PFC Chapter 669 Invisible Enemy
Chapter 669 Invisible Enemy
Chapter 669 Invisible Enemy
Adamantua sector.
Adamantua Forge World.
The battle of Diamond Star has ended, and the Imperial Fists have moved to the Forge World. This is the core of the entire star zone, the most important Imperial world in the star zone.
A dirty dusk fell over the land.
In the foggy, reddish sky, the Imperial Fists' battle barge, the Antorax, hung in low orbit like a rectangular, tusked moon.
Chapter Master Mohan has mobilized nearly 90% of the Imperial Fists' forces for this operation. This is a spectacular special operation to show off military power. In the eyes of Second Captain Kurland, it may be a little too spectacular.
But there were also political issues involved - the Adeptus Astartes excelled at starting wars and ending them, and when peace lasted too long, it became difficult to justify maintaining a powerful and costly army like the Imperial Fists, especially in the heavily defended core regions of Terra.
They needed to be set free, given a purpose, a victory that the people of the core would celebrate. Exterminating xenos like the Chrome Beasts was a fitting way for a force like the Imperial Fists to prove themselves.
The Imperial Fists smashed the outer part of the chrome beast's huge nest and fought their way into it. The company led by Kurland took the lead, and ten minutes later, other companies followed closely on the other side of the biological building. The space warriors entered the nest in multiple directions and became the nightmare of the chrome beast.
Kurland charged alone in the dank flesh tube. His bolter spurted out flames, and his power sword never left his hand. He fired bolts at the large chrome beasts, and chopped down the smaller ones with his longsword. The chopped and exploded aliens scattered around him, and Kurland roared the battle cry of his company.
They eventually cleared the area with great difficulty.
"Are you tired, Captain?"
A Space Marine asked Kurland.
“It’s almost time to turn the page.”
Kurland put away the grenade launcher and said:
"Next time I come to this unfortunate planet..."
"Zizizi, buzz, buzz—"
His words were suddenly drowned out.
There was a sudden, low noise coming from deep within the nest. It was brief, but resounding. It shook the entire nest structure, temporarily overloaded their intercoms, and stung their ears. It took a moment for Kurland's eyepiece display to restart.
"Golden Throne, what was that just now?"
Kurland asked, looking around.
"Requesting to speak to the fleet."
The Space Marines under my command are repeatedly asking:
"Fleet received, please reply."
"Some kind of broadcast signal."
A technical sergeant said:
"Ultra-high frequency, high intensity, and a total duration of 6.6 seconds... Could it be a new weapon?"
"The Chrome Beast has taken out a new type of weapon?"
A Space Marine asked with some confusion.
"It's possible. Keep going."
Kurland replied somewhat reluctantly.
They continued their pace. A few minutes later, communication was restored and the fleet liaison officer in orbit reported: they also could not identify the sound. The entire planet, even the Imperial armed forces in orbit, received it.
About half an hour later, the sound appeared again, this time lasting 7.9 seconds. Kurland's company was in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with dozens of densely packed chrome beasts, and the noise caught everyone off guard.
When the sound stopped, the chrome beasts looked slightly startled, then they returned to the fight with inspired fury. It was as if they were getting scared, and starting to panic.
……
Adamantua Forge World, orbital space.
A total of four sonic booms occurred in the next ninety minutes, each lasting longer than the previous one, and communications were completely cut off. After the fourth sonic boom, Chapter Master Mohan walked thoughtfully across the battle barge bridge, sat on his huge steel throne, and then raised his head to signal the communications attendant who had been waiting patiently for nearly two hours:
"Contact all troops on the ground immediately."
Since the start of the latest wave of attacks, Mohan has been standing at the strategic platform of the battleship, looking at every piece of data reported by the air force and ground forces, and personally correcting every slight deviation in tactical execution.
Defense is the Imperial Fists' greatest art. But even in the midst of an offensive operation, the Imperial Fists' strategy is flexible and changeable. No surprises, no mistakes, no risks. Leave the reckless pig-rushing to the wolves of Fenris or the hunters of Chogoris. The Imperial Fists are the Imperium's best tactical engineers, and even the most varied assault plans are planned with the same precision as the most complex defensive arrangements.
It is often mentioned that Lion Jonson once mocked Rogal Dorn's meticulous thinking, saying, "When the battle begins, all plans become useless." Dorn retorted, "That's because your plans were not correct."
Indeed, the Imperial Fists' strategy that had saved Holy Terra in its darkest hour, as proposed by Dorn and inherited by Morhen, basically did not use the rigid term "plan", but was called an "attack plan" - as the battle unfolded, various emergency response plans carefully planned in advance could be gradually thrown aside.
Combat is the most chaotic and unpredictable thing in the galaxy, with a myriad of possibilities at every stage. Some Space Marines, such as the Dark Angels, respond intuitively when something unexpected happens. An Imperial Fist anticipates and prepares for all possibilities, simply selecting the most appropriate response.
but now.
Mohan had no such contingency plan.
His eyes were fixed on the screen in front of him.
“Isn’t that a sonic boom?”
Mohan asked his technical crew.
"No, sir."
The officer in charge of the detection array replied:
"This is an isolated incident."
He pointed to a piece of data on the screen:
"Look here."
"gravitational?"
Mohan said, frowning.
"Yes, sir."
The technical crew affirmed:
"There are drastic and abnormal changes in gravity in the galaxy."
As the Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists, Mohan was also a veteran of space naval warfare. His eyes followed the green curves on the screen and he suddenly felt that the shapes outlined by the curves looked a little familiar.
“The several function curves formed by the change in gravity reminded me of the gravity curves at the Mandeville point.”
Mohan spoke slowly.
"You are very perceptive, my Lord. The mass-gravity curve is similar to the Mandeville points, albeit on a much smaller scale."
The technical crew agreed.
"Have we detected gravitational instabilities in the orbital region of Adamantua's forge world?"
Mohan suddenly turned his head and questioned.
"Yes, my lord."
The technical crew member nodded and said affirmatively:
"The entire area had been surveyed when we approached, yet these readings are brand new."
"Like a sonic boom?"
Mohan murmured to himself and asked.
The technical crew member nodded and said:
"We noticed the initial sonic boom about two minutes after the initial noise, and it was only then that we discovered a tiny floating object on our orbital anchor point. Analysis showed that the traction assembly unit on the port side of the battleship was exhibiting a gravity anomaly, which caused the anchor to tilt. After correcting it, we re-ran the scan and found that sixteen more anomalies on the same side appeared during this period of time."
A lot of technical jargon.
Mohan felt that he had grasped some clues.
The mortal captain standing next to him suggested:
"If it is confirmed that there is indeed gravity instability in orbital space, then we will have to withdraw the fleet and we will have to compromise on ground assaults."
Mohan nodded. He still had a company that hadn't even been deployed yet. These Space Marines were all waiting in the drop bay of the battle barge.
"Have you ever seen this happen before?"
Mohan turned to his captain and asked:
"G-force spikes that rise and then burst like a bubble and then return to normal... Have you seen that before? In your entire Navy career."
The captain shook his head and said:
"I've seen gravity weakened drastically before. This bubble-like bursting is more like being on the verge of a repeated teleportation point in the subspace."
"Is there any connection with Mandeville Point?"
Mohan tried to find the pattern.
"It is indeed similar, my Lord. I have seen many effects of non-Euclidean gravity on translational interface tear curves. As my mentor often said, the warp will not change unless someone makes it change."
The mortal captain could only offer some guesses.
"Do you think this is natural?"
Mohan felt uncomfortable when he heard the word "subspace".
"I'm not sure, there's no precedent for this. But I think we have to accept that we've entered a region where gravity is unstable."
The captain shrugged helplessly.
At this moment, the deck suddenly shook violently, making a dull and heavy sound. This huge impact came from some huge object colliding with something of the same mass, and hot, pungent smoke filled the bridge.
Alarms rang throughout the bridge.
"what's the situation?"
Mohan turned around and looked around and shouted.
The captain barked out orders and called for briefings, and the bridge crew rushed to their stations.
"Gravity bags are deploying inside the starboard reactor core! Our hull is cracked and leaking. I don't know if we can contain the damage and maintain..."
A technical crew member shouted out the bad news.
"Something must be attacking us..."
Mohan rushed to the augur.
"My Lord, please lead all troops and auxiliary forces away from this battleship and land on this planet before we suffer a catastrophic anchor failure and crash."
cried the Captain, seizing his arm.
……
A cluster of battleships in orbital space.
An Imperial Fists captain watched as the battered Antorax began to fall, falling out of formation. The battle barge's engines had apparently failed, belching clouds of radioactive dust, and after a communications jam, all communications with the fleet were lost.
"There's another company of soldiers inside!"
The Imperial Fist Captain held his head and exclaimed:
"What just happened?"
His captain was equally shocked:
"We don't know yet, sir."
"Restore communications and find out as soon as possible! I don't see any drop pods or escape craft leaving the battle barge."
The company commander had a very bad feeling.
The truth was, there was almost nothing to see. The displays, repeaters, and image-enhancing screens were blanketed in radiation and gravitational distortion. The Tech-Priests aboard the battleship were working to resolve the problem, analyzing the captured data.
The conclusions were grim: a bag of gravity distortion was detected somewhere in orbit, and no one could explain it, or adequately explain why the spacecraft had no warning signs before being attacked.
Now, the Antorax, a fully manned ship, a battle barge, the Chapter flagship of the Imperial Fists, and perhaps a full company of Space Marines.
In an instant, it was all gone.
The Imperial Fist Captain looked at the flickering and skipping screen in front of him. Unable to resist the gravity, the battle barge was slowly sinking into the gravity field of Adamantua's forge world. How long could it last? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? An hour? Because of the huge pressure accumulated in it, the damaged engine would probably explode before landing.
"Send a rescue boat to them immediately!"
The Imperial Fist Captain roared and ordered:
"At least some of them can be rescued."
"We're doing the best we can, sir."
The men busy around answered.
The Captain turned and faced the ship's technical priest.
The engine oil guys also looked at each other in confusion.
"I want an explanation for this."
The Imperial Fist Captain waved his hands and said:
"I want a full report on this matter!"
The oilers nodded, but the Imperial Fist Captain had no confidence in their response. They were just as confused as he was. He was about to say something to calm the emotions on the battleship when the screen behind him suddenly burst into a dazzling light.
"what happened again?"
The Imperial Fist Captain turned around and asked.
The airwaves were filled with static and distortion.
However, the entire bridge was silent and no one answered him.
He also stared blankly at the scene outside the porthole.
The Imperial Fists fleet in orbit.
Explosions are happening one after another!
Then a huge pressure swept over.
The Imperial Fist Captain hadn't reacted yet.
The battleship beneath his feet shattered in the twisting.
……
Adamantua Forge World, surface.
The sky was pierced by several rays of light.
It wasn't rain, but some unknown liquid that fell like hail, turning every patch of ground into something slippery and sticky. The chrome beasts' nests were blasted into a paste by orbital bombardment and gunship airstrikes. Smoke rose from everywhere, mixing with the wind and the heavy rain. Kurland could hear the sound of the heavy rain hitting his helmet.
Kurland crawled out of the ruins of his lair.
By the way, pull out a few of his fighting brothers.
There is also the Mechanicus Sage Laurentius.
He tried to contact the battleship cluster in orbit, but received no response. Something blocked the communication signal. Fortunately, their mission on the surface had been completed.
"what is that?"
Laurentius suddenly pointed to the sky and asked.
"We don't have time for sightseeing, sage."
An Imperial Fist warrior said suddenly.
"No, look quickly."
Laurentius insisted.
Kurland picked up four magazines of explosive shells and handed them to his teammates. After completing the distribution, he turned to look at where Sage Laurentis pointed his finger. There was a beam of light in the sky, a broad, divergent beam of light that pierced through the thick clouds, but in its center there was a dazzling core of light, tiny but very red, like the embers of a burning star.
"The end of a ship."
An Imperial Fist warrior said bluntly.
"Fuck, what the hell is this..."
The other soldier subconsciously wanted to curse.
"I don't understand. Why? How did these chrome beasts take out one of our ships? When in the name of the throne did these damned vermin acquire orbital weapons? When did they acquire the ability to engage in space naval warfare?"
An Imperial Fist warrior held his head in disbelief.
Sage Laurentius said calmly:
"We still don't know how these chrome beasts travel through space. I speculate that they use the tides of the warp to spread their eggs, but the theory of mass migration cannot explain why their population density on this planet is so high but has never been witnessed or described. I don't believe they have ships or fleets in the usual sense of the word. They shouldn't have ships at all, but..."
Laurentius paused as he spoke.
He was silent, and the people around him were silent too.
Dirty raindrops slid down the edges of the Space Marines' armor, and these yellow ceramsite giants stood motionless, like a group of sculptures. They maintained the same posture, looking up at the gray sky in the distance.
More bright beams of light pierced the clouds one after another.
The thick dark clouds are becoming riddled with holes.
These holes contain a large amount of debris.
Large and small objects rolled down, trailing thick smoke and dust.
Each fragment of the wreckage represents a warship.
It's not "one ship", it's "many ships".
Not a single Imperial Fist warrior could speak.
Time seems to have frozen at this moment.
The Imperial Fists fleet was completely annihilated.
…………