Several F-16s quickly formed up in the air, their quantum engine afterburners tracing a dazzling line in the morning sun. The pilot in the cockpit steadily controlled the fighter, looking at the advancing Tau armored units and mech formations ahead, a murderous intent already burning in his heart.
"Sicario Squadron, all aircraft listen to my command. Target is the Tau armored unit. Prioritize destroying mechs and heavy armored vehicles," Galaxy calmly issued the command, a silent authority in his voice.
"Prepare to enter attack run."
The squadron quickly adjusted its angle, pouncing towards the Tau unit. The F-16 pilots set precise strike data on their control panels, locking onto the coordinates of their targets ahead.
On the ground, the Tau mech unit had not yet detected the deadly threat in the sky, still proceeding methodically along the road. The heavy Tau armor reflected the light, but in the eyes of these aerial hunters, they became rows of prey awaiting slaughter.
"Target locked, fire!"
Following the command, the F-165 "Maverick" air-to-ground missiles detached from the wings, arcing through the sky directly towards the Tau mech unit.
The whistling of the missiles tearing through the air echoed, followed by violent explosions on the ground.
The missiles accurately struck the Tau armor, and towering flames and smoke tore the sturdy armor plating to shreds. The massive explosions shook the ground, and the first wave of strikes instantly destroyed several Tau main battle mechs. Their burning wreckage lay on the road like piles of scrap metal.
The Tau Soldiers finally realized the aerial assault had arrived and quickly tried to adjust their formation. Heavy armored vehicles began to disperse, but it was all too late.
In the sky, the second wave of F-1 K20 "Rockeye" cluster bombs detached from the fighters at the predetermined position, raining down on the center of the Tau position. Hundreds of sub-munitions exploded, shockwaves impacting the ground one after another, catching the Tau Soldiers and armored vehicles off guard.
"Target fully suppressed."
The pilot calmly watched the real-time battle feedback on the in-cockpit display, constantly adjusting the attack route to ensure every bomb accurately hit its target.
The Tau armored vehicles were torn apart one after another, like fragile building blocks in a dust storm. Hit mechs lost control, stumbling and rolling on the ground, ultimately falling into a death spiral of explosions and flames.
Several Tau combat vehicles raised their gun barrels, attempting to return fire, but the F-16s flexibly swept past, dodging ground fire with evasive maneuvers, while simultaneously dropping a 500-pound GBU-40 "Paveway" precision-guided bomb, precisely striking those Tau strongpoints that dared to expose themselves.
Commissar Cain sat in the command vehicle, looking at the billowing black smoke and flames rising from the road not far away, a surge of satisfaction in his heart. Almost no Tau vehicle could survive. Under absolute air superiority, this extermination was like crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood; the Tau unit had no power to fight back whatsoever.
In the air, the air support quickly pulled up after completing its final round of strikes, leaving the battlefield. The pilot reported via radio: "Commissar Cain, the Tau armored unit has been completely dismantled, cleared. Ground units can advance."
"Well done." Commissar Cain smiled slightly, switching the radio back to the unit channel, "Valhalla 597th Regiment, advance and begin clearing the remaining enemy forces."
At Commissar Cain's command, the Valhallan Unit surged forward like a tide towards the remaining Tau positions, determined to completely wipe out the enemy. The Tau remnants scattered by the airstrike now looked particularly disheveled. Some of them were still desperately trying to flee, while more, with nowhere to go, watched in terror as the approaching Valhallan armored convoy drew closer.
The main convoy of the Valhalla 597th Regiment drove onto Highway 54. Commissar Cain sat in the frontline command vehicle, observing the shattered Tau positions, ravaged by the F-16 bombing, through the glass. All around were overturned mechs, twisted fragments of armor, and rising smoke emitting a scorched smell.
As the ground unit advanced, skirmishers and special teams quickly dismounted, beginning to search the ruins for surviving enemies, ensuring no one escaped.
Commissar Cain directed while watching the busy Soldiers outside the vehicle. Their movements were swift and their coordination skilled, effortlessly clearing out the remaining Tau strongpoints, ensuring the entire area was completely under control.
The F-16s were now circling high in the sky, ready to provide fire support at any moment, while Sicario's air team, led by Galaxy, continued to suppress any attempts by the enemy to escape.
"Tau Soldiers, those who surrender will not be killed, but those who resist will be executed!" Commissar Cain calmly announced through the loudspeaker. The remaining Tau remnants who survived under absolute suppression chose to lay down their weapons, raising their hands in terrified and helpless surrender. They had completely lost the will to resist, despair in their eyes.
"This is a command from Lord Li Feng! Friends of the Tau, Lord Li Feng swears that any Tau who surrender will receive prisoner of war treatment! Lord Li Feng guarantees! You will return safely to the Tau Empire!"
In fact, at this point, Commissar Cain, as an Imperial Political Commissar, didn't even know what the Imperial "prisoner of war treatment" was, because there were usually no prisoners of war on Imperial battlefields.
Meanwhile, Commissar Cain's order was relayed to all squads via radio. Everyone understood that there was almost no room for maneuver in this battle. The Soldiers of the 597th Regiment cleared every corner in the buildings and trenches along the way, eliminating scattered resistors and a few hiding individuals one by one, advancing steadily, with no intention of letting any enemy escape.
The voice of the airborne early warning aircraft sounded again from the radio: "Airspace cleared, no anomalies. Ground units can take over at any time."
Commissar Cain gave a cold smile and responded: "Understood. Thank you for your hard work, airborne brothers. Continue monitoring the surrounding airspace. We will end the battle here."
The ground unit's advance was swift and thorough; the remaining Tau forces were beyond salvation. This strike operation eventually concluded with the precise mopping-up by the Valhalla 597th Regiment. The once-powerful Tau armored unit was now just piles of black smoke-emitting scrap metal, scattered across the smoke-filled battlefield.
Commissar Cain calmly looked at the cleared battlefield, a satisfied smile slowly spreading across his face as he said, "They should remember this! What the power of humanity is!"
At this moment, a few Fire Caste Tau Soldiers sparsely emerged from the scrap metal, raising their weapons and surrendering to the Imperial Soldier. Subsequently, more Fire Caste Soldiers and Earth Caste engineers also walked out with their hands raised.
There were also some who tried to resist, but they were quickly shattered by the 57mm bolter round autocannon of the Ka-52 attack helicopter, which was circling in the sky and swiftly followed them.
A large number of Military Police arrived from the rear in trucks, putting high-strength nylon zip ties on the hands of these Tau, and then arranging them one by one into the trucks.
At this time, Commissar Cain also said to a Military Police captain: "Thank you for your hard work."
The Military Police captain also smiled at this moment: "No trouble at all, no trouble. We've been happily busy today, hauling these blue-skins truckload after truckload. Lord Li Feng even ordered the construction of several large prisoner-of-war camps in the rear."
"Prisoner-of-war camps?"
"Yes, after we catch those 'fake blue-skin' human traitors, we make them build the prisoner-of-war camps. When they hear it's for their masters, they work very diligently. After they finish building, we then unify and 'pop' them all off. How convenient, and it lets them contribute their remaining warmth."
Just as the Military Police finished speaking, several A-10 attack aircraft flew over their heads. Those were Cadia units. Soon, those planes dropped MK82 - "Snake Eye" high-drag bombs, precisely bombing the Tau's defensive facilities.
Then, several F-4S "Phantom" fighter jets flew at low altitude, directly dropping several large napalm bombs from their belly mounts behind the bombed areas, instantly creating several walls of fire on the horizon.
If caught by napalm, even jumping into water couldn't extinguish it... The only way was to use a knife to cut off the affected skin along with the already charred flesh... All the Soldiers fell silent watching those firewalls, because even at such a distant range, they could still hear screams coming from the firewalls. It was a sound of souls burning to ashes... And within the firewalls, several Tau Soldiers who hadn't been affected dragged a burning "human Tau Lord" out of the flames. When one of the Tau Soldiers tried to grab the person's ankle to carry him away, his hand had barely touched the other's ankle when the "cooked flesh" on the ankle smeared all over the Tau's hand like rotten mud... "I love the smell of napalm in the morning... You know, once we bombed a mountain in Baal for 12 hours straight.
When it was all over, I went up there, and I didn't find anything, not even the corpse of a stinking Tyranid. The smell... The smell of napalm, it permeated the entire mountaintop.
That smell... It smelled like... Victory."
--- A Cadia veteran's recollection after the Battle of Baal.
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