Although they had been very careful and tried their best to cover up the traces of the Cursed Echo's voyage, they were still caught by the enemy when they finally left the subspace and jumped into the physical universe on the edge of the Nai system.
The Eldar possess incredible stealth skills, allowing their small warships to avoid all scanning devices and transport deadly "cargo" into the dark cabin of the Cursed Echo...
That's right, the unfortunate Echo of the Curse has been ganged up on again.
What's even more fatal is that within half an hour after the enemy jumped the gang, the captain, Talos, fell into a coma again due to prevision.
In this preview, he saw a flaming sword, a soaring gray eagle, and a metallic face that he instinctively hated - stubborn, hypocritical, just like most of the things he had seen.
Just like the Imperial people.
Finally, when he woke up, the first thing he saw was Markarian's iron coffin, and the other party's rumbling sound went straight through his aching head.
"I heard bolter fire."
Soon, Talos also heard the sound of bolters.
The sound was at his feet, that unmistakable drumbeat—the heavy, vibrating sound of bolters firing at each other, the unique sound of shells falling to the ground, and the familiar cacophony of metal penetrating armor.
The prophet struggled to stand up and stroked the side of his helmet with one hand, forcing his vision back to normal.
He stared around. People were shouting everywhere on the bridge.
The situation looks bad.
"You were unconscious for 34 minutes this time, Master."
Said Thaddimus, the slave of Talos, still wearing the tattered flight jacket, pistol slung under his hip.
"Tell me everything."
The Seer ordered, while Thetimus had begun to hand him the weapons one by one - the mortal had to lift one piece at a time with both hands.
"I know very little, all Talons have been sent everywhere, we have been joined by the enemy, I don't know if our shields have failed, but the enemy warships have not opened fire because of their men, Sai
Lord Lyon, he wants to stabilize the bridge first to facilitate defense."
"Who jumped to help us?"
"The Eldar, that's all I know. Didn't you dream about them?"
"I don't remember what I encountered in my dream. All I can remember is the pain... You stay here."
Talos stood up, then paused and said softly:
"Thank you for looking after me."
"My loyalty will not change, my lord."
The prophet lowered the command platform, and the servitors and servo skulls looked at him expressionlessly, expecting him to give them orders.
"Taros?"
Suddenly, the helmet's communicator sounded a message from a soldier.
"Is that Talos talking?"
Another one suddenly said.
"retreat!"
It was Lucofus speaking, and Talos could tell it from the low but harsh voice.
"Evacuate to Hall 2!"
"Hold your ground!"
Sirion? Yes... Sirion, the audio made it hard to make out, but Talos picked it up.
"Hold your position, you scavenging bastards! You'll leave us without support!"
From then on, only the sound of close combat remained on the audio network.
"This is Cheyenne Kurus from Second Talon! Someone is injured and we need support!"
"Where is that unfortunate pharmacist!?"
"The Fourth Claw calls out to the First Claw, we need Valiel now!"
"Retreat from Hall 3! Repeat, we leave Hall 3."
"Who's laughing?"
"Talos? Is that you?"
The prophet let out a sigh that made him feel better.
"I'm awake. Now, the first claw will report the situation! The other claws will report the situation later."
But he received no answer, and the audio system was torn into a howling wind by bolter fire.
When Talos left the bridge gate, his fist that was not holding a weapon was still spasming with pain.
Afterwards, he followed the sound of bolter fire to the nearest source, and realized that he was at the end of a five-hundred-meter-long winding corridor.
Then when he appeared in the middle of the gun battle with his weak limbs, a shrapnel hit his head.
This blinded him for a short while, and the shrapnel hit his helmet sideways. Although it did not penetrate, the force was enough to cause adverse stimulation of electric current, which lasted for probably a few seconds.
Soon, his vision was cleared by a burst of static electricity, and returned to a red interface and flickering runes.
He looked down and discovered that the "bullet" was actually a translucent crystal sheet. If he remembered correctly, this was probably called a shuriken.
"Squat down."
A voice warned him, and Talos looked up and found Markushen standing above him, his hands shaking with the recoil of the heavy explosion.
Under Markushen's control, the muzzle of the heavy explosive shell hardly trembled at all, but every time the ejected shell casing splashed onto Markushen's dark breastplate, sparks would burst out.
"These long-legged bastards!"
Ursus on the side was also hiding behind a bunker, but his speech seemed unclear, and his bulging throat seemed to be pathologically wet. Next to him was Selion, who continued to shoot.
"Where's Valere?"
Talos asked:
"Valiel is guarding the tunnel behind."
Cerion is reloading again.
"These poor creatures sneaked into the boat without anyone noticing and were everywhere. We didn't even know where they came from."
At this time, Markusen took two steps back when a burst of shurikens hit his shoulder armor, and the power armor dropped a large amount of ceramite fragments.
"Eldar!"
he roared and fired again!
"Jumped a gang half an hour ago!"
"We may have chosen our location poorly to exit the Warp before drifting into the Nessen System."
Selion also said angrily.
"Although I doubt it, they already knew where we were going, left a subspace beacon in advance, and then cunningly followed us, these alien bitches!"
"Very cunning."
Marcusen also complained.
"You can certainly blame your navigator."
Ursus also spoke, when the wall next to his head was suddenly blown into a pile of sharp fragments by something.
"She should have sensed the marks left by those stubborn wild dogs in the warp."
Talos suddenly retracted his cover while reloading.
"She may have felt something, but she didn't know what it was. She couldn't resist the Eldar's skills."
He stretched his head and glanced at the end of the corridor, but there was nothing there, and shuriken bullets seemed to appear out of thin air.
"We have to retreat. The corridor is not conducive to defense."
Talos finally decided to give up here, but Selion immediately poured cold water on him.
"We can't retreat from here. We are the only defensive force in this entire circle. If they set foot on the bridge, we will lose the ship. The void shield has been overloaded by them in some way, Dee Trian is repairing the main engine with oil and blood all over his body."
"And we can't run away."
Ma Kuchen could no longer stay at a high place. He had a large number of star darts embedded in his body, so he could only slide behind the underground bunker and complained in a low voice:
"The raptors are guarding the southern corridor, and the enemy seems to be right behind us now."
Ursus put his head out and wanted to shoot, but his movements were slightly stiff, and a single molecular disc suddenly passed by his neck, bringing up a pool of blood.
Blood immediately splashed all over Ma Kuchen, and he cursed and took a few steps away.
"Damn, it does look dangerous here!"
The prophet immediately dragged Ursus back, and his blood sprayed on the wall, forming a dazzling graffiti.
Although he knew it was very dangerous, Talos still wanted to see what made Ursus look like this. He carefully stuck his head out, and the tactical sight of his helmet flashed, finally catching the traces of the enemy.
In other words, the other party doesn't bother to hide at all.