Sandman's Gift to the Rak'Gol

"A War Moon should be able to take it, two is a bit too much," Mortarion frowned. This meant that both Legions would have to suffer heavy casualties to achieve victory. Furthermore, both Legions had only prepared one Landing Force. It was unrealistic to temporarily reassign other Astartes now, which meant that when the Rak'Gol boarded, the Raven Guard and Death Guard fleets would not have enough Astartes to perform counter-boarding operations.

The Solar Auxilia, though the most elite mortal troops, would be completely unable to resist a boarding party composed of Rak'Gol xenos.

"I will solve this problem. You two go back and prepare for battle," Sandman did not reveal his thoughts.

Korax and Mortarion did not ask for specific methods. Since Sandman had said he had a way, he would naturally solve it. After a long period of working together, they had already built a foundation of trust.

As Korax and Mortarion returned to their Legions, a tense atmosphere of preparation for war immediately permeated the entire right flank battlefield.

The Mechanicus Sages lit incense in the censers. Wisps of smoke emanated from the hollowed-out censers carved with gears and skulls. Sacred oils were applied to the mechanical interfaces of the wiring, and Servitors assisted in meticulously cleaning these sacred machines.

In the main weapon chamber of the Styx's Death Ray, a group of Adeptus Mechanicus personnel clad in crimson robes completed all the incense rituals. Under the guidance of a high-ranking Sage, they began the final prayers.

Ring the great bell once!

Push the lever, activate the pistons and pumps.

Sage Juxt endlessly chanted the final prayer in binary with utmost solemnity.

Ring the great bell twice!

Press the button, start the engine, ignite the turbine, inject life.

"Master, I truly don't understand why the technology of the Imperium has become such... bizarre... forms now." Styx had painstakingly searched its database to find a suitable word for the current state. The rituals of these little red figures were so comical.

If the warship hadn't required these little red-robed figures for maintenance, Styx would have long ago thrown out these superstitious individuals who defiled the technological achievements of humanity's Golden Age.

"Indeed bizarre. Only the Adeptus Mechanicus could perfectly combine ignorance and superstition with technology and machinery. You wouldn't find another like it in the entire galaxy. But it doesn't matter, as long as it's useful, right?" Sandman was currently adopting a pragmatic approach.

"Indeed, Adeptus Mechanicus, the name is very fitting," Styx's Machine Spirit responded.

As a product of Golden Age technology, it was less a Machine Spirit and more an intermediate product between a Machine Spirit and artificial intelligence. Its reaction speed and autonomy were far superior to the warships built later by the Imperium.

Ring the great bell thrice!

Sing in unison, praise the Omnissiah.

Sage Juxt cried out the final word, and all the accompanying Adeptus Mechanicus members followed suit, praising the Omnissiah in unison.

"Alright, the Tech-Priests have finished their prayers. Show them some respect," Sandman said to Styx after the Adeptus Mechanicus had finished their loud chanting.

"If Master deems it necessary." Styx did not refuse.

In the Death Ray's main weapon chamber, as the Adeptus Mechanicus members' final praise to the Omnissiah faded, the lights in the control room automatically adjusted to their brightest state and began to flicker, expressing their gratitude.

"The Machine Spirit is pleased! Praise the Omnissiah, praise the Omnissiah!" A group of Adeptus Mechanicus members, upon seeing the lights in the control room, excitedly waved their mechanical arms. Two newly arrived Tech-Priests were so excited that they even began to leak oil. Soon, these two Tech-Priests were thrown out of the control room by Sage Juxt and punished with deck cleaning duty.

"These little robed figures are quite interesting, like coaxing a child," Styx chuckled, watching the incredibly excited Tech-Priests.

"That's why sometimes you need to provide them with necessary emotional value, so they'll maintain your body with more dedication," Sandman said.

"Emotional value, what a strange term. My database doesn't have this word. Machines don't need such things, but Master's words, combined with the performance of the robed figures, indeed suggest this approach is worthwhile." Styx searched its database, couldn't find the word, and thus created an entry for it, adding a note: "I don't understand, but I am shocked."

As time ticked by, the Rak'Gol fleet finally arrived.

"Ah... the enemy... has come..." A Navigator on a Raven Guard warship clutched his third eye in pain. Black-red blood flowed down his palm, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably.

"What's happening!" Korax quickly asked.

"An incredibly dazzling... psychic feedback appeared... in the Warp. They've come... countless souls... are wailing... He's going to crush us..." the Navigator said, somewhat deliriously, repeatedly muttering phrases like "they're going to crush us."

"Take him to rest," Korax commanded.

"Pfft..." The next moment, the sound of a blade entering flesh echoed through the warship. Hal's blade unhesitatingly pierced the Navigator's heart. An anti-psyker field swept over the Navigator, annihilating all psychic reactions.

"What are you doing!" Korax stared at Hal in surprise. If the other wasn't a member of the Claws of the Emperor and hadn't been fighting alongside Sandman for a long time, he would have already attacked.

"Meme contamination, spreading, beyond saving," Hal explained the severity of the situation to Korax with a series of gestures.

Before the two sides had even formally met, the Rak'Gol's attack had begun in this unbelievable manner.

"Transmit the order: all psykers below intermediate level are forbidden from directly looking at the Rak'Gol's War Moons," Sandman issued his command. This was something he had not foreseen either.

A single glance, just a simple look, and a precious Navigator was contaminated.

Sandman activated his psychic vision and gazed towards the position of the Mandeville Point. Even though the Rak'Gol's War Moons had not yet entered the Mandeville Point, he could sense the presence of two powerful forces within.

"One is psychic-oriented, the other is technology-oriented! The Dark Angels are facing a technology-oriented War Moon!" At this point, things had once again exceeded the expectations of Sandman, Korax, and Mortarion. They had always assumed that the Rak'Gol's War Moons were all like the one the Dark Angels encountered.

"The Rak'Gol xenos are truly patient!" Korax also felt that powerful oppressive force through his psychic senses.

Through the large observation devices on the defense line, people could only vaguely see the approaching Rak'Gol fleet. Because they had not yet emerged from the Warp at the Mandeville Point, the images were somewhat blurry, but the commanders of both Legions still saw the two largest and most terrifying entities within the Rak'Gol fleet.

Those were the super-war weapons known as War Moons.

"Compared to the Rak'Gol War Moons, our warships are as insignificant as ants," one commander said.

This was not an exaggeration, because according to the data scanned by the observation devices, the diameter of these terrifying super-war weapons was not tens or hundreds of kilometers, but reached hundreds of kilometers. This was already the size of an asteroid.

The largest Galatas Star Fortress of the Imperium of Man was only 150 kilometers in diameter, and deploying a Star Fortress of this scale was extremely difficult, often requiring special tugs to tow it for warp travel.

"No matter how powerful the enemy, they will ultimately be crushed before the Imperium," Sandman's clear voice, imbued with a unique rhythm, awakened all the officers who had been stunned by the scale of the Rak'Gol War Moons.

"War Moons? We have them too," Korax said with a smile, looking at the Rak'Gol War Moons.

"My Lords, the Imperium's Number One War Moon is ready," at the same time, a communication was received on the command channels of both Legions.

What met their eyes was not a familiar Archmagos or other general of the Imperium, but an unimaginably colossal war machine. A superweapon with a terrifying diameter of 500 kilometers appeared before them, its Imperial double-headed eagle insignia clearly marking the faction of this war machine they had never seen before.

The Imperium of Man's War Moon project had always been classified at the highest level. Apart from a select few within the Imperial high command, only those directly involved in the project were aware of its existence.

"This is our War Moon. This is the confidence we have to crush the Xenos Rak'Gol under our feet!" Sandman declared to the assembled high-ranking Imperial commanders.

"Archmagos Anselm, the second War Moon of the Rak'Gol will be your responsibility. Your mission is to tie down this War Moon. Once we board and eliminate the most powerful first War Moon, we will then deal with the Rak'Gol's second War Moon," Sandman ordered Archmagos Anselm.

"Yes, Lord Sandman," Archmagos Anselm replied with extreme deference.

Indeed, this Archmagos Anselm was the same sage who had been responsible for the maintenance of the Styx. Sandman had once promised him a clear path to becoming an Archmagos, and then he had assigned him to the project of reverse-engineering Ork technology. The sage had not disappointed Sandman's expectations, successfully ascending to the rank of Archmagos.

Furthermore, leveraging the powerful Forge World of Huangquan Eight and considering his ties to the Raven Guard, Archmagos Anselm had successfully become the commander of this first War Moon.

It could be said that the seeds Sandman had unintentionally sown decades ago were finally bearing abundant fruit.

"Then let us together bestow death upon the Rak'Gol's War Moon!" Sandman proclaimed the beginning of the war!

Half an hour later, the Rak'Gol fleet finally warped into realspace from the Mandeville Point. Powerful psionic energies tore open reality, and then a tide of ships surged forth.

The elite warships of the Rak'Gol's main fleet possessed bizarre designs, covered in chains, spikes, and inexplicable devices, appearing before the Imperium.

The warships of the Rak'Gol's main fleet resembled a deep-sea blue whale that had grown tentacles, while others were like deep-sea rays with flattened bodies. Numerous warships clustered around their War Moon, charging directly towards the Imperium of Man's defenses.

They displayed no concealment, no mutual cover, as if the mere deployment of their War Moon would be enough to easily crush the Imperium of Man's defenses, filled with such confidence.

Soon, the Rak'Gol fleet's speed began to slow. The once confident fleet also started to become cautious. The reason was simple: a celestial body roughly the same size as their own had suddenly appeared on the Imperium of Man's defensive line, positioning itself directly in the path of the Rak'Gol's technological War Moon's intended target.

"War Moon is in position. Deploy Void Shield system, Gravity Whip commencing charge," Archmagos Anselm commanded as the Imperium's War Moon began its preparations.

"Detonate the gifts we've left for the Rak'Gol Xenos," Sandman ordered.

The Raven Guard Legion, having developed for so long, had naturally prepared many secret weapons. Sandman had left a large number of floating mines in front of the defensive line for the Rak'Gol fleet, and these were not ordinary floating mines, but ones equipped with Reflective Shield systems.

This was also why the Raven Guard and Death Guard had chosen to sortie their fleets rather than remain within the defensive line and rely on the firepower of the entire fortification during the previous attack by the Rak'Gol's cannon fodder fleet. The area in front of the defensive line was densely packed with floating mines, awaiting the arrival of the Rak'Gol fleet.

Sandman had specifically modified the engine systems of these floating mines, increasing their burst speed several times over their original performance. This brute-force modification meant the engines could only sustain operation for ten seconds before burning out, but Sandman didn't care; they were disposable products made from cheap materials, so there was no need for excessive refinement.

Under the cover of the Reflective Shields, a pre-programmed routine began to automatically scan the Rak'Gol Xenos' massive fleet. Considering the potential for communication interference from the Rak'Gol Xenos, all floating mines were independent units, relying solely on their programmed routines to search, lock on, and detonate.

As targets were locked, countless floating mines shot out like arrows loosed from a bow towards the Rak'Gol fleet, which was about to enter the effective range of both sides' firepower.

The Reflective Shields perfectly transferred the immense energy generated by the plasma engine's burst into the Warp. Upon nearing the Rak'Gol warships, the Torpedoes activated their miniature warp drives. This sudden development caused the Rak'Gol Xenos' close-defense systems, which had already detected incoming objects, to lose their targets.

In the void, only continuously flying beams shattered the floating mines that were in the process of warping. Immediately afterward, the warships at the forefront of the Rak'Gol fleet suffered a terrible fate. They had no way to evade the sudden assault of these floating mines. Their hastily deployed shields were pierced by multiple floating mines, and fireballs hundreds of meters in diameter erupted around the Rak'Gol warships, destroying dozens of Rak'Gol vessels at the very last point of engagement distance!

The detonation of the floating mines signaled the commencement of the engagement between the Raven Guard and Death Guard and the Rak'Gol's elite forces!