Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

clang! clang! clang!

The long sound of the mechanical clock rings, which usually means an advance announcement of a certain time.

Two hours is enough time to complete a tactical action in a ground war environment.

But in the vast sea of ​​​​stars, the distance between fleets and the complex personnel structure of huge weapons make the pace of the war appear to be much slower than the former.

Three bells ring, which in the current context means that a real naval battle is about to begin.

The Mechanic Priest is using this voice to inform all combatants that the scheduled battlefield is about to arrive.

Staff members at all levels stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the supreme commander at the central sand table.

With Vasilev's gesture, these people also left the desk and began to walk towards the real wartime posts.

In the communication channel, the fleet commanders, under their orders, took the trouble to check the existing and backup communication keys;

The combat troops gathered on each deck, together with the members of the weapons unit, headed to the command deck of their respective battleships to confirm their respective statuses in order.

The bustling strategic command hall was temporarily quiet at this time.

But the people here are not relaxed. Instead, like gamblers who have made a bet and leave their hand, they are caught in the last tense moments before the lottery is drawn under the cover of the fog of war.

Facing the envious looks from around him, especially the envious looks from Hobbes, Vasilev straightened out his demeanor, then turned and walked towards the Iron Throne, which symbolized the admiral of the fleet.

That is the seat that symbolizes the highest rights of millions of people in the entire fleet. It is also the seat that Hobbes, together with all professional soldiers, has fought for and dreamed of all his life.

But soon, the envy in Hobbes's eyes turned to horror.

He first noticed with astonishment that under the huge seat there were complicated cables that he had never used before;

Then I saw several mechanical priests who should not be here, and Vasilev, who was taking off his uniform with a calm expression in front of everyone.

The Grand Cross on the collar...

The red double-breasted buttons of the military uniform...

Black bulletproof soft armor nylon zipper...

There is also the luxurious white silk shirt made from Terra, the metal interface exposed on the surface of the skin, and the even more terrifying, metal centipede-like spine...

"Forehead……"

The pupils in Hobbs's eyes expanded subconsciously, and a certain ritual that only those with a rank of admiral or above were qualified to touch could not help but appear in his mind.

High-end mechanical transformation!

And it is an irreversible direction specially designed for the command of the large fleet!

The mechanical priests stood around Vasilev, shaking the censers in their hands towards the latter while praying softly;

The same naked mechanical slaves also appeared in groups quietly, holding trays with both hands and offering hoses with slender metal probes.

Pieces of equipment were installed, probes were inserted one by one;

Seeing the iconic crystal life-saving cabin, it was loaded from the door of the command hall by a lifting vehicle in such a majestic manner, and then placed behind Vasilev's seat.

"Your Majesty, your Majesty, this is..." Hobbes finally closed his eyes, unable to bear to look any further.

This is a path that he, who is not even afraid of death, is unwilling to choose.

This also means that after this battle, Vasilev has little chance of leaving this hall.

It sounds like a noble honor to be integrated with the battleship that you have been fighting for your whole life at the end of its life, but anyone who has the opportunity to complete this achievement knows the pain of being completely integrated with the machine soul.

That's not the so-called burial, that's actually a sacrifice to the machine soul.

There will be no peace at all, because that is devouring and chewing at the soul level.

"It's not unfair to lose." Hobbes turned around, and as expected, he saw the same meaning in the eyes of the subordinates around him.

There is no shame in losing to such a madman, because the opponent gave everything he had, and there is no shame in being commanded by such a madman, it even makes him feel proud.

Calvin said nothing, just watched everything quietly. Even Nicholas, who walked in from the door, deliberately slowed down his steps at his signal.

In the strategy hall at this moment, he should not be the protagonist.

Even though the rights brought by his identity allow him to easily gain everyone's obedience, he still needs to show enough respect to a soldier who devotes his life to the empire.

"Forehead……"

The stinging sensation caused by the insertion of the nerve probe made the old man suddenly open his eyes. The blood vessels and veins knotted in the corners of his eyes made his face even more ferocious.

The coldness and numbness that followed made this pain become a luxury product:

The machine soul of a Retribution-class battleship that has been in service for more than a thousand years, the memory that is huge enough to build a library, and the souls of past captains have almost destroyed his anchor point with reality.

"Huh..." Vasilev's chest vigorously expelled the air, as if the voices of countless personalities were also expelled.

"Augury array!" He said with great effort, and the machine spirit of the battleship seemed reluctant, but finally accepted the reality that he had passed through the danger.

So in the black mental vision, a red and cold light extended, spreading across the entire battleship like blood.

Endeavor, this ancient battleship, its huge machine soul finally recognized Vasilev, an outsider.

And the detection devices all over the battleship finally extended their authority to the commander other than the captain.

Black spots, dense black spots.

In the dark universe, in the outer ring of the Gothic Galaxy, and outside the extreme field of vision of the fleet's auspicious joint detection, these dense black spots are emitting a red halo that symbolizes danger;

Without any information, Vasilev already understood the meaning of this picture just by seeing their arrangement that met the standards of space combat!

"The void shield is carried at full power!" His and the captain's voices sounded almost at the same time.

The difference is that the voice of the former is transmitted through radio waves and astropaths, and is echoing throughout the entire Imperial Navy fleet!

The skipping notice from the fleet admiral instantly made the entire fleet aware of the emergency of the situation!

The huge fleet was like a stimulated hedgehog, a series of light blue energy barriers lit up in the dark starry sky!

"Enemy attack?" Calvin immediately understood the meaning of this order, and in an instant, he sent the message to each Astartes company through the will of the Legion!

The Astartes sitting on each main battleship, under the warning of the Gray Knight liaison officer, promptly activated the magnetic boots under their feet;

But the mortals on the other side did not have this efficiency, so in the eyes of the chief officer of the detection array, in the void that was beyond the range of the farthest nova cannon, energy that made them feel extremely frightened was condensing at a high speed!

"High energy reaction! Collision preparation!"

Seeing the energy response scale sliding rapidly, even the "α+" at the top could not be stopped.

The chief officer of the detection array looked pale, raised his head and shouted an alarm to the command deck.

However, as those red dots crossed the border and turned into specific warships in the fleet's field of vision;

Two energy beams far exceeding the weapons of any known battleship have already pierced the void and attacked the fleet!

boom!

The beam of light flashed past, and in front of Calvin's flagship, a large cruiser that should have been at their position had been destroyed.

Scarlet and scorching flames spread along the ferocious cracks on the self-disintegrating battleship;

And after that beam of light penetrated the entire battleship, when it still passed by Calvin's flagship, it caused the entire battleship to shake hugely through the void shield!

"Planet Killer!"

Following the source of the beam, Calvin saw the two huge battleships with strange shapes. And the memory in his brain finally matched this battleship with the drawings he obtained during the Battle of Orps!

renew.