Just as the battle inside the Star Fortress was in full swing, the battle outside the Star Fortress was also becoming increasingly fierce.
After experiencing the first wave of serious blows, the Red Pirate Fleet finally began to take action. The remaining cruisers detached themselves from the orbit and joined other small battleships to form a defensive fleet to fight against the Tribulation Alliance fleet besieging the Star Fortress.
Their purpose is not to defeat this powerful fleet alone, but to slow down the pace of the fleet's attack.
They did this quite well, and Malakin had to devote half of his strength to driving them away.
At this time, the violent disturbances deep in the subspace were captured by the auspices of each battle line. This undoubtedly only represents one possibility——
The tyrant Huron, the master of New Badab, is back!
The first thing to jump out of the space was a behemoth, which was also Huron's flagship, the Ghost of Destruction.
The Doomwraith, like most Chaos warships, looks like
A huge mass composed of plundered guns and cannons, densely covered with bloated armor plates and cannons of various calibers and sizes, as well as a large number of marks of worship of the Chaos Gods.
Since it was put into service, it has been famous for being nearly indestructible.
In all the battles Huron fought, he always emerged from the battlefield intact - even if he was scarred and devastated.
And now, in addition to itself, there is also a fleet it leads, full of anger and hatred.
"A little faster than expected."
Malakin, who was commanding the Mother of Tears, had already anticipated the threat, so he did not dare to be surprised and would not panic.
"Scramble all interceptors, every squadron, and I expect them to be done within the next five minutes."
The departments around him were a microcosm of the chaos elsewhere on the deck. The communication shafts were constantly issuing warnings and providing new headings for approaching ships, the engineering department was reporting that the main drive energy had been recharged to recharge the lance array, and the gunnery officer was working hard.
Locking the target and determining the scope, the meditator's machine soul is also restless.
The overseers whipped hundreds of prisoners to load the macrocannons on the side of the Mother of Tears.
Amid the chaos, Malakin stood alone at the edge of the command platform, as motionless and alert as a gargoyle.
Apart from the fact that the brass railings beside the platform were deformed by his grip, he showed no signs of discomfort - he thought that he would face Huron, his old friend, again in many forms, but he never thought that it would be like this.
In this form, command a fleet to confront the opponent head-on.
His eyes calmly scanned the readings of the monitoring station and prediction array, paying attention to the changes in each target.
"Chapter Master."
The second company commander of the Lamenters came up from the spiral staircase of the command platform and put on a standard salute posture.
"The Bloodwing and Baal's Light squadrons have already set off. Only the Golden Spear Squadron has not cleared the flight deck. It seems that there is some problem with the fuel pipeline. The flight commander assured me that before the enemy fleet is in position, all squadrons will
Set off."
Malakin nodded immediately.
Speaking of which, these Lightning fighter formations were transferred to the Mother of Tears at Soshyan's request, because the Mother of Tears, an ancient battle barge, is very special. It was a rare aircraft carrier type in the imperial battleship sequence during the Great Crusade era.
Although it has undergone many modifications, its large flight deck and advanced flight control system have been retained.
Soshyan believes that these fighter formations can better exert their advantages when placed on the Mother of Tears.
Malakin also thanked Soshyan for his trust.
"Give my regards to the flight commander,"
After Malakin finished speaking, he turned his attention to the next person coming, his fourth company commander.
"Chapter Commander, the Unbound Soul has sent a message. She is accepting our recommended course and maintaining the same firing direction posture. She is still waiting for news from other ships in the fleet."
"Contact Chapter Commander Soshyan again."
Malakin said, his eyes turning to the thick stack of enemy and friendly fleet logos on the monitoring platform.
"And tell him, please try to be as quick as possible."
After everyone left, Malakin stood motionless on the edge of the command platform, with his back straight and his hands behind his back, looking down at the bridge.
Other bridge staff, crew and officers were also silently concentrating on their work.
On the tactical display screen, Huron's fleet has left the subspace one after another and is forming a suppression formation.
The contact signal on the wall flashed eagerly across the surveillance station, and Rowald had calculated the odds and drawn definite conclusions.
He was very aware of his own combat capabilities, as well as the opponent's combat capabilities, and he also knew what kind of naval warfare expert Huron was - in terms of tactics, he was far from Huron's opponent.
Although the Unbound Soul has powerful firepower, it is far from enough to offset the opponent's offensive.
Not to mention that the Red Pirate Fleet also includes heavy artillery battleships such as the Eagle Hook battlecruiser.
But he must delay the opponent. This is the trust given to him by Soshyan and the trust given to him by other fighters.
He never wanted the scene on the Storm Lady to happen again.
On the tactical screen, the warships on the right marked with green symbols began to line up in accordance with the instructions. All warships responded to Malakin's request and tried to maintain the blockade.
"Report to Chapter Leader!"
The master of guns sent a call from the gunnery station.
"Flank batteries No. 2 to No. 8 have been fully prepared and loaded. The vanguard of the enemy fleet has entered the firing range and requested to fire."
Malakin took a deep breath and looked around the bridge for the last time. It was an honor to be able to command such a battle.
How he wanted to stay in this moment.
For a moment, a faint smile appeared on his gloomy and pale face.
"Send priority message, permission to fire."
Seconds later, the first salvo struck the Doomwraith hard.
The shields trembled due to the shelling, the bow of the ship flashed with green light, and the nearby small ships with weaker shields sank under successive attacks.
On the bridge of the Doomwraith, Huron turned to his Tech-Priest and pointed at the grainy, flickering holographic display.
"Notify every ship."
He snorted.
"Keep the course and head towards the target I set at full speed. It doesn't matter if you hit it."
"Understand and execute."
The Tech Heretic turned to the main communications array and used a rusty microphone to output a series of commands. The thick metal bulkheads of the entire battleship began to shudder and groan, and the engines began to overdrive.
In the Red Pirate's fleet channel, sirens roared and thousands of beasts roared as the Ghost of Destruction rolled forward.
At the same time, the roar of cannons also reached a whole new wave.
The Mother of Tears' gun train flashed.
Three volleys of light spears overloaded the bow shields of the Executor-class large cruiser Nightmare Dawn in an astonishing light.
Seconds later, flames bloomed across the jagged hull of the ship, and a macrogun shell struck head-on against the thick armor plating of the bow.
More Imperial warships opened fire on the battery line, causing massive damage.
Finally, a volley of light spears from the Unbound Soul directly penetrated the bent bow deck and detonated inside.
The explosion penetrated the surrounding warehouse walls, exposing part of the Nightmare Dawn to the void. The Mother of Tears' gunnery command center immediately targeted the exposed weakness and fired continuous salvos to expand it.
While the barrage continued, the Red Pirates' fleet also approached and counterattacked. Their concentrated barrage destroyed the Astral Knight's strike cruiser "Alien Killer" and tore two frigates into pieces.
The surrounding space was quickly filled with slowly rotating wreckage, and the huge ship fragments were exploded and blown away by the ruthless strikes of the artillery fire.
But the wreckage isn't the only thing floating around the ship like a cloud.
From the hangars and silo hatches, fighter jets of various shapes formed a ragged formation outside the Red Pirate Fleet.
The Mother of Tears responded quickly. Lightning fighters scrambled from the flight deck and exchanged fire with the Chaos fighters rushing toward the mothership.
The void between the two was soon torn apart by the flashing lasers and missiles as hundreds of fighter jets exchanged fire.