The Bizarre Adventures of the Oil Man, but Starting with Warhammer 32K

He urged his fleet to speed up, but Hayes interrupted his order.

"Turn the fleet around."

Horner looked at his superior. The Astra Militarum commander-in-chief normally avoided interfering in fleet decisions, and he believed Hayes's actions had deeper meaning.

He obeyed Hayes's order and the entire fleet adjusted its course slightly. Soon after, Horner understood why Hayes did this.

The entire expeditionary fleet stood in front of Lansong's Sun Fleet, blocking Lansong's way as he wanted to escape.

Lan Song, who also recognized the expedition fleet code, complained bitterly.

Your Majesty, he just followed the orders of the Imperial Commander to come to Mars to stand guard and watch the wind. Who knew that a war would suddenly break out on Mars?

He had already thought of quitting at that time, but Udo forced him to stay above Mars to investigate the situation.

It would have been fine if they hadn't investigated, but once they did, they saw the Phalanx directly engaging in a firefight with Mars' orbital defenses.

Such an explosive scene made Lan Song slap himself more than a dozen times before he confirmed that he was not trapped in some subspace illusion.

No longer caring about Udo's orders, he directly ordered the withdrawal from Mars, but he didn't expect that the expedition fleet would be blocked by his hesitation.

Lan Song had no way of judging the intentions of this fleet, which the High Lords had already determined to be missing and dead. He was hesitating about what to do, but the other party had already connected to the communication first.

"Hayes?"

His eyes widened: "Aren't you dead?"

"Bullshit, I'm alive and well."

Compared to knowing that the expeditionary fleet had arrived at Maxim's Mars, the Casting General, who had long been out of touch with Terra, did not let the High Lords know this news.

The Inquisition also chose to conceal its other ideas about the High Lords. Unaware of this, the other High Lords had already chosen another commander-in-chief of the Astra Militarum.

Lan Song quickly thought about the impact that his return might have on Terra's situation. But Hayes didn't care: "Lan Song, you must come back with me."

"Where are you going back?"

"Mars."

Lan Song was unable to react for a moment. He even suspected that he had misheard: "Mars? In the end, the High Wall was fighting against the entire Mars there!"

"That's why we can't just sit back and do nothing."

Lan Song was shocked at first, then suddenly realized. He began to admire the foresight of the Astra Militarum Commander: "If we help Mars repel the Final Wall, we can later form a political alliance with the Fabricator-General..."

He thought he should follow Hayes's advice, but Hayes's next words made him feel like he was falling into an ice cave.

"On the contrary, we will assist in the final wall's defeat of Mars."

"Hayes, you're crazy!"

Lan Song roared when he reacted, and immediately ordered his fleet to enter combat status.

But Hayes's flagship had already prepared for battle, and the muzzles of the Retribution-class battleships' macrocannons were all opened and aimed at the Sun Fleet.

"What the hell are you doing, Hayes! Whether you attack me or have us attack Mars, you're starting an Imperial civil war!"

"Civil war? No, I'm here to end this fight."

Hayes looked at the sweat-drenched Supreme Admiral with a normal expression and said, "This isn't a multiple-choice question, Lanson."

Lan Song couldn't figure out what Hayes was trying to do.

The Sun Fleet only had two battleships left, but they still held a commanding advantage over the Expeditionary Fleet, which consisted of only one battleship and several cruisers. Lan Song only needed to give the order to open fire and he would surely carve a bloody path through the Expeditionary Fleet.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it.

He thought back to his experience fighting the Battle Moon on Covenant Harbor, the trauma he suffered after returning to Terra, and the inexplicable movements on Mars since Leon's landing.

...Le Ang?

His thoughts suddenly became clear, and he suddenly recalled what Leon said to him before leaving for Mars.

"If the time comes, I hope you'll make the kind of decisions that a truly intelligent person would make."

He thought these words were profound at the time, and now he breaks out in a cold sweat when he thinks about them.

"Have you been prepared for this, Hayes? Have you been planning this operation against Mars for months?"

"No, most of this plan is adjusted temporarily according to the situation. Lan Song, there is no room for speculation here. Every choice we make is a gamble."

"What if something goes wrong? Who can take the responsibility?!"

"So here I am."

Lan Song was stunned. He looked at Hayes, but found that the other party was as calm as water.

From the moment Leon summoned Hayes back to Terra, the commander who had previously betrayed the High Lord and stayed on Maxim to fight a defensive battle, had already known Leon's intentions.

He is here to take the blame.

He knew that if he returned, he would be unable to escape the subsequent reckoning, but he still went to Terra without hesitation and headed for Mars with his army.

"Regardless of success or failure, I will be fully responsible for this operation as the High Lord."

"This action...what effect can it have?"

"Even if only temporarily, we will force Mars to bow to us."

Lan Song was speechless.

He knew what would happen to Hayes. But as he looked closely at him, he saw that he was full of energy and enthusiasm that he could hardly imagine. He didn't seem to have reached the end of his political career or even his life.

Lan Song didn't understand why Hayes was willing to risk everything, but for some reason, he suddenly felt jealous.

His only two remaining battleships were ready to fight back. His adjutant came to ask him if he should open fire, but Lanson shook his head.

"I hope we're both right, Hayes."

"At least it's more correct than following Udo, isn't it?"

The Solar Fleet, having completed its combat readiness, turned and merged into the expeditionary fleet.

The reorganized fleet once again approached the orbit of Mars, approaching the final high wall where it had been fighting alone.

Mars' orbital defense system had long noticed these uninvited guests, and several defense space stations quickly turned their guns and opened fire first.

The blazing white torrent of light spears pierced through the darkness, but exploded into a sky full of shattered stars the moment it touched the Hayes flagship at the forefront.

"Void Shield power decreased by 0.1%!"

This number may seem small, but it means that even a battleship cannot withstand more than a thousand rounds of attack of the same intensity.

Everyone was astonished by the power of the Martian weapons. Even the firepower couldn't penetrate the void shield, and no one was optimistic about the battle anymore.

"Giving up resistance just because you have no chance of winning? There's no such thing as that in the world."

Hayes looked at Horner beside him, and Horner, who knew Hayes well, took over the command of the fleet.

"Form a wedge formation to break through the defenses and approach the Phalanx! Our ships will take the lead in providing firepower, while the remaining fleet, led by the escort transports, will prepare to provide close-in firepower for the Phalanx!"

The fleet, mainly composed of three battleships, will protect the ships carrying the Astra Militarum and intend to rendezvous with the Phalanx.

It was not until this time that the Casting General understood what they wanted to do.

The advance of the Phalanx and the expeditionary fleet seemed to have destroyed the fleet's chance of winning the battle, but in fact they only needed to gain a window for landing.

The massive Phalanx would become a natural barrier for their orbital landing, and Mars' conventional anti-aircraft firepower...

A battered and disunited Mars was already struggling to maintain both orbit and the surface. Anti-aircraft firepower hadn't been a priority for the priests' previous repairs, so how could they muster the firepower to counter a landing now?

By the time the fleet arrived next to the Phalanx, Hayes's damaged flagship had already withdrawn from the battle sequence.

But Lanson's two battleships took over his task. They and the remaining fleet guarded both sides of the Phalanx, sweeping away the approaching small warships and torpedoes for the Phalanx.

The reduced firepower allowed the Phalanx to greatly increase its speed and efficiency. No longer restrained, it could unleash its fury to its heart's content.

This rage, channeled by the Star Destroyer Cannon, ignited the entire Martian sky. The destroyed defense stations transformed into flaming meteors in the Martian atmosphere.

The space they had previously occupied was taken up by the Final Wall, and the Phalanx cast an unsettling shadow over the entire hive.

The Astra Militarum's transport fleet quickly assembled in this shadow.

The airborne operation to cover the entire Mars is now imminent!

PS1: There is no way to escape the 24000 words.

I sit in front of my computer typing, feeling as if I'm stuck in some kind of Möbius loop.

As long as I can get there, as long as I can make it to the Sunday when the bounty ends...

Chapter 191: Beach Landing (Mars Ver)

Looking at the rain of fire falling from the sky, Kubik seemed to understand why Mars was burning.

It wasn't just fragments of the space station that fell from the sky; dozens of airdrop capsules also fell, forming part of a meteor shower with fiery tails, heading straight for the surface of Mars.

Most people who have lived on Mars for a long time have never seen such a grand show before, but behind this show is a bloody war.

Mars tried to intercept from mid-air, but what was dropped from the Phalanx was the Anvirus Terrorclaw.

These complete Terrorclaws, which have disappeared since the Great Crusade, are different from the beggar versions of Terrorclaws whose machine spirits are easily corrupted. Their heavy armor is simply not something that can be stopped by the weak anti-aircraft firepower of Mars.

The helpless Skitarii dispatched their mobile forces, and several squadrons of Steel Walkers quickly assembled towards the Astartes' drop site, trying to stop the Astartes from landing.

But these light cavalry could not resist these airdrop pods carrying the glory of the Great Crusade. As the claws of the Dreadclaws dug into the ground, the Deathwind weapon system was first deployed from the hatch.

A series of explosive bombs suppressed these Steel Walkers and put them into disarray. Then, a dozen fully armed Sons of Dorne emerged from the airdrop and named the Steel Walkers one by one.

If the system is complete, a single regiment of the Imperial Guard can use all kinds of heavy weaponry to inflict heavy damage on the Astartes on the front battlefield. However, in non-systemized and special operations, no one in the Empire, except the Custodians, can match these extraordinary warriors.

The Sons of Dorne wiped out this isolated and helpless mobile force as quickly as possible, and the helpless sages had no choice but to retreat.

In the end, the High Wall troops did not continue the pursuit, but instead transported the steamrollers and shovels loaded from the Terror Claw.

Their goal was clear - to carve out a foothold for the Astra Militarum on the surface of Mars.

With the initial landing sites established by the Final Wall, the Astra Militarum transports were finally able to unleash the overwhelming force of landing craft.

Mars' defense system naturally wouldn't sit idly by. The orbital defense array's light spears and missile launchers roared frantically, trying to intercept these airborne pods.

But orbital defenses were too rigid and cumbersome. The defense array above the landing site had been destroyed, and the remaining defense arrays could not quickly adjust their positions to the most suitable firing angles.

The blazing white beams of the light spears intertwined into a web in the air, but most of them were blocked by the Astra Militarum escort fleet and the Phalanx's void shield.

Occasionally a few missiles hit their targets, and the Astra Militarum's Avirus barges were reduced to pieces in the explosion, but these losses were insignificant compared to the huge scale of the airborne operations.

Kubik watched, anger washing over his database.

The expected orbital battle should not be like this!

He nearly bit his own gears to pieces: "That fence-sitter, Lan Song!"

The two warships of the Solar Fleet became the final weight to overwhelm the defense. Their joining greatly improved the efficiency of the final high wall in destroying the defensive space station, turning the previous expectations of the Casting General into a joke.

He had originally been confident that he could stop the Astra Militarum landing fleet, but was overwhelmed by the two extra battleships and was no longer able to stop those vile creatures from trampling on the holy land of Om Messiah.

But being angry won't help, he still needs to think about how to deal with it.

Kubik's eyes swept over the priests in the Foundry Council one by one. He knew that these sages also had their own personal skitarii, ammunition reserves, and even hidden energy packs.

"This is no longer a private act of Leon and the Astartes. The Astra Militarum's involvement in the battlefield means that this war involves the Mechanicus and the entire Imperium! You must hand over your troops. At this critical moment, everyone should be loyal to Mars!"

He made this request, but the sages responded coldly.

Even those sages who had initially stood with the Forge-General against the demons began to waver.

No one responded to Kubik's request: "We prefer to wait and see."

The Imperium cannot destroy the Mechanicus.

This behemoth that controls 80% of the empire's weapons production cannot collapse just because the Astra Militarum arrives on the surface of Mars.

There might be open and covert struggles between the various Forge Worlds, but once it comes to the entire Mechanicus, they believe that even the most heretical Abyssin VIII will stand up to defend the supreme status of the Mechanicus.

Moreover, the underground of Mars also stores the dark technologies that are their basis of confidence. If the High Wall or even the Empire eventually wants to turn against them, they also have the trump card to overturn the table.

There is a long way to go, why should they be obsessed with temporary gains and losses?

It would be better to let the Casting General take the lead and help them test the strength of the Astra Militarum.

Mars, which was originally barely integrated in the name of fighting against demons, once again turned into a mess under external forces, and the sages with their own thoughts did nothing.

Kubik roared, "How much do you think compromise will cost? Do you think I care about the position of Casting General? That Sage Leon has been planning for so long. If he wants what he wants, he will tear your tendons and skin you bare until every last drop of oil is drained from you!"

Unlike a few days ago, this time his speech did not win him the approval of those around him.