Warhammer: I am the Hammer of the Empire - #375 - Chapter 368 Gunshot

“My battleship is closest to the Blackstone Fortress! Expand the void shield with all my strength, and I will try to stop this crazy move! With my faith, I hope that the light of the Emperor will shine on the world. With my responsibility, the galaxy will surely return to justice. With my In word and deed, Holy Terra will remember the glory of the Imperial Navy! For the sake of the Gothic Fleet!”

——Captain Abridal of the battlecruiser USS [Purifying Fire], led his ship to cripple three Blackstone Fortresses during the 12th Black Crusade, and all the ships were sacrificed. Listed in the Hall of Heroes of Terra.

In the empire, people usually think that the imperial navy is an army composed of a group of sissies and rich kids, while some people think that they are the fearless gentlemen of the empire. Obviously, Alan Bair is the former, but even so, he cannot deny it. Courage and sacrifice exist in the Imperial Navy, because salvaging the wreckage of the dead and broken ships in the void is also their daily routine…

In the Battle of Gethsemane during the distant Gothic War, the battle line consisting of 2 battleships, 2 battlecruisers, 13 cruisers and more than 20 escort ships already made Captain Leodon Semple lament ” This spectacular sight represents perhaps the largest naval force deployed in a single battle since the Horus Heresy in the distant past.”

No one knew that battle lines of this level would soon become the new normal for imperial naval battles, and battles involving hundreds of battleships would become more frequent at the end of the m40. Every part of the empire was burning, and the entire galaxy was burning. It has also become a battlefield.

According to the standards of the Imperial Navy, only those with the rank of lieutenant-admiral to admiral can participate in this battle. The former Captain Bordero is now responsible full-time for the dispatch of the Engili spaceport as a war engine.

The remaining one hundred are less than barges, 70% of which are composed of battleships below the level of Sword-class frigates, and the remaining 20% ​​are almost all cruisers. The Imperial Navy is the only owner of three heavy battleships. The senior general of the star region, above him are only the five generals of the star domain level and the only general of the Terran domain, and also the high lord of Terra…

He is naturally dignified and powerful, and he is also experienced in hundreds of battles. In the glowing red mechanical eyes and the blue naval officer uniform with its gorgeous gold rim, or the shining light of the skeleton golden badge on his chest. , this general is not looking forward to a war that will burn him.

In his long service career so far, the largest battle he has seen was only a few battleships, because most of the conflicts in the empire could be easily settled with a cruiser, but such wars made him feel boring. Now, This opportunity to leave a mark in history is right in front of you, to show off your ambitions…

Even though he is over a hundred years old, the desire for war in his heart has long since dissipated. But now when the nightmare of the empire comes again, as a soldier and an officer, his heart is still excited, especially when he regards existences like Space Marines as enemies. Is it to become famous, or to be buried here, to be passed down through the ages, or to go with the wind?

He clenched his saber tightly and watched the beeping sound on the avian instrument. In the intelligence battle where illusion and reality intersected, the Empire was at a disadvantage in most cases, but the drones provided by the Titanium were scattered like dark mines in the Imperial Navy. The limit of shooting is out of bounds. This time, the empire has real clairvoyance!

After the instrument ticked briefly, the admiral looked at the captain. His Emperor-class heavy strategic ship and Mars-class heavy cruiser were getting ready to go. As the Imperial Navy, they have the longest range and the smallest number. , their long guns and short cannons have shooting capabilities beyond human imagination.

Under the correction of the computer servitors, clerks, and cogitator arrays, hundreds of macrocannons and light spear arrays were focused and aimed accurately and without error. In the gift of the Emperor and the wrath of the Empire, the temperature of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius and beyond The impact of human imagination is unleashed in an instant.

At the same time, the Engili Spaceport, which is a fixed shooting fort, can not only be used as an ordinary port. Its heavy artillery and light spear array are far more powerful than ordinary imperial warships. Countless rays and shells come out from all directions, but the most critical The important volcano cannon was still at a standstill, and only the giant cannon about 0.6 kilometers long on the outside opened fire.

Although many people believe that imperial warships are not suitable for long-distance combat, even so, those super-large combat firepowers have almost no hindrance in the void. According to the imperial records, some were destroyed by warship shells several light years away, and the void has not yet been opened. The unlucky shield’s records include hundreds of shooting battles, large and small, that are far beyond human sight.

At the same time, hundreds of warships are preparing in a defensive salvo position, waiting for the remaining enemies to enter their shooting distance. Those behemoths are lined up in a line, and the barrels of their macroguns are as big as the Ford-class aircraft carriers of the ancient Terra era. , 0.6-0.7 kilometers!

The rest of the frigates and light destroyers with lower firepower chose to move forward in vertical rows to open up enough penetration depth, that is, a T-shaped array, which can allow the frigates and light cruisers with the most powerful melee combat capabilities to move forward when all are forced to move forward. Destroyers arrive immediately to disrupt or confuse the enemy.

It can also be contradictory to defend, suppress fire, and assault at the same time. However, the core of such an array is not the heavy battleship of the Imperial Navy as always, but the Engili Spaceport, which is used by all ships of the Imperial Navy. of T to defend the Empire’s greatest heavy void platform.

Sacrifice, honor, and broken bones, they are already at the door of hell. If this tactic is a spear and a shield, then the spear is a light Cobra-class, Dreadnought-class, Sword-class imperial battleship of various colors, and the shield is a Moon-class, Fire-class Star, Emperor and other heavy barges.

At the same time, the core area represents the core of the empire’s combat power on the battlefield, namely the two warships Bordero and Baptism of Fire, which act as flags and stabilize the morale of the military in the dark void.

It can be said that, with the exception of Engili, Bordero and Baptism of Fire, the imperial battleships and the tens of thousands of naval officers and grassroots soldiers on them are weapons that can be abandoned at any time, they are the iron on the spearhead and the long-term force. Wood in the shield.

Now the Engili spaceport in the core area cannot be breached under any circumstances. After the first wave of salvos, the admiral asked the information director. “What was the result of the shelling?”

The audio director sorted through the gibberish of encrypted Tau conversations, as unintelligible as the dialects of many of the Imperium’s worlds, but was fluent in Gothic, dozens of Low Gothic languages, and some degree of high psionic runic language. The head of information responded quickly. “Five enemy ships were destroyed, and the void shields of the remaining seven ships were stopped. Our bombardment accuracy rate is extremely high!”

It’s not that the empire is not good at beyond-visual-range combat. On the contrary, a race that has been in this universe for tens of thousands of years is very good at killing enemies as quickly as possible. But after getting this data, the admiral couldn’t help but smile.

“Emperor’s blessing, those aliens are more useful than imagined. When the enemy breaks into the front of our army at sub-light speed, they will lose ten percent of their combat effectiveness!”

He spoke quickly. “Prepare for the second bombardment!” The preparation of the light spear and macro cannon seems easy, but the range that can be fired is actually close to tens of millions of kilometers. To describe it in astronomical units, it is from Terra to Mars, which requires a lot of calculations and corrections. , just one of the infinite 0,000 after the decimal point fluctuates, which means that the artillery fire brought here by the empire’s countless resources is lost in the void.

At the same time, such negligence caused a battleship to break through the defense, and the Imperial Navy had to use all its resources to create loopholes. In the end, tens of thousands of people died in this unnecessary disaster. Therefore, the artillery correction was three or four times slower than the shooting at normal shooting distance. More than doubled…

But the wait was worth it. After another release of firepower, the fierce shooting was already joined by a lot of cruiser gunfire from closer shooting distances.

This attack was even more deadly. With a range of tens of millions of kilometers, and corrected by the data of some drones provided by the Titanium, the empire’s full tilt of firepower was amazing enough. The observers passed on the information, and the audio director quickly The good news is that ten barges were completely vaporized.

But at this moment, the enemy also started to counterattack according to the position of the muzzle flame. Several beams of fierce light grazed the outside of the Emperor-class battleship, were intercepted by the void shield, and then trembled and shook violently.

The new recruits were shaken by such abnormal vibrations, but the old admirals were used to it. This was because the shock wave of the cannonball alone was enough to shake the interior of the ship. Even if most of the cannonballs entered the subspace due to the void shield, the aftermath was still enough. Mortals tremble for it. If the loyal machine soul hadn’t used her adamantine body to block those powers, everything here would have been destroyed.

However, the admiral did not panic. He knew that the enemy would not sit still and wait for death, and he also knew that the Imperial Navy would not be timid due to such an attack. However, he realized that the Imperial Navy would not get any advantage if this continued.

Because the number of enemies is too large, although the enemy’s warships are generally lightweight and lack maintenance due to long-term docking in subspace, those numerical advantages will gradually overwhelm them in a long battle.

At this point, he dialed the commander-in-chief’s line. After Alan Bayer’s voice appeared, the officer calmed down slightly. “Long time no see, Lord Lord, we have come out on top in the war, but I feel that the wheel battle will not give us an advantage, and the enemy’s counterattack just now made me realize that they did not collapse with just a few volleys. Pirates and bandits.”

“If the emperor here would also think that sitting still and waiting for death would only lead to death, I think that the volcano cannon can be used during this period!” He was a little excited. After all, the people of the empire who worshiped force had a bit of admiration for such super-normal weapons. For those loyal and powerful machine souls, trust naturally arises.

Alan Bayer replied. “No, the enemy’s main ship has not been locked. Secondly, the crystals of the volcano cannon are also resistant to a certain extent. High-intensity war will cause the rare crystals to crack.”

“The price of the crystal itself is higher than that of an Imperial battleship. We cannot take the risk of using it to destroy ordinary battleships. Secondly, even if its heat can tear apart the battle line, it must be used first to protect the Engili Spaceport.”

The Admiral quickly calmed down and said at the same time. “If we find the enemy’s core command ship, can we open fire?”

Commander-in-Chief Alan Bayer replied. “Yes, if you can determine the strategic target, we can immediately start using that powerful weapon, but you must also understand that under the current circumstances, we have more advantages in sticking to the defense.”

said the admiral. “But, the Space Marine battle barge is easy to identify, so…”

He performed a military salute, showed it to the Commander-in-Chief on the holographic projection, and then turned off the communication. He had already made up his mind. Rather than rely on the advantage of shooting range to fight slowly, today’s Imperial Navy needs more time to clear the enemy’s forward deployment. Open a way out before the Ark of Evil Omen comes.

Of course he had ideas, but such ideas would destroy hundreds of thousands of people. However, compared with the risks that a protracted war might cause, a crazy attack was nothing. Giving up the battlefield advantage of a defensive war was quite risky and stupid for the standard battle of the Empire, but in the current situation, he needed to adapt.

This is why this man could become the admiral of the Imperial Navy. In essence, the long war career did not erase his sensitivity and intelligence, but made such qualities more and more intense and sharper. In such a high position in the war land near the Great Whirlpool, there was no benevolent emperor to bless him to spend his days in debauchery.

He sent away countless enemies of the Empire, pirates, aliens, heretics, nightmares from the Great Whirlpool, and rebellions from the marginal worlds. There were countless of them, so he was never a person bound by rules. On the contrary, he was a person who created rules.

He opened the communication channel to the vice admirals and major generals in his hands, the real middle force of the Imperial Navy and the real masters of the Imperial warships. “All lords of lightweight battleships, Indomitable class light cruisers, Sword class frigates, Firestorm class frigates, Cobra class destroyers…”

“The war has begun, Spears, Sharps, warriors of the Empire, attack the enemy’s location, lock their core battleships, guide the Empire’s volcano cannons, destroy the enemy’s manpower with torpedoes and macro cannons, and wipe out the enemies of the Empire.” He took a long breath and continued. “Although the enemy’s number far exceeds ours, the fire support will not stop. You should know that we destroyed nearly 20 enemy warships in the two salvos just now. You only need to contain the enemy’s shooting and avoid the shells, and you can slowly see us tearing through the enemy’s front line. The Emperor’s soldiers, chess pieces, and currency…be prepared!” “Next is hell, fighting, and tango dancing in the hail of bullets, but I believe you are doing well, just like your position in the front line. Now, I, the senior admiral of the Imperial Navy, the head of the Imperial Navy in the Pangea sub-sector, allow you to launch a charge against the enemy that will never return, for the Emperor!”