Soshyan returned to the bridge again. When he entered, Lothar was monitoring the effect of the Starfire's defense barrages. The green lighting of the analysis monitor screen and observation station strongly highlighted his silver-white figure.
"What did you find?"
Soshyan asked as the other crew members bowed to him.
"The auspicious device cannot complete a full scan before we clear this damn meteorite area, but we have just found its keel code. It is the New Pharos, a transport ship belonging to the Ma'kande II.
"
"The transport ship? Is it heading to Ma'kande No. 2?"
"From the trajectory, it doesn't look like it. Although it has been moving slowly towards the planet, it is too slow for a cargo ship."
Lothar played the signal they had just analyzed.
A ghostly whisper then sounded on the bridge, immediately arousing Soshyan's alert.
"……traitor……"
The signal only had these two words, and Soshyan analyzed many possibilities from it. If analyzed according to the worst possibility, then they would face the most deadly threat to the human empire.
Ten thousand years ago, although the Horus Heresy ended with the death of the traitorous Warmaster, the legions participating in the rebellion were not completely wiped out. A considerable number of rebels escaped into the Eye of Terror in the center of the galaxy.
Most of them ended up falling into the arms of the Chaos God, abandoning their loyalty and honor as Astartes and falling into darkness.
In the ten thousand years since the end of the Great Rebellion, they have been almost everywhere, in the depths of the boiling Eye of Terror, in the maelstrom shrouded in clouds, on the abandoned death planets and dark moons, in the extremely dangerous fortresses.
or in the elusive fleet.
From these hidden lairs, the bloodthirsty hordes of Chaos launch their assault upon His Majesty's domain.
As Astartes, they were once proud and mighty warriors. Faith was the armor that protected them, justice was the weapon in their hands, and they had a will far tougher than mortals.
But once they fall, their changes are far more drastic than those of mortals.
The Chaos Space Marines became the hungry champions of the Dark Gods, with hatred gnawing at their souls and selfishness filling their minds.
In addition to gaining more power and satisfying their personal ambitions, they have no other goals and ideals.
They once cleansed the galaxy with their sacred bolters and purifying flamethrowers, but now the Chaos Space Marines threaten everything the Emperor has worked hard to build.
These rebel warriors are the most hated and deadly of the enemies of the Imperium. Chaos Space Marines no longer care about loyalty, honor, sacrifice or duty. They sell their lives and souls to the Chaos Gods.
By breaking one's oath in exchange for powerful force.
They try their best to indulge and degenerate in order to have the opportunity to become immortal demons.
But they are also the most feared enemies. Not only do they possess the superhuman physique and destructive weapons of the Space Marines, but they also obtain mysterious weapons and equipment with magical power through the contract reached with the Chaos Gods.
The abilities of these weapons and equipment are so mysterious and weird that even the Adeptus Mechanicus cannot understand how they work.
The Chaos Space Marines also collude with the servants of the Chaos Gods. On the one hand, they gather the energy of demons to perform sorcery, and on the other hand, they directly summon demons to support them in their battles.
For ten thousand years, renegade Chaos legions and small-scale warbands sacked and destroyed countless planets belonging to the Emperor.
The Inquisition spared no effort to erase the massacres and conquests they launched from the history books, lest anyone be deceived into the embrace of Chaos, while the loyal Space Marines fought bloody battles against them, trying to keep them at bay in the human realm.
outside the wall.
Most of the people of the empire knew nothing about this long and fierce battle.
Of course, this is the worst-case scenario, and it may just be an ordinary Chaos believer or pirate, but Soshyan's battle principle is to calculate the worst-case scenario first.
"Have any traces of other warships or fleets been found nearby?"
"There is no sign of any other ships, just a Sword-class frigate parked at the orbital defense station."
"Sword level?"
Soshyan seemed to have caught something, a flash of inspiration.
"Tell me, their target...could it be that frigate."
"Then how did they break through the intercepting firepower of the defense station?"
Soshyan tapped his fingers on the guardrail.
"You just said that this transport ship belongs to the Ma'kande 2, right?"
"Yes."
"Then is it possible, or hypothetically..."
Soshyan looked up at the three-dimensional image of the ship on the monitor, thought for a moment and said:
"Suppose we want to land on a defensive orbit, but we want to avoid the fierce interception fire. What can we do? For example, get a transport ship, and then pretend that there is a malfunction or accident, attracting the rescue ship from the orbital station to arrive, and then
Seize the rescue boat and use the rescue boat's security identification code to avoid interception."
Lothar was stunned for a while.
"It seems... feasible."
"Then if we follow this plan, once we land on the orbital station, we will have to face attacks from the garrison. The Mechanicus forces on the ground will soon react. It will not be that easy to leave."
"Unless we seize the next battleship."
"Then that's right."
Soshyan clapped his hands lightly.
"Their target is the Sword-class frigate."
"Then how should we respond now? The invasion should have occurred for more than twenty minutes. The other party has most likely captured the frigate and is preparing to leave."
Lothar didn't finish what he said, but Soshyan had already heard what the other party meant.
Before the Sword-class frigate leaves the galaxy, concentrate your firepower to destroy it.
This was not difficult for the Starfire, which at its most basic level was a powerful Vanguard-class cruiser, and over the centuries the original design was rebuilt and expanded upon.
New engine modules, plasma circulation system, three layers of adamantine bulkheads - its capabilities are far more powerful than the cruisers used by the Navy.
No matter what the traitors possess, they cannot conceal the massive firepower that threatens the Starfire in this galaxy.
Then, the only frigate they have is naturally like a turtle in a urn.
"How is the communication at the orbital station? Can you lock on to the distress signal?"
"It's not [ ] good yet."
Lothar shook her head and replied:
"Once we reach the highest orbit, there will be a better chance of making contact. Local records list the distress signal being transmitted from a small marked station. We have no way of finding out if the garrison is still resisting, or if the signal is just playing on a loop.
"
"Then let's deal with the transport ship first. Now is the time when its defenses are at their weakest."
"And that makes it the perfect trap, and we know the traitors are willing to lay all manner of traps to lure unwary or overconfident targets to death, or worse."
"Tear down that trap and they'll have nothing to threaten us with."
"Then we can also smash it into scraps from a long distance."
Lothar was always unwilling to put Soshyan in danger, but he ignored a problem.
"We need to use it to understand the enemy, and the materials on it cannot be wasted."
Soshyan shook his head.
"And I bet these traitors never expected us to come, and they wouldn't survive long enough to escape from the orbital station."