pertwk Chapter 73 Aerial Dogfight
Chapter 73 Aerial Dogfight
Five days later.
Phoenix Cliff.
The capital and sacred mountain of the Ida people, their last stronghold.
At this moment, the defenses are tight. Hundreds of thousands of Ida infantrymen, dressed in light armor, rely on the spiraling natural defenses of Phoenix Cliff to deploy layer by layer, turning the entire Phoenix Cliff into an impregnable war fortress.
Meanwhile, the Imperial Allied Forces, known for their ferocity, advanced in a mighty, orderly fashion, like a pack of wolves, sweeping across the open area directly in front of Phoenix Cliff.
The Death Guard, known for its resilience, drives a roaring Land heavy tank, completely blocking all escape routes in the Phoenix Cliff Mountains.
However, within the Death Guard's impenetrable encirclement, there was a deliberately left narrow gap, designed to lure the desperate Idaans out through this gap and into a pre-arranged ambush.
The exhausted Ida people hid in the trenches, looking at the desperate situation of being surrounded on all sides, but they did not completely collapse because they had the Shrike Knight, their proud aerial ace.
At the very front, the Space Wolf Vanguard Warriors wielded their chainsaw axes, harvesting the heads of the Idaans, and were about to destroy the Idaans' first line of defense.
A sharp bird cry pierced the sky. The Aida people's trump card in the air, the nearly 70,000 Shrike Knights riding Snowfield Shrikes, all emerged from their hidden nests atop Phoenix Cliff and soared into the air, emitting a deafening chorus of cries.
The overwhelming shrike riders were about to swoop down to rescue the ground troops caught in a fierce battle.
Just then, nearly a thousand Stormhawks, the last remaining ships from the years-long bloody battle between the Space Wolves, Deathguards, and the Idaans, took to the skies in an emergency. Even the Thunderhawk gunships, which were not good at aerial combat and were bulky, and the Stormbirds, which were specifically responsible for transporting people, all took to the skies to assist in the battle.
As for Deathguard and Space Wolf's Storm Falcon interceptors, which were truly skilled in aerial combat, they had already been completely destroyed in their previous battle with the Shrike Knight.
Boom!
The Empire's hastily assembled aerial formation clashed violently with the elite Shrike Knights of the Ida, instantly turning the battle into a chaotic mess.
Cruelly, the gray and white Imperial fighters were shot down everywhere and suffered repeated defeats, and the situation quickly turned one-sided.
Just as tens of thousands of surging Shrike Knights were about to tear through the flimsy Imperial air defenses and launch a dive attack on the Space Wolves on the ground, an unexpected event occurred.
Suddenly, nearly a thousand scarlet Stormhawks tore through the camouflaged clouds above the unsuspecting Shrike Knights, unleashing a barrage of firepower that caught the Idaans completely off guard.
Thousand Sons' long-awaited surprise attack was like a divine army descending from the sky. The weapons and ammunition, which were filled with psionic energy, slammed into the tens of thousands of unsuspecting Shrike Knights. In an instant, the Ada people's air front was in complete retreat.
Meanwhile, the Space Wolves, which had been locked in a stalemate on the ground, unleashed astonishing combat power with the air support of their ally, Senko, and advanced triumphantly.
"Quick, Stormhawk Five! Your abdomen will be hit by enemy javelins in five seconds. Dodge sharply to the left immediately."
Li Wei sat in the pilot's seat of his Stormhawk, dodging the Shrike Knights that suddenly darted out from the clouds, while maintaining a mental connection with his entire Thousand Sons aerial squadron, providing precise warnings of every deadly danger.
Like most of the modified Stormhawks piloted by the Thousand Sons, the Stormhawk he piloted carried psionic warriors from the five major schools to fight alongside him.
The machine was crackling with the pale blue, leaping arcs of electricity characteristic of the Bright Feather School, and spewing forth the blazing purple flames of the Fire Phoenix School, detonating any incoming artillery fire before it could reach it; while the Falcon School maintained its force field shield, deflecting shrapnel that had pierced through the barriers of fire and lightning.
Meanwhile, the Skyhawk School scanned the minds of the Ada Shrike Knights, peering into their surface thoughts to discern their maneuvering methods and interception routes, while simultaneously maintaining a mental connection and real-time communication.
The Black Crow School, on the other hand, was responsible for predicting the future and warning of enemy activity.
At this moment, Levi was piloting his own Stormhawk, commanding the entire aerial formation while precisely reaping the Shrike Knights. At the same time, his powerful brain was rapidly deducing the best synergy between psionic energy and mechanical creations.
Thousand Sons' psionic system is actually better suited for large mechanical creations to fight together, as can be seen from the current air combat effects.
In addition, his own psionic magic can activate machinery, allowing him to perfectly fuse the powerful physical combat capabilities of machinery with the extraordinary power of psionic energy, unleashing a terrifying combat force far exceeding the sum of the two alone.
It seems that the cooperation with Perturabo can be taken even further. Levi's goal is also very clear: to equip all members of the Thousand Sons with Terminator armor and combine it with psionic techniques to unleash a more powerful overall combat force and make up for the Thousand Sons' numerical disadvantage.
Li Wei previously thought that the number of the Thousand Sons Legion could not be replenished so easily. He had already proposed at the Thousand Sons Legion meeting to recruit psionicists hidden among the civilians of the Empire from other planets.
Magnus's attitude was relatively open-minded, expressing his support, but other company commanders of the academy held opposing views, believing that it would lower the purity of the legion's bloodline.
Actually, none of that matters. The reason it couldn't be implemented before was because of how to escort the psionicists.
In particular, when escorting large numbers of psionicists, the large number of psionicists with unstable psionic abilities can easily cause warp anomalies, making safe long-distance warp travel impossible.
But now, this problem that has troubled Chiko for so long is about to be solved.
That is the grayish-brown rock that can suppress psionic energy, which was excavated on the planet Agoru. Under the research of Levi and Magnus, preliminary results have been achieved.
The Thousand Sons Legion's technical sergeants have already begun modifying a high-speed cruiser using the psionic-suppressing ores on the Legion's homeworld, Prospero.
Once the modifications are complete, this special warship, capable of suppressing psionic energy, will officially enter service and head to the planets conquered by the Thousand Sons to identify psionicists hidden among the Empire's civilian population.
They were then brought back to Prospero, underwent systematic training from the five major schools, and finally passed rigorous examinations to become the newest Astartes warriors of the Thousand Sons.
The Thousand Sons Legion is about to experience a surge in manpower, completely shedding its title as the legion with the fewest troops.
"However, why does the refitted warship look so much like the Black Ships of the Star Language Court!"
Li Wei jerked the lever down, dodging the anti-aircraft fire sweeping from the ground, his thoughts wandering aimlessly.
The infamous Black Ships, which were notorious during the 40k era, actually existed during the 30k era.
The Empire's communications department, the Star Court, uses it to recruit psychics and select star speakers across many Imperial planets.
Star Language Court is indeed a long-term partner of Thousand Sons, but it is impossible for them to lend the Black Ship, the core asset of the Empire, to Thousand Sons for large-scale recruitment of psionicists.
After all, the Star Language Court and the Navigator Family's investment in Qianzi was merely a form of speculation, and they couldn't possibly cooperate unconditionally.