17:02 GMT on September 4, 2020.
The atmosphere in the combat intelligence room on the Osiris was depressing. Almost every department on the ship sent one or several representatives to participate in this meeting. Everyone was silent and stared at the holographic projection in the center of the room.
The captain, Colonel Li Youde, held a long stick in his hand, pointed at the projected Earth, and said: "You must also know that just like you before returning to the universe, if we want to enter the Earth again, we have to break through HER's Earth encirclement network again. The reason for urgently calling everyone for this meeting is that the Mycenaean Strategy Department received new information from the Covenant, and HER sent two battleships to specifically stop us!"
A staff officer stood up and said: "Please invite reinforcements from the Covenant Alliance or any force! The two enemy ships and the battleship group originally deployed in low-Earth orbit cannot be defeated by just one of our ships!"
Li Youde shook his head: "This is too difficult. First of all, the Star Alliance has rejected us. The fleets of other forces in the universe may only be able to protect themselves. The only way we have now is to quickly break through the encirclement network and break into the atmosphere!"
"Only on us?"
"No, Mycenae will send a warship to support us. Considering the strength of our homeland, this is already rare. While waiting for reinforcements to arrive, all departments are prepared to fight a fierce battle!"
The meeting is over, and Li Youde can see that everyone's expressions are not very good. After all, this mission is very difficult. The last time they broke through the HER encirclement network, they relied on the support of the New Muscovy Principality.
Lieutenant Anton came over and asked: "How many reinforcements are there exactly?"
"One battleship, eight lifeguards."
"Is it one of the two ships that the Parliament disarmed in the past..."
"That's right, the Agamemnon."
Anton saw that Li Youde's face was not very good, thinking that it was his first time to command such a big battle and he was nervous, so he comforted him: "Don't worry, this ship is very lucky, we will definitely be able to go to Earth."
Li Youde nodded: "Yeah, but what I'm curious about is, how did the Star Alliance's intelligence department obtain this information? With their level, HER should be able to know when a Star Alliance general sneezes, but this time They actually made a meritorious service??”
"Given one moment to another, maybe they will grow."
"I think someone deliberately leaked it to the Star Alliance so that we could prepare in advance." Li Youde said.
…
Not far from the control range of the HER Earth Encirclement Network, there are two HER battleships traveling side by side.
"Lieutenant Colonel Taglis! Thank you for your visit!"
Major Vega, the captain of the Leon, saluted Taglis who had just arrived on his ship. Taglis nodded slightly and said, "Vega, you are still so energetic. You are one of the few subordinates I can rely on."
"You're flattering me!"
"Okay, without further ado, show me what you brought."
Vega welcomed Targris to sit in the captain's seat and ordered the operator to switch the display screen to the hangar.
"Oh...this is..."
What appeared in front of Taglis were three aircraft in the hangar that he had never seen before. These were HER's new aircraft - the Eagle Type 2. Compared with its predecessor, this aircraft is more slender and muscular in body shape. The crown decoration on the head, which imitates the helmet of a Roman soldier, is more prominent. There is also a faint blue light emitting from the seams of the body armor.
Weijia began to introduce: "These three are Yingyang Type 2 test machines. Their armor is made of HER alloy using a new process. It is smaller and lighter than the old version of the armor. In terms of weapons, they are equipped with rapid-fire aircraft. Cannon gun, this new rifle can also be equipped with a grenade launcher, replacing the semi-automatic smoothbore cannon that originally needed to be equipped on the eagle-type arm. In terms of performance, the output has been increased by 30%, and the maneuverability has been increased by 20%."
Taglis pointed at the screen and said:
"These three AIs are equipped with HAL, right? Let them conduct a simulated battle. I want to send out three of my Yingyang Types to test the performance of the AI."
"Yes! Inform the maintenance team to start three new machines!"
Half a minute later, the eyes of the three Eagle Eyes lit up one after another. Unlike the bloodthirsty red eyes of the old Eagle Eye, their eyes emitted a hair-raising faint blue light. The movements of the three AI-controlled aircraft were as natural as those of a manned pilot, and they boarded the ejection deck in an orderly manner. When they flew out of the ship, the three Eagle-type aircraft from the Chimera were already in position.
Simulated battles with humanoid weapons usually use signal weapons or launch paintballs. This time Taglis specially used more expensive paintballs in order to make the display more intuitive.
"Start the mock battle!"
When the signal to start the battle was given, three Yingyangs launched a V-shaped attack towards AI's formation. AI also formed a formation to parry, and after more than ten rounds, it gradually gained the upper hand.
Taglis couldn't help but admired: "Oh... this AI is much better than the previous AI. The HAL that the empire spent a lot of money to build has paid off. It's a pity that there are only three of them at the moment. I don't know how well HAL will perform in controlling large legions."
Vega said: "As long as we perform stably this time in the battle against the Osiris, AI will soon be able to control large legion battles, so that soldiers on the front line can sacrifice less."
"I trust humans more."
After Tagris finished speaking, his three Yingyangs were "shot down" and surrendered. The AI won this contest.
…
"Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel Taglis reported that HAL's prototype machine performed well and he will put it into use in the next battle."
"Of course, thank you for your report."
Zhuge Daozi shook the red wine glass and turned off the projection on his personal terminal. Just when he was about to take a sip of red wine, another message came in.
"Colonel, Captain Aboud wants to see you."
"Let him in!"
Daozi put down his wine glass, stood up and picked up an empty glass to pour wine. He had just finished filling the glass when Captain Abboud came in.
"Here's to you! Abboud! We haven't seen each other for months!" Daozi handed the wine glass to Abboud. Abboud took the glass respectfully and said: "Thank you! Colonel!"
After Abboud took a sip of red wine, Zhuge Daozi asked: "It's been almost two months since you went to Mars and back. What's going on?"
"The situation is very bad. What we now understand is that the governor we sent to the Mars colony tried to betray the empire and become independent. His subordinates chose to rebel against him. The war between the two sides led to the collapse of the Mars colony. The casualty rate was as high as 90%, and there were only a few residents and soldiers. Most of those who survived escaped to other colonial satellites.”
"Where does he have the confidence to stand on his own?"
"Superpower Research Center."
"Oh... did that secret facility deployed on Mars achieve anything?"
"As far as I know, yes, the Moore Chamber of Commerce sent the Ten Swords No. 9 machine to Mars. It happened to be a machine that needed super-powered humans to pilot it. The Governor of Mars wanted to use it to mass-produce it and form a super-powered machine. Use the troops for your own use.”
"Hmph, mass-producing Ten Swords is not that easy. Is he dead?"
"Dead, died miserably."
"Where's Jujian Unit 9?"
Abboud sighed and said: "If it is recycled by the Moore Chamber of Commerce, it will be one step ahead of us."
"Did any of the test subjects from the Superpower Research Institute survive?" Daozi asked.
"We found 9, two of them have mental problems, and the rest are still being treated."
"Give me those seven people." Daozi said, shaking his wine glass.
Abboud asked in confusion: "Why? The empire has no weapons specially developed for them. Their combat effectiveness is about the same as that of ordinary soldiers."
Daozi smiled and said, "I will let them make full use of it."
"I know, I'll do it right now."
"Thank you, would you like another drink?"
"No, no, no, I have other jobs. It's not okay to drink too much." Abboud saluted and turned to leave, but suddenly stopped and said, "The Red Knight has been promoted to major, right? Has he been assigned a battleship?"
"Yes, what's wrong?" Daozi didn't know why he asked this.
"When I came back, I happened to meet him commanding a warship to set off. He seemed to be in a hurry. Since it was you who sent it, it's okay. I'll say goodbye."
The wine in Daozi's glass kept shaking due to the trembling of his hands, but it quickly calmed down. After Captain Abboud left, he began to confirm the matter with his subordinates. He only heard that the Red Knight set out with a battleship and several humanoid weapons. The target was unknown. Daozi began to think quickly in his mind:
"Why did Vlad leave without asking me? Isn't he afraid of going to court-martial? Is he just looking for the Osiris that reappeared, or does he know something? I have just confirmed that Unit 2 has returned to the Osiris, and Elizabeth has also They should be together. If he finds out...Old classmate, since you want to hang yourself, let me help you prepare to telescope."
…
At this moment, in a certain space controlled by HER.
The Red Knight sat in the cockpit of the special-purpose machine "Xiahoudun" and looked at the monitor uneasily, which showed various values and pictures of a blood-red machine shuttle through the asteroid belt. It was a high-performance machine based on the "Roman Gladius", and its data had exceeded the Red Knight's own car. As shown in the picture, it shuttles rapidly among the blood-red hummingbird asteroids, shooting at those rocks that cannot fight back from time to time.
"Ha ha ha ha!!"
A rock was destroyed by the blood-red machine's cannon, and the pilot let out an innocent yet chilling laugh.
"This machine is great! It is indeed a gift from my father!"
The red knight saw the irregular fluctuations in the various values of the blood-red machine on the display. In terms of the performance of the machine, these fluctuations were within the normal range, but the person driving it made the red knight really uneasy.
"Princess Mary, have you had enough fun? Let me take you back to the capital. His Majesty the Emperor will be worried."
"No! Didn't I tell you to take me to find my sister!"
The blood-red machine suddenly turned around and swung its sword at the red knight, but the red knight dodged it. Mary said angrily: "Sure enough, you can't just rely on the performance of the machine!"
"Princess, you don't want to kill me, do you?"
"Kill you? Of course not, but you haven't explained to me yet why the Ten Swords Opportunity No. 2 that you captured disappeared from the Imperial Armory and reappeared in Liangzhu? Does my sister's disappearance have anything to do with this incident? It doesn’t matter!? Why did you sail away from a ship without asking your superiors for permission!”
The red knight broke out in a cold sweat. He originally wanted to bypass Zhuge Daozi to confirm whether Elizabeth was with Lin Ao, because they disappeared together. But he didn't expect that before he set off, he would be entangled by Princess Mary. This little girl was so smart that she had guessed so much, and now she was threatening him to take her with him to find Princess Elizabeth.
"I...I really don't know."
Mary said: "You must be hiding something from me! If you listen to me, I can skim the fat for you in the future if my father blames me. If not, it won't sound good if I tell my father! Haha, you don't have to worry about me getting in the way. , with my 'Bloody Mary' here, there is no opponent we can't defeat! Hahaha!"
The red knight could only smile bitterly at the screen. Although Mary was the child of his enemy, it was not impossible to control her if he was ruthless. But Mary was still somewhat related to him by blood, and he didn't want to do anything to this girl.
"Yes...I understand, Your Majesty Princess."
