Chapter 441 06.0440: ‘Prelude to the Fourth Sky Expansion’

After the vibrations subsided, Old Man Qiao immediately jumped out, took out his homemade copper stethoscope, and placed one end against the hull.

The slender end was inserted into the ear, and a small stick was used to tap the bulkhead quickly and slowly.

Being able to make a nest and become an evergreen tree among the mixed fish and dragons, in addition to his ability to judge the situation, he also has his own special skill, which is to use this simple but common equipment to find out where there is something wrong with the metal knob with just two taps. .

After all, those gear boys’ non-destructive metal flaw detectors aren’t that easy to come by.

Old man Qiao has also seen that thing on several mechanics raised by big gangs. It is indeed as successful as his own, and he often laments it privately.

"Yes! Here!"

After listening intently for a few seconds, he immediately discovered a slender crack from an inconspicuous weld, which was the slight damage to the hull caused by the explosion vibration.

He then picked up the ion welder on his waist and quickly re-welded the cracks.

Wartime damage control is enough to this extent. More complete and in-depth repairs will have to wait until after the war, and let the technical priests fill the cracks with adamantine molten iron to fill the cracks.

In the void.

Two torpedoes flew towards the Ambassador-class light cruiser one after the other.

She avoided the first torpedo fired on a straight track, but the maneuver was just as Horatio predicted,

The second detonating torpedo launched met the target that seemed to have come to her on her own initiative, and directly hit her bat-like part.

"Torpedo No. 3 hit!" Louise, who was closely watching the battle situation, shouted out the observation results.

puff!

Like a harpoon hitting a giant whale, the entire body of the Envoy-class battleship first trembled.

Immediately afterwards, the joints between the functional modules burst from the inside, and raging tongues of flames and blazing rays tore through the front of the ship.

Although in terms of the power of the torpedo itself, the damage of this blow was large enough and it directly shattered part of the Tau Empire's hull, the hit part itself was not fatal enough for the Envoy-class cruiser.

"Steering torpedo No. 4! It no longer needs to be disguised as an unguided torpedo."

The priest in charge of wire operation immediately followed the interface, injected the already packaged data packet from the source circuit into the wire, and transmitted it to the wetware in the mine body.

Under the stimulation of the needle electrode connected to the decoder, the built-in wetware drove the thunder body to change its direction, draw an arc in the void, and re-aim with no intelligence, only the torment and paralysis of the physical instinct.

This time, its target was the base of the Envoy class light cruiser.

boom!

Caught off guard by the opponent, the well-maintained torpedo smoothly passed through the sparse and messy air defense net due to the attack, and detonated itself contentedly when it hit the target, shattering the entire port side of the 'Envoy' class. Fins and hulls.

On the black cosmic curtain, the huge scars flashing with bright electric flowers and flames completely made this Tau Empire's cutting-edge battleship completely lose the possibility of field repair.

Even if she drove back to the port, the Earth Caste engineers would just shake their heads at her and choose to give up repairs that were not worth the loss.

Even the non-stop automatic maintenance drones cannot fill such a huge gap. She has been completely turned into a piece of floating garbage after being hit by two lightning strikes. Perhaps only the green-skinned orcs can have new thoughts about her.

"Praise the Ohm Messiah! Bless the God of All Machines! The blasphemous alien technology will be purified by your power!" Mechanic Priest Voss, who controlled the torpedo, praised the grace of the God of All Machines with a stiff electric sound.

After the shirtless men in the torpedo room heard this prayer, they instantly knew what was happening in the void.

"Yeah!!!" they shouted with excitement.

"Yeah!!! All bombs hit! Hahahaha!" The shirtless men raised their muscular arms and touched each other passionately. Gray towels soaked in sweat and engine oil also flew above everyone's heads.

From the moment they passed various tests and boarded the ship to become members of the Imperial Navy, they felt extremely proud of their status. Many of them acted quickly and had already tattooed the epic's ship's emblem, the saber-toothed sawfish, on On his big arm.

Now they are also eager to ask their colleagues who have worked in the tattoo industry to tattoo three more skulls symbolizing their victory.

"We've killed her." Horatio looked at the freshly-baked space ruins in front of him that had completely lost all basic functions. The twisted fractures and cracks still emitted lightning and fire from time to time, and the unstable energy leakage set off small explosions. , tearing off new pieces one after another from the remaining body.

Some surviving Tau crew members boarded the lifeboats that were successfully launched, but were blown to pieces by the short-term defense turrets of the Gladius-class escort ships that arrived shortly afterwards.

The Astartes, a sub-band of the Ultramarines, clearly did not want these aliens alive who had blasphemed God-Emperor Hanyu.

Of course, it may not be aliens, but humans who have taken refuge with the Tau. They are called Guvisa by the Tau.

The Empire prefers to call them traitors, a slave race of the Tau Empire, obedient 'second-class citizens'.

There may also be other weird aliens, but it doesn't matter. The human empire will only destroy all aliens and traitors equally.

Looking at the shattered escape cabin, Horatio felt no emotion in his heart. On the Blue Star, shooting at the escape cabin was an immoral act.

But in this cold and dark 41st millennium, this 41st millennium with only war, there is only one kind of morality on the battlefield.

Just give the enemy a happy death!

Kill and be killed is the only iron law in this world, for them and for the Empire.

Pulling his thoughts out of the trivial melancholy, he raised his hand and ordered: "Turn the ship around, resume the battle position, continue searching, see if there are any other threats in the void, and at the same time send out flag signals, requiring the Ultramar Defense Fleet to strictly implement light control, and don't let this happen a second time."

"As you wish, Captain!"

Horatio took out a handkerchief from his arms and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Who would have thought that the first victory won by the Epic was not the expected Tau Empire cargo ship, but a real Tau warship?

A headquarters in the gate world of the Tau Empire.

"Tower # , Ilborri & Bolkan # Uriowa lost the signal." A fleet manager of the Tau Empire Air Clan reported to an Ether holding a ten-character golden staff.

"The last navigation node?"

"367.846.9533, the last message they sent back indicated that their action plan was to attack the enemy's transport fleet."

"It's really strange. Our intelligence shows that the enemy's Gothic vanguard fleet has not set sail. She should not be discovered by the enemy's fleet. Continue to search and pay attention to relevant news."

Ether, wearing a wide robe, frowned, and the four fingers of the ten-character golden staff kept tapping on the staff, wondering how the anti-ship ship could be disconnected out of thin air.

"We will discuss this matter later. Let's hold the oath ceremony for the fourth sky expansion first! The galaxy is huge, and there are many intelligent civilizations. They are all waiting for the enlightenment of the Greater Good."

Ether, wearing a pointed white double-horned tall hat, looked at the endless parade ground outside. The morning sun had already sprinkled on the thousands of troops who had lined up for inspection, and the battle uniforms of different sizes stood in an orderly manner on the ground.

As the stars of the home world rose slowly from the horizon, the flag of the Tau Empire also rose with it.

As if symbolizing the vitality of the only truth and hope in this dark universe, it will eventually hang high in the sky and illuminate all living beings.

The red eyes of a maintenance bee clinging to the nanocomb lit up, and after completing the self-inspection according to the established procedure, it started the suspension engine.

It swept across the parade ground, brushed past the wasp man singing in the air, and below it was an endless expeditionary phalanx.

Whether it was the Tau people, the Guvisa, or other alien auxiliary troops, they all wore the same style of Tau Empire's individual equipment, holding rail rifles or other weapons customized according to racial characteristics, full of spirit,

walked through the parade ground in strict discipline, and finally lined up to embark on the landing ship.

They will rush to the starry sea under the guidance of the "Greater Good" and spread the only truth and enlightenment to all intelligent creatures.

They will become the vanguard of the Tau Empire's fourth sky expansion, and under the sacred revelation of the "Greater Good", clear the obstacles for the fourth expansion of the Tau Empire.

The drone flew over rows of neatly parked landing craft and flew over densely packed, neatly parked Hammerhead gunships.

The positioning of Hammerhead gunships in the Tau Empire is similar to that of tanks in the Empire of Man.

In the Battle of Taros, the exchange ratio of Hammerhead gunships and Leman Russ tanks reached an astonishing 1:5.

But considering that the two sides fought in the open desert that was favorable to the Tau Army and the supply lines of the Empire had been cut off, this exchange ratio was not representative.

In addition, although the Imperial armored forces seemed to have been beaten badly.

But considering the total amount and production of Leman Russ tanks in the Empire, the exchange ratio of five for one was not worth mentioning for the Imperial Guard.

After hovering for a while, the drone rose to a higher altitude, but almost collided with a row of neatly lined, whizzing Barracuda fighters. Fortunately, with the automatic path-finding and obstacle avoidance system written by Tu, after several clever maneuvers,

it stabilized its body in the gradually weakening airflow.

The drone continued to climb straight up and flew to the shoulder of a huge and majestic mecha.

KX139 is a new generation of giant war armor up to 16 meters high created by this emerging civilization in the face of the cruel universe and repeated defeats by the Imperial Knights and Titans. Its main weapon has a pulse gun array that is said to be able to crush everything.

It can also be replaced with a comet missile system or a heavy railgun/cluster gun, and each arm also carries a set of triple ion cannons or fusion annihilation cannons.

And two sets of chest-mounted warning defense systems, equipped with rapid-fire cannons and missile pods.

In terms of defense, it has an advanced barrier shield generator that is enough to withstand the bombardment of Titan-class weapons. It is a cutting-edge "Imperial Decisive Battle Weapon" that combines all the technological crystallizations of the Tau Empire.

This time, they vow to tear apart all enemies who dare to block the Greater Good.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Rows of "Razor Shark" attack aircraft passed through the parade ground that was like surging waves, and the huge rotary ion cannon on the front of the fuselage hummed in a very deterrent way.

The surging air waves caused by the powerful engine flipped the Drone over again, almost losing balance and falling.

In the uncontrolled rotation, the Drone's camera turned to the sky.

There were dots of light in the low-Earth orbit, and hundreds of new warships from the shipyards of the Home World were also parked in a standard fleet review formation, covering the sky.

Among them were huge golden giant shadows that were comparable to the battleships of the Human Empire, and the huge bodies of the "Guardian" class aerospace carriers.

Finally, after turning around and returning to balance, the maintenance Drone's camera barely aimed at the Tau Empire flag that had risen to a high position, and turned the disc head that was blown crooked by the jet engine left and right.

It was like saluting the golden-orange flag of the Land of the Rising Sun.