Chapter 259 The First Voyage of the Unbound Soul
Owning a ship and using a ship are completely different concepts.
After deciding to respond to the Inquisitor's request and go to Valedor to help suppress the possible Chaos rebellion, the first thing Soshyan had to do was how to get the Unbound Soul moving.
As a cruiser in the Great Crusade era, the Pluto class, from M32 to M33, has been widely used in many fleets in the Obscurus Star Territory and the Ultramar Star Territory, and has also been deployed in large numbers by the Legiones Astartes.
As time goes by, they are gradually replaced by new cruisers built on Mars, but there are still a small number of them as reserve ships in the Obscurity Star Territory, and there are still a considerable number of them among the renegade Chaos Legion. In service.
As a large cruiser, the Pluto class is equipped with a sizable long-range weapon array and a trustworthy armor structure. Compared with the Styx class of the same model, she prefers to strengthen direct firepower, so there is no carrier-based aircraft launch platform designed.
Although in principle it is a heavy cruiser like the Gothic class commonly used in the empire today, as one of the battleships of the legion period, it is larger than the existing heavy cruisers in terms of tonnage and firepower configuration. Much more powerful.
Accordingly, it requires much more manpower than Soshyan's previous flagship Spark.
In order to allow the Unbound Soul to operate normally, he could only transfer all the crew of the Spark, which was still under repair, to the Unbound Soul, and then extracted them from the Nathan IV. It took some manpower and about a week to finally complete the basic preparations.
The main weapons of the Unbound Soul are two long-range light spear arrays on the bow, two sets of ion cannon arrays on both sides, and two large light spear turrets on the back, surrounded by Several small laser anti-aircraft arrays.
Overall, the Unbound Soul is a battleship with very powerful frontal firepower. A salvo of light spears is enough to wipe out most small ships, and it can even compete against battleships.
However, the two large light spear turrets on the back are too old in design and many systems are no longer usable. They can only output at less than half the power. This is the only shortcoming and can only be made up for later.
On the other hand, it is also a pity that there is no torpedo launch cabin. Originally, Soshyan planned to install it in the free space on the side, but time was tight and the transformation plan could only be postponed.
After completing the preparations, Soshyan led a total of 19 people, including Sol and Savita, as well as two teams of Farzad and Ustad, as well as priests and technical sergeants. Astartes, heading to Valedor to put down the rebellion.
However, Savita told Soshyan before setting off that he would not participate in the ground battle and would only protect the ship.
Knowing that he could not control the other party, Soshyan said nothing, but for the sake of safety, after arriving at the destination, he could only deploy Thor on the ship - he still could not completely trust Sevita.
On the other hand, due to the special situation of the Unbound Soul, the navigator and astropath are all served by one person, and that is Anita in the life-saving cabin.
Working with her, there is also the demon host that is "temporarily" controlled - its function is to cover Anita's aura.
Relying on her powerful and pure spiritual talent, the Unbound Soul was able to quickly travel through the waves of the warp, like a sharp arrow from a string, piercing straight into the corrupted planet.
Just three days later, they arrived at their destination.
But the expected Imperial fleet did not appear in Valedo's low orbit.
On the contrary, the orbit of this planet is unusually calm. A large number of wreckage of destroyed transport ships surround the orbit of the planet, like countless metal tombstones. Valedo's originally bustling airport has also become fragmented. Several pieces.
This place seems to have experienced a tragic naval battle.
The only complete one was an ordinary-looking ship. After scanning, Soshyan learned that it was a pilgrim ship named "Flying Tallan".
Apart from the name, it actually has nothing to do with Taran, but that is not the point. The point is that it is the only one that is still intact, and it is still moving towards Wu who jumped out of the subspace in a weird manner. The Bound Soul approaches.
"Do we need to send an inquiry signal to the flying Tallarn, Chapter Master?"
The captain of the Unbound Soul, Soshyan chose Lothar, whom he trusted more, instead of Lothar. A mortal captain, which also made Lothar very excited.
What naval warfare expert doesn’t love a powerful battleship?
“It’s no longer necessary.”
Soshiyan shook his head, and he saw that the images collected by the detector were enlarged on the main display screen.
"Yes, that's right."
Saul stepped forward and stared at the ship with a very gloomy expression.
There is no doubt that its appearance has confirmed the speculations in the previous Inquisitor's report.
Chaos has begun to corrupt the world. Even the Tallarn flying in orbit was corrupted, and it was extremely corrupted.
From a distance, she had turned into a dark mass, approaching the Unbound Soul like a predator crawling out of the grave.
Although there were no obvious signs of damage, as the cruiser drew closer, her nature became apparent.
Corrosion is everywhere outside the hull. The shape of the hull has become unnaturally smooth. The hulls are seamlessly put together. Under the distant light of the star, it shines like an oil film.
A slow, heavy crawl, like the gradual bulge of a lung, was moving down the outer skin of the ship, ending in a tremor like a living organ.
Then the spire tumbled from the hull, kicking up dust.
Saul focused his attention on the superstructure.
“Zoom in on the largest statues.”
Soon, the image shifted and the huge statues became visible.
One of them stretched out his arms to defend himself against some unseen fear.
Its face was distorted and its eyes were wide open, as if it was too excited to speak.
Another hand is grabbing its eyes, as if in a moment of self-mutilation, its fingers are frozen, and the stony flesh on the cheek hangs on the huge, fixed membrane wings.
"The devil is laughing at us."
Soshiyan spit out this sentence from between his teeth. These subspace creations will never learn well.
“Let it be, but it will give us a sense of what we will face.”
“That’s right.”
Lothar on the side nodded.
“Those unclean things have left their mark.”
“First, there is no skull or brass, no trace of the plague, but look at the eyes of the statue.”< br>
Thor pointed to the statue with its face exposed.
“There’s more than fear there.”
"There is still desire."
Savitar's lazy voice was teasing, as if he had found some fun seeing the statue representing the Holy Emperor being desecrated.
"It's the Prince of Darkness, Thor, the master of your original body."
When he said this, Thor's shoulders stiffened for a moment.
“That’s why we are here.”
He didn't even look at Savitar as he spoke.
"They wouldn't want us to show up, or they don't know us yet to announce their identities so boldly."
"Maybe, you know, Slaanesh's Creatures are very good at playing. "
"Then, let us use the flames of the Emperor's revenge to eliminate this garbage!"
(End of this chapter)