Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords! - Chapter 523

Chapter 519 06.0518: ‘Drifting before the cliff’

In the dark field of vision in front of the psyker who was tied to the guide head by an iron rope, there were dazzling fireworks everywhere, and it was impossible to distinguish which heat source was the real target.

At this moment, they can only make a quick choice.

If you hesitate, you will only let down the God-Emperor, which is a grave sin.

A psyker who couldn’t distinguish the target blindly maneuvered the torpedo around, and the Tau’s ion close-in defense cannons tore him and the thunder body into cold fragments in the void without hesitation.

The torpedoes were fired one after another and exploded. The first batch of attacks did not cause substantial damage except for the fragments scratching some of the ship’s paint.

“Major Corcoran is right. A small specialized attack ship equipped with only four torpedo tubes is only suitable for destroying the enemy’s supply lines in a stealthy way, rather than short-term attacks and long-term attacks in frontal conflicts.” Krezi Captain Merle looked at the results in the sky and sighed.

“Now it’s time to watch the last round of torpedoes. Turn the ship’s bow and deliberately turn on the active auger to attract them to the place where other attack ships are ambushing.”

“Captain, one hit! The engine of an enemy light cruiser was half blown out. It slowed down and lost touch with other battleships.” Just as Captain Kretschmer turned around and prepared to go to the command throne, he looked out The officer reported good news.

The captain nodded, and then sat back on the command throne without surprise or joy.

The Tau fleet recovered from the chaos and released carrier aircraft.

These barracudas will serve as the vanguard of pathfinding and pursuit to prevent humans from playing tricks, and these small aircraft can also chase torpedoes and destroy them before they hit the warship.

Watching more and more signals gathering behind the Epic, Horatio understood that the pressure to escape was growing.

[The main force of the fleet comes quickly. ] He prayed for the God Emperor’s grace in his heart.

An hour later.

“Captain, E-46 reports that the enemy ship has entered the visual range of the ambush circle.”

“The air force has been assembled.” Anya Fasha reported from the communicator.

The Fury interceptors on each attack ship were integrated into a flying group. Their mission was to prevent the Barracuda fighters from discovering and destroying the attack ship’s power engines and weapons.

“‘Flash Squadron’ and ‘Gale Squadron’ will act together with our squadron, ‘Wind Squadron’, ‘Beta Squadron’, and ‘Omega Squadron’ will raise the plane. After we enter the first wave of battle, we will conduct vertical operations from the high plane. blow.”

“receive.”

The Furious interceptors, loaded with missiles, immediately dispersed.

E-47 and E-99 fled forward. Behind them, the blue arc of the railgun continued to tear through the curtain from the distant darkness, streaking across the weak battleship.

“This is the attack ship E-48. We are in the gas cloud and are measuring the torpedo launch angle.”

“This is E-46. We don’t have many torpedoes. We will focus on attacking enemy ships in the rear. I wish you success.”

The leading Barracuda fighter jet moved forward as a scout.

Suddenly, the Air Caste pilot discovered something strange coming from the asteroid belt next to him.

The vanguard squadron led by Anya Fasha expertly maneuvered through the asteroid belt to stay hidden, and then used cover to launch the assault.

Seeing a wave of missiles coming, although the situation was urgent, the Qi Clan pilots responded quickly with the help of artificial intelligence.

They immediately scattered to avoid the missiles.

The Furious Interceptor’s raid only shot down a limited number of enemy aircraft, but this did not discourage the Imperial pilots. As an air force trained in the Ultramarine Space, the pilots were no strangers to Tau opponents.

The Furious interceptor plane rushed into the enemy aircraft group. With its high acceleration energy and skillful burst fire, many Barracuda fighters were blown up in the air.

Their jamming bomb groups can interfere with missile judgment, but they cannot interfere with the muscle memory and manual judgment of experienced pilots.

Anya Fasha doesn’t even need the Meditator’s auxiliary aiming. She can accurately hit the target’s weak position by manual operation alone.

It hits the spot every time, destroying a target in just a few short bursts with almost no waste of excess energy.

This is an experience that short-lived Qi clan pilots dream of. For those who are already middle-aged and older in their thirties, it is too demanding to practice the skill of Fa Xia, who can lock their heads by raising their hands.

Moreover, the cannon of the Barracuda fighter is a live ammunition weapon, which is troubled by the lead time, and its shooting weaknesses are unthinkable.

Although artificial intelligence can greatly help them estimate the lead time and make up for these shortcomings, excellent human pilots will not stick their butts out for them.

The constantly changing evasive and defensive maneuvers are another level of excellence – those who cannot master these life-saving maneuvers have already died in the cold void or the scorching hot earth. Also includes those who are not lucky enough.

The moment they passed through the enemy group, the flying team was like the Lancers, not dragging their feet, but stepping on the accelerator and breaking away at high speed to avoid being destroyed by the Barracuda fighter jets that circled back and bit their tail.

Under the spray of brilliant decoy bombs, right at the top, the second flight team was like a dagger falling from the sky, chopping downwards, piercing the middle of the Barracuda fighters when they tried to turn around and bite their tails to pursue.

A row of missiles flew over the heads of the Air Caste pilots like angels in the sky.

The sudden attack caused many Air Clan members to experience operational delays with the help of artificial intelligence.

When missiles rained down, some Barracuda fighters failed to make tactical evasive maneuvers in time and were destroyed by the flame missiles carrying the prayer of hatred for the aliens. The flaming debris scattered everywhere, which was actually a bit beautiful.

This round of raids obviously had a much higher kill rate than the first round.

The pilots stepped on the accelerator and dived with force. Although it was called a dive, it was actually no different from level flight in the void environment of different planes.

The fighters chased and fired, and soon entered the initial form of air combat – chasing and biting tails, also known as “dogfighting”.

While the fighters were fighting, everyone in the nearby attack ships was holding their breath.

Facing a large cruiser squadron, there was also a circle of escorting destroyers and frigates. This was undoubtedly a huge challenge for the attack ships that were short of ammunition and weak.

David stood before Goliath, and there were few stones left in his sling bag.

“Fire!”

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

The three attack ships fired a salvo of torpedoes, then turned and ran.

“Lieutenant Cochrane, we have exhausted all our torpedoes. We need to retreat immediately.”

Horatio nodded silently from his command throne.

He looked at the huge pilgrim ship in front of him, with scenes from the Holy Word carved on its surface in marble and steel.

He looked at the laurel-crowned Lord of Man on it, thinking.

The Tau cruiser squadron formed a wedge formation, which could maximize close defense firepower.

A new round of Barracuda fighters were released from the hangar, chasing the speeding torpedoes.

The power of the nuclear explosion would destroy the torpedoes at the moment the ion cannon exploded.

But under the collective will of the Greater Good, they still rushed forward without complaint.

A torpedo luckily broke through the layers of blockades. When it was about to hit the cruiser, a Warden-class destroyer rushed up and detonated the torpedo in advance with its petite hull. In the dazzling light of the nuclear fireball, it turned into pieces of scattered debris, and the cruiser was only affected by a small amount of debris.

“Captain, we have run out of missiles. The second batch of Barracuda fighters are flanking us. We are waiting for your next order. Before that, we will stop the enemy fleet at all costs.” Fasha’s voice came from the sound array. It can be heard that she is struggling. Obviously, she is fighting a dogfight with a difficult enemy.

The short-term advantage gained by relying on the surprise attack will soon be reversed by the overwhelming number of regular aircraft carriers. When the moment of finality comes, the giant will ruthlessly crush David’s tiny body.

“Major, we have no choice. What should we do now?” The captains of other attack ships also sent in requests.

Horatio closed his eyes and meditated without giving a reply.

The attack fleet has done its best.

He raised his head, his face was stern, but his eyes were still shining.

“Sail to the nearest Mandeville Point.”

“Captain, that will actually take us further away from the Empire’s controlled area.”

“This is a gamble.” David Beatty covered his mouth and exclaimed.

“Yes, we are taking a gamble.” Horatio smiled and replied: “Drift in front of the cliff.”