The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Just as with the choice of the Martian-class battlecruiser, Sosiant's selection of the relatively "ordinary" Oberon-class battleship followed the same logic. As an ancient ship type designed during the Great Crusade era, it also adhered to the then-popular concept of the "all-around warrior," equipped with a wide variety of weapons, including lances, macro cannons, and attack aircraft squadrons. The ship's weapon array could inflict damage on enemy ships of the same level at long range. When used in conjunction with lances, it could severely damage cruiser-class vessels in a short time. At the same time, the embarked attack aircraft could directly eliminate the enemy or continue to protect the mothership, or be dispatched to attack other targets. In addition, the battleship had a strong self-sufficiency capability, including a complete set of resource recycling systems, allowing the ship to operate in the void for a long time.

Of course, while this type of versatile warship could be applied to any task, it was a jack of all trades but master of none. In terms of firepower and sturdiness, it was inferior to heavy gun battleships, in terms of rapid support it was not as good as light cruisers, and in terms of flight squadron capacity and command, it was far inferior to the Emperor-class, a dedicated carrier.

But it was very suitable for the Astartes!

In Sosiant's vision, after returning, the Star Knights would no longer operate on a Chapter scale for a short period. The command layer needed to be trained, and companies would go out to perform tasks independently. For different situations, they could choose different types of ships. For example, when suppressing cultists or gene stealers with no significant naval forces, strike cruisers would be used. If dealing with Orks, who have some naval strength, higher-level battlecruisers would be used. If going to more distant areas to perform key tasks, the Oberon-class battleship would be used in conjunction with other warships. Mainline battle ships that were less suitable for Astartes combat styles would remain on the home world in a state of readiness, ready to respond to sudden crises.

Based on these ideas, Sosiant made his choice.

The Forge Master was also very happy (he thought he had ruthlessly fleeced Sosiant), and packaged the technical personnel and servitor thralls along with the ship as a gift.

In addition, Sosiant asked the other party for six Goliath-class forge ships. He knew the Forge Master would definitely agree because the price he had offered before was generous enough.

Goliath-class forge ships were a type of light cruiser-sized vessel in the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet. These ships provided maintenance and repair services for main battleships, remote outposts, and merchant fleets. Although not small in size, their crew capacity was only equivalent to that of a standard transport ship, but their interiors were equipped with a large number of maintenance boats and engineering ships, as well as super-large gravity traction devices, which could anchor battleship-level main ships to their sides, and then use various repair and maintenance facilities to quickly repair damaged ships.

The combat effectiveness of a fleet is not just about who has more guns, torpedoes, or fighters. Logistics support is also a very important part. This is why many Chapters, although having strong fleets, find it difficult to carry out long-term naval warfare missions. Once ships are damaged, they easily lose combat effectiveness, making them somewhat timid during fleet operations.

The Forge Master agreed to Sosiant's request with almost no hesitation.

However, the revival of the ship's machine spirit would take some time, so Sosiant and the Star Knights temporarily stayed in the spaceport of Mars, but he had no time to be idle, and quickly discussed the reconstruction of the Tiger Claws with Andar.

Sosiant's idea was to first have the Star Knights' apothecaries modify about a company of new recruits, and then Andar would join the Covenant of Misery as Chapter Master. The Tiger Claws would then be relocated to the Scar of Victory. Anyway, there was plenty of space there. Under the current circumstances, having a home world would be too conspicuous, so they could only exist as a fleet-based Chapter for the time being, and the Star Knights would provide equipment for these Space Marines.

However, just as Sosiant was planning a series of matters after his return, a few sudden visitors startled him.

"Your Highness."

When the Aeldari wearing a Ranger cloak removed their mask, Sosiant was truly speechless. This was the Solar System, the heart of the Imperium, and yet a few Eldar had directly driven a Vampire Raider from the Moon, and then flew all the way to Mars, and no one had discovered them in the middle. Sosiant had to feel concerned about the defenses of the Solar System.

However, this may also be related to the vehicles they used. The Vampire Raider is a variant of the Vampire Raider, the main transport gunboat of the Aeldari Craftworlds. Like the Thunderhawk gunship, it has long-range void navigation capabilities, and is very fast, capable of carrying thirty Aeldari soldiers simultaneously. The Vampire Raider sacrifices some of its transport capacity to enhance its stealth performance. Although it can only transport twenty soldiers at a time, it can activate a phantom shield. It is the most advanced cloaking device of the Eldar, almost immune to all existing human detection equipment, and can achieve complete visual invisibility.

However, they were discovered after approaching Mars, but not by Mars, but by Amnak and Li. The former urged him to meet with the Aeldari quickly to prevent them from being discovered by others, while the latter told Sosiant to quickly get things done and let these Eldar leave. The Sol System Watch was not just sitting around, and they would discover the Webway gate on the Moon before long—as for why there was a Webway gate on the Moon, Sosiant didn't even find it strange.

So Sosiant quickly summoned these Eldar to meet on the flagship.

"What happened? Who sent you here?"

In the secret flight deck, an Aeldari fighter with a perfect streamlined shape, painted in black all over, was parked. Sosiant, wearing casual clothes, looked helplessly at the few Aeldari kneeling on the ground.

"Don't kneel, speak quickly."

"It was the Autarch."

"What happened to Veronica?"

Sosiant's voice suddenly became a little nervous.

"The Autarch is fine, she just asked us to come and see you, to see if you are well."

"I..."

Sosiant rubbed his head helplessly, but he knew it was pointless to get angry with these errand runners, so he calmed down and said slowly:

"I'm fine, tell her not to worry, I'll be back soon."

"Yes, Your Highness..."

"Has anything happened in the Court recently?"

"Nothing major, just some Wanderers have come, and some envoys from the Craftworlds and Savage Clans. Lord Dorar has been reorganizing the troops recently, but there are many different voices in the Council, and it doesn't seem to be going very smoothly."

Obviously, Dorar was also urging him to return through these subtexts. Sosiant was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"When you return, tell Lord Dorar to strengthen the guard of the Court and beware of possible enemies. Also, tell him that I have obtained the Phoenix Chalice, and let him investigate the function of this thing first."

Hearing about the Phoenix Chalice, the few Aeldari showed expressions of surprise and confusion, obviously they didn't know what it was.

"Alright, hurry back, this is the Solar System, there are many eyes and ears, once exposed it will attract the Custodes."

"Yes."