The Emperor’s Angel of Death

After determining the series of mining worlds in the Bloody Skull system held greater importance, Sotha Nul dispatched the White Templars led by Arash and some of Lampatan's forces to the Bloody Skull system. This was to accelerate the clearing of mineral planets there, which would also facilitate subsequent deployments and gatherings. Lampatan's side was then entrusted to the Lamenters led by Malakim and the Crimson Blades Chapter.

Following a series of troop deployments, the central fleet led by Sotha Nul also set sail from Tovartz and headed to attack the Qara system.

Since Huron was still digesting the derelict ships he had acquired, Sotha Nul certainly couldn't let him have his way. Since there was to be a decisive battle, he naturally wouldn't give the opponent the option to choose the time and place. Therefore, he chose to strike first. The battle on Badab was over, and the troops there would soon be transferred to the front lines.

This attack brought together a total of over two thousand five hundred Space Marines from ten chapters: the Star Knights, Dark Angels, Caliban's Disciples, Dedicants, Penitents, Star Dragons, Storm Lords, Nova Marines, Ranger Marines, and Minotaurs, along with over two hundred various warships and nearly three hundred million Imperial Guard. Its scale even surpassed the Siege of Badab.

And their target was the Qara system's three habitable worlds: Striberg, Poderga, and Arillo, as well as five uninhabitable worlds capable of stationing troops.

The Qara system's structure was very similar to the Solar system, with stable and safe orbits. As one of the systems closest to the depths of the Maelstrom, Qara had historically been an outpost for the Maelstrom region empires, similar to Cadia's role. The three habitable worlds were designated fortress worlds, each capable of regularly providing over 200 million troops every tithe year, and now it was providing a steady stream of manpower for the Red Corsairs.

As the gateway to the Maelstrom system, the Red Corsairs' last stronghold, once this place fell, the Red Corsairs would completely lose almost all foothold in the material universe.

As the Imperial army rushed towards the Qara planets, Huron quickly received the news. Although he didn't know Sotha Nul had the crucial information about him possessing the derelict ships, he also understood that his final battle preparations were not yet complete, and he had to buy some more time.

So he sent all his war leaders, as well as the Impaler Zhufoy, to the Qara planets to resist the Imperial army's offensive, relying on the system's powerful defense system.

Although the Qara system didn't have the magnificent system-level defense system of the Badab system, Huron still put effort into integrating the defenses of each planet. The three death worlds on the outermost periphery of the system were basically fortified, and in order to make up for the lack of orbital defense facilities, Huron ingeniously connected a large number of small ships and useless civilian and transport ships, and installed weapons on them, using them as temporary orbital defense stations for the planets.

He often used this strategy when he was a chapter master and pioneered the Maelstrom, which was very suitable for dealing with those pirates and scattered warbands.

The three habitable planets, Striberg, Poderga, and Arillo, all had complete orbital defense facilities and system-level defense weapons. They would be the key to blocking the Imperial fleet's activities in the system, while the two death worlds closest to the star were used as the system's armory because they were not easily attacked due to distance.

At the same time, Huron also formulated the general policy of swarm warfare, that is, to form attack groups with a large number of small ships, not directly colliding with the main Imperial fleet, but using hit-and-run tactics with brief contact.

The Blackheart King had realized that sending out a large fleet before taking out enough comparable power was just a waste, so he only asked the Qara system's garrison navy to do two things: harass the Imperial expeditionary fleet as much as possible, and provide continuous follow-up assistance to the planet's garrison as much as possible.

Since the death worlds had no atmosphere, most of the facilities were hidden in safe underground bunkers, so Huron wasn't worried about Sotha Nul deploying exterminatus weapons.

The most common exterminatus weapons of the Imperium, Incinerator Torpedoes and Virus Bombs, had no effect on death worlds without an atmosphere. Cyclone Torpedoes were not particularly effective for geologically stable worlds unless a large number were deployed. They were mainly used to level the life and oceans on the surface of planets. The most useful Bi-Polar Torpedoes were too rare, with only two being stored in one sector. Huron knew this better than anyone, because he had once been in charge of the Maelstrom's Bi-Polar Torpedo armory, and Sotha Nul certainly didn't have any now.

In addition, Huron also ordered all the void mines in the armory to be taken out and deployed in large minefields inside the Qara planets to prevent the Imperial fleet from launching a surprise attack on the internal habitable worlds after crossing the outer planets.

His idea was that Sotha Nul had to fight his way from the outside to the inside of the system bit by bit, which would take a lot of time.

In fact, Huron's estimation was correct. Sotha Nul did not have Bi-Polar Torpedoes because they were all taken by Helbrecht to attack Badab, and the Virus Bombs and Cyclone Torpedoes in his hand were not very effective for solid death worlds.

But why should he follow Huron's line of thinking to fight?

Sotha Nul didn't plan to care about the garrison on the three death worlds at all, and he wasn't in the mood to play whack-a-mole.

His response was two plans.

One was to send a fleet to feign an attack on the three fortress worlds. The "iron-chained ships" orbital defense facilities that Huron had temporarily put together looked intimidating, but their actual firepower was very weak and had no ability to threaten large warships at all, so it was not so troublesome to dismantle them. It was not necessary to send a very powerful fleet, but it could create the illusion that they were going to attack.

The second was to drag the Scar of Victory up, using its numerous flight decks to load a large number of fighters. It didn't need the astonishing number of the two Angstrom naval battles, but thousands of large fighters were enough to deal with the Red Corsairs' small ship harassment teams with backward fire control and weak firepower, and at the same time could clear the void minefields.

Just when the Red Corsairs' garrison, including Zhufoy, really thought that the expeditionary force was planning to attack the three death worlds first, and was gathering troops and fleets on the Striberg planet to prepare for support at any time, they didn't expect the main fleet led by the Indomitable Truth to suddenly pass through the minefield and head straight for the planet.

Zhufoy was very clear-headed and immediately ordered the fleet to withdraw from the vicinity of the planet, and ordered the world to defend itself strictly. The troops that had been assembled turned to defense on the spot.

At the same time, he also found some aspects that were favorable to his side. There were still large minefields in the Qara system, which meant that the Imperial fleet could not use the same means to raid other directions again. Secondly, although the three death fortress worlds could indeed be bypassed, they were not worthless in themselves. The Red Corsairs' fleet could still dock in their orbits, and the troops on them could be mobilized at any time. If the Imperial offensive slowed down, the garrisons of the three worlds could even organize ships to launch boarding raids on the Scar of Victory, which was not entirely without a chance.

In short, the sentence is, firmly defend, there is a way.

Soon, a great battle broke out around Striberg's orbital defense facilities.