Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 811: Fallen Angels Join the Battle
In fact, the ancient battleship originally had another name, which was called "Eternity" in the language of the Alpha civilization. When Ke Lan first activated the battleship console, the information that flooded into his mind included this name. But Ke Lan thought the name was too childish at the time, and there were battleships or space stations with this name in many science fiction works, so after taking control of the battleship, he immediately changed the name of the battleship to "Aguna Kotor".
Although it is much more difficult to pronounce than Eternity, at least it is not easy to confuse... Besides, in the archives of the Undead Crew and the Security Bureau, "Aguna Tor" is used as the code name of this ancient battleship, so there is nothing wrong with changing it to this name.
After gaining control, Ke Lan and "Aguna Tor" established a wonderful "neural connection", but this connection will only work when Ke Lan is inside or near the battleship. Now, he is in the core area of the Gray Mist Forest, a full 180,000 miles away from "Aguna Tor". Logically speaking, it is impossible for the neural connection to cross such a long distance.
But he received a message from "Aguna Tor" in the Tower of Babel.
Moreover, the message also claimed that "Yaguna Kotor" was under attack!
…
N45 airspace, combat zone.
After the air combat units of other warships came to support, the situation on the "New Dawn" was finally eased a little. The Dragon-class fighters and transformable flying mechas that had returned to the mother ship for supplies and repairs also returned to the battlefield. Yeager and Hans immediately felt the pressure greatly reduced.
"Huh... Looks like we can take a breather for now." Yeager said, "I've used up all my cannon shells, and the core module of my laser cannon has melted due to multiple overheating. Now I only have three unguided missiles left on the entire plane... If the other side releases another batch of drones, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to crash my plane into them."
"'Betelgeuse' is a bit far away from us. If we go back for supplies now, we might be hit by the enemy's naval guns... My suggestion is that we let the 'New Dawn' take charge of our supply operations. The current situation is special, and I think the flagship should not refuse our request."
"Okay, but I'm afraid the flagship doesn't have spare parts for old fighters like ours..." Yeager sighed, "I heard that the flagship's carrier-based aircraft were all replaced with Dragon-class aircraft two months ago."
"If it doesn't work, let them give us two Dragon-class aircraft... Anyway, the Dragon-class and Raven-class aircraft use the same operating mode. The difference in performance is something you will get used to quickly after you get started." Hans said.
"You have a nice thought. To be honest, I also want to fly the Dragon class, but I'm afraid there won't be extra aircraft left for us." Yeager continued, "Although the number of carrier-based aircraft is generally configured according to 1.2 to 1.5 times the number of pilots, after the first round of battle, the returning fighters were severely damaged and could not be repaired in a short time... The fighters they are driving now are probably the extra inventory. Hey, the good things are reserved for those 'aces', not us."
Although Yeager and Hans' experience and driving skills can compete with the ace pilots on the flagship, they were transferred from the Ark Guard Fleet after all. Although they have been in service for more than ten years, they have not participated in many actual combats. And the group of "ace pilots" deployed on the flagship were almost all transferred back from the front-line war zones.
According to the old era, the two are equivalent to the imperial guards guarding the capital and the frontier guards guarding the border - the former's treatment and equipment are definitely the best, but in terms of combat effectiveness and combat experience, the frontier guards who have been baptized by war for many years are definitely not comparable to any inland troops... Actual combat and training are different after all.
For example, in the battle just now, whenever there were more than five drones breaking through the blockade, those "aces" transferred back from the front-line war zone would rush forward without hesitation... If Yeger and Hans were put in the same situation, they would most likely hesitate, or at least not be so decisive.
"Let's go. I'll be thankful if the flagship can help us refill our thruster fuel and ammunition. If possible, I'd like them to replace my laser module with one that's a bit more powerful... Wait!"
Just as Yeager and Hans were preparing to go to the hangar of the "New Dawn" for supplies, dozens of humanoid mechas suddenly flew out of the Black Fleet's aircraft carrier battleship and flew towards the "New Dawn" at a speed that exceeded the power limit of the flying mechas.
"What is that thing? A mecha? And it's humanoid... How can a humanoid mecha fly so fast?!" Yeger couldn't help but exclaimed.
"It seems... that they have large thrusters installed on their backs... but the human body cannot withstand that level of G-force even if wearing a gravity-resistant suit and a deep-diving cockpit... unless the pilots of these machines are all high-level enhanced humans." Hans murmured.
The officers and soldiers of the Zero Fleet were unfamiliar and surprised by these humanoid mechas that suddenly appeared. However, if Hound and others or the soldiers who participated in the Battle of the Ancient Bronze City Ruins saw these mechas, they would probably shout out the names of these mechas in astonishment at this moment.
"Fallen Angel Mass Production Type".
This was the mecha that the Undead Crew had imitated based on the "Blasphemer Mecha" of the Alpha Civilization... Rather than calling it a mecha, it was more like a semi-mechanical and semi-biological cutting-edge weapon. The semi-conscious living CPU was directly bound to the mecha's operating system through a neural link, which could not only maximize the weapon's performance, but also integrate human combat experience and instincts with AI operations. It was simply... a perfect killing machine.
These "weapons" are stored in cryogenic chambers during peacetime, and when "they" are needed, electric shocks are used to awaken the living CPUs in deep sleep - but these living CPUs will not wake up completely, their brains have undergone multiple "operations" and have forever lost the ability to think for themselves.
The only thing that was retained was the nerve center responsible for movement... There was one thing that the Undead Crew did not tell Ke Lan and the others: the "Fallen Angel Mass Production" living CPU was not necessarily limited to ace pilots. Battle-hardened soldiers, veteran relic hunters who had escaped death many times, notorious mercenaries... even illegal fighters in the underground black market could all be excellent candidates for the living CPU.
After all, this thing is not controlled by a joystick and keyboard. The Fallen Angel Mecha is more like an extension of human hands and feet... The parts it needs can actually be reduced to a brain and a spine... However, since the technology of neural connection is still imperfect, the torso and limbs of the living CPU have been retained, and are also connected to the body's motion module through electrodes.
"So fast! Twenty seconds, no! We will meet the enemy in ten seconds!" Yeager shouted, "I can't lock onto these things, retreat! Let's retreat!"
His left hand tightly grasped the joystick, and his right hand tapped on the control panel frantically - suddenly, the thruster nozzles under the wings on both sides turned 180 degrees, and the tail flame more than ten meters long sprayed forward, pushing the entire Raven-class fighter to retreat rapidly.
But Hans' reaction was a beat slow - although the thruster's fixed bracket can be adjusted at all angles, in fact, turning the thruster 180 degrees is a violation of the rules strictly prohibited in the operating manual. Because Yeager often likes to study some unconventional operations, he can unlock and change the control instructions within just one second, but Hans is different .
After he heard Yeager telling him to retreat, he had no choice but to turn the plane around... He was only two or three seconds slower than Yeager, and it was too late.
It took those humanoid mechas not twenty seconds, nor ten seconds, but only six seconds to break into the blockade line of the Zero Fleet's air combat forces.
Behind each "Fallen Angel Mass Production Model" is a thruster that is several times larger than the body of the aircraft. Four fuel tanks more than 30 meters long are tied together. High-performance chemical fuel and high-level energy crystals power the thrusters at the same time. From the moment they leave the mothership, these bodies are constantly accelerating. When they rush to the front, their actual speed has even exceeded Mach 10.
Mach 10... that is, ten times the speed of sound, which means it can cover a distance of 3,400 meters in one second... If this was a fighter jet, the pilot would have probably passed out by now due to the excessive G-force.
But living CPUs don't fall into a coma... because they are always in a coma.
Even if the brain immersed in LCL liquid crashes due to G-force, the body will use electric shock to wake up the living CPU's brain again.
The mass-produced Fallen Angels are all disposable consumables, and the people who use them don't care about the damage to the living CPU... For weapons like this where an attack is equivalent to a loss, the users will inevitably find ways to squeeze out all their value.
After breaking into the blocking formation of the Zero Fleet's air combat force, a mass-produced Fallen Angel jettisoned the large thrusters installed behind it, performed several somersaults in the air to dissipate the huge inertia, and then drew out the heavy armor-piercing sword hanging on its waist.
Not far in front of this mass-produced Fallen Angel was a Raven-class high-speed fighter that had just completed a U-turn.
Because of the perspective, Hans did not notice that the mecha was rushing in more than ten meters behind him, but Yeager, who was retreating in the "reverse parking" manner, saw the scene clearly.
He watched as the headless black mecha raised its arm, then threw the sword-shaped weapon in its hand, whose blade had turned red, towards Hans's plane.
In order to save costs, the mass-produced armor-piercing sword of the Fallen Angel did not adopt the same structure as the Blasphemer Mecha. There was no energy shield generator or special magnetic field installed inside the sword body to restrain the energy shield. Instead, the blade of Nino alloy was simply and crudely heated to a high temperature of thousands of degrees, in order to improve the cutting ability of the armor-piercing sword.
The red-hot blade cut Hans' plane in half without any hindrance, just like a utility knife cutting paper. Hans, who was sitting in the cockpit, didn't even have the chance to eject. He was carbonized by the high-temperature blade and turned into fine ashes floating in the air.
As for the two halves of the Raven fighter's wreckage, they fell straight down and then exploded in mid-air.
"Hans!!" Seeing his former partner's mecha being transformed into an inconspicuous firework on the battlefield, Yeager's eyes were red with anger. He roared loudly, turned the thrusters that were originally spraying forward to the rear, and at the same time released the power limiting valve of the energy crystal engine, increasing the engine's output power to 300% of the rated power in one breath!
Logically speaking, the energy crystal engine of Yeager's plane should have turned into a crystal energy bomb at this time, blowing him and the fighter to pieces. However, perhaps the goddess of luck took a closer look at him at this time. Although the screen was full of bright red warning text, the engine miraculously did not explode and maintained a relatively stable operating state.
"The ground crew is really... awesome." Yeager knew that he was still alive thanks to the ground crew - the ground crew member who was familiar with him knew that he liked to play tricks and do extreme operations, so he did a lot of "tampering" on his engine. If you have to calculate the cost, the engine of his fighter jet cost at least three times more than that of other Raven-class engines of the same model.
"Bastard! Die! Give me back Hans' life!" Yeager roared, driving his Raven fighter towards the mass-produced Fallen Angel that shot down Hans - of course, until this time, he still didn't know what the opponent's machine was called.
The remaining three unguided missiles were all fired and hit the mecha - the armor of the mecha was very thick and seemed to be made of pure Nino alloy. The unguided missiles did not cause any substantial damage to it, but only left some inconspicuous scratches.
But for Yeager, these three missiles were just a cover. The real "missile" was actually the Raven-class fighter he was driving.
He increased the engine power to three times overload not only for acceleration, but also to turn this fighter into a high-speed moving crystal energy bomb!
"I don't believe it... without that big thruster... with the speed of your broken thing... you can dodge it..." Blood overflowed from the corner of Yeger's mouth. The excessive G-force made him feel as if his internal organs were about to burst, but he still held the joystick tightly without relaxing at all.
