WebNovels

Chapter 24 - 24

The fierce battle continued, especially with the pilots of the SCAR team performing exceptionally well.

The excellent Jackal fighters in their hands danced on the edge of death like ballerinas, each attack giving the Mars fleet a headache.

Several destroyers had already been riddled with holes and were in precarious condition, while UNSA's losses were only a few dozen fighters.

"Sir, what should we do now?"

Onboard the Olympus, observing from a distance, Salen Kotch was also contemplating whether to attack now and destroy Earth's remaining warships, or to wait a bit longer, perhaps hoping that Rhea would send good news in the next second.

"Mayday, this is Achilles' Heel, our reactor is damaged and we are about to…" The distress call abruptly cut off.

"Sir! The vanguard has already lost more than half of its air squadrons, we lack the strength to counter that carrier!" The air traffic controller looked anxiously at Salen Kotch.

"Prepare for a jump, destroy the Earth fleet!"

At this point, Salen Kotch had to admit that his plan to solve the Earth fleet and Earth's defense system in one fell swoop had completely failed.

However, since the surviving Earth fleet had left the cover of their ground fire, he would leave all their ships behind!

As for Earth, there would be another chance!

Salen Kotch reluctantly tried to convince himself…

Leaning in the cockpit, Fisher laboriously swallowed the last bite of biscuit, then looked at the nutrient solution in the cockpit's storage box and licked his somewhat dry lips.

It had been over a hundred years since they left the confines of gravity, yet humanity still hadn't solved the physiological problems of pilots.

The only improvements were better-tasting food and better-quality, more absorbent, and less bulky diapers.

However, as a refined boy, Fisher didn't feel very thirsty yet.

"Attack order, attack order!" Just as he continued to stare blankly at the nutrient solution, his loyal subordinate, Antonio, strode into the hangar.

"We've already engaged the Earth fleet.

Today, let's see how many aces we can produce.

Are you ready, lads?"

"Today, we'll show those Earth bastards what we're made of!" The pilots immediately cheered with excitement.

Then, before everyone could calm down, the warship, in motion, suddenly shook, and the alarm lights on both sides of the hangar immediately lit up.

"Get ready to launch, quick, quick, quick!"

Ground crew and robots swarmed out like ants, climbing onto the fighters, refueling some, loading missiles onto others, creating a fervent atmosphere before a major battle.

Propelled by its four-times light speed jump engine, the massive Olympus warship traversed the cosmos, arriving at the raging Earth battlefield in less than ten minutes.

Fisher, ejected once again, hadn't even fully stabilized when the warning systems of his Storm fighter and the robots behind him began beeping.

"Missile incoming!" Three missiles spiraled towards the massive hull of the Olympus, only to be blocked by its thick armor.

Dense swarms of aircraft engaged in dogfights.

Upon seeing the Mars fleet's reinforcements arrive, an Earth destroyer released another squadron of Jackals, which joined forces with the Coast Guard's Jackals and aggressively surged towards Fisher and the others.

"Pull up, pull up, engage individually, let's go!"

Fisher quickly scanned the chaotic battlefield.

A Jackal, very close to him, was chasing a Storm, relentlessly firing energy cannons and missiles.

Unfortunately, one was too agile and the other's aim was poor; the Jackal ran out of missiles without even touching the Storm's tail, instead exposing its own six o'clock.

Fisher switched the fighter's wings to folded mode, then engaged the afterburners, instantly closing the distance between them to a kilometer.

After confirming a fire control lock on the target, he simultaneously launched two missiles.

The Jackal fighter ahead also noticed the uninvited guest behind it.

Rows of flares ejected from both sides of the fighter, and the pilot then maneuvered the fighter into an accelerating turn, successfully evading the incoming missiles.

However, what tightened the Coast Guard pilot's heart was Fisher, who flew out from the fireball created by the explosion.

The Storm's wings spread, its propulsion speed sharply decreased, and then Fisher pulled the joystick to the left, causing the Storm to instantly change its heading in place, cutting off the opponent's escape route.

"Goodbye!" A volley of precise shots, like a fierce fire snake, struck the Jackal.

Benefiting from the souls of the fallen on the surrounding battlefield, Fisher's firing timing was optimal.

The 20mm cannon only damaged the Jackal's engine, incapacitating it, while the pilot remained unharmed inside the cockpit, screaming.

"One down!" After confirming the enemy had lost combat capability, Fisher continued to pilot his fighter towards the most intense area, where a large number of souls were gathered.

Relying on opportunistic and cautious tactics, Fisher subsequently took down two more Jackals.

However, just as he was about to take down one more to become an ace, the first-ever collision battle in Earth's space history occurred less than ten kilometers away.

Under the command of Captain Arad of the Retribution, the Retribution, with an unstoppable momentum, rammed into the already overpowered Olympus, which was preparing to destroy the last surviving UNSA destroyer, the Tigris.

"Olympus is on fire, we must disengage.

All aircraft, withdraw to friendly starships first, and rejoin the formation when opportune!"

After casually dropping this sentence, the Olympus immediately jumped out of the battlefield, leaving a bunch of fighters staring at each other in bewilderment.

"Damn it, just a little more!" At this moment, both Earthlings and Martians were pounding their chests in frustration.

Both flagships were heavily damaged; one had lost power, the other was ablaze.

If both aerial forces had pushed a little harder, they surely could have taken down the flagships.

But now, without the Olympus, the Martian fighters could not receive effective resupply and maintenance, while Earth's Jackal fleet needed to fiercely defend the crippled Retribution.

"Retreat, let's take the Moon first!" The commander of the Eighth Fleet's vanguard understood that continuing the fight now would not only be detrimental but could also lead to complete annihilation.

The immediate priority was to recover the air fleet and rendezvous with the remaining forces of the Eighth Fleet.

After all, they had largely dealt with the Earth fleet.

Now, by also taking care of the Moon, Earth's most important resource port, Earth would once again be locked within its atmosphere by Mars, with no chance of rising again!

How to put it, you might find the plot of COD13 boring, but the basic technology here is a very important improvement for the Marvel universe, because I want to write about humanity's struggle, not just a few superheroes.

So if you find it boring, you can hold off for a bit.

COD13 will conclude in about ten chapters, and then the Titans will emerge, riding on the coattails of Iron Man.

Also, kidney stones and eating meat don't really affect each other, do they? I want to eat a pork hock.

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