Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 593 06.0592: "Hidden Confrontation"

"According to the currently known intelligence, this is a Guardian-class aircraft carrier battleship."

Louise's slender fingers slid across the holographic projector, and the light spots of the holographic tactical layer danced on her fair cheeks. "There are at least three envoy-class ships deployed around the area that focus on escort—"

She paused, tapping her fingernails on the three-dimensional model of the Tau warship. "The gravity hooks on their sides can carry six destroyers."

"Even if we can destroy the enemy cruiser flagship in one round, the other warships will still pose a threat to us. We must consider this carefully."

The first lieutenant stood beside the captain, conducting staff planning, “I calculated the enemy’s theoretical inventory.

My suggestion is to let the large cruiser HMS Vicious Claw continue to attract carrier-based aircraft. If the first battle fails, the next round of aircraft sent by the enemy mothership should be their entire squadron.

We will then deploy the Carcharodon battleships to attack from the side, and after we disable the enemy cruiser carrier, they will take out the remaining light cruisers and destroyers."

"I agree with your proposal. You are making rapid progress, Archie. Maybe you will be promoted to captain soon."

"It's still early." The young first captain smiled, "I still have a lot to learn."

"You are older than me. You are at least 20 years old when you are in preparatory school."

"I used to believe in hard work, but after I met you, I realized that talent is far more important than hard work," Collingwood said to Horatio.

[If we ignore the fact that I spent four years in my previous life studying at the Maritime University, and another three years studying for my master's degree, and then served as an officer on a coast guard ship for three years... then considering my current physiological age, I am indeed gifted, not to mention the blessing brought by the Iron Hand.]
"Not everyone has talent. Ultimately, the only thing we can control is hard work. Even I am constantly learning from the experience of my predecessors such as Major General Peru and Lieutenant General Hood."

"You're right. Our talent is already like this. The only thing we can change is our level of effort."

"Captain, we have approached 650 kilometers from the gas cloud." Louise's report interrupted the short chat, "If we launch at this distance, our short-burning torpedoes will only take 10 seconds to hit the target."

"Where is the Nicol now?" Because of the dense gas clouds, even the void sand table could not clearly display the location of friendly ships.

But it was also because of this that Horatio dared to steer the Epic to within 650 kilometers of the aircraft carrier battle group. The impact of the gas cloud had both advantages and disadvantages.

"The Nicol is also in radio silence. Based on the last reported direction, I think they should be here." Louise raised her hand and marked on the tactical analyzer, "About 430 kilometers from our ship, about 680 kilometers from the enemy ship."

"The next coordination is crucial. The signal that the Nicol is paying attention to is the explosion launched by the enemy mothership, and they will take action immediately. And what our ship is paying attention to is that the enemy carrier-based aircraft takes off from the aircraft carrier and heads towards the Vicious Claw. It is unlikely that they will return to support urgently. We will take action then!"

"Everyone, be alert!" Horatio suddenly stood up from the command throne, and his heavy captain's cloak fluttered in the air circulation system.

He stretched out his arm, lifted the captain's cloak from behind, and spoke to all the combat personnel on the bridge: "Although the sea is calm at this time-"

The captain's voice suddenly rose, further boosting morale: "But this is the closest we have ever been to death. We must score a hit in the first round so that the Nicol can successfully raid the enemy fleet!"

"Understood, Captain." All the officers saluted towards the command throne, and then immediately perked up and stood in front of the display consoles of their respective combat departments.

The servants also came up from the dining room with coffee pots via the lift, serving anyone who needed a cup of warm, smooth, milky Reka coffee. This artificial caffeine drink was a good partner in battle, and Horatio also picked up a cup and drank it all.

In the last moments before the war, he checked the closed-circuit television of the officers' infirmary and watched through the camera as Horace in the incubator opened his chubby little hands in the warm and comfortable environment, trying to grab something.

When he saw the camera turned its head to look at him, he grinned, danced with joy, and looked so happy that the medical sister next to him thought he was hungry and thirsty, and hurried over to conduct a physiological observation.

Horatio smiled, closed the window, took a deep breath, and focused all his attention on the next attack plan.

Louise and Collingwood were discussing the order of torpedo launches and how to lock on to an undefined target.

Thanks to the use of an active homing head, this batch of improved Helios torpedoes is more useful than any previous model - provided that Latti's imitation design is really as reliable as the original.

Horatio was still quite confident in Lettie. At least so far, although her motives were still unclear, she had never failed to deliver.

Therefore, Horatio was confident that he could fire blindly at the target, and when the torpedo got close to the target, he would turn on the active search auspex and cooperate with the servitor inside to search for the aircraft carrier.

Latti's report said that the modified torpedo has the ability to search for high-value targets on its own.

Although she explained a lot, Horatio summed it up as 'pick up the biggest one'.

This is a good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing is that in the current situation, the torpedo can bypass the small ship and go straight to the aircraft carrier.

The bad thing is that if Horatio wants to attack a small or medium-sized high-threat target next to a big ship, the torpedo is likely to lock onto A and hit B.

In order to deal with this situation, Latti still retained the wire-guided interface of the modified torpedo so that it can provide wire-controlled guidance when necessary and strike the designated target more accurately.

"Enemy carrier-based aircraft have taken off, 6 squadrons visually."

"Hold on, wait for them to leave."

"The enemy aircraft has left the airspace around our ship and is heading towards the location of the Vicious Claw."

Horatio personally checked the range and path of the torpedo. "Fire." Seeing that the time was right, he gave the order to fire.

Gu-chi! The silo slide opened.

The improved torpedo, which was ready for action, was fired from the silo and headed towards the target.

Just as the torpedo was fired, the keen Earth Caste technicians on the bridge of the Tau cruiser detected the unusual movement.

"This is the combat situation center. New radar contact has been detected! Relative bearing 334, distance 680 kilometers!"

Then the adjutant on the bridge sounded the battle alarm.

The reunited Tau patrol fleet immediately maneuvered, the blue light of its tail flames clearly visible through the dense gas clouds, even to the space sharks.

Soon, ion beams shot out like whips of fire and densely sprinkled on the speeding target.

On the epic.

"Quick reload, I want the next set of torpedoes to be fired within 5 minutes."

"Yes, sir.

Torpedo loading team! Immediately start the cleaning and loading operation!

The captain wants you to launch the next set of torpedoes within five minutes."

The lower torpedo room was filled with the pungent smell of engine oil.

"You all heard the order, didn't you?" The shirtless boatswain slammed the wrench hard on the slide rail buckle, and the flying sparks illuminated the double-headed eagle tattoo on his chest.

His voice echoed in the closed cabin, "The captain wants us to fire the next set of torpedoes within five minutes, then we will impress him! Reload within three minutes! For the Emperor!"

He roared, and the veins on his neck looked like wriggling earthworms.

"Roar!" The roars of hundreds of sailors responding in unison made the explosion-proof light tubes on the bulkhead buzz. Their sweat condensed into silver pearls in the low-gravity environment, floating in the static-filled air.

The sailors were full of energy, brilliant sparks flew from the hinges, and the torpedo was pushed along the slide to the silo. Sailors along the way smeared it with holy oil using mops. Each step was done in one go without any pause.

The torpedo is pushed into the launch silo unimpeded along the slide rail by the electric drive winder.

"Temperature in the torpedo compartment is 42°C, pressure is 96 kilopascals." The synthesized voice of the Mechanicus priest came from the sound array pipe. The binary hymns emitted by the electronic throat and the hydraulic sounds of the loader intertwined into a strange symphony. "Everything is normal. The launch prayer is available."

Horatio stood in front of the telescope, paying close attention to the torpedoes being fired.

He saw a small flash of fire burst out in the gas cloud that was being swept by the close-range ion beam, indicating that a torpedo had been destroyed by anti-aircraft fire.

call out! puff!
"We scored a hit, but... I'm not sure if it was an enemy carrier. The gas cloud is too dense, and we can't clearly identify the target." Louise only saw a little trace of the explosion in the telescope's field of view at the moment of the explosion, but she couldn't judge which warship in the escort fleet the torpedo hit.

"It's not a big problem. It's an enemy cruiser carrier. One of the four hits."

Horatio looked through the void sandbox from a bird's-eye view. At the moment when the flames of the nuclear explosion illuminated the ship's hull, he used the outline of the ship's hull illuminated by the light to determine its class and tonnage.

A huge hole was blown out of the Tau Empire emblem on the left fin of the cruiser, and the explosion almost tore off half of its left fin and blew away a nearby heavy coaxial railgun. Flames burst out from the crack, like a beacon in the dark night, leaving the cruiser with nowhere to hide.

But this lucky torpedo hit did not damage the cruiser carrier's hangar, because the Tau warships were not long and were wider than Imperial ships, and they were accustomed to placing their weapons on the front.

Even a single torpedo would be difficult to destroy such a large battleship - Horatio conservatively estimated that two torpedoes would be needed.

However, the powerful nuclear detonation torpedo still made the enemy ship feel deeply afraid. She began to flee and hid behind the escort warships, abandoning the original circular defense formation and concentrating all the escort warships in the direction of the torpedo to form a screen ship interception barrier.

The damaged aircraft carrier also quickly launched a reserve fighter squadron, which cruised around the mother ship, ready to pursue and strafe the incoming Imperial torpedoes at any time.

According to the clear warning given by the Earth Clan technicians.

Their captain knew very well that the cruiser carrier could not withstand another attack of the same power.

Horatio also knew what they were afraid of, because in the Gothic Fleet, the Tau warships had the lowest "health" among all the warships of the same size in the entire galaxy, and they relied entirely on various and powerful repair methods to recover.

In reality, this manifests itself in the fact that their ship structures are not as sturdy as those of other factions' warships.

Although their advanced repair drones provide long-term endurance, they are unable to withstand severe instantaneous damage.

"Second round of torpedoes, fire immediately! Reload the third round of torpedoes quickly!" Horatio turned and said to his adjutant.

(End of this chapter)