Chapter 324 05.0323: "Orbital Landing"

As batch after batch of war materials were delivered to low-Earth orbit, the Astra Militarum began to prepare for a ground offensive.

Navy Captain Horatio, Lieutenant Collingwood, and Reserve Officer Louise, arrived on the ground on the Skyhawk shuttle used exclusively for officers.

This high-end military-grade shuttle has a spacious interior, good flight stability, and excellent protection performance. It is specially used for the transportation of senior officials. It is also a high-end special aircraft for naval officers on duty.

As the head of the department, Horatio was of course qualified to ride, and Louise, as his secretary, and Collingwood, as his executive officer and deputy, could also sit together.

"What a beautiful plane! The coating is so new, and the red is as bright as fire." Louise swung her slender legs wrapped in black leather boots, with the soles of her boots stepping on the pedals of the shuttle, looking into the interior of the special plane.

The circular seats inside the fuselage are covered with black patent leather, and there are circular glass windows on the top that allow external sunlight to shine softly at the right angle and brightness.

"Hey, girl, do you know why this shuttle is called Skyhawk?"

A female pilot with dark skin as smooth as creamy chocolate came over, holding her helmet.

She was tall, her flight suit accentuating her striking curves, the zipper of her leather flight jacket zipped up to mid-chest in a charming way, revealing part of her voluptuous northern hemisphere.

"I'd like to hear more about it, Captain." Louise recognized the naval aviation captain whom she had met once before and saluted.

"Because when you look down at it, you see the shape of an eagle."

The female pilot had slightly messy hair, smiled teasingly, and walked to her side with a casual demeanor.

"Hello, Captain, I'm Commander Horatio's secretary." Louise introduced herself with a look of understanding.

"Hello, Secretary, where is the commander?"

Louise heard this and just turned around to call Horatio, when a steady and tall figure walked out from the shadows on the other side of the shuttle.

"I'm here, Captain Farsha," Horatio smiled, leading Archie to the shuttle's boarding steps.

"Commander, the escort formation is ready. I will be the pilot of your special plane and make sure you are safely delivered to the ground." The female pilot's expression changed when he just appeared with Archie, and now she was saluted in a serious manner.

In front of "outsiders", she did not do anything frivolous. She stood straight and upright with her eyes focused, appearing very serious.

Just like she is, always has been.

Soon, after all the passengers were seated.

The Skyhawk shuttle took off and flew out of the shuttle apron.

An entire squadron formed two circles of cross-shaped escort formations and followed closely behind, with three layers inside and three layers outside to guard the shuttle carrying the flagship aviation commander in the center.
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laugh--

As the sound of the cabin door depressurizing was heard, Horatio, wearing a bicorne hat, a neat naval captain's uniform, snow-white trousers, and black short boots, put his hand on his officer's sword, and walked out of the shuttle with Louise and Archie, looking decent and luxurious.

The landing site where he was located had already been hardened in advance by the Astra Militarum's engineering corps, and a field camp had been built nearby that served as a material storage point, field airport, landing site, and temporary garrison camp.

The guard troops deployed a few days ago set up a cordon dozens of kilometers away in advance to prevent any enemy troops from infiltrating the landing point.

Horatio looked up at the sky. A row of Devourer-class transport planes were dragging their huge bellies, casting shadows that cut the sunlight into pieces. These behemoths were slowly descending from the sky, one after another, in an endless stream.

It contained the troops of the Southern Front Army that were planned to be deployed in this campaign, as the main force responsible for the offensive in the southern part of the continent.

The personnel are mainly composed of British and some Mordians.

The total number of people, from combat battalions to reserve battalions, is as high as 23.

The wind waves blew on the ground, rolling up layers of dust. The first landing aircraft landed steadily in the light wind and dust, and its nearly 100-meter-long fuselage landed on the hardened surface.

Each of these huge landing ships carries a company of manpower and vehicles.

Driven by the motor, the front pedal of the machine body is slowly lowered, and the side gangway is also extended and lowered.

All I could hear was the sound of a melodious flute and the beating of a snare drum, the tune sounding a bit like the 'Grenadiers' March'.

Under the shouting of the red-clad officers, the soldiers and neatly arranged armored vehicles slowly drove out of the aircraft. "Attention, everyone! Line up! Guns on your shoulders!" Under the slogans of the lieutenants and second lieutenants, the company commander and captain watched as the soldiers who had just got off the plane lined up in the open space on the left side of the aircraft, forming a square formation that looked like tofu blocks cut by knives and axes.

Empty! Empty!
With the sound of uniform stomping, these young and energetic soldiers raised the brown Carterel laser guns with bayonets in their hands to their shoulders.

These British Line privates wore uniforms similar to those worn by the British Army during the Napoleonic era.

The upper body is a high-crowned shako with a built-in bowl-shaped helmet and tassels, a scarlet uniform with wingtips protruding from the shoulders, and red bulletproof armor and elbow pads.

The lower body is made of white or light beige linen trousers with knee pads, and the feet are worn in leather shoes or short boots, covered with long boot covers made of black velvet. There is a black ceramic steel armor plate on the front of the shoe cover to protect the front of the calf.

The shoe covers covering the legs and the instep make them look like boots on the surface, but they are actually a practical marching kit that protects the calves, reduces dirt on the trouser legs, and also acts as a legging.

This outfit cannot be said to be exactly the same, it can only be said that the uniform style is completely consistent.

Horatio couldn't help but wonder if the people on this planet were the descendants of British immigrants from the Dark Technology or Strife Age of Ancient Terra.

Accompanied by children's flute and drummers, three tall flag bearers stood at the front of the procession, holding flags in a dignified manner.

They held the regimental flag, company flag and royal flag respectively.

This is a symbol of honor.

Judging from the gold embroidery on the regimental flag, they belonged to the 79th British Armored Reconnaissance Regiment, which was Lieutenant Colonel Wellesley's unit.

The company flag was embroidered with "Line Infantry Company B".

The Queen's flag has a golden sunburst pattern as its base, and in the center of the circle is embroidered in black thread the profile of a woman wearing a crown.

That should be their Queen. Judging from the pattern, she is not very old, with long eyebrows and a beautiful and pointed chin.

Below the queen's portrait is embroidered with the words "May the Divine Emperor bless Her Majesty, the Noble and Pious Queen" wrapped in a laurel wreath in High Gothic cursive.

Although it is called a line infantry company, in the 41st millennium of the Empire, the line infantry is not the ancient line infantry on Ancient Terra that formed dense formations and then exchanged fire with the enemy.

Although they will do this against certain enemies such as the Tyranids.

Line Infantry is the most 'classic' template organization in the Imperial Astra Militarum.

Its troops are mainly composed of a part of mechanized infantry equipped with infantry fighting vehicles, and most of the motorized infantry equipped with trucks.

Other units of the Astra Militarum using classical names include the Light Infantry and Heavy Infantry.

Although there are standards set by the Empire, not all conscript worlds produce exactly the same units of this type.

Soon, the company's Arion infantry fighting vehicles and four-wheeled and six-wheeled light armored trucks slowly drove out of the big mouth of the 'Devourer' transport plane.

Horatio looked at the eight-wheeled infantry fighting vehicles they called Arions and felt that they looked familiar.

After thinking for a moment, his eyes lit up.

[Isn't this the product of a drunken one-night stand between a Chimaera crawler and a Pegasus wheeled tank?]
The Arion Infantry Fighting Vehicle has the body of the Chimera, but uses the wheeled transmission of the Pegasus Infantry Fighting Vehicle, and has been expanded from four wheels to eight wheels.

Other places are almost the same as Chimera.

(If you lengthen the body of the Pegasus and add two pairs of wheels, it becomes Arion [the eight-legged divine horse])
Considering that this is the organization of an armored reconnaissance regiment, the use of an eight-wheeled infantry fighting vehicle is obviously a reasonable choice.

Soon after, the second and third 'Devourer' transport planes landed safely.

Troops wearing the same green uniform, but with different shades of green, walked out.

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(End of this chapter)