The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The Amara main star, magnified on the star chart, had become a pitiful slaughterhouse covered in ashes. The hive cities had been reduced to burning, collapsing ruins, the plains were scarred with massive bombing craters, and the void battlefield was littered with the wreckage of Imperial ships. According to the statistics, the Imperial battle-level capital ships were almost completely annihilated, with the remaining ships less than a tenth of their original size, and the star system's defenses were long gone.

How many Necron ships were destroyed?

Seventeen.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't even a pyrrhic victory. If the Necron ships continued to fight, annihilating the human fleet would be no problem.

But even so, humanity had lost the ability to continue fighting. The enemy only needed to wait a while and launch a second offensive, and everything would collapse.

"This is just a meaningless simulation result from a suspicious machine."

Asterion coldly protested against this desperate number.

"I must be out of my mind to play such a boring game with you!"

"This is not the result of the machine, but the result of your command."

"You—"

"I admit that it is actually relatively deviated from the real result. In a sense, you are right. It is more like a game, a game that is relatively close to reality. After all, in reality, you can't use a single sentence to make that huge and complex fleet move like your arm, nor can you ensure that every captain and commander listens to your command, let alone know the situation of every ship, or even see clearly where the enemy ships are and what tactics they are using. If this battle really happened, you should be stuck in a quagmire, with only a vague concept and guess about your own and the enemy's things."

Sighing and shaking his head, Sotha gently tapped the operation panel and closed the tactical simulator.

".and you can't know when the enemy will stand opposite you, or how many ships there are."

"So how did you determine it?"

"I can't be sure either. This is just an estimate. Maybe the aliens will send fewer ships than this, but maybe they will send more. So Asterion, as an Astartes Chapter Master, when you estimate the situation of an unknown enemy, do you estimate it to be less? Or more? In Ekvaloria, the Star Knights, in conjunction with the Forge World, still had a very difficult time fighting a small Necron dynasty, and the enemy's forces were less than half of what you just dealt with. Now the dynasty encountered by the Empire is undoubtedly stronger than the one encountered in Ekvaloria, so I think doubling it is reasonable, but maybe it will be more."

"Aren't you also very familiar with the situation of the Empire? You control the warships as easily as you control your own arms, why do you only say that I have the advantage!"

Sotha looked at the other party and sighed helplessly.

"Because they must be very familiar with the situation in Amara. Do you remember one thing I said? Before you came, I had just executed an Inquisitor because he had been implanted with a spy device by an alien, but not only him, even the Sector Governor was implanted, but he was lucky enough to be removed. Do you think the aliens really stopped fighting and did nothing? In addition, I can tell you very clearly that the aliens control their fleet, maybe even easier than this simulator. They are soulless machines, without morale, without fear, only need to receive orders, their equipment can understand every detail of the battlefield in detail. If the battle is really presented, you may lose even worse. Of course, its commander will be more arrogant and arrogant, and perhaps neither side has an advantage in this regard."

Asterion glared at Sotha, clenching his fists.

"If that's what you mean, humans are far behind these aliens?"

"Is that so terrible?"

"Humans are the most outstanding race in the galaxy."

"Is there any conflict between the two? When humans just lit the first spark of fire, many races were already galloping across the stars. The galaxy doesn't know how many civilizations it has experienced. Forty thousand years is very short, and ten thousand years is very long, so long that we seem to have forgotten what the truly outstanding qualities of humans are."

Asterion stared at Sotha, as if trying to see something in his eyes, but in the end he just snorted.

"If their ships really have this kind of performance, this battle can't be fought. Even if we win, we will lose. I tell you, there will be no reinforcements. The troops around the Orpheus Sector have been drained. The High Lords of Terra will not transfer reinforcements from other places. At most, some Chapters will send one or two companies on their own initiative. If the remaining Orpheus Sector cannot be defended with the existing forces, then it will probably be abandoned."

Sotha nodded.

"I predicted this a long time ago, so we must repel the opponent with as few ship losses as possible, win more time, and allow the Orpheus' own power to move and protect itself."

"Wishful thinking, what power can this frontier land still have? Rely on these mortals who are trembling under the alien's butcher knife?"

"Didn't you just say that humans are the most outstanding race? Now why do you deny the power of people again? Orpheus still has half of its territory, the capital is still there, the largest industrial town is still there, and the population is still nearly 100 billion. All it needs is some time and assistance."

"Sotha, you are really an eloquent bastard."

"Ha, then are you willing to fight side by side with this bastard again?"

Asterion bent down, picked up the helmet on the ground, and put it back on, saying only one sentence.

"Let's fight, let me see what you can do."

After saying that, he walked towards the exit, but suddenly he stopped and turned around.

"No, there is another place that is unfair. This Abyss-class, if it had participated in the battle at that time, the outcome would have been unpredictable, but you were reluctant to part with your baby."

Sotha chuckled.

"Do you really think that the Randall's Hope can turn the tide?"

"How do you know if you don't try? You can't have spent so much effort just to make a huge piece of space junk, right?"

"So, in your judgment, the Randall's Hope is the only chance of victory?"

Asterion was silent for a moment, realizing the trap in Sotha's words.

"Are you trying to say that this battle can't be fought without you, right? I admit that, so are you reluctant to part with it?"

"Do you want to hear the truth?"

"There is no third person here."

"The truth is that I am reluctant to part with it."

"As expected."

"Asterion, every Chapter hopes to be like you, no matter how they fight or how much they lose, they will be replenished immediately, manpower, equipment, warships, all come at your beck and call. This is the environment that the Astartes dream of, so that everyone can fight with all their strength, and they don't have to send out one company after another stingily, and they don't even use Land Raiders as Predators, Predators as Vindicators, and Dreadnoughts are hidden and dare not use."

Saying that, Sotha spread his hands, looking very helpless.

"But this doesn't exist, it never has."