Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 382 Their cannons were actually able to break through the Eldar's holographic force field.

Alicia, in the Solar System.

Commander Nuno Belardo of the Alicia Defense Fleet sat at his console, quickly reviewing the situation on the Void Battlefield.

His fleet, following his orders, arrived at the designated location and launched an attack on the Eldar pirates.

Alicia, through countless battles against Eldar pirates, has found a reasonably viable method of attack.

The ships will be dispersed into three formations. The ships in the front formation are heavily armored cruisers, and the dispersed formation will attract Eldar fire.

With frigates at the core on both flanks, destroyers rapidly advanced, forming a concave line due to their different speeds, and launched a dense assault.

Frigates and destroyers are equipped with a large number of torpedo tubes to replace cannons.

Unable to pinpoint the enemy ships' location, Alicia's fleet opted to use torpedo bombardment to maximize the chances of hitting the Eldar warships.

Berlado reviewed the feedback from each ship and confirmed that all had hit their targets.

A slight smile crept onto his lips. His elite fleet had been forged in the flames of war, constantly harassed by both humans and numerous alien creatures.

From officers to sailors, from torpedo tube operators to technicians, and even those on the lower decks eager for work, all were excellent crew members, no less so than those born on ships as children of the void.

Those clans that have lived on ships for generations can use their experience and the tacit understanding that comes from their bonds to make up for the speed difference between their ships and those of the Eldar.

Despite the entire fleet executing his battle plan flawlessly, not a single ship reported hitting Eldar vessels.

Alicia's ships, the Belardos, all knew that what they had hit was likely an illusion created by the Eldar's holographic force field.

It wasn't until the adjutant and ship officers checked the environment and compared the data that Bellador confirmed the destruction of five Eldar warships.

He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself: [The Spirit Clan pirate fleet has about twenty warships.]

In the months-long cat-and-mouse chase that aimed to drive enemy ships into a "pocket" and take advantage of tactical maneuvers, six Eldar warships were destroyed.

Based on past experience, the Eldar pirate fleet will retreat if it loses half of its ships.
Berardo saw on the video screen that the frigate had arrived at its position, was fully powered up, and was ready to launch its attack.

He gave the order over the communication headset: "Left and right flank strike groups, charge! For Alicia!"

When the sonic array master relayed the fleet commander's orders to each warship, Belardo showed no joy whatsoever; the red battle damage reports flashing on the video screen stung his eyes.

One cruiser, six frigates, and thirteen destroyers.

[Adding to the cruiser, two frigates, and five destroyers lost in the previous guerrilla warfare, this defensive battle will be a crushing victory.]
Belardo clenched his fists. Hundreds of thousands of Alicia's children had sacrificed their lives to fend off the cunning Eldar pirate fleet.

Just then, the solemn voice of the sound array master rang out in his communication headset.

"Lord Bernardo, the oracle officer has discovered that a massive fleet has suddenly appeared in the star system, with fifty-four ships and the number is still increasing."

"The marked warship has been sent to the Thinker on your video screen."

Belardo stared nervously at the video screen. Alicia's fleet consisted of only eighty-three warships of various classes before the battle.

After a battle, each ship was damaged and unable to cope with the new threat.

"All scanning systems, full power, begin scanning. I need to know their intelligence."

"quick!"

The wait was long, and sweat beaded on Berardo's forehead.

The information appeared on the second video screen on the left side of the control panel: 【Length 25.81 kilometers…】

Bernardo was stunned; he had never heard of or imagined such a massive warship.

His flagship, the Alicia Shield, was only 10.35 kilometers long.

Bernardo tapped his finger on the video screen to examine the complete image pieced together by multiple scanners.

[What a colossal void warship!]
Its overall form is Gothic in style; could it be a human force?
As Bernardo thought of this, the voice of the Sound Array Master came through his communication headset.

"Lord Bernardo, I have received a communication from the fleet."

"One of the languages ​​is similar to the one we use."

“They are the ‘Shadows of Order’…”

Bernardo listened to the sonic master's briefing while keeping an eye on the battle situation within the galaxy, where he saw the black warships deploy their lines.

The sound array master then relayed the message he had received.

"Lord Bernardo, the enemy is about to launch a fire attack on the Eldar warships. We demand that the warships they have marked withdraw from the battlefield to prevent friendly fire."

Bernardo stared at the video screen and noticed that twenty-nine warships had been marked.

He then looked at the newly appeared human fleet and saw the dense array of cannons on those warships.

He first frowned, realizing that the artillery would be misled by the Eldar fleet's holographic force field.

Bernardo immediately scanned all the warships, especially the cannon array on the huge warship.

[The Eldar warships have limited camouflage capabilities; once their cannons reach a certain number, they can cover the area occupied by the Xenomorph warships.]
Bernardo discovered that the number of newly arrived "Shadow of Order" fleet had increased to 138.

[The "Shadow of Order" fleet appears to possess such firepower.]
"Order the marked warships to withdraw from the battlefield."

Bernardo saw Alicia's yellow warship withdraw from the battlefield, while the black warship accelerated towards it.

A beam of colorful energy shot out from the black warship and blasted towards the Eldar warship.

Bernardo's pupils dilated to their limit as he watched in astonishment as the beams of light pierced directly through the holographic field, causing damage to the Eldar.

He looked in the direction from which the beam of light was coming and saw that on the huge void warship, there were two strange cannons mounted on the bottom sides of the ship.

The cannon was long and cylindrical, with a total length nearly one-tenth that of the ship, and one-fifth of its length exceeding the bow.

[That cannon could actually penetrate the Eldar's holographic force field.]
Dense beams of energy rained down on the Eldar warship.

The remaining dozen or so Eldar warships were quickly reduced to wreckage.

Three stellar hours later, Alicia's ruling class received reports of the battle, as well as reports of a newly emerging human force—the "Shadow of Order."

Among them, besides the overwhelming strength of the "Shadow of Order" and their demands, what shocked them the most was that their fleet actually possessed cannons capable of breaking through holographic fields.

Bernardo learned from the opposing commander, Howard Find, that the cannon was called the Ether Cannon.

Howard's Stormbird landed in Alicia amid cheers, and after discussion, the Merchant Alliance Council agreed to accept the protection of the "Shadow of Order".

They believed that with the protection of a powerful "shadow of order," they would be safe from pirate attacks and gain greater commercial benefits.

(End of this chapter)