The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The K'san Sept's Guardian Fleet was a very large fleet, composed of 311 various warships, most of which were the Tau's newest vessels. This included 10 Custodian-class carriers, 40 Protector-class cruisers, 60 Warlord-class frigates, and 60 Jailer-class gunships, with the remainder being Hero-class and Defender-class ships.

The most special among them were the Custodian-class carriers. This warship type was still a highly classified asset within the Tau Empire. It originated from the lessons learned from a series of failures during the Damocles Gulf conflict between the Tau and the Imperium. Faced with the Imperium's massive battleships, the Tau cruisers struggled to inflict effective damage. They urgently needed a large warship, close to battleship tonnage, to support their naval warfare core. However, the Tau had never designed or built such enormous warships, nor did they have the technological foundation for super-large naval cannons or lance weaponry. Developing heavy gunships would take too long, which was unacceptable to the Tau fleet commanders who urgently needed large naval vessels.

In this situation, the Earth Caste technicians could only choose existing, mature technologies. Based on the principle of 'promoting strengths and avoiding weaknesses,' they developed an aircraft carrier with a tonnage close to that of an Imperial battleship.

Clearly, the Earth Caste technicians believed that the Tau's strength lay in various types of fighter aircraft. Therefore, in the absence of super-large naval cannons, Taiman, Barracuda, and Tiger Shark squadrons could compensate for the lack of main gun firepower. To further enhance the aircraft carrier's function, the Custodian-class, in addition to its own complement of aircraft squadrons, could also tow three Jailer-class gunships. Its own firepower primarily consisted of arrays of railguns and ion cannon batteries on its flanks.

Although mature technologies were used, the development of the Custodian-class was still fraught with difficulties. After designing and producing several relatively unsuccessful models, the Earth Caste technicians introduced the final K'o'Vesh Plan—reducing some of the flight deck, increasing engine output power, shielding capabilities, and deflection technology, and significantly increasing the armored prow.

Ultimately, the plan was approved by the Ethereal Council, and the Custodian-class carrier was born. The research and manufacturing of this warship type were top-secret. Its tonnage approached that of the Imperium's main battleships, capable of carrying hundreds of air units. Its defensive capabilities were also the most resilient in the Tau fleet. This made its manufacturing cost unprecedentedly high. Although it had been in development for decades, each Sept world could only produce it in small batches. (The Custodian-class actually appears in the Taros Campaign in 997, but considering the long time required from warship development to mass production to actual combat, it should be no problem for it to be in limited service at this time.)

Therefore, these 10 Custodian-class carriers represented the entire foundation of the K'san Sept world!

This book is first published on 𝚝𝕨𝚔𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞.

After receiving the message relayed layer by layer from the Sept world's grid communication station, indicating that the enemy had not attacked the Sept world, Kor'O'K'san'Navas felt fortunate. After all, if anything happened to the Ethereals, they, as senior commanders, would not be able to atone for their sins even with ten thousand deaths.

But now, he was completely in the dark about the enemy's situation. He had no idea where the enemy came from, what their goals were, or their numbers and strength. A massive amount of information was transmitted from the star systems surrounding the Sept world, but much of it contained incomprehensible content, such as—

The enemy's ships could disappear on the spot, the enemy's warships were the size of a small planet, or the enemy's weapons could destroy a fleet in an instant.

It all sounded like stories. Kor'O'K'san'Navas completely did not understand how those things were made up.

How could a warship the size of a small planet move in space with the agility of a living creature?

Even the Tyranids' bio-ships weren't that outrageous!

Moreover, he was now facing a problem: in his haste to rush back, he had abandoned maintaining the integrity of the fleet formation. Due to the rapid pace of naval technology updates, the performance differences between the Tau's new and old warships were enormous. The Custodian-class carrier was not only the largest warship in the Tau fleet but also the fastest. When it maneuvered at full speed, only the Protector-class cruisers could keep up, even the Warlord-class was slightly inferior, let alone the older Hero-class.

This led to an extremely awkward situation for the K'san Guardian Fleet: the entire fleet was divided into two or three parts, with serious disconnections.

Therefore, after quickly arriving near the outermost star system of the Sept world, he did not continue to advance rashly. Instead, he gathered information while trying to reorganize the formation, at least allowing the ships behind to catch up first—he shouldn't have made such a basic mistake, but because it concerned the Ethereals, he was too anxious. He was willing to take such a risk to return to the Sept world as quickly as possible.

After all, the Ethereals were the root of the Tau Empire, the source of unity for the four castes. It could be said that without the Ethereals, there would be no Tau. Without the leadership of the Ethereals, even if they numbered in the billions, they would be nothing more than a pile of loose sand! (Haha, of course, the Farsight Enclaves don't count.)

Now that he knew the enemy had not attacked the Sept world, it could be said to be the best of a bad situation.

But now a new problem had emerged—

Where was the enemy fleet?

The enemy fleet was no longer near the Sept world. This was verified information. Before that, they had slaughtered several fleets, sinking more than four hundred ships of various sizes, and supposedly not a single enemy ship had been sunk.

Although the ships left behind were old and weak, they shouldn't have been slaughtered like livestock. The enemy's terrifying efficiency sent a chill down Kor'O'K'san'Navas's spine.

Now the enemy had disappeared, and the time was very short. No detection station had any trace of them, which was worrying. Fortunately, he had not rushed into the battlefield rashly. He was still relatively far from the enemy's previous location, so it should be safe. He had to assemble the fleet as soon as possible. Therefore, Kor'O'K'san'Navas immediately sent a message to the ships rushing from the rear, ordering them to go to the designated assembly point as quickly as possible.

But what the Tau naval commander did not know was that, just as he was planning where to regroup the fleet and searching for the direction of the enemy fleet, preparing to reorganize the formation and launch an attack as quickly as possible, the main force of the Tears of Isha fleet had quietly approached the Tau fleet that had arrived at the star system first.

"Warriors, a great victory is about to descend!"

Driven by the warship's psychic circuits, Giullio's voice spread to every ship.

"Perhaps many of you have become accustomed to fighting under the guidance of the Seer's prophecies, but I do not believe in omens. I only believe in the profound knowledge left by our ancient ancestors, I believe in every one of my warships that embodies the wisdom of our ancestors, I believe in your determination and will, and I believe that the Eldar have the right to trample the stars unhindered! This time, we will tell these Tau that the Eternal Aeldari are not refugees or hiding wretches. We are the masters of the galaxy! We are the overlords who have ruled the galaxy for sixty million years!"

"Rebirth! Rebirth! Rebirth!"

The communication circuits were filled with excited shouts.

"Let our blades be stained with blood, let the stars be stained with blood! Full speed ahead! For Asuryan! For Isha! For the Eternal Court! For the Eternal Queen! For the Phoenix King and glory!"

The fanatical shouts echoed through the fleet's communication network, and the Tau's main reinforcement fleet had already been imprinted in the outline of the aiming crystals—