The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Enemy fleet detected rapidly advancing on the Luli 3 channel."

"Defensive fortifications are ready to fire."

This was still the edge of orbital defense fire, but Luli 3 also had defensive installations deployed, and even the basically completed star fortress could actually fire.

Judging by the Red Corsairs' formation, it looked like they were launching a desperate assault, but Solzheny felt something was off.

"Enemy ships firing!"

Several beams of light pierced the darkness, slamming into the Tearers flagship battle barge *Running Steed*, immediately the shields flared and collapsed, and parts of the hull were torn off, with gas and flames spreading across the bow.

The Imperial fleet then retaliated, with the Red Corsairs' battleship *Lament* being the oldest ship and already struggling under the continuous attacks of fighters. This time it was directly focused on by the *Eternal Loyalty*, *Redemption*, and the *Ascetic's* flagship *Eternal Night*, its shields were instantly shattered, and the upper decks were swept by macrocannon shells, tearing the spine-mounted gun arrays to shreds.

The battle quickly entered a new peak, with stray lasers piercing the ship hulls, and spheres of debris and flames tumbling in the void.

"Strange..."

Solzheny's gaze was fixed on the battle projection, and the display screen zoomed in. The ship markers turned into hull projections, all wrapped in tactical data.

"What exactly are the Red Corsairs trying to do?"

The view began to shift, focusing on the few warships that had broken away from the Red Corsairs' formation, and a possibility flashed through Solzheny's mind.

"Wait..."

"Enemy ships entering satellite attack range!"

The projection crackled, shrinking the scale, filling the light cone with the planet, the defensive fortifications, the satellites, and the two attacking fleets.

Finally, Solzheny realized.

"They're going to use the warships to ram the satellites! No! To ram the star fortress!"

The view swung again, quickly locking onto those protruding warships, their outlines looming, roughly identifiable as three cruisers.

"Attack them with everything! Stop them!"

Although Solzheny gave the order, the main battleships had previously locked onto the enemy's capital ships, and it would take time to turn and attack those suicide ships.

At this moment, the defensive firepower on the satellites began to fire, and the sky full of light beams stirred the vacuum, while the weapons on the star fortress also started up one after another, and the values of damage and loss began to glow orange on the enemy ships.

"Order fighter squadrons to intercept the enemy at all costs!"

The view on the tactical display swiveled through the fleet, flying from one ship to another, found a ship and locked onto it. →

It was a Murder-class cruiser, and in the shaky live footage, this warship was completely enveloped in flames, fighters swarming around it like flies smelling carrion, creating one small wound after another, but it rushed towards its target like an arrow shot out.

The satellite's firepower grew stronger and stronger, with white and orange impacts striking the live footage.

Suddenly, the deck vibrated under Solzheny's feet, and he could hear the roar of the warship's giant cannons firing.

"Direct hit received, void shields accessing backup power."

Sparks fell from the ceiling above, and the battle footage became a blur of shaking. Solzheny was single-minded at this moment, even if thousands of people died in the gaps between heartbeats.

Then, he saw the ship suddenly pause as if exhausted, and several dazzling spots of light streaked across the void.

It exploded, like a firework, starting from the middle of the ship, slowly breaking into three sections.

But Solzheny was not happy, because the other two were close enough to the satellite, and in fact, this also saved them from being completely destroyed by the star fortress's firepower before they could get close. They approached the satellite at the closest distance, and then dropped a large number of landing capsules and landing craft. In the process, another light cruiser was destroyed.

The last cruiser was already scarred and did not continue to move, but shut down its engines and slid onto the satellite, but with the help of the satellite's microgravity environment, it did not crash, but maintained at least 70% of its integrity.

Solzheny connected to the command center on Luli 3.

"All ground units, prepare for enemy landing."

Solzheny was surprised but not at all shocked that the enemy chose to land on Luli 3, and even felt it was stupid. Did they think they could reverse the situation with ground combat?

This was too naive. Although he had not deployed Space Marines on the satellite, it did not mean that there were no defensive forces on it.

However, Solzheny was a little concerned about the forced-landed cruiser.

He probably guessed that the Red Corsairs were planning to play the old trick again, summoning demons on the ship or simply opening a warp rift.

"Order the Silent Eagles squadron to destroy it."

As the Silent Eagles struck again, this time carrying powerful nuclear bombs, the Red Corsairs' sorcerers were still conducting rituals on the ship, and then they felt a violent tremor, followed by white-hot energy engulfing three-quarters of the cruiser's hull.

"Fucking hell!"

Turning back to look at the rising clouds of debris and the disintegrating warship, Orcot couldn't help but curse. He had finally escaped the pursuit of those mechanical lunatics, snatched a Thunderhawk from a derelict ship, and thought everything was fine when he returned to the fleet, but he didn't expect to encounter this kind of crap again. If he hadn't taken the warband and escaped in a landing craft in time, he would probably be thrown into space like those metal scraps.

Standing on the barren gray crust of the satellite, Orcot's heart was truly cold. Although the commander in the communication channel kept shouting about organizing an attack, he knew very well that whether this succeeded or not, they would most likely not be able to leave.

The guy who came up with this strategy was a fucking genius. If that bastard was standing in front of him, he would definitely give him a medal bigger than a sorcerer's disc.

What a genius brain would think that a few ships and one or two thousand people could occupy a satellite full of fortresses?

But there was nothing he could do. Now that they were down, what else could he do? He could only call the brothers in the warband to gather with the main force first, and then look for an opportunity to find an aircraft and slip away like they did in the derelict ship—of course, provided that the fleet was still there, but with such a great genius in command, Orcot felt that the chance was a bit slim.

At this time, the entire surface of the satellite was in chaos, with falling impacts, metal fragments, corpses, and landing capsules making the silent gray earth seem to boil. Those Red Corsair leaders who had survived by chance began to loudly call out to their men and establish new chains of command. No matter how fallen, at least they were Space Marines, the most dangerous army in the galaxy.

Due to the very scattered landing points, the Red Corsairs on the satellite gathered into four relatively large groups, totaling about a thousand people. They then began to attack the most conspicuous target—the unfinished star fortress—amid angry shouts and the screeching of fighters passing overhead.