Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 318 The Terrifying Shadow of the Ramirez-class Star Fortress

Cypra-Mundy orbit, the first Ramirez-class star fortress, Ramirez.

In the star fortress the size of a satellite, at the center of the Ramirez command throne, Diana Pauline gave the order: "Set sail."

She immediately switched the communication channel and gave the order to Chief Navigator Wiescher: "Prepare for the jump ceremony."

The Ramirez-class star fortress is so massive that traversing the warp is a task that no single navigator could accomplish independently.

The elite of the Vischer family will serve as the chief navigator, leading the other six navigators on this arduous journey.

The numerous thrusters of the Ramirez, each larger than the entire destroyer, emitted a blazing red light, making the entire star fortress shine like the sun in the void.

On the surface of Sepra Mundi, countless residents looked up at the rising sun and erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

At the top of the Borgkamp family's Gothic tower stands Patriarch Sloanberger, the most renowned jeweler in the territory ruled by the "Shadow of Order".

His eyes were deep as he looked at the enormous shadow in the sky.

"A dazzling gem, with perfect geometric shape."

On the Mechanical Ark Explorer, the Great Sage Ryan Ramirez gazed at the star fortress named after him, his pride overflowing:
"It is the most perfect of all creations built of PVC and ceramic steel, and is the earthly manifestation of the god of all machines."

He saw hundreds of tugboats, like ants, dragging the Ramirez slowly toward Mandeville.

Ramirez recalled the star fortresses that guarded the passage between Pluto and the Gates of Hades; they were the size of a battlecruiser and three kilometers wide.

It is equipped with numerous cannons and void shield generators. Taking down any one of them would require an entire battle group and would result in the loss of many ships.

But those star fortresses are utterly vulnerable compared to the Ramirez-class.

Even his mechanical ark could only be described as a small boat in comparison to the Ramirez.

Enormous towers, bridges, and protective walls cover the surface of Star Castle, and the magnificent architecture makes even the Empire's capital ships look up in awe.

"Set sail!" The Great Sage gave the order with a satisfied smile.

October 838, Terra Time, Klonid Abyss, Manachian System, Manachia.

Flamini, a thin boy who had just turned six, was covered in cold sweat and trembling violently.

In his eyes, he could see the shadow of a colossal creature cutting through the vast ocean.

Flamini stopped in horror from peering into the threads of fate and collapsed to the ground.

He took a deep breath and raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

The next moment, he suddenly felt a pang of heart palpitation, and images flashed through his mind.

"Aliens are coming! Run!"

Flamini leaped up from the wet ground and ran into the depths of the sewers.

No one among the people around hesitated or doubted the words of the six-year-old prophet.

They all believed the prophet's words and fled in terror after Flamini.

Seconds later, where Flamini had been sitting, an anemone-shaped creature with legs plummeted and crashed into the foul-smelling, filthy water.

Creatures of various shapes and sizes, shimmering with a surreal light, rushed over and helped him up after landing.

"Lord Heremias, are you alright?"

Heremias spat out the dirty water in his mouth.

“There’s something in the Etheric Wave…” His voice trailed off as he looked at the humans scattering and fleeing, and shouted loudly.

"Don't let the humans escape, arrest them all."

At the same time, the flagship of the traveling merchant Lewis von Valancieus, the Vostonia Loyal.

The voice of the sound array master rang out in Lewis's communication bead.

"My lord, the alien warships of the Mitu United Empire have all stopped."

"Tell the navigator to prepare for the jump ceremony." Lewis, his azure eyes fixed on the dozens of enemy ships, stopped his pursuit, a sense of relief at surviving the ordeal flashing through his mind.

He clenched his fist again and slammed it hard on the holographic projection table.

"Damn aliens, filthy United Empire."

"What alliance? That sounds nice, but the Xenomorphs only see humans as fuel for their arcane machines."

Standing beside him, the leader of the traveling merchants frowned and gave him a reminder.

"But they were too powerful, and the Vironi Knights were struggling to survive by relying on their Fort Fortress."

“Even the world of Mezoa, which has been forging its own destiny, has become accustomed to ‘gentle’ cleansing for decades.”

"In fact, there is nothing we can do. Even the most powerful merchant family fleets are no match for the alien fleet."

“No,” Lewis rejected his commander’s reminder, “we must do something. In the Manach system alone, billions of our fellow humans are enslaved by the Xenomorphs and used as flesh and blood parts.” “And hundreds of millions more are struggling in dozens of worlds.”

"Lord Ninglu will surely be able to purify the corrupt alien empire. We will return to Vostoria and report to His Majesty the King."

In December of Terra time 838, the Ramirez completed its journey and returned to the real world.

As soon as Starfort stepped into the Vortex-Morse, the Randan warships and a deluge of drones swarmed toward it.

Randan's psionicists had already detected the massive shadow in the warp and were on high alert.

Inside the simulated sanctuary, Diana sat in a chair surrounded by cables, with the surrounding niches flashing wildly.

At her feet lay the Brainpower Cat, but even after two mental enhancements, she still felt her brain was about to burst from the sea of ​​data.

It's not just the data from Starfortress, but also massive amounts of data from the Randan warships and drones.

Diana realized almost immediately that she couldn't handle the computational demands of a massive number of drones capable of causing significant damage to the Glory Queen-class battleships.

She immediately handed over this data to the torpedo supervisor's team and issued orders.

"The alien drone is yours."

Not far from Diana sat the torpedo officer of the Ramirez.

Each area of ​​Starfortress is equipped with a different weapon system, with the central area's weapon system consisting of a large number of torpedo tubes and an almost unlimited number of torpedoes.

The torpedo chief and his operations chiefs, independently handling a vast ocean of data, immediately felt immense computational pressure.

After a few breaths, he reluctantly gave up the possibility of a precision strike, but the data provided by the simulated sanctuary was still meaningful to him.

The torpedo supervisor delineated several areas, which were not the areas where the drone was currently located. Instead, these areas were calculated based on data such as the torpedo's relative flight speed, the drone's position, and its flight trajectory, to determine the areas most likely to cause the greatest damage.

"Attack! Destroy them!"

The torpedo supervisor's order reached all the operators of the torpedo tubes in an instant.

Almost instantly, countless control levers were pulled down, and torpedoes were launched in a string, forming a continuous chain.

Under the command of the torpedo supervisor, countless torpedoes were systematically woven into a dense net, enveloping a massive number of drones.

A dazzling light exploded in the void, as if countless fireworks were ignited.

Three Glory Queen-class battleships leaped into real space and positioned themselves around the Ramirez-class star fortress.

Even compared to the Glory Queen-class battleships, Starfortress is an absolute behemoth, standing proudly like a king looking down upon his subjects.

The Shadow of the Kings.

Ninglu stared at the battlefield holographic projection that Arsène Dunn had projected using his cane.

Ran Dan's sea of ​​drones vanished as quickly as moths to a flame.

He nodded slightly in satisfaction, thinking to himself:

Ran Dan doesn't have a large number of warships in the star system. In my memory, Urian Bendreig's one hundred capital ships gave him an absolute naval advantage.

Drones, however, are the biggest threat besides man-made combat satellites.

The Queen Glorious-class battleship HMS Abomination was so badly damaged by a drone that it had no chance of survival and crashed into a war satellite.
Nimrod then looked at the star map of Spiral Morse and said to the Primarch's servant:

"There are six planets in the Spiral-Morse system. Its host star is protected by artificial war satellites. There is also one planet that is relatively close to the host star."

"Four of them are located on the outer edge of the galaxy, outside the range of the war satellites, so the first phase objective is clear: we must capture them."

As Ning Lu issued the order, more and more light spots appeared in the holographic projection.

The fleet of "Shadow of Order," centered on the Ramirez-class star fortress, deployed its forces and advanced.

The expeditionary fleet encountered trouble immediately after the Void War broke out in full force.

The readings on the ship's astrolabe indicated that there were no enemy ships nearby, so the gunnery officers were unable to lock onto any enemy ships or launch an attack.

Hundreds of Danish warships launched an attack on the expeditionary fleet.

A flash of lightning streaked across the void, striking the vanguard warships of the expeditionary fleet.

Countless blinding white bolts of lightning rained down on the black battleship, instantly overloading the void shield.

The Void Shield stubbornly rose up instantly, only to be engulfed by white lightning.

The terrifying warships, covered in spikes and flails, were unlike any other Imperial warships, resembling thorny monsters.

The dense white lightning bolts they fired at the Imperial warships struck the battleships' engines.

There was no explosion, no fire; it was torn to shreds, leaving only a dark shadow.

The Shadow Destroyers aboard the Randan warships unleashed radioactive electromagnetic bombardment, turning more than a dozen black warships into ominous shadows in the first wave of fire, including two capital ships.

(End of this chapter)