Chapter 399 05.0398: ‘Decisive Battle Position’

1:00 pm Terra time.

As the Imperial Navy and the Chaos Fleet formed a battle line, firing at each other with unparalleled hatred, leaving a large piece of wreckage in the four or five hundred kilometers of void between the two fleets, the fleet had already crossed most of the way.

Horatio and the fleet commander watched the direction of the Chaos Fleet intently.

Finally, the cruiser "Emperor's Death" showed a tendency to turn right, just as Horatio expected.

She turned right in the 140-degree direction of the Indefatigable.

This was not what the Chaos Fleet wanted.

The greenskins' wedge-shaped battle formation was like a roc spreading its wings, extending a long section on the right wing, like a fishing net dragged in the sea, shrinking and encircling, cutting off the Chaos Fleet's left turn route.

If they wanted to turn left abruptly, they would directly collide with the greenskin fleet head-on, and crash into a bloody mess.

But if they turn right, they can not only distance themselves from the greenskin fleet, but also seize the upper T-head of the Imperial Navy fleet and deliver firepower to the rear of the Imperial Navy battle line.

Admiral Chaos deeply understands the advanced principle of "the ocean is a casino" in 40K.

After a short and efficient negotiation, Horatio, the flag captain, and Captain Peru unanimously decided to make a hook turn.

This is the last step of the T-shaped tactics.

When the Chaos Fleet turned right according to the will of their admiral and headed towards the rear T-head of the Imperial Navy, the fleet commander of the Imperial Navy Fleet also issued an order at the same time.

"Telegram the entire fleet to immediately turn 150 degrees in the opposite direction of the Indefatigable and form a diagonal formation."

The second lieutenant of the communications department who served as the flag officer immediately conveyed the will of the fleet commander and the flagship captain.

The flagship of the Imperial Navy Fleet, the Indefatigable, hung a new maneuverable holographic signal flag.

Every warship that saw the signal flag of the Indefatigable hoisted the same signal flag. In less than 15 minutes, from the first ship to the last ship, all the members of the fleet understood the tactical intention of the flagship.

Lord Darrows began to turn left.

"This is the captain. The starboard side of the Indefatigable will immediately carry out combat readiness and rest, repair the breach in the hull, remove the wounded,

and continue to eliminate the remaining Chaos boarding troops."

Horatio then issued a combat readiness and rest order to the ship.

The reason for executing a T-shaped turn to the left instead of the seemingly more advantageous outflanking strategy to the right.

is that the starboard side has suffered moderate damage after a salvo with the Chaos fleet from beginning to end, and the crew is very tired after several hours of fighting, and the combat effectiveness has decreased.

After turning left, the battleship can use the intact port side that has not yet been engaged to aim at the enemy and sail in the same direction, allowing the starboard side to make corrections and emergency repairs.

At the same time, although the right turn can continue to fire with the starboard side, and simultaneously focus fire on the greenskin fleet and the Chaos fleet through outflanking.

But at this time, the Imperial Navy fleet is firing at the planet, and the shooting trajectory will definitely be affected by the planet's rotation orbit and deviate.

However, there will be no such troubles if you turn left. The Imperial Navy is still on the line of engagement with the Far Star as the background. Any shells fired at the Imperial Navy warships will suffer the debuff brought by the orbital deflection force, and will not affect the accuracy of the port side of the intact warships facing the enemy fleet with its back against the void.

At this time, the light cruiser at the end of the Chaos fleet is exchanging fire with two Dreadnought-class cruisers of the Imperial Navy.

Although the Imperial Navy's Dreadnought-class has a total of 12 macro guns on the left and right sides, when only one side can fire, due to the rotatable turrets on the spine of the Chaos warship, the one-time firepower projection of the two is surprisingly similar, and both can fire 6 shells.

Although it seems that the Imperial Navy cannot exert the full firepower of 12 guns due to the single-sided side shooting, it has to hold off with the Chaos firepower.

But everyone knew that if the Chaos Fleet was caught between the Green Fleet and the Imperial Navy, their proud advantage of rotating turrets would turn into a disadvantage, and they would pay a heavy price.

Horatio knew very well that the maneuver he was carrying out was to push the Chaos Fleet to the center of the battle, so that they would be sandwiched in the middle like hamburger meat.

For this reason, even if the Imperial Navy suffered a certain loss, it was acceptable, because the Chaos Fleet would suffer greater losses soon.

"What? The engine's maximum flight time has reached?" Fasha, who was waiting for the ground crew to perform maintenance and loading on the fighter and was preparing to return to the battlefield, received this news and couldn't help but cover his head and muttered in distress.

"According to the will of the Messiah of Om, the engine flight time of your fighter has reached nearly 15,000 hours,

reaching the limit of returning to the factory.

Because you often perform extreme maneuvers, the engine vortex loss is higher than other fighters with the same flight time, and the condition is very poor. It was a blessing from the God of All Machines that nothing happened before."

A technical priest with a servo skull floating next to him explained in a stiff mechanical voice.

"Is there anything else we can do? I-----the squadron now has only this one fighter with squadron command function." Seeing that half of the eight shuttle aprons on the starboard side had green lights on, indicating that the corresponding fighters were ready to attack, the female pilot pleaded.

"The engines transferred from the Karl-Duniyash Squadron are out of stock, and there are no spare engines-the possibility of going into battle... Denied."

"No!" The female pilot turned her head to look at a vortex engine removed from a damaged fighter behind the shuttle apron, pointed and said: "Help me install that engine!"

"In the name of the God of All Machines, even if it is installed, it should be tested for airworthiness."

"I will test it during combat." The female pilot said resolutely,

""010010101000101---010---01." The technical priest had a brief binary communication with another servant of the God of Machines, and then nodded.

"You can try, but the Mechanicus will not make any guarantees for your life safety. In the name of the God of Machines,

We finally confirm with you, do you really want to do this and voluntarily bear all the consequences?"

Fasha's pink lips trembled slightly, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled: "I'm sure."

"The Iris License Agreement has been signed, and the user has fully understood and accepted the risks faced by informal modifications. The insurance clauses C-S00B and MI-88392 are invalid, and the Mechanicus will no longer be liable for compensation to the Imperial Navy for your airworthiness safety. "

Two heavy servitors used the clamps in their hands to load the disassembled engine onto the trailer. Under the command of the engineer, Wen performed an emergency engine replacement on the Eagle No. 1.

"May the Emperor bless you." Fasha turned around and performed the Eagle Salute to the adamantine Eagle embedded in the wall behind the shuttle apron, muttering devoutly.

"This is the flagship of the Gothic Fleet, the 'Indefatigable'. We are conducting a tactical maneuver and need the Nova Cannon to cover the rear of the team."

"Received by the 'Wrath of Mondayas', the Nova Cannon is charging. "

In the void, the Imperial Navy turned into an inverted 7 formation.

The Dreadnought-class light cruisers supported by the Karl-Duniyash fleet at the rear bravely fought against the greenskins and Chaos fleets at the same time.

The enemy's shells hit them one by one along the battle line, making them like victims walking on a road of whipping.

The whips made of shells left shocking scars on their bodies, and the torn armor fragments flew away without looking back. The crew members who were sucked out of the hull curled up stiffly and floated in the dark and boundless universe.

Another explosion flashed on the side of the last battleship at the end of the fleet, not far from the bridge, so Horatio had to pinch Sweat.

But they were tenacious, just like their name "Dreadnought". Even though they were seriously injured, they bravely fired at the enemies of the Empire with the six broadside guns on the starboard side.

Even though their fins were smashed, they still firmly maintained their course and never wavered.

Jiong!

Suddenly, an extremely dazzling light fell on the chaotic fleet and the greenskin fleet in the melee, and then expanded into a blazing white fireball, causing serious damage to the main structures of several warships in the range.

That was the nova cannon under the Mars-class battlecruiser "Wrath of Mondayas" firing.

Under the cover of the scorching light of the nova cannon, the Imperial Navy's Gothic Squadron sailed towards the final decisive battle position.