Chapter 677: Tailing all the way
The human empire has five major star regions.
Different enemies will be faced in different star regions. The most warlike Necromancer dynasty is in the Storm region; the Pacific region is often ravaged by various scattered Chaos warbands; the famous Eye of Terror is inside the Hazy region, and there are strange unknown aliens on the edge; outside the Extreme region is the rising Tau Empire, and inside is the hunting ground of the Dark Eldar.
Among them, the Solar region is the ancient birthplace and traditional sphere of influence of mankind. The Solar region is also often invaded by Chaos traitors, but it is difficult to see large-scale alien forces in the Solar region-because this vast star region has been repeatedly cleaned of alien races by the human regime in the Golden Age 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 homes as an "invader", and the aliens bit the border line tightly, 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.
Until the arrival of the "beast", it has always been like this.
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 blood and knife in the border star regions would frequently come into contact with alien creatures. For ordinary people in the core star regions, "alien" is more like a legend.
But now, the situation has changed.
There has never been such a precedent in the history of the human empire: the barbaric and dirty aliens brought their soldiers and fleets to invade the core star region of the solar star region, wantonly proclaiming their will, trampling on human beliefs at will, and even marching to the birthplace of the human race-the solar system.
The harbinger of this impending disaster was covered up by the loyalty and diligence of hundreds of millions of citizens. For their survival, the citizens of the empire across hundreds of worlds are still obediently serving the hard labor of the planetary governors, unaware that they have long been targeted by threats from the void.
At first, the sonic boom was masked by the communication interference and background radiation of the star, the noise of merchant fleets entering and leaving the system and the sound of the Imperial Navy's artillery fire on pirates, the industrial roar of forge worlds and hive worlds, and the hymns sung by the crowded churches of the State Church and the suffering people.
As the sound of the sonic boom grew louder and the unknown electronic signals filling the void began to grow stronger, the people of the Empire began to gradually hear the signs of their doom.
Those who kept their minds and ears sharp were the first to notice it. The technical crew of the naval observation station in O'Oper Ring, the guards sentinels at the telepathic outpost of Catilus, the communication officers of the 41st Regiment of the Serasi Rifles in the jungle moon of Bosk, the wandering traders engaged in trade on the Ghost Star, the technical priests conducting secret excavations on the ghost world of Zaha Tan...
The official recognition of this strange phenomenon spread among the high-ranking officials of the sector. At the same time, the Tech-Priests of the Linguistic Order on the Ark Singularity managed to isolate several tracks of 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 urgent words.
Those thunderous belly drums that sounded like the predators of a dead world were actually some kind of alien language, the barbaric commands of an authoritarian race. The pronunciations were as harsh as artillery fire, deafening through the void - yes, they belonged to the Orks. Although the grammatical patterns were roughly the same, there were countless translations of this broadcast, all of which were cold and terrifying.
In the savage and indulgent words of this crazy beast, it declared itself to be "the beast", "the coming slaughter" and "the end of the weak empire", and its huge body was filled with "unlimited cruelty" and "the promise of blood for blood".
As every marginal sector of the Solar Sector will learn, "the beast" is fulfilling its promise step by step. The boom reverberated 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 had spoken, 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 fringe worlds, the Beast's soul-shaking roar became everything. Humanity was helpless against it, unable to work, sleep, or think. Schedules were disrupted, tithes were not paid, and order began to slip from the hands of the Imperium.
Millions of people were driven mad. Because of the cruel and rigid tyranny of the Imperium, the vast majority of Imperial citizens had never left the world they lived on. Few, except those who were able to retire from the Imperial Guard, had ever seen a single xenomorph. So when the violent voices of the xenomorphs filled all channels, most people could not keep their sanity.
Social structures collapsed, and planets fell into chaos. Some people heard the "beast" reaching out to them, so they reached out to greet it. In the revenge and resentment of the Orks, some things that were usually suppressed finally showed up.
This is different from the God-Emperor, who does not appear in the daily lives of the people of the Empire except in chapels and prayer rooms. However, the beast has penetrated every corner, its anger manifesting in temples, echoing in the streets, and rumbling in the void... Before long, the holy places were abandoned and demolished, and the cult was burned, as if this would provide a kind of empty comfort in the impending doom.
Words have power, and actions have more power. Through radio signal interference, the beast impressed hundreds of millions of people in the fringe star zone, and then gravity storms followed. If the beast's followers want to find more evidence of its great power, just look at its control over this invisible force.
…
Solar star field, fringe star zone.
Outer space of the Coscus galaxy.
A huge mixed fleet broke through the reality barrier and landed one after another. The paint on the ships is roughly divided into seven types, which can be said to be a variety of mixed together.
Fu Qinghai spent a whole week to integrate the reorganized Fifth Legion. This speed can be regarded as extremely efficient. Any mortal army would not be able to reorganize in such a short time.
It took the White Scars Legion fleet a full month to reach the edge of the Solar Sector from the Ultramarine. It should be noted that the speed of the Warp Jump usually depends only on the situation in the Warp. The energy tide is calm, the ocean current is turbulent, or the storm is shrouded. The specific needs of the navigator to determine, not 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 Warp is not good, it is necessary to go back and forth in and out of the real universe to avoid those chaotic tides, which takes longer to reach the destination. Another well-known reason is the chaos of time in the Warp, which leads to uncertainty in the time of arrival at the destination.
The Legion Fleet began to readjust the formation that became chaotic due to the jump, and after the adjustment, it quickly sailed to the interior of the galaxy. The first distress star language broadcast received by the Legion Fleet during its long journey to the Solar Sector 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 Dockyard - the contemporary architectural wonder of the empire, once surrounded the great commercial world of Koskus IV like a belt.
Now it has turned into a broken powder.
"We seem to be a step late."
Qiao Shida stood beside him and said.
Fu Qinghai watched silently without speaking.
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 in front of him was an irregular ring of space debris, which slowly floated into space with the broken fragments, accompanied by thousands of densely packed broken human corpses frozen by low temperatures.
"Send out the Thunder Eagle gunboat."
Fu Qinghai finally said:
"Search for possible survivors."
The Iron Pagoda fleet in the center did not move, and the Predator Warship warship in front opened the boarding deck hatch, and several Thunder Eagle gunboats flew out and headed towards the broken ring. Several 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 gunboats searched the ring of broken space debris. Fortunately, they brought back three survivors.
Three humans who had escaped by hiding in a closed cabin were brought to Fu Qinghai in blankets, shivering with hypothermia and hypoxia.
"I am Qingshan Khan of the Iron Pagoda Regiment."
Fu Qinghai sat on the command seat and said:
"I received a distress signal and came to the Coskes Business World. Tell me what happened?"
In fact, he already had the answer in his heart.
"Emperor bless you, Lord Astarte!"
A woman fell to the ground and cried loudly:
"We heard a sonic boom, which filled all our communication channels, and then the entire Angelini Hub Dock was hit by some invisible force. I saw it disintegrate in space with my own eyes. We didn't even know who attacked us."
"The beast, it's the beast, it's the beast, sir!"
Another middle-aged fat man shouted excitedly:
"I heard the rumor, the beast is coming, it wants revenge, he wants revenge on the Emperor and mankind!"
They expected to see surprise or anger on the face of this Space Marine, but the other party had no expression on his face, just tapping the armrest of the seat with his fingers.
"Any more information besides this?"
Fu Qinghai looked at the last young man.
"I work in the dock manufacturing department."
The young man looked up at Fu Qinghai and said cautiously. He probably guessed what the Space Marine in front of him wanted to hear, but unfortunately, he didn't have any more information:
"The Tech-Priests of the Mechanicus and the Naval Security of the Dockyard Hub didn't know what caused the gravity storm. When the disaster first broke out, for most people, this was a display of the power and potential of the rumored "beast."
"Yeah."
Fu Qinghai nodded with his hand on his chin.
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 immediately.
"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 when he thought of something.
"I am very sure."
The young man nodded seriously:
"The first time I heard a sonic boom, when rumors about 'The Beast' started spreading in the shipyards, was two months ago."
"Our last prediction..."
Fu Qinghai turned around and looked at his fortune teller.
"Just a month ago."
Blindsight nodded and affirmed.
"Um……"
Fu Qinghai lowered his head and pinched his chin in thought.
"Does it mean that the Orcs have more than one battle moon?"
Qiao Shida couldn't help but interjected and asked.
There is not just one battle moon.
Fu Qinghai already knew this conclusion.
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 superior Magos."
The young man continued to answer honestly.
"Hmm...it's interesting."
Fu Qinghai suddenly snorted coldly when he thought of something.
"I have a suspicion, but I haven't confirmed it yet."
Fu Qinghai said, turning around and walking back to the command seat of the battleship:
"Let's continue to the next jump node."
"And Koskos Business World?"
Tristan looked at Fu Qinghai's back and asked.
The planet surrounded by the dock fragments is still rotating in the holographic projection. Until this moment, there are still many large pieces of orbital facility debris slowly pulled towards the planet's surface by gravity, and then turned into fireballs and smashed to the surface. Everyone watched. In his eyes, he knew that the humans on the surface were probably in dire straits at this moment.
"We are not here to provide disaster relief."
Fu Qinghai shook his head and said calmly:
"Inform the other worlds closest to here."
…
Soon, the legion fleet set off again.
During this period, they continued to receive Star Language distress signals.
Under the terrifying power of the invisible gravity storm.
World after world was destroyed.
Virgilia is a low-gravity world. Straight and towering buildings penetrate the clouds and reach the sky. The sudden gravity anomaly caused chaos. The academic world encountered this erupting gravity well, causing the planet's surface to violently shake. Like a slowly playing holographic picture, the tall bell towers and academic towers rumbled into the ancient research institute and the laboratories below. In a matter of minutes, this skyline that penetrated the clouds was transformed into a mountain of dust and gravel made of refined rubble.
"That's what happened."
The survivor of Virgilia said sadly.
"What else did you see besides that?"
Fu Qinghai stared at the survivor and asked seriously.
"That black moon has a face on its surface."
The survivor thought carefully and affirmed:
"I'm pretty sure I saw a big face."
…
Fenimor orbits the gas giant 88 Calavia, and its residents can often look up to admire the giant's beautiful ring system high in the sky. However, after gravity anomalies destroyed the delicate balance, death fell from the sky. The ice crystal fragments and meteorite fragments that made up the star ring system streaked across the thin sky, tearing the screaming and fleeing people on the satellite into pieces. As the world turns, night turns to day, and razor-sharp storms emerge from dawn...
Fu Qinghai looked at the picture in the projection quietly.
Fenimo found no survivors.
Only a few remaining videos of the ruins were found.
"For these 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 stars, which has not been encountered on other large celestial bodies."
Qing Ming summarized the video content and came to a conclusion.
Fu Qinghai touched his chin and nodded.
"Only half of the satellite remains."
Fu Qinghai looked at half of the satellites outside the porthole window.
It looks like an eggshell cracked in the middle.
"So where did the other half go?"
Fu Qinghai narrowed his eyes and said to himself.
…
On the fortress world of Brigandia III, two million Imperial Guardsmen commanded by General Millus Montagu assemble and advance towards the Zodiac Rift, including the Fixhittin Foot Regiment and the Doron Longlegs. , preparing to encircle and suppress the Hrud and other aliens that inexplicably spawned in the Rift Valley.
However, a behemoth broke through the real universe of the Brigantia galaxy, and the fortress world began to tremble, succumbing to the invisible and unimaginable huge gravity. Despite its fortresses, armored formations, and millions of soldiers, Brigantia III was unable to withstand an attack from 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 Imperial Guard regiments 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 give is often more informative.
"I am stationed at the Oberon Port Fleet Base, several light years away from here, sir. We are responsible for transporting the Doron Long Legs Corps. Our fleet was completely shattered. I swear I saw with my own eyes that the moon had a big mouth on its face, probably a launch silo, from which giant meteorites and planetary fragments were ejected. They used these things as weapons to smash through our warships and fleeing merchant ships."
A surviving sailor described with horror.
"Battle Moon has this trick?"
Fu Qinghai thought after listening:
"I roughly know where that half of the moon is."
"You said there are two million Imperial Guards on the surface."
Mandulatu Khan stared at the sailor and asked:
"But we didn't find the corresponding number of corpses on the surface. There are two million people. It is impossible that there is no remnant. Did the orcs eat them all?"
"They were abducted!"
A seriously injured crew member struggled to get up and said:
"They were abducted, sir. We once took advantage of the cover of artillery fire to approach the surface of the Ork Armed Moon for scanning and reconnaissance. I saw the people of the Kronida Third to Ninth Covenant Group and the Royal Borodino Blue Mechanized Group. They were inside that moon. They were driven and whipped by the orcs like enslaving fart spirits. The orcs captured humans as slaves!"
Another key information was obtained:
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 disasters of many worlds, these unnatural stars span the edge star zone. There are indeed more than one of them, and their appearance features are different.
Some are as black as coal, swallowing up the flickering light of the surrounding stars. Some have a shell made of battleship wreckage and electroplated armor. The rock ball behemoth above Alex II has a strange face sprayed with green clan logos. The battle moon above the desert world Sangwen is a metal skull with mechanical horror, grinning silently at the citizens of the empire whose fate has been doomed.
"Evil Moon, Blood Axe, Death Skull, Goff, Snake Bite, Evil Sun, the six major clans of orcs. Fuck it, I know it. The six major clans are united again and gathered under the command of a war boss. This reminds me of Ulano."
Looking at the appearance features of the battle moon summarized on the tactical panel, Fu Qinghai smacked his lips and said.
And at the combat conference table behind him.
The war group leaders collectively fell silent after hearing this.
During this period of time, the Legion fleet was almost chasing after the Orcs' Battle Moon, visiting the galaxies that these Battle Moons had ravaged one after another, and then trying to search for and salvage the surviving humans in the galaxies to obtain intelligence information.
Previously, there was a war band leader who accused Fu Qinghai at the meeting, accusing the Legion fleet of moving too slowly and demanding to reach that galaxy and stop it before the Battle Moon destroyed the next Imperial world, but Fu Qinghai flatly refused on the grounds that "going there now would be suicide", and now no one mentions this anymore. Everyone realized how powerful the enemy was and why the Golden Horde Agreement was activated.
In fact, Fu Qinghai deliberately ordered the navigator Tracy to deliberately control the speed of the Legion fleet and specifically 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 story outline of the "Beast War" plot line event, and was not clear about the specific plot of each stage, let alone the specific parameters of the Battle Moon. Therefore, after the reorganization of the Legion, they did not choose to face the main force of the Orcs rashly, but followed the Orcs quietly, collecting intelligence information bit by bit to improve the combat plan.
Qingshan Khan does not fight a battle without preparation.
On the other hand, according to intelligence, the Orcs' battle moon can directly land inside the galaxy through some unknown transmission method, without having to reach the 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. Secondly, the battle moon has some kind of stealth means, which is speculated to be consistent with the principle of the "sonic boom". It achieves the purpose of stealth by interfering with and shielding the detection equipment. Then, at present, the battle moon has at least three ways of attack."
"First, directly set off a gravity storm, interfere with the gravitational field in a large range, create gravity anomalies, and thus achieve a destructive effect on 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 orc warships."
Fu Qinghai turned to face the crowd and said:
"To be honest, the current intelligence 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 in total? Six, or more? For example, whether there is a shield system on the surface of the battle moon, and what type of shield?"
"But I don't plan to wait any longer."
Fu Qinghai suddenly changed the subject and said:
"I gradually realized that the intelligence information we obtained through the survivors was limited after all. Because they had no way to launch an effective counterattack against the Battle Moon, naturally there was no way to test the true power of the Battle Moon. So there was no point in continuing to follow. "We have to face the battle moon once to know how much it weighs."
Everyone looked serious and nodded in agreement.
"We need a goal now."
Fu Qinghai turned to look at his fortune teller.
Blindsight sat in the last row of the conference room.
"Prophecy? Isn't this a bit too childish?"
A chapter leader immediately raised objections.
"No."
Fu Qinghai shook his head slightly and said:
"The Battle Moon can directly reach the interior of the galaxy. How can we know its trajectory without relying on prophecies? How can we go to the target galaxy in advance to stop the orcs without relying on prophecies? This is the only intelligence acquisition method we can currently use."
After saying this, Fu Qinghai ordered Blind Vision:
"Give me a goal."
Blindsight did not speak, but silently took out a small snuff bottle from his robe, pinched the index finger and thumb of his right hand, poured the green crystal powder in the bottle onto the bulging mouth of the tiger's mouth, then lifted it up and put it under the tip of his nose. suck.
"Ho--"
The woman jerked her head upward.
Light burst out from the empty eye sockets.
Her thin body was trembling constantly, and blood slowly flowed down her nostrils and ears. The power of the undead elixir allowed her to directly connect to the subspace. It seemed that the mortal body could not bear this spiritual power, and she would mutate and collapse at any time. possible.
Danzul frowned.
"Well--"
Blindsight jerked forward and curled up into a ball.
The whole person shivered between the seats.
Everyone present turned their heads and looked there.
"Ending."
A small, undetectable voice came from below.
The voice was as thin as a mosquito's moan, like a hallucination.
"Ending."
Qing Ming over there has begun to rotate the projection quickly:
"The only result of the search is Endin Hive World."
"Very good, go to Endin Hive World immediately."
Fu Qinghai nodded and ordered.
On why you should use prophecy to obtain goals.
In fact, he had another reason that he didn't say.
No matter who this prophecy comes from.
It doesn't matter even if it comes from Tzeentch himself.
Even the Four Gods of Chaos don't want to see the orcs destroy the human empire. If the beasts really destroy Terra, Brother Gaomao's power in the mortal world will probably expand to an uncontrollable level. This is not what they want. desired result.
…………