Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 970, page 08.969: "Born of the void, return to the void, ascend to glory."

A Valkyrie transport plane slowly approached in the shadow of the giant ship in orbit.

On the belly of the light cruiser "Swift Skyhawk", the huge flight deck docking port opened like a giant steel jaw, swallowing the faint light that flickered in the boundless void.

"Please make way! Clear the medical access route!"

Amidst the surprised or sympathetic gazes of the crew, several surviving wounded soldiers were carried on stretchers by the combat nuns and rushed to the best-equipped and most well-equipped officers' medical ward.

"How did they get so badly injured?" The chief doctor pushed up his monocle, looked at the bloodied and mangled bodies that were being carried in, and asked in a deep voice.

"A collapse caused by shelling. Is the amniotic fluid regeneration tank ready?" Arabella's voice sounded somewhat muffled through her helmet.

"Ready."

"Start the surgery immediately."

"As you instructed, all the ship's best doctors are on duty. It sounds like the situation is bad. Are there any dead?"

Arabella took a deep breath, suppressing the grief in her heart: "They've been moved to the broadside gun deck. Captain... they're there to prepare their funeral."

The gun deck on the side of the "Swift Eagle" was a vast space composed of steel and shadow, with the huge gun barrels like sleeping behemoths, silently gazing at the deep void outside the portholes.

At this moment, there is no clamor of war, only deathly silence.

All the remains of the Hellsent Trials Third Operations Squad, excavated from the ruins, have been placed in terracotta coffins and neatly stacked in the center of the deck.

Captain Leidos of the Engineering Department stood somewhat hesitantly before the coffin bearing the nameplate of one of his subordinates.

His gaunt face, as if it had been filed down, was now trembling slightly uncontrollably.

The surrounding officers and soldiers remained silent, all removing their hats and bowing their heads in mourning.

"Dude, the fallen soldiers' plaque has Lieutenant Vox's name on it!" Old Joe's youngest son squeezed through the crowd to the side of the Fifth Damage Control Team and exclaimed in surprise, "Lieutenant Vox is dead? He hasn't even been in charge of our damage control team for more than two months on Terra!"

“He was a good man. Responsible, highly skilled, and kind to his crew. But I never expected… him to die so soon, and on land no less.” Old Joe’s eldest son shook his head and said regretfully, “A man like him will surely return to the Golden Throne.”

"I quite like Lieutenant Vox. It's not easy to have such an approachable lieutenant in charge of us..." Old Man Joe's youngest son said sadly, pouting in front of his older brother, "He even taught me how to solder circuits and repair those delicate electronic instruments. He said that after I retire from the Navy, I can use my retirement pay to buy a small house in Midnest in Abyss Harbor, and then rent a shop. With this skill, I can live quite comfortably in Midnest, even in Abyss Harbor..."

"May the God-King bless this poor young man." Old Man Joe sat on a higher pipe, chewing his pipe and squinting at the funeral in front of him. "He shouldn't have died like this."

Center of deck.

"He saved the intelligence, saved the lives of two sergeants, and held out until we discovered him," Horatio said in a low voice as he walked up to the silent Lydos.

“Vox never makes such a basic mistake. How could he, as a technical officer in the engineering department, let himself be buried in the collapse? Horatio, what exactly happened down there?” Leidos gritted his teeth and forced out these words.

Horatio recounted the events exactly as they had happened.

Upon hearing the words "friendly fire," the veins on Leidos's forehead bulged instantly. He slammed his fist into the cold bulkhead, producing a dull thud.

"Those bastards! They deserve to experience carpet bombing. The caliber of their light heavy artillery can fit an entire petrified lizard inside!"

"Calm down, my friend." Horatio pressed down hard on his trembling shoulders. "We must avenge this, and we will. But we need the right opportunity. Things are already chaotic and conflict-ridden enough down here. If we stir up trouble at this critical juncture, we won't be able to fight this war. We've been too busy fighting our own internal conflict."

I heard that Lieutenant Vox's family also served on this ship. Before he died, he hoped we could return his belongings to his family.

“There…” Leidos stretched out a trembling hand and pointed to a man with a pained expression on his face on the artillery command platform not far away.

"We'll go together after the funeral."

Horatio took a deep breath and turned to face all the officers and soldiers present.

"Today, we have paid a heavy price. The armed forces we sent to the ground have suffered losses of varying degrees. But!"

His voice suddenly rose, echoing across the deck like a booming bell: "Every one of our action formations has completed all tactical tasks! Through valiant fighting, they have successfully fulfilled their mission!"
In particular, I must commend the resourcefulness and perseverance of the Hell Vanguard Third Squad, who faced exceptionally severe challenges due to a series of disastrous accidents.

But these resilient soldiers, under extremely harsh conditions, fought desperately to complete their mission! Tragically, they ultimately failed to evacuate successfully and were buried under the ruins of the artillery fire, perishing together with the aliens.

As the captain of the 'Swift Skyhawk' and the commander of the Hellfire Squad, I feel extremely honored to have such a glorious force!
Death is not the end, but another beginning of serving the God-Emperor.

At this moment, with heavy hearts, we bid farewell to the deceased.

Even if they did not perish in the Void, we will grant them the dignity and respect due to any Imperial Navy officer, and bury them in the Void! "May the merciful Lord of Humanity receive the souls of His loyal guardians! May the names of many more faithful lie beneath the stele of the Golden Throne!"

May their souls rest on the golden throne!

"They died with honor!"

The officers and soldiers present shouted together, their voices heavy yet exceptionally loud.

The head officer of the department personally draped the flag, bearing the insignia of the Imperial Navy, over each coffin. Lydos used his prosthetic arms, forged of steel, to cover his men with the flag.

Four burly boarding guards lifted the coffins and placed them into the massive acceleration coil of the light heavy artillery, carefully securing the two corners of the general's flag to the outside of the coil.

boom!boom!
The lightweight macro cannons fired sequentially from front to back. The acceleration coils, operating at minimum power, smoothly pushed the coffins out from beneath the military flag.

At a moderate speed, the coffins formed an orderly queue and glided into the endless void.

*Swoosh*—One after another, the explosion-proof doors opened.

Escorted by an armed boarding party, Horatio, along with Leidos who was carrying the lieutenant's uniform and belongings, arrived at the post where the family of the fallen lieutenant worked—the gun emplacement of the No. 2 gun crew.

The sailors and gunners watched in astonishment as the ship's highest-ranking "King" came to the gun deck, a place where he was constantly accompanied by smoke and sweat.

They all made way and saluted the captain. Soon, Horatio saw an old and haggard man who immediately saluted him.

He was a senior artillery warrant officer who had served the Cochrane family since the time of Horatio's father, Thomas Cochrane, when he commanded the warship.

Five generations of his family have served on this warship.

He himself had spent most of his life on this warship since the day he was born.

"Captain Lydos, report on Lieutenant Vox's resume."

“Reporting, Captain!” Ledos said solemnly, “Ensign Vox, a preparatory student from the class of 3812, has been recommended to the Abridal Loyalty Academy for further studies as an outstanding service member of the Imperial Navy.”

He graduated with an 'excellent' rating and was granted the qualification of engineering candidate officer.

Last year, during the Second Damocles Expedition, he served on the attack ship E-96, passed the naval officer examination, and officially became a technical ensign.

During the expedition, he was responsible for the maintenance of the shadow field generator on the E-96 attack ship, and during his tenure, the shadow field generator had no malfunctions recorded.

"I understand." Horatio nodded heavily. Hearing Leidos's report, he felt even more heartbroken at the loss of such an outstanding talent.

During his time as captain of the E-96 attack ship, the ship's shadow field generator never failed him at a critical moment.

He was always grateful to the technicians who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to maintain this complex equipment, thus saving his life and that of all the officers and men on board.

He stepped forward and gave the old warrant officer a standard military salute.

“Salute to you, Captain,” the old man returned the salute, his voice aged and trembling. His withered lips twitched slightly, but he still tried to maintain the image of a stern warrant officer in front of his subordinates. “From the moment we were born on this warship, we were prepared to fight to the death for the Empire. So I knew that this day would eventually come.”

I feel incredibly honored that Captain came all the way here because of my son's death.

"My time is precious, sir, no need for further words. I just want to know, my Vox, did he fight bravely?"

"Extraordinarily brave, he chose to fight the alien to the last moment even in the most desperate situation. He is truly a valiant warrior under the God Emperor."

The old man's back, which had been hunched over from lying in front of the artillery crew's thinker array for so long, straightened up again, his stubbornness a testament to his struggle against the physical distortion.

Horatio took the lieutenant's uniform and medals from Leidos and personally handed them over to the old warrant officer.

Of course, generous compensation for those killed in action goes without saying. On a material level, Horatio would never allow those who shed blood for him to shed tears because of life again.

However, discussing these material things in front of any soldier who is full of honor would be too vulgar.

There is only one person who can offer them the greatest compensation.

"I assure you, on behalf of the Cochrane family, that Lieutenant Vox will not have died in vain."

I will pay tribute to the souls of all the fallen soldiers with a great victory. I assure you. The enemy will pay a bloody price, and the Empire will surely achieve a glorious victory this time.

(End of this chapter)