From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

In the deep space somewhere, a huge and lonely asteroid is wandering silently in the universe just like it did for billions of years before. The mottled traces on its surface tell of its struggle with time and the "bits and pieces" of this wandering that has lasted for billions of years.

But in the next moment, this huge asteroid, whose long axis has exceeded 200 kilometers, seemed to hit something invisible in this dark and silent space.

It was an invisible mysterious object, which seemed to be similar in size to this huge asteroid and had been quietly hidden in this universe for millions of years.

At the moment of impact, there was no roar, no sparks, only the most primitive force collision in the depths of the universe.

The huge body of the asteroid was torn apart by this mysterious object in the collision, turning into countless fragments. These fragments flew freely in a weightless environment, creating a splendid and tragic picture.

However, this rare scene did not cause any fluctuations in the mysterious object hidden in this universe. When the fragments of the asteroid drifted farther and farther, this universe returned to silence.

In a hall-like area inside this mysterious object, a large number of instruments surrounding the hall were flashing lights in a certain rhythm.

After an unknown amount of time, a cylinder made of unknown material in the center of the hall suddenly lit up, and at the same time a strange language sounded in the middle of the hall.

If Amber and Saleh were here, they would immediately realize that this was the language of the Jerram people, that is, the Forerunner civilization.

"772 Cosmic Observatory, observation record update"

"The current historical trend of the universe is consistent with the third predicted path. It is currently at the 954882nd branch point, which has two branch routes."

"If you enter the second branch, the overlap between the historical trend of the 772 universe and the third predicted path will exceed 99.1%, and the early warning mechanism will be triggered"

"Based on the above background, the observatory will end the high-level dormancy mode, reactivate key systems and prepare to send a recall signal"

The cold and pale voice recording log broadcast ended, but there was no response in the empty hall. However, in this silence, the various facilities inside the observatory began to activate under the stimulation of a certain signal.

The secret doors in various passages were opened, and a large number of autonomous machines poured out and headed for the locations of various subsystems. While the subsystems were activated, they performed maintenance for an unknown period of time.

At the same time, in a giant dock in Atlas, Saleh, wearing a mask to cover her face, was communicating with several shipbuilding engineers.

After this period of adaptation, Saleh has learned the universal language of humans, and after covering her face and soft foot tentacles, she assisted various departments of Atlas in their work as a "mysterious all-round consultant."

When she was instructing several engineers to optimize the manufacturing process and procedures of the battleship, she suddenly shuddered as if she had been electrocuted.

Several engineers around were stunned for a moment, and then asked Saleh if she was feeling unwell.

"Sorry, I'll go back and rest for a while. We'll talk about the rest of the questions next time."

"It's okay, Ms. Saleh, you go back first. You haven't rested much these days while following us to monitor the progress. We can still bear it, but you still need to rest."

An engineer turned off the terminal in his hand and said with concern.

Although Saleh disagreed with the second half of his words, in terms of physical strength and spirit, the Homo sapiens in front of her could not compare with her at all, but she still nodded and thanked him, and quickly turned and left.

After returning to her exclusive cabin, Saleh put away the mask on her head, and the soft foot-like tentacles that had been curled up behind her head also stretched out again.

She sat on a cushion that Amber bought from the Thousand Star Empire and gave her, which was said to be beneficial to psychic meditation, and closed her eyes to quietly check her condition.

Soon, she opened her eyes again, but there was a trace of worry in her eyes.

"The battle of Pyra IV is actually a critical node, even the observation station has been activated"

Salih looked up in a certain direction. Although there was only an ordinary bulkhead over there, her eyes seemed to penetrate everything and cross a long distance, staring at Pyra IV, the planet where the battle was going on.

"Amber, should I hope you win a great victory or die on the battlefield?"

--

"Boxer and Fertile Earth are badly damaged! The ship's posture has lost control and has been captured by the gravity of Pyra IV and is falling into the atmosphere!"

"What is the escort cruiser formation doing? There is only one plane, why did the other party break through!"

"HCP squadron report, the other party is too fast and cannot be intercepted!"

"Attention, air defense weapons group! The target is approaching from the port side!"

As the tactical information coordinator nervously said the last message, the bridge of the 'Midway' orbital attack ship also sounded the alarm simultaneously.

Then, a red shadow flashed in front of the 'panoramic porthole' simulated on the bridge screen.

At this moment, the captain of the Midway felt as if time had slowed down. The huge figure of the single-person HCP outside and the strangely shaped main monitor with a flash of red light were like a red devil, full of oppression.

"Helmsman! Emergency evasion!"

When the illusion of time slowing down ended, the captain who reacted immediately shouted, but it was still a step too late.

The moment he finished speaking, a huge tungsten alloy heavy-duty anti-ship penetrating rod tore open the fragile side armor of the Midway from the side, and then directly penetrated the bridge hidden inside the hull.

Immediately afterwards, another charged particle beam swept across the plasma propulsion array at the rear of the ship. The charged particle beam collided with the plasma ejected from the propulsion array, causing it to become disordered, and finally broke through the upper limit of the propulsion array's constraints.

As several huge plasma fireballs lit up and expanded at the stern of the ship, the Midway also triggered a series of explosions from the rear to the front. Eventually, it followed in the footsteps of the Boxer and Fertile Soil and irreversibly plummeted into the atmosphere. go.

Amber took a moment to glance at the current ammunition reserve of 'ATLAS'. 70% of the remaining ammunition was enough for him to complete the battle.

"Lilith, next target!"

"The guidance route has been given, Master!" Lilith's voice rang in her ears, very focused and serious, completely without the usual loose feeling.

"Please pay attention to the intercepted HCP on the path. In addition, the enemy cruiser is lowering to the extreme orbital altitude. At the same time, the hull axis is also adjusting towards our position. It is judged that the scattering mode of the main gun may be used!"

"Understood, just mark the general attack direction, and I will evade it."

——

"General, the loss of the second orbital attack ship detachment is close to 30%. Do we need to provide support?"

On the bridge of the flagship of the Federation's Thirteenth Main Fleet, looking at the orbital attack ship detachment with increasing losses, the fleet operations staff asked the fleet commander Guterres with a solemn expression.

But the latter did not answer the question immediately. Instead, he stared at the light spots raging in the orbital attack ship on the main screen of the bridge, and held the armrest of the captain's seat with his whole hand.

Guterres never imagined that he would be forced to make a choice by an HCP.

He originally thought that the three cruisers, one heavy and two light, responsible for the escort would easily kill the 'fly'. Who would have thought that not long after the battle, the two light cruisers were defeated, and the heavy cruiser was forced to switch to air defense mode. Full firepower was used and all HCPs on board were dispatched.

Even so, three of the 10 ships in the entire orbital attack ship detachment were sunk by the speed of light. The HCP that came forward to intercept did not have any unit that could keep up with the opponent's speed.

Even if it is lucky enough to intercept it on the advance line, it will only be smashed into pieces by the opponent's violent firepower.

"What the hell is this thing? Are there really humans driving it?"

The situation he encountered was something Guterres had never experienced since he joined the federal navy.

He even thought that he had fallen into some bizarre nightmare, but he knew that now was not the time to be indecisive and that he had to make a decision as soon as possible.

"Give up support. Thirteenth Fleet, advance at battle speed! Attack the Atlas Fleet with all your strength!" Guterres clenched his right fist and hammered the armrest heavily.

"As long as we kill their fleet, this battle will be 'check'!"