Chapter 462 06.0461: ‘The Epic’s First Prey’

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"Captain, we have infiltrated the rear of the Tau Empire's transport network. There are not many patrol ships here, and we can clearly receive the communication signals of the Tau Empire's transport ships at a longer distance."

"According to the encrypted code report, the other five attack ships have also successfully infiltrated the enemy's rear without being exposed." Lina reported the encrypted communications sent by other attack ships in the squadron.

"Everyone, this operation is aimed at supporting the front-line battle by disrupting the commerce, so our first task is to kill the alien transport ships as much as possible, rather than fighting with the alien warships.

Only in this way can we play a greater role in the battle situation on the front line."

He gave orders: "Strengthen the enemy's listening, and give priority to finding the single signal wave source."

The Epic is patrolling in the void behind the enemy with its whereabouts difficult to find.

The void is so vast that a warship with a length of kilometers is just a small boat in it. Finding prey is like finding a needle in a haystack. It not only requires the support of professional new equipment, but also requires the officers' courage and carefulness, as well as a certain amount of luck.

As it happens, the Epic is an attack ship equipped with experimental technology, and its officers are all heroes who graduated from the Abridar Loyal Academy, and they have the above two conditions.

"Captain, the millimeter wave frequency of the Tau Empire communication is detected in the 23rd direction."

"Distance?"

"About 23,300 kilometers, Aquila I has been sent to approach for confirmation, and Aquila II has also been autonomously conducting reconnaissance in the surrounding area."

"Chase it, maybe this will be a suitable target!"

A merchant-class cargo ship is slowly sailing in the void.

With the continued military conflict between the Orks and the Tau Empire, the latter had to mobilize the main force of the fleet to fight against it.

With such an opportunity, the Empire launched the Second Damocles Gulf Expedition with the purpose of regaining lost territory. In order to support the southern border garrison, the Home World sent a large number of low-cost merchant-class cargo ships to the border.

The Guardian Fleet was dealing with the threats of the Empire and the Orcs at the same time, and its strength was stretched to its limits, so it had to adopt the form of a void cordon to reduce the cost of escort.

But this is exactly what Horatio wanted to see.

Such an arrangement is very conducive to his idea of ​​"killing him while he's sick".

The merchant-class cargo ship of the Tau Empire uses highly automated mechanical equipment, so there are not many crew members.

According to general intelligence, there will only be some Tau Qi clan crew members and some vassal army squads serving as escorts.

Not long after, the observation officer of the warship reported that although the hull of this cargo ship is the size of a light cruiser, it does not have a powerful railgun, nor a close-in ion cannon system.

It is a pure cargo ship.

In the isoplanar gas cloud layer less than 600 kilometers away from the merchant-class, the serrated sword revealed its fierce teeth.

"Open the No. 1 torpedo well."

Horatio leaned in front of the observation mirror on the observation platform and issued his attack order lightly.

Louise immediately implemented and conveyed his order.

The black hole launched and opened its cover silently.

It contained a standard Helios short-burning torpedo.

Horatio was just about to use a cargo ship to test the effect of a standard torpedo hitting the belly.

Because it was not a combat ship, there should not be too many damage control personnel on the unarmed merchant-class cargo ship.

So Horatio needed to verify a hypothesis, that is, after a torpedo that was normally not enough to destroy the entire ship hit the cargo hold, would the enemy crew choose to carry out damage control in time, or would they choose to abandon the ship and escape directly.

"Precise calibration, hit rate, 97%!"

Although it was a hidden ambush on an alien cargo ship, the officers on the Epic were still very alert.

"Launch!"

The necessary prayer process of the God of All Machines was completed quickly, and the main engine of the torpedo body was ignited.

With the surging thrust generated by the high-temperature gas in the launch silo, the short-burning torpedo rushed out.

Standing on the command bridge, Horatio watched the blazing tail flame of the torpedo go away, and the nearly 100-meter-long projectile rushed out.

The history of torpedoes can be traced back to the early years of the human empire. Its reliable, durable and easy-to-maintain loyal characteristics allowed it to last for thousands of years without change.

Its size means that although it is called a plasma torpedo, it is technically a small ship propelled by a plasma reactor and engine.

Standard torpedoes use plasma warheads, and after hitting a ship, the reactor and the remaining plasma fuel are detonated together.

Although not as fierce and brutal as the cutting-edge micro-thermonuclear technology of nuclear detonation torpedoes, it is still a powerful weapon. As long as there is a right angle, it can threaten those large ships and cause fatal damage to key parts.

After all, a warship that is five or six kilometers long and is hit by a plasma explosion in the middle cannot avoid fatal trauma even with heavy armor and protection.

Short-burn torpedoes are extremely fast, 1.5 times the speed of standard torpedoes.

Compared with the slow standard torpedo, it is more like a supersonic anti-ship missile.

"Kan # Feng! An unidentified object is approaching the port side of our ship at a closing rate of 50! It is expected to reach our ship in ten seconds!" The slender Qi clan observer scanned the unidentified object heading towards the ship at high speed through the radar in a short time.

But they didn't know it was an imperial torpedo, nor did they know where it came from.

Because their enemies are not just the human empire.

Compared to the torpedo fired by the imperial ship, they believed that it was the work of the green-skinned pirates.

Although the Merchant-class cargo ship made evasive maneuvers, it was too clumsy and slow, and its extremely long hull was simply built to eat torpedoes.

"Help! Help! Our ship is under attack, please support! The source of the attack is unknown, suspected orc pirates!"

The moment the Merchant class discovered the torpedo, the crew inside issued a warning for help. Even if they really couldn't escape, it was necessary to issue this warning. Maybe after a while, troops from the Tau Empire would come to investigate. Something hit their cargo ship.

"Estimated hits, 10, 9, 8, 7."

Horatio held the stopwatch and counted down.

"4, 3, 2, 1."

"The torpedo hit the port side of the enemy ship!"

"Yeah! Great! We hit it!"

Horatio opened his monocular with the longest viewing range and looked at the enemy cargo ship where a blue flower exploded in the distance.

Through the firelight, he could vaguely see the supplies being transported inside through the gap.

A small number of damage control personnel drove the maintenance drones to make emergency repairs, but soon, whether it was the explosion of fuel or military ammunition, another blue spark exploded at the gap, and these unfortunate damage control personnel had no choice but to die unwillingly. Second explosion.

"Open the No. 2 torpedo silo." Horatio frowned slightly. If one torpedo cannot force the enemy to abandon the ship, then he will have to use his second-hand preparation.

He wanted to continue observing.

Sure enough, although the hull of the ship was not completely destroyed, after losing valuable cargo in the warehouse and determining that the maintenance drone was unable to repair the huge wound caused by the torpedo in an instant, the life-saving Tau crew began to take the rescue ship The ship was abandoned to prevent further loss of crew lives if further attacks followed.

But what surprised the Tau captain was that the attacker only struck once, and then there was no more movement.

But the crew members who had abandoned the ship were afraid and unwilling to return to the burning cargo ship.

They were afraid of being hit again shortly after boarding the ship. At the same time, the captain's decision to abandon the ship had caused them to miss the best damage control time.

The hull of the ship, which had been severely damaged in the first place, has now spread due to the chain reaction of explosive cargo fueling the combustion. It won't be long before the cargo ship will be burned into ruins floating in the void.

"Captain, do you need to destroy the escape capsule?" Louise asked,

"Let the Fury fighter planes mount swarm missiles and attack every target that is suspected of being an escape hatch. Do what you have to do and kill all the survivors at once through a saturation strike to avoid leaking intelligence and letting the enemy know that it was the Imperial Army.

Our ship will leave immediately and head to mark 7002 to hunt the next target. After the Skyhawk Squadron executed the escape capsule, they assembled at the new coordinates. "

He held up the brim of his hat coldly: "Power Department, open the shadow field and navigation area, draw a course and drive out of the area to the location of the 7002 signal source. We are pressed for time and have a heavy task.'

"As you command, Captain!"

Three days later, a search and rescue team consisting of a Tau 'Envoy' class light cruiser and several frigates rushed to the scene of the attack.

But they found only the remains of a burned-out ruin.

All escape pods were destroyed, and the crew were mercilessly murdered, leaving no one alive.

The cruelty of the method was in line with the reports of the crew members, who suspected that it was done by green skins.

But there were also some anomalies that caught the attention of investigating officials: Why were some large wrecks left that had not been looted?

It’s really puzzling to Ti.

However, looking at the heavily burned and charred remains, the investigating officer of the Tu clan shook his head.

Perhaps these wrecks have been damaged to the point that even the greenskins consider them worthless.

He documented this in accordance with investigative procedures.

The search team conducted a close search in the surrounding area, but found no trace of enemy aircraft.

The investigation was forced to end because they soon received distress signals from other ships and had no time to waste their limited military power on a wreck with no survivors.