The prelude to the battle was initiated by the T'au Empire fleet.
There were no pre-battle declarations, no unnecessary communications; in the cold cosmic battlefield, the only language was destruction. The bow launch tubes of seven starships simultaneously glowed with dangerous light. Dozens of Pathfinder missiles, shimmering with blue energy trails, silently detached from their motherships like a pack of bloodthirsty deep-sea beasts, rushing towards the massive Imperial fleet formation.
"Torpedo attack detected! Forty in number! Estimated contact in thirty seconds!"
On the bridge, the red glow of the tactical alarm illuminated the faces of every player with a grim intensity. Although the players present knew that the transport ship was located in the very center of the fleet formation, a key protected target, the swarming, death-tracing missiles cutting through the void still delivered a powerful visual impact.
"The T'au's long-range firepower truly lives up to its reputation!" a player whispered in awe.
And indeed it did. Although the T'au Empire fleet was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of ship quality and quantity, they were by no means inferior in this round of beyond-visual-range firepower projection. These torpedoes were not only numerous but also flew in extremely tricky trajectories. Guided by advanced AI, they formed a well-structured attack network, covering almost all routes of the Imperial fleet's advance.
The commander of the Imperial fleet clearly recognized the tricky nature of the problem.
"All warships, emergency evasive maneuvers! Break formation! Repeat, emergency evasive maneuvers!"
The order was quickly relayed. The heavy and massive Imperial warships emitted a deafening roar. Attitude adjustment engines on the ship's flanks ejected scorching plasma, propelling these billion-ton steel behemoths to perform difficult maneuvers in space with a clumsiness befitting their size.
Void shields could deflect high-speed kinetic strikes and energy beams, but their effect was minimal against torpedoes, which were relatively slow and equipped with their own propulsion and navigation systems. Once they got close, the terrifying explosion, capable of tearing through warship armor, would be a nightmare no captain wished to face.
Ultimately, after immense effort, the Imperial fleet narrowly avoided this deadly first strike. The torpedoes passed through the gaps in the scattered warships, fruitlessly rushing into the distant deep space, eventually becoming cold scrap metal after their energy was depleted.
However, the cost was also evident. To evade the torpedoes, the Imperial fleet's previously orderly attack formation was forced to scatter, becoming loose and chaotic.
To be preempted by a mere xenos patrol fleet!
This was an utter disgrace for the Imperial Navy, which had always been arrogant and viewed all xenos as insignificant. A humiliated rage instantly ignited on the bridges of all Imperial warships.
"All gun crews, free fire! Let these ignorant xenos taste the Emperor's wrath!"
The trumpet of vengeance sounded. While readjusting their posture, the Imperial fleet immediately launched a storm-like counterattack. Torpedo tubes at the bow spewed equally deadly torpedoes, while the Luna-class cruisers, having seized advantageous firing positions during the maneuver, slowly rotated their macro cannon turrets, arranged like church organs on their flanks, locking onto the distant enemies.
Next was the charging of the lance arrays. Several crimson beams, more dazzling than stars, instantly tore through the dark cosmic space, carrying terrifying energy capable of melting continental plates, and precisely struck the T'au Empire warships.
Facing the Imperial fleet's thunderous counterattack, the T'au Empire fleet showed no weakness. Their warships flexibly scattered, using advanced engine technology for small-scale high-speed maneuvers. At the same time, the dense laser turrets on their hulls also began to roar.
Countless slender but deadly blue laser beams poured down like a torrential rain, fiercely colliding with the Imperial fleet's thick, wild macro cannon shells and scorching lance energy beams in the vast space between the two fleets.
A dazzling and brutal dance of destruction unfolded in the star sea.
Macro cannon shells exploded into orange-red fireballs on the T'au warships' shields, the violent energy impact causing their shields to ripple like water; while the T'au Empire's laser beams precisely hit the Imperial warships' void shields, creating ripples, but due to insufficient single-shot power to cause enough damage, they were generally unable to overload the Human fleet's void shields.
Crimson lances and blue lasers wove a net of death; each flash represented the release of massive amounts of energy. The explosions' firelight, like festive fireworks, continuously bloomed against the dark backdrop, illuminating the area with alternating brightness and dimness.
However, in this fierce exchange of fire, a fact that made all Imperial warriors feel incredibly embarrassed was clearly emerging—they had gained no advantage whatsoever.
The T'au Empire's warships, relying on their excellent maneuverability and shield technology, could always evade or withstand the Imperial heavy firepower with minimal cost. Meanwhile, their extremely high rate of fire and precision laser weapons and torpedo deliveries caused continuous harassment and damage to the Imperial fleet.
For the Imperium of Man, this was simply unacceptable.
In a war against xenos, not achieving an overwhelming advantage was itself a failure, a humiliation! It meant that the enemy's technology and tactics, in some aspects, even surpassed those of the sacred humanity. This realization stung the Imperial Navy's proud self-esteem more than damaged warships.
On the bridge of the Helldivers, the players were also dumbfounded.
"Holy moly, is the T'au fleet that fierce? Seven ships fighting our dozen or so to a standstill?"
"This fire control system is pretty awesome. Should we say they live up to being a race that uses AI?"
"Optimistic humans speak T'au! Long live The Greater Good!"
"I remember you were yelling WAAGH all the time when we fought the orks before, weren't you?"
"What about pessimistic humans?"
"Eldar, necron, ork, and even warp psychic powers... there's so much to learn. Actually, fighting to the death is more convenient."
The stalemated battle, like poison, corroded the Imperial fleet's glory. Every second of not gaining an advantage in the exchange of fire deepened the commanders' sense of humiliation. Under the stimulation of this fury and anxiety, an unexpected, almost suicidal act occurred.
In the fleet formation, the Strike Cruiser belonging to the Iron Hands Chapter suddenly erupted with an ominous roar. Its main engine nozzles instantly changed from their usual blue to a dazzling, incandescent white, the overloaded energy even causing ripples in the surrounding space.
The next second, this warship, full of cold mechanical aesthetics, shot out like an arrow from a bowstring, with a terrifying speed that caught everyone off guard. It broke away from the Imperial fleet's formation, charging straight and fearlessly towards the center of the T'au Empire fleet formation!
"What are they doing?!"
"Are they crazy? This is suicide!"
On the flagship of the Imperium of Man, exclamations rose and fell. Officers watched, dumbfounded, as the icon representing the Iron Hands on the tactical projection, like a lonely meteor, unhesitatingly crashed into the cluster of blue dots representing the enemy.
For the vast cosmic battlefield, conventional engagement distances often measured in hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The Iron Hands' goal was to compress this distance to the extreme. It ignored the dense laser beams firing at it, letting the energy create ripples on its void shield, but its speed did not diminish at all.
Finally, under everyone's gaze, it succeeded.
The Strike Cruiser, like a red-hot iron, forcibly wedged itself into the T'au Empire fleet's formation. At this moment, the closest T'au Empire starship was less than thirty thousand kilometers away.
On the scale of space naval warfare, this distance could no longer be considered close-range engagement.
This was practically face-to-face!
The fate of a Strike Cruiser making such a risky move was clearly written in any naval textbook: it would be instantly focused by the broadside fire of all surrounding enemy ships, its void shield would overload and collapse in an instant, followed by its hull being torn into a dazzling cosmic fireworks display by countless beams and shells.
Everyone's hearts were in their throats. On the flagship's bridge, Commander-in-Chief Wendell Gage unconsciously clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white from the effort.
Time, at this moment, seemed to stretch.
One minute passed... The Strike Cruiser was still intact, adjusting its posture to present its most robust broadside armor to the enemy.
Two minutes passed... The T'au Empire fleet seemed bewildered; they were only making some futile evasive maneuvers, without any effective counterattack.
Three minutes... ten minutes... a long ten minutes, enough time for a small-scale ground battle to be decided. Yet, in this part of space, apart from the long-range exchanges still ongoing, the area where the Iron Hands were located fell into a strange silence.
Until... "Fire!"
Chapter Master Ryman of the Iron Hands Chapter gave the order in his emotionless voice.
The next moment, the Strike Cruiser's broadside, with its dense array of turrets that could drive any trypophobe mad, simultaneously spewed destructive flames! Macro cannons, lances, melta beams... countless types of weapons unleashed ten minutes of accumulated fury at point-blank range, pouring it madly onto the nearby T'au warship!
Under such terrifying close-range firepower, the starship's shields didn't even last a second. Its hull armor was easily torn apart like paper, and its internal structures continuously underwent violent chain reactions. In just thirty seconds, this elegantly shaped warship lost all power, its bridge area completely destroyed, leaving only a smoking, sparking wreck drifting helplessly in space.
And the other T'au warships still did not retaliate. They were like a flock of sheep scared silly by hungry wolves rushing into their pen, at a loss.
Such a bizarre scene even left Commander-in-Chief Wendell Gage momentarily bewildered. His brain raced, ruling out one impossible conjecture after another.
A trap? A communication malfunction? Or some unknown superweapon charging?
No, none of them.
Suddenly, an utterly absurd, yet the only logical possibility, struck his brain like lightning. What followed was a burst of euphoria that almost made him laugh out loud.
"All fleet, listen up!" Gage's voice trembled slightly with extreme excitement, "Abandon long-range exchanges! All forces, charge! Get close to them! Get close to those xenos! Use our broadsides to tear them all to pieces!"
The enemy's warships had no broadside fire!
Those self-proclaimed clever T'au Empire designers, when designing these starships, seemed to have completely failed to consider that in the vastness of cosmic naval warfare, they might encounter battles requiring close-quarters combat with broadside cannons!