Varga, a lonely and desolate planet.
It is classified as an unclassified celestial body in the Department of Imperial Affairs and the Void Charts. There is no life or atmosphere on it, but it is covered with the wreckage of many warships.
This is an ancient battlefield from the Gothic War era, full of lost souls, leaving behind many terrifying legends.
It is said that many crew members who passed through here witnessed terrifying ghosts, and if they were not careful, they would be lured to their deaths by the undead.
Although Horatio had never seen them, he did not intend to deny the truth of these stories. After all, this is the Warhammer universe, filled with all sorts of strange and supernatural beings.
In the void near Varga, a Firestorm-class frigate used the light lance on its bow to fire a dazzling beam of light at a high-speed Murder-class Cruiser, causing ripples on its Void Shield.
A Sword-class frigate followed behind, continuously using its Macro cannons to deplete the enemy ship's Void Shield energy. It was easier to overload the Void Shield with kinetic weapons.
Two Cobra-class Destroyers were reloading their torpedoes, waiting for an opportunity.
They had just launched eight torpedoes, forcing the enemy ship to turn, which greatly reduced its speed.
Everyone on the command bridge could roughly make out the terrifying crimson monster through the light and shadows.
It was a Murder-class belonging to Khorne, its hull decorated with countless massive horns, spikes, and bones, forming its spine and ribs, like a crimson dragon wandering in the void, inspiring deep fear with just a glance.
The 16 bone-adorned Macro cannons began to turn, aiming at the rapidly approaching frigates and destroyers.
These'small ships', nearly one or two kilometers long, strictly followed Commodore Peru's orders, maintaining distance from the enemy to delay him.
They were agile, like a pack of wolves hunting a tiger.
But the Murder-class was no pushover; as a cruiser, its weapon range far exceeded that of frigates. The maximum firing range for its Macro cannons alone was 1.5 times that of the frigates' armaments.
If accuracy was completely disregarded, the range could be even greater.
All 16 Macro cannons on one side of the Murder-class Cruiser fired simultaneously, causing the Void Shield of one Cobra-class Destroyer to ripple intensely.
"Report overload status!" asked the Captain of that Cobra-class Destroyer, a Lieutenant Colonel in her 30s.
"Captain, their single volley caused approximately 45% overload on the Void Shield. We can take at most two more volleys before the Void Shield is forced to shut down and release excess energy!" a Lieutenant from the power department reported.
"Weapons department, how much longer until torpedoes are reloaded!" the female Captain asked a Captain.
"Approximately 8 minutes! Captain."
She quickly calculated the reloading times of both sides and pondered the next combat strategy.
Although Chaos warships were ancient, they had once been Imperial property. Naval Officers were required to memorize the approximate firing rates of every type of cannon that had been in service.
The rebel ship's smaller caliber heavy cannons clearly had a faster firing rate, and this female Lieutenant Colonel Captain had no intention of recklessly charging in at the risk of being destroyed.
"Notify the'Silver Sword' (cobra-class) to position themselves directly in front of us and shield us from one round of cannon fire. Reduce speed; our maximum permissible speed is 11 void knots."
In the void, the two Cobra-class Destroyers rapidly changed formation, transforming from a parallel course, maximizing torpedo broadside fire, into a line formation, heading straight towards the Murder-class Cruiser.
A dense volley of alternating gunfire rumbled, as the Murder-class fired again.
Giant cannon shells rained down on the'Silver Sword', causing its Void Shield to oscillate with dazzling rainbow ripples.
Buzz—a roaring siren sound came.
A layer of Void Shield glow dissipated from the surface of the Murder-class Cruiser; it had been overloaded by a light lance strike from the trailing Firestorm-class frigate.
But almost simultaneously, another layer of Void Shield was activated.
The larger the ship, the more Void Shield generators it had. cruisers typically had two Void Shields for alternating protection, and the Murder-class was no exception.
And torpedoes were a high-power weapon that could directly penetrate the enemy's Void Shield and cause large-scale structural damage to the hull.
The massive warhead could instantly create a life-destroying hole in the enemy warship's armor plating.
"Torpedoes reloaded, Captain!"
"Coordinate battle positions with the'Silver Sword', let's give the traitors a big gift!"
The two warships, through close communication and coordination between their Naval Officers, and with the navigation officers working closely with the Tech-Priests, rearranged their battle positions into a parallel course with extreme efficiency.
Cobra-class Destroyer, bow torpedo bay.
"Pull! Heave-ho! Pull!" Crewmen, stripped to the waist in the scorching environment, rotated the locks, closing the massive torpedo bay hatches.
"Torpedo tube seal check complete..." a Tech-Priest reported, operating the display console in front of him, while reporting to the command bridge.
"Torpedo body preheating normal..."
"Promethium injected..."
"Captain... awaiting your command."
["Coverage 8000 meters! Fire!!!"]
The forward torpedo well covers opened upwards and downwards.
The navigation officer, based on the torpedo trajectory parameters sent by the Tech-Priest, quickly calculated the rudder angle needed for an 8000-meter spread.
The thrusters of the four torpedoes ignited in succession.
As the Helmsman quickly turned the golden helm, the destroyer's bow began to sweep horizontally, then immediately turned towards the enemy ship's stern, intending to create distance from the cruiser and disengage from combat.
Whoosh!! Whoosh!! Whoosh!! Whoosh!!
The four torpedoes, on the same plane, flew like four fingers straight towards the terrifying crimson-painted warship.
The eight well-maintained torpedoes from both ships had extremely high speeds, and the Murder-class Cruiser began to accelerate and change course.
Its new trajectory could evade the four torpedoes from the'Silver Sword', but it was difficult to avoid the torpedoes from the other Cobra-class Destroyer.
The Murder-class Cruiser unleashed its fury, firing a full salvo at the Cobra-class Destroyer. The destroyers' single bow-mounted cannons also opened fire.
Dense laser fire wove a net of fire in the void, as the Murder-class Cruiser's point-defense weapons went all out, sweeping at the rapidly approaching torpedoes.
Boom! One torpedo was intercepted and exploded in mid-air.
But three more torpedoes were heading towards her midship and stern.
Another torpedo exploded; as the distance closed, the point-defense fire became increasingly accurate.
Two torpedoes penetrated the enemy ship's Void Shield, with one of them intercepted less than 460 meters from the hull.
The massive warhead exploded in mid-air, causing the hull to tremble, but it unfortunately did not cause effective damage.
[The last one!] The female Lieutenant Colonel and the officers and crew of the Cobra Destroyer closely watched the movement of the last torpedo.
Boom!
An explosion occurred on the enemy ship's mid-to-aft section, on its razor-like skirt armor.
The massive fireball was clearly visible at the light-shadow boundary in the void.
"Torpedo hit! We blew a gap of approximately three hundred meters in it."
Ghastly red ship fragments floated in the void, but for a giant ship six kilometers long, the damage caused by this single torpedo was not very significant.
"Accelerate! We need to get away from this monster as quickly as possible! Let the Unyielding deal with him!" the female Captain yelled to the power department officer.
Bang, bang, bang!
A dense volley of fire came from behind.
All 16 Macro cannons of the Murder-class Cruiser roared simultaneously. After firing from one side while traveling diagonally, she immediately performed an S-maneuver, exposing her other side's Macro cannons.
Another dense volley of cannon fire.
This broadside directly shattered the Void Shield of the Cobra-class Destroyer that had bitten him.
The Lieutenant Colonel Captain heard her warship emit a screeching siren, and subsequent shells slammed into the hull, shaking the entire 1.5-kilometer-long destroyer. Many standing Naval Officers fell, and the impact point was not far from the bridge.
"Report damage..."
Before she finished speaking, a blinding beam of light shot over, forcing her to shield her eyes. The bridge shook even more violently than it had from the Macro cannons just now.
The Murder-class had just aimed its heavy twin-barreled light lances, which had a 90° forward arc of fire, at this destroyer with its Void Shield down, and fired instantly. Two dazzling crimson light lance rays pierced straight into the hull.
Light lances, as energy weapons, possessed immense power and extremely strong armor-piercing capabilities.
As the gun barrels rotated, a massive and scorching energy column carved a deep wound across the Cobra Destroyer's bridge, heat sinks, and hull.
"Report damage!" the female Captain frantically picked up her bicorne hat and shouted at the command bridge.
After a while, Naval Officers from various departments on the bridge successively received reports from the deck units below.
They organized the parts to be reported, and almost everyone's expression was grim.
"Port side secondary engine in the power compartment damaged! Plasma explosion and impact caused approximately 700 casualties, 1 Midshipman martyred!"
"Midship structural damage to the hull, one secondary life support system compartment destroyed, damaging 36 crew quarters, approximately 1100 casualties! 1 Midshipman severely wounded!"
"Barracks below the bridge destroyed, 600 armed void soldiers sacrificed! Half of the armed forces officers martyred!"
"The Murder-class is coming for us! Its closing rate exceeds our maximum acceleration!" The Astropath turned his head to the Captain in horror:
"It's estimated to reach their boarding distance in 8 minutes, we can't pull away, Captain, what do we do!"
"God Emperor... save us..." Cold sweat dripped from the female Captain's forehead.
The armed forces were already half-crippled.
There was no other option now. If they didn't want to be slaughtered by the boarding Space Marines.
Then the best way was to detonate the plasma engine and pledge loyalty to the God Emperor when the enemy ship approached.
"Torpedoes detected approaching!" Suddenly, the Lieutenant in the lookout department shouted.
"What?" The female Captain found it inconceivable: "Where would the Murder-class Cruiser get torpedoes?"
"It seems to be... our torpedoes? About to pass our stern. Captain."