Warhammer: Empire Reboot

"You can always steal a ship if it's gone, but who will steal your life? The enemy can move their entire line of fire from subspace right to our faces, and they can penetrate the second engine room in three minutes. You think you can compete with that kind of monster in terms of loyalty?"

He tossed his adjutant back to the control panel.

"Loyalty is something Imperial idiots and Word-Holders madmen play with. The Red Pirates only believe in one thing—to live and capture a ship."

The adjutant shut up.

The detonation signal for the No. 2 power compartment was intercepted as soon as the order was issued.

The engine compartment explosion failed.

The Red Dragon Squad seized the opportunity to break in.

Xiong Wei began boarding the ship.

This was just the beginning of the Red Pirates' downfall.

Jorah Mormont led twelve Bear Guards from the main anchor point into the middle of the Red Hook.

Following the target sent by Bai Zhi, they advanced directly towards the defensive compartments below the bridge.

The Red Pirates piled up three layers of roadblocks there.

Discarded gun barrels, armor plates, slave corpses, heavy explosive shell mounts, and molten metal mines.

Red Pirate veterans attempted to jump from a height and attach a molten bomb to Xiong Wei's head.

San Gou led the White Tiger elites out from the side corridor and chopped off the old soldier's arm with an axe.

"The boss said these ships should be kept, and not to be bombed indiscriminately."

Er Gou pressed forward from the other side, and the Iron Cavalry Terminator Armor fired a barrage of shoulder cannon shots, driving back the second Red Pirate.

"Kill people, spare the boat. If you understand, kneel down; if you don't, kill them."

The Red Pirates, of course, would not kneel.

They organized the last line of defense in front of the bridge.

Willock himself donned his armor and led a dozen Astartes veterans and hundreds of modified slaves in an attempt to launch a counterattack.

His judgment remains correct.

If the bears crash into the bridge, the battle will end. These behemoths must be dealt with using thermal and propulsive weapons at the narrowest point of the passage.

He also chose a very good location.

With crossfire from both sides, gravity traps above, and meltdown explosives buried on the deck below, this was a deadly trap for a typical boarding party.

But he was facing a legion of assassins.

The White Tiger Shield Wall was deliberately positioned outside the killing zone.

The red dragon fired from behind, burning through the side wall pipes.

Xiong Wei did not enter the killing area.

Xiong Da and his men smashed through the bulkhead next to them and crashed directly into the right side of the Willock Line.

The Red Pirates' crossfire was rendered ineffective on the spot.

Verlock reacted quickly, using his power claws to grab the edge of a White Tiger assassin's shield, using the momentum to flip to Xiong Da's side, and firing his hot-melt pistol at Xiong Wei's waist armor.

That was a good shot.

One layer of Xiong Da's side armor was burned through.

However, Xiong Wei's size and defensive redundancy prevented the shot from being fatal.

Xiong Da lowered his head and swung his left arm horizontally, like a shield.

Willock was forced to retreat, and as soon as he landed, Er Gou's battle axe was already at him. He blocked it with his power claws, and San Gou followed up with a second axe from the other side.

The captain of the Red Pirate finally realized that he had lost his chance to escape.

The bridge gate was smashed open by Xiong Wei.

The White Tiger assassins stormed in and took control of the fire control console and communications station.

The Red Dragon Squad sealed off the power core.

The main guns of the Red Hook were shut down, the Void Shield was downgraded, and the ship's broadcast system was taken over by White.

"Those who lay down their weapons will be used as machine tools. Those who continue to resist will be disposed of on the spot."

This statement offered no hope.

But the Red Pirates don't need hope either.

They need to assess the costs.

The surviving mortal crew members were the first to kneel. After the control collars of the boarding slaves in the slave cabin were cut off, many collapsed to the ground, while others attempted to riot but were forced back into the cabin by White Tiger using stun grenades.

The remnants of the Red Pirate Astartes continued to resist for another four minutes.

The last veteran was pinned down by Xiong Da's tower shield, while San Gou cut open his neck armor with an axe.

The battle ended quickly.

Before the cleanup team had finished marking all the captured items, the Red Pirates' branch fleet had already lost its ability to resist.

Bai Zhi reported to Luo Sen.

"Boss, the Red Pirates' branch fleet has been intercepted. One Killer-class cruiser, two frigates, and nine transport ships. Approximately 170,000 Chaos boarding slaves have been captured and are now under blockade. Several Red Pirate power armors have been seized, though in fair condition. The enemy captain has been killed, and the bridge is under control."

Fenjiang added:

"The enemy ship's engine is intact, and the main gun is 70% preserved. The Red Dragon has removed the curse mark from the engine compartment, and the T-series will be needed to cleanse the contamination of the ship's soul."

After hearing the list of spoils, Lawson only asked one question.

"What about the level of contamination among those boarding slaves?"

T-001's answer:

"Most of them have been exposed to chaos potions, neural nails, and suggestions to kill. The cost of regaining free will is too high."

Lawson nodded.

"Then let's not waste the medicine."

"Remove the collars and send them all to work as machine servants. The Agrippina mine is short of people, so they can atone for their sins."

Those who could be saved should have been saved long before they became slaves to the Chaos.

Now all that's left is to process it.

Lawson watched as the three warships on the star map were successively marked as his own.

"Strengthen the defenses of the Agrippina sector."

"Deploy monitoring devices in asteroid belts, meteorite belts, and abandoned mining areas. Hollow out all usable meteorites and fill them with oracles, torpedo compartments, and backup power units."

"On planets with suitable conditions, construct boarding torpedo silos. Modify half of the surface air defense silos and connect low-orbit gun emplacements to swarm fire control systems."

"If an enemy ship dares to enter the low orbit, we will board it with a boarding torpedo. Even if we can't sink it, we will still board it; even if we can't board it, we will still drive the anchor point in."

“Agrippina doesn’t need to keep all the enemies out.”

Lawson looked at the star map, his finger resting on the center of the galaxy.

"I want them to come in and not be able to find their way out."

Bai Zhi, Fen Jiang, Xiong Da, Er Gou, San Gou, and the suicide soldiers scattered across warships, factories, satellites, and surface forts all bowed their heads.

"As ordered."

On the star chart, Agrippina's orbital lines lit up in layers.

The asteroid belt becomes a monitoring chain.

The meteorite belt became an ambush zone.

The planet's low orbit becomes the launch ring for boarding torpedoes.

By the time the Red Pirates' branch fleet was towed back to the Agrippina orbital dock, the war in the core system was drawing to a close.

The Anvil was dismantled into three sections, the Killer-class cruiser Red Hook was locked in Dock No. 3, and the Red Pirate frigate, with its damaged engine, stood like two wild beasts with their teeth pulled, below the mechanical arm.

The landing fleets of White Tiger, Red Dragon, and Bear Guard are withdrawing in batches.

The T-series assassins took over the enemy ship's main control system, cut off the corrupted circuits, sealed the machine soul contamination, and dismantled the chaos runes.

Warships can be repaired.

The turret can be repaired.

The ship's armor can be replaced.

However, they cannot fill the manpower gap.

Lawson stood in the center of the bridge of the Avenger, with a holographic star map of the Agrippina core system unfolding before him.

Sixty-eight mineral planets slowly rotate along different orbits. Next to each planet are labels indicating the type of mineral vein, industrial facilities, existing production capacity, current population, servant shortage, and recovery time.

The data looks terrible.

During the Chaos invasion, Agrippina's mineral planet suffered systematic destruction.

Iron Warriors stole mining equipment, Red Pirates abducted people, Khorne followers drove laborers into gladiatorial arenas, and Nurgle polluted part of the deep water cycle.

Worse still, the Dark Mechanicus and the traitorous foremen slaughtered a large number of skilled workers before retreating, preferring to blow up the mines rather than allow the Empire to restore production capacity.

Sixty-eight mineral planets, more than 70% of the Empire's civilian population perished.

The remaining people were further divided into several categories.

Only a small percentage of them can start work immediately.

Those who are injured, malnourished, long-term suffer from mental pollution, or forced to work for chaos need screening, treatment, and isolation.

Some people have been transformed into a semi-slave state by the Chaos Potion; their bodies can work, but their minds are filled with all sorts of chaotic command reflexes.

Agrippina is the core of the casting.

The significance of forging the core has never been just a few cannon factories and a few power armor production lines.

The ore needs to be mined out.