Chapter 62

"There's a roar——"

"Huha, I'm alive..."

Zhu Yangai slumped down on his seat in a very bad posture, with bottles of various drinks scattered on the floor under him. Several servo skulls were helping the hammer guy clean up the mess. Just now, when Zhu Yan changed her identity as a wolf group chess piece and drank the wolf wine that was actually produced based on the memory of the Glory Queen, the terrifying feeling that could not be described in normal words directly overcame her. Zhu Yangai stopped descending and climbed back to the Queen of Glory. Then she ordered a lot of drinks and finally succeeded in suppressing the strange taste in her mouth.

"...If you have to be curious about the taste of a wave of wolf wine, everyone else has obviously warned you."

Looking at Zhu Yangai, who had a feeling of "decline" in his whole body, Redler couldn't help but cover his forehead with his hands - after joining the "Curse-bound High Lord Organization", Redler, as a newcomer, Naturally, they learned from Liang Feifan and the others. Based on the fact that they are colleagues and comrades-in-arms, Liang Feifan and the others did not hide certain subtle things from the newcomers. However, Zhu Yangai was stunned because he knew that there was a tiger in the mountain!

"As a Space Wolf player, why don't you try wolf wine when you have the opportunity - um...why do I feel that the taste is coming back?"

The next moment he said the word wolf wine, the bad memories just now flooded into his mind, making Zhu Yangai almost retching again - fortunately, Zhu Yangai still had some normal delicacies at hand that he had not finished eating just now. , helped this curious hammer man successfully suppress that feeling again.

"Is wolf wine really so powerful? I think the information they collected on wolf wine at that time was... well, let's not mention this word for now, let's study how to fight this wave."

Because Zhu Yangai's performance just now was indeed too exaggerated, the technical sergeant major could not help but wonder what the famous Warhammer 40K drink that could cross dimensions and defeat the Hammer was. However, after realizing that he had said Wolf Wine This word will make Zhu Yangai's psychological trauma that was not easy to heal open a crack, the technical sergeant immediately changed the topic.

"Considering the size of the opposing fleet and the number of Tau Empire chess pieces we have on hand, in order to ensure the highest success rate for this operation, the use of Titanium chess pieces to infiltrate and decapitate operations can only be used in the final stage after the position of the opposing commander is fully confirmed, and in the previous stage We'd better use some Astartes chess pieces to do a standard jump gang to seize some Tau warships or reduce their mobility - this can also cover us to stuff the Tau Empire's chess pieces onto their ships without anyone noticing. behavior.”

After thinking for a while, Redler gave his own opinion, and this idea directly made Zhu Yangai frown.

"I've already told the Weeper to wait and don't move. If we play a standard jump gang without them at the beginning, wouldn't it be bullying by the Astartes?"

"It's not a big problem. They can follow the subsequent Manta chess pieces to jump to the opposite flagship. This is much more glorious than the gang jumping that our chess pieces have to do - besides, the weepers may not know that we have to fight before they jump to the gang. There was a wave of gang-hopping.”

Redler's tone was confident, questions appeared on Zhu Yan's face, and the technical sergeant suddenly realized.

"The plan you mentioned for jumping gangs is to have mixed drones go in and directly project the chess pieces? I thought you said that the standard jumping gang plan is to use some kind of vehicle to hit the T'au Empire's warships!"

"We can't take out the torpedoes now, so of course we can only do it this way - the Tau won't care about this detail anyway - they just need to know that the human Astartes are attacking them. ”

"Doing this won't make the Titanium side suspicious, right? The news we arranged for the Titanium chess pieces to send to the Titanium side is very good!"

Although Redler's words were very reasonable, thinking about the news that the Hammers had arranged for the Tau Empire's chess pieces to be sent to the Tau expedition fleet, Zhu Yangai couldn't help but start to worry about the possibility of being involved in the gang - after all, in the news, the Hammers But there was no mention of the presence of the Imperial Astartes in this world...

"The premise for things to be revealed is that Titanium knows that there is an existence that can almost perfectly impersonate the Titanium race. Now Titanium does not have this intelligence source at all - well, it cannot be said that it does not exist, but with Titanium's subspace adaptability, Unless Tzeentch finds a way to talk to them in person, even if Carlos speaks the truth nine times in front of them, the Tau will only hear some noise."

First, he determined, and then he thought that a certain blue soft-bodied unknown creature seemed to have

Starting to peek at the battle, Redler immediately changed his tone of certainty to possibility - after all, it is not surprising for a Chaos God like Tzeentch to do anything...

"It is indeed possible that Tzeentch will enter the market at a loss just for fun, so we have to make plans to switch to a strong attack at any time. However, with the few troops we have, if we really attack by force, we can completely eliminate the forward pressure of a Tau expansion fleet. A little bit big..."

Zhu Yangai frowned, and the technical sergeant major shrugged.

"Actually, this problem can be easily solved. If things really appear to be beyond our control, just ask other people who are free to help - if not, borrow another wave of chess pieces."

"Indeed, then, start arranging the script?"

"Write! This time we are going to make the script even more miserable!"

20. The Weeper——The decisive battle is about to begin

What did you see in your dream just now?

Shiva, who returned to reality from sleep, pushed himself up from his desk with his hands, a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes.

In order to write as much as possible a perfect speech report that can make those humans who choose to follow the Greater Good feel as safe as possible and become a subordinate race of the Tau Empire, it can be said that Shiva has almost done everything except eating and drinking in recent times. All the time other than the necessary sleeping time was spent on compiling this speech, which also made the Shui clan elder successfully enter a trance due to excessive energy consumption, and had to use some additional medicine to help from time to time. He kept his mind clear - and Shiva had maintained this behavior before his body index alarmed.

Then he had a very strange dream, a dream full of things he didn't know. In the dream, he saw a blue soft thing jumping up and down, mumbling in vague words. He was saying things that he couldn't understand at all. Before he could lean over to listen carefully to what this abnormal-looking thing was saying, a purple-red mist was involved in his dream, and he began to 'gesticulate' - okay , and now Shiva is also very surprised as to why he feels that a mass of mist is gesticulating.

Then, the soft blue thing started fighting with the purple mist - well, although it was indeed strange to say this, Shiva's intuition told him that these two things were fighting, and the techniques they used were the same. A completely unclear method - when a red light suddenly shone down in the sky of his dream, Shiva found that his consciousness returned to reality.

"Elder Shiva, we have successfully reunited, and your landing ship and honor guard are also ready."

Just when Shiva wanted to dig into his memory and unearth the messy things he had just dreamed about to see if they were inspirations from his dreams that he had obtained from thinking too much about the Greater Good, one of his The personal guard knocked on his door and respectfully reported something that surprised Shiva to the water caste elder.

"Arrived already?"

Shiva spoke majestically, and at the same time looked at the timer on his desk with the corner of his eye. He was surprised to find that he had overslept - but how could this be possible? Didn’t you decide your rest time?

"Yes, elder."

"Let everyone conduct a final inspection, especially the ceremonial items. For the sake of the greater good, our diplomacy must not make any mistakes this time."

"Understood, elder."

After thinking about it in my mind, I felt that it would be a waste of time to study why I overslept. Besides, Shiva is not a Tau who is not good at accepting surprises. So, Shiva asked his drone to write the latest article he had written. After sorting out the manuscripts, he asked Drone to get his most solemn ceremonial clothes, stood up, cheered up, and walked towards the door.

Stepping towards the most bizarre and last diplomatic action in his life.

——————————The dividing line on the surface of Gibursa 2——————————————————

In full swing.

Be beaming.

At the coordinate point located on Gibulsa Line 2 received by the Council of the Four Tribes of the Titanium, a village that was roughly in human style, but the architectural style of some main areas had been replaced by the Titanium style. The construction was ready, and the flags fluttering in the wind were written with the words "The Greater Good" in crude Tau language. A statue that was a bit crooked but could be barely recognized by those familiar with it as a Tau fire warrior was placed in the center of the village. The metal seal hanging on the wall has various words of welcome written in Tau language. Fire warriors, fully armed and holding weapons, are patrolling the village under the leadership of the Tau champion.

Humans, on the other hand, are defenseless.

"This is the Greater Good."

When Shiva took his spaceship and slowly descended to the village, everything that appeared on his screen made the elder of the Water clan narrow his eyes with great pleasure. As a person who often uses his three A diplomat who conveys the message of the Greater Good to all kinds of dangerous alien races with a smooth tongue, Shiva is used to the tactics of those guys who 'believe in the Greater Good first and regret later', and is prepared for the meeting. Psychological preparation for some unfavorable things, however, look at what this village looks like?

Some areas where humans have believed in the Greater Good for a long time are not so great! No! Even some and titanium

No race that has lived for a long time has such a higher good!

And when Shiva got off the spacecraft, he saw several humans wearing Tau costumes, led by the Fire Warrior, holding gift boxes and walking towards him in a neat manner. The elder of the Water Tribe The ecstasy in his heart was even greater, so much so that he couldn't help but want to walk in front of the human holding the gift first - until the box was opened, and the fact that there was nothing in the box was revealed to the water caste. As far as the elders are concerned.

"This box?"

Looking at the empty box in front of him that seemed to have an ominous size and depth, Shiva felt a sense of crisis enveloped his heart. However, after confirming that these humans were being closely guarded by the Fire Warriors, , he was relieved again - so what? These humans are determined not to threaten their lives. At most, Ardern can handle the rest!

"Human, this is not the etiquette of the Greater Good - I believe that your etiquette does not include the custom of sending empty boxes to distinguished guests visiting from afar - therefore, can you please give me a reasonable explanation."

However, out of caution, Shiva secretly asked his guards to target these weird humans. At the same time, he took a small step back to make the relative distance between himself and the humans who gave the gifts safer. Just now He asked in his most standard diplomatic tone - at the same time, his hand was on the emergency button, ready to send out a distress signal at any time.

"Of course this is not a ceremony to welcome distinguished guests. However, it is a ceremony to 'welcome' aliens who do not know whether to live or die."

Before Shiva could prepare for the possibility that things might change, he pressed the well-camouflaged emergency button. Several pulse beams struck the guards he was leading. In the blink of an eye, these were completely unexpected. The warriors of the Tau Empire who were attacked by their own compatriots fell to the ground helplessly after sparks flew from their bodies. They twitched a few times and then stopped moving. One of the Tau Fire Warriors even fell to the ground. He took off his helmet, revealing his stern face.

"Ah...ah???"

Something unexpected happened in front of him. Shiva, who had always followed the teachings of the Greater Good, entered a state of stupidity - he wanted to scream, but it seemed as if a large bottle was stuffed into his throat. Like glue, he couldn't make a sound. He wanted to run, but his feet seemed to have taken root and he couldn't move. When the elder of the Water Clan finally put his body back on his When his brain came under control, he found that he was completely surrounded.

"Traitors, you have betrayed the Greater Good - my actions have been transmitted to the flagship in real time. If you surrender now, there is still a way to survive."

Looking around at the Tau warriors surrounding him, Shiva spoke with a sad and angry tone.

"Don't waste your efforts, aliens. We have everything you have under our control. Now, what you see on your ship is the beautiful scene of us happily gathering together to discuss the Greater Good. Although this video will not be very long, it is enough for us. Do something that will allow us to better eliminate you."

A strange light flashed, and the human standing opposite Shiva put on a set of robes of the Lord of Cadia at an incredible speed. At the same time, the sound of a certain weapon starting to operate also reached Shiva's ears. Center - Realizing what he was about to encounter, Shiva hurriedly tried to move his legs that had regained consciousness. However, the next second, he was kicked to the ground.

"Let's talk about it and borrow some money?"

————————————————The dividing line of the Tau fleet————————————————————

Something is definitely wrong.

If before, Ardern simply thought that "relying on the Greater Good to take down a planet that had chosen to resist the Tau Empire's humans", this was somewhat inconsistent with the history of pioneering operations that he knew, then watching it in real time After seeing Shiva and those humans who had taken refuge in the Greater Good, happily discussing the beautiful scenes of the Greater Good, Ardern concluded one thing.

How is it possible that the concept of a higher good can attract humans to such an extent? Something happened to Shiva!

However, the other two elders who belong to the same council as him obviously do not think so.

"Ardern, we all know that you have some other understandings of the Greater Good. We are not surprised by this, because part of your Fire family's responsibilities itself conflicts with the Greater Good. However, this does not mean that you deny the Greater Good. Reasons why you can sometimes achieve success that guns can’t.”

The elder of the Qi clan shook his head slightly, looking like he disagreed with Ardern.

"We have been closely monitoring Shiva, his warriors and his ship. So far, we have not found anything unusual."

This is what the elder of the Tu clan told Ardern after he clicked on the projection.

"...."

Ardern did not answer, but repeatedly recalled everything in her mind from the time she learned that this galaxy was taken into the hands of the Tau Empire until now. A certain sense of inconsistency in the details danced in Ardern's mind. , these seemingly harmless things combined into a twisted and fatal possibility - a possibility that made him shudder and violated common sense - if this possibility existed, then all the sense of violation would be With the explanation, however, is this really possible? if it is fact

, doesn’t that mean ether...?

"Shiva is back, let's go meet him."

Just when Ardern was trembling because of a certain guess that popped up in his mind, the scene of Shiva's spaceship returning to the mothership appeared on the projection screen in front of them. Seeing this, the other two elders immediately stood up. , prepare to greet according to the rules...

"Ardern, what's wrong with you?"

Looking at Ardern sitting motionless on the seat, the elder of the Tu clan sounded puzzled - he knew very well that although Ardern often behaved very independently, in terms of etiquette, he still followed Following the teachings of the Supreme Good, why did he not even bother with etiquette this time?

"I have something to do and I have to leave immediately. Please tell Shiva that I'm sorry."

Speaking incoherently and incomprehensibly, Arden rushed out of the meeting room of the Four-Man Council like a frightened little animal, quickly entered the combat command room, and in the puzzled eyes of other Fire Clan warriors, he issued a series of martial law orders that could put the entire fleet on hold at lightning speed. When he was sure that the last order was successfully received, Arden breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, maybe it's okay?"

——————————————————The dividing line of the weepers——————————————————————

Don't think too much.

Don't ask.

Don't even doubt.

We are the Emperor's angels of death. In the name of the Emperor, it is our duty to fight to protect the people of the empire. Everything else is false.

However...

In Manta's hangar, Captain Malakin, who was waiting to use this unique boarding plan again to deal a fatal blow to the main force of the alien fleet, could not help but cast his eyes on the Astra Militarum array not far away. The Captain of the Lamenters could easily judge that this Astra Militarum, which obviously originated from Cadia, was a truly powerful army, and its elite level could be said to be the best Astra Militarum he had ever seen. But where did such a large Astra Militarum come from?

Just when Malakin gave himself a shot of prevention again, telling himself not to think too much and not to delve into the secrets of the First Legion, Redler came to Captain Malakin with the Commissar's descended body - a Cadia Castle Lord model that the Commissar had slightly modified herself.

"Brother Malakin, this is the Lord of Kurta. When the boarding operation begins, his people will cooperate with you in the battle - and those Tau people who have chosen the right path of the Emperor will pave the way for you - in addition, we will assist the Weepers to access the combat command channel of the Tau aliens to obtain first-hand intelligence of the Tau aliens in real time. I believe you can make good use of it."

"Understood."

Malakin said, giving up thinking about how many strange methods the First Legion had again.

Twenty-one. The Weepers - The End of the Tau Fleet

For this fleet of the Tau Empire, the origin of this disaster is very terrifying and incomprehensible.

As they got off the spaceship, Shiva, the Water caste elder who had the deepest understanding of the Greater Good in the fleet and was always amiable to all intelligent beings willing to follow the Greater Good - whether they were Tau or not - suddenly pulled out a Pulse Rifle from behind him and shot the head of the Air caste elder who was unprepared to greet him. He then roared loudly for the Emperor and ordered the Fire caste warriors behind him to shoot to death the other living Tau in the hangar - including the Earth caste elder who was standing there in a daze because of this drastic change. The entire fleet was in chaos in an instant, with all kinds of contradictory information spreading wildly in the communication channels. Some Tau claimed that they were being hunted by their own people, while others claimed that the Empire's warriors called Astartes had infiltrated the fleet and were madly slaughtering all the Tau they could meet. At the same time, some Tau said that in fact Elder Shiva had died a long time ago, and the despicable Fire Clan elder had found his confidant to disguise himself as the respectable Elder Shiva, with the goal of completely taking control of the command of this vanguard fleet!

"Let the Earth Clan technicians immediately reset our communication channels and send out all the sounds that are not related to the command and combat - what? Can't do it! If you can't do it, you can at least block some of them, right?"

In the combat command room, the Fire Clan elder Arden, who witnessed Shiva and his subordinates suddenly going crazy after getting off the spaceship, turning the entire hangar into a slaughterhouse, and using a sharper eye than the average Fire Clan to catch the connection between Shiva's head and body that seemed a little wrong, immediately arranged all troops to launch operations according to the predetermined combat plan the moment he realized that his horrible guess had become a fact - but the first challenge he encountered was the fleet's command channel that had become a mess - the Tau Empire had a wealth of response plans for electronic warfare interference, but...

This kind of situation where the entire combat communication network was paralyzed without any warning was the first time even Arden had seen it!

"Jump the communication channel to backup channel 4, and start the highest combat protocol at the same time. All teams immediately report your position and enemy to me. The enemy is the Tau people who betrayed the Supreme Good. We need to re-establish the enemy identification mechanism." Group 6 9 4 9 3 6 1 3 5

Just as Arden was racking his brains and trying every means to effectively rebuild the fleet's command chain, the identification signal of a frigate on the big screen suddenly disappeared in the fleet array-and then, the second one.

"Are there any alarms from them?"

Although the projection screen in front of him has not received any calls for help or other alarm-related signals from these ships so far, Arden still involuntarily grasped the armrest of his seat-the first time, the first time he sat in this position, he prayed to the Supreme Good that he had failed to fulfill his duties...

"No, elder, everything was normal before their identification signals failed."

It makes sense, but the answer that Arden didn't want to hear reached his ears, successfully making the nerves of the battle-hardened Fire Clan elder enter the "crazy trembling" mode. After a few seconds of silence, the elder made a decision, a decision that seemed cruel to others.

"Battleship main guns, lock on to the frigates whose identification signals have failed. They may no longer be under our control."

"??? Elder?"

Hearing this terrifying order, the titanium in the entire combat command room was stunned.

"I said lock - damn it!!!"

The main gun bombardment from the frigate hit the flagship heavily. Although it did not break its battleship-level shield, it still gave a considerable degree of energy supply pressure to the flagship, which was already in a mess. When other Tau hurriedly began to mark the two battleships as enemies and let the main guns start charging, the two frigates had already run away with their engines at full power...

"It seems that our enemies seem to have set their sights on our ships - huh?"

The projection screen in front of Arden suddenly went out, and the sound in the headphones also fell silent. In the huge command center, the only light sources were the flying drones and the glowing things on the equipment worn by the Tau.

"The battleship engine was not shut down, and the shield was functioning normally. It was only the energy related to the internal lighting and communication that was cut off. Moreover, the backup energy could not be activated. Earth Clan, are you sure that none of you have betrayed?"

Such a precise silent attack made Arden, who had already become a frightened bird in some sense, involuntarily cast his eyes on the Earth Clan working in the combat command center. The meaning implied in his tone made the Tau people of the Earth Clan feel a little shocked. Of course, the good news is that before things get worse, the lights of some key equipment have been turned on, and the noise of the battlefield has been heard again in the headphones.

"Sorry, there are too many counterintuitive events in this battle, and I have to be vigilant...????"

Looking at the projection screen in front of him light up again, Arden, who felt that he was too nervous just now, breathed a sigh of relief. However, before he could finish his words, the enemy identification signal on the screen that was lit up again made him feel like he was falling into an ice cave. What happened? Why was his place marked as an 'enemy'? No? It's not just me, the identification mechanisms of all the teams are messed up!

"Hurry up and fix the IFF system - can't it be fixed?"

"Elder Arden, it's completely locked. Unlock the IFF system. We need at least half a day to complete it."