Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

Chapter 240 Chapter 106: First Battle—Hicks

Imperial calendar 0221.755.M39.

The advance force, headed by the Orps Sector Fleet of the Imperial Navy, and led by Lord Calvin of the Supreme Tribunal of the Empire, launched the first attack on the orcs who invaded the Hassan Sector.

The naval battle reached its climax at the very beginning of the contact between the two sides.

Imperial Navy Admiral High Lord Juan led the main force of the Sector Grand Fleet, with a battle formation composed of four battleships and 15 large cruisers, and launched a fierce offensive against the Orcs guarding the Hicks system.

The Imperial Navy gained a favorable situation at the beginning of the battle, and the lack of tactics of the Orc fleet was deliberately amplified against the background of the abundant strength of the Imperial fleet;

The shortcomings of the Orc fleet not being good at long-range artillery battles with the large fleet were also keenly captured by Imperial Admiral Juan.

The large fleet adopted targeted tactics of dividing and attacking. In the early stages of the battle, a small fleet was used to pull the Orc fleet away from the complex gravitational field in the center of the planet;

When the Orcs entered the parallel array, the main fleet joined the battlefield taking place on the edge of the Hicks galaxy with the optimal firepower array line.

The shortcoming of the Orc fleet's main armor being all on the bow was deliberately targeted by the heavy rain of artillery fire from the Grand Fleet at this critical moment;

The parallel fighting situation only lasted for less than a few hours, and the opponent's fleet formation was shattered.

The stage of large-scale naval battles on the battlefield has ended. Under the unequal situation between the enemy and ourselves, the battle has turned to the stage of targeted pursuit and elimination.

At the same time, Orpheus's second wave of attacks on the Hicks system was also launched as planned in the interior of the system under the leadership of the Astartes strike cruiser fleet led by Calvin.

In the planetary orbit of Hicks 1, a fleet of three Space Marine strike cruisers is conducting a saturation orbital bombardment of the surface.

From a distant perspective, the main force of the navy's large fleet is still clearing out the scattered orc fleets on the periphery of the galaxy.

Behind the orbital strike group were four strike cruisers that had completed missions from other planets and rushed towards Hicks 1.

The level of life fields and warp power on the planet's surface has been assessed by the psionic choir of the Inquisition.

Hicks One without a large amount of Waaaaah energy accumulation is not worth investing the core combat force;

Also based on this battlefield information, the Supreme Command has very clear objectives for the campaign here:

Except for the core planet Hicks No. 1, which must be retained as a springboard for the fleet, the remaining planetary worlds are not included in the plan for the ground battle.

The main force of the naval fleet, after completing the attack on the Orc fleet and driving away the target in the first wave of naval battles;

The subsequent Astartes battle groups will attack the cruisers, and the second wave of fleets will enter the scene on time.

The Empire did not have time to tangle with the Orks on the surface here, so dozens of large virus bombs prepared in advance were released by these strike cruisers carrying the Astartes Chapter at targeted locations on the affiliated planets within the galaxy.

After completing the "preliminary cleanup" of these planets, along with the confirmation of the destruction of the anti-aircraft weapons on the surface of Hicks 1;

Thousands of Astartes warriors led by Moloch, the leader of the Minotaur Chapter, the Astartes Chapter, have been released from space by orbiting battleships in airdrop pods.

On Continent 1 on the surface of Hicks 1, the only remaining ground anti-aircraft firepower of the Orcs had just been baptized by macro cannons and light spears.

The remaining orcs didn't even have time to breathe and fear before they saw dense rain of death falling from the clouds.

"Waaaaaahh!"

Huge roars roared from the mouths of these orcs, and it was unclear whether they were angry or fearful.

A large number of crude individual weapons and the few surviving anti-aircraft guns roared into the sky in a desperate struggle, firing dense but useless barrages at the empty heads of different colors;

Except for a few unlucky ones who were hit by Ork missiles and deviated from the landing point, most of the Space Marines successfully completed the airdrop to the intended target.

Groups of Astartes from different battle groups rarely appeared on the same battlefield in organized form and on a large scale;

There were deafening war cries of different origins. Under the roar of power armor and bolt guns with different coatings, they charged towards the orcs whose structures had been destroyed.

Under the auxiliary aiming of power armor, heavy explosive shells are fired from the muzzle of the gun embedded with the Imperial double-headed eagle with a precise and cold burst rhythm;

In the background of the oncoming orcs being knocked down in pieces, the sacred music of death and revenge was played.

"Waaaaah!!!"

The orc warlord led the remaining organizations under his command. After killing the small group of Astartes he encountered along the way, he gathered the scattered orc troops into a wave of troops and headed out of the landing site with the artillery fire on their heads. The Astartes defense line counterattacked.

"For the Emperor!"

The different war cries finally merged into one, returning to the original mission of the Astartes.

Facing the tide of the orcs' near-death counterattack, Moloch waved the halberd and eagle shield in his hand, leading the Astartes from unknown groups upstream...

The subsequent transport barges in orbit have been put in place. As the artificial atmosphere function is turned off, the decks for large-scale airdrops on the transport ships, which are as dense as a school of fish, are opened one after another.

As the landing sites on the surface were cleared, the landing windows for the Astra Militarum and Knight Titans were notified to open.

The small airships and transport ships that looked like a school of fish were deployed towards the landing field in the center of the fire rejection circle, protected by the still-roaring macro-cannons and light spears of the strike cruiser.

With only the Dreadnought as their heavy firepower, the Astartes warriors struggled to rely on the terrain to resist the impact of the Ork armor inserted into the gaps in the bombing circle;

Behind their desperate battle, a heavy artillery and armored force belonging to the Astra Militarum had descended from the sky and began to complete an orderly assembly on the ground;

The Knight Titans who walked out of the large anti-gravity transport cabin reacted the fastest. These mainstays of the imperial military aristocracy were worthy of the blood flowing in their bodies; they did not wait for their followers and guards to be in place, but after stepping out of the airdrop cabin In the first second, he turned his attention to the green tide several kilometers away.

The missiles on the shoulders are still in the process of locking on large targets, but there is no delay in these imperial knights driving the sacred machine souls to take heavy steps forward;

The laser pulse cannons and rapid-fire cannons, which have been charged long ago, have begun shooting across long distances in advance to provide strong support to the Astartes ahead.

One after another, the armored regiments of the Astra Militarum caught up with them. The torrent of steel struggled to turn their engines amidst the sky full of artillery fire and smoke, and rushed towards the enemies in front of the Emperor's Angels...

The artillery fire of the fleet strike group in orbit began to shoot outward at this time.

Under the guidance of the Reviled Chapter and other Astartes infiltration forces, the newly assembled Orc troops were turned into dust by beams of light and cannons falling from the sky before they could see the enemy;

The wave of orcs on the outside of the battlefield has reached this point, and there is no more strength left to support it.

On other continental plates, there are also more and more airborne sites, which have been successfully opened up by the Astartes who descended from the sky.

72 hours is the last time limit left by the high command for the battle for this planet;

In 48 hours, thousands of Astartes warriors headed by Moloch, supported by millions of soldiers from the Tindalos Legion and several knight families from Reza, delivered a powerful answer to the high command!

When the figures of large legions launching encirclement and suppression marches towards the hive cities on their respective continents were observed by the battleships in orbit, the gaze of the high command headed by Calvin finally became relaxed.

Once the battle for the landing site is successfully launched, the ensuing battle has nothing to do with victory or defeat, only time.

The strike cruisers in orbit have completed the tasks of space control and artillery support, and the continued suppression of air control will be left to the subsequent troops.

The naval battle at the edge of the galaxy has ended. The strike cruisers belonging to the Astartes restarted their engines before they even had time to recover their troops and continued to follow the pace of the naval fleet to the next battlefield.

The fourth wave of fleets belonging to the Adeptus Mechanicus has arrived, and continuing to provide fire support and intelligence support to the ground forces is the first phase of their mission.

The dark cloud-like Titan exclusive transport ship began to lower its altitude so that it could join the battlefield on the ground at any time;

But more engineering ships have already rushed towards the dilapidated star ports and defense fortresses in orbit.

That is the exclusive battlefield that belongs to the pinnacle of the industrial power of these empires.

Repairing them and making the star port's operational functions and defense system operational again are the minimum goals given to Father Constantine by the high command;

And with the support of massive resources, turning this place into a bridgehead for the imperial army's attack on the Hassan sector, and using stable supplies to support the army's next offensive, is the highest expectation of the high command for this place!

A large number of technicians brought supplies from their respective ships and began repairs to the buildings above Hicks orbit;

It can be expected that this state will continue in the next few months until the operational capabilities and defense capabilities here meet the minimum standards of the headquarters.

After the battle on the ground lasted for 16 hours, the orcs had lost all control of the plains and transportation hubs;

After the large-scale mobile warfare ended, the encirclement and cleanup of the hive city had also been put on the ground as the frontline combat goal.

A large number of transport ships recovered the light Astartes companies on the ground one after another, and then rushed towards the fleet ahead;

The heavily equipped Terminators and Dreadnoughts were uniformly lowered by the subsequent battle barges, entering the final stage of the ground clearance campaign.

Calvin and his Gray Knights have not yet joined the battlefield here, but the clanging steel boots still ring in the corridors of the Revenant Redeemer day and night.

All Gray Knights are on alert, ready to intervene in the ground battle at any time.

Their team of nearly 600 people was given the position of a scalpel during the battle, dedicated to precise strikes against the orc leaders.

Once the Grand Fleet completes the attack and expulsion of the Orc Fleet, and the psychic feedback on the ground reaches the level of the warning line, then the Gray Knight Legion headed by Calvin will targetedly destroy these high-energy gathering points of Waaaaah energy.

This is a strike plan proposed by Calvin himself, and it is also the result of his careful consideration of the Gray Knights' tactical positioning in this battle.

The battle against the orcs may not belong to the Gray Knights' traditional strike zone in the eyes of other friendly forces;

But the existence of the orcs' Waaaaah force field has been confirmed in the orc wars thousands of years ago.

And Calvin knew that in the absence of the Sisters of Silence, the best way to deal with it was for the Gray Knights, who had been integrated with the Legion's will, to confront the Orcs' collective will head-on.

Moreover, according to the information recorded by the Alien Tribunal, the place where Waaaaah energy is gathered is itself the location of a powerful orc commander;

As the actual leader of personal force in this battle, Calvin originally had the duty to kill the enemy chieftain.

At this time, he was fully clothed and stood quietly on the bridge atrium of the Soul Redeemer.

Once the war begins, specific command authority has been delegated to the former enemy;

Today's headquarters not only conducts real-time statistics and sorting out information from the fleet ahead, but also occasionally issues tactical guidance from senior generals on duty;

It only has the function of supervising and allocating the progress of the logistics and follow-up troops' march and various attachment work.

The success of the battle for Hicks allowed the Empire to pass the initial threshold in the battle to regain the Hassan sector.

But neither the main force of the orc fleet nor their commander had appeared yet;

These biggest threats were still hidden outside the fog of war, and he couldn't help but worry about them.

There was fire again on the distant naval battle battlefield, and Calvin knew that it was the frigate using torpedoes to execute the final execution on the Orc warship whose engine had been destroyed.

The large fleet still maintains a vigilant array, carrying out temporary supplies on the battlefield in fixed batches under the small-scale contact of the rear transport fleet.

The second wave of fleets has now completed the connection with the transport ship coming from behind, and recovered the Space Marines that were previously delivered;

After the main battlefield was fully taken over by the Astra Militarum and the Knight Titans, they were also cruising in battle formation on the outside of the naval fleet.

The fleet composed of strike cruisers has now entered a standard naval battle state.

The loaded macro cannons and charged light spear arrays were like hairy hedgehogs, densely aiming toward the outside of the fleet's trajectory to prevent possible surprise reinforcements from the orc fleet.

Fortunately, until the supplies were completed, no new enemies appeared outside the battlefield.

When the engines of the grand fleet flashed bright tail flames again, Calvin breathed a long sigh of relief and gave orders to the fleet behind him, following the fleet in front to rush to the next battlefield - Palmer.

The Mechanical Ark fleet in Reza's Forge World behind was also slowly keeping up with the fleet ahead;

The Titan Legions, who failed to exercise the power of the Ohm Messiah on the battlefield, were still sleeping quietly in the huge transport ship;

The cumulonimbus-like black curtain composed of them was tightly wrapped in the center of the fleet by the escort ships of Mechanical Ark;

The Astral Legion transport fleet that crossed the Hicks battlefield and followed directly in the distance also formed the last piece of the puzzle heading to the next battlefield under Calvin's gaze.

The war has just begun and the war will continue...

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