Chapter 211 Tactical Deduction

"What are the results of the planetary scan?"

As soon as Fu Qinghai returned to the bridge of the cruiser, he couldn't wait to ask.

"Khan, this is a topographical map of the feudal world of Malzan before the Great Rebellion."

Eugene Eleanor displayed a spherical holographic projection on the table.

"After scanning with the auspicious array, we marked in red where the terrain had changed."

As Eugene's fingers slid, the holographic projection spun and enlarged, and an area marked in red appeared, which was several hemispherical "bubbles" embedded in the surface.

"Look, this is the castle of the local warlord. It was built on a valley and probably has a large underground area. In addition, the castle and several affiliated bastions have void shields, which block further scanning by the auspicious instrument."

There is a void shield, which means that the interior of the castle cannot be explored through the auspex.

There are void shields, which means orbital bombardment with lances and macro cannons is not possible.

Many people would wonder why the human empire's naval fleet still had to send ground troops to land and fight after occupying the space orbit, just like fighting the First World War, letting the Imperial Guard fill the gap with human lives.

First of all, the Empire regards all places that the Star Torch can shine as its traditional sphere of influence, which it wants to occupy and rule. It cannot issue extermination orders at will. The cost of interstellar warfare is very high, and war is the continuation of politics. If victory is won for the sake of victory, what is the point of conquering a dead world?

Secondly, if the whirlwind torpedoes and virus bombs of the Extinction Order are not used, relying solely on macro cannons and light spears has many limitations. Ground-based void shields can often be made larger than ship-borne void shields and are difficult to penetrate. Special terrains such as the seabed or canyons can offset the power of orbital bombing.

"Intelligence provided by Mars indicates that the STC is hiding beneath the castle of this local warlord named 'Bancroft Kellogg'."

Master Quinto interrupted and reminded.

"These are not the main points. The main point is that we found the bodies of the Iron Warriors on the space station, and the traitors have also come to Malzan. They can't have come on foot. Start the sublight speed engine and search along the space track to find the Iron Warrior's battleship first!"

Fu Qinghai waved his hand and gave a direct order.

The Fiery Horse set sail again and flew around Malzan, but the auspicious instrument still did not detect any signs of any aircraft.

Even Fu Qinghai, Qiao Shida and Camille, who each drove a Stormbird to search carefully in the meteorite belt far away from the planet, still did not find any spaceship.

Everyone gathered in the bridge.

"What's going on, Khan?"

Camille asked.

Fu Qinghai recalled the battle on Planet Loswell 7, pondered for a moment, and said:

"If it's not some kind of stealth technology, then there is only one possibility left, that the enemy ship is hiding on the surface."

"That means the enemy's warship is very small and basically does not have the ability to compete with a cruiser."

Qiao Shida said lightly.

"Why don't we try some diplomatic means and contact the warlord on the surface and ask him to surrender and hand over the STC?"

Eugene made a suggestion from the sidelines.

Fu Qinghai shook his head.

"If we hadn't found the bodies of the Iron Warriors, I would have preferred a diplomatic solution. The other party has a void shield and must have an auspicious instrument. We have already flown around the planet, but there is still no information from the surface to contact us. The other party's attitude is self-evident."

"We can just drop the pod and smash it in from the top, or we can each drive the Thunderhawk gunships to break through at low altitude."

Joestar came up with a standard Space Marine solution.

Fu Qinghai stared in deep thought, pursed his lips, and said nothing.

In fact, he did not really want to fight the enemy on the surface. The battle on Planet Loswell 7 kept reminding him that he must not make the same mistake as Vlahos, occupying orbital air supremacy and then fighting the enemy on the ground. This would be equivalent to the Russian army with heavy artillery firepower entering the ruins of Grozny and engaging in street fighting.

Fu Qinghai rested his hands on the wide table, staring at the fortress shrouded in the void shield, and said:

"There is actually a solution."

"What?"

Qiao Shida asked curiously.

Fu Qinghai said calmly:

"Equip that abandoned space station with thrusters and drop it from orbit to crush those traitors and warlords."

"Great."

Qiao Shida's eyes lit up when he heard this.

Master Quinto immediately stopped him and said,

"Little Locke, our primary target is the STC below the castle, not the Iron Warriors or the rebel warlords."

What this means is that if the castle is smashed into a dent, a big hole is created on the surface, and the STC underneath is damaged, then all their trip would be in vain.

"There are two Termite-class Tyrant assault drilling vehicles on the research ship. We may be able to start from underground."

Master Quinto reminded.

Fu Qinghai pinched his chin and said,

"No matter what, let's go down and see the actual situation before making a decision."

Fu Qinghai turned around and ordered:

"Joshida, choose a landing site."

Qiao Shida had already prepared for this. He reached out and moved the holographic projection of the planet, magnified the land area, pointed to a valley not far from the warlord's fortress, and said:

"Here, Khan."

"Fifty kilometers from the castle, the curvature of the planet can interfere with the detection of the auspicious instrument to a certain extent."

"There is pristine forest all around, and no signs of human activity, so the chances of being discovered by locals are low."

"I observed the structure of the valley facility and it looks like an abandoned mine. Mines are usually accompanied by strong magnetic fields, which can also interfere with the enemy's detection methods to a certain extent."

Qiao Shida listed three reasons in one breath.

This caused Camille next to him to look at him differently.

"Very good, check the transmission beacon, pack up the weapons and equipment, and we will go down in the Thunderhawk gunship."

Fu Qinghai gave the order with satisfaction.

…

Void Shield is a shield system unique to the Human Empire.

A very advanced and ingenious design.

There are only two types of shield systems in other science fiction IPs: deflector shields and energy shields. Unlike the "hard interception" method of energy shields that mainly intercept attacks through energy neutralization, and unlike the deflector shield that deflects attacks instead of intercepting them, the principle of void shields is to transfer attacks into the subspace.

Sometimes I can imagine how the four vendors felt - they were sitting at home with water pouring down on their heads, and when the human empire was at war, all kinds of garbage like laser shells were thrown into the subspace.

Void shields consume a lot of energy, but their energy is mainly used to maintain this subspace entrance, rather than to offset incoming attacks.

At the same time, like the Holtzman Shield in the Dune universe, the Void Shield will only defend against high-speed live ammunition and directed energy weapons, such as macro cannons, light lances and nova cannons, but will not intercept the penetration of low-speed objects, such as torpedoes, missiles and assault boats.

This statement is somewhat absolute. After all, speed is a relative concept. In fact, if we have to break it down, ship-borne void shields, ground-based void shields and Titan void shields are all different. By adjusting the frequency and harmonics of the void shield, it is also possible to intercept torpedoes and missiles.

But tanks and infantry are 100% certain to penetrate void shields, which is one of the reasons why the Imperial Guard still uses rigid World War I tactics.

Therefore, Fu Qinghai proposed a plan to use the space station to smash the castle. Due to the influence of air resistance in the atmosphere, the falling speed of the space station would most likely not reach the interception speed of the void shield.

In addition, the void shield will also block a variety of psychic technologies based on the principles of the subspace, such as teleportation technology and auspicious scans.

Therefore, Fu Qinghai had to personally lead the team down to the surface to observe the actual situation of the castle's defense.

…

Veteran driver Fu Qinghai operated the Thunder Eagle gunboat and landed steadily in the valley.

Three Space Marines stepped out of the front door of the fallen gunship.

Black slag and rusty iron frames were scattered around. Fu Qinghai took a look at the handheld auspicious instrument in his hand, which showed that there was indeed a strong magnetic field here. He said in the communication channel:

"Let's go."

Half an hour later, the three of them stood on a higher hill, observing the fortress in the distance.

The main color of gray and yellow covers the entire land. The surrounding scenery is very desolate, shrouded in haze, with uncovered soil and trenches everywhere.

The activated void shield created a circle of transparent bubble-like membrane around the castle. This circle of bubbles caused an optical blurring effect because it could refract visible light passing through it.

The energy consumption of maintaining the void shield is enormous.

Standard doctrine of the Imperial Navy is to always maintain void shields at 50 percent of their maximum power. However, given the enormous power requirements and the increased maintenance required, few captains strictly follow this rule. Most will maintain void shields at minimum power in "safe" situations, such as in a naval port above an Imperial world's orbit.

Considering that the enemy is a technological barbarian warlord, he would obviously not keep the void shield fully open under normal circumstances.

The scene above the castle showed that the enemy had known of the fleet's arrival and had raised the void shield in advance, maintaining it at a higher power level.

Fu Qinghai gritted his teeth and looked a little worried.

Through the distorted light film, Fu Qinghai could vaguely see the huge and solid artillery turret on the protruding bastion of the warlord castle, with the thick black muzzle piercing the sky.

Skyhawk macro cannon.

The enemy has moved all the macro cannons to the ground. This is a heavy-duty ground-based macro cannon specially used for ground defense.

Ironically, there was even an imperial double-headed eagle logo on the macro cannon that had not been erased in time.

Trench-like defensive platforms and half-buried fortifications were spread out along the edge of the castle, accompanied by a large number of dead bones, abandoned weapons, ammunition boxes, shovels, metal rivets and shooting holes.

"They had fought more than one war before we arrived, and the void shield was not necessarily raised because of us."

Qiao Shida came to the conclusion.

Fu Qinghai nodded.

"Look, they are still reinforcing the battlements and walls. Those densely packed gun barrels, the flat-firing cannons combined with the curved-firing mortars and howitzers, the cross-firing holes for heavy bombs and lumberjacks... are very much in the style of the Iron Warriors."

Numerous artillery batteries reinforced the warlord's castle into an iron hedgehog.

Qiao Shida also gave up the idea of ​​the Thunder Eagle gunboat's low-altitude breakthrough and the explosion in the center of the airborne warehouse.

"Let's dig into the ground."

Qiao Shida said.

"It's the only way."

Fu Qinghai said in a low voice.

There is no other way.

Fu Qinghai secretly calculated in his heart:

The assault drilling vehicle will make a lot of noise, and the enemy cannot possibly fail to notice it, so simply drilling underground is not enough. It must also cooperate with the frontal attack of ground forces and the aerospace strikes of orbital battleships to provide cover for the real tactical goal - underground assault.

The Skitarii and the armed servitors were all fearless and brave. Let them charge forward under the fire of the castle's defense system and sacrifice them as bait and pawns under the city wall. Master Quinto would not say a word against it.

But Fu Qinghai felt that this was not the way to fight a war. The Iron Warriors might fight this way, but the White Scars would not.

Maybe I can smash the space station next to the castle, change the terrain, and use the wreckage for cover to fight the enemy?

Fu Qinghai recalled several classic battles between the White Scars and the Orcs, but the problem still remained. STC was the primary target of this operation. Fu Qinghai had no way of estimating the destructive effects of the falling space station, and it was difficult to accurately micro-manage to the desired outcome.

Fu Qinghai wanted to fight this battle more beautifully.

Fu Qinghai is brainstorming...

Suddenly, they felt something in their hearts, and Fu Qinghai, Qiao Shida and Camille all looked to the side.

A ragged mortal crawled to the foot of the mountain.

His hair was a mess, his face was pale, his hands and feet were dirty and covered with mud, and he stared timidly at the three Space Marines on the hill. He spoke cautiously,

"Three...three lords, our master would like to invite you over for a talk."

"Your parents?"

Qiao Shida frowned and spoke.

"He, he is also an Astartes."

The man stammered as he explained.

The three of them looked at each other.

"This could be a trap, Khan."

Qiao Shida whispered in the communication channel.

Fu Qinghai frowned and said nothing.

At this moment, the man suddenly rolled his eyes. His face began to twist, and cobalt blue blood vessel stripes appeared around his cheeks. A ferocious little cobalt blue gelatinous head emerged from his back. The evil white eyes stared straight at Fu Qinghai, and he grinned with sharp teeth and said in a hoarse voice:

"He said that if you don't want to, you will be willing when you see me."

"What the hell is this!?"

Qiao Shida was startled and subconsciously grasped the weapon at his waist.

"A mortal being controlled by an alien parasite."

Joe Star drew out his power sword and came to a conclusion.

"No."

Fu Qinghai reached out and held down Qiao Shida.

"Let's go over and have a chat."

...

　Thanks to the European Admiral for taking my spear. If I don't like it, I will stay away from it quietly. King Marquez and three book friends for the rewards.

(End of this chapter)