Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 586 06.0585: "Hunting Red October"

Horatio did not take a nap after taking a bath. Instead, he covered the two sleeping beauties of different styles with soft velvet quilts, changed into a decent and noble captain's uniform, and when the polished gilded epaulettes shone under the dome chandelier, he strode up the elevator and went directly to the command bridge.

The Gothic reliefs on the bridge dome were faintly visible in the cold light. Horatio's military boots stepped on the deck inlaid with the Sky Eagle emblem, and the holographic star map unfolded in front of him.

"First Captain, report the current situation."

"Our ship is sailing at full speed towards γ-7 Mandeville Point." First Lieutenant Collingwood stood up from the command throne and saluted. The optical prosthetic eye he wore cast a scarlet track on the tactical star map. "Our ship is approaching the western border of the Tau Empire. The reconnaissance aircraft has detected small air patrols through the auspex. They have been marked on the map. The Epic can find a gap and pass through them."

"Very good. Let's sail along the path you planned."

The crisp sound of military boots hitting the deck interrupted the tactical report. Military Supervisor Farida rushed to the bridge clutching the encrypted data board, her pale face like a marble sculpture in the cold light of the bridge.

"Captain! Emergency!"

"What happened?" Looking at Farida's frowning and breathless appearance, although he didn't know what had happened yet, Horatio's heart had already sounded the alarm, because the matter that could make her look like this must be very serious.

"The E-110 attack ship has mutinied. The captain killed the military supervisor and is fleeing to the Tau-controlled area!"

She placed the holographic projection onto the star map, marking the points of interest with scarlet spots of light.

"What?" This number sounded familiar to Horatio, and he quickly recalled the situation before he was ambushed - after encountering the attack ship E-110, he ordered the command bridge to return from level one combat alert to navigation duty just to return the salute.

Then not long after, the Epic was ambushed by the Tau Empire's commerce-snatching fleet, and he had no choice but to order an emergency warp jump to escape the battle.

Afterwards he deduced many possibilities, including the possibility that the E-110 attack ship 'Red October' leaked his whereabouts to the Tau Empire.

But he placed this possibility in the very back position - because the E-110 attack ship was pulled back from the brink of death by himself, and she was surrounded and attacked by the Tau warships and fought to the end without surrendering.

He really couldn't imagine any reason that could push such a loyal person to the point of betrayal after the war - these aliens didn't know any tricks with the warp!
However, if it weren't for the E-110 attack ship that they met, he couldn't think of anyone else who would know the sea trial route he had decided on on the spur of the moment, after all, the ship was always in radio silence.

Any means of communication across star regions is strictly guarded by their own people, and every message sent and received will be subject to layer-by-layer review by intelligence officer Lina - this girl is sure and certain that no news has leaked from the Epic.

But unexpectedly, the truth came out on its own. The captain of the E-110 seemed to be called... Marco Hugues.

[So, what exactly led you, Marco Shoggoth, to the path of betrayal?] Horatio narrowed his eyes.

"The attack ship E-110 mutinied. Captain Marco Hugos shot his superior in charge and then murdered the military supervisor, seized the ship and defected. In addition, he also carried important information such as the combat patrol areas of each attack squadron and the codes for the next rotation cycle."

Farida then revealed an even more important piece of news. From Collingwood to Louise, even the intelligence officer Lina could no longer sit still.

"He took the communications keys for all the attack squadrons?"

The young intelligence officer was so shocked that her monocle fell off her brow. Although she caught it in time, she couldn't put it back on. "God, if the key falls into the hands of the aliens, then the patrol areas of many squadrons will be exposed. The aliens can just sit there and wait for us to take advantage of them and cause us heavy losses."

"We must not let this happen."

"But the traitor may have already transmitted the key..."

"No, Lina." Farida pressed her bestie's shoulder with her white gloves. "If he had handed over this information to the Tau Empire now, the Hymn of Pain would have been everywhere by now.

But since you haven’t received it yet, it means…”

Horatio looked into Farida's green eyes and said, "The news has not been leaked yet. This is expected, because the Empire's documents are usually recorded in written paper form, and the E-110 attack ship does not have the ability to navigate in the subspace, so it can only travel slowly in the physical universe.

If he directly let the Tau Empire know the secret, there would be no guarantee that the aliens would really fulfill their promise to rescue him. Traitors are often the most suspicious. "

"Intelligence from the Military Supervisory Committee shows that the rebel ships are sneaking along the undercurrent belt in the star field." Farida marked a point on the star map.

Horatio looked at Farida, "The military supervisor of E-110 has died. How did you get this news?" "It was a secret report from the Military Supervisory Committee, Captain, sent from a new cipher machine. But due to work confidentiality requirements, I cannot tell you some specific procedures."

Horatio's mechanical joints groaned and scraped.

"That means the Military Supervisory Committee has eyes in the dark, right?" He walked to her side and smiled slightly.

Farida's throat tightened, and it was obvious that she was very conflicted.

"Please forgive me, Captain. This is all to protect the precious property of the Divine Emperor's Sacred Navy, and the Military Supervisory Committee has already made a decision."

"It's okay, continue to perform your duties. An extra layer of protection is always good." Horatio patted her shoulder, "It's better for you this way. I don't want you to be accused of not being able to perform your duties due to an intimate relationship."

"Thank you for your understanding, Captain." The sweat on her right temple was wiped away by his white-gloved hand.

However, he also knew that there were eyes of the Military Supervisory Committee in the dark places on his warship, so if he wanted to realize that unknown plan, he had to be more cautious.

The bigger the ship, the more blind spots it has, and the smaller the probability of being detected, although the cost is that the number of unknown monsters on board will increase significantly.

Therefore, he had to be promoted to naval captain as soon as possible, and buying himself a larger battleship was also an important basis of the plan.

"So what do our superiors want us to do now?" he asked.

"The Military Supervisory Committee has sent a secret report to all ships along the way through the military intelligence headquarters of each fleet, requesting that the rebel ship be intercepted, either by capturing or destroying it. But..."

Farida's voice was uneasy, "But it has sailed out of the Imperial Navy's control zone and passed through the Tau Empire patrol network. Now only a covert infiltration attack ship has the possibility of intercepting it.

This Marco Hugos is very cunning. He knows the patrol routes of each attack squadron. With the help of the new cipher machine on the ship, he can eavesdrop on the tactical arrangements of each ship, thus avoiding interception by many squadrons in time. "

"So now only we who are deep behind enemy lines and whose movements are unknown can stop him by surprise."

"That's right, Captain. The Military Supervisory Committee has already sent me the route that the E-110 attack ship is most likely to take. It's not too far from our expected jump exit. We need to change the jump route again."

Horatio frowned, "We have less than two days to reach the nearest Mandeville Point. The warp storm is chaotic now. If we recalculate the warp jump route in such a short time, I'm afraid there will be a large deviation from the ideal jump point... Well, but you are right. This may be the only way to stop him."

"That's right, Captain."

"Captain! Recalculate the jump parameters. Work overtime with the Navigation Department to recalculate. Although the subspace storm makes the jump unstable and the data calculation pressure is high, we must make the exit as close to the possible location of the E-110 attack ship as possible.

I'm going to torpedo the reactor of the mutinous ship before it enters the Tau deep space port!"

His iron fist slammed heavily on the steel plate of the holographic star map.

"As you command, Captain."

As the captain, he knew very well that this required cooperation between the departments responsible for subspace navigation and those responsible for physical space navigation. However, the amount of data was daunting, and data calculations usually began a week in advance, and the parameters were constantly revised.

With only two days, it was almost impossible to complete the calculation process. The only hope was that the E-110 attack ship's route was not far from the originally expected migration point, and efficiency could be improved by correcting some parameters.

But the price is that the revised migration point may not be so accurate, with an error of tens of thousands of kilometers - this is usually the distance that the Epic needs to travel in the physical universe in one week.

But this is not a bad thing. Who can guarantee that there will be a week to calculate every time?
Horatio stared at his mechanical arm that glowed with silver light, and the memories of the void battle surged like the tides of the warp.

[The rest depends on the efforts of the Subspace Advancer, the Epic Machine Soul, and the Navigation Department.

May the Emperor bless you.]
"Everyone! Mission code name! 'Hunting for Red October'! Operation begins!" He stood on the command bridge and gave orders to all officers and soldiers.

(End of this chapter)