From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

"Attention, both sides in the war. This is the Atlas Humanitarian Aid Fleet. We are now preparing to deliver humanitarian supplies. Please abide by the relevant provisions of the "Talles Convention" and suspend the exchange of fire to avoid accidental injuries."

When the huge red cross and Atlas logo appeared in the sky, voice notifications from Atlas also appeared in public channels such as the public communication channel and the international rescue channel.

"Wow, the "Talles Convention" has been brought out? Do you think anyone will really abide by this thing?"

In the headquarters of a ground force of the Federation Army, the commander asked his staff officer with some amusement.

The "Talles Convention" he mentioned was a document signed by the Federation and the Empire in the last war. It involves a convention on the protection of basic human rights in the war zone. The purpose is to prevent this war from affecting civilians too much.

Hearing his superior's question, the staff officer smiled and said:

"Aren't we abiding by it now? I just don't know if the Empire guys on the other side will abide by it. After all, they are now 'fighting like a trapped beast', and I won't be surprised if they make any crazy moves."

"That's right, but I heard that this company called Atlas also has cooperation with the Empire. I guess since they have the courage to run to the war zone to perform such a mission, they should have been endorsed by the Empire, right?"

"It should be. The top leaders of the Empire probably issued the same order as us, but whether the front-line troops abide by it is another matter~"

"Well, then I wish Atlas better luck."

After the commander finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at the communications squad on the other side of the headquarters.

"Communicator, pass on my order! Let the front-line troops strengthen the surveillance of the Atlas units! If there is any abnormal situation, warn first, and then open fire if the warning is invalid!"

——

The troops of both sides on the ground did receive relevant news before.

The garrison on the Empire side was almost equivalent to a "discarded pawn". Although they were not very interested in the orders from the Supreme Command, they were in a passive defense and were unwilling to take the initiative to interfere with Atlas' airdrop operation.

After all, when choosing the airdrop point, the airdrop commanders deliberately avoided the most intense fighting areas and chose open areas far away from the city.

If they dragged out the air defense forces, it is estimated that the opposing federal forces would not mind a round of covering attacks on these units that entered the range.

As for the ground forces of the Federation, they were relatively receptive to the orders of the Supreme Command, especially when the number of refugees began to increase due to the progress of the war.

At this time, the civil order on Pyra IV had basically collapsed, and many refugees lacked basic living supplies. When facing the survival crisis, some brave refugees even came to the vicinity of the Federation Army's position to seek help.

But the federal troops were also in a state of "seeing enemies everywhere" at this time, because no one knew whether these people who suddenly appeared were refugees. What if the special forces of the Empire mixed in with the refugees and infiltrated?

Moreover, as the ‘invaders’, they knew that most of the intelligent creatures on this planet did not welcome their arrival. Who knows, there might be extremists among these refugees who were carrying bombs and were planning to die together?

So these ground forces were different from the federal navy in space.

They still hoped that Atlas’ ‘humanitarian aid team’ would not do anything weird, but would really take root as they said and attract all these refugees away.

——

When the 30-minute preparation time was over, Atlas’ airdrop operation was completely kicked off.

Although those large orbital landing ships converted from transport ships were not equipped with corresponding weapons and could not carry out orbital attacks, they had no problem completing the orbital airdrop mission.

And because of the lack of armed units, the empty internal volume even allowed them to carry more supplies and personnel.

Not long after these large orbital landing ships entered the ‘airdrop operation orbit’, those on the ground who were staring at the huge red cross in the sky saw groups of ‘meteors’ with long tail flames rushing out from the red cross and Atlas’s logo.

These "shooting stars" that kicked off the airdrop were elite pilots from various HCP squadrons who took the initiative to sign up for the mission.

When the HCP special airdrop cabin was lowered to the predetermined altitude and exploded according to the program, these "holy shields" that had just been equipped to the elite squadrons turned on the "downward viewing mode" of their respective detection units.

"No abnormalities were found in the landing area, and the units of the two warring parties have not crossed the cordon yet!"

"Stay alert, this is a real battlefield!"

As the altitude dropped further, the plasma propulsion arrays behind these "holy shields" that fell from the air and the attitude control nozzles on various parts of the body also began to work.

This is also the most dangerous time for HCP to carry out orbital airdrops.

The high temperature generated by the intense friction between the external armor and the air, coupled with the working temperature of the plasma propulsion array, makes them as conspicuous as fireflies in the night sky in the infrared sensor.

Not to mention the complex body shape, it also allows the air reconnaissance radar to easily lock their position.

Under such double lock, if the ground anti-aircraft units open fire, the hit rate will basically not be lower than 95%, and these HCPs can only rely on external armor and deflection force fields to resist.

However, fortunately, the two warring parties were extremely restrained, perhaps because it was the first time they faced the airdrop of Atlas, a third party, and no "accidental discharge" occurred in any of the troops.

Soon, all the first batch of airborne HCPs landed safely.

Although everyone was very nervous during the airdrop, after landing, these pilots did not hesitate at all, and immediately moved towards their teammates nearby, and quickly formed a small defensive formation.

"The landing zone has been controlled! You can start the "beehive" delivery!"

"Understood, this is the airdrop commander, now the second phase of the airdrop operation is underway, and each ship begins to slide the "beehive". The relevant atmospheric data has been updated again through the data link. Pay attention to adjust the relevant settings."

As the airdrop commander issued new instructions, multiple huge black objects in the shape of hexahedrons were pushed out from the slide rails in the largest deployment bays of each orbital landing ship.

When the green light representing "start operation" came on, the locking devices on the slide rails were unlocked one after another.

Under the gravitational pull of the planet, these black hexahedrons broke away from the slide rails, detached from under the orbital landing ship like laying eggs, and quickly fell into the atmosphere.