Chapter 272 I'll be back again!

One hour ago

In the blackness of space, an elegant yet deadly spacecraft glides through the shadow of a ring of meteorites.

The ship has a slender hull and a sharp bow. The jagged, scimitar-shaped solar sail unfolds gracefully and rises from the finely forged engine at the stern. Connecting the engine and the bow is a slender hemispherical command post.

Sinister Gaze-class light cruiser.

A type of warship belonging to the Dark Eldar.

A lanky, pale-skinned man with pointed ears stood up from the captain's chair and strode toward the main screen. Despite his loose skin and the double-bladed axe hanging from his shoulders, his movements were as light as a dancer's.

Mica steel blade, the weapon of the Dark Eldar Mandrake.

His close-fitting green armor gleamed like polished jade, and his lifeless white hair, streaked with violet, fell about his shoulders, with a crimson ring between his brows.

Ghost Plate, the armor of the Dark Eldar Archons.

He picked up a small sprayer and sprayed a fine mist of water to moisten his eyes with removed eyelids, then leaned over to study the data displayed on the screen.

"Archon, the prey has entered the weapons range."

His deputy said in a low voice.

"Excellent." The Eldar captain said with a smile, "Calibrate the mimicry engine, and prepare the pulse spear."

The Eldar captain licked his dry lips. Thirty thousand kilometers away, the slaughter was so close to them that one could almost imagine the wonderful taste of the Space Marines' blood on their tongue.

"The simulation engine has completed the simulation. The simulation targets are the Human Empire's Obscure Segmental Navy Fleet, the Defender-class escort cruiser, the Braveheart, and the Archon."

"It doesn't matter what the simulation goal is, as long as we gain the upper hand at that moment."

The Eldar captain firmly believes that the key to hunting does not lie in the early endurance competition, but in the throat-cutting blow at the critical moment - and the mimicry engine is the auxiliary tool to create this critical blow.

"The target is close to the range of the Light Spear, Archon."

The Eldar captain bit the tip of his tongue with his teeth, savoring the indescribable pain and the fishy taste of blood. The pleasure of the pain made him so excited that he trembled almost uncontrollably.

Good, very good, the silly monkeys took the bait, they thought this battleship belonged to them.

The Eldar captain had already begun to imagine that if he brought a Goliath-class factory ship back to Comoros and transformed it into a great and cruel arena, or a playground for the Haemonchi, would it drive the dignitaries of the Dark City crazy? Would it win their favor?

Lying next to the captain's chair was a twisted and grotesque creature that looked like a cross between a white-haired gorilla and a pig-faced bat. It seemed to sense the excitement of its master, blinking its six eyes, opening its mouth to reveal yellow teeth, and emitting a malicious roar that mocked and was unpleasant to the ear.

Claw Terror, a pet raised by the Dark Eldar.

"Transfer the main energy to the Light Spear Battery and keep the backup energy. I want the first strike to be a fatal blow."

The Eldar Captain ordered.

"As you command, Archon."

The enemy ship was still too far away to be seen through the visual screens, but it was close enough for the Eldar warships' unique pulse light spears.

When the human warship suddenly began to raise its void shields, the Eldar captain gave the order without hesitation:

"Fire!"

…

After the castle lord's shield array exploded, the residual force of the pulse light spear gradually weakened, peeling off several meters of platinum armor plates on the hull of the Rectification, which fell off layer by layer like exposed tendons, and the remaining damaged parts hung weakly.

The alarm sounded throughout the entire bridge. The battleship's supporting structure was installed with rib-shaped supporting force fields. Everyone on the bridge only felt a slight shake, and then they stabilized themselves.

"The void shield is overloaded, and cracks have appeared in the hull of decks seven to nine."

The deck officer immediately reported the damage:

"The bow lance is temporarily offline, and the main launch bay has been hit. We are lucky, Khan, the last bit of aftermath only scratched us."

Fu Qinghai did not ask how long it would take for the void shield to recover, but directly ordered:

"Adjust the direction of the warship, and lock them with the light spear!"

The Thinker Link mobilized the warship's facilities, and the gyroscopic stabilization matrix adjusted the balance and direction. With the help of these two relic technologies, the behemoth ship, the Rectification, was able to quickly adjust the direction of its bow and point the side with the most macrocannon arrays and lance turrets at the enemy.

However, the naval officer in charge of operating the detection array brought bad news:

"We...we can't lock them, Khan!"

His tone was anxious and his face was covered with sweat, as if he had never encountered such a situation in the past, let alone a powerful warship like the Emperor-class battleship equipped with multiple detection arrays.

Even though he had been attacked, he wanted to fight back but found that his weapon could not accurately aim at the opponent's position.

Until this moment, Fu Qinghai was completely confirmed.

He gritted his teeth and said:

"The Eldar, it's the damn Eldar!"

The three main features of Eldar warships: solar sails, mimicry engines and holographic force fields.

It is unknown what technical principle the Mimicry Engine is based on, but it can disguise the warship signals of any other race, including the Human Empire, Orks, Necrons and Tyranids, but it is said that the latter two can see through it at a glance.

The holographic force field is a very advanced composite stealth force field that not only allows the Eldar warships to be "visibly invisible", but also can block most of the detection methods of the human empire.

When he heard that a destroyed Imperial Navy warship had reappeared, Fu Qinghai suddenly became alarmed, thinking of the Eldar's unique mimicry engine. When his subordinates reported that the detection array could not lock on to the other party, Fu Qinghai was 100% sure that it was definitely an Eldar warship!

"Don't worry."

Fu Qinghai first calmed his men down, then resolutely ordered:

"Macro cannons and torpedoes, fire in that direction, sublight engines go at full speed, we have to get close to them."

The coxswain shouted:

"Activate thrusters, target new course zero five four."

The bridge became busy again, and Fu Qinghai said:

"As long as we get close enough, we don't even need to aim at them. The Eldar warships are all fragile dinghies. They can't even withstand a macro cannon. As long as we hit the holographic force field, these aliens can only flee in panic."

Fu Qinghai's calmness brought the crew out of their unknown fear of alien technology. The macro cannon quickly spewed out a series of shells in the direction of the pulse light spear, forming a dense giant artillery barrage.

Then he issued a second order:

"Fierce Horse, maneuver at full speed towards the enemy, fire torpedoes, and assume a boarding posture!"

Qiao Shida was stunned when he heard this, and reminded:

"Khan, the Brotherhood's space warriors are currently scattered on several captured warships."

"I know."

Fu Qinghai said calmly,

"Just show your willingness to board the ship."

Fu Qinghai turned his head and looked at the people in the bridge:

"No one in this universe wants to fight a boarding battle with Space Marines, not even the Necrons and Tyranids."

His tone was filled with strong confidence.

Qiao Shida asked with a puzzled look:

"What are the Tyranids, Khan?"

"Well... you'll know each other from now on."

Fu Qinghai failed in his show-off and could only make amends with one sentence.

…

Sinister Gaze-class light cruiser.

The Eldar captain observed the human warship on the screen in front of him. He was surprised that the enemy suddenly raised the void shield at the last moment when the pulse light spear was launched.

But that's all.

He thought to himself.

The silly monkeys must have been startled by the sudden attack of the light spears. According to common thinking, when they found that their weapons could not aim at and lock the enemy, their first choice must be to retreat, first away from the source of the attack, and then use the vast universe to readjust the battle situation.

However, this was exactly what the Eldar warships wanted.

All Eldar warships have extremely high speeds, and the Dark Eldar have inherited most of the technological heritage of the Eldar Empire. Dark matter weapons are one of them. The powerful force of the dark matter light spear is the reason why the Eldar captain dares to use a light cruiser to challenge the battleship.

The Eldar warship used its superior speed to maintain a perfect and appropriate distance, circling around the clumsy human warship, flying a kite, constantly consuming their energy and courage, making them fire blindly, and finally... delivering a fatal blow!

The human warship quickly adjusted its direction, and the part of the hull that was hit was like an ugly scar. The Eldar captain suddenly noticed that it was getting closer and closer! The human warship's void shield had not even been restarted, and it dared to close the distance with itself?

"Damn it…"

The Eldar captain cursed.

There must be someone on that ship who knows what they are capable of.

"Bow torpedoes ready to fire, Archon."

My subordinate brought me good news.

"Fire all!"

The Eldar captain screamed hastily:

"Fire! Fire!"

…

"Torpedo incoming, Khan!"

a naval officer shouted a warning.

Fu Qinghai placed his hands in front of the control console and said in a deep voice,

"Stop restarting the void shield, inject all the energy into the sublight speed engine, turn the rudder to the left, and maneuver to evade!"

Stop restarting the void shield?

Qiao Shida and others were stunned when they heard this.

That's right, facing the torpedo attack, the void shield will be useless even if it is restarted - but this is too bold.

"Confirmed, four torpedoes, bearing 059, Khan!"

"Macro Cannon keeps firing!"

One torpedo was shot down by the concentrated fire of the macro cannon, and one torpedo was guided in another direction by the jamming system.

"Two torpedoes breaking through, Khan!"

The subordinate shouted hurriedly.

"Close defense turret ready."

Fu Qinghai said in a deep voice.

As the battleship maneuvered to the left on a large scale, the entire bridge shook violently, and everyone reached out to grab the edge of the control console to keep their bodies stable.

"Get into the close defense turret's firing range!"

The huge observation dome displayed the dark and vast space. The cold wakes of incoming torpedoes were clearly visible. The entire bridge crew could see the torpedoes hurtling towards them, and everyone felt that the attack was imminent.

The crew held their breath or whispered prayers to the Emperor.

A close-in defense turret was operated by a single servitor, which was equipped with an independent auspex and meditator, enabling it to track and aim at the torpedo as it approached. All the close-in defense turrets on this side concentrated their fire on the torpedo. Thousands of shells instantly blasted into the torpedo, finally shooting it down at a range of less than a thousand meters. The two torpedoes disintegrated in the barrage of high-speed artillery fire.

However, the burning fragments and large pieces of wreckage produced by the explosion were still rolling and moving, slamming heavily into the hull, destroying a defensive turret, tearing apart several survey antennas, and finally smashing into pieces on the composite armor made of adamantium.

The body of the Serenity shook violently.

"call..."

Everyone on the bridge breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where is our counterattack?"

Fu Qinghai did not indulge in the joy of surviving the disaster. Instead, he put his hand on the table, looked straight ahead, and asked loudly.

"Light spear is ready to charge, Khan!"

…

The Eldar Captain couldn't believe his eyes.

The torpedo was broken!

As he was thinking about all this, the bridge suddenly tilted and shook violently, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. The huge vibration caused by the nearby explosion made the whole ship shake violently, the lights kept flickering, and thick smoke billowed from the smashed machinery.

"Archon, we've been hit!"

his deputy yelled.

"Oh yes, thank you for that insight."

The Eldar man grinned and sneered:

"If I die someday, please shout it out loud, just like you are doing now. How serious is our loss?"

"The holographic force field has lost its effectiveness."

"The mainsail is damaged and the guy line is broken."

"The integrity of the hull on the lower deck is lost, and some slaves and prisoners have lost signs of life."

Bad news came one after another.

The Eldar captain knew that the battle was over.

The Eldar warships have no void shields, nor the thick adamantium composite armor of human warships. Once they lose the protection of the holographic force field, they can easily become the target of concentrated fire from enemy artillery.

It turned out that this prey was indeed worthy, and he would not underestimate this enemy again.

"Retreat!" the Eldar captain ordered:

"Return to the lair and repair the ship. We have to wait a while before we can get this prey. These reckless low-level monkeys... Damn it, curse these shameful souls!"

…

"The Eldar warships are retreating!"

One of the crew members shouted.

"Slow down."

Fu Qinghai said calmly.

You can never catch up with him.

The Eldar are a race known for their speed, and the concepts of agility and speed run through their entire war thinking, from personal combat to vehicles and warships.

The White Scars were already the fastest legion in the Empire of Man, otherwise Jaghatai Khan would not have led his troops into the Webway in pursuit of the Dark Eldar. But it had to be admitted that even the White Scars were not as fast as the Eldar.

If you must say, the inertia-free engines of Necron warships can be faster than those of Eldar warships.

This is also where the Human Empire is passive when facing the Dark Eldar. The Ark Eldar generally do not take the initiative to provoke the Empire, but the Comoros conspiracy groups often come to the Empire to plunder people as slaves.

Both types of Eldar have the ability to use the webway to travel, the entrance to the webway is secret, and the Eldar are elusive. Whether to fight or flee, the initiative is in their hands, and the Imperial Navy is often very passive.

That's why someone came up with something like the Invincible-class high-speed battleship in an attempt to catch up with the Dark Eldar's warships.

"Khan, received an unfamiliar message."

"put."

A blurry and flickering holographic projection appeared above the screen. It was a tall and thin middle-aged Eldar man with a sinister look. He said in a hoarse and vicious voice:

"I've remembered your warship, White Scars. When I return to the Dark City, I will lead a more powerful fleet to your homeland, the 'Yashan Star Region' as humans call it. Wait for it. I will use thousands of times more painful torture to wash away today's shame!"

With a "click", the holographic projection went out.

...

　According to the rules of the game "Fleet Gothic", the Dark Eldar do not have solar sails, but in the original novel, the Dark Eldar's warships are exactly the same as the Ark Eldar's. This book takes the original novel as the main setting basis, so...

(End of this chapter)