Warhammer 30: The Second Legion's Expedition

Chapter 64 Interactive Communication

Achilles stood still, his eyes slightly closed beneath his helmet.

The numb killing made him less inclined to respond to his brothers. The boarding of the Ninth Company had achieved the results they wanted. The alien warships' cannon fire gradually died down, and their shield generators had been taken over by Captain Jefferson.

Patroclus assumed Achilles wanted to wait for their battle brethren, so he began urging them on the communication channel.

"Head to our coordinates, listen, assemble at Achilles' coordinates."

"receive."

Several squads responded to Patroclus, and they could still faintly hear the sounds of bombs and grenades exploding on their end.

"Why are there more and more of them even as we kill them?" someone complained over the communicator.

"What nonsense are you talking about? This is the headquarters of these aliens." The clear sound of a chainsaw sword tearing through flesh could be heard from the other person's channel.

Laughter could be heard from time to time, but there was a hint of weariness hidden in the laughter.

Patroclus looked up at Achilles, who remained motionless as if in a daze.

He then hid in a corner of the alien warship's protrusion and took advantage of this rare free time to check the amount of ammunition he had.

The magazine of the explosive pistol slid out of the chamber, and Patroclus quickly changed it with one hand, extending his hand to Achilles: "Ammunition."

Achilles turned around in surprise: "You know I never carry those."

"But you brought a gun, you close-combat idiot," Patroclus retorted.

Achilles suddenly realized what was going on. He took out the gift he often polished, a present from Moriarty, the commander of the Ninth Company, which was another prize he had won at the Trojan Warriors' Assembly.

Although he doesn't use it, he will always carry it with him.

Reluctantly, Achilles handed the pistol to Patroclus. As Patroclus took the pistol, Achilles reminded him, "Don't lose it, Patroclus."

"Of course not." Patroclus quickly stood up and tucked the gun into his waistband.

He carefully surveyed his surroundings, making sure no strange alien creatures could use the seemingly living warship as cover to break out.

"We're running out of ammunition," Patroclus said gravely. "I've heard many soldiers already saying they can't provide fire support."

"Has the ammunition supply depot and the machine gunners not been connected and kept up?" Achilles asked.

Upon hearing this, Patroclus shook his head.

"Although this warship is reluctant to admit it, it is clearly a living entity. All the smaller ships carrying ammunition resupply were destroyed in space by those tentacles. They were too slow and were easily intercepted."

"One warship has made us so miserable," Achilles muttered in complaint.

Patroclus remained silent, his jaw clenched, clearly indicating his extreme dissatisfaction.

Almost everyone believed it was a dereliction of duty by the reconnaissance unit.

"This is not the time to talk about this." Patroclus reconnected with the rest of the team on the communication channel.

"Here we go again, damn it," he complained.

"What happened?" Achilles asked.

"This happens frequently; communication is extremely unstable. I can't hear reports from other squads anymore; all I hear on the channel is a crackling, ear-piercing electrical current!"

"Can't you hear me?"

Faced with Patroclus's question, Achilles fell silent, feeling guilty, and quietly looked away.

"Damn it!" Patroclus shouted, his voice filled with anger and disbelief. "Don't tell me you turned off the communication channel!"

Before Achilles could respond or offer any excuses, Patroclus, knowing his friend's personality well, laughed in exasperation: "You muscle-bound Minotaur who only knows how to charge into melee combat!"

A torrent of Trojan swear words poured out of Patroclus's mouth.

But then, a different voice flashed through the communication channel, instantly silencing Patroclus.

"Enter our company's channel, Achilles," he said sternly.

Achilles switched to his company's communication channel and initially could only hear beast-like roars, crackling electrical currents, and the occasional familiar voices and howls of his teammates.

"I didn't hear anything." Achilles frowned. He had turned it off precisely because the noisy sound annoyed him and was affecting the battle.

Of course, Patroclus's close companionship was also an important reason.

"Quiet, Achilles, be patient," Patroclus promised, stopping Achilles from switching channels.

Trusting his good brother, Achilles endured the noise and began to carefully listen to these irritating sounds.

until--

"They've already defected, monk."

"Yes, I think we should return to the Spear of Sanctions."

"I must say, sir, this was an extremely wrong and insane operation."

"But it's all over now, monk. We still have time to erase all traces here. We'll leave and return to the Spear of Sanction, and that will be a secret no one will ever know."

"We need to erase all auxiliary military personnel's memories of this incident; it's a huge undertaking."

The conversation ended abruptly amidst complaints.

But it was this last sentence that led Achilles from confusion to sudden realization, and finally to anger and disbelief as he sorted out everything.

"We have been betrayed," Achilles said in a low voice, his voice hoarse as if forced out of his throat.

Achilles slammed his fist heavily against the hull of the ship beside him.

He took his weapon and began pacing uncontrollably and repeatedly inside the ship's hold.

Occasionally, the alien ship could be heard shaking and shifting sideways after being bombarded by friendly ships. The ship's cries of pain became more and more frequent, and occasionally even carried a hint of relief.

It looked like some kind of alien was imprisoned inside the warship and could not be freed.

Patroclus steadied himself, feeling his internal organs shaking and swelling. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether it was because the ship was about to collapse or because he was furious at the shameless betrayal of his allies.

"That direction," Patroclus pointed to a location.

He didn't know how the audio came to be on their communication channel; perhaps it was the aliens' last scheme, deliberately orchestrated to incite conflict between the two legions.

But nobody cared.

Most of the companies in the Crimson Hounds Legion did not have specific missions. After learning of this abhorrent betrayal from their own side, most of them put down their killing spree, casually shot down aliens, threw grenades to destroy facilities, and then began to rush towards that place.

A few companies that were located further away also began to connect to the communication equipment of other companies to inform everyone of the situation and prevent them from being unaware of it.

"There is no escape," Achilles whispered.