Owning a boat and using a boat are completely different concepts.
After deciding to respond to the Inquisitor's request and go to Valedor to help suppress the possible Chaos rebellion, the first thing Soshyan had to do was how to get the Unbound Soul moving.
As a cruiser from the Great Crusade era, the Pluto class has been widely used in many fleets in the Obscurus and Ultramarines, and has also been deployed in large numbers by the Legiones Astartes.
Over time, they were gradually replaced by new cruisers built on Mars, but a small number of them still exist as reserve ships in the Obscurus Segmentum, and a considerable number of them are still in service with the renegade Chaos Legions.
As a large cruiser, the Pluto class is equipped with a sizable long-range weapon array and a trustworthy armor structure. Compared with the Styx class of the same model, she prefers to strengthen direct firepower, so there is no carrier-based aircraft launch platform designed.
Although in principle it is the same heavy cruiser as the Gothic class commonly used in the empire today, as one of the battleships of the Legion era, it is much more powerful than existing heavy cruisers in terms of tonnage and firepower configuration.
Correspondingly, it requires much more manpower than Soshyan's previous flagship Spark.
In order to allow the Unbound Soul to operate normally, he could only transfer all the crew of the Spark, which was still under repair, to the Unbound Soul, and then drew some of the manpower from the Nathan IV, which took about It took a week to finally complete the basic preparations.
The main weapons of the Unbound Soul are two long-range light spear arrays on the bow, two sets of ion cannon arrays on both sides, and two large light spear turrets on the back, surrounded by several small laser anti-aircraft arrays.
Overall, the Unbound Soul is a battleship with very powerful frontal firepower. A salvo of light spears is enough to wipe out most small ships, and it can even compete against battleships.
However, the two large light spear turrets on the back are too old in design, and many systems are no longer usable, and can only output at less than half the power. This is the only shortcoming, and it can only be made up for later.
On the other hand, it is a pity that there is no torpedo launch cabin. Originally, Soshyan planned to install it in the free space on the side, but time was tight and the transformation plan could only be postponed.
After completing the preparations, Soshyan led a total of 19 Astartes, including Thor and Sevatar, as well as two teams of Farzad and Ustad, as well as priests and technical sergeants, to go Valedo suppresses the rebellion.
However, Sevita told Soshyan before setting off that he would not participate in the ground battle and would only protect the ship.
Knowing that he could not control the other party, Soshyan said nothing, but for the sake of safety, after arriving at the destination, he could only deploy Thor on the ship - he still could not completely trust Sevita.
On the other hand, due to the special situation of the Unbound Soul, the navigator and astropath are all served by one person, and that is Anita in the life-sustaining cabin.
Working with her, there is also the demon host that is "temporarily" controlled - its function is to cover Anita's aura.
Relying on her powerful and pure spiritual talent, the Unbound Soul was able to quickly cross the waves of the warp, like a sharp arrow from the string, piercing the corrupted planet.
Just three days later, they arrived at their destination.
But the expected Imperial fleet did not appear in Valedo's low orbit.
On the contrary, the orbit of this planet is unusually calm. A large number of wreckage of destroyed transport ships surround the orbit of the planet, like countless metal tombstones. Valedo's originally bustling airport has also become several fragmented pieces.
This place seems to have experienced a fierce naval battle.
The only complete ship was an ordinary-looking ship. After scanning, Soshyan learned that it was a pilgrim ship named "Flying Tallan".
Regardless of the name, it actually has nothing to do with Tallan, but that is not the point. The point is that it is the only one that is still intact, and it is still approaching the Unbound Soul that jumped out of the subspace in a weird posture.
"Should we send an interrogation signal to the flying Tallarn, Chapter Master?"
The captain of the Unbound Soul, Soshyan chose Lothar, whom he trusted more, instead of a mortal captain, which also made Lothar very excited.
What naval warfare expert doesn't love a powerful battleship?
"It's no longer necessary."
Soshyan shook his head as he watched the images collected by the detector magnify on the main display.
"Yes, that's right."
Thor stepped forward and stared at the ship with a very gloomy expression.
There is no doubt that its appearance has confirmed the speculations in the previous Inquisitor's report.
Chaos has begun to corrupt the world.
Even the Tallarn flying in orbit was corrupted, and it was extremely corrupted.
From a distance, she had turned into a dark mass, approaching the Unbound Soul like a predator crawling out of the grave.
Although there were no obvious signs of damage, as the cruiser drew closer, her nature became apparent.
Corruption is everywhere on the outside of the ship. The shape of the ship's hull has become unnaturally smooth. The hulls are seamlessly put together. Under the distant light of the star, it shines like an oil film.
A slow, heavy crawl, like the gradual swelling of a lung, was moving down the outer skin of the ship, ending in a tremor like a living organ.
Then the spire tumbled from the hull, kicking up dust.
Saul focused his attention on the superstructure.
"Zoom in on the biggest statues."
Soon the image shifts and the massive statue becomes visible.
One of them stretched out his arms to defend himself against some unseen fear.
Its face was distorted and its eyes were wide open, as if it was too excited to speak.
Another hand is grabbing its eyes, as if in a moment of self-mutilation, its fingers are frozen, and the stony flesh on the cheek hangs on the huge, fixed membrane wings.
"The devil is laughing at us."
Soshyan spat out these words from between his teeth. These subspace creations will never learn well.
"Let it be, but it will give us a sense of what we're going to face."
"That's right."
Lothar on the side nodded.
"Those unclean things have left their mark."
"First of all, there are no skulls and brass and no traces of the plague, but look at the eyes of the statue."
Thor pointed to the statue with its face exposed.
"There's more than just fear there."
"And desire."
Sevatar's lazy voice was full of ridicule, as if he had found some enjoyment in seeing the statue representing the Holy Emperor being desecrated.
"It is the Dark Prince, Thor, your primarch's master."
When he said this, Thor's shoulders stiffened for a moment.
"That's why we're here."
He didn't even look at Savitar as he spoke.
"They don't want us to show up, or they don't know us yet, so they would declare their identity so boldly."
"Maybe, you know, Slaanesh's creations are very playful."
"Then let us destroy this garbage with the flames of the Emperor's vengeance!"
:. :
