Warhammer 40 A New Hope

367. The Blacksmith and the Plague (I)

A Tau planet infected by the Nurgle plague

Above the planet's orbit, several ships with the insignia of the Blood Angels or their successors are conducting orbital bombardment of the planet, clearing the surface of evil.

The raging flames were burning the entire surface of the planet, but even so, the psychics on the ship could still sense the evil aura deeper inside.

"Everyone, pay attention. This planet has been infected for a while, so the entire planet and even its interior have been corroded by Nurgle. Destroying it directly may lead to even worse consequences." A Blood Angel Space Marine who seemed to be a commander said to his fellow comrades. "According to the results of the psyker's exploration, there is a relatively obvious subspace energy fluctuation underground on this planet. It is very likely that there is a formed subspace portal somewhere underground on this planet."

"Our mission is to go down to the surface as a small team after the full-scale orbital bombardment is over, enter the underground, and destroy any subspace portals that may exist to prevent them from affecting subsequent operations."

"We will have sufficient weapons, equipment and support for this operation, so failure is not allowed!"

"For my father Sanguinius!"

. . . . . .

Titanium's home world - Titanium

A large number of ship wreckages were floating nearby, telling of the fierce battle that had taken place not long ago.

A Tau orbital city broke in the middle, turning into a huge fragment in space.

The elite Imperial fleet, with the Hope as its flagship, is slowly moving near the area, keeping an eye on all conditions around it.

"The Eldar ships in charge of reconnaissance sent a report that they have roughly searched the wreckage of the relatively intact Tau orbital cities and found some survivors, but not many."

"The people of the Inquisition believe that this may be a Chaos plot, so they request that these survivors be temporarily detained and a comprehensive examination be conducted afterwards."

"In addition, they have discovered traces of the Chaos fleet, which is hunting down the remaining Tau fleet in the area."

"In other words, this Tau homeworld has also basically fallen?"

"Although there are indeed some signs of resistance, it's almost there. We have detected energy fluctuations from at least three or more subspace portals."

According to the intelligence collected, the Tau have roughly understood some key points of fighting Chaos - no matter how disadvantageous or advantageous the current situation is, as long as the portal is not destroyed, the Chaos troops will continue to come. Destroying the portal can solve most problems.

But another problem with fighting Chaos also emerged. Some of the Fire Caste soldiers who had survived or even won the battle against Chaos might suddenly turn against them in the next battle.

This happens frequently within the Human Empire, which is why those Astra Militarum members who have fought against Chaos are often inspected by the Ecclesiarchy or the Inquisition after the battle - those loyal men who were shouting that they were fighting for the Emperor and for the survival of mankind just a moment ago, may have some special ideas after fighting Chaos once, and eventually join the Chaos camp.

This is something the Tau don't know. The Four Gods never care whose blood it is, who the conspiracy and plan are directed against, why the joy comes, and which side has the tenacious vitality.

Even now that their bodies are sealed, their power still affects the entire subspace and even the real world.

"There are not many Chaos forces in this area. The main forces of both sides are fighting fiercely on the Tau homeworld."

"We need more intelligence." Zhang Yi said. "First, send some troops to the Titan home planet to investigate the situation and provide support to the Titan to a certain extent..."

"Everyone else, follow me."

～～～～～～～～～～～～～

A Tau Emissary-class cruiser is being besieged by two Chaos light cruisers and two frigates.

The Chaos attacked in a way the Tau had not expected - using a small ship as bait to draw the cruiser's fire, while the light cruiser rammed it.

The weak Tau ships were nearly broken apart, and the Chaos chose their favorite way of fighting - boarding.

The teleported lightning and a large number of landing craft attacked the Tau Emissary-class cruiser and crashed directly into the interior of the ship. A large number of Chaos servants belonging to Khorne began to massacre amid cheers.

Biubiubiu－－

Buzz－－!

The sound of pulse gun fire mixed with the hum of chainsaw weapons as several Tau Fire Clan squads attempted to intercept a group of violent Khorne Space Marines boarding.

Despite the numerical advantage, the Chaos Space Marines blessed by Khorne were still able to, in the eyes of the horrified opponents, withstand the large number of incoming pulse bullets, and use the ferocious chain axes or other weapons in their hands to dismember the weak aliens in front of them.

"Blood sacrifice to the blood god! Skull sacrifice to the skull throne!"

Tear it--!

The Fire Caste soldier in combat uniform was sawed in half, and the [Soldier Peak] floating beside him was smashed hard against the wall by the violent Khorne Space Marine.

Zizi--whoosh!

boom!

The Fire Clan warrior behind him, carrying a heavy weapon, pulled the trigger at the enemy, and a powerful pulse beam shot out and hit him directly!

However, even though his armor was melted and only half of his upper body was left, this Khorne Space Marine did not fall down. He still roared and charged towards the enemy in front of him.

Zizi--whoosh!

boom!

The second pulse cannon fired, completely destroying his upper body, while his lower body, due to inertia, was moved a long distance before stopping.

After losing at least three squads, the Tau warriors successfully stopped the enemy squad by taking advantage of the narrow terrain and the fact that the enemy had no long-range weapons.

But this is only a small part of the countless enemies who have joined the team.

The fall of this ship was only a matter of time, the limited Tau forces were unable to stop the Chaos attack, and there were no Tau forces in the area that could support them.

Despair was spreading across the ship, just as it had when they watched their own fleet being crushed by Chaos.

These blue-skinned aliens are already showing signs of chaos. The impossibility of winning the battle has made them feel fear, powerlessness, and anger - anger towards their commanders.

[Sizzle~Sizzle~]

[This is the Human Empire's [Hope] fleet, we are about to provide you with assistance]

[Remember, any hostile behavior will be regarded as betrayal, and you will be destroyed along with Chaos]

call out--!

The next moment, the huge [Hope] fleet broke away from the warp state and appeared near the Tau cruiser, firing a volley of light spears!

Two Chaos frigates were destroyed instantly, and then a large number of unmanned carrier-based aircraft were released.

The only remaining Chaos light cruiser had no time to react before it was overwhelmed by a large number of carrier-based aircraft, its engines shut down, and its weapon arrays went offline one after another.

Immediately, a large number of Mechanical units were deployed, some to destroy the interior of the Chaos ship, and the other part to assist the Tau cruiser.

Soon, the servants of Chaos encountered these cold mechanical units and began to fight with them.

Compared to the unmanned machines of the Tau, the Mechs are more destructive and lethal. With the command of the Hope, they can hold their own even against Space Marines or even Terminators.

But the Khorne side was not a pushover either. With the attitude of "it doesn't matter who you hit", they immediately began to counterattack the attacking Mechanical forces and leveled the situation again in a short time.

Boom boom boom--!

Sizzle－－!

Tear it--!

The Khorne Terminator, holding a red lightning claw, cut the wolf-like mechanical creature in front of it in half, then took a rocket and rushed to the last humanoid mechanical creature and smashed it to pieces.

Three Khorne Terminators destroyed dozens of mechanical machines carrying targeted equipment at the cost of two lives. This is enough to prove the power of Khorne believers - sometimes they are really unreasonably tough.

The only remaining Khorne Terminator, who had not yet satisfied his killing spree, roared and crushed the body fragments of the mechanical creature at his feet.

At this moment, a white portal appeared not far from him, and the next moment, a golden shadow flew out of it rapidly.

Seeing this, the Khorne Terminator raised his arms to try to block, but just before the shadow was about to hit him, several blue-gold magic circles appeared in the path of the golden shadow.

Speed ​​​​up magic (×3)

The speed of the golden shadow suddenly increased dramatically, and even as a Space Marine he was unable to react in time. With a dull crash, the entire left arm of the Khorne Terminator that was trying to block was smashed directly.

The pain made him realize what had happened. His strong physique as a Space Marine and the blessing of Khorne took effect immediately. The wound quickly stopped bleeding and formed a scab, and he rushed towards the portal.

Even though one of his arms was broken and he was still wearing heavy Terminator armor, his speed was still quite fast and he rushed to the portal in just a few seconds.

The next moment, with blue-gold sparks bursting in the air, a portal appeared, and the Khorne Terminator, who had no time to slow down, rushed straight in.

The second portal that appeared closed and the surroundings became quiet.

"Boss, where did you send him?"

“Space.”

368. The Blacksmith and the Plague (II)

The roaring Khorne Terminator has now become a piece of space junk floating in the dark and silent universe. The damaged Terminator armor cannot protect him in the cold space, and he is eventually frozen and floating silently.

At this time, Zhang Yi led a tactical team belonging to the [Pathfinder] and a heavy weapons team, a total of eight people, into the ship. They wanted to rescue the surviving Titan people in advance to prevent the bloodthirsty enemies on the ship from killing these "little friends" who were being beaten by reality.

"I have to say that these things of the Titanium Clan are actually the most in line with most people's fantasies about future technology."

"However, in the Warhammer universe, this normality has become the most abnormal."

"I think the universe on the Lizardmen's stone ship is abnormal."

"Forget it, they are creations of the Ancient Saints, psychic masters with a strong foundation, what's wrong with stone battleships? I don't find it strange if they learn from the greenskins and drive away the planet."

Perhaps because the troops on the other side attracted most of the enemy's attention, Zhang Yi and his men did not encounter too many enemies and arrived at the area controlled by the Titans almost unhindered.

But such a smooth process made Zhang Yi feel that something was wrong.

"I remember you said that the power of the polluted gods is related to probability, right?" Zhang Yi suddenly said. "This overlaps with Tzeentch's authority. Considering that he has not yet been fully born, his ability may be limited..."

"Does this mean that if it wants the probability of something happening to go in the direction it wants, it has to give up the probability of success of other things?"

"Boss, you mean that it may have been at the cost of the Chaos Force not discovering our troops and intercepting them, in exchange for..."

boom--!

Explosions were heard from both ends of the team, and then two Titanium troops appeared from both ends and immediately shot at Zhang Yi's team.

The mark representing persistence began to glow, and then two [Magic Screens] appeared at both ends of the team, blocking the sudden attack.

"To be honest, given the current situation, we can have someone blow up this ship..." Zhang Yi said, looking at the pulse bullets that kept exploding on the [Magic Screen]. "Notify the entire army to execute all of them on the spot except the commander..."

"The power of Chaos has already infected the crew of this ship."

"Boss, why don't you leave some more?"

"... You should know that there is a huge gap between the real Titanium and the Titanium in the comics, right?"

"They have no hair and no nose..."

"Fire team, clear the battlefield."

"At your service, sir."

The Pathfinder Space Marine armed with heavy firepower turned around and activated the burst ion cannon in his hand. After a short charge, he fired one energy sphere after another at the enemy not far away.

boom! boom! boom! boom!

The plasma spheres that were shot out one after another almost instantly suppressed the Titanium soldiers behind Zhang Yi's team. At this moment, a Titanium combat suit carrying heavy firepower appeared at the other end.

Squeak--whoosh!

boom!

A powerful beam of light bombarded the [Magic Screen], and cracks appeared on the invisible barrier, and the second shot began to warm up.

【Ultimate Alchemy】

The mark symbolizing Tzeentch glowed again, and the leading battle suit with heavy firepower began to show a golden luster on its surface, and the Fire Clan warriors beside it also began to slowly turn golden.

This change caught the Tau off guard, but having split from their auxiliary army with psionic abilities in the previous battle, they were now helpless against this spell.

After a while, dozens of Titanium combat suits, including the one with heavy weapons, all turned into golden sculptures from the inside out in front of Zhang Yi and his team. The terrified expressions before they turned golden even remained on their faces.

On the other side, the enemies behind their team were also cleared out under the overwhelming firepower of the continuous ion cannon.

"So, a perfect and balanced 'matching mechanism' is really important..."

. . . . . .

The original rescue operation turned into an annihilation operation. Perhaps there was only this one Tau commander on the ship who was bewitched by Chaos, and only a few soldiers followed this commander to attack the humans who came to rescue.

But in the Warhammer world, no betrayal is acceptable or tolerated.

What's more, it is a fact that the Titanium people were attacked by Chaos, and a large number of them were corrupted and defected. Zhang Yi and his team cannot confirm whether there are still hidden people who have been corrupted by Chaos among the remaining Titanium people, and they cannot take the risk.

In the end, both ships were destroyed by the Hope. Only a small number of senior officials and civilians on the Titanium ship survived as prisoners, and Zhang Yi obtained the information he wanted from them.

Almost all of the Tau homeworlds, except for the one in the direction of Nim'a Atoll, including the Tau homeworld, were attacked by the Chaos army, as well as a small number of Greenskins and Dark Eldar.

The puny Tau fleet was incapable of stopping such a massive, multi-faceted attack - or so they tried.

Therefore, as the leadership, the Ether Clan decided to abandon those less important home worlds that were relatively far away from Titanium and migrate as many of their people as possible to the vicinity of Titanium. All fleets were also recalled to the vicinity of Titanium - to ensure that at least some people and planets could be preserved.