Since we are going to fight, there is no need to worry about anything else.
So Hades confirmed the distress signal again. The good news was that Medusa, the home planet of the Iron Hands, was just northwest of the Eye of Terror, and not far from Medusa was Caliban, the home planet of the Dark Angels.
The bad news is that Hades' fleet is located on the southeast side of the Eye of Terror, exactly one entire Eye of Terror away from Medusa and Caliban.
At Hades' strong suggestion, Finus sent a small team to go to the two planets to seek help and troops.
A back-up plan is necessary and essential, Hades is very sure of that.
As for whether the backup plan could arrive in time... Hades thought, this was all about doing one's best and leaving the rest to fate, although the current fate was most likely to be the chaos of the subspace.
Hades paused, recalling the information the Emperor had given him while in orbit over Prospero.
If the Word Bearers and Iron Warriors legions still roughly follow the iteration rules, then the total number of ships of the two legions should now be slightly less than twice that of the Iron Hands. If the ships of the Order of Silence are added, this number can reach about 1.6.
Among them, the Iron Warriors' ships tend to be heavily armored, and the cost of high defense is a decrease in maneuverability. The Word Bearers have not yet accepted ship replenishment from the Warmaster, so the number of Word Bearers' ships is relatively small.
Hades pondered, thinking about the information from Thor - no, they didn't have to face the enemy's entire force, at least not in the early stages.
The Iron Hands are not all at a disadvantage. Almost every ship of the Iron Hands is stuffed into factory or laboratory-like buildings, which often gives them firepower beyond their own level.
Among them, influenced by the preferences of Lord Medusa, the warships of the Iron Hands are mainly composed of battleships and medium and large armored cruisers.
The Order of Silence mainly consists of battleships and medium-sized light cruisers, which are usually assigned special tasks and serve as auxiliary to the rest of the large legions. The Order of Silence is well aware of their positioning, so each ship has been modified in terms of engine and cloaking system, and equipped with anti-psychic defense fields.
Hades' ships are more suitable for surprise attacks, or in other words, sneak attacks.
Hades stared at the Word Bearers who were leading the way in the distance on the aviary, his left eye flashing red, countless data pouring in, the fleets of the Order of Silence and the Iron Hands changed their formations, and soon the entire fleet formed a wedge shape.
The Iron Hands' fleet was still in the open. In order to cover the Order of Silence scattered in the dark, Hadist ordered the Iron Hands to turn on signal and light source interference.
[Here it comes.]
Finus Manus said softly,
It was like walking into a deep jungle, with branches made of twisted steel stretching lushly into the field of vision. The stars in the distance cast blurry light and shadows on their heavy dark gray hulls. Across the distant void, Hades clearly saw those silver-white symmetrical symbols, which looked like both helmets and skulls - they were the Iron Warriors.
The master of this star field has arrived, and the Word Bearers team leading the way in front of the Iron Hands immediately sank their ship below, waiting impatiently for the Iron Hands' attention to shift.
"Never mind them."
Hades said abruptly.
Finus stared at the bird-servant, nodded, and continued to command the fleet to move forward. The Word Bearers team that was finally let go by the Primarch, after a brief and polite notice to the Lord of Medusa, immediately increased the engine speed and decided to leave here.
Hades whispered a few words and shook his head. Thor the Word Bearer was still in their hands. The team's departing backs were truly resolute.
This is a good thing.
Hades thought about it, while keeping his nerves tense, waiting for the Iron Warriors' ships to enter. The fleet continued to move forward carefully. The flank ships at the edge had already sent back vague maps of the defensive arrays on the distant planet.
They walked step by step into the star field of the Iron Warriors. These dark grey giants came from all directions. In the gorgeous nebula, between the long gravel belts, and in the shadows on the back of the planet, they always kept a cautious distance from the Iron Hands.
It was like polite distance, or also like... Hades blinked, and looked at the wolves following their prey from a distance.
[They sent a brief meeting notice.]
Finus spoke,
[I asked them to give the Iron Hands an accurate map of this star region, but was evaded.]
Hades' voice sounded,
"They hope that we can go as deep as possible. The deeper we go, the thicker the encirclement will be, and the harder it will be for us to retreat. At the same time, if the Eye of Terror is opened, the impact will be even greater."
"But they don't want us to go too deep,"
The sound paused for a moment.
"The deeper we go, the more dangerous it will be for them. They don't know when we will speed up and rush into their precious Obelisk Corridor."
“It’s a game,”
Hades stared at the bird servant, the red dots on it flickered, each red dot represented a ship of the Iron Warriors.
"It depends on how much Perturabo wants to be greedy."
Finus frowned.
[They know our intentions, and we know theirs.]
"Yes," Hades said, "a delicate balance. If Perturabo didn't know our intentions, he would choose to try to win you over, rather than lingering on the edge of the fleet's maximum attack range - the Iron Hands were marked as targets from the beginning."
Hades remained silent, wondering if Perturabo knew that the Order of Silence was also here? He was inclined to believe that Perturabo knew this. If he was dragged into the chaos, then he would definitely know that Hades was here.
But the biggest problem is not here. The real problem is that Hades and his party do not know to what extent the Eye of Terror has expanded and when it will erupt
This is the most difficult problem. For Hades, the solution is naturally to reach the anchor point as quickly as possible.
He could command the fleet to charge into the enemy's formation like a cavalry, trying to disrupt the core point as quickly as possible, but if the first attack failed, they would face the dilemma of being surrounded and having nowhere to retreat.
At the same time, the other side was not clear about the Iron Hands' plan. For Perturabo, it seemed that the Iron Hands still had two options: destroying the long line and raiding the anchor point - although both sides knew that the first option was doomed to fail.
But Perturabo couldn't be sure Hades knew this.
Hades' fingertips tapped lightly on the command table. The data map given to him by Thor the Word Bearer was glowing with a bright blue light. The Eye of Terror, which was slowly spinning like a vortex, was staring at him. An abrupt crack penetrated the white eyeball from the southeast, and in the deepest part of the crack, Cadia was floating quietly. The Gate of Cadia was the most stable route to the Eye of Terror.
And now, their fleet is moving along this rift.
Hades pondered as he measured every planet on the fleet's current route with a scrutinizing gaze. The Iron Warriors' infrastructure level clearly marked for Hades the planets where the Black Stone Obelisks might exist.
The good news is that because the Iron Warriors have to garrison the planets with Blackstone Obelisks, they are dispersed into a long line. Although the key star fields are heavily guarded, this still weakens the Iron Warriors' strength.
Finally, Hades stretched out his hand and pointed at a star field. The Belis Corona region was on the only way to Cadia. It was the last checkpoint and also connected to several areas where Blackstone Obelisks might exist. Here, the fleets of the Word Bearers and the Iron Warriors were fighting each other.
"Disperse..."
Hades whispered, his voice reaching the ears of Finus, and the Lord of Medusa paused for a moment.
I don't think it's a good idea to disperse when the enemy has more ships than us.
Finus said,
[Active dispersion means being cut off and then trapped in an encirclement. ]
Hades blinked.
"What if their encirclement is not strong?"
Finus slowly raised his head.
[you mean?]
"Our opponent, Perturabo, has very little time."
Hades said, his eyes moving, and Fenus saw that the Lord of the Underworld's eyes were moving on the light spots that symbolized the Word Bearers Legion.
It seems that the Word Bearers are not a monolithic group.
However... Hades doesn't have much time left.
Hades suddenly spoke,
"Now let's arrange the fleet. It's best not to have two generals on the same ship."
——————
Ingerta was holding the scepter with his eyes closed, thinking.
Lorgar had left them... He had been transferred away, ordered to garrison on Cadia, while the Word Bearers fleet was ordered away from their Primarch, at least a third of the Legion remained to accompany Lorgar, while the rest of the Legion remained aboard the fleet.
Lorgar himself admitted that the Word Bearers fleet would be led by Perturabo for the time being, while he needed to concentrate on studying new doctrines on Cadia.
Although the orders issued by Perturabo were usually concise and affirmative sentences, this did not mean that the Word Bearers could execute them well. Lorgar himself was not there, and most of the original management were exiled. The new management chose to follow Lorgar and garrison Cadia.
Therefore, the Word Bearers are now in chaos. Most of the company commanders choose to protect themselves, and the commanders who are temporarily selected are even more of a mess.
Including the Word Bearers' mothership Law of Faith, they were sent to more outer star regions, as if they were deliberately separated from their Primarch. If the warriors could still speak out under the leadership of Primarch Lorgar before, then the sudden transfer order now seemed more like a conspiracy with ulterior motives.
Originally, it was the priests who maintained the morale of the Word Bearers Legion, but because the Primarch frequently changed the doctrine and replaced the priests, these newly appointed priests could not even convince the majority of the fighting brothers.
Although the surface still looks intact, the Word Bearers are basically in a semi-shutdown state internally.
There was not much they had to do. Perturabo's order to the Word Bearers was to guard the middle and outer star regions and establish defense systems in key star systems.
Angertai sighed softly. From that day on, he quickly left the Law of Faith and took the ship of the exiles all the way to the Beliscrown area. Relying on the relationship between the Primarch's guards and the Scepter of Lorgar, Angertai contacted many Word Bearers stationed here, and some of them supported him very much.
But just as he was about to move further away, Perturabo's transfer order arrived.
They were on the flank, above the more important planet, where the Iron Warriors' ships floated quietly.
Among the ships that were urgently dispatched, naturally included the 34th Company where Angertai was staying, which had originally planned to leave. The original captain of the 34th Company, Thor, was transferred, and after the captain was transferred, the rest of the company was also transferred away from Cadia.
Anglete leaned against the bulkhead, feeling the faint trembling of the ship. Starlight poured through the observation window. He opened his eyes and squinted at the front.
A flash of cold mechanical light passed by, and he saw the Iron Hand ship. The plasma engine at the rear of the ship was lit with an erratic blue flame.
Anglete frowned.
The next moment, a piercing scream exploded from the channel of his armor—
It's an electronic attack!
Angertai suddenly took off his helmet, his pupils suddenly dilated, reflecting the ships moving at full speed in the distance, and a bright yellow light lit up from the front of the ship's gun array.
—————
This is a war between iron and iron.
The void drowned out all the roars and cries, and the noise of the electronic waves had not yet subsided. Without any hesitation, the two steel behemoths bared their fangs at each other at the same time, with torpedoes everywhere, cutting through the endless darkness, with bright and dazzling flames at the ends, coating the entire sky, and rushing towards the opponent's fleet.
The heavy and huge iron cavalry trampled out tracks of light in the void. The Iron Warriors lined up straight and rushed towards their enemies, while the bow of the Iron Fist, the glorious queen of the Iron Hands, began to slowly yaw, exposing her left side to the Iron Warriors.
The sidearm weapon arrays were staring at their enemies, with an uneasy heat surging in the dark muzzles.
No, it's not the time yet. The distance between the two armies is still too far. Now is not the time to waste ammunition.
The first spark burst out from the outside of the Iron Warriors' fleet. It was the first torpedo detonated by the artillery array of the Cobra-class destroyers outside the giant ship.
The next moment, countless points of light lit up outside the two armies, and a silent rain of explosions began to bloom. The bow of the cruiser swam out from the light curtain and took the explosion with its ram. The small frigates swarmed around the cruiser like a school of sardines, and the explosion just now made their dragon spines tremble slightly.
The smoke slowly descended, and the huge battleship continued to move forward surrounded by small boats.
The torpedo barrage just now was nothing more than a raging fire replacing a battle cry for both sides.
The Iron Hands' great iron horses turned around and charged straight into the gap between the Iron Warriors and the Word Bearers fleet.
As if knowing the opponent's intention, the Iron Warriors started the second round of bombardment, firing far more dense torpedoes than before at the Iron Hands. Among the dense barrage of bullets, there were many special models.
At the same time, the entire fleet of Iron Warriors rushed towards the Iron Hands, and the ocean of radio waves boiled and roared out orders.
Having just witnessed the initial clash between the two armies, the Word Bearers fleet, which had been stunned in place, seemed to have just woken up from a dream. Their formations changed, their gun barrels rotated, and the overseers shouted at the crew to load ammunition.
"Get ready, the second wave of torpedoes is about to arrive."
Hades' voice sounded like an inorganic mechanical life, the channel was noisy and piercing, Hades stared at the bird servant expressionlessly, his left eye glowing red.
"Zero-zero-three, zero-zero-two—"
Hades counted down, reminding every captain to prepare to engage the enemy. Unlike the first test, the second barrage of torpedoes had an absolute purpose. They vowed to slow down the speed of the Iron Hands. The data after the first initial confrontation was enough for the Iron Warriors to calculate a better attack trajectory for the next time.
But Perturabo was not the only one who could calculate.
Hades and Fenuus were both good at calculations. The data in the mothership roared like a mountain torrent. Every move on the macro battlefield was marked with the past and the future. Flashes of light suddenly appeared, and thousands of waterfalls of light hung down from the iron-gray walls, illuminating the symbol of the Iron Hand in the explosion.
Explosions followed one after another, schools of fish dispersed and then gathered together again, and the giant ship fearlessly broke through the exploding waves. In the gorgeous and hazy light mist, a strange black scale flashed by, and then disappeared again into the steel-gray stone reef.
The muzzles of the Word Bearers' guns barely flashed as the Iron Hands emerged almost intact from a second wave of barrage from the Iron Warriors.
Hades' eyes did not blink, and countless flashes of light sank into his dark and empty pupils as if being sucked into a black hole. It seemed that he was right.
The Iron Warriors' Queen of Glory was not here. It seemed that Perturabo had only sent half of its fleet, while two-thirds of the Word Bearers' fleet was here, including their Queen of Glory, Law of Faith.
"Plan A."
Hades said this as he turned on the communication. Thor the Word Bearer stood beside Hades and looked at him hesitantly.
At this moment, the Iron Hands ships are about to reach close attack range of the Word Bearers fleet, while on the other side, the Iron Warriors fleet is also approaching.
The radio waves vibrated suddenly. For Hades, if he already had a Word Bearer, it would not be difficult to forcibly invade the Word Bearer's channel.
The black mist fell, and a dark cloak fell from under the iron halo, and pale green electric arcs coiled around Hades' throat.
"I, Lord of the Order of Silence, Hades, the Silent, speak to the Seventeenth Legion, the Word Bearers."
An emotionless voice sounded, and at the same time, between the waterfalls of light, dark sickles poked out. Previously, they were hidden under the heavy steel, but now, they revealed their sharp blades.
"In the name of the Emperor and Hades, Perturabo deceived and betrayed the Imperium and framed your Primarch Lorgar. In the name of the Emperor, I come here to reap the souls of the traitors and redeem the fate of the innocent."
"Word Bearers, do not resist, do not resist, do not resist."
"Violators will be punished by death."
A cold voice sounded from every Word Bearer's channel. The next moment, brilliant blue plasma flames burst out from behind every dark ship. The rudders shook, the steel giant turned to the left, and a black monster climbed out from the right.
The Law of Faith charged directly into the Word Bearers ranks.
At the same time, the Iron Hand suddenly turned and rushed towards the Iron Warriors, causing the two steel giants to collide with each other.
The Cobra-class destroyers and Sword-class destroyers began to fight, the cruisers fired at each other, the carrier-based aircraft rose from the mother ship and rushed towards the enemy, and the Iron Hands battleships used their slightly faster maneuverability to fire macro cannons at the opposite side. After the strange light waves, the mournful cry of the first void shield overload was heard.
The captain, who had successfully overloaded the opposite void shield with the macro cannon, immediately seized the opportunity. The light spear that had been prepared long ago lit up, and the straight laser pierced into the joint of the Molten Steel's frame. The smoke that looked small and light in the void scale was ejected along with the air in the cabin. The air and the blood of the ship were gushing out.
The irregular metal building materials and the unfortunate crew members were thrown into the extremely cold universe by the air turbulence and solidified as the first victims.
A fierce flame broke out from the rear half of the ship, and seventeen seconds later, the explosion caused by the unstable power system completely broke the battleship into several pieces.
And beside the corpse of the Molten Steel, countless similar scenes were being repeated, with the remains of steel and steel floating in the void, indistinguishable from each other.
The Iron Warriors' fleet did not have the Glorious Queen, and the long defense line dispersed the Iron Warriors' forces. Hades believed without hesitation that Finus, who commanded the Iron Hands, would win.
Perturabo's original plan was to use the Word Bearers to hold them back, but unfortunately he overestimated the Word Bearers and did not expect that his opponent would choose to use only the Order of Silence to deal with the Word Bearers.
Stupid mistake, Hades thought. The Word Bearers' reaction was even slower than he thought. It seemed that Lorgar was not in a very good condition
The fleet of the Order of Silence pierced into the fleet of the Word Bearers in a smooth manner, and a strange scene appeared. Neither side attacked each other, and the muzzles of the guns kept rotating along the trajectory of movement, but there was always a silent coldness.
Hades carefully watched the situation of each Word Bearers ship, his voice echoing in the channel,
"Don't resist."
Far away, in the underground trenches of Cadia, Perturabo roared angrily and turned on the communication angrily -
[Uria Oratel!]
An unhesitating command.
[Call the Word Bearers to attack!]
Vashtor beside the Lord of Steel lowered his body and said in a hissing voice,
+You should give the poor demon some time, it is being repelled by the Primarch's body. +
[I gave it enough time! I gave it enough time for any Iron Warrior to deploy everything! ]
The fire in Vashtor's eyes burst forth,
+You shouldn't think of the Word Bearers in terms of your Legion's efficiency and conduct. +
Perturabo sneered and continued to focus his attention on the battlefield, the collision of ships, and the research and development under the Black Stone Obelisk Tower.
[It doesn't matter. Just holding them back for a while is enough. ]
The Lord of Steel said this coldly as he "watched" the steady progress of the polarity reversal work on the last few Black Stone Obelisks.
They were too late.
Soul vomiting... 6k words, really drained
(End of this chapter)