Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 846, 08.845: 'The Fate of the "Sword of Akali"'

While a brutal battle for survival was raging inside the Scimitar-class escort ship "Akali Sword," in the vast universe, this steel behemoth had already deviated from its planned course for several tens of minutes without a helmsman.

Like a wounded whale, it drifted helplessly into the boundless abyss of darkness, leaving behind a pale trail of coolant and depressurized gas, faintly visible under the starlight.

The remaining escort ships in the fleet, these loyal Void Shepherds, not only had to do their best to maintain the protective formation for the massive merchant convoy, but also had to spare some attention to provide desperate cover for their bleeding comrade who was under attack.

“Commander, we may need to carefully consider… whether we should abandon the ‘Sword of Akali’.” A steady but weary voice rang out in the command channel; it belonged to an experienced lieutenant colonel.

"She has gone seriously off course, and we still have nearly fifty merchant ships to escort. Our manpower is stretched thin, and we are already stretched thin."

The fleet commander remained silent.

He did not give any decision to the anxious captains waiting in the channel.

The fate of the entire fleet now rested on his silent deliberations.

On the bridge of the flagship HMS Swifthawk, the escort commander Horatio completely ignored the trivial arguments on the communications channel.

His entire focus was on the holographic sandbox before him, constructed from "Omen Fragments" and the Void Commander talent.

In his eyes, that turbulent void transformed into countless pulsating data streams and shifting light and shadow.

There was a time when he could perform a premonition every two days, allowing enough time to dissipate the mental corruption caused by the fragments of the premonition.

But as the crisis loomed ever closer, he had no choice but to increase the frequency to once a day.

This caused the corruption level deep within his soul to remain dangerously high, even though it had not yet exceeded the suppression threshold of his iron will, like a leech constantly eroding his sanity.

The timing of its use is also crucial.

He can only activate this forbidden relic when the tension reaches its peak.

However, the frequent use of the Omen Fragments also allowed him to gradually discover a pattern hidden in the chaos—the movements of these attackers from the Dark Eldar were like the tides, always changing with the surge of certain invisible currents on the void route, sometimes spying, sometimes launching surprise attacks.

All indications suggest that, after suffering heavy losses in the last attack, these attack ships have essentially tested the strength of the escort fleet.

They are waiting, waiting for some unknown opportunity.

But what are they waiting for?
"According to intelligence, the 'Sons of Thorns' is not a powerful conspiratorial group, so they are extremely eager for slaves and assets to strengthen themselves."

But we cannot let our guard down; they still possess several light cruiser-class warships as squadron flagships, and… a 'Black Ark'.”

As an anti-alien consultant, Thei from the Order of Exile offered her analysis; her voice was calm, but every word carried an ominous undertone.

"The Black Ark?" Horatio finally opened his eyes, exited the void sandbox in the Dark Horizon, and looked up in surprise.

"Yes. The Adalin possess a technology for building giant ecoships, which they call 'Arks'."

Although the Ducales preferred to settle in the eternal night city of Comoros, compared to their sentimental cousins, and favored swift and agile warships, every sizable conspiracy group possessed at least one 'Black Ark' with combat capabilities equivalent to an Imperial battleship—the most powerful war machine these corrupted aliens could muster.

They paused, then continued, "However, according to intelligence from the Exile Order, this 'black ark' appears to be several times smaller than the Ark Eldar's ark, the former being only about ten kilometers long."

The latter… is said to be thirty to fifty kilometers long, or even longer. It is home to tens of thousands of alien creatures and even possesses a complete ecosystem, with mountains, forests, lakes, and streams… truly an incredible creation.

“A Dark Ark of Imperial battleship tonnage is enough to give us a run for our money.” Horatio’s gaze sharpened again; he was now only concerned with what cards the Dark Eldar held. As for the Ark Eldar? They could deal with that later.

"The current situation is like the calm before the storm."

They frowned, her tone revealing a hint of undisguised worry. "Their attack on our warships was less about fighting and more like a warning, a warning that 'something big is coming.'"

The 'Sons of Thorns' have been expelled from Comoros, and they will stop at nothing to amass power. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that they will use the 'Black Ark' against us.

“Captain, should we send out a distress signal immediately?” asked Louise, who had replaced Archie as first mate. She was six months pregnant but remained at her post, and Horatio had specially assigned an additional corps of officers to assist her.

“Wait a little longer.” Horatio’s gaze turned to the holographic star map; their fleet was not far from a Mandeville point that had been detected earlier.

This void, severely affected by the warp turbulence, was like a raging ocean, submerging and erasing most of the Mandeville points recorded on the Imperial Navy's star map.

Only a few coordinates remained, their faint glow like candles flickering in the wind under the distant starlight.

"If we send out a distress signal near Mandeville, our allies might have a chance of arriving before the Dark Eldar fleet."

But if we were in this position now... the signals we send would only attract more hunting fleets from other Dark Eldar conspiracy groups, drawn by the scent of blood.

This place is too close to the entrance to the Dark City's web passage.

"Yes, sir. The chief star communicator is ready to go at any time."

On the communications channel, the debate over whether to abandon the "Sword of Akali" continues, and it's even starting to get a bit heated.

"Commander, based on the flight path, the 'Sword of Akali' will leave our joint shelter in ten minutes."

Once she is outside this area, she will be out of the medium-range firing range of most of our ships' macro guns.

At that point, we'll have to choose between the entire fleet and the 'Sword of Akali'.

Although the lieutenant colonel of the other Sword-class escort ship did not explicitly state his attitude, the meaning between the lines was already clear.

“I suggest we wait a bit longer!” a firm voice countered. “Our ship is currently on the port side of the ‘Sword of Akali,’ and we can clearly see that the fire on her side has been extinguished, the engine power supply has returned to normal, and there are still flashes of fire on the bridge!”
The boarding force that the commander just sent is vying for control of the bridge. There is no need for us to abandon a large escort ship that can still sail and fight!
"These new Scimitar-class escort ships are a valuable asset to our fleet, even more important than the old Sword-class escort ships!" said the captain of the HMS Loyal Hound, also a Scimitar-class escort ship.

"Sir, what do you mean by this?!" The captain of the Sword-class escort ship was immediately enraged. "The Sword-class escort ship is excellent! It's fast and agile, and can perfectly complete any escort mission! We also have a large number of close-in weapon systems to provide impeccable escort for the cargo ships!"

"I mean it literally. You only have one twin-mounted light macro gun, while the Scimitar-class has three single-mounted macro guns plus two torpedo silos."

"Admit it, sir, the Sword-class escort is an outdated relic. Larger escorts, 2.2 kilometers long, are far more suitable for the escort needs of today."

Just as the two captains, driven by their arrogance and pride, began a heated comparison of their respective warships' performance, a sharp, clear female voice cut through the pointless argument like a dagger. It belonged to the female captain of the Cobra-Widowmaker-class destroyer, the USS Starfire.

"Commander, we have detected... not good signs in the surrounding airspace."

"Report to me." Horatio's voice turned icy instantly.

"Just now, an unidentifiable giant signal flashed across the edge of the avian radar."

It's like a ghost; I'm not sure what we've detected... but just to be safe, I must report this to you.

(End of this chapter)