Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 628 06.0627: "Dying Hope"

Horatio first collapsed weakly as if all his vitality was suddenly drained away, but he soon picked himself up again, raised his head, and time seemed to stand still as he slowly scanned everything around him.

Farida had a serious look on her face, concentrating on enforcing discipline; Louise stood behind the telescope, reporting the military situation loudly at the top of her voice; Fasha and Veronica, holding their helmets, were preparing to go out to fight and desperately intercept the Manta bomber - given the enemy's absolute numerical advantage, this behavior could be called suicide; Sister Arabella squatted aside, carefully bandaging the wounds of the wounded.

And on the closed-circuit television, little Horace was in the incubator, unaware of the danger that was coming, and was waving happily and interacting with the medical sister. That innocent smile seemed out of place yet extremely precious in this tense and almost burning atmosphere.

“No, this is definitely not the end for me.”

He raised his head abruptly, staring at the second batch of Manta bombers, and shouted an order: "Release all decoys and smoke screens, and fire them all at once! Output the remaining power source to the close defense firepower, and the entire ship is ready to be attacked."

Then, he strode towards Farida. On the bridge, he had always adhered to the principle of impartiality and had never had physical contact with her, but at this moment, the situation was urgent, he didn't care about much, and pulled Farida over.

"What's wrong?" Farida did not resist because she knew what it meant.

"Have the nun take Horace to the escape pod and prepare for evacuation." He said solemnly, "I will be dedicated to my post until the last moment. I know you must want this, but Horace can't grow up alone like me."

Farida was silent. If she were the passionate girl like Girls’ Generation, she would have said something like “How could a military inspector abandon the ship before everyone else?”

Today, she is a mother and a mature military supervisor. Her silence represents her inner thoughts.

After a moment, she slowly said, "Yes, Captain. But I will remain on the ship. I will return here after completing your order."

"No, you are there. Once I issue the order to abandon ship, do not hesitate and board the escape pod directly. At that time, your mission and responsibility will be completed, and no one will need to be executed."

"..."

She didn't answer, but saluted, then turned and ran towards the medical bay. She didn't let her tears flow like a flood until she was sure that Horatio could no longer see her. Her child, little Horace, would probably lose his parents today and become an orphan.

"Enemy air units are attacking!" Louise marked out the Tau bombers in the sky. In order to eliminate the imminent threat of the Epic, the Tau mobilized all their reserve squadrons at once.

"Come on, alien."

The 18 twin-mounted laser revolvers on both sides of the Epic made dull rotating sounds, and the muzzles slowly turned and aimed at the Manta Squadron flying over the Epic.

Ugh!!!——The Gatling gun’s barrel speed was raised to the highest level, and dense bullets were poured out towards the Manta fleet above like a surging tide.

The Manta Squadron quickly spread out in a cross-attack posture, ready to drop bombs on the Epic.

On the Epic's rear shuttle apron, Fury interceptors were dispatched urgently.

Anya Fasha was the first to ascend the catapult platform in the Skyhawk 1. The folded wings slowly unfolded, and the engine began to warm up, emitting a low roar.

Four interceptors have to face 4 enemy planes, and they can only release them one by one. This is not a fight, it is suicide.

"Are you scared, Veronica?" She pushed the throttle to the maximum, and a fiery flame spewed out of the tail of the Fury Interceptor.

"I don't feel anything."

Veronica held a piece of bread in her mouth and chewed it with a smacking sound. "I just think that it would be best if I could have some jam from the Garden World in my last moments."

Fasha couldn't help but chuckle, "As expected of you, you always live in the present. Sit tight, we are going to fight."

"By the way, didn't the captain tell you not to try too hard?" Veronica sat in the weapon operator's position and adjusted the laser cannon to overload power - the service life of the weapon was no longer taken into consideration.

"Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to review with him when we meet at the Golden Throne."

Sometimes, it's good to be carefree.

Skyhawk 1 was like a streak of black lightning, speeding into the sky. At the moment of taking off, missiles rushed out, and at the same time, laser cannons fired at the overwhelming Manta. The scene was like a majestic angel of fire.

Several gunboats were destroyed, but it was not enough to stop the offensive. The only thought in the eyes of these Air caste pilots was to destroy the Epic, even if it meant crashing into it and being destroyed along with it.

They simply passed over the interceptor in front of them, leaving only the pulse drone bee mounted on the Manta gunship to aim and shoot at the obstructionist who was trying to stop the enemy with his own strength.

"Tsk! Damn it. Look straight at me! Alien!" Seeing that these enemy planes did not take him seriously at all, Fasha tried to harass them to stop them, but he had to turn the plane around and chase after the enemy planes.

Veins popped up on her face, she screamed, and opened the public radio with her fingertips, "Duel with me!"

But her roar fell on deaf ears and received no response.

The Manta fleet still faced the Epic's close defense firepower and launched a bombing attack in a cross-angled 45° X-shaped offensive.

"No..." The ace pilot panicked and shouted hurriedly: "Skyhawk Squadron! Stop them! Don't let them pass!"

Bang! As soon as she finished her words, the cabin shook violently and a harsh hit warning sounded.

Fasha saw a conspicuous yellow left wing logo pop up on the operating instrument in front of him.

She turned her head and saw that she had been chasing too closely and the pulse beam of the self-defense drone had made a hole in her left wing. The promethium box inside the left wing began to leak, and the refined promethium created a conspicuous white mist in the air, just like the white smoke at an air show.

“Veronica, turn off the fuel supply valve to the left tank.” She pushed the throttle to afterburner. “I’m going to knock them down even if I have to.”

Just as she made up her mind, the captain's urgent voice came over the communication channel: "Skyhawk Squadron, disperse immediately! The navigator has detected a micro-subspace rift about to open!"

Before Horatio could finish his words, Fasha saw the crack appearing before him.

It was like a strange eye slowly opening in the void, creepy, as if one could see through it directly into some boiling malicious essence.

"What happened?" Seeing a subspace rift suddenly appear in front of him, Fasha almost instinctively pulled up the joystick and turned.

The group of Manta fighters that were attempting to attack the Epic had not yet dropped their bombs when they all rushed into the subspace rift that suddenly appeared in front of them and disappeared in an instant, without a trace.

No one knew what they would see inside, but there was no doubt that it was something extremely terrifying that no one dared to face.

The cracks sizzled and burst into purple lightning that defied the laws of physics.

If Fasha had not reacted in time, Skyhawk 1 would probably have been smashed to pieces by the lightning.

The next second, Fasha was once again glad that he reacted quickly, because a huge 8-kilometer-long void ship roared out of the rift.

That was the Cardinal Bolas, the flagship of the Gothic Expedition's main fleet.

But there was more than one exciting surprise.

Horatio stood in front of the command throne of the Epic, and a familiar and iconic voice suddenly appeared in the sound array.

"Me! Cato! Sicarius! Lord of the Ultramarines' Watch! Archduke of the House of Talasar! Champion of the Knights of Macragge! High Lord of Ultramar! Grand Master of the March of Five Hundred Worlds! Challenge these xenos to an honorable duel! For Ultramar! For Five Hundred Worlds! Break out of the Warp! Kill them!"

Immediately afterwards, a huge azure ship rushed out from the side and rear of the Cardinal Bolas and also jumped into the physical universe.

Dozens of Thunderhawk gunboats with U-shaped logos rushed out of the shuttle apron at the bow of her ship and began to attack the Manta fighters around them. After a while, the frequent explosions were reflected in the eyes of all the crew members of the Epic.

(End of this chapter)