Dawn.
The engines of three hundred F-22 Thunderhawk were ignited at the same time, and the fusion engines erupted with blue-white tail flames, pulling out long strips of light on the runway, illuminating the entire Hive City top take-off platform.
Old Kyle sat in the cockpit of the old Lightning Fighter that was riddled with bullet marks, put on his flight helmet, and took one last look at the twelve photos on the dashboard.
The faces in the photo have long been blurred, but he still remembers everyone's name and the day everyone died.
His hand was on the joystick and he touched the polished leather on the joystick.
This is his old buddy who has been with him for most of his life.
Now I have to take it on its last trip.
Kyle looked through the cockpit glass at the brand new F-22 Thunderhawk next to it.
His student Ronin is sitting inside, praying silently to the pendant around his neck.
Old Kyle did not disturb him, but just pushed the engine's accelerator forward one step, and old Lightning Fighter let out a low roar, like a waning veteran who was awakened.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside.
Old Kyle looked up and saw Governor Fu Haoran dressed in black Power Armour, striding towards the black behemoth at the deepest part of the hangar, the only Stormbird heavy gunboat in the entire Hive City.
"It's the Governor!"
"The Governor wants to attack with us?"
The pilots' chatter sounded quietly in the communication channel.
Old Kyle narrowed his eyes.
He knew that the Governor could not fight on the front lines like them.
Stormbird is an air support gunship. It is good at hitting ground targets, but air combat is another matter.
It lacks the speed and maneuverability required by real fighters and bombers, making it a living target in high-speed dogfights.
However, this Stormbird has been changed beyond recognition. All the carrier compartments and infantry delivery ports have been removed, and a large Auspex and data link antenna have been installed. Two somewhat exaggerated Missile Launchers have been installed on the back to serve as the airborne early warning and fire control command platform for the entire formation.
As long as it is still in the sky, the formation's situational awareness and missile guidance capabilities can be improved by several orders of magnitude.
But old Kyle still can't figure it out. What they mount are active guided explosive missiles, and they don't need relay guidance from early warning aircraft at all.
What on earth is the Governor going to do?
Soon, Fu Haoran's voice sounded on all communication channels, "Attention all units, we will set off in one minute."
On the entire runway on the top floor of Hive City, the engines of all fighter planes simultaneously erupted into deafening roars.
The mixed-race Genestealers Zeke curled up in the cold Boarding Torpedo, closed his eyes in the deafening resonance, put the shiny Lasgun in his hand against his chest, and silently recited for the last time. "Death is the way home."
The driver Ronin let go of the white pendant and suddenly pushed the control lever to the top.
Fu Haoran's voice sounded again, like a heavy stone, hitting everyone's heart. "Behind us is Hive City, our home. This time, we have no retreat and are ready to fight."
The roar of the engines merged into one, like a giant beast that had been suppressed for too long finally showing its fangs.
Three hundred F-22 Raptors loaded with anti-ship missiles, one hundred Wetware unmanned wingmen converted from old Soviet fighters, one old Lightning Fighter, and one Stormbird modified into a command platform, at the brightest moment of dawn, rose from the top of the Hive City and headed straight towards the suborbital west.
The sun finally jumped above the horizon.
The golden sunshine shines on the cold metal wings, on the pendant that Ronin holds tightly, and on the twelve faded photos on the old Kyle dashboard.
The war is about to break out.
Almost at the moment it flew away from the Hive City air defense circle, the entire fleet turned on afterburner at the same time, and the speed instantly soared to Mach 2.5.
There was no formation, no detours, just running straight in the direction of "Anvil".
This is a race against time.
Space orbit, coalition fleet.
"Sir Earl! It's not good!" The scream of the Auspex observer broke the calm of the command module, "The enemy discovered a large number of air targets in the direction of Hive City! The number is 401! They are moving at a speed of Mach 2.5!"
"What?" Octavius Earl turned around suddenly, with disbelief written on his face, "Are they crazy?
How dare you touch my Destroyer with only four hundred junks?"
He walked quickly to the radar screen, looked at the densely packed green light spots that were moving quickly, and suddenly his face changed. "No! Their target is Anvil"! Send out all Thunderbolt Fighter immediately! Intercept them! No one is allowed to come over!"
The sirens instantly sounded throughout the fleet.
The hangar door opened with a bang, and pilots in flight suits stepped on their boots and ran wildly on the metal deck. The clang of helmets, the click of the canopy closing, and the hum of the engine starting were intertwined.
--
One after another, Thunderbolt Heavy Fighter slid out of the hangar, like a swarm of black locusts, swooping towards the fleet below.
"Attention all units." Octavius's cold voice spread across all channels, "Attack. No one will be spared."
At the same time, on the bridge of the "Anvil" Destroyer, the sirens were equally shrill and harsh.
"Captain! A large number of air targets have been discovered! We are still 380 kilometers away!"
The captain leaned back in his chair, with a sarcastic smile on his lips, "Why are you panicking? It's just a group of moths rushing to the flame.
"Start Void Shield, prepare all anti-aircraft guns, let them see what it means to overestimate one's capabilities."
The light blue Void Shield instantly enveloped the entire Destroyer, like a layer of transparent eggshell.
At this moment, a slight explosion suddenly came from below the ship body, and the entire Destroyer shook slightly.
"What's going on?!" The captain suddenly sat up straight, "Void Shield why didn't he respond?!"
Before he finished speaking, a series of slight explosions came from underneath the ship, and the entire Destroyer shook slightly.
"What happened? Why didn't Void Shield intercept it?" The captain was shocked and angry.
--
"Report Captain!" The observer stared at the screen in front of him, with cold sweat on his forehead, "We-we are being attacked."
"The number of attack sources is extremely large, the speed is extremely slow, and Void Shield cannot be triggered!"
"What?" The captain pushed away the command chair and strode to the porthole.
Everyone followed his gaze and looked down.
In the sky below Destroyer, dense black dots are floating over from the direction of Hive City.
Not flying, more like floating in the air.
Thousands of suicide drones as tall as one person, like a swarm of hornets that have stabbed their nest, are approaching Anvil at a speed of less than 200 kilometers per hour.
Their flying posture is ridiculously clumsy, with a Plastisteel frame, civilian propellers, and navigation chips removed from scrapped mobile phones. The cost of each one is probably less than a fraction of a close-in defense artillery shell.
But it is this extreme cheapness and slowness that makes the Void Shield sensor completely confused.
In its threat determination database, there is no such category as "flying bombs with a speed of less than 200 kilometers per hour".
"Quick! Fire all the close-in defense guns! Shoot them all down!" The captain's roar exploded in the bridge.
The close-in defense gun arrays around the Anvil were activated at the same time.
The heavy explosive turret suddenly rotated into place, and the barrel was raised amidst the roar of the motor, aiming at the dark clouds below.
The next second, a continuous tongue of fire spewed out from the muzzle.
Boom boom boom boom!
The explosive bombs drew dense orange-red trajectories in the air, sweeping through the drone group like the scythe of death.
The drone in the front row was instantly torn into pieces, and the metal and plastic debris exploded in the air, burning into fleeting fireballs.
But more drones filled the vacancy, flocking to Anvil one after another.
The barrage of close-in defense artillery has woven into an airtight web of death. The drones were shot down like raindrops, and the fragments scattered in the air into a sheet of metal dust.
But there are too many of them. If you kill a hundred, there will still be a thousand.
Kill a thousand, and there will still be ten thousand.
They came from all directions without any tactics or evasion. They just used their numbers to hit the anti-aircraft fire net of No. Anvil.
"Have you found the launch point?" The captain pushed aside the technical officer next to him and approached the Auspex screen in person.
"Found it! But----" the voice of the observer stopped abruptly.
"But what? Say it!"
"The launch platform----is a tricycle."
The captain thought he had heard wrongly, so he pushed away the observer's hand and watched for himself.
On the ground, a simple launcher was placed in the carriage of an extremely crude tricycle.
They hit and run away without giving the enemy time to react.
There was a deathly silence on the bridge.
"What are you still doing?" The captain suddenly came to his senses and shouted, "Go ahead at full power! Leave this area! These crappy drones can't catch up with us!"
Yes!
Although Destroyer flies slowly, it is still faster than a drone.
At this moment, the Auspex operator suddenly let out a heartbreaking scream, "Captain! Fighter group! They are here! They are only 200 kilometers away from us!"
So fast?!
The captain's face turned pale instantly.
He suddenly looked up at the screen and saw densely packed small black dots rushing towards them at an alarming speed.
"It's okay, missiles can't break our Void Shield." The captain seemed to comfort everyone, but also seemed to be comforting himself.
At this moment, a white tail flame shot out from Stormbird in the distance, dragging a long trajectory and flying towards "Anvil".
It's a missile.
The captain looked at the lone red dot on the screen and couldn't help but sneered, "A bunch of fools, with this drone, want to destroy our Void Shield, what a dream!"
The words have not yet fallen.
Boom!
A deafening loud noise was heard, and the entire Destroyer shook violently. People on the bridge staggered around, and sparks flew from the console.
The captain's eyes widened in disbelief, looking at the dazzling red damage mark on the screen. "Impossible! How could Void Shield be useless?!"
No one answered him.
Because in the next second, overwhelming missiles appeared on the horizon.
More than 1,200 rounds of Melta armor-piercing missiles, trailing orange-red tail flames, hit the "Anvil" like a deadly meteor shower.
When these missiles were still a few hundred meters away from Void Shield, they suddenly shut down their engines and relied on inertia to drift slowly toward the shield.
The moment they passed through Void Shield, all the missiles ignited at the same time, and their speed instantly soared to Mach 3. Like red-hot sharp knives, they pierced the hull of the "Anvil".
In Stormbird's command cabin, Fu Haoran's fingers were tapping rapidly on the console. On the computer screen, thousands of ballistic trajectories were constantly corrected under his control, avoiding the interception of close-in defense guns, and all flew towards Destroyer's power cabin and reactor.
This is why Fu Haoran came up personally.
The neural response speed enhanced by the system attribute points can process the flight trajectory data of thousands of missiles at the same time, and can accurately control each missile to pass through the Void Shield gap and attack the parts that need to be attacked.
"Hit the power bay!"
"Hit the reactor cooling system!"
"Engine three exploded!"
"Engine four stalled!"
In the communication channel, voices reporting victory came and went.
Huge explosions sounded one after another. The huge hull of the "Anvil" was blown into huge gaps, and flames and debris spewed out from the gaps.
It could no longer support its own weight, and like a wounded giant beast, it let out a painful cry and slowly fell towards Hive City below.
[System prompt: Shoot down Cobra-class Destroyer "Anvil" hovering at the edge of Alpha Hive City's atmosphere]
Deafening cheers erupted from the communication channel.
Ronin waved his fist excitedly, and old Kyle also breathed a long sigh of relief, with a smile on his wrinkled face.
Fu Haoran leaned on the back of the chair and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Wade's scream suddenly sounded in the communication channel, "Mr. Governor! It's not good!"
"The radar discovered two large high-speed targets! They are descending rapidly from a high orbit! They are two Cobra-class Destroyer! Blade" and Heavy Hammer"!"
What?! Fu Haoran sat up straight and looked at the radar screen.
I saw two huge red light spots, facing the gunfire of Hive City Planetary Defense Cannon, alternately covering the rapid descent.
Flying in front of them are densely packed Thunderbolt Fighter.
A total of 1,260 aircraft!
They were like a metal rainstorm pouring down from high orbit, covering half of the sky with a heavy blackness.
The time goes back to 1 minute ago.
Octavius Earl stood in front of the podium, his face was ashen, and his eyes were burning with crazy anger.
"Sir Earl! You must not do this!" the adjutant was sweating profusely, "Alpha Hive City's Planetary Defense Cannon is very powerful. If our Destroyer breaks through forcefully, there is a risk of being sunk."
"Shut up!" Octavius slammed the table, "I can lose, but I can't lose so humiliatingly! Destroyer was sunk by a group of drones and fighter jets launched by a group of tricycles. If word spreads, how can I have the face to show off to others!"
He pointed at the screen and his voice was as cold as iron. "Give me the order! Blade"Heavy Hammer" descend at full speed! All Thunderbolt Fighter attack!"
"In addition, the rest of the fleet, use full firepower against Alpha Hive City! Cover Blade" and Heavy Hammer"!"
Fu Haoran This way.
The cheers in the communication channel disappeared instantly.
Everyone looked at the dense red dots on the radar screen, and their hearts sank to the bottom.
Run?
If you turn around and run now, you will only be chased and beaten by the enemy from behind, and your entire army will be wiped out.
There is only war.
Fu Haoran picked up the intercom, and his voice was calm but with unquestionable power. It spread to every cockpit and every Boarding Torpedo: "Wade."
"Here!"
"Launch all Boarding Torpedo."
"Received!"
On the launch platform on the top floor of Hive City, hundreds of huge Boarding Torpedos were ignited simultaneously, spitting out thick smoke, like one hundred and twenty arrows off the string, rushing towards the two Destroyers that were descending rapidly.
Zeke opened his eyes suddenly in the torpedo and tightened his grip on Lasgun.
A fanatical smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
The sun has already risen in the sky.
The golden sunshine shines on the burning wreckage of the "Anvil", on the roaring Thunderbolt Fighter, and on the Boarding Torpedo that are rushing towards the enemy ships.
The real bloody battle has just begun now.