28: Chapter 28 Green-skinned Eldar

The warships ahead all had sleek, elongated hulls.

Most peculiar were the fin-like structures installed at their sterns, or in professional terms, they more closely resembled the signature solar sails of Aeldari vessels.

As for the ships behind, Xia Xingchen took one look and immediately covered his face.

Seriously, why do these greenskins always seem to be chasing after me?

These patchwork contraptions cobbled together from scrap...

Xia Xingchen no longer even questioned whether those things could actually fly, because the power of 'I fink' was just that formidable.

"Commander, do we fight, or initiate a warp jump immediately?"

Xia Xingchen quickly weighed the pros and cons. First, in space combat, the Orks weren't too much of a concern.

With their level of technology, their only real tactic was basically a close-range charge, ramming into other ships to board them.

But the Aeldari were completely different. Their ships' maneuverability was simply too strong.

Although Xia Xingchen could definitely destroy the Aeldari ships by relying on his vessel's size and firepower advantages, he absolutely could not prevent them all from escaping; a few ships would always get away.

Furthermore, Xia Xingchen didn't have much time to waste tangling with the Aeldari here. He'd already lost nearly a month on that planet.

"All forward and aft weapons, fire a full broadside at the Aeldari ships and the Ork fleet respectively. Stop them from closing in."

Simultaneously, Xia Xingchen gave the order to the crew responsible for the warp jump.

"Once the broadside is complete, immediately prepare to initiate the warp jump."

This time, conventional weapons were still deployed. The ship's macro-cannons, torpedoes, particle pulse cannons, nova cannons, and Hive Assault Missiles instantly charged up, ready for action.

In an instant, countless tongues of fire seemed to erupt from the flanks of the dream star, roaring towards the targets ahead and behind.

Seeing this, the Aeldari fleet instantly discerned the attack's intent. Without a word, the entire fleet immediately scattered to evade the fire.

The maneuverability of the Aeldari ships was truly formidable. The moment the order was given, the entire fleet dispersed in all directions like fish in the sea, rapidly increasing the distance between vessels to lower the probability of being hit.

The Orks, however, fared much worse.

Mainly because the Orks just kept charging forward, heedless of the danger.

Nothing was more important than boarding!

Charge!

I fink their guns can't blast through our hulls!

Two completely different responses led to entirely different outcomes.

The Aeldari fleet suffered minimal losses, except for three unlucky ships that were directly hit by particle cannons.

Two of those were struck in the bow and stern, losing mobility, while the most unfortunate one was blasted clean in half. The remaining ships were almost unscathed, having successfully evaded most of the attack.

But for the Orks, it was a different story.

The broadside of macro-cannons, torpedoes, Hive missiles, and a few lances almost all landed squarely on the cluster of Ork vessels.

Over a dozen Ork ships instantly exploded into fireballs in space. Seems the power of 'I fink' just wasn't strong enough this time.

Seizing this opening, Xia Xingchen quickly ordered the ship to accelerate. The warp jump engines emitted intense energy fluctuations.

A powerful force distorted the surrounding space. Before the Aeldari and Orks could even react, the dream star had already vanished from its position.

Of course, the Orks wouldn't abandon a fight just because the target was gone. They just felt a bit disappointed—such a shame about that huge ship, couldn't ram into it for a proper scrap.

Therefore, the Orks simply shifted their attack target from the dream star to the nearby Aeldari fleet.

These little shrimps will do! At least we can have a proper fight!

The Ork captains led a bunch of Ork boyz in wild, roaring cries. The Ork ships that had survived the barrage, belching black smoke in a dense swarm, charged straight towards the Aeldari fleet.

The Aeldari Farseer regarded these Ork vessels with almost gritted-teeth hatred.

Originally, the Aeldari Farseer had come here to explore this Imperium of Man Forge World for any lost treasures. Who would have thought that before securing any treasure, they'd run into this mess.

"Farseer, shall we engage those greenskins?"

The Farseer watched the roaring Orks, knowing full well they had no real objective. Their only desire was to fight. Engaging them would be a complete waste.

"Inform everyone. Full retreat."

The Aeldari ships hesitated not at all, swiftly vanishing into the Webway.

By the time the Orks reacted and wanted to give chase, only empty void remained. The Aeldari ships were long gone.

The Orks immediately let out roars of frustration. Such a great fight, ruined just like that.

Meanwhile, Xia Xingchen watched the flowing starscape around him, the silvery light of the warp jump converging into droplet-like streams.

Xia Xingchen looked down at the points panel. The original five million points had directly jumped to ten million.

Looking at these ten million points, Xia Xingchen knew in his heart it was far from enough.

After all, what he owed was a full trillion points. No matter what, he needed to save up at least a hundred million points first.

At that moment, the warp-jump streams that had converged like a river gradually slowed and finally dissipated completely. The starscape before him became clear once more.

Once the dream star stabilized, Nuwa quickly cross-referenced with the star charts.

"Commander, we are only 200 light-years from the intended destination point. To be precise, our jump was a bit off course."

Xia Xingchen pondered for a moment. A distance of 200 light-years could be covered with one short-range warp jump.

Then let's initiate the warp jump quickly, to avoid wasting more time.

Just as Xia Xingchen was about to order the warp jump initiated, Nuwa immediately stopped him.

"Commander, we are detecting intense energy fluctuations not far away. It's a signal of battlefield engagement."

Hearing this, Xia Xingchen immediately began to calculate. Should he go take a look?

"What do you think, Nuwa? Should we go observe?"

Nuwa immediately offered her assessment:

"The incident location is not far from us. We can arrive within ten minutes.

"If it's a regular fleet of the Imperium of Man, we can turn and leave immediately;

"If it's rebels, Chaos, or other xenos forces, we can attempt to eliminate them to earn what you desire."

This, of course, referred to points. As the person closest to Xia Xingchen, he had long since discussed such matters with her.

"Alright. In that case, proceed towards that location."

Upon receiving the command, the bridge immediately issued orders to the crew. The ship instantly halted warp jump preparations, began adjusting its heading, and activated its sub-light engines to accelerate.

The dream star, traveling at 0.9 times the speed of light, reached the source of the energy fluctuations in less than a minute.