Upon returning to Shogi from the meeting regarding Chaos, it was downright pleasant to see to the mundane tasks of running a world. Still, the danger of Chaos was never far from my mind, and much would need to be done to prepare the world for the future assault.
Shogi was a world between two extremes, it was neither as productive as a Forge World, nor as well defended as a pure Fortress World. It held aspects of both that made it formidable no doubt, but that balance degraded each function independently of the other. I knew enough to understand that the production and extraction rates of Shogi compared to a true Forge World were abysmal, just as the local defenses were abysmal compared to standard Fortress Worlds.
However, the combination provided many options otherwise prevented. I wield near unilateral power upon Shogi for as long as I hold my position. As long as none of my advisors turn upon me, my options are effectively unbound beyond the material limitions I labor under. Scholars of Creation could turn Shogi into a bulwark of terrible form within mere decades, but such would come at too great a cost in life. I find it not so easy to rebuild a world to a new standard, but that is not to say that I am incapable.
As it stands, the dual classifications are unharmonized, the various planetary governors failing to understand the possibilities that are clear to me. An example of human fractionation, I believe, the history of Shogi is a list of planetary governors that support one side over the other. At various moments the world has been all but a Forge or Fortress before changing hands and reverting to the other. The previous governor perhaps in the single positive thing he did for me was to reset the world to a base foundation.
There were no true citadels or forge complexes anymore, all of them removed or otherwise no longer functioning, leaving me with a blank slate to write a new future for the world, and much can be done indeed if I break from tradition.
The cities have rudimentary shield networks, void shields I believe they are called, but regardless, their defenses are limited to what the lowest possible level for a Fortress world is. The forges are similarly reduced in effectiveness and potency. I have learned from the research I have done on Imperial culture and design that humans are foolish when it comes to their architecture, sacrificing practicality on their monumental constructions for grandiose displays of wealth that provide nothing and simply exist to consume resources.
Hive cities are the prime example, only due to some unknown cause are they even functional from the reports I have seen on them. Yet, they could be made easily self sufficient and updated to no longer be the problematic constructions that litter the galaxy of today.
Regardless, at the end of the day, there are only so many paths I can take for Shogi, and this will define much of how I reshape the world in my image. The basic defensive improvements to the cities are easy enough to complete, but future improvements and even more critically expansion in the future will require a unified design plan to work from. So far, I have let the Imperium continue onward on Shogi until I could become comfortable with the privileges I now find myself with and the responsibilities I bear.
There is no chance of making Shogi into a reflection of the Homeworld. The psychology of humans and exatari is too divergent for such an event to fall within the range of the feasible. As the report comes in of the final new shields and barricades being erected, the most basic of upgrades to the safety of my people is complete, and a choice must be made.
Regardless of the choice to be made, it would not matter overly much for the immediate future. Turning to the matter at hand, I checked in on the progress of the various infrastructure projects that I had started before leaving with Nalka and Nameria.
The steelgrass refinery was up and running already, churning out refined steelgrass for introduction into the planetary food supply. The numbers already provided indicate that the general health of the world will increase at least one standard deviation above the mean of human health in the sector. Within a matter of decades, Shogi's population will be more able to handle multiple births over the course of time even without access to medical intervention.
The situation with regards to the birth collapse was strange, as the numbers for Shogi were steady until I arrived. Upon my arrival, there was an immediate and notable crash of the birth rate, and also a notable slowing of maturation of newborn humans. I can think of no technological explanation for this event, but its time is too closely linked to my arrival and taking control of the world to deny that it is directly related to my presence.
Regardless, the steelgrass will serve as a good stop gap measure, enabling more grueling training for the military forces. Harkar has already made note of updating the practices to account for the new health standard. Hopefully, this will save valuable resources for more critical investments than upgrading the general armies. In the end it was all to the benefit of the world that the people were now going to be healthier, I have learned that humans unlike exatari do have health concerns that when met improve their performance.
Moving on, the mining outpost that Stiriam started last decade finished under the restrictions I had mandated without issue. Feeding new resources into the forges of Shogi and improving the state of my world once more. She was a valuable administrator, but placing another in her position would improve efficiency of action.
The complex for the Sisters Hospitaller was built and ready for them, although I am unsure why they need religious iconography on every item. Regardless, it was easy enough to build such a building in a few years. Only a few minor adjustments were needed to ensure sensible architecture. Now, once they arrived it would be ready for them to begin working soon after arrival. It does occur to me that it is possible to expand the complex in this intermediate timeframe. The remaining work is more in the field of ensuring that they are not purposely being slow to move to Shogi, and as such, it would be simple to build other complexes onto the existing one.
With the records Nameria gave me from the Order of the Golden Spirit, it would be a sign of good faith and interest to provide for them a martial complex or even a Titan Hanger. Neither of which is all that expansive in truth, only a few hundred resource units to build such things, and it would become harder to expand once they arrive. A possible decision to make, but moving on to other events.
Over the years, I had waited for Balkavus to give his report, and eventually, he did, and it confirmed what I had expected. The history of the Imperium was more of a chain of histories than anything sensible. At least fifty incompatible historical timelines were all claimed by various Imperial groups to be the true history of the Imperium. I had hoped for more immediately actionable information, but it would take me effort that would be poorly spent on the subject to tease out what was true, what was false, and what was simple rewriting of history.
"Sir, the mining outpost is overrun with golems formed of this material. The current weapons on hand are ineffective, as are mining tools. I ordered an immediate evacuation under previously established emergency guidelines. Mostly in case of encountering xenos that lived in secret beneath the ground." I nod as much as I can at her recount and note her initiative that saved my workers. That would not be forgotten by any means, moving her up after Nameria for augments for this showing of proper reaction to a crisis.
"Do we have a threat assessment? Are there any actionable plans for dealing with this?" I asked, trusting that she would understand the focus of the question, and she nodded slightly as she parsed the wording before taking a breath to speak. "Sir, the golems are presently acting without coordination. It is feasible that they are non sentient, but I would request permission to bring psykers for confirmation." I hum at the statement.
"Why have you not used your authority to confirm sentience or sapience with psykers currently?" Enara shook her head slightly, "Sir, even in-system transport of psykers is difficult to achieve on short notice. I would also require Astropaths for this, which further complicates matters."
The explanation made sense once stated. There was a persistent fear of psykers I still do not understand. They are just humans with powers after all, nothing deserving of this state of near constant persecution and mob killings... though if human souls are less resilient to the influence of beings from the Immaterium, there may be some kernel of logic behind this. Regardless, it was a simple matter to give her my command codes for this purpose to force the matter to be resolved.
"Form and numbers." I ask as a statement, staring into her from my position above my desk. For anyone else, this would be unpleasant, but Enara, I knew felt safer in this style of interaction. I do not think I will ever understand humans, for even hatchlings aren't this chaotic about what annoys them or doesn't.
"Sir, the golems are roughly humanoid in form, ranging from a quarter of a meter to five meters in height. The larger examples seem to contain greater relative quantities of the anomalous material lacing the rocks. Reports indicate that their numbers are not fully known, but it is unlikely that there are more than ten thousand at most. Estimates predict a more reasonable number of a thousand to two thousand, with only five hundred currently accounted for on the surface. As stated before, las and plasma guns are ineffective against them as the anomalous material absorbs virtually all thermal energy. I believe that we would need melta or grav weapons to fight them." Enara stood solidly at attention, not wavering even as she gave her report, and it fit with the available facts. The golems in question provided, they are not intelligent, will not stand up against the armies of Shogi, let alone the sector at large.
I do hope that they are not intelligent, since there is currently no way to allow them to live for the simple fact of their place of occupation. The imperium will not allow an alien race to live in its borders, and as much as I would wish otherwise, to ensure my cover, I would have to go along with such an action. No good options are at hand, but no matter. I would make do as I have for the last half century. I nod at Enara one last time as she salutes and marches out the door.
"Lord Atraxas, I am honored to be given this chance." A young human stood before me, clearly unsure of her choice of attire which even to my eyes were barren and simple compared to the fashion of the nobility. Yet, she had come to my attention via reports of a civilian increasing productivity among workers by simply talking with them. I had expected her to be of passable skill for a human, but it seemed that she had only needed a chance to shine.
I had not expected to see a prodigy, as I believe the term to be, for this task. However, I would not deny the value of it. Her age might be problematic, but that will solve itself soon enough. "Akiona Mino, twenty years of age by the Terran calendar, born in the thirtieth year of my rule. I understand that you seek status for your family with this posting, but why should I accept you as the diplomat of Shogi. Your age speaks against you, as does your lack of formal training in ambassadorial work." The standard test for such an event, no Scholar would dream of letting an important position be filled by a competent yet clueless individual. This sadly included many hatchlings, more than one would care to admit for sure.
"I will not deny that I am young to be granted this position, milord, but I do not this position for status. All I want is to do what I can to aid you in return for the blessing the Emperor bestowed upon my family with your ascension to the throne of the world." Her words were clear and well spoken, with an accent befitting of the high statum of Shogi. For one of her birth to speak with that accent implied training to overcome her natural one and to use another foreign one. Perhaps it is not a truly notable change for other humans, but it would be heard and noticed on a level below conscious thought. A good sign of her abilities and worth as the diplomat of Shogi.
As for her claims of my arrival being a blessing, it was disturbing to be attributed to such a state since all I had done was provide fitting compensation for the service provided to the Shogi.
I knew of course that the Imperium rarely worked on sensible foundations, but to be considered a blessing to a family for doing nothing more than the basics required by sensibility was concerning. Perhaps Stiriam was more typical than I believed, which is problematic and will have to be corrected in due time.
Regardless, she might say otherwise, but it is rare for humans to act outside of their self interest I have found. "I am considering placing you as the advisor to the primary diplomat with a payment befitting the position." Depending on her reaction it would reveal much about her, for anyone that claimed to be capable of working in the Imperial diplomatic office would need to understand the subtext of low to no payment inherent to my statement. Of course, it was compromised by the fact that I could not bring myself to carry out such a threat, but whethwe she realizes that or not would be interesting data regardless.
Her face whitened as she clearly understood the threat inherent to my statement, processed it, and considered it. She would back away now, revealing the weakness inherent to her psychology, lacking the strength to climb up the ladder of skill to what she desired. "At your command, Lord Atraxas, I will work to bring glory to the one you choose." Her voice, although shaking, was firm in its delivery, she as prepared to spend decades to centuries as a nearly unpaid laborer for another less qualified individual if it was my will.
This was unacceptable. I was no being to hold in such reverence. If she praised her God-Emperor, I would have no concern with that, but this provided a line of instability that would be poor within the diplomat of my world. "Akiona, give your prayers to the God Emperor. I am nothing more than a servant of His in the end." I could almost feel the golden burns flare with pain at the lie, but they soon calmed, yet her zealotry now that I saw it had not wavered in the slightest.
Regardless of her belief in my being a blessing for her family from her god, I had gotten enough to understand that she would be a competent and reasonable individual to head the diplomatic department. She, after all, could not have been worse than the person I had evicted from the position a decade ago. "I am about to meet with the repersentives of the Interplanetary Guilds. This will serve as a trial by fire for your future within my government." She nodded eagerly, although I wonder how much of that is due to innocence and how much to confidence.
I carefully hid myself into my nest behind the walls, with cameras to watch my newest possible Advisor do her first job. I was ready to step in if she seemed to be struggling and the Guilds were eager to normalize realations with Shogi regardless, so the damage she could inflict was minor in the grand scheme of things.
The envoy from the Guilds entered the office and smiled as he saw Akiona. I could tell that he believed her to be some form of assistant to me. "I am here to see Planetary Governor Atraxas. Where might I find him, sweet thing?" Even from the nest I had built, I could almost feel the slimy tone of his words as he openly leered at Akiona. "Sir, I am Lord Atraxas' diplomat. I will be managing this meeting in his name while he is occupied with other matters. I do apologize for any inconvenience this presents" Her voice was both appeasing and firm, along with her body language somehow mixing submissive posture with a commanding presence.
The man flinched at the reply, implying that he was not precisely immune to repercussions. "I was not informed of this change in circumstances, but this is certainly workable. Ahem. The Guilds are prepared to admit Shogi back into the Erimyst trade net on a provisional basis due your planet's previous failure to uphold its contractual obligations." It was a clear attempt to force concessions out of Shogi for a return to the sector's commercial web without restriction.
It was obviously also a fragile attempt to gain control over my world, though even the Imperium's least reasonable politicians wouldn't accept this kind of nonsense so readily. Akiona shook her head in what seemed to be sadness at the response, even if I could see the more subtle aspects of her action revealing the glee that she was feeling.
"I take it that it is the position of the Guilds that Valvadus, Galous and Silvarious are the rightful rulers of the sector Erimyst in this case. Since, if I am not mistaken, the contracts that Shogi has defaulted on are all related to the promises made to said worlds under the predecessor of Lord Atraxas." Her awareness of such information was concerning, and I would have to find how she discovered the information after this was completed. However, she was correct on this matter. The contracts that were defaulted on barring those three would have been waived due to planetary classification.
"The direction of the default does not matter, not compared to the fact that a default occurred. I also find it ghoulish that you suggest that we the guilds take sides in interplanetary trade disputes. We pride ourselves on being fair in our dealings with the worlds of Erimyst and beyond." The envoy was clearly unsure of what to do at this point and was already on the defensive compared to Akiona who smiled gleefully behind a face made of stone.
"The contracts to those worlds were never written into either their own trade books or Shogi's, thereby rendering them a personal action on the behalf of the previous governor. Therefore, they are bereft of legal value to leverage against Shogi, unless you can prove that they were formed under the authority of their administrations rather than under the authority of Imperial citizens. Moving on, I believe it is part of the Charter of the Guilds as mandated by the Pathfinders Chapter that any stricken world is to be given support according to its classification as set by the Adeptus Administratum."
Again, how in the Witness' name did she find that information? It had taken me with full access several years to piece it together even after I created a new operating system for all machines. The charter for the Guild was buried under quite literally several millennia worth of files and other information, and the revisions were not anywhere sensible even to this day. I am so very confused at how Akiona, a person of low birth, could have discovered this information and just peeled apart an experienced envoy.
"The contracts for those worlds from Shogi might not be fully elucidated, but the implied action is enough to place Shogi onto the default listing. Regarding the promise of support, that is simply backed by the Pathfinders, not the Guilds. We would be perfectly happy to send an astropathic response to them regarding the issue for a nominal fee." For a man that seemed to be on the verge of dying from dehydration, he remained composed even if Akiona was seemingly perfectly at peace in her chair staring up at him.
"I understand the Guild's stance is that non fully elucidated contracts are to be honored without critical examination. In that case, the contracts of Shogi from the various worlds that were never properly written out are to be activated once more. it is the height of unfairness to force one set of contracts to remain active, yet disregard another set of similar contracts. I have also taken the liberty of sending an Astropathic communication to the Pathfinders regarding the obvious lack of faith in the Revised Charter of Erimyst circa M37." She responded perfectly calmly in control of the meeting from the start to now, even as several forms of implicit contracts of other worlds to Shogi were printed out and provided. Those contracts, if brought into effect, would result in a notable redistribution of wealth in the sector in Shogi's favor, along with ensuring that I would have an outsized impact on the Guilds compared to other Governors.
Overall, it would be a death sentence for the Guilds as they stand today. Of course, they had been discarded as viable millennia ago due to being superseded by changing governors and politics. However, the trap had been cleanly laid out. If the Guilds tried to force Shogi to honor contracts via implication, then they would, in turn, be forced to honor ones in my favor. Beyond that, the blanching of the envoy at the mention of the astropathic communication was interesting, implying that the Guilds were acting outside of the Charter's remit.
"The Guilds deny that these contracts are subject to the same ordnance due to the scale of time between their activation and now, but the implied arrangement between Shogi and the worlds Valvadus, Galous and Silvarious were active only several decades ago. I also can promise that there is no need to bring the Pathfinders into this matter, as we have provided significant support to worlds that are falling behind in productive output as the revised charter demands." He was beyond grasping at straws and was fully in defense mode, trying desperately to find a defense against Akiona that would hold up.
"In that case what is the cut-off point for implicit contracts? The Charter of the Guilds holds no information on such measures, which is illegal under both Imperial and Sector Law. What's more, according to both Sector and Imperial Law, the only actions Guilds might undertake is that which is provided explicitly in the Charter, and the resources intended for damaged or suffering worlds known as the Erimyst Fortress Bank have been routinely provided to the worlds Valvadus, Galous and Silvarious, all of whom are currently in no position of being classified as stricken. I see no reason not to bring the Pathfinders into this matter, for it appears that the Guilds have been subverted by, at the minimum, Valvadus, a world whose repeated historical antagonism to Shogi is well-documented."
Akiona leaned back in her chair slightly as she glanced over papers detailing various examples of the Guilds favoring other worlds in unfair methods. It was fairly clear at this point to me that something strange was occurring. She should not be able to acquire this information. While none of it was actually classified, most was buried under mountains of nonsense and would require an expert administrator like Stiraim to discover it in anything approaching a reasonable timeframe.
A human of a mere two decades could not know as much as she did, not on such a complex and arcane topic as interplanetary guild charters and the interplay of local and Imperial law. Yet here she was, easily defeating a man at least a century her senior in a field where she should know next to nothing. I would have to investigate this phenomenon in the future, for it could potentially be exploited in my favor.
"We hold the right to declare any implicit contract null or active at discretion, this privlege is located on the fiftieth page, subsection ten. It is a new amendment to the Charter ratified a decade ago in a closed session. We also deny categorically that we have been making use of the Erimyst Fortress Bank for worlds that are not in need. In light of this information, I believe the case can be closed on the matter, and Shogi may be placed onto the defaulting world list in light of its unfulfilled contracts with Valvadus, Galous and Silvarious. There is no need for Astartes intervention as all we have done is by the rule of the Charter." I stopped for a moment at the sheer idiotic nature of his response, he had all but admitted to everything Akiona had been insinuating in a single reply. It was a level of incompetence that I had thought I would never see again since a hatchling had decided it would be a marvelous idea to open a warp rift in a teaching cave. On second thought the hatchling was smarter than him, since at least that caused no damage to anything, unlike this... idiocy.
As befitting this insane situation, Akiona just smiled once more at the envoy as he walked into her trap. "Per sector law, the Charter of the Guilds can only be amended by a full meeting of the worlds of Erimyst, landed Astartes Chapters and the Order of the Golden Spirit. The Chapters in question are the Pathfinders and the Manticore Knights, neither of whom would hide such a meeting from the sector at large. In addition, without a representative of Shogi authorized by Lord Atraxas present, any such amendment is illegal and non-binding. Therefore, the latest revision of the Charter on record of legal standing is the Revision of M38 in light of the events of the Abyssal Crusade. Pursuant to the Revised Charter, the Guild is found to be acting outside its remit and allowed boundaries. Therefore, I have complied an astropathic communication to be sent to the greater sector to reveal this duplicity. In light of this unsubstantiated array of insults against the character of Shogi and by extension Lord Atraxas for inheriting an economically burdened world, I invoked the sanctions enshrined into the Charter for such events and also demand the usage of resources within the Erimyst Fortress Bank for the improvement of Shogi."
Her trap closed it with finality. There was no escape for him or the Guilds now. They had admitted to taking bribes, working against the sector's interests, and supporting select planets over others. There was no possible way for them to evade ruination for this. I knew the Pathfinders would be furious at their work being besmirched in this manner. The Charter was their invention and part of their plan to make the Sector the 80 Worlds, and the Guilds have tarnished it.
The envoy struggled to find a counterpoint, but he would not. He could not. Everything he was working from was illegal on some level and that had come back to claim its due. I might not understand Imperial law, but I knew enough to understand just how badly the Guilds were acting.
Even so, this was beyond me. I knew the way she managed it, but Akiona did the impossible. It would have been feasible to deny the activation of the implicit contracts with little trouble, but to bring the sector itself down upon the Guilds was beyond my comprehension. Akiona had somehow walked the perfect line to make the guilds impossible to defend without placing the defenders solidly outside of the law on several levels.
No one could defend the Guilds anymore. That mere action would invite retaliation against them. In one blow, she had hit across several levels beyond just the Guilds directly and even enabled access to the Erimyst Fortress Bank, which I had discarded mentally. There had been no way I saw of getting the support Shogi was entitled to due to how the Guilds were fairly clearly against me when it had taken them so long to respond to my requests and various smaller issues that had been plaguing the sector at large.
Regardless, Akiona was hired and would become the diplomat of my planet after this showing. Hopefully, she would get along with the other advisors. As the envoy staggered out of the office, I watched as Akiona wither in her chair as she started shaking, "Lord Atraxas, did I do okay?" She asked, almost seeming on the verge of breaking down.
Exiting the nest, I crossed my legs and lower myself down to her, "You did better than I could have barring an extremely unlikely situation. I will have you assigned as my chief diplomat, but I do have concerns with how you were able to compile the information you used." She blinked up at me, unshed tears in her eyes as she smiled, "My Lord, all I did was trawl the data centers in preparation for this moment. I will do better next time." Her fanaticism was disturbing, but her skills outweighed the risk. I decided to treat her like a hatchling that had done well and spun out of the air a simple plasma pistol to serve as a hold out weapon. "Please find a soldier to train you in its use" was all I said.
The data I had requested on the technology of the imperial void ships was proving to be difficult to parse. I am no novice at the arts of engineering, no Forge Scholar could be, but the blueprints I had before me were nigh incomprehensible. By all laws of engineering I knew, these ships should be weaker than the ones my people make use of, but in light of known performance ratios, that conclusion is proven false.
Clearly I am missing something. Humanity has been spacefaring for millennia longer than we have been, and if their designs appear flawed to me, it is more likely my lack of understanding than them being truly flawed. Even so, the designs are cluttered to the point I am half convinced no one actually reads them and instead acts by rote memorization.
I almost feel that I could see the plans for additional fusion reactors in this design, with electrical systems seemingly going nowhere and doing nothing but ending in rooms sized property for fusion systems. Regardless of the difficulty, I would understand the designs eventually. It might take a couple of decades, but it will be done. I at least am not responsible for determining how to recreate the same effects with our native technology, as that is the duty of the Homeworld. My purpose is simply to provide them with a starting point to work from.
The most confusing aspect to me is the reliance on a balanced shield, armor, and hull among the designs. That was strange as shields, due to their energetic nature, could scale far more effectively than armor against the level of weaponry I believe to be active in the galaxy. Perhaps the Imperial shields scale poorly with energy compared to phase shields, but I am doubtful of that, as any useful shield system would by definition be something scalable with power draw.
Hmmm, perhaps that is not true. I know that I saw something just marked as "emitter point" on one of the pages. Ah, there it is. Hmm, if they are using an "emitted" shield, it could explain the issue. It was a strange choice though. Neither phase nor ion shields require an emission point, allowing for significantly better scaling factor and durability for similar power draw to emitted shield variants. Emitted shields have an advantage in regenerating from damage, but generally, the time interval is either too long or the durability threshold is too low for that to matter. A curious design choice, if true, but more likely, I am simply misreading these atrocious blueprints.
I can not envision any emitted shield system that would be scalable to the degree required for Imperial ship use that could not be done better with a single shield core. Then again, the imperium lacks both stable antimatter and Essence Taps, so perhaps the lower power draw is a better fit for their needs. Blah, these designs are as insane as the rest of the Imperium.
In the Witness' wisdom, I have never had the misfortune of having to study such terribly designed constructs. Even the abominations against logic that the Architects produce are somehow more sensible than this nonsense. Empty rooms litter the ships, meters of worthless armor in between rooms that have no need for such protection, hull support beams that seem almost designed to cause more damage, and more litter the schematics. If I had not gotten these designs from the Adeptus Mechanicus I would believe them to be fraudulent and false. Even being sure to source them as I did, I am partly convinced that I got fake ones to throw me off the path.
There are just too many inconsistencies to make sense as a design. Anyone that has eyes can see the empty rooms that could be used for something, anything. But no, for some Witness forsaken reason, they are left empty to present a structural weak point to the ship. I am going to force a redesign for any ships built on Shogi. These ships are, as far as I can see, not worth the plant matter these plans are inked on.
The armor is also a nightmare to parse. If the hull is madness in written form, the armor is just plain insanity. Plates of their adamantium, of which I still lack understanding of their function or making, are just plastered in thick lines across the ship. There is no angling of plates, no reinforcing lattice structure behind them to give extra strength to the armor. Just flat hammered plates of meter thick super alloy that were bolted or plasma welded to the ship directly.
They didn't even have a buffer between the armor and the hull superstructure. That had claimed so many of our early ships, so just how did their armor not transfer force from impacts to the hull and negate the value of their armor? I knew enough about their metal to know that it did, in fact, transfer kinetic force and in fact did so very well.
Yet... their armor worked, against all logic. Then there was how they placed weapons on exposed turrets of all things. Why did they not bury the things into rotating subunits of the ships that would achieve much the same result without compromising the integrity of the vessel? At times, I have to remind myself that these ships have proven to be quantitatively superior by several orders of magnitude to the ships we use. Perhaps our designs are the inherently flawed ones.
No, our ships did work, and we were making notable progress in improving our designs when I left, and the Homeworld has confirmed that progress has been made. So it's not that our designs are inherently incompatible with physical laws. It's that the imperium simply knows more than we do about void construction.
I have learned that humans first built water-based craft on their homeworld before transitioning to space travel. Under this view, they would have a notable advantage over us due to our Homeworld never being able to construct planetary naval vessels. I have heard the tales of how long it took pressurization to be solved. Centuries passed before the issue was even understood.
This is probably similar. The humans discovered a method using a knowledge that we never gained. Even the most uneducated human in space understands the basic concept of pressurization after all, while it's a mechanic that few Exatari can even consider. Even so, the hull and the armor just do not make sense. I simply cannot figure out how energetic impactors won't shred the ships as they are constructed.
Energy weapons should melt through the hull before the armor due to different specific heat capacities, but they don't. Kinetic impactors should rip the hull apart even through the armor plating via conducting stress to the hull superstructure, but they don't. Everything I know says that this is what should happen, but it's clear that it doesn't, so what am I missing?
I step back for a moment and reorient my thoughts. It is clear that moving in this direction is going to result in no progress being made. For this, I need a human to translate the designs into something understandable. As it stands, I am being weighed down by the sheer ineptitude of the designs more than anything else. Why do the plans need to include the cathedral that is added after the rest of the construction?
The nonsense additions that should not be in these plans are preventing me from seeing what is the true issue at hand. At the end of the day, everything follows the laws of reality to a greater or lesser extent. Imperial ships, based on calculations and observation, obey the laws to a higher extent than other imperial technology. Therefore, their schemas are correct and viable even as I am unable to read them.
In light of this, whom could I ask? The Magos is not an option since he would probably seek to undermine my work. Stiriam is useless for this, same for Nalka. Nameria might be viable, but I doubt her training involves the building or commanding of ships specifically. Akiona is obviously a non-starter, although it would be a chance to see if her impossible talents apply elsewhere.
"Sir, are you amenable to a meeting?" I blinked as the messge interrupted my consideration of whom to ask for assistance regarding my research. I had planed to ask for Harkar's presence, but this was strangely coincidental of timing. Although as a rule we considered such things to be mere luck or random happenstance, I do admit that there was a part of me that wonders if there might be more to this turn of events.
Regardless, she would probably be able to provide the answers I sought. "Commander Harkar, I am open for a meeting. Arrive at your leisure." I heard confirmation and returned to the truly horrendous blueprints. I might, if I was lucky, be able to figure out how they were built, but I was doubtful.
A few minutes later, I heard Harkar knock on my door and enter a moment later, "Sir, our naval infrastructure is in disrepair. With the lack of direct input your fortification plans needed from me, I've taken the time to examine and provide a comprehensive overview on how to bring our voidborne facilities up to satisfactory levels." I waited and she handed over a dataslate a moment later detailing her plans.
They were better than I had expected given her lack of naval experience. In fact, they were far outside the general expectations I had for her abilities in the field. Even so, what she provided missed certain aspects of what was actually needed for proper system fortifications in favor of an overly militarized formation. I would not allow the outposts to be left to starve in case of invasion, which was in fact noted.
Despite the flaws, they would be a good starting point. "Commander Harkar, your plans are a welcome addition and will provide a better overarching plan for system fortification. However, as it stands your aims are too military focused to be used directly." Harkar simply nodded as she took the critisim in the light I had intended.
"Sir, why do you have the schemas for a Sword-Class Frigate?" She asked as she noticed the document on my desk. am investigating naval construction in order to further my skills in the field." A truthful answer but also not the full answer. Regardless, she had provided the perfect in for me to gain her insight to the matter at hand. "Currently I am finding it difficult to parse the designs provided to me from the Adeptus Mechanicus." I grouse as I peer at another senseless design document.
With a soft grinding of metal on metal, Harkar took a seat as she pulled the blueprints away from me. "Are you trying to understand all of these together, Sir?" I frown for that seems to be a rhetorical question. Of course I am trying to understand the ship in its entirety. "Yes." There was no other answer possible to the question nor need to expand on it for her.
"Sir, you have the documents for all the major frigate and destroyer classes along with a handful of less common patterns. You can tell this by the thickness of the core power conduits and hull construction." I tilt my body to the side as I stare at her and the documents. I had assumed that the fifty blueprints were for the same ship, each detailing a different cross-sectional zone of it as that was how we managed such designs. But, looking at it from the perspective of one ship per blueprint did remove the majority of silly errors that were plaguing me.
Even so, there were still flaws in each individual design, and furthermore, how could anyone build a ship with such a basic blueprint? "I do not understand how this is a full design document then. It lacks the depth to build to specification the internals of the ship." I state as I peer into the design labeled as a Sword-Class Frigate, the title now something I could barely make out under various other notations. "Sir, these designs are holographic records with micron wiring that are meant to be projected and manipulated."
I slump to the ground as the sheer stupidity of my issue came to light. How did I not notice the internal wiring within the dataslates? Regardless, I quickly flash forged a device that could read the data and plugged it in and projected it. Oh, by the Witness, it's even worse now. The madness of the design was worse in three dimensions. Engineering faults everywhere, bad circuitry, poor insulation, and lack of protection from the conduction of energy were the least of the issues with the design. Harkar stared at the floating holographic image with what I think was awe for a human.
However, now that I saw the designs, they made a form of maddening sense. If I discard everything I know about reactionary events, then I could see some measure by which the designs would be viable. Hmm, perhaps it is not so much the systems that is the question to solve because we have technology roughly on par with Imperial designs. Our issue has always been that our ships are fragile compared to what would be expected.
This program, now that I had opened it revealed numerous testing profiles for things such as impact calculations and hull stress. Running the sword frigate through the various trials resulted in positive results across the spectrum, taking a risk I uploaded a design similar to that of our most recent naval vessel.
"Sir, that is the most bizarre and incomprehensible ship I have ever seen. Why in the Emperor's name does it have interlinking armor plates? Ship scale weapons will punch through such defenses without slowing. It's almost like its designed for ground combat rather than naval." Harkar interjected as she stared at the ship, with disgust and curiosity. It is odd that she mentioned that lattice armor to be a poor defensive measure, granted the plates individually are thin, but the interlocking forces should increase the relative defense value beyond what singular thick plates could achieve.
"Why is lattice plating unsuitable for naval construction?" I asked. Harkar frowned and her eyes glanced around before shrugging, "Sir, I can't explain why, it just is. A tech priest probably could say more, but it's beyond me. Sorry, sir." I let air out of my lungs as I accepted her obvious lack of understanding, but she and the program both were in agreement on lattice armor construction being a flawed design.
It could be that there is no compressive medium. On planetary surfaces, air would fill caps in the lattice, which would provide a nominally insignificant force buffer. Expand that assumption across the trillions of plates used in even a small section of one of our ships, and the effect becomes massive. I could begin to see the error we had made. Therefore, a solution would be to fill the lattice with a liquid or gaseous compound to emulate the rebounding forces of our ground vehicles.
Turning to the simulation, I carefully constructed a cross section of the armor lattice to the hull of one of our ships. The technology lacked the ability to represent the attuned meta alloys properly, but even so, the simulation would provide a proof of concept. The gaps within the lattice are clear to see on this scale, gaps from less than a few centimeters to ones large enough for humans to stand within fully spread out. Our ship designs are far less polished than I had thought it seems, which was fair for it had not been one of my priorities to master.
Simulating an extremely viscous metallic fluid was problematic but doable. I based the compound off of molten Exatari carapace, a somewhat disturbing choice, but fitting, for when melted, our carapace was extremely stable as a fluid, almost becoming a fluidic solid. Regardless, an emulation would suffice for real-world purposes, but now for the simulation.
As I added the fluid buffer into the gaps and rebuilt the lattice, I ran impact analysis, and in a few moments, I saw it had increased vessel durability significantly. The added buffer fluid under stress did its purpose, filling in open zones and enabling the force or heat to be dispersed over a larger amount of the lattice. In a single move, I had upgraded our armor from useless to viable. It would not be on par with the Imperial designs, but it would be enough to suffer at least several hits from peer weapons.
"An intriguing design. The lattice, if formatted properly, would be cheaper to produce, but the buffer solution would bring its cost to par with current designs. I'm not sure of the advantage this would have over current armor specs, though." Harkar muttered under her breath as she stared at the new armor design, even as I peered at it once more and considered the way that the force dispersal would work.
The armor section flickered and was replaced with a fractal design, where the lattice was now stacked into several repeating layers with buffer solution between and within each section. When I tested it, the values returned were near parity with the Imperium. I considered this a resounding success. It said much that all that was needed for our armor to be corrected was for a simple Imperial design program to be discovered.
On the other hand, I am doubtful that any other system would be so easily corrected, but perhaps with Harkar it would be more doable than expected since she seems to be familiar with this field.
Over the next month, I worked with Harkar on the matter of ship design. Millions of aspects were examined and explained to me by her, from the large systems and how they had to be managed to the small things such as how to design proper transit passageways through a vessel. It was more than enough to revolutionize our ships to be sure, but it was only the surface of what was possible it seems. Perhaps in time our ships could become peers to the Imperium's own.
Regardless of my successes here, that is a far off goal. I would be surprised if these discoveries lead to even near parity with our greatest ships to the Imperium's smallest overall. Our skill is just too low in this field to compare. Even if we used the exact same forces against each other, my people's plain lack of experience in void warfare would make the final result obvious.
