Chapter 324 Expedition

There are 700 ships, and the logistics and many complicated transportation processes can reach more than 2,000. Such a scale is rare in the history of the Empire. It cannot be said that it can be counted on one's fingers, but it is no more than a hundred.

But this scale is not huge. Compared with the war launched by the Sun Lord Organization across the entire Pangea and the combined forces of four star regions, this operation seems to be stretched.

Compared with the expected number of dispatches, there are more warships here, but the elusive prophecy, the mysterious purple hand, and the restless red pirates have brought confusing signals to this matter.

However, Skadi's warships are still moving forward in the tactical formation of three armies, with local territories, planetary governors, and the Imperial Navy as three divisions. The Imperial Navy has a hundred elite warships in front, like a razor blade, few and sharp, arranged in the void, and then there are 200 various planetary governor warships, mostly armed ships and retired imperial destroyers or frigates.

They are the backbone of this war, with the largest number and variety. They are responsible for the core fire support and cover, and at the same time they are responsible for encircling the scattered enemies scattered by the Imperial Navy. They are not important, but they are needed. Their existence can effectively reduce the burden, sacrifice, and combat pressure of the Imperial Navy.

The largest and most diverse fleet is the private ships of many local fortress lords. Most of them are transport ships with a bit of green skin style and weapons, and many ships do not even have macro cannons.

The most fatal point is that they have no navigators. It is difficult to be sensitive to how many things there are in the vast void by relying entirely on the navigation of the Thinker Array. This is also the inevitable situation of the surrounding stars of the Enjili Spaceport with scarce supplies.

But even so, they still spent all their money to gather so many ships, more because their busy transportation has produced many free captains or cold traders who obey the orders of the lords.

This war force of about 400 ships is not superior in combat power. They are more responsible for loose work such as transportation, logistics, and ensuring the encirclement. However, it does not mean that they have no desire to fight. On the contrary, most lords are more or less disgusted with this place, especially their own positions.

In addition, the minimum requirement of the lords for going to war is to leave a name in history, so that their families can have more prefixes, and fill their bodies with honors and a few great achievements. Even if they do not break the current situation, they can be called rebels or fearless by their descendants, and be worshipped and envied, and they can also stabilize the turbulent power network within the territory.

Compared with the stability and prosperity required by the planetary governors, the idea of ​​surviving possible traitor invasions, or the idea of ​​the Imperial Navy to obey orders, responsibilities, and serve the Emperor.

The thoughts of the fortress owners, who were called lords, seemed much more complicated, but they were not useless. On the contrary, with such a large number, as long as the war situation showed an advantage, their morale would probably be overwhelmingly higher than that of the planetary governors, because any warship destroyed at this moment would be the wealth of their family for generations and a great honor.

Those greedy hounds seemed to have great interest in any scraps of war. They were probably difficult to control, but the main force of the Imperial Navy did not rely on them.

But such a large-scale mixed formation was still rare in the history of the Empire. Except for the Gothic War that almost everyone knew about, the Empire rarely carried out such an exceptional action. However, compared with the despair at that time, the Astra Militarum was more willing to take the initiative at this moment.

The bridge of Bordello seemed a little cold today, about 16 degrees Celsius, which was probably the weather in late autumn on Terra, which just allowed the officers to wear thick windbreakers to show their bravery and hide their big bellies. Although the two great infantry regiments of Skadi did not have this problem, this temperature had also become a customary rule of the fleet.

At first, it might just be to save a little energy, but now it has become the standard temperature on the warship. The artificial air circulation system sizzles out air with a faint smell of promethium, which is not fresh. On the warship, the slight roar of the super-powerful engine can make people nervous.

The crude temperature control equipment often makes people feel the burning heat on the right half of the body when they sleep, and the coldness on the left side in the ice cave. Such an environment is not friendly, but because of the ambiguous attitude between humans and the universe, the empire and the void, such an environment may be the best summary of the reality, that is, in a huge but suffocating place, experiencing a life full of differences, just like when humans face the huge galaxy and countless weird aliens in it.

Therefore, there is a saying in the empire that "a sailor who can live a prosperous life on a warship is probably not bad to be placed in other places."

This sentence not only expresses the ability of talents, but also reflects that adaptability is the greatest talent that humans need to survive in the boundless empire and the void.

At this point, Ailanbaier tightened his windbreaker and took a rest with his eyes closed in his seat on the bridge. Here, in the highest command room of the empire's greatest technological product, the empire's elite commanders, dispatchers, or general controllers probably all had the same attitude, like people who got on a crowded bus early before a long journey, and after going through the excitement of just getting on and the feelings of parting, they were tortured by numbness and silence.

Death-like silence permeated the entire bridge, with only the faint roar of the engine, because they had prepared everything for the present at least a year ago, so there was no need to spend too much emotion on this matter that had been decided long ago, even if it was a war.

This state was like an old soldier sleeping in a trench, covering his body with a leather jacket, watching the raindrops falling from the plastic shed he had built due to the artillery fire, sliding past his military boots with maggots, mud and blood on the bodies of his dead comrades, but he was only sleepy and numb.

Even in the face of war, those who are often on the front line have long learned to switch naturally between fighting and resting, and behind this is how much heartbreaking pain and mental torture there is, and more emotions that others cannot know at all, because numbness is the most terrible thing in this world. After that kind of calmness, there is an irresistible and overwhelming despair after an unacceptable thing is staged again and again.

Finally, the dead silence dissipated in an instant after a short beeping sound, and the entire bridge was as dead as a picture with a few frames removed. Everyone started their own work, the equipment roared continuously, and the picture outside Bordello's window also showed bright tail flames one after another. Its zero degree was comparable to that of a star, which was the common language of the greatest machines in the empire.

The flickering light appeared in the void, and the endless universe without sunlight was clearly illuminated by the blue flames of hundreds of battleship engines. This universe, it is better to say, is not silent at this moment, but the muscles ready to go are tense, accumulating strength and power.

Those "stars" carry long tails and spread out into three "star clusters" like the Milky Way flying in the universe. The speed of any of the "stars" is enough to cross the entire solar system in less than a day. Even if they are now bound by the group, it only takes three or four days. Such a terrible speed is worthless compared to the openness of the void, because it is easy for them to cross star systems, but it takes several years to go from one star system to another. However, after 40,000 years of continuous development by humans, it only takes three months to cross one-fifth of the Milky Way.

Although it will still be affected by the fluctuations of the subspace, the efforts of countless generations of pioneers behind it are still engraved on every imperial warship and ship. The arks that carried civilization across the starry sea were eventually used for fighting. The Imperial Navy is the descendant of the great pioneers and the shackles that bind humans to the land of the Milky Way. However, those emotions that are bound to the stars and trampled by countless aliens and heretics have not disappeared.

So far, humans have put all of themselves into the war, for the revenge of the Emperor, for the existence of the Empire, and for the human civilization not to decline again, forming this twisted and terrible Empire. But humans no longer have a homeland, and Terra is just a scorched earth now. They have nothing to lose.

Now no one will think about whether the Empire needs to exist, because without the Emperor, this void and this galaxy will never be unimpeded again. Those psychics and those twisted monsters will tear the entire human civilization into pieces, just like the dark technological age.

Now all everyone can do is loyalty, more loyalty, and more loyalty than ever. As one of the countless currencies of the Emperor, give up everything they have.

With this mentality, the three "star clusters" crossed several fortresses. After the crude supply and overall adjustment, it took a full two months to reach the destination. There is no doubt that such a huge scale march will cause such problems. They are much slower than expected, mainly because the imperial warships need to wait for the laying of supply lines. A complete supply and transportation line across the entire universe is slowly injecting blood into the entire fleet.

So far, after two months of sailing, the Imperial warship finally saw the destination of the trip. On the bridge of Bordello, Alanbair looked at the green dot displayed on the divination instrument. It was the star fortress called Oba. It looked extremely small at the moment, but bright. Alanbair wiped his sleepy face with the towel handed by the soldier. He didn't have an orderly. The one who prepared a cart of hot towels for all the commanders here was a hard-working person.

He said. "Thank you." The private soldier immediately returned a standard military salute, and then went down with the cart. A closer look showed that there was still the emblem of the 5th Infantry Regiment of Skadi on his shoulder.

A gratifying young man, Alanbair's mind subconsciously flashed this concept, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Thinking that he was less than 30 years old, his thoughts were getting closer to veterans. He had served for several years without dying. He was already blessed by the emperor. In this universe full of monsters, every breath he took was a good luck.

After he wiped his cheeks, he became more alert. He stood up and returned the towel. He thanked the private soldier again before walking to the captain again.

The complicated control panels were still the same as before, but considering the proximity to the enemy-occupied area, the captain's cheeks were more tired and had some dark circles under his eyes. Although he was still energetic and healthy, he revealed a faint sense of fatigue.

This was very abnormal. He was an old captain with strong mental strength. At the same time, he also realized that people in the entire command area were more or less in this state, and he was restless yesterday.

But he didn't think much about it, just spoke. "Do you need the first mate to change shifts?"

The captain shook his head. "The next step is the handover with the fortress. I don't want me to be unable to listen. This is related to how I plan the consumption of the next supplies, and we are getting closer and closer to the airspace of the Engili Spaceport."

Alan Baier rubbed his chin and looked at the many warships in the void. As a senior officer of the Imperial Navy, the captain had the obligation to command and escort those warships. The entire tactical array group was exchanging intelligence all the time, and finally handed it over to the captain to judge the war situation. His pressure was no less than Alan Baier, or even greater.

Considering this, Alan Baier spoke. "I will ask someone to record it. Just once today, take a rest."

The captain thought for a while. "No, I can give up command, but I need to be on the bridge during this period."

Alan Baier retorted. "You can't let go here."

The captain scolded. "It's the same whether we go back or anywhere. Don't you and I understand that for soldiers on the battlefield, the so-called family, protection, responsibility, and duty are not important. For us, the real concern is our comrades."

"Comrades are the foundation for most soldiers to stick to. In extreme cases, we can only trust them and love them. Now I am responsible for the lives of a million people. Anyone can relax, but I am the only one who cannot leave this void a few hours before the war begins!"

Alan Baier shook his head. "Then you should rest even more. That's it. First mate, I order you to come on stage. Come on, take the captain down."

The captain shook his head. "How can you treat a senior imperial navy officer like this?" His words were not angry but calm, because he knew that he could not relax.

Alan Baier said. "Only when you are in your best condition can you achieve victory. I will ask the military doctor to give you a shot of sleeping pills. The dosage will not be too large. This is the only solution."

The captain nodded, but Alan Baier felt something was wrong. He often took caffeine and was used to fatigue. His physique was originally better than those of the commanders. He also had a firm will and good work and rest habits, but he also felt tired and strong, and could not be separated.

However, after the first mate took the command position, he suppressed his thoughts and began to wait for the handover of supplies. According to the forecast, they would raid the enemy's airspace in three hours!