Chapter 449: Stealing a Ship is So Easy
The Wraith Spike had a great start. With one shot, it blew up a Silver Sword first.
This is the normal performance of the Retribution-class battleship. This is the result of letting the X-class "Sky Punishment" light spear array fire a solid attack.
Moreover, the Wraith Spike has weapons of the same level, including three X-class macro cannons.
Compared with the light spear array, the macro cannon of the same specifications is much more powerful, but the hit rate is much lower.
There are 18 L-class weapons, which are equally not to be underestimated. This is as many as the three cruisers on the human side combined.
This is the power of a battleship.
Of course, losing a frigate right at the start of the battle was also a bit of luck. At such a distance, even a light spear would not be able to hit it that easily.
In fact, the three macro cannons fired subsequently, as well as several L-class weapons, all missed their target, with only a few of them hitting the target, failing to cause any further damage.
During this process, the ships of both sides were getting closer and closer.
The 'Ghost Spike' rushed at full speed towards the part of the combined fleet that came out of the Bian Ma IV. As the distance between the two sides got closer and closer, the firepower hit rate of both sides also increased during the bombardment.
The losses on the human fleet's side began to increase.
But at the same time, the void shield surrounding the 'Ghost Spike' was also flashing frequently, gradually turning to a dangerous red. Even some of the combined fleet's firepower could penetrate the void shield and directly damage the armor and hull of the 'Ghost Spike'.
The void shield on the 'Revenant Spike' was certainly very strong, but it couldn't withstand the attack from a single ship. There were no frigates to intercept its firepower, and even no small boats to block its attacks. It had to take all the artillery fire from the combined fleet on its own, and no matter how strong the void shield was, it couldn't withstand such a bombardment.
Not to mention, half of the fleet chasing after it was also constantly directing fire at it.
But even so, the Alliance Fleet's current achievement was nothing more than turning its void shield red. The price paid was that within a short period of time, at least ten warships exploded into space junk.
Even the cheapest patrol ship costs more than 30 million each, and ten ships would cost 300 million; not to mention, the warships that exploded were not all patrol ships, there were also three frigates among them.
At this moment, the alliance's losses in the naval battle have reached over 10 billion.
A naval decisive battle is the most expensive thing.
Without the Tianma Fleet being taken over by Gu Hang and without the century-long accumulation of Gu’s Trading Company, the alliance would not be able to afford the battle relying solely on the ships accumulated over the years.
But even with such an exchange ratio, Zhong Jihua, who was on the 'Ghost Spike', was still not satisfied.
Does he care about destroying a few small Alliance ships?
Of course not.
At his request, the battleship's powerful firepower fiercely fired at the cruiser, the absolute core of the fleet in front of it.
However, a lot of firepower was intercepted. Even if it couldn't be intercepted, there would even be a few patrol ships that would come up to block the attack.
After fighting for so long, they were unable to pose any real threat to the cruiser.
However, at this distance, it has reached the level that Zhong Jihua wanted.
Led by the warband wizard, two hundred Space Marines were already on standby inside four boarding torpedoes.
For the human navy, boarding torpedoes are an unconventional tactic. Boarding torpedoes are not cheap in themselves, and they are even more expensive when loaded with people and equipment. In naval battles, any accidents may happen during the flight before boarding the ship, and it is easy to be intercepted. Once intercepted, both the people and the ship will be reimbursed, resulting in huge losses.
Moreover, since the space for boarding torpedoes is limited, the number of personnel and equipment that can be carried inside is also limited, so it is not certain that we can defeat the enemy even if we board the ship.
Only the greenskins like to do this. They don't take their lives seriously, and their boarding torpedoes are as cheap as they can be.
The human fleet doesn't like to do this, and although the Marines are not treated as human beings by the navy masters, they always have to consider the cost-effectiveness.
Except for the Space Marines.
They are strong and elite enough that they can complete tasks that require a large force with a small number. They are perfectly suitable for boarding operations, which have limited delivery and narrow combat space.
There is only one problem that needs to be solved: the security of delivery.
Space Marines are powerful, but they are also very valuable. It doesn't matter if a boarding torpedo is destroyed, but if a whole ship of Space Marines is killed, no one can resist.
Therefore, when each regiment was engaged in a boarding battle, they all showed off their skills in this link, trying their best to accurately and safely send people to the enemy ship.
Some have worked hard on boarding torpedoes, making them strong and flexible, or turning them into stealth so that they cannot be detected, adding multiple batches and placing many fake targets to hide the real boarding torpedoes... In short, they are willing to spend more money;
Some tried teleportation, which was more precise but also more demanding and risky, as it was easy to be deflected by anti-teleportation devices.
The approach taken by 'Ashes of the Dead' is a combination of the two.
Zhong Jihua, who was on the bridge, stared at the groups of alliance ships in front of him with madness in his eyes.
He shouted, "Go!"
Immediately afterwards, the "Revenant Spike" suddenly launched more than twenty boarding torpedoes.
Of these, most were of course fake, with only four containing the ashes of the dead.
Of course, the intercepting firepower of the Alliance fleet was directly exerted, and many boarding torpedoes were destroyed by the intercepting firepower.
The four genuine boarding torpedoes carrying the Ashes of the Dead actually took some fire. But all four boarding torpedoes were equipped with small energy shields to block the attack.
Of course, this also led to their exposure.
But it doesn't matter.
In an instant, the scarlet light enveloped the four boarding torpedoes, and suddenly, they disappeared.
The next moment, four boarding torpedoes appeared simultaneously within the Opera's void shield!
Then, they slammed into the Opera's hull.
The extremely hard conical front end of the boarding torpedo broke through the ship's armor, causing a micro-explosion, which separated the warhead and provided a good attack space for the soldiers in the torpedo's rear compartment.
Immediately afterwards, a total of 200 Renegade Space Marines rushed out from the four boarding torpedoes.
They eliminated the surrounding enemies in a very short time.
There are usually 100,000 people on a cruiser like the Opera. A considerable number of them are the so-called "crew world", that is, people who were born on the ship, and their previous generation or even the previous generation were all crew members. They are ship servants, and there are also some technical officers from aristocratic families.
These people are the key to a ship that can be built and operated, and can maintain itself during long-term voyages. At the bottom of the starship, it is even equivalent to a closed, self-circulating society.
The ships on the Pegasus fleet do not perform particularly well in this regard, as some sailors are still able to retire and leave the ships, and then be replaced by new personnel from the planets on the ground.
After all, they have been stationed in their own nest for a long time.
However, there are some ships in the empire that are always on missions and constantly sailing in space. The so-called "crew families" are really people who have never left the ship for several generations. It is common for them to intermarry and live their whole lives on the ship.
But whether they were recruited or on ships all year round, these people, who mainly served as sailors, workers, and servants, obviously did not have any combat effectiveness.
This is true even if they are given weapons when war breaks out.
After the Ash Dead successfully boarded the ship, the first wave of resistance they encountered came from these armed sailors, who numbered several thousand people. Naturally, they were swept away by them.
Then, these rebel Space Marines did not continue their attack, but waited in place for two minutes.
At this time, more boarding torpedoes came in.
Although these boarding torpedoes did not have the help of the warband wizards and did not have the ability to teleport, they lost a lot when breaking through the intercepting firepower in front. Among them, the moment of greatest loss was when they slowed down and passed through the void shield.
Of the sixteen boarding torpedoes, only three arrived.
This probability is very low and significantly lower than normal.
Because on the current battlefield, the Alliance's ships only have the 'Ghost Spike' as their target. When the boarding torpedoes appear, naturally a lot of intercepting firepower is attracted.
From this perspective, being able to successfully board the ship with three people is already very good.
A total of 1,500 people disembarked from the three boarding torpedoes. They were all wearing black and red combat uniforms, and a high proportion of them were wearing exoskeletons.
These people belong to the servant troops of the Ashes of the Dead.
After joining up with the real Ash Dead, a total of 1,700 people, they began to move towards the interior of the Opera.
During this process, the team inside the Opera was also gathering.
In addition to ordinary crew members, there are 20,000 marines among the total 100,000 people on board. They are even equipped with armored vehicles, sentry mechas and the like.
The combat effectiveness of these troops is certainly much stronger than that of the first wave of ship sailors who arrived.
However, as the Ash Dead advanced with their elite auxiliary forces, the Marines once again served as a miserable backdrop.
The armored vehicles that blocked the main passage of the ship were destroyed by the plasma guns of the Ash Dead, and then quickly pushed away and dismantled. Then, the Terminator squad of the Ash Dead strode out of the gap, and under the bombardment of the semi-fixed machine gun turrets behind, they used handheld grenade launchers to eliminate all the human firepower points.
After the passage was cleared, the troops immediately followed, and in front of them, a team of Marine Sentinel Mechs appeared, but this time they were directly cleaned out by the rebel Space Marines with bolters.
Under the leadership of the Space Marines, the entire team's progress, although sometimes fast and sometimes slow, was generally quite smooth, and they were heading resolutely towards the bridge of the ship.
The bridge command center is the command center of a warship and the brain of the warship. Once here, they can take over most of the control of the ship.
At the same time, the ship-wide broadcast system can also be used here to allow the gang wizards to quickly spread Chaos corruption.
This is a temporary measure, not suitable for large-scale use, but it is quite effective in a critical, closed environment like a ship.
They had used this trick many times in the past and were very familiar with it.
Robbing a ship is such a simple matter.
Anconi Ben, the commander of the Ashes of the Dead, even felt a little bored. He said, "This so-called alliance is nothing special."
"It's no different than the situation with other Imperial ships."
"Didn't they say there was a phoenix? Why didn't it show up? If those bastards and new recruits from who knows where showed up, they could help to entertain us."
As he was saying this, he suddenly received information.
A group of auxiliary troops deployed on the flank said they were defeated.
At first, I thought it was just an elite group of Marines who did it.
After all, the marines on those ships also had a large number of sentinel mechas. Although the auxiliary troops deployed on the side were of high level and had the blessing of chaos power, it was normal for them to be defeated under the enemy's numerical advantage.
The commander quickly deployed support and another auxiliary army unit rushed over to plug the loophole.
But soon, the team was wiped out. At the same time, new information was received: the ones who defeated them were not just marines, but a group of space warriors wearing scarlet power armor!
Now, I felt excited!
You said it was boring, but now something interesting has happened, right?
However, after thinking about it, he decided not to cause any trouble.
Their most important task at the moment is to occupy the bridge first.
Once they occupy that place, let the wizards of the war gang do what they need to do, and their main force will just stay in the bridge.
If those "new recruits" and "bastards" wanted to do something, they would naturally launch an active attack on the bridge. At that time, they would set up a defense line on the bridge and wait for the opportunity.
In his opinion, it was normal for some Space Marines to appear on this cruiser, but the number should not be large.
However, the subsequent news made him alert.
From the other side, there were also signs of the appearance of Phoenix Space Marines.
Next, the troops attacking from the front also said that they were blocked by the Phoenix and their attack was restricted.
“How many people are there?”
Anconi Ben already felt that something was wrong.
But if that was all, he would just feel uneasy and nervous. Even if they had a hundred or even two hundred phoenixes in front of them, so what?
These new Phoenixes, as he said, were all "greenhorns". According to their standards, they were just Space Marines for at most ten years. What was there to be afraid of?
(End of this chapter)
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