"If those aliens didn't give us the wrong information this time, our first wave of all-out attack can only hit Balaton. If we can't take Balaton, then even if we take down Udar and Marco, it will be unstable."
In the Space Wolves' base, Grey Hunter Gary, who had become friends with Goo, confirmed with Goo his next task after delivering the intelligence, which was to wait for the meeting. There was nothing else important, so Goo, who was forced by him to stay and enjoy the banquet, toasted and exchanged cups with him, while he affirmed his strategic judgment. Hearing Gary's determined tone, Goo raised his eyebrows.
"Logistical considerations?"
"Logistics is only one aspect. The most important issue is that no matter which world we attack first, the Chaos world that has not been attacked will definitely react. You know, the reason why those scum wanted to use a bunch of garbage Servitors to consume our ammunition before was essentially because they knew that we were incapable of going to space. However, once we show that we are capable of returning to the universe, they will definitely adopt targeted tactics to hinder us. Although the Mechanicus has tried very hard, there is no doubt that we can only launch one attack in the short term. It is a definite fact."
After saying all the things that the Hammer guys above the Queen of Glory had deduced in one breath, Gary, who was in high spirits because he had already drunk a lot of wine, ordered some drinks with his hand, drew a simple map of the Morton Hess galaxy on the table, and began to explain further.
"First of all, we are the closest to Balaton, which means we will need the shortest time to launch a surprise attack on Balaton. In any war, time is an advantage. Then, I think you know that these three worlds may develop into a situation where we have to use the extermination order to resolve it. At this time, we have to consider which planet is the best solution if we have to choose one among the three. There is no doubt that if the mining world is still under our control, the forging world is the best choice from all angles. Then... well, the biggest threat after the three worlds get out of control - what may happen if they lose control, you should know it, brother Gu?"
"of course."
"The theoretical threat ranking after the three planets lose control, according to the current intelligence, Udal is the biggest, Marko is the second, and Baraton is the third - but this is based on the premise that Baraton does not have any overly powerful weapons. If Baraton hides something like the Titan God Machine, then the threat of Baraton completely losing control will at least move up to second place - of course, no matter how it changes, Udal will inevitably pose the greatest threat after losing control. As for Marko, its threat is particularly easy to deal with. Before the Orks on it become powerful, as long as there are a few powerful decapitation operations, the Marko world can be basically pacified - and now those Orks will undoubtedly need at least a few months to reach that step. In other words, as long as we act quickly enough, after taking down any world, it will never be too late to send a troop to conduct a rapid mobile operation against the Marko world."
After saying this, Gary poured himself another glass of wine and his voice began to become muffled.
"As for why I didn't recommend picking Udal as the first target even though I knew it posed the greatest threat if it got out of control, it's because Udal has been controlled by the scum that fell into Chaos for so long that its value has dropped to the lowest point. From experience, the mortals in that world are either dead or corrupted, and if we take it back by force, we'll only get an empty hive. So when our supplies are barely enough and our manpower - ah, I mean the Astra Militarum - isn't quite enough, attacking Udal's hive is a completely thankless task - if Udal had just been invaded, I'd recommend saving Udal first, but..."
As if recalling something terrible, the gray hunter of the wolf group picked up the wine glass, drank it all, let out a long breath, and changed the subject.
"Gu, can you talk to the champion warrior of the Raven Guard?"
"Well...can you say a few words, how?"
"To attack Balaton, we must first destroy Balaton's space bird.
"We must use stealth to solve the latter problem. I'm sure this task will fall on his shoulders. So, can you tell him that... the Space Wolves still hope to fight alongside him?"
"You want the glory of the Vanguard, Brother Gary."
Gu, who instantly saw what was going on in Gary's gourd, ruthlessly exposed Gary's little tricks. When Gary, who was already half drunk, saw his thoughts being pointed out, a slightly embarrassed smile appeared on his face.
"According to the rules, the selection of the Vanguard must be made from all the Astartes present here - however, I will convey your request to him."
"Thank you."
Hearing that Gu agreed to his request, a satisfied expression appeared on the face of the Galilean Wolf. He stretched out his hand, patted Gu's shoulder armor hard, and then picked up his wine glass.
"Come on, brother, let's have another drink!"
————————————————Balaton World————————————————————————
"......"
Standing on an ancient high metal corridor, the bishop of the Dark Mechanicus who controls the world of Baradon leaned on his scepter, leaned over, and looked at the busy work area below with an indifferent face. After confirming that the Chaos Space Marines who set out from Udal had disappeared inexplicably in the universe with their ships, he guessed that there might be something hundreds of times more troublesome than the Empire lurking in the Morton Hess galaxy. He decisively activated a series of emergency protocols, increasing the production capacity of the entire Forge World to the maximum. At the same time, many evil technologies that were originally under-researched were directly put into practical use. Among these heretical technologies, the craziest and most representative thing is...
Optimization and improvement of God's Machine.
28. The Battle against Balaton - Deployment of Troops
Careful and sneaky.
He moved silently to the door, raised the chainsaw glove, and easily cut open the door structure.
When he was sure that the surveillance system was not looking at him, he slipped into the corridor and took advantage of the guard's blind spot to kill him before he could make a sound.
Then, he quickly cut open a piece of wall panel that had no internal wiring and would not trigger the alarm, and used magnetic shoes to slide down the nearly 90-degree wall, climbed onto a thick pipe, and after confirming the direction, he immediately climbed along the pipeline. Along the way, he also paralyzed several monitoring devices and disguised their paralysis as "accidents" as much as possible.
Finally, he found a door for maintenance and secretly opened it - and the moment he walked out of the door, the Raven Guard appeared at the door.
"You're standing here....I didn't pass the test?"
The moment he saw the elusive old champion of the Raven Guard appear in front of him, the Grey Hunter's heart couldn't help but jump. Since the Empire had no room for error in this operation, the Space Wolves had no complaints about them having to take part in a stealth test to determine whether they were qualified to continue the legendary Raven Guard veteran's stealth mission. However... according to what Gary knew, most of his battle brothers had been eliminated in this 'stealth test maze' created by the Mechanicus and the Raven Guard champion! Could it be that he was also eliminated?
"No, you passed. Your name will be on the list of this infiltration team, Galli Wolf. Now, go over there. The Mechanicus has already prepared for the final inspection and consecration of the power armors of those of you who have passed the assessment before the battle. Your priests have been waiting there for a long time."
"Ahaha! All-Father!"
Realizing that he was not eliminated but had truly gained the honor of being a vanguard officer, the Gallic Wolf took off his helmet and gave the Chosen One a grin. Looking at the wild wolf's unconcealed excitement, the Chosen One, who felt that he still could not keep up with the Astartes' thinking circuits, nodded reservedly.
"Go."
——————————————The wild wolf is going to be consecrated————————————————————
The engineers gathered around the table, carefully checking whether every circuit of the power armor was functioning properly.
The machine servants carry incense burners and fumigate it with sacred incense to dispel any presence that may be hidden within that may displease the machine spirit.
The Mechanical Priest chanted the sacred text in a low voice, and once again branded the mark of purity on the power armor.
The Chapter's priests clasped their hands tightly and prayed for their brothers before the battle. The Space Wolves Astartes who passed the test, such as the Galliwolves and the Howling Fangs of Dur, who had the honor of getting the opportunity to roar outward for the first time after the arrival of the Hammers, also knelt on one knee like the priests, silently offering prayers to the All-Father and the Primarch in their hearts.
When the green light came on, indicating that everything was normal, the men of the Wolf Regiment stood up and strode towards the armor-wearing platform. With one prayer after another, the inspection had been completed and the newly consecrated power armor began to be equipped on the Space Wolves. After about three minutes, the men of the Wolf Regiment were fully armed.
"May Om Messiah bless you all."
The Mechanicus priest chess piece that inspected and consecrated the power armor for the Wolf Group followed the egg's preset settings.
After finishing everything, he immediately turned around, saluted slightly to the Gary Wolf, and gave a very normal blessing to the Oil Man. After hearing the blessing from the priest, the Gary Wolf laughed and also gave the Mechanicus a praise that belonged to the Fenris people.
"Thank you, Tech-Priest. May the blessings of Om Messiah and the wisdom of Russ guide us on the battlefield."
——————————————The dividing line between the Hammer guys————————————————————
"I think it might be better to go to these units?"
"No, unless we use the space vehicles of Chop Bug or Bean Sprout, it will take at least two times to send these units over, which is obviously not feasible."
"So that's the only way to go up?"
"I think it's ok. Egg, can you ask your oil man to simulate the loading conditions?"
"Okay - um, the weapon hook is a bit weak, change weapons?"
".....Sad story. The number of heavy weapons can only be cut once - how about this?"
"No problem. Think about whether there is any place that can be fine-tuned?"
"Um......."
While the Space Wolves were full of enthusiasm and, under the guidance of the God-chosen Raven Guard, they were sitting in the waiting room in an orderly manner, waiting to board the spaceship to the universe and waiting for the raid to be launched soon, the Hammerers were on the Queen of Glory, arranging the chess pieces they would use next - according to the tactics discussed in the meeting - which was actually arranged by Lord Maldius and Gali - the steps to attack the Forge World of Balaton would be divided into the following steps.
The first step is to use the electronic warfare waste code produced by the Mechanicus (actually the Mechanicus and the Necrons together) to interfere with the space auspex matrix of the Balaton Forge World facing the direction of the Sosekhi World, and create a monitoring vacuum that lasts at least twelve hours - the effect is required. During these twelve hours, unless there is an extreme situation where Balaton happens to have space units active in this area, Balaton is not allowed to obtain any abnormalities in this area.
The second step, when the first step is met, is to use two Astartes formations, one visible and one hidden, as the vanguard to seize the largest space defense base station on the Balaton world. The visible Astartes force will ride on disposable central landing craft similar to boarding torpedoes improved by the Mechanicus, and invade in the most standard boarding battle style, while the other Astartes force will be led by the Chosen One, and will land and sneak in twenty minutes after the invasion of the first force, and head straight for the defense base station command center - at this time, the focus of electronic warfare will change from suppressing the space auspicious matrix to interfering with the communication between the space base station and the ground - the requirement is that the signal of this largest defense base station is 'all normal' for at least six hours after the start of the operation.
Then, it is the third step. After capturing the defense base station, the Empire immediately uses the weapons on it to destroy the auspicious matrix closest to the defense base station, completely tearing a huge rift in the sky above the world of Balaton. After the rift is actually created, the Astartes forces will drop airdrop pods and vehicles in the largest number that the Empire can currently do, and occupy the three selected areas. After the Astartes forces destroy the air defense facilities in these areas and control a large enough area, the Astra Militarum forces and subsequent Astartes forces will airdrop together - three points of blossoming, and then, the center will explode!
"By the way, Lord Maldius and Brother Gary actually believe in our Mechanicus' electronic warfare technology so much? Logically speaking, when the opponent is the Black Oil Man, they should think that the waste code tactics are not too reliable?"
The Political Commissar sister was making the final confirmation on the team of Iron Hand chess pieces that she was going to use as the open boarders in the second step of the operation, and arranging them to go to the prepared location, while chatting with other Hammer guys - when the combat meeting was officially opened some time ago, when she learned from Egg that the Mechanicus had confidence in his waste code electronic warfare technology, Galilean Wolf immediately agreed to such a radical combat strategy, and the Lord of Maldiush, who was given the qualification to speak to the Astartes in this combat meeting by the Hammer guys using the Astartes chess pieces, did not object to this combat plan - this was a bit incredible in the eyes of the Hammer guys.
"After all, Gary's initial idea was to board and infiltrate the important space base station on the Balaton world. In his eyes, electronic warfare is better if it exists, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't. Think about it, with the space ships we have now, it's simply a dream to crush it openly, unless we have a way to send the battle barge that Big E used for our forced landing back to the sky."
"Indeed, what the egg said was simply used as an introduction by Brother Gary. After he openly proposed this tactic, he turned around and asked to team up with the Chosen Ones to infiltrate. Well, to be honest, it is actually very risky to take them to fight in the vanguard. Who knows what kind of shit those black oil guys stuffed in that important space base station? Although the Astartes are superhuman warriors, they are only a little stronger in this fucking universe."
"For an Astartes, glory is far more important than life - especially something like this, launching the first round of attack by the Empire to retake a star system. Being the vanguard of the five founding groups, this is simply an honor beyond measure - if I don't give them a reason not to take them with me, I think these Wolf Group brothers will keep this matter in their hearts for decades or even hundreds of years - and I've promised him.
If I reject the Wolf Group without any response, he will probably think I am a person who doesn't keep my promises."
"So this is why you, Gu, suggested that the Chosen One and the Oil Man chess piece conduct an infiltration test together?"
"Well, actually, judging from the settings, we have already raised the difficulty level. We have no reason to reject the brothers of the Wolf Group who can pass like this. The brothers of the Wolf Group who are eliminated like this will not complain - not necessarily. I think they will go back and practice stealth... That's the character of Astartes."
".....I hope they don't go to the Crow King's house to learn stealth."
"Probably... No way? Even though the Wolf Group can be a little husky sometimes, they are a startup group after all and they have made some achievements in this area. It's not like that."
Amid the Hammer guys' endless discussions, one after another, the troops composed of chess pieces completed their preparations and marched to the launch site in neat formations. At this moment, the star belonging to Xoseki had risen, and its light had begun to shine on the aerospace center where everything was ready - all the spacecraft were ready, and the chess pieces of the Mechanicus were making final preparations.
——The countdown to the outbreak of the Empire’s wrath has begun, and the world of Balaton will soon experience it for real——
What is the Emperor's Wrath?
29. War against Balaton - Boarding Invasion
Open your eyes at 6 o'clock sharp in Terra.
Say your wake-up prayer within 3 minutes of opening your eyes.
After finishing the prayer, rush to the workplace within ten minutes, replace the previous shift, and then connect yourself to the device.
He began to collect information from the high-altitude auspicious array that his team was responsible for until his successor arrived.
This cycle repeats daily.
When Balaton was controlled by the Empire, Dyke's daily work was like this. After Balaton changed its master, Dyke's daily work was still like this after he simply swore allegiance to the new master - of course, Dyke himself didn't care. After all, as a member of the Forge World, his life had already been delineated. Suppose someone transferred him away from the Auspex Array Center, Dyke might still be at a loss. After all, the knowledge Dyke learned was all for the service of the Auspex Array, and the implants in Dyke's body were all implanted for this job. If he could no longer work here, where else could he go?
Of course, although Dyke didn't mind the daily work cycle, he was not without complaints about his current job. As a member of the high-altitude auspex team, one of Dyke's biggest headaches was how to separate the targets that really needed attention from the targets that might cause the auspex alarm but were actually not threatening. Before, there was a space auspex networking protocol between the four worlds and some space stations in the Morton Hess galaxy. After discovering the target, the data from various auspexs were combined to easily determine what the attack was. But now? Now that the auspex protocol has actually ended?
He might even mistake a passing meteorite containing some special materials as a high-speed spacecraft!
"When will my job become easy again? When will the new owner be able to take over the entire Morton Hess system and rebuild the Auspex protocol?"
Thinking this, Dyke sat firmly in his seat and casually clicked off a signal that still showed the characteristics of a passing meteorite after he had confirmed it twice - Dyke never let such invalid signals stay for long, because they would occupy the resources of the augur array, making it more difficult to detect signals with real problems.
Then, my usual day began again.
——————————————In space——————————————————————
Balaton-1 space station.
When the Balaton world began to be built into a forge world, this space station was built in space at the same time. As it is located in a very special position on the Balaton gravitational circle, this space station has been responsible for Balaton's largest starport, Balaton's largest defense base station, and even Balaton's largest space manufacturing center. Therefore, after the Dark Mechanic Church seized control of the Balaton world, they immediately used forbidden technology to carry out a series of additional transformations on the Balaton-1 space station, making it completely a new space fortress according to the aesthetics and needs of the Dark Mechanic Church - a dark palace full of blasphemous things. The shameful traitors walked in the space station that had fallen into darkness, willingly working for their new masters in order to gain the right to live, or something more ambitious.
But...what these betrayers don't know is that the moment they choose to betray, their fate is already determined...
"boom!!!!"
Something hit the outer ring wall of the Balaton-1 space station, causing a huge concussive echo.
"Tap-tap-tap-"
This was the sound of the Iron Hands Astartes stepping off the boarding ship in unison.
"Boom——"
This was the sound of the Iron Hands Astartes in the front row raising their boarding shields.
“Pound—pound—pound—”
This was the sound of the Astartes firing, and following closely on the heels of these sounds were the screams of the traitors, and the sounds of metal walls being shattered, or pipelines being blown up, or lines being
The sound of tearing leakage!
"Alert - Alert - Highest level alert -"
"The Outer Rim was attacked by Imperial Astartes troops - repeat - the Outer Rim was attacked by Imperial Astartes troops -!"
"Seal off areas C to F immediately!"
"All defense forces assemble immediately and head to the outer ring area!"
"Initiating emergency authorization protocols..."
As the medium-sized shuttle, which was transformed into a completely large-scale boarding torpedo by the pawns of the oil man, approached the space station, it violently tore off its camouflage, overloaded its engine, and crashed into the outer ring area of the Balaton-1 space station at lightning speed. After being deeply embedded in the body of the space station, the entire Balaton-1 space station was instantly filled with the sound of various alarms and activation protocols. Thanks to the Dark Mechanicus's similar operating logic to the Mechanicus, even if it encountered such an unexpected attack, the space station was only busy for less than 30 seconds, and orderly counterattack plans began to operate one after another. It was not limited to blocking the combat area, gathering defense forces, releasing combat servitors to hinder the advancement speed of the boarding Astartes, and activating all autonomous counterattack equipment along the way. Of course, it also included accountability for the ground auscultation team. Where did those guys eat? How come such a large boarding ship rushed over without anyone noticing?
As a result, one minute later, Qi Qilong, the traitor who currently holds the highest power in this space station, was "very happy" to find that the communication between him and the ground had become something completely irrelevant? He was clearly asking the ground to hold the space auspex team responsible for his area accountable and wanted a report on the auspex so far today, but how come the feedback he got was that everything was normal?
'The communication lines have all been invaded by junk code, and the regular communication between us and the ground has been completely paralyzed.'
After this incomprehensible thing happened several times in the next minute, Chichilon understood what happened to his space station, and realized that the encounter of this number of elite Astartes squads on his space station was likely the beginning of a major counterattack by the Empire. After a few rounds of logical reasoning in his mind, the traitor accurately concluded what he should do most at the moment.
That is, use all the resources of the space station to annihilate the imperial invasion force that has definitely not yet gained a foothold at all costs, and never allow the empire to take back the Balaton I space station, because once such a thing happens, it means -
A large area of Balaton's world will become completely defenseless against air attacks! The Empire can throw whatever it wants at Balaton in this area!
"My guards, gather beside me immediately, target area, outer ring combat area."
Having made the decision to fight with all his strength, and knowing that he would be wasting time if he stayed in the central area to command in such a situation where the space station system might encounter more waste code attacks at any time, Qi Qilong did not waste any time. He gathered his personal guards around him and rushed to the front line without any delay, ready to personally command the defense force of the space station to fight back against the empire - and at this moment, exactly twenty minutes had passed since the first Iron Hand chess piece landed on the space station.
"......"
Since the attention of all the defense forces in the Baraton I Space Station was almost attracted by the Iron Hands elite boarding team that was advancing little by little, and many of the system protocols of the Baraton I Space Station were being tortured by waste code. Therefore, no one in the space station could notice that in the silent space, another aircraft had silently attached to the backlit side of the Baraton I Space Station. An Astartes warrior from the Raven Guard and several Astartes warriors from the Space Wolves had lightly and sharply "slid" into the "belly" of the space station without triggering any alarms. Monthly fee group 694936135
And the direction they were heading to was——
The core of Balaton-1.
30. Battle against Balaton - Storm of Steel
As a being that has begun to sublimate into a machine, have I already said goodbye to the weak emotions of flesh and blood creatures? Shouldn't I be able to easily think about problems with all kinds of logical and calm thinking?
Before today, these questions were not a problem for the technological heretic Father Els. But now, Father Els, who was commanding his Skitarii to fight against the Astartes in front of him, already felt that the answer to this question had changed -
"Maintain the line, don't retreat - no, no, no - leave the servitors to resist the enemy and delay time, gather the Skitarii around me and cover my retreat to the next area - no, no, no -"
Looking at the Iron Hands Astartes advancing slowly in the distance, and seeing the information of the Skitarii formation like his own being erased piece by piece on the screen in front of him, Father Els, who had already calculated that he would never be able to resist these powerful superhuman warriors with his limited troops, clearly "realized" that his logic chip was gradually falling into chaos, and his main circuit was gradually going crazy due to overload. And the root of all this was because
