From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

Norris, the commander of the 162nd Heavy Combined Battalion under the 72nd Heavy Combined Brigade of the Federal Army Expeditionary Force, has been in excellent condition since landing on Pella IV, killing all around.

The 72nd Heavy Combined Brigade was originally responsible for a "deep attack brigade" in the federal landing force, and Norris's 162nd Heavy Combined Battalion was the "front attack battalion" of the brigade.

It can be said to be the tip of the spear on the spearhead of the attack.

Therefore, their battalion is also one of the few "standing soldiers" in the entire landing force that was directly drawn from the military planet. Both the equipment and the quality of the personnel are much higher than other friendly units.

Compared with the filling-in troops of the Star Dragon Empire on the opposite side of the front line, the comprehensive combat effectiveness is naturally several levels higher.

Therefore, during this period, Norris and his troops basically did not encounter any difficulties or hard bones when performing tasks.

Until today

When Norris first received the task of "going to the Atlas Group refugee shelter camp for negotiation and search", he actually guessed that the higher-ups probably wanted to make trouble for Atlas.

In other words, the Federation no longer intends to continue the stalemate, but is ready to confront Atlas.

During this period, the front-line troops of the Federation and Atlas have more or less heard about the conflict between them.

As a professional soldier of the Federation, Norris naturally stands on the side of the Federation unconditionally in this matter.

However, in his heart, he does not have much hostility towards the Atlas Group, because the team of this company has not interfered with the normal operations of the Federation before, but has "different opinions" with the Federation on the handling of refugees and imperial prisoners.

Regarding this point, Norris feels that it is really difficult for him to judge.

He can understand that the Federation troops have psychological emotions of violence against the civilians and soldiers of the Empire because of "national hatred and family hatred" and long-term combat.

After all, even his soldiers who have been training on military planets for many years have more or less similar emotions.

Not to mention those "mobilized soldiers" who were just civilians a few months ago, their psychological quality and psychological endurance will only be worse.

On the other hand, the Atlas Group does indeed adhere to neutrality and provide free humanitarian assistance.

They are not just helping the Star Dragon Empire. Sometimes when they encounter federal troops on the road, the company's combatants will use their more expensive and advanced medical equipment to treat seriously injured people.

So in the eyes of regular army officers like Norris, the armed personnel of this company are not enemies.

But no matter what Norris thinks in his heart, he will still resolutely execute the orders from his superiors.

And he did not take the Atlas troops lightly, but placed them in a higher position than the imperial troops.

So at this time, he also led his synthetic battalion to the vicinity of the Atlas Camp No. 5 refugee camp. After deploying the formation according to the conventional front-line contact regulations, Norris sent people to negotiate with the company's people.

As a result, who knew that this would encounter a situation that was not considered in the plan.

There were no soldiers on the outer cordon of Atlas, but a large group of autonomous armed machines were responsible for the alert.

After discovering the federal troops, some autonomous machines were combined together, and through some small holographic projection devices carried by them, a line of words was projected in the air with a conspicuous color combination.

"Humanitarian refugee shelter, armed forces of both warring parties please pay attention to identification to prevent accidental attacks, refugees and soldiers who need to surrender please follow the instructions and enter after completely disarming.

The autonomous machine will monitor the cordon 24 hours a day and record the images in real time. If any abnormal situation occurs, it will take reasonable and legal countermeasures in accordance with the "Talles Convention" and the "Memorandum of Understanding on War Zone Operations" and will not bear any responsibility."

"Hmph, it is flawless in this regard."

After watching the images sent back by the troops sent to negotiate, Norris complained unhappily.

The other party is obviously treating it coldly or intending to delay time. The troops sent to negotiate have been wandering around the cordon for half an hour, and the other party has no intention of sending negotiators.

Only the few autonomous machines responsible for holographic projection are tirelessly issuing warnings with text and sound.

Of course, there are also a large number of autonomous machines equipped with weapons on guard in the distance, and the weapons installed on their mechanical arms are also pointing straight at this side.

"Captain, what should we do now?" The troops sent out to negotiate turned around like headless flies for a long time, and helplessly asked Norris for help.

"If we launch an attack, these autonomous machines will cause some trouble to the infantry units, but if the mechanical units come up to suppress them, they probably won't be able to hold on for too long"

"Who said I'm going to attack?"

Norris shook his head when he heard his men's plan to launch an attack right away.

"Friendly forces have surrounded us from several other directions. This camp is now like a duck in the pot, and it can't run away"

"Then we just wait like this?"

"Let's wait first. I guess the situation will change in a while. I just received news from the reconnaissance unit in the rear that a large number of refugees and surrendered imperial soldiers are approaching this camp."

At this point, Norris also opened the satellite map on the command vehicle terminal.

The satellite that was passing overhead had captured a huge crowd of people moving towards this side.

But at the same time, the Atlas camp was no longer as "casual" as before.

Since the conflict began to escalate some time ago, some interference equipment has been turned on in their various camps, causing the camp images captured by the synthetic aperture radar to be like a thick mosaic, and nothing can be seen.

Norris turned off the satellite image and controlled the periscope of the command vehicle, looking in the direction of the refugee tide.

Although these refugees and surrendered soldiers also discovered the existence of the federal troops, they quickly continued to move towards the camp after discovering that the latter did not have any abnormal behavior.

It is obvious that these people's desire for drinking water and food has exceeded their fragile lives like mayflies at this moment.

In this way, the crowd gradually began to approach the cordon of Atlas Camp No. 5, and this scale of refugees also caused several armored vehicles and main battle tanks to drive in from the inside of the camp.

The negotiators sent by Norris also took this opportunity to negotiate with the Atlas soldiers wearing pure white combat exoskeletons.

"We suspect that the terrorists who carried out the bomb attack some time ago have mixed into your camp with the refugees. Out of a responsible attitude for both parties, please let our people go in to search."

"I have emphasized that everyone who enters the camp has been searched and identified. There are no terrorists here, only refugees and surrendered soldiers."

Faced with the request made by the federal army, the soldiers on the Atlas side refused without hesitation and warned the other party again not to cross the line.

"Brother, let your commander take a good look around. Your camp has been surrounded by troops far exceeding your number. If you continue to stalemate like this, you will not get any good results."

"Oh, surrounded? Then what?"

"You guy, why are you so stubborn!"

The federal and Atlas soldiers were arguing across the cordon, and no one noticed that behind a dirt slope in the distance, the air was unnaturally distorted for a moment and then returned to normal.