"Congratulations, Risson. Lieutenant Nigaul. Captain Clark, the leader of the Thunderbirds squadron, pinned a pair of lieutenant's epaulettes to Ryson's shoulders and joked again, "It's going to rise very quickly, I'm looking forward to the day when I'll call you sir, come on, boy, don't keep me waiting too long." ”

"Thank you, Captain." Rather than addressing the Captain, Risen felt that the title of Captain was more affectionate and humane, and he preferred to call Captain Clark like this, especially after the incident with the Independence, anyone with a higher rank than him could be called the Captain, but the word Captain was not something that anyone could call him.

"Schneier, this is your soldier's certificate of honorable discharge, effective immediately. As of today, you are already a second lieutenant officer of the Imperial Army, I hope you can keep up your recent good form and become an ace pilot soon, congratulations on your ......."

"Thank you, sir, it's my honor." Schneier looked unnaturally at the new set of epaulettes on his shoulders.

............

Risen was promoted to the next rank for shooting down five enemy planes, and he is now an Imperial ace pilot. However, according to Captain Clark, in fact, the heroic performance of him and Schneier in the Corcoran system last time was enough for them to be promoted to one level each, but because they had only just been promoted one level before arriving in Corcorand, it was not appropriate to be promoted two levels in a row in just one week, so they were suppressed, and the captain insisted that this was just to pay off the debt.

Whether it is to repay debts or not, in short, the fact that they are promoted again is indeed not earned, Resson himself is not too excited, but Schneier, who is happy, has been inseparable from his new epaulettes all the way, which makes Ressen feel incredible.

"Schneier, don't look at it, it's not like you haven't seen it, why didn't I see you so enthusiastic when I wore this before? Looking at your virtue, I thought you were promoted to general. Risen felt that he couldn't see it, Schneier was really like a fool, he felt ashamed to walk with him, what was so nice about the rank of second lieutenant, he used to wear it every day, and he didn't see his friends staring at his epaulettes all the time.

"What you don't understand, what you wear on yourself is the best, and although the rank of second lieutenant is not high, it is a watershed, hehe, this is the first step to becoming a general." His friend was unimpressed, and still looked at it diligently.

"General?" Risen scoffed, "That's all the Year of the Monkey, don't daydream about you, it's still unknown whether we can survive to that day." ”

Speaking of this, Risen inexplicably felt a pain in his heart. He has only left the Independence for a short time, and a shadow is still pressing on his heart for a long time, many of his friends have already left the general by a world of distance, and the general's road is not so easy to walk, and not everyone can take that step. The rank of a general is not only paved with the corpses of countless enemies, but also the bones of countless people.

"What's wrong, man? Your face doesn't look good. His friend keenly felt the change in his mood.

"It's nothing, I'm fine, just a little emotional." Ruissen waved his hand, trying to pretend that nothing happened, "It's just that the general's road is not so easy to walk, my friend, if you want to get to that point, first of all, you don't die easily." ”

"Don't worry." Schneier thrust into his waist angrily, "I didn't die so easily, my life hasn't started yet, oh yes, this sentence is something you often say, I'm just borrowing." ”

"That's good." Risen smiled in his heart, don't worry, I won't let you die, my friend.

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As the war continued, both the Empire and the Federation's starfleets suffered heavy losses, and the steel wreckage in the space graveyard increased day by day, and neither side was able to expel the other's fleet from the system, so they could only barely maintain a general battle line, guarding their respective supply lines to the planet Henison

, the Marine Forces of the Empire and the Federation needed this supply line. However, the situation is generally favorable to the Federation, the Federation's Marine forces on the planet Henison have the advantage, they are familiar with the local terrain, and with the assistance of the planet's surface residents, the Imperial Army is constantly being pushed back, as long as the Federation's fleet can maintain its current situation, and when the Marine Forces complete the military operation on the planet's surface, it means the defeat of the Empire.

In this regard, Ryson understands, Captain Clark also understands, but they have no way, it is not impossible to rely on the fleet to shell the Federation Army from the planetary orbit, but that is to find death, first of all, the Federation fleet is not vegetarian, and the enemy has long been prepared for anti-orbital air strikes, not only with the protection of shields, but also with the deployment of powerful synchronous railguns, the Imperial Starfleet will not take its own warships to die in vain, it is good to maintain the supply line to the Marine Corps at present, once the fleet is defeated, Let the Federation cut off the supply lines, and the empire will still not escape the fate of defeat. Therefore, Risen thinks that instead of taking advantage of the fact that the supply channel is still unblocked, it is better to withdraw the Marine Forces as soon as possible, anyway, the Henison system is not the Empire's, and there is no heartache to return it to the Federation, otherwise if this trend continues, sooner or later, the Federation will definitely advance the railgun to a place where the Imperial Marine Forces and Space Forces can be cut off, and then it will be too late.

Unfortunately, his views are not at odds with those of the Imperial military, who still believe that the setbacks on the planet's surface are only temporary. Therefore, the 11th Fleet, where Risen is located, still has to continue to fight, not only in space, but also in some atmospheric ground support operations from time to time. His record has gradually risen as he has participated in more and more battles.

On June 10, 808 in the ephemeris, Risen made his twenty-first combat sortie, in which he shot down a Hellcat and a Dreadnought, bringing his record to eleven, becoming a double ace pilot, a new Imperial Hero, and awarded the Golden Cross of the Second Class, and the Fleet Commander hereby sent a congratulatory message.

On June 22, 808 in the ephemeris, he had seventeen downs, surpassing the record of sixteen for his squadron leader, Captain Clark, and became the first ace of the Thunderbirds squadron. That night, all the members of the Thunderbird squadron had a party in the Columbus cafeteria, and even the captain came to join them in the celebration.

On July 2, 808 in the Ephemeris, Risen made two sorties on this day, shooting down a Hellcat and a Federation space shuttle, accumulating more than twenty-five of them, and his fame began to spread gradually in both the Empire and the Federation, and the name of the Black Tulip did not follow.

On July 21 of the same year, he joined the Hennison Meat Grinder battlefield for three full months, by which time his downing record had reached a staggering thirty-nine enemy aircraft, and his wingman Schneier had also recorded more than thirteen downs, and the combined record of the two of them was even more than all the downs of many of the Empire's fighter squadrons combined, making them the most dazzling pair of stars in the Empire. The Federation began to remind all pilots on the Henison front line to pay attention to the "Black Tulip" and try to avoid air combat with the Banshee fighter with the black fuselage and Tulip nose unless necessary, and he has become the focus of attention.

But Risen remained vigilant, and was not carried away by his own impressive record, he knew very well what kind of pilots he had encountered, those who were shot down by him, many of whom did not even notice his approach before he opened fire, these people were undoubtedly rookies, inexperienced, probably not long after the end of flight training, shooting down these people was not something to be proud of. Of course, some of the people he shot down were veteran pilots, and even a few were good pilots, but none of them were as good as the captain of the Blue Angels he had encountered. He was eager to fight the women again, to test the skills he had learned in battle, and to wash away the shame he had suffered at her hands.

Sadly, months had passed, and he hadn't come across the sky-blue Hellcat fighters that had impressed him, and the group of women had disappeared like a flash in the pan, disappearing without a trace, and they had been active for a while, before the Eleventh Fleet arrived on the battlefield. And after that, except after that ambush, they were gone, maybe they withdrew to the rear to rest, maybe they went to other battlefields, Risen guessed.

But Schneier didn't think so, this guy viciously estimated that those hateful women must have reached menopause and became a yellow-faced woman, so they didn't dare to see people, so they hid behind and hid. This guy is still haunted by the group of women who once shot him down, especially the one sitting in that pink-painted fighter, in his words, don't touch me, otherwise I will ** three days and three nights in a row, so that she can't get out of bed.

Risen smiled dumbly, but he sympathized more with his friend, because according to him, if Schneier really had the ability to work with others for three days and three nights, then Risen was sure that he would not be able to get out of bed at that time, and he would be his friend.

Forget it, his friend was depressed for a long time after listening to Risson's reminder, and finally came up with a sentence. But he immediately added, "But you can't cheapen that chick, Resson, my best buddy, my business is yours, so this responsibility is left to you, you can escape from that woman's hands, I believe you have the same fierce potential as her, and only you can submit her, I have confidence in you." ”

"Remember, she can't get out of bed." His friend finally gave a serious remonstrance.

Risen was angry.......

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"Risson, look, this is your new medal, a Golden Cross of the First Class, congratulations, young man, there are currently no more than fifty people in the Eleventh Fleet who have been awarded this medal, and you have been given four weeks off." Captain Clark opened a beautifully wrapped little zygote, and a golden cross-shaped medallion lay quietly inside.

"Hugh .... Furlough? ”

"That's right, go home and have a look, pack your things, you don't have to attack today, and leave tomorrow on a supply ship." The captain patted him on the shoulder.

Home, Risen remembered that cottage in New London, how long had it been since he had been back to see it? Is that little garden already overgrown with weeds?

"Thanks, captain, I'm fine, won't I leave tomorrow? I don't have any luggage to pack, it's too late to come back and pack up, today's task is to support the ground, just let me go. ”

"Okay, it's a piece of cake for you anyway, so let's go and prepare, we're much more relieved to have you."

"Yes, Captain."

To Riseon's surprise, this simple mission, which was a piece of cake in the eyes of him and Captain Clark, completely changed his entire life.