The Enemy Is Glowing Gold and Charging at Us

"I'm already here, and you're still chasing me down?"

"."

Don't you think you're going too far?

This time, Tarian learned his lesson.

He suppressed the part of himself that had almost lost his head again.

Stay calm, stay calm.

The enemy had already arrived. He absolutely could not lose his head again.

"Close all bulkheads in Sections E and G of the left bay. Stop them from entering the command center and armory."

"Deploy the ambush squads and stealth squads. I want to know their objective."

"Transfer all nearby visual feeds to me. I need their exact positions."

The senior Drone assisted with the analysis. "The doors in Section E were breached all the way through. Their target... the ship's control room."

Tarian watched the feeds continuously arriving before him.

His fingers kept marking out the enemy's possible routes across the battleship.

Most Tau Empire warfare relied on range superiority. Although they had anti-boarding troops to deal with enemy boarding actions, they had never developed them as a primary force.

Under these circumstances, he needed to force the enemy where he wanted them to go.

"Stealth squads, intercept the enemy at the Section E access point. I will open the doors along the way for you."

"That fleet in outer space—"

"Launch cruiser-grade space torpedoes and dispatch an escort frigate. To be safe, the frigate must remain within the mothership's surveillance range."

To prevent the frigate from being boarded as well, he needed to keep it within his line of sight.

"Commander, the system is being infiltrated. They are downloading our map." An artificial intelligence voice came from the senior Drone.

"."

The Salamanders Chapter advanced toward the battleship's control room.

Among them, a Salamanders Techmarine was using technology acquired from the Martian Mechanicus to infiltrate the battleship's systems.

"Ron, have you got the map?"

"Almost!" The Techmarine's eyes suddenly returned to an ethereal blue as he downloaded the technologies possessed by the battleship.

"Done." Having acquired the required data, the Salamanders Techmarine stood up. "I infiltrated some kind of network they use. Praise The Emperor, praise the Omnissiah. I've shared the map with all of you. At the same time, I downloaded part of the enemy armory's data. Their battleship has little experience with boarding combat, but they have some special troops who are exceptionally skilled at camouflage."

"Understood!"

"Understood, brother. Watch out for enemy camouflage!"

Section E, upper ship decks. A Salamander looked at the data Drone monitoring them overhead, raised his Bolter, and shattered it instantly.

With the map in hand, they now had a clear objective.

All that remained was to destroy the control room and wipe out these xenos.

"Move out."

"Brothers, we don't have much time to waste fighting these xenos. We need to reach the control room as quickly as possible, destroy their command center, and plant the bombs."

Section E, middle ship decks.

A Fire Warrior was smashed into pulp.

The ground was covered in the blood of Wasp-men and Tau Empire soldiers. Broken mechanical Drones lay scattered everywhere, bearing signs of having been dismantled.

"Received, brother! Planting the bombs now."

Section E, lower ship decks.

Cyrus's squad had likewise received the warship map provided by the Salamanders Techmarine.

The route was displayed inside their combat helmets.

"Follow the route and rendezvous with the Salamanders. The enemy has weapons capable of penetrating our Power Armor."

"Yes, Captain."

Tang!

The Bolter blasted through the sealed door.

The Salamanders and Blood Raven Chapter Space Marines were almost unstoppable all the way through.

In truth, these Fire Warriors had barely resisted at all.

Most areas did not contain a single person.

It was as though they were deliberately luring them somewhere.

The Salamanders and Cyrus's squad knew the enemy was hiding, waiting to ambush them, but it didn't matter. They wanted to wipe the enemy out in one stroke anyway. Here, as long as they destroyed things with all their strength, whatever they destroyed counted as completing the mission.

Section E access point.

A twenty-man Fire Warrior ambush squad raised their weapons.

The Fire Warrior stealth squad activated the camouflage functions of their battlesuits and hid off to one side of the combat zone, waiting to attack these intruders from behind.

Camouflage armor reduced the chance of exposure. While concealed, enemies could not detect their traces through normal eyesight or radar. It was well suited for infiltration, surprise attacks, and gathering intelligence.

On the ceiling, Drones in stealth-assassination mode also hid silently above the deck using their camouflage concealment, waiting for the intruders to approach.

Behind these ambush squads, a large number of Fire Warriors stood ready to provide support at any time.

There were even heavy armor-piercing turrets. A single Hunter armor-piercing round could penetrate thick Ceramite Power Armor.

The stealth squad held their breath.

They stared at the sealed door before them.

They could already hear the heavy bodies of the Space Marines moving across the steel deck.

They needed to strike once the Space Marines lowered their guard.

"Do not let your guard down."

"They destroyed all the surveillance devices along the way. They are already heading toward your position."

Bang!

Bang!

Something seemed to be violently smashing against their door.

The Fire Warriors in the ambush squad could not help taking a deep breath as they quietly aimed their weapons toward the door being battered.

Others had already begun charging their plasma cannons.

Boom!

The sealed door was sent flying by tremendous brute force.

Bullets poured down like a rainstorm toward the intruders.

The dense barrage shattered the heavy door in midair and widened the passageway.

Bzzzt!

A plasma cannon even bored a transparent line straight through the center.

Yet they seemed not to have hit the enemy.

Because when the door opened, all they saw was spreading white smoke.

"Not good."

The stealth squads near the door listened to the squad comms. At that moment, the Drones activated infrared and thermal scans, but how could cold Ceramite leave any trace for them to scan?

"The enemy—"

"—is calculating your trajectories. Ambush squad, leave your original positions immediately."

Based on the bullets on the battlefield and the state of the battle, the Auspexes used by the Space Marines could even directly reconstruct the battlefield. They had collected the trajectory of every single bullet, meaning all enemy positions had been exposed.

Within the smoke.

A blank stretch carved out by the plasma cannon suddenly flashed.

Then—

Flames burst from the smoke.

They came from the muzzles of Bolters bearing Imperial relics.

The counterfire pouring from those muzzles was like the Reaper's swift blade, rapidly harvesting lives across the battlefield.

Carbine Bolters in front and Autobolters behind cleared out the detected enemies.

"Area cleared."

Before the words had even faded, an even fiercer attack erupted from behind the slaughtered ambush squad.

Bullets dented even alloy armor.

The Salamanders drew the weapons they excelled with most, Flamers and Melta Guns.

Within the cramped confines of the warship, they were even more formidable.

"Beep beep beep."

"Section E's defenses have failed. The intruders are breaking through."

"Enemy traces detected in Section D."

"Alert, alert. Section E damaged. Repair the damaged area immediately!"

"Section D damaged. Repair the damaged area immediately."

"Commander, the enemy has entered the corridor. This is our most advantageous terrain."

"Commander, strange. Our people say they saw golden light on the enemy?"