PFC Chapter 677: Tail on the Road
Chapter 677: Tail on the Road
Chapter 677: Tailing Along
The human empire has five major star regions.
You will face different enemies in different star fields. The Storm Star Field has the most warlike Necron Dynasty; the Pacific Star Field is often ravaged by various scattered Chaos war gangs; inside the Hazy Star Field is the famous Eye of Terror, and on the edge are strange and unknown aliens; outside the Extreme Star Field is the rising Tau Empire, and inside it is the hunting ground of the Dark Eldar.
Among them, the Solar Star Region is the ancient birthplace of mankind and its traditional sphere of influence. The Solar Star Region is often invaded by Chaos traitors, but it is difficult to see large-scale alien forces in the Solar Star Region - because this vast star region had been repeatedly cleared of alien races by the human regime in the Golden Age long before the establishment of the Human Empire.
In the past, alien races usually only appeared in the border star regions, quietly observing the expansion of mankind with their alien eyes. The Empire invaded their homeland as an "invader", and the aliens bit the border line, occasionally taking a small piece of the sacred territory of the Empire, or recreating their erased history by taking back the planets where their ancestors lived.
That is how it was until the Beast arrived.
This is the test that humans face in a vast and hostile galaxy. Although severe, it is not fatal. In the past, people often believed that only those wandering traders who lived a life of danger in the frontier star regions would frequently come into contact with alien creatures. For ordinary people in the core star regions, "aliens" were more like a legend.
But now, things have changed.
There has never been such a precedent in the history of the human empire: the savage and dirty aliens brought their soldiers and fleets to brazenly invade the core star region of the solar star field, wantonly publicize their will, trample on human beliefs at will, and even march straight to the birthplace of the human race - the solar system.
The foreshadowing of the impending disaster was concealed by the loyalty and diligence of hundreds of millions of citizens. Citizens of hundreds of worlds across the Empire still obediently served the planetary governors for their survival, unaware that they had already been targeted by the threat from the void.
At first, the sonic booms were masked by the communications interference and background radiation of the star, by the noise of merchant fleets entering and leaving the system and the sound of the Imperial Navy's artillery fire on pirates, by the industrial roar of forge worlds and hive worlds, and by the hymns sung by the suffering people in the crowded Ecclesiarchy churches.
As the sound of the sonic booms grew louder and the unknown electronic signals that filled the void began to grow stronger, the beings of the Empire gradually began to hear the omens of their doom.
Those who always keep their minds and ears sharp were the first to notice it. The technical crew members at the naval observation station in the Oopal Ring, the guard sentinels at the telepathic outpost in Catilus, the communicators of the 41st Serasi Rifle Regiment in the Jungle Moon of Bosk, the wandering merchants doing business in the Ghost Star, and the technical priests who were secretly excavating in the Zaha Tan Craft World that had become a ghostland...
The official recognition of this strange phenomenon spread among the high-level leaders of the sector. At the same time, the technical priests of the Linguistic Order of the Mechanical Ark Singularity successfully separated several tracks from the sonic boom, and the Linguistic Sisters of the Lexicon Academy in the Nissishan sector sent an unusual communication signal. They all reported this special situation to the Imperial government through the sector officials in different ways of urgent words.
What sounded like the thundering belly drums of some dead world predator were in fact some alien language, the barbaric commands of a despotic race. The pronunciations were as harsh as artillery fire, deafening through the void - yes, they belonged to Orks. Though the grammatical patterns were roughly the same, the broadcast had countless translations, all grim and chilling.
In the savage abandon of this crazed behemoth, it proclaims itself “the beast,” “the coming slaughter,” and “the end of feeble empires,” its massive bulk filled with “endless cruelty” and “the promise of blood for blood.”
As every outer sector of the Solar Segmentum would learn, the Beast was fulfilling its promise. Sonic booms echoed through every radio communication device on every ship and every station. Within a few Terran weeks, six outer systems reported the phenomenon, then sixty, then six hundred...
The beast spoke, and the people listened.
The distant thunder that had once been ignored and unacknowledged loomed over the heads of the Emperor's subjects. In regions across the Edgeworlds, the soul-shaking roar of the beasts became everything. Humanity was helpless against this, they could not work, sleep, or think. Schedules were disrupted, tithes could not be paid, and order began to slip from the hands of the Imperium.
Millions of people went crazy. Because of the cruel and rigid tyranny of the Empire, most of the citizens of the Empire had never left the world they lived in. Except for a few soldiers who were able to be discharged from the Imperial Guard, almost no one had ever seen even a single alien. So when the violent alien sounds filled all the channels, most people could not keep their sanity.
The social structure collapsed and the planet fell into chaos. Some people heard the "beast" reaching out to them, so they reached out to welcome it. In the revenge and resentment of the Orks, some of the things that were usually suppressed finally showed up.
This was unlike the God-Emperor, who, except in chapels and prayer rooms, was not present in the daily lives of the masses of the Empire. Yet the beast had penetrated every corner, its wrath manifesting itself in temples, echoing in the streets, rumbling in the void... Before long, holy places were abandoned and demolished, and cults burned, as if this would provide a kind of empty comfort in the face of impending doom.
Words have power, but actions have more. The Beast impressed hundreds of millions of people in the Outlying Sector by jamming radio signals, and gravity storms followed. If the Beast's followers want more evidence of its power, look no further than its mastery of this invisible force.
……
Solar star field, edge star region.
The outer space of the Koskus galaxy.
A huge mixed fleet broke through the reality barrier and arrived one after another. The paint on the ships could be roughly divided into seven types, which mixed together could be said to be very diverse.
Fu Qinghai spent a whole week to integrate the reorganized Fifth Legion. This speed can be regarded as extremely efficient. It is impossible for any mortal army to complete the reorganization in such a short time.
It took the White Scars fleet a full month to reach the edge of the Solar Segmentum from the Ultramarine. It should be noted that the speed of the Warp jump usually depends only on the situation in the Warp, whether the energy tide is calm, turbulent or stormy, which needs to be determined by the navigator, and does not depend on the actual distance in the real universe.
Sometimes the actual distance in the real universe is not very far, but because the situation in the subspace is not good, it takes longer to reach the destination because it needs to go back and forth in and out of the real universe to avoid those chaotic tides. Another well-known reason is the chaos of time in the subspace, which makes the time to reach the destination uncertain.
The Legion Fleet began to readjust its formation that had become chaotic due to the jump, and after the adjustment, it quickly sailed towards the interior of the galaxy. The first interstellar broadcast for help received by the Legion Fleet during its long journey to the Solar Star Region became the first destination of the Legion Fleet, the Koskus Business World.
Fu Qinghai stood quietly on the bridge of the Suzheng, looking through the large floor-to-ceiling armored glass in front of him at the "magnificent scene" that appeared in his naked eyes: the Angelini Hub Dock - the contemporary architectural wonder of the empire, which once surrounded the great commercial world of Koskus IV like a belt.
Now it has turned into broken powder.
"It seems we are still a step late."
Qiao Shida stood beside him and spoke.
Fu Qinghai watched silently without saying anything.
He had never been to this star region, but according to the pictures recorded in the star map data, this was a project that took more than a thousand years to complete. But the scene before him was an irregular ring of space debris, which slowly drifted into space with broken fragments, accompanied by thousands of densely packed broken human corpses frozen by low temperatures.
"Send out the Thunderhawk gunships."
Fu Qinghai finally spoke:
"Search for possible survivors."
The Iron Pagoda fleet in the center did not move, while the Predator fleet in front opened the boarding deck hatch and sent several Thunderhawk gunboats toward the broken ring. The cruisers on both wings spread out to form a defensive formation.
Fu Qinghai turned around and walked back to the captain's command seat.
An hour later, ten Thunderhawk gunships finished searching the ring of shabby space junk, and fortunately, they actually brought back three survivors.
Three humans who had managed to escape the disaster by hiding in a closed cabin were brought to Fu Qinghai wrapped in blankets, shivering with symptoms of hypothermia and lack of oxygen.
"I am Qingshan Khan of the Iron Pagoda Regiment."
Fu Qinghai sat in the command seat and said:
“I got a distress signal to Cosx Business World, tell me what’s going on?”
In fact, he already had the answer in his heart.
"The Emperor bless you, Master Astartes!"
A woman fell to the ground and cried loudly:
"We heard a sonic boom that filled all our communication channels, and then the entire Angelini Hub Dock was hit by some invisible force. I watched it disintegrate in space with my own eyes. We didn't even know who attacked us."
"A beast, it's a beast, it's a beast, my lord!"
Another middle-aged fat man shouted excitedly:
"I heard the rumor. The beast is coming. He wants revenge. He wants revenge on the Emperor and humanity!"
They expected to see an expression of surprise or anger on the Space Marine's face, but he had no expression on his face and was just tapping the armrest of the seat with his fingers.
"Is there any more information than this?"
Fu Qinghai looked at the last young man.
"I work in the shipyard manufacturing department."
The young man looked up at Fu Qinghai and spoke cautiously. He probably guessed what the Space Marine in front of him wanted to hear, but unfortunately, he didn't have any more information:
"Neither the Tech-Priests of the Admiralty nor the Naval Security of the Dockyard Hub knew what had caused the gravitational storm. When the disaster first occurred, to most, it was a demonstration of the power and potential of the rumored 'Beast'."
"Ah."
Fu Qinghai put his hand on his chin and nodded.
Suddenly he thought of something and asked:
"When were you attacked?"
"A week ago."
The young man answered honestly.
"What about hearing a sonic boom?"
Fu Qinghai asked again.
"There was similar news about... two months ago."
The young man thought for a moment and said
"Two months ago? Are you sure?"
Fu Qinghai suddenly stood up as if he had thought of something.
"I am very sure."
The young man nodded seriously:
"I first heard the sonic boom, and rumors of the 'beast' began to spread in the docks about two months ago."
"Last time we predicted..."
Fu Qinghai turned around and looked at his fortune teller.
"Just a month ago."
Blindsight nodded in affirmation.
"Um……"
Fu Qinghai lowered his head and pinched his chin, thinking.
"Does this mean the orcs have more than one battle moon?"
Qiao Shida couldn't help but interrupt and ask.
There was originally more than one Battle Moon.
Fu Qinghai had known this conclusion a long time ago.
Fu Qinghai did not answer but looked at the young man:
"What did you do after you heard the sonic boom?"
"The Tech-Priests report to their Sage superiors."
The young man continued to answer honestly.
"Hmm... kind of interesting."
Fu Qinghai suddenly snorted coldly as he thought of something.
"I have a guess, but it's not confirmed yet."
Fu Qinghai said as he turned and walked back to the battleship command seat:
"Let's continue to the next jump node."
"So the Cosx business world?"
Tristan looked at Fu Qinghai's back and asked.
The planet surrounded by the dock debris was still rotating in the holographic projection. Even at this moment, many large pieces of orbital facility debris were slowly pulled toward the surface of the planet by gravity, and then turned into fireballs and smashed into the ground. Everyone saw it and knew that the humans on the surface were probably in great danger.
“We are not here for disaster relief.”
Fu Qinghai shook his head and said calmly:
"Notify the other worlds closest to here."
……
Soon, the Legion fleet set off again.
During this period, they continued to receive astronomical distress signals.
Under the terrifying power of the invisible gravity storm.
World after world was destroyed.
Virgilia is a low-gravity world, with straight and tall buildings piercing through the clouds and reaching the sky. The sudden gravity anomaly caused chaos. The academic world encountered this erupting gravity well, causing the planet's surface to shake violently. Like a slow-playing holographic picture, the towering bell towers and academic towers rumbled into the ancient research institutes and the laboratories below. In a few minutes, the skyline that pierced the clouds turned into a dust mountain made of refined broken tiles.
“That was the situation at the time.”
The survivors of Virgilia said sadly.
"What else did you see?"
Fu Qinghai stared at the survivor and asked seriously.
"There is a face on the surface of that black moon."
After careful reflection, the survivor affirmed:
"I'm pretty sure I saw a big face."
……
Fenimo orbits the gas giant 88-Kalavia, and the satellite's residents can often look up and admire the beautiful star ring system of the giant star hanging high in the sky. However, after the gravity anomaly destroyed the delicate balance, death fell from the sky. The ice crystal fragments and meteorite fragments that made up the star ring system streaked through the thin sky, tearing the screaming and fleeing people on the satellite into pieces. As the world changed, the night turned into day, and a razor-like storm emerged at dawn...
Fu Qinghai looked at the image on the projection quietly.
Fenimore found no survivors.
Only a few video clips were found in the ruins.
"For celestial bodies whose orbital gravitational systems are relatively fragile, such as this satellite, the gravity storm set off by the battle moon is almost capable of exploding a star. This has never been encountered on other large celestial bodies."
Qingming summarized the video content and drew a conclusion.
Fu Qinghai touched his chin and nodded.
"Only half of the satellite remains."
Fu Qinghai looked at the half satellite outside the porthole.
It was like an eggshell that had been split in the middle.
"So where did the other half go?"
Fu Qinghai narrowed his eyes and talked to himself.
……
On the fortress world of Brigantia III, General Miles Montagu commanded two million Imperial Guards, who assembled and advanced towards the Ecliptic Rift, including the Fixetine Infantry Regiment and the Doron Longlegs Regiment, preparing to encircle and suppress the Hrud and other aliens that had inexplicably spawned in the rift.
Yet something too great has breached the Brigantia system's reality, and the fortress world begins to tremble, succumbing to the unseen and unimaginable gravity. Despite its fortresses, armored formations, and millions of soldiers, Brigantia III is powerless to resist the onslaught of another planet.
So they were destroyed without any suspense.
Wait until the Legion fleet arrives here.
The fortress world has been reduced to ruins.
Two regiments of the Imperial Guard disappeared without a trace.
The survivors of the fortress world are almost all soldiers.
This is good news for the Legion fleet.
The information they provide is often more reference-oriented.
"I am stationed at the Oberon Port Fleet Base, several light years away from here, sir. We are responsible for transporting the Doron Long-legged Corps. Our fleet was completely shattered. I swear I saw it with my own eyes. A big mouth opened on the face of the moon. It was probably a launch silo. Giant meteorites and planetary fragments were ejected from it. They used these things as weapons to smash through our warships and fleeing merchant ships."
A surviving sailor described it with horror.
"Battle Moon has this kind of trick?"
After listening to this, Fu Qinghai was thoughtful:
"I roughly know where that half of the moon is."
"You said there were two million Imperial Guards on the surface."
Mandulatu Khan stared at the sailor and asked:
"But we didn't find a corresponding number of bodies on the surface. There are two million people, so it's impossible that there are no remains. Did the orcs eat them all?"
"They were taken abducted!"
A seriously injured crew member struggled to get up and said:
"They were abducted, sir. We once took advantage of the artillery cover to approach the surface of the Ork-armed moon to conduct a scan and reconnaissance. I saw the people of the Third to Ninth Covenant of Kronida and the Royal Borodino Blue Mechanized Regiment inside that moon. They were driven and whipped by the orcs like enslaving fart spirits. The orcs captured humans as slaves!"
Another key piece of information:
There are human slaves inside the Battle Moon!
Fu Qinghai and Qiao Shida looked at each other.
……
Amid the catastrophic roar of beasts and the disaster of many worlds, these unnatural stars span the fringe star regions. There are indeed more than one of them, and their appearance and characteristics are different.
Some were as black as coal, swallowing up the flickering light of the stars around them. Others were husks made of battleship wreckage and electroplated armor. The rock-ball behemoth over Alex II had a strange face spray-painted with the green Clan emblem. The battle moon over the desert world of Sanwen was a metal skull with mechanical horrors, grinning in silent laughter at the citizens of the Empire whose fate had already been sealed.
"Badmoon, Bloodaxe, Deathskull, Goff, Snakebite, and Fel Sun, the six great clans of orcs. Fuck it, I know it. The six great clans have united again, gathered under one war boss. It reminds me of Ullanor."
Looking at the appearance features of the combat moon summarized on the tactical panel, Fu Qinghai smacked his lips and said.
And behind him at the combat conference table.
The chapter leaders fell into silence upon hearing this.
During this period of time, the Legion fleet has been almost following the Orcs' battle moons, visiting the galaxies that these battle moons have ravaged one after another, and then trying to search and salvage the surviving humans in the galaxies to obtain intelligence information.
Previously, a Chapter Master had accused Fu Qinghai of being too slow in the meeting, and demanded that the battle moon reach the star system and stop it before it destroyed the next world of the empire, but Fu Qinghai flatly refused, saying that "going there now would mean death", and now no one mentioned this anymore. Everyone realized how powerful the enemy was, and understood why the Golden Horde Accords had to be activated.
In fact, Fu Qinghai deliberately ordered the navigator Tracy to deliberately control the speed of the Legion fleet and follow the orcs to visit the destroyed imperial worlds one by one, so as to collect more information about the battle moon.
Fu Qinghai had only read the rough outline of the "Beast War" plot line, and was not clear about the specific plot of each stage, let alone the specific parameters of the battle moon. Therefore, after assembling and reorganizing the legion, he did not choose to rush to face the main force of the orcs, but quietly followed behind the orcs, collecting intelligence information bit by bit to improve the combat plan.
Qingshan Khan never fights a battle without preparation.
On the other hand, according to intelligence, the Orc battle moon can directly land in the galaxy through some unknown transmission method, without the need to reach Mandeville Point outside the galaxy first like human warships do in the subspace jump, so even if the Legion fleet wants to catch up with the Orcs, it is not so easy to achieve.
"Let me summarize."
Fu Qinghai waved his hand and turned the holographic projection:
"First, the battle moon can directly reach the interior of the galaxy. Second, the battle moon has some kind of invisibility method. It is speculated that it is consistent with the principle of the 'sonic boom', which achieves the purpose of invisibility by interfering with and shielding detection equipment. Then, at present, the battle moon has at least three ways of attack."
"First, directly set off a gravity storm to interfere with the gravitational field in a large area, create gravity anomalies, and thus destroy celestial-level targets. Second, absorb celestial body fragments through some kind of gravity siphon device and then spit them out with some kind of gravity slingshot device to create cheap meteorite shells to attack the target. Third, there is some kind of subspace portal inside the battle moon, which can continuously pour out Ork warships."
Fu Qinghai turned to face the crowd and said:
"Honestly speaking, the intelligence we have now is not enough to formulate a complete combat plan. We still have many problems to solve. For example, how many battle moons do the orcs have? Six, or more? For example, does the battle moon have a shield system on the surface? What type of shield is it?"
“But I don’t plan on waiting any longer.”
Fu Qinghai suddenly changed the subject and said:
"I gradually realized that the intelligence information we obtained from the survivors is limited after all. Because they have no way to launch an effective counterattack against the Battle Moon, naturally there is no way to test the true strength of the Battle Moon. So it is meaningless to continue to follow. We must face the Battle Moon once to know how powerful it is."
Everyone nodded in agreement with a serious look on their faces.
"We need a goal now."
Fu Qinghai turned and looked at his fortune teller.
Blindsight sat in the last row of the conference room.
"Prophecy? Isn't this a little too trifling?"
A chapter master immediately raised an objection.
"No."
Fu Qinghai shook his head slightly and said:
"The battle moon can reach the interior of the galaxy directly. Without prophecy, how can we know its movement trajectory? Without prophecy, how can we reach the target galaxy in advance to stop the orcs? This is the only means of obtaining intelligence we can use at present."
After saying this, Fu Qinghai ordered Blindsight:
“Give me a goal.”
Blindsight did not say anything, but silently took out a small snuff bottle from his robe, pinched the index finger and thumb of his right hand, and poured the green crystal powder in the bottle onto the bulging tiger's mouth, then raised it to the tip of his nose and inhaled hard.
"Ho-"
The woman raised her head sharply upward.
Light burst out from the empty eye sockets.
Her thin body was shaking constantly, blood was flowing slowly down her nostrils and ears, the power of the necromancy allowed her to connect directly to the subspace, her mortal body seemed unable to withstand this psychic power, and she was in danger of mutating and collapsing at any time.
Tenjur frowned when he saw this.
"Well--"
Blindsight suddenly hunched forward and curled up into a ball.
He huddled between the seats, trembling.
Everyone present turned their heads to look in that direction.
"Endin."
An almost unnoticeable sound came from below.
The sound was as thin as a mosquito's hum and like the mumbling in a hallucination.
"Endin."
Over there, Qingming has begun to quickly rotate the projection:
"The only result found is the Endin Hive World."
"Very good, head to the Endin Hive World immediately."
Fu Qinghai nodded and gave the order.
About why you should use prophecy to obtain goals.
In fact, he had another reason that he didn't tell.
No matter who this prophecy came from.
It doesn't matter even if it comes from Tzeentch himself.
Even the Four Chaos Gods would not want to see the Orcs destroy the Human Empire. If the beasts really destroyed Terra, the power of the Great Orc in the mortal world would probably expand to an uncontrollable level, which would not be the result they wanted.
…………
(End of this chapter)