Warhammer: Empire Reboot

"Abaddon, your warband is causing the Ominous Ark Project to bleed profusely."

"They are flying your banner, participating in your expedition."

“The Word Bearers do not kneel before me, nor do the great demons of Khorne serve my command.” Abaddon finally looked at it. “If you intend to rivet demons into your engine like screws, you should expect their former masters to break the chains.”

The brass gears around Vashtor turn even faster.

"Without the ark I built, you wouldn't even be able to get to this card table."

Abaddon's attitude turned cold: "Without my legion clearing the way for you, your wrecked ship won't even be able to fly out of this anchorage."

Vashtor's projection confronted Abaddon across the tactical platform.

The red wake on the star chart flickered between the two, like a blood vessel that could be torn apart at any moment.

Just then, a Black Legion communications officer stepped forward and knelt on one knee.

"Commander."

Abaddon did not look away.

"explain."

"The Thousand Sons Legion's Kahmut has sent a distress signal. Their Ark engine is damaged. The Black Legion's receiving officer carrying the key fragment has been assassinated, and the fragment is missing. The undead fleet of the Vol's Tomb world is pursuing them along their retreat route."

Vashtor's projection immediately turned towards the communications officer.

"louder please."

The communications officer's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

"The fragment is missing. The undead fleet is in pursuit."

Vashtor has begun reading the distress signal.

A wealth of data unfolds around it.

"If the Necromancer fleet catches up to the main channel, it will disrupt the transfer of at least three Ominous Arks. If Kahmut continues to retreat along the current route, he may lead the Graveyard fleet to a deeper anchorage."

Huron said in a low voice, "Chiko really knows how to pick her time to cause trouble."

Worse still, what came after them was not just a small squadron of raiders.

That was a tomb fleet led by the Necromancer Overlord.

Once this thing locks onto its target, it's like a cold hand reaching out from an ancient tomb, chasing its prey until it stops moving.

Abaddon ordered: "Organize an intercept fleet."

"Black Legion's Seventh and Ninth Claws. Steel Warrior Heavy Artillery Squadron. Red Pirate Remnants High-Speed ​​Ship Group."

Huron glanced at him.

Abaddon continued, "Inform the Thousand Sons to fight and retreat, leading the undead fleet towards the Karathos Starshattering Belt."

Huron asked, "Let them continue to be bait?"

“They’re already acting as bait,” Abaddon said. “Now let them be useful.”

Vashtor's projection said, "The fragment is missing."

"So we need to find out who took it first."

Abaddon looked at the communications officer, "How did Kahmut's receiving officer die?"

The communications officer bowed his head: "The distress signal is incomplete. The scene indicates an internal assassination attempt. Qianzi says it could be a necromancer-phase attack, or it could be a defection by the ship's combat corps."

Huron sneered: "It's also possible that Qianzi hid it herself."

Vashtor said, "Kahmut has no right to hoard the fragments."

"Reply to Kahmut."

The communications officer immediately awaited the recording.

"Continue the retreat and hold the Ark. Lead the undead fleet toward the Karathos Star Belt. If the fragment is in his hands, hand it over, and I'll die in an enemy attack as the receiving officer. If the fragment isn't in his hands, find the assassin."

"If he dares to bring the undead fleet into the core anchorage, I will personally demolish his wizard tower."

Vashtor looked at Abaddon.

"The problem of those who cherish words has not yet been resolved."

Abaddon raised his hand, and the position of the Starbinder on the star map was highlighted in red.

"Seal off the Starbinder. The Black Legion Overseers will take over outer navigation authority. All those on board who harbor the Word will be disarmed; those who refuse will be executed. The out-of-control areas of the sealed layer will not be reclaimed for the time being. Cut off all passages to the main nerve plexus."

Vashtor said, "My demonic power source is escaping."

Abaddon glanced at it: "Then you'd better send someone to nail them back on."

The Khalasos Star Belt was originally a mining wasteland abandoned by Chaos.

Centuries ago, the Iron Warriors mined a metallic asteroid belt here. Later, the veins dried up, the mining fortress was dismantled, and all that remained were shattered rocks, abandoned orbits, electromagnetic dust, and vast amounts of void debris no longer recorded on any Imperial charts.

Abaddon chose to intercept the Necromancer fleet here.

It's because the open starfields are not suitable for fighting undead.

The space necromancer warship is too fast, its turning is too clean, and its weapons have strong penetrating power.

If they were to engage in a direct firefight in the open void, even if the Chaos Fleet had a numerical advantage, it would be sliced ​​apart one by one by those scythe-shaped warships.

The fragmentation belt is different.

This place is filled with abandoned ore, debris, gravitational turbulence, and a large number of old facilities that can be converted into traps.

Vashtor transformed the ruins into a makeshift hunting ground in just sixty hours.

The Dark Mechanicus embedded a subspace traction anchor inside the asteroid.

The Iron Warrior Heavy Artillery Fleet transformed dozens of abandoned mining platforms into fire fortresses.

The Black Legion's ship claws were hidden behind the Shattered Star Belt, waiting for the Thousand Sons Fleet to lure the pursuers into the ambush zone.

The remnants of the Red Pirates were responsible for harassing the perimeter.

Vashtor's demon engines were pinned to the surface of several large mineral rocks, like a group of chained monsters waiting to pounce on the undead fleet.

As Kahmut's Catastrophe Fleet dragged the damaged Omen Ark into the Starshatter Belt, the flames propelling the Ark's starboard side became noticeably unstable.

After the auxiliary engine spine was burned by the molten metal bomb, the Dark Mechanicus could only maintain navigation using a temporary duct.

With each acceleration of that massive ominous ark, discordant metallic vibrations emanated from deep within its hull.

Behind it, the undead fleet was in hot pursuit.

The cold green fleet cut in from the void.

The sickle-shaped warships were arranged in a tight formation, and their energy weapons were activated simultaneously.

The first salvo tore through the void shields of the last two escort ships in the Thousand Sons Fleet. Gaussian beams swept along the hull, peeling away layers of armor, turrets, bulkheads, and internal structure.

Before the two Chaos Guard ships could even self-destruct, they were dismantled as if by an invisible giant hand, turning into a cloud of floating metallic dust.

Kahmut knew his current task.

Lead the Necromancer fleet deep into the Starshatter Belt.

On the bridge of the Thousand Sons Ark, the priests of the Dark Mechanicus were frantically calibrating the temporary propulsion lines.

Red-letter warriors guarded the passageways to prevent the surviving guards of the Black Legion from taking the opportunity to settle scores with them.

Kahmut stood before the throne, staring at the star map.

How long until we reach the trap zone?

“Thirteen minutes,” the low-ranking wizard replied. “The undead fleet is still increasing in speed.”

"Have the left-wing frigates disperse."

After the order was issued, the three Sen-Zi auxiliary frigates departed from the main course and dispersed to the left of the Shattered Star Belt.

The undead fleet did not all turn around.

Only six raiders broke away to pursue the three escort ships.

Thirteen minutes later, Kahmut's Ominous Ark crossed the first pre-planned ambush line.

The subspace traction anchor buried inside the asteroid was activated simultaneously.

The void in front of the undead fleet briefly distorted.

This distortion couldn't truly trap the undead warships, but it was enough to disrupt their terrifyingly orderly course. Several raiders were forced to reduce speed to avoid the spatial disturbance. In that half-second interval, the Iron Warrior heavy artillery platform opened fire.

Macro-cannons and heavy plasmas were ejected from both sides of the star fragmentation belt.

A Necromancer raider was hit by three plasma beams in succession, and its hull began to melt.

It attempted a phase shift, but Vashtor's pre-positioned Dark Mechanicus imprisonment turrets activated, briefly locking down the surrounding space.

The black legion's claws lashed out from the shadows.

Dozens of boarding torpedoes were launched simultaneously.

Chaos rarely volunteers to board the Necromancer's warship.

the reason is simple.

The interior of the Necromancer warship is not that of an ordinary warship.

There were no panicked mortal sailors, no slave laborers to be slaughtered, and no flesh and blood to be sacrificed.

Inside the Necroship are rows of cold, hard, living metal structures, self-repairing passageways, and squads of silent, awakening necromancers.

If you board the ship, you might not even be able to find the enemy bridge before being reduced to ashes by Gauss weapons.

But this time, Abaddon has to jump.

Naval guns alone are unlikely to completely destroy the undead ships. Only by sending troops in, destroying the core nodes, and embedding the Dark Mechanicus's phase jammers can there be a chance to prevent them from withdrawing or repairing themselves.

The first to board were the Black Legion Terminator and the Steel Warrior City-Breaking Veteran.

After they landed inside the damaged Necromancer raider, they were immediately met with a counterattack.

In the narrow passage, the necromancer Gauss silently raised his stripping spear, and a green ray swept across the chest armor of the Chaos Terminator.

The thick ceramic steel layers disappeared one by one, revealing the mutated flesh and black bones underneath.