Beams of light streaked across the starry sky, and fireballs burst out and disappeared in an instant.

We don't know whether our units were attacked or the enemy ships were destroyed. The entire battlefield was shrouded in chaos.

Suddenly, a dazzling burst of fire erupted not far behind Lieutenant Larry.

He looked back and saw that on the screen that was going up and down, a battleship that looked like a reconnaissance ship was constantly disintegrating in the flames of the explosion, and was eventually engulfed by a huge plasma fireball - it was a battleship-level superconducting battery stack. A performance that exceeds expectations.

Although the ship's hull number could no longer be seen, a dark voice in his heart told Lieutenant Larry that it was the mothership of the 809HCP Squadron, the Speeder.

"I go."

Lieutenant Larry stared at the scene in disbelief as he had lost the mothership from which he could return.

As an HCP pilot, a pilot fighting in the chaos of space, this can be said to be the most terrifying nightmare.

Although the Priest is one of the most advanced HCPs in active service in the Empire, this does not mean that its built-in energy engineer life support system can run forever.

Especially the machine used to produce oxygen. Although Lieutenant Larry didn't know what the 'pills' the maintenance team stuffed into the machine were, this thing would eventually be used up.

This lieutenant of the Imperial Royal Navy experienced a feeling called despair for the first time in HCP.

An HCP that lost its mothership in space, in the words of veterans, is the coffin of the HCP pilot.

For a moment, the desperate Lieutenant Larry stopped his movements, and the entire aircraft was like a corpse floating in space.

The notebook that he had tied to the side of the seat before the attack floated out at some point. Bob kept flipping through the diary entries he had written, and finally stopped at the last sentence he wrote in this world. superior.

"This is not my war"

"Yes, Bob, you are right, whose war is this?"

The notebook continued to float to one side, and Lieutenant Larry followed it unconsciously, and with this turning of his head, he saw an HCP passing by in the distance.

The combat auxiliary AI quickly marked its model, which was also a 'Priest'.

Lieutenant Larry suddenly came to his senses. He took Bob's notebook back and put it in his leg bag, and then flew towards the Priest.

The other party obviously noticed him and drew a huge arc before turning towards him.

When the distance got closer, the Identification Friend or Foe device also identified the identity of this aircraft. It was not the rookie Jeff, but the squadron leader of the 809th Squadron.

After closing the distance, the two priests quickly reduced their relative speed to 0, and then turned around and stuck together "back to back" in perfect harmony.

When the two bodies are completely attached to each other, contact communication is also established.

"Larry?! Are you okay?"

"Squadron Commander, I'm fine but the Speedster sank."

The Priest piloted by Lieutenant Larry raised his hand and pointed at the fireball in the distance.

"Don't panic! Listen, I have found a nearby friendly cruiser 'Rabi', they can recover us!

And they sent a signal that the fleet is getting ready to leave, so we have to get there quickly! Can you see the ship? "

While the squadron leader was speaking, he also transmitted the location of the 'Labi' to Larry through the data link.

"Okay squadron leader, um, I saw it. But are we about to evacuate now?"

"I don't know either, but it's better to have a boat than to be left here alone."

"By the way, squadron leader, Second Lieutenant Jeff and I are also separated."

Lieutenant Larry asked. He didn't want the last comrade in his team to disappear in such an inexplicable way.

"Sorry, I didn't see him." The main monitor on the head of the squadron leader's body shook its head.

"He may be fighting, or he may have landed on another friendly ship first. Don't worry too much. Although Lieutenant Jeff is a novice, he is still a well-trained naval pilot, and he will not be killed so easily! Okay! Come on, come with me first!"

The two priests quickly adjusted their direction and rushed towards the 'Labi'. They were lucky enough not to encounter any enemies blocking the way.

Soon, the 'Lapi' also discovered the two HCPs, and the warship quickly sent out a light signal. According to the interpretation of the combat support AI, it was urging them to board the ship as soon as possible.

But at this moment, Lieutenant Larry felt that he had auditory hallucinations, because Lieutenant Bob's low and hoarse voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

"Jeff. Nearby coma rescue."

This auditory hallucination lasted only a short moment, and the words were intermittent.

But after this passage, Lieutenant Larry suddenly felt that the middle-aged man named Bob had completely disappeared.

Although he himself felt that this feeling seemed a bit abstract, he really could no longer feel Bob's existence.

For some reason, Larry suddenly left the formation and rushed in another direction, and before the squadron leader's question came, he sent him a message through the blue-green laser communication: "I'm going to bring Lieutenant Jeff back!"

"Wait."

The squadron leader had no time to stop it, and saw that Lieutenant Larry's priest had disappeared in the distance.

Larry felt as if he was being guided by something while flying at high speed. Although the integrated detection unit of the machine could basically not detect anything at this time, he avoided several battle points along the way by relying on his own feelings.

In such a battlefield, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack to find Lieutenant Jeff's plane.

But this time, Lieutenant Larry happened to find this needle.

When he saw the priest in the distance, which had lost a mechanical arm and a mechanical foot, floating in the universe like a dead body, he knew that he had found Jeff.

After seeing a federal HCP approaching the priest, Lieutenant Larry pushed the throttle to the top without hesitation, and took off the last remaining weapon of the machine at the same time as he rushed over - the heavy slash sword.

Before the federal HCP could react, the priest had already rushed in front of it. Although the former also raised its mechanical arm to shoot at Larry, Lieutenant Larry at this moment made a series of exquisite evasive maneuvers that he had never completed before, and after successfully breaking into the opponent's left hemisphere, he ended the battle with two swords.

"Jeff! Can you hear me?!"

Larry pressed his body against Jeff's body and tried to get in touch with him through contact communication, but although the communication was connected, Jeff's response was delayed.

Time was running out, and if he didn't hurry up, he might be left on the battlefield.

Thinking of this, Lieutenant Larry made a bold decision. He emptied the air in the cockpit, and then opened the cockpit of the body after adjusting the heavy hydraulic anti-gravity suit to the 'out-of-cabin mode'.

The universe outside the cabin was full of explosions, flames, and rays of directed energy weapons, but all this was like a silent pantomime in Lieutenant Larry's eyes. At this moment, he could only hear his heavy breathing.

Although he had a safety rope tied behind him, Lieutenant Larry was still a little nervous, but he quickly suppressed these emotions and floated carefully to Jeff's cockpit.

"Warning! Do not open the hatch from here unless it is an emergency."

"Found it, it's here!"

Larry was delighted. He first pressed a button next to the operating lever, so that Jeff's heavy hydraulic anti-G suit would also switch to the 'out-of-cabin mode'.

When the green indicator light representing 'can be opened' came on, Lieutenant Larry pulled the joystick without hesitation.

The next second, the cockpit door of the Clergy was also forcibly opened.

Larry hurriedly climbed up and saw that Lieutenant Jeff was leaning on the driver's seat with his head tilted, unconscious.

He climbed into the cockpit and confirmed that Lieutenant Jeff still had vital signs through the external screen of the heavy hydraulic anti-G suit, then unbuckled his seat belt and dragged him out of the cockpit.

When the rookie lieutenant woke up again, Larry was already driving the Clergy on the way to the 'Rabi'.

"Lieutenant?! So you are dead too?"

"I'm dead! I'm running to save you at the risk of my life! You are sleeping in the cockpit!" Lieutenant Larry said with gritted teeth.

"Ah? We are still alive?!" Lieutenant Jeff finally reacted,

"It turns out I just fainted. I thought I was dead."

Hearing this, Lieutenant Larry was about to say something back, but he saw a screen flicker on the multi-function display, and then the weapon unit of the entire body turned gray.

"Warning! Unknown electronic warfare virus has broken through the body firewall. Warning! The weapon unit is offline!"

"Electronic warfare virus?!" Larry was shocked. It was not a good thing to be attacked by an electronic warfare virus at this point.

But he soon discovered something strange, that is, after the electronic warfare virus attacked the weapon unit and made it offline, there was no follow-up action.

The entire battle space also showed a "strange sight". All the crossfire disappeared. Whether it was the Federation warships, the Empire warships, or the HCPs that were fighting on both sides, they all suddenly stopped firing.

The universe that was just "extraordinarily lively" suddenly became quiet in an instant. The fleets of both sides fighting each other even looked a little funny against this "quiet" backdrop.

"What the hell?"

Lieutenant Larry looked at a Federation HCP that passed by him with a confused look on his face. The other party obviously discovered him but did not open fire.

But he knew that now was not the time to think about it, so he immediately took advantage of this strange "ceasefire period" to rush into the air defense circle of the Lapi, and finally "crashed" into the port entrance of the cruiser.

"Congratulations on your safe arrival!"

After opening the cockpit hatch of the Clergyman, the maintenance team members of the Lapi said to Lieutenant Larry and Lieutenant Jeff:

"You are so lucky. Just when we were recycling your machine, we received the news that we were ready to leave the battlefield!

Look! The port entrance has been closed, and we really have to leave now!"

"Yes. This is really good luck."

Larry helped Jeff float out of the cockpit. After handing the latter to the members of the medical team, he floated alone to the wall walkway and looked at the notebook in his hand.

"Thank you, Bob."

——

"The Federation Navy won a great victory! Sweeping the invading enemy!"

"Marshal Trafalgar said: The great navy has officially entered a strategic counterattack!"

"Want to prove that you are a real man? Join the Federation Navy immediately! Recruitment hotline XXXXX"

After the "supernova explosion" operation, which is known as the "Mirren Galaxy Decisive Battle" in the folk, the Federation Navy News Department carefully produced various news and began to radiate to the surrounding areas with the Miren Galaxy as the center.

At the same time, a special program "Frontline Interview" was made at the fastest speed, interviewing many fleet commanders including Marshal Trafalgar, as well as surviving naval soldiers, sparing no effort to promote the importance of this victory.

While the "copy" of the program recorded and edited was quickly sent to the capital galaxy, Amber in the Tower of Babel also figured out what happened at the end of the battle with the help of Lilith.

"So the Celestial Fortress also has this kind of large-scale indiscriminate electronic attack capability?"

"That's right, Master~ With the computing power of the Celestial Fortress's mainframe, it can indeed form a dimensionality reduction attack on the control personality of other warships."

Lilith, who was in the virtual space, sat in Amber's arms in a disheveled state. She used the excuse of "restoring the panoramic view of the battlefield through virtual reality" to trick Amber into the virtual space with great effort and accomplish some "big things".

"Using a crushing attack, forcibly penetrating the ship's firewall, disintegrating the anti-virus program, and then offline the ship's weapon unit, it was simply smooth sailing~

The only problem may be that it is still in the stage of 'not distinguishing between friend and foe'

But people can understand that if the enemy identification function is added, it will take away a lot of computing power, and then the fortress control personality will probably not be able to 'go all out' without scruples."

"Lilith, you can say whatever you want, but don't twist it."

Amber held Lilith's shoulders to stop her twisting behavior, and then said:

"I didn't expect that the Empire had never used this ability before. I don't know if Duke and Duke William's celestial fortresses haven't been installed yet, or if it's a bottom-of-the-box ability that they don't want to expose easily."

Thinking of this, Amber couldn't help but recall it in his mind again, confirming that the first generation of celestial fortresses in the previous life game did not have this ability.

This made him wonder if the Empire upgraded the celestial fortress because of the change in the world line?

"Master, I have a question too~"

"Hmm?"

"I think there is nothing wrong with the previous steps. I would do the same if I were in your shoes. But the last step is why do you take the weapon unit offline instead of trying to overload the fusion reactor or superconducting battery stack?"

"That's easy to explain." Amber changed to a more comfortable posture and continued:

"The superconducting battery stack and fusion reactor both have safety devices. At the beginning of the design, they took into account the situation after the entire ship was penetrated by the electronic warfare virus. So once an abnormal command is input and no crew member manually confirms it, it will be judged as 'encountering an electronic warfare virus attack', and then directly Disconnect from the main system of the warship on the physical level.

Another reason is what you just mentioned. This is an indiscriminate large-scale electronic warfare virus attack. The Empire can't possibly want to blow up all its warships? So letting the weapon unit temporarily offline is the safest approach at this stage."

"I see. Does Lily need to develop this ability? Maybe she can accurately identify one-way attacks from both the enemy and us~"

"Oh, so sensible?"

Amber was a little surprised. Although Lilith now obeyed him, this kind of "active request to work overtime" situation was the first time.

Usually, this eccentric strong artificial intelligence always finds ways to slack off.

"Of course, but I still have a small request."

Lilith lowered her head, and two green onion-like fingertips poked each other in front of her chest.

"Tell me, as long as it's not a particularly outrageous request."

"Really? Then Master, spend more time with Lilith in the virtual space today~"

'Snap!' Soon, the virtual space that was originally a 'combat intelligence room' style was switched to a luxurious king-size bed room.

And the stool that Amber was originally sitting on also turned into a soft mattress.

"No, wait, why are you twisting again?! Hiss"