The Bundeswehr aerospace aircraft soon received a warning from the interceptors of the Public Security Service: they would immediately lower their altitude and fly from an altitude of 3,000 meters to the new Shanghai spaceport for inspection.

When the pilot repeated the warning of the Security Bureau to the delivery module, Bridgeman put away his smiling face, put the particle pistol against Captain Jiang Ziyue's waist, and ordered in a stern tone: "Captain, please, tell the Security Bureau that you are on a mission with the Imperial Army." ”

For his kind of order, Jiang Ziyue did not move, and showed disdain. Like a man of lofty ideals who was escorted to the execution ground, he rebuked: "As a soldier of the Empire, I refuse to cooperate with the enemy. Shoot, please! ”

Bridgeman didn't care about the other party's generosity to die, and quickly put the muzzle of the gun to the head of Ensign Omar Azai next to him, and coldly threatened: "It doesn't matter if you die, but will you watch your own men die?" ”

"Captain, don't be threatened by him." Azai, who was fearless, immediately said, "Bridgeman, you traitor who killed a thousand knives, you better shoot me immediately, or I will pinch your head!" ”

"Oh. Then I'd like to learn your kung fu, second lieutenant. Bridgeman said with a wicked smile again.

"You're so despicable, Bridgeman!" Jiang Ziyue scolded viciously, but now he can only play lip service.

"Since you all say that I am a traitor, how can I be worthy of this title if I am not despicable?" Bridgeman scoffed.

Major Robb, who was on the side, was obviously tired of this pointless struggle, and he said to Jiang Ziyue: "Captain, I respect your spirit of treating death as home. However, this is nothing more than a political trick, and we don't want any soldier to shed blood because of it. ”

There was a sense of disgust in his tone, clearly dissatisfied with the task.

"I just want to bring the Kongyi Layman back to the Federation and complete this goddamn mission that is not for a soldier. I hope you will compromise, and I promise to release you and your men immediately and unconditionally as soon as we are out of the atmosphere. ”

Robb swore an oath, but he always wore sunglasses, and no one could see how his eyes rolled when he made his promise.

However, Jiang Ziyue's expression clearly told the other party that he would not make compromises as the other party demanded. He is not a man who is greedy for life and afraid of death, nor is he a person who will compromise easily.

At this moment, the interceptor formation of the "Tai Chi" Planetary Security Bureau screamed and flew head-on over the Federal Aerospace Plane, and at the same time released a missile that exploded in the air near the opponent.

This is the ultimatum of the Security Bureau.

A strong shock wave from the explosion of the missile violently shook the federal aerospace aircraft.

The people in the carrier compartment were suddenly thrown out of place by the sudden shock and fell into chaos.

Azai took the opportunity to kick Bridgeman's particle pistol against his skull, then turned and smashed his fist into the face of an unresponsive Federation soldier on the other side, snatching the particle rifle from his hand.

Although his body was still seriously affected by the long-term state of weightlessness in space, Jiang Ziyue did not hesitate to pick up Major Luo Bo's waist at the same time and pounce him down.

Robb fought back desperately, and the two quickly scuffled.

Neither Jiang Ziyue nor Luo Bo expected that the first face-to-face confrontation with the other party would unfold in this form.

Before the other Federation soldiers could react from the chaos, Omar Azai was already wielding his snatched particle rifle and desperately swept towards them.

Despite the faster-than-light age and the fact that wars are largely fought between Starfleets, hand-to-hand infantry combat on the ground has not completely disappeared. At least as often as it happened, similar to the "broadside battles" of the old era of sailboats, the battle to grab the injured or lone ship of the opponent often relied on the Marine Infantry to board the ship and engage the opponent in close combat.

As a result, particle rifles can be equipped with bayonets, but are also quite powerful enough to stab and smash enemies in hand-to-hand combat.

Now, if you fire with a particle rifle, the powerful tachyon beam will tear a huge hole in the fragile body of the spaceplane, which can easily lead to the destruction of the plane. Therefore, primitive hand-to-hand combat can only be the best option.

The hard Bundeswehr-standard particle rifle is in the hands of Second Lieutenant Azay, who once won the title of "Sanda King" of the Imperial Army, exerting terrifying kinetic energy and power. The Federation soldier who was hit by Azai's particle rifle was either knocked down or wounded.

Not only was Azay's shot fast and ruthless, but he was also extremely accurate, and almost every time he fired his gun, he hit the side under the ears of the Union soldiers. This is just between the breathing enhancer and the helmet, unprotected, and where the jaw meets the skull. The Federated soldiers who were hit either immediately fell to the ground with their dislocated jaws, or spurted blood out of their breathing enhancers, which they were still wearing, and slammed them into the cabin floor.

In the duel between the Federal Army and the Imperial Army in this small space, the Bundeswehr, which has an absolute advantage in numbers, looks very embarrassed. Under the onslaught of Azai, the Federation soldiers were knocked down one by one.

The soldiers of the Federation were not without the power to fight back, but they did not dare to shoot. At such close range, the particle rifle could have punched a large hole in the muscular Azai's body, and of course, the bulkhead behind him would have been blasted through an equally large hole.

The undefeated and resistant Federation soldiers cautiously prepared to lay siege to Azay, a warrior like a mad bull in the bullring. Against this ferocious Imperial man, the Union soldiers had little mental or physical advantage - despite their numerical superiority.

However, the two main officers on both sides, Luo Bo and Jiang Ziyue, have been scuffling together, and it is difficult to decide the winner.

The focus of this battle, the two old men who were beyond the world, the Kongyi monk and the Xue Jian monk, the presiding monk of the Void Temple, could only watch expressionlessly from the sidelines at this time as these worldly soldiers fought each other in front of them.

The formation of "Tai Chi" Planetary Security Agency interceptors, which had already sped past the head of the Federal Aerospace Plane and turned around, did not know that a violent fight was taking place inside the target. They followed closely behind the spaceplane, which had no markings on the surface of the fuselage, ready to deliver the fatal blow.

Since he had arrived only after receiving a notification from the cruiser "Siegfried" of the Imperial Army, out of respect for the Imperial Army and procedural requirements, the commander of the formation sent a request to the "Siegfried".

As soon as he heard that the Public Security Bureau was going to destroy the aerospace plane, Tang Xingyun shouted anxiously: "The captain and the navigator may still be up there!" ”

"Abighiji, haven't you contacted the captain yet?" The acting captain, Lieutenant Joseph Dietrich, also looked very anxious.

"No, sir." Communications Sergeant Abhiji Kumanfur replied, "The communication jamming has disappeared, and our brothers at the top of Fuxi Mountain have reported that they are no longer visible to the captain in the meditation pavilion. ”

"Tell them to return to the Bodhi Ye at once and catch up with the plane. Tang Xingyun, you are responsible for guiding them. Dietrich then connected to the communications channel of the commander of the police interception formation and gave instructions: "Mr. Inspector, there are our officers on the target plane, and this involves Imperial secrets. Please don't shoot it down, force it to land as much as possible. ”

"Yes, Mr. Lieutenant." The commander of the interceptor formation replied respectfully.

At this time, early warning sergeant Tang Xingyun shouted again: "An unknown spaceship was found at two o'clock!" The distance is 383 kilometers! It has been detached from the atmosphere and is accelerating. After speaking, he swallowed and hurriedly added: "It's a federal private cargo ship." ”

"What a coincidence, leaving at this time?" Dietrich immediately realized the gravity of the situation.

But then, the situation became more serious.

Following the instructions of the Imperial Army, four Security Bureau interceptors followed the unmarked space planes over the sea of clouds, and constantly made radio calls, asking them to lower their altitude and fly to the spaceport for inspection.

Suddenly, the flight police officer in the interceptor saw a flash of light burst out of the tail of the target fuselage, followed by dazzling flames spewing out from the entire tail of the fuselage.

An explosion occurred in the tail section of the aerospace aircraft.

It turned out that just as Imperial Army Second Lieutenant Omar Azai was beating the Bundeswehr soldiers to the ground in the cabin, Felix Bridgeman, an agent of the Federal Security Council who had just been kicked down, picked up a particle rifle and quickly opened fire on him.

The high-energy hydrogen ion beam pierced Azai's muscular body like lightning and pierced the bulkhead at the back of the cabin, destroying the rocket booster at the rear of the plane, causing a powerful explosion.

A powerful shockwave enveloped in terrifying screams blew the entire tail of the plane to pieces in an instant. Burning debris dragged smoke into the vast sea of clouds.

The violent shaking of the explosion and the sharp depressurization caused by the rupture of the cabin at high altitude caused the powerful air currents caused many people who could not react - panicked Federation soldiers and Azai, who had died a heroic death, were instantly pulled out of the cabin and thrown into the open sky.

And the culprit of this disaster, Bridgeman, would have been pulled out if he hadn't desperately grabbed a protrusion on the floor to hold the goods in place. However, the strong air currents and the large turbulence of the plane made it almost impossible for him to hold on. The agent, who had been beaming a few minutes ago, was now clutching the protrusion with fear on his face, for fear that he would also float outside to a sea of clouds more than 7,000 meters high.

Jiang Ziyue and Luo Bo, who were scuffling at the front of the cabin, were separated because of the sudden explosion.

Major Robb struggled to grasp a handle on the bulkhead as he reached out to Bridgeman, who was further behind, and shouted, "Give me your hand!" ”

Captain Jiang Ziyue, who was thrown to the other side of the cabin, also quickly grabbed a handle, and nervously stretched out a hand to the two old men, Xuejian Monk and Kongyi Jushi, who were further behind the same side, and shouted, "Master, come to the front, quickly!" ”

These two masters, who had already seen through the red dust, seemed very calm and didn't care about Jiang Ziyue's call at all.

I saw that Kong Yi freed one hand to make a Buddhist salute to Xuejian, so he resolutely let go of the other hand that grasped the handle, and his whole body flew into the air, floated out of the cabin, and fell into the sea of clouds.

Xue Jian also let go of his hand, and flew out with the red robe flowing in the high-speed air current.

The actions of the two worldly masters beyond the imagination of ordinary people made Jiang Ziyue and Luo Bo stunned.

Watching the Kongyi Layman who held the secret of "Antnest" die in righteousness, the struggling Bridgeman couldn't help but cry out in despair: "It's all over now!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the plane suddenly rolled on its side, and the old and slippery agent's hand slipped, and his body immediately lost control. Before he could even scream, Bridgeman was thrown out of the cabin.

If it is sincere, it is all over!

The aerospace plane, which had the back half cut off by the explosion, began to lose altitude, plunged headlong into the sea of clouds, and fell at high speed.

The interceptors of the "Tai Chi" Planetary Security Bureau reluctantly followed. The air police above could do nothing about this unexpected disaster, so they could only call the headquarters to quickly dispatch rescue planes and teams - in fact, they could only come to collect the bodies - and fell from a height of more than 7,000 meters, I am afraid that even God is powerless to save them.

But those who still survived the space plane did not give up.

Rob and Jiang Ziyue struggled to get to the cockpit.

"The computer is finished! I can't control the plane! The driver, desperately pulling on the joystick, let out a desperate howl.

"Let me come!" Robb shouted.

The driver struggled to give up his seat to Robb under the weightlessness caused by the violent bumps and high-speed falls.

Robb didn't sit down yet, so he grabbed the lever and pulled it back.

The plane is similar to the Imperial Army's "Linden" in structure and aerodynamic layout, with a wing-body integrated flying wing aerodynamic layout and a steerable jet engine that allows it to fly very flexibly.

But now, it has lost its tail, it has lost its two engines in the tail, and the computer has stopped working, so it is quite difficult to manually operate the flying wing. To make matters worse, the instructions and monitoring on the control console regarding the engines, miniature fusion reactors, metallic hydrogen supply, and other systems were all out of order. The two engines in the head also stopped working, and the plane had completely lost power.

"The manual control system hasn't completely failed yet!" Robb shouted, "Help me turn the two engines down and restart!" ”

Without waiting for the driver on the side to react, Jiang Ziyue rushed to the co-pilot's seat.

The Commonwealth's aerospace planes are no strangers to the military of the Empire. They are all made according to the same standards and norms with different names but exactly the same content, like many other things in both countries.

Jiang Ziyue pulled down the handle that controlled the steering of the first two jet engines with one hand, and pressed the start button with the other. But through the glass of the cockpit, only the two engines could be seen motionless, neither turning nor spewing gas.

"It's useless, Major!" Jiang Ziyue said anxiously, "We have to find another way." ”

At this time, they had already passed through the "bottom of the sea" of the sea of clouds and fell into the air more than 3,000 meters.

"Let's skydive, Major!" The driver pleaded, "This guy is hopeless!" ”

Robb hesitated for a moment, but had to shout: "Jump, jump!" Jump first, hurry! I'll stabilize the plane! ”

Jiang Ziyue and the pilot hurriedly put on their parachutes on their backs, prepared to walk to the cabin at the back, and jumped out through the side hatch.

"Captain!" Luo Bo suddenly stopped Jiang Ziyue.

"What?"

"Let's hope our next fight will be a decent fight!" In the midst of the noisy air currents and vibrations, Robb shouted with a hearty laugh.

The young major, imbued with military romanticism, was still wearing sunglasses at this time and calmly sat in the driver's seat.

"Hopefully, Carrot Head!" Jiang Ziyue didn't have much military wave-like feelings, and he didn't forget to ridicule the other party before parting. After all, the enemy is the enemy.

This time, Robb's mockery of him was only laughing. Now that everyone is at a critical moment of life and death, there is no way to care.

Soon, the police interceptor saw two men venture out of the high-speed falling skyplane, then open their parachutes and float safely.

The broken sky plane let out a dying wail, dragging its black trail and finally crashing into the vast land, violently exploding, turning into a brilliant fireball, and finally rising and quickly dissipating into the sky, leaving only curling green smoke.

But it doesn't end there.

Lieutenant Dietrich commanded the Imperial Frontier Fleet cruiser "Siegfried" in an attempt to intercept a Federation cargo ship that had left the atmosphere of the planet "Taiji" and was preparing to leave.

After the radio demanded that the ship be stopped for inspection, the federal cargo ship did not immediately comply with the order, but continued to accelerate away along the established track. High-thrust hydroxide thrusters and ion thrusters erupt in tandem to propel the ship, painted with the olive leaf cross emblem on its hull to accelerate into deep space.

"Confirmed, sir. It is the federal civilian cargo ship 'Atlantis'. Early warning sergeant Tang Xingyun reported to the acting captain.

"Then there's no reason for it to ignore our warnings." Dietrich said.

Under the terms of the Provisional Ceasefire Treaty between the Empire and the Federation and its ancillary trade agreements, the non-military private economy between the two countries maintained the right to trade freely in the airspace around the planet Taiji, but the armies of both sides could inspect each other's merchant ships as they deemed necessary.

Cargo ships in normal trade were not at all afraid of the inspection of the armies of either side. Trouble and finding fault were rare on trade routes between the two countries, especially in the territory of a free-trade planet like the planet Taiji, where Imperial armies were often ordered to strictly follow the rules.

Now the Federation cargo ship is completely ignoring the warnings of the Imperial warships, and it is clear that it has ulterior motives. So Dietrich decisively gave the order to Sergeant Teck, the fire control sergeant:

"Ralph, fire a particle cannon warning."

Bundles of hydrogen ions are accelerated from the superconducting electromagnetic accelerator barrel to the speed of light and shot towards the target.

Faced with the particle beam passing at high speed, the federal cargo ship "Atlantis" really stopped. But it's not about being scared, and it's not about getting the other person tested.

The real identity of the "Atlantis" is a camouflaged merchant ship of the Bundeswehr, registered with the civilian Starship Society as an ordinary merchant ship, but in fact it has a powerful firepower and combat detection command system like a battleship.

In this era of interstellar voyages, the difference between warships and civilian ships is not limited to whether they are equipped with weapons or not. This is because the structure and operation of the "Akuberi engine" that all starships rely on for faster-than-light navigation are not much different from a twin particle cannon, and the power is also more than that of most ordinary particle cannons.

As early as the battle of "Andromeda" in the middle of the 26th century, Klaus Liszt, a famous explorer in the early days of the Perseus Federation, used hydrogen particles and anti-hydrogen particles launched by the "Akuberi engine" to bombard his opponent for the first time.

Since then, the "Akuberi Engine" has also earned the well-known name "Akuberi Cannon", and has become the main battle weapon of starships. I really wonder how Professor Akuberi, who proposed the principle of the Akuberi engine, would feel when he learned that the tachyon engine built according to his theory was widely used as the main weapon of interstellar warfare.

Because any standard or non-standard "Akuberi engine" can be used as a particle cannon, therefore, under the initiative of the International Astronomical Union and the International Astronautical Federation, all countries of the human world have reached an agreement to stipulate that civilian ships and non-combat ships can only not be equipped with early warning, fire control and other systems for combat purposes. As a result, civilian and non-combat ships cannot carry out precise strikes on targets in the same way as warships.

However, as the ancient soldier saint Sun Tzu said: "A soldier is also a treacherous man." "Due to tactical needs and the lack of warships, some civilian ships are often equipped with fire control systems, which have the same precision attack capabilities as warships. In addition, this kind of modified special ships are dressed as civilian ships and non-combat ships, which are very suitable for performing some special tasks such as reconnaissance, raiding, and infiltration, so they are called "camouflaged merchant ships".

"Atlantis" is a typical representative of "camouflaged merchant ships". It is not equipped with all kinds of ordinary particle cannons, laser cannons and other directed energy weapons and kinetic energy weapons such as electromagnetic cannons and missiles like warships. However, it has a complete early warning and fire control system, and can use the only large weapon "Akuberi cannon" for effective combat.

Now, Bundeswehr Captain Reginald Chowdhury, who commanded the Atlantis, ordered the ship to stop, in fact, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to the other side.

Originally, he was ordered by Major Robb to lead the ship to leave the surface of the planet "Taiji" first and receive the space plane in low-earth orbit. Unfortunately, the situation has become a mess, not only has the aerospace plane been destroyed and people have died, but now the "Atlantis" is too close to the other side, and it has not been able to completely get out of the gravitational range of the "Taiji" planet, and there is a great risk of entering the faster-than-light voyage.

"Is there any reaction from the other party?" On the cruiser Siegfried, Lieutenant Dietrich stared suspiciously at the federal cargo ship on the live video screen.

"No, sir." Abiji Kumanfur replied loudly, "According to the agreement, they should give us a reply signal." ”

After listening to the report of the communications sergeant, Dietrich decisively ordered: "Ralph, open the front armor. The main gun is ready to fire! ”

At this moment, a patrol boat of the "Tai Chi" Planetary Security Bureau also broke away from the atmosphere and flew between the two ships.