40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 563 81. Dark Crusade (11, Shipwreck)

The destroyer Sword passed quietly past the Macragge's Glory, its engines making almost no sound, but its speed was still astonishingly fast.

It is a member of the Macragge's Glory Combined Fleet, and is also a small ship only two kilometers long. Like all destroyers, it lacks firepower and is more than agile.

Although it has never been counted, many captains believe that destroyers like it were probably destroyed the most in the void naval battle.

It is indeed true that the advantage in speed cannot help this model escape the deadly salvos of large battleships.

In fact, as long as it is scratched a little, the Sword or other similar destroyers will turn into a dazzling ball of fire on the spot, and then turn into worthless cosmic dust along with the crew on it.

Of course, despite having such disadvantages, they are still being manufactured continuously, which proves that they still have the value of existence.

Moreover, this value is not small. In the naval combat case explanations at the Imperial Military Academy, there are quite a few actual combat cases that specifically mention how the flexible use of destroyers can help the overall situation.

Somehow, these small warships always seem to be able to make the final decision at critical moments, or obtain a large amount of information in the early stages of the war, thereby establishing a victory.

Because of this, Vitelia, the captain of the Sword, has never looked down upon herself because of the size of the Sword.

At parties where only the captains were allowed to attend, she could always raise her glass with pride and drink it down in one gulp. She knows what she can and cannot do, and her courage and integrity stem from this.

These two qualities have helped her achieve many honors in just four years after taking office. The Sword has benefited a lot and has been qualified for a full dress change.

Soon, this destroyer will have some things it could only look at in the past, such as harder armor plates and more advanced engine systems.

However, this has nothing to do with Khalil now.

He is now standing on the bridge of the Sword that has not yet been refitted. It is forty meters long and crowded with skilled crew members and various instruments. It is distributed in a stepped manner and is crowded, but it also uses every bit of space quite successfully. . It is a very practical design that ignores the majesty of the captain.

Yes, as the captain, Vitria doesn't even have a command seat. She could only stand at the top of the stairs holding a brass-tipped cane, as motionless as a statue, glaring at all her crew members with cold eyes, silently urging them to speed up their work.

They accepted a special mission, and the cause can be traced back to a conversation that was close to a debate in the office of the Primarch of Macragge's Glory.

This conversation made the victors in the corridor outside wish they could turn off the hearing systems in their helmets. Deep down, they regarded this conversation as a special kind of quarrel.

The original body plays the role of roaring, while the other person just keeps explaining and persuading, and talks back and forth in a tone that is so calm that it can make people mad.

Of course, Khalil would not have considered it a quarrel, but he did think it had taken him a while to get Roboute Guilliman to reluctantly agree to the proposal.

To be honest, it is really difficult to do this, because the Primarch of the Ultramarines has already drawn a clear line with his past.

Before experiencing this nightmare, he was still a naive idealist who firmly believed in humanity, hope and truth. But now, he is extreme and irritable, stubborn and irritable, often growling and frowning.

If he completely released the anger he had accumulated over the years, it would probably flood hundreds of worlds.

However, after bleeding so much, his heart miraculously still retained some sanity.

It's hard to say whether this is lucky or unfortunate for him, because during such long years, Robert Guilliman is still an idealist because of this little reason.

He accepted the changes in the world, but he did not allow himself to be changed too much.

Khalil didn't know how he managed to do this, but he knew that Robert Guilliman must have been in agony over the years.

Just like when he made this decision.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile - everyone in this galaxy who still knows him probably has a strange disease, and they will try their best to avoid 'Khalil Lohars' and 'acting alone' 'The two words go together.

Khalil had no problem with this, and he even thought it was completely reasonable for them to do so. Who told him to have problems every time he decided to do something alone?

When I was still on Nostramo, this strange misfortune first appeared, and later it became even worse.

"grown ups."

The female captain's voice brought him back to reality. She spoke respectfully and seriously, and began to describe what the Sword's scan had captured in an extremely professional manner. The vocabulary used did not involve any slang or jargon among captains, but was quite straightforward.

She used the simplest and most direct description to tell the information obtained by the Sword, and then supported it. Khalil listened carefully, nodded from time to time, and finally followed her words and came to his own conclusion.

He actually understands what the data displayed on the scanner represents, but he will not undermine the captain's authority. This is not a wise move, nor is it what he should do.

He said slowly: "Captain Vitelia, are you saying that there is probably a ship at a standstill near Sosa?"

The female captain affirmed with a serious face, and then added something.

"Yes, sir. It is impossible for a normal ship to stop motionless in a vacuum with such signal fluctuations. Moreover, judging from the size, I am worried that it is a ship belonging to the Astartes - a battle barge. "

"As I recall, Sosa has its guardians."

"Yes, Emperor's Scythe Chapter." Vitria replied in a low voice. "But here's the problem, the loyal Sickles have two battle barges. The two ships have always acted together and never been separated."

Khalil answered her words calmly: "In other words, if this ship is really a battle barge belonging to the Emperor's Scythes, then they are likely to have been attacked."

The female captain frowned deeply, and after thinking for a moment, she gave another possibility.

"It's hard for me not to think about things this way, sir. Moreover, if this guess of mine comes true, then things may get even worse."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because the ship is parked not far from Sousa's orbital space station, the Sickles have been using it as a fortress monastery. At this distance, there is no reason why they can't discover the ship."

"That's it." Khalil nodded to her again and said something that shocked her. "Then, could you please allow the Sword to continue sailing?"

"Uh, sir?"

"I need to get on board, and I mean, get on that ship. Please, Captain Vitelia."

"But... isn't this a bit unwise?" the female captain said, showing a rare hesitation.

Her old-fashioned and serious face was showing a kind of genuine surprise, just like when she heard the instructor say that her parents left a destroyer to her when she was a child in Zhongji Academy.

At that time, her still childlike mind could not comprehend what the legitimate inheritance of a destroyer meant to the majority of the Imperial Navy.

But now, she is extremely mature and her steel-like mind cannot understand what Carrier said about boarding the ship. In her opinion, this is obviously not the wisest decision.

"Shouldn't we have repaid this to Macragge's Glory beforehand?"

Khalil smiled at her, took off his hood, and began to explain, telling a little joke in his own unique sense of humor - at least in his mind, it was a joke.

"That's within the scope of your duties, Captain, so I don't think it's necessary for you to consult me. You are the professional, and you should trust your own judgment rather than consult the lame opinions of outsiders like me."

"Of course, Lord Robert Guilliman sent me to the Sword with an official document, but I was just a hitchhiker. And now, my destination has arrived, so I should Get off. I mean, get off alone.”

Vitelia was silent for a full half minute before she took a deep breath, turned around, and gave an order in a firm tone to her first mate who only had one flesh leg.

"Going full speed, approaching the ship. I'm going to get a full profile of her in two minutes, tell the gunners to prepare for a salvo, tell the engine room, tell them to push harder, and if nothing happens and we're done successfully If it’s a mission, they’ll have wine tonight.”

"Thank you, Captain Vitria." Khalil said sincerely.

The female captain sighed obviously, and she replied rudely: "Come on, my lord, and accept your thanks. I have never seen such a desperate person like you. Where did you come from?" "It popped out?"

"Well, sorry, I can't answer." Khalil said apologetically.

Two minutes later, the complete profile was handed to him and the female captain from the crew, thus verifying her suspicion - it was really a battle barge.

This conclusion caused deep wrinkles to appear between Vitelia's brows, as if a mason was beating granite with a carving hammer.

A few minutes later, when the Sword floated silently to a place only six kilometers away from the ship, its appearance came into view for everyone.

More than thirty well-trained sailors gasped in unison at this moment, and even the granite lady twitched the corners of her eyes. She never imagined that this was not just a battle barge, but a completely finished battle barge.

From her perspective, there was no possibility that the ship would move again. Its deck was full of large and small holes and traces of bombing. The cannons on the spine of the ship had been completely blown up, and the bow was like a Even disappeared.

Its engine area and the entire rear half of the ship glowed with a faint crimson glow, which meant that the engine had also been destroyed, and the damage was very complete, because the energy in the reactor was producing some kind of interaction with the metals inside it. Close contact.

That's why the red light is produced.

Khalil pointed out something else at this moment.

"Is that the emblem of the Emperor's Scythe Chapter?" he asked, pointing to the left porthole.

Following his guidance, Vitelia successfully saw two bright yellow sickles passing between the eagle and the skeleton.

This discovery made her heart sink suddenly, and then the first mate's hoarse voice gave her a heavy blow.

"Captain, the ship's code identification has been approved. The database shows that this is one of the sickle's battle barges, the Power of Honor."

Viteria spit out a curse, but was not held back by this shocking news. Instead, she quickly turned to Khalil.

"I can provide you with a shuttle so that you can complete what you want to do, sir. However, out of a captain's sense of responsibility and a human's most basic conscience, I must warn you that doing so is very likely to make you never come back."

She raised her hand with a gloomy expression and pointed at the huge burning metal.

"That ship is completely finished. In a dozen hours, its reactor will give the final ultimatum. It may explode, disintegrate, and turn into a burning Mars, or it may just become a space wreck and stop here. In either case, it is very likely that you will be buried with it if you insist on going up."

Khalil looked at her in surprise, but only got a serious stare. After a few seconds, he laughed dumbly, took a step back, and bowed slightly.

"Thank you for your kindness, but I have made up my mind and am determined to die - and I assure you that my mission or life and death will not affect you in any way. Please return quickly and continue to perform your duties. Good luck, Captain."

"You are such an idiot." The female captain cursed indignantly, and then called the first mate to take Khalil to the hangar.

Three minutes later, a shuttle slowly flew out from the tiny interior of the Sword and approached the burning battle barge like a speck of dust. Behind it, the Sword drove towards the main fleet without looking back, ready to report the matter.

Its captain still couldn't figure out what kind of freak this tall stranger who suddenly came to her ship was, and how he could be so bold.

However, out of conscience, she still prayed to the God Emperor for him. No one knew whether the God Emperor heard her prayer, and she thought afterwards that the God Emperor must have heard her prayer.

She also felt that He not only heard it, but He even blessed this person.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain what this man, Caryl Lohals, did over the next five hours.