Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 793 08.792: "George Anson's High Expectations"

"Please rest assured, Principal."

Horatio looked Anson in the eyes.

He straightened his spine suddenly: "I swear on the honor of the Cochran family's ancestors that every member of the first batch of marines to be formed, from officers to soldiers, will go through the most rigorous, meticulous, and even cruel screening of our officer corps!
We will never allow any flaw, any person with weak will or impure faith to tarnish the purity and glory of this new force that carries the future of the Imperial Navy."

“Our resistance does not come entirely from outside, but sometimes also from within.”

There was a hint of distant reminiscence in Anson's voice, as if he saw a shadow of the past, "You are the son of Captain Lord Thomas Cochrane.

Your father was the most outstanding talent in the Imperial Navy that I and the late Rear Admiral Edward Peru carefully cultivated. He was a true and fearless hero. His name is still praised by veterans today. "

The old man's voice deepened with a trace of regret that was difficult to conceal: "It's a pity that his legend was like a supernova that was too dazzling. It just burst out with the brightest light, but it was extinguished and fell prematurely because of those despicable conspiracies.

Now, as his descendant, your blood carries the indomitable and life-or-death fighting spirit of the Speyer family. You, the Cochran family, are all burning with an endless desire for honor and a fiery passion to face all challenges head-on. "

"This time." Anson's tone became particularly solemn, and every word seemed to carry a thousand pounds of force. "You must not repeat your father's mistakes and be plotted against by those villains lurking in the shadows of the empire, those termites that corrupt the empire.

You are a rising star, the hope and pillar of the entire Gothic Fleet and even the entire Imperial Navy.

You have excellent tactical skills and extraordinary leadership, but remember that the road ahead will never be smooth.

Powerful enemies from outside and oppression and constraints from within may cause you to suffer unimaginable setbacks and even taste the bitter taste of failure.

In the future, the world will change, people’s hearts will be unpredictable, and there will be too many unforeseen challenges and sacrifices that you will need to face, experience, overcome, and surpass in person.”

The old man slowly stood up from the command chair that symbolized supreme power. His footsteps, which were a little staggering due to years of fatigue, made no sound at all on the thick, sound-absorbing crimson carpet.

He walked to Horatio's side and stopped. His cloudy eyes, almost without any luster, turned slightly to the young colonel. His eyes were full of complex and incomprehensible emotions - earnest expectations, deep worries, and a hint of deep fatigue that he himself was not even aware of.

"Once we're in Sintira, I'll have my old friends in the Calixis Fleet help you accomplish this mission, at all costs.

Would you like something to drink? I have some aged Amasek here, which may help you forget some of your worries for a while, but you will still have to face them in the future. "
-
Colonel Horatio Cochrane left Admiral George Anson's office, which was filled with historical dust and solemn atmosphere.

The heavy oak door closed silently behind him, completely blocking out the old admiral's deep eyes that seemed to see through everything.

He walked with steady steps through the long, dimly lit Hall of Honor of Zhongsi College. Portraits of heroes who had sacrificed their lives for the empire were hung on the walls on both sides. The air seemed to still be filled with a unique smell mixed with ancient books, fuel and disinfectant.

In the central courtyard of the academy, the genetically modified, evergreen artificial green plants are meticulously trimmed. Their perfect geometric shapes echo the surrounding cold, huge, angular Gothic military buildings, silently demonstrating the empire's iron will and absolute order.

Suddenly, he stopped and looked up sideways - at the statue of Admiral Speyer. His piercing eyes looked into his own, and his face, as thin as if carved by a knife, showed the determination to fight to the death against all enemies of the empire.

He withdrew his gaze and exhaled a long breath of air that smelled slightly of alcohol.

Then, without stopping for a moment, he quickly boarded the black streamlined floating car that had been waiting for a long time at the exit of the courtyard.

"Sir, please tell us where to go next."

In the driver's seat, a guard wearing a crimson uniform of the Marine Infantry, with his face completely covered by a standard breathing mask, asked in a deep voice. His voice was slightly dull and distorted due to the sound wave filter built into the mask, but his tone was still respectful and efficient.

"The shuttle ramp on the KA-313 floor of the Admiralty." Horatio's voice was calm, without any emotion. "Admiral Samuel Hood has an urgent mission to entrust us with. We should not keep him waiting for too long."

"Yes, sir." The guard replied concisely and then skillfully started the anti-gravity engine of the special car.

Almost at the same time as the engine of the special car emitted a low and powerful hum, two "Valkyrie"-class atmospheric assault transport aircraft that had been on standby in a hidden hangar nearby roared into the sky like awakened birds of prey.

Their rugged turbine engines let out a deafening roar, and the vector nozzles under the wings spewed out hot and dazzling light blue tail flames, drawing two sharp arcs in the air. They quickly occupied the escort positions on the left and right sides of the special vehicle, forming a standard triangular formation.

The three aircraft dragged long white condensation trails due to their high-speed flight, like three sharp arrows shot from a bow, tearing through the lead-gray sky above the Abridar Loyal Academy and rushing towards the heavily guarded buildings of the Admiralty in the Gothic Star Sector.

The Gothic Sector Admiralty and the Abridar Academy are both located in the core area of ​​the Administrative Star, adjacent to each other, with a straight-line distance of no more than 100 kilometers, so the journey within the strictly controlled airspace is not long.

Under the close protection of two Valkyrie fighters, the special car flew at high speed over the huge building complex of Zhongzi Academy, which symbolized the empire's will, discipline and sacrifice, and soon arrived at the exclusive airspace where the Navy Department was located.

Below, the awe-inspiring towers of the throne area that pierce the sky form the Admiralty's maze-like complex. Its overall style is typical Imperial Gothic - it is both breathtakingly majestic and exudes a solemnity and oppression that penetrates deep into the bones.

The target of Horatio's trip was the tallest and most eye-catching central command tower, with a huge winged rudder emblem of the Imperial Navy shining like a lighthouse on top.

This command tower, which is like a steel mountain, has several huge platforms like eagle nests extending outward from its outer wall, which is covered with sensors and weapon arrays, every few dozen floors. These platforms are military shuttle aprons designed for vertical take-off and landing aircraft (VTOL), and their surfaces are covered with complex guidance light matrices and automated take-off and landing marking systems.

Senior officials of the Navy Department can take privileged shuttles to quickly and accurately reach these platforms at different heights, and then take the highest-priority dedicated high-speed elevators inside the platform to reach their respective office floors.

This has greatly alleviated the huge carrying pressure that the only 16 public elevators inside the main building face during peak hours, which almost overwhelms the system.

However, these platforms, which seem to exist only to improve traffic efficiency, have a core meaning that goes far beyond that.

They are also a vital and indispensable component of the Navy's outer active defense system.

Just as Horatio's special car formation entered the outer identification range of the Admiralty's airspace, several automatic defense turrets located at the outermost edge of the target shuttle apron - equipped with "Hydra" quadruple anti-aircraft automatic guns with an astonishing rate of fire and launch nests loaded with deadly "Sentinel"-class air defense missiles - were immediately activated from standby dormancy.

The cold, dark metal barrel and the missile seeker flashing an ominous red light, driven by hydraulics and motors, made an unsettling low turning sound, turning accurately and firmly locking onto the three invading aircraft that had not been authenticated by the authorized identification code. The air was instantly filled with invisible murderous intent.

"Admiralty Tower to the USS Achilles, code Kilo-Niner-Zero-Alpha.

Please verify the identities of all passengers on board immediately. I repeat, please verify immediately."

A clear and cold electronic synthesized voice sounded through the encrypted communication system inside the special car.

"Achilles received. Identity verification process initiated. Please wait."

The guard in the passenger seat of the special car responded quickly and calmly. At the same time, he turned his head to look at Colonel Horatio who was sitting in the large and comfortable executive chair in the back row. He nodded slightly in greeting. His movements were standard and efficient. "Colonel, please verify the highest authority."

The guard pressed an inconspicuous button on the multi-function console in the middle of the car. The surface of the console slid back smoothly and silently, revealing an embedded biometric scanning screen emitting a faint blue light.

Horatio turned his gaze calmly toward the cold screen.

The surface of the screen immediately lit up, and a series of complex and incomprehensible patterns composed of colorful light patterns and encrypted data streams flashed, reorganized, and verified rapidly, eventually focusing on the fundus of his right eye to perform a deep retinal and genetic sequence scan.

"Double match of gene sequence and retinal features... Authorization level: Alpha... Identity confirmed: Colonel Horatio Cochrane, recipient of the Imperial Navy Skyhawk Battle Medal, outstanding honor graduate of the Loyalty Academy... Verification passed.

Welcome, noble Lord of the Empire, Colonel Horatio Cochrane. May the Emperor guide your voyage.

As the screen turned into a soft green color representing safety and no threat within one second and clearly displayed the confirmation message, the "Hydra" artillery on the platform below, which was originally murderous and had dangerous flashes on its muzzles, and the air defense missile systems that were ready to go, were all unlocked.

Their gun muzzles and guidance heads turned quickly and smoothly, and resumed regular, routine surveillance scans of other airspace, as if the tense confrontation just now had never happened.

"When did the Admiralty's alert level become so severe?"

Horatio averted his gaze and asked casually in a calm tone.

He clearly remembered that the last time he came to the Navy Department to report on his work, although the security measures were strict, they were far from the current stage where they were facing a serious enemy and were on high alert.

"Reporting to the colonel, it was shortly after you led the main force of the fleet to the second expedition to Damocles Gulf."

The guard replied, with a hint of fear and solemnity in his voice that was difficult to completely conceal, "Because before that, an unprecedented and extremely tragic armed riot broke out in Abyss Port.

Even more serious and outrageous is that an experienced ace pilot, believed to have been bewitched by demonic whispers from the warp, had his mind completely twisted, and he attempted to crash his heavy attack shuttle into the core area of ​​the Admiralty Building in a suicide attack."

Horatio listened to the guard's description quietly, without any change in expression on his face.

Of course, he knew that what the guard was talking about was the "Abyss Port Incident" that almost shook the entire Gothic Sector naval command center and caused huge chaos and losses.

However, what these grassroots guards at the bottom of the information barrier know is probably only the surface of events that the imperial propaganda machine allows them to know and has been filtered and modified countless times.

They did not know that behind the seemingly sudden riot, there was a more secretive and terrifying nano-mechanical brain control technology that was being tracked by the Inquisition, which was a combination of alien technology and forbidden psionic power.

And the former planetary government - the top leaders of the entire Abyss Port Guild Alliance, which was wealthy enough to rival a country, had almost all unknowingly become loyal puppets and humble slaves of the Chaos God.

"In extraordinary times, it is always right to be cautious. The enemies of the empire are everywhere." Horatio said slowly, without much emotion in his tone, but his eyes seemed to penetrate the car window and look at the throne area composed of layers of high towers.

"Sir, please sit tight. We have arrived at our destination and are about to begin our descent."

(End of this chapter)