The Asteroid Battlefield was locked in a stalemate. Even the sky carrier Chang Ying, home to a frontline command center, served as one of the vital relay platforms for aerial support forces. Thousands of unmanned fighters launched from it every hour, carrying out uninterrupted bombardments on the asteroid's Occupied Territory. Elite assault teams also used it as a transfer point, acting as the forward-thrusting claws of the Service Light Divine Bird. Bearing Blessing Power, they charged along the front lines in support of the ground forces.
At the same time, as the largest target on the Asteroid Battlefield aside from the Main Base, the sky carrier constantly faced sieges by Extraterritorial Species and Karmic Poison Living Entities.
Anyone with eyes could see that from the moment it had been renamed Chang Ying, this sky carrier was basically never going to leap back into space. The best-case scenario was for it to be taken in together with the asteroid when it became a Demi-Plane. More likely, it would serve as a target and sacrifice during the Demi-Plane conversion, drawing as much fire as possible for the asteroid and completing its final delaying mission.
Of course, there was also a significant chance it would be shot down before then.
That was why the officers and soldiers aboard the sky carrier were under immense pressure. The Eight Great Departments in the inner layers had it somewhat better, but in the outer combat zones, external armor was damaged every so often, and trouble sometimes even broke through inside.
For that reason, protocol required every person aboard, just like frontline combat personnel, to wear two layers of armor: an inner Exoskeleton paired with outer Powered Armor. Everyone became a steel monster roughly three meters tall, prepared for unpredictable dangers that could arise at any moment.