Chapter 348 Chips
"We must establish an absolute air defense zone around the capital!
Only in this way can we really drag the enemy here!
Only in this way can we wait for the arrival of reinforcements!
Sacrifice is inevitable, but we must be determined!"
After an impassioned speech, the combat meeting led by the Imperial Fists, attended by the Ultramarines, the Sisters of Battle and the local defense forces, determined the main direction of the next battle.
This is also the meeting that actually represents the ruling class of Ophelia 7. After recognizing the loss of strategic initiative, it officially gave up the battlefield space outside the capital circle.
This is a last resort, because the precious fighters in the atmosphere must be used with caution after losing the cover of the fleet above the orbit.
They will be destined to be consumed, but if there is a choice. Hornthorne hopes that they can buy breathing time for the contraction of the ground defense forces.
"How is the rat?"
Walking out of the conference room, Hornthorne stood above the passage of the underground fortress and asked behind him while looking at the endless stream of troops.
"The interrogation is ongoing, but the results are not satisfactory."
Hornthorne's personal guard, Oleg, the champion swordsman assigned to the 4th Company of the Imperial Fists, responded in a low voice.
"It is understandable. After all, he was once our brother."
The tone of the captain of the Imperial Fists was full of complex emotions, and the meaning of his words was even more shocking.
Oleg retreated after hearing the voice, turned around and carefully observed the surroundings to prevent others from hearing Hornthorne's "disrespectful words".
Yes, an Astartes warrior from Hydra is now receiving treatment in the medical area of the inner city.
He is the biggest gain of the two Astartes companies and several battle sisters in the inner city's pursuit operation, in addition to the holy relic itself.
In the process of retrieving the holy relic, the mortal agents from Hydra caused great trouble to the pursuit operation. Especially the last agent, who even caused the death of several battle sisters.
And this is not the biggest loss.
In an underground station in the inner city, when the battle sisters blocked the retreat of the agent named Morton and were about to kill him, the agent actually woke up a fully armed Astartes warrior in a carriage marked as a biochemical product. The battle sisters knew nothing about this and did not conduct a thorough search after the agent left. It was this tactical oversight that gave the genetic superman, who was wearing optical camouflage and specialized in infiltration and assassination, an unimaginable space to display his abilities. Tracking, lurking, assassinating, sniping, this Astartes from Hydra became the nightmare of the battle sister team responsible for the frontal pursuit in the next few dozen minutes. With the only single-molecule dagger and a piece of steel wire in his hand, he almost slaughtered the full-strength battle sister team with the help of the optical camouflage cloak and the power armor that had been transformed into silent armor. It was not until the officers in charge of the frontline noticed something was wrong and ordered several Ultramarines to participate in the operation directly that they caught the crocodile hidden under the water with an absolute advantage in force.
However, the damage had already been done, and the loss report collected after the war also left the officers present speechless.
This not-so-tall Alpha warrior had such rich experience in asymmetric combat:
In a short period of less than an hour, at least 20 combat sisters died directly in his hands;
Even if there were Astartes tactical teams of the same level, he still used a plasma pistol and several booby traps to injure at least five Ultramarines.
Even this was not his limit.
The battle in space had already failed, and the enemy's airborne support could arrive at any time. The search team had been unable to catch him;
If it had not been for the last minute to cover the evacuation of the mortal agent, it would have been unknown how long this battle in the dark side of the Holy City would have lasted...
Fortunately, the defense fleet in space was brave enough. Even though they were already defeated, they still used their own sacrifice to buy enough time for the ground operation.
Fortunately, the Imperial Fist soldiers arrived in time one second before the enemy agents evacuated. They forced the Alpha warrior into a dead end, thus creating a decisive chance for the recovery of the holy relic.
Afterwards, Hornthorn was afraid more than once:
If the ground air defense array was activated a few minutes later, if the battle in space ended a few minutes earlier.
Then how much casualties could this Alpha warrior who was waiting for airborne support in orbit bring to them.
This battle in the dark side of the Holy City ended with the victory of the Empire.
The ground troops responsible for the pursuit, while killing the Alpha agent and recovering the holy relic, also seriously injured and captured the legion warrior from Alpha.
Hornthorn stopped Stuart, who was trying to kill the Alpha in anger, and he saw the special identity of the Astartes warrior from his armor.
The battle here is not over, and the hard battle in the next few days has just begun.
Hornthorne was unwilling to give up any possible bargaining chips. Even if it could buy one more second for the reinforcements, he would hold on to this possibility tightly.
"Has the message been sent?"
Seven hours after the "Naval Battle", Hornthorne, as the top defense officer, after presiding over the subsequent deployment of troops in the City of Divine Grace at the City Defense Headquarters, finally saw the defeated soldiers who had been withdrawn from the star port.
To be honest, he didn't expect there to be any survivors there, especially under the indiscriminate bombardment of the Chaos fleet.
These were withdrawn from the Astropath communication towers and retreated all the way to the fallen starport;
Then survive the chaotic crowds and enemy fire and board the rail train;
The Imperial soldiers who successfully escaped the bombings on the road and finally returned to the vicinity of the Holy City obviously had enough favor from the Emperor.
But he still had no sympathy or pity for them. He just stopped them immediately at the guard's prompt, and then asked the question he was most concerned about urgently.
"Sir, we don't know your question. But you can ask him..."
The soldier with his face full of gunfire answered frankly in front of Hornthorne, and then pointed his finger backward.
Under the dim lighting in the underground passage, Hornthorn looked back along the soldier's fingers.
On the simple stretcher made of steel pipes and defense force uniforms, a thin figure was seen.
The body was curled up on a narrow stretcher, being carried by two soldiers who were also wounded.
The iron-gray defense uniform covered his body, and the occasional red robe leaked out, proving his identity as an astropath.
The first update and the second update will be in the middle of the night, so there is no need to wait.