Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 974 (08.973): 『Full Responsibility』

General Nansutti and Brigadier General Rana exchanged a glance but said nothing more.

“In that case, Your Excellency High Commander,” Brigadier General Rana began, “the New Land Dragon Rider Regiment will soon be reorganized into the 13th Dragon Rider Regiment.”

We are willing to hand over the reorganized regiment to the Imperial Navy for command.

All soldiers will be directly incorporated into your Imperial Navy's orbital landing force. Colonel Yadviga and Battalion Commander Poniatovsky will form a temporary officer corps to assist you in building the medium-sized mobile units within it.

"After the formation is completed, I will transfer these seconded officers to other combat units, and the formed troops and soldiers will be officially transferred to the Imperial Navy."

This can greatly reduce the difficulty of your initial stage.

Of course, this is also a valuable gain for us.

Our military reform direction urgently needs to be tested in actual combat. At this moment, there is no more suitable third-party military force than the Imperial Navy to test our theories and assist us in making adjustments.

"And I believe that the officers we send who are involved in military reforms will also learn valuable experience in your troops."

[This is equivalent to exchanging a regiment of soldiers for a whole officer corps' valuable combat experience. In the end, the soldiers remain with the navy, while the officers take their accumulated experience with them. It's indeed a worthwhile trade.]
"Thank you for your trust and support. I believe we can achieve great success in our shared cause of serving the God-Emperor." Horatio stood up and gave a solemn greeting.

"The military reformists also benefit from the Navy's support. We also need advanced equipment and sufficient funding," Brigadier General Rana replied politely.

“It seems you’ve finished your discussions on this matter,” Admiral Latouch-Trewell began, moving the meeting to the next agenda item. “The next item for discussion will be on the fleet command deck, where we will focus on our current future combat operations.”

"His valiant subordinates of Lord Cochrane have successfully seized top-secret intelligence gathered by Major General Leclerc, the fallen front-line commander and head of intelligence, before his death."

This intelligence is crucial for a decisive decapitation strike against the military leader of the Severo rebels.

If successful, the arrogance of a hostile force will be completely crushed, and the completion of the suppression mission will be within reach.
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"According to intelligence, Aurelian Pompey Severus, the best commander of the Severus rebels, is currently located in Block NK214."

This is a vast area spanning 10 by 10 kilometers, and we don't yet know the exact location of their command post. But we can launch a swift offensive and wipe them off this planet completely.

"At the same time, intelligence also indicates that this person had already paved the way for his escape from this planet."

If his personal safety is threatened, he will immediately board the Severus rebel flagship, the 'Duke's Pride,' and escape.

This traitorous ship lies dormant in the darkness of the galaxy, waiting for its chance to strike.

But we don't need to risk searching for it in the void, thus instigating another chaotic fleet battle.

“Once the ground war collapses, this guy will call in his warships to come and get him. Even if he manages to escape from the ground, we can take him out in the void.”

"What are the details of the operation?"

"On the ground, taking advantage of the lull in the Greenskin offensive, the Third Cavalry Corps will launch a feint attack from the northeast of the front line under the cover of bombers in the atmosphere."

A fierce attack by the cavalry's powerful armored forces on Severus's army, which was catching its breath and resting, would inevitably provoke them to focus their defenses.

Our ground objective, on the other hand, is the cargo transshipment hub they have captured.

From a military perspective, this target is lethal enough and would not arouse suspicion from the enemy that our true intentions—a decapitation strike.

"Then, our air force and transport fleet will launch a massive air assault to directly seize the large cargo airfield southeast of the enemy command." "Do you have that much transport capacity? Can you airdrop so many people at once?"

"No. So the first batch will consist of lightly armed troops, mainly infantry and some wheeled armored vehicles, and the second batch will consist of heavy armored vehicles."

Therefore, under such conditions, the integration of forces is crucial.

To implement this tactic, we even had to temporarily assemble different companies into a combined arms battalion. Detailed plans will be delivered this week via encrypted messenger.

After leaving behind a less-than-reassuring proposal, both sides departed from the magnificent warship.

"Admiral, the void battle has temporarily subsided." The figure of Rear Admiral Brues, who had come to this star sector with Horatio, was transmitted to Admiral Callis's command console via holographic communication.

"Your Excellency Brues, what is the situation with Flotilla 0371?"

"It can only be said that, thanks to the arduous and extraordinary escort, it did not suffer devastating damage."

But it's probably unlikely that they'll be able to go directly to Sintila.

The greens coveted these supplies, and the escorting ships attempted three breakouts, all of which failed. One of our escort cruisers, after suffering heavy damage, was forced to scuttle itself.

"Now, I'm arranging for them to turn around and head to Minerva. It's about a three-day voyage."

At least as a storage world, it has enough starports and infrastructure to allow them to dock temporarily.

Moreover, several ships in the fleet were carrying orders for flintlock rifle regiments' armaments, which could be unloaded onto this planet and handed over to the Asgardian Army, thus fulfilling part of their mission.

"The situation has become so dire?" Admiral Latouch-Trewell looked at the man in disbelief. "I sent you half of the Toulon fleet!"

"Yes, Admiral... these greens are everywhere. I swear to you, this is the first time I've ever seen such a large fleet of greens. I believe they're waging an unprecedented... according to these aliens themselves, the Great Waaaagh!"

"I will personally lead the remaining fleet into battle," the veteran said decisively.

Then, he looked at Horatio and pulled up the holographic image of the "Duke's Pride" from the intelligence report.

"I'm afraid our original plan to sink the 'Duke's Pride' needs to be adjusted. Young man, if I leave you two cruisers, can you take it down?"

"HMS 'The Duke's Pride' is an old-fashioned large cruiser equipped with 32 light macro guns on one side," Horatio said in a deep voice, looking at the holographic image. "We currently have two light cruisers and two small escort ships."

"If we add the two cruisers you left behind, as long as we can seize the opportunity when the 'Duke's Pride' enters orbit around this planet to provide support, and launch a surprise attack, then even though it's a large cruiser, we have a fairly good chance of destroying it in the attack, and even having the possibility of capturing it."

Horatio saluted and left, immediately beginning tense battle preparations. He had only a week to prepare for this high-risk, high-reward decapitation strike.

"'Horizon Raid'? That's quite a bold move."

"If we're not careful, the entire fleet could be dragged into the atmosphere by the planet's gravity well and burn up." The old admiral squinted, watching the young man's departing figure.

"Then let me see just how much of the intellect and spirit the legendary descendants of the Spier bloodline have inherited from their ancestors."

(End of this chapter)