Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 430 06.0429: "There's a sniper? Damn, there's a sniper!"

The preparation and recruitment of the Epic lasted a week, starting with Horatio's arrival.

He then spent another week completing initial operational training for the recruited crew members on a dedicated E-type training ship.

Those who passed the stress test and practical examination were retained.

It barely reached the planned total of 8,000 people.

Two weeks later, we docked at Abyss Harbor.

Facing the crew who filled the reviewing area the size of two or three football fields, Horatio stood on the captain's podium with high spirits, his back straight, the cold-proof leather windbreaker draped over his shoulders fluttering in the breeze from the ventilation duct, and the row and a half of medals hanging on his chest trembled slightly with his breathing.

He wore a rare wide-brimmed hat with white visors instead of the iconic bicorne. The sides of the visors were pushed down in the style popular in the Imperial Navy, making the wide-brimmed hat look more three-dimensional and fitted.

"My crew members, after a week of selective training, those who can stand here are all the best who have gone through rigorous selection. You all know what you are about to face! Today will be your first day on the Epic, the Imperial Navy battleship for which you will give your all in the future!"

He turned sideways and stretched out his arm to point at the Epic moored at the berth.

Compared with the tiny crowd, this 246-meter-tall attack ship appears extremely majestic, with smooth lines yet elegant.

"This is the latest new warship of the Imperial Navy's Gothic Fleet. It is sturdy, reliable, and has a lot of new technologies. We will drive it and strike hard at our enemies! Those blue-skinned aliens! Let them see what the inviolability of the Divine Emperor's territory means! What His Holy Navy means!!"

The young captain raised his arms and shouted.

"Yeah!!!" The crew members in the audience were ignited and shouted excitedly.

The armed sailors, boarding crew members and ordinary sailors cheered enthusiastically.

Under the spreading of holy water by the Anglican priests and the influence of incense by the nuns, the crew members were full of unrealistic romantic fantasies about the future battles in the void.

The sailors of the armed forces devoutly drank the holy water mixed with the Epic's engine oil. It was so slippery that it felt like drinking torpedo lubricant and maintenance fluid.

The strange taste is enough to give goose bumps to the bravest sailor.

After completing a series of necessary ceremonies and preparations, the crew lined up to board this long-awaited warship.

After entering the hatch, the cabin wall is black iron in color, with torpedoes as long as a hundred meters neatly arranged inside.

This makes the aisle very narrow, and only five people can pass side by side between the two Helios torpedoes placed side by side - this means that if any cabin is in danger, accidents may easily occur during the evacuation.

Horatio boarded his own bridge.

Standing on the ship's spine, the 43-meter-high bridge has an arc-shaped hall layout inside. In the center of the semicircle is a long arched command platform filled with an array of thinkers. There are two elevators at the rear for personnel to board the platform.

It feels a bit like the bridge of a U-boat.

This is also the observation platform of the E-type attack ship. In order to reduce the frontal projection, the observation bridge, command bridge and combat situation bridge are all concentrated in one place, but distributed on different vertical planes.

Directly in front of him was the captain's command throne, a platinum throne with a five-screen array of meditators in front of it.

It is located on an independent high platform, with an observation platform behind it, well connected in all directions, and a safety fence in front.

The five-screen display uses fully automated neural thrombosis signal reading technology, and the images and various functions on it can be enlarged or reduced, or the observation field can be made clear according to the captain's will.

This will be Horatio's main fighting position.

The rudder is located directly in front of the throne platform, a standard adamantine void rudder.

But people with keen eyes will soon discover that, unlike ordinary warships, it also has a dual precision control console for two people to sit side by side. This is for the helmsman to silently fine-tune the navigation when the attack boat is hiding in the asteroid belt.

"Captain! The Chief Inspector of the Epic, Military Supervisory Committee Member Farida Hood reports to you. I hope that you and I will fulfill our duties and live up to the will of the God-Emperor!"

The blonde girl in the platinum military prison uniform wore lacquered leather boots, a power sword hung from her waist, a gleaming silver chrome-plated bolter, and she straightened her proud chest, which was wrapped in the uniform and held up by the bright white belt hanging diagonally, and saluted with a stern and solemn face as she reported.

Looking at Farida's seemingly unyielding, cold-blooded, tense face, with an expression that said 'the Emperor is watching you', Horatio couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.

[Well, when I woke up in the morning, I was still very charming. I got into work mode very quickly. Not bad~]
Then, a row of officers stood in front of him, saluted and reported to him one by one. "Captain! First Lieutenant, Archie Cuthbert Collingwood, the Chief of Command, reports to you."

"Captain! Second Lieutenant, Chief of Operations Officer Louise Tavira reports to you." The Cardian woman with short dark blue hair and purple eyes saluted in a powerful voice.

"Report to the captain! Third lieutenant, chief weapons officer and torpedo officer Fideo reports to you!" The blond young man had a sunny smile on his face after finally passing the lieutenant examination for the second time.

"Sir! Fourth Lieutenant Henry Harvey, Chief of Navigation and Communications, reports to you." This young man, who was born into a family of Astra Militarum generals, was promoted by Horatio and was able to put his knowledge to use. He was appointed Chief of two important departments at one time.

"Captain, fifth lieutenant, Chief of Engineering and Power Department, Leidos, reports to you." The young officer, whose arms were covered with silver metal prosthetics, raised his hand and saluted.

As a new officer who passed the exam for the third time, although his results in the Leidos Military Academy were not very good, he at least passed the exam for the third time, unlike a certain candidate officer with a sad face.

Horatio glanced at David Betty von Ravensburg, the scion of a noble family standing timidly and ashamedly at the end of the line of alternates.

Of course, this is also a helpless move due to the lack of officers on the new warships. Lieutenants have to take on multiple duties and reserve officers are promoted to positions that they cannot sit in standard warships.

Tap, tap, tap. The deck made a crisp sound of metal footsteps.

A group of warriors wearing power armor came over.

They were the Hell's Vanguards, but the leader had his helmet tucked under his armpit and wore a red beret on his head that did not belong to the Imperial Navy.

"Master Sergeant Valina?"

Horatio blurted out unconsciously.

This surprised him a little.

Usually, only ships of the navigator family will be equipped with a Storm Loyalist security force for safety reasons, for supervision and riot control.

Therefore, he did not receive any news that a team of Storm Loyalists would be coming to his ship.

And unlike a normal team, she came with a team of hell's vanguards.

"Sergeant Valina." Without waiting for Horatio to ask, Military Supervisor Farida turned around and spoke with a frown.

"Why are you here?" She pressed down the brim of her wide-brimmed hat to hide her sight and make herself look more intimidating.

[Another little, no, big vixen has boarded the ship, and without any warning. What happened today?]
Faced with the appearance of a new home-stealing rival, she suddenly felt pressured and a little depressed, recalling the past when her home was secretly stolen.

"Report to the captain and the military supervisor! We have just received an order. Because our ship is going to set out to conquer the Tau people, we are sent on board as a special training force and will obey the captain's orders to fight!"

The lady officer said this in a serious and unconcerned manner.

"Whose order?" Farida was a little confused. If it was an order from the Navy Department, she, as the daughter of the Hood family, would not have been unaware of it.

She glanced at Horatio, and he too shook his head.

Which kindhearted person also recruited an extra special forces for him? After the battle on Far Star, his chief Eagle Flag Battalion was still replenishing its members. As the first director of the Special Warfare Department, how come he didn't receive such a transfer order?
Suddenly, he felt a tingling discomfort and looked sharply towards the top beam of the bridge. An inconspicuous cold light flashed by, and a shadow appeared.

[Sniper?!]
"There's an attack! Hide!" he shouted, leaped to dodge, and took out his gun and pointed it in that direction.

But at this time, the cold light had disappeared, and the top of the beam returned to its normal appearance.

[…Am I too sensitive and reacting so quickly?]
Horatio blinked, looked at the empty beam on the top of the ship, and almost fell into self-doubt.

Following his previous shout, the bridge immediately entered combat alert status. Everyone drew their guns and looked for cover to hide in, searching for suspicious targets, but no enemy was found.

Just as Horatio was about to activate the omen fragment to investigate the situation to confirm whether he was too suspicious, Iron Hand itself had already activated the early warning.

He exerted force on his ankles, instinctively leaped forward and turned around, using his shoulders to cushion the impact, and fell to the ground, pointing the bolt pistol behind him.

(End of this chapter)