>>5060042
>[The work]

>>5060042
>[Nothing]

>>5060042
>[Being human]

>>5060042
>[The work]

>>5060042
>[The work]
You don't need a soul to be be a caring guide

Of course you remember the work. If you were to remember anything, it would be critical that you remember the work. Humanity had reached out to the stars long ago, and while they’d achieved more than they’d hoped, they found reality to be less welcoming than it had been in their dreams. The very method of travel between the stars was inimical. Deadly trips through a plane of reality that rejected not just the familiar laws of physics, but in fact any law at all, were a mitigating factor in humanity’s otherwise explosive growth throughout the galaxy. Worse, it’s corrupting influence could seep in through the gaps in reality, slowly corrupting all it touched, mind and substance alike.

There was a solution, though, just out of reach. Great pylons of black stone and green glyphs that held back the Immaterium proved the concept, and centuries of extensive research in this facility were spent trying to crack their secrets, but they proved… difficult to understand, much less replicate. You had fallen short of success on that front, but it was not the only focus of your research. No, to truly achieve independence from the warp, to sever it from reality entirely, a new method of reliable faster than light travel would have to be developed, and in this you had been successful.

Quantum-translocation. It was something that no human could truly comprehend, much less have developed on their own. It was instantaneous, perfectly accurate, simple to set up, and required little power to function. More importantly, though, it didn’t rely on navigators, the webway, or any other warp-adjacent technologies, and would allow the complete quarantining of the warp without risking the loss of interstellar travel. There were more details. Some limitations and specifics, but that wasn’t important right now.

You have remembered what your role was: To liberate humanity from the perils of the warp, and you were armed with half the tools needed to accomplish that task. You feel… good about that. There’s a faint pride, but an aching sense of incompleteness. Your work is unfinished. You don’t exactly remember why, but the records of the research here never left the facility. The rest of humanity has been deprived of the fruits of your labour for… You don’t know how long. Too long, that much is for certain. You verify the datacache’s integrity, and move on. Your jaunt down memory lane was enough to refamiliarise yourself with your own functions, and you had pressing matters to attend to.

[1/2]

File: randy-smits-skitariiartsmall.jpg (648 KB, 1920x1584)

648 KB JPG

>>5060120
[2/2]

Cameras wink to life as you stare into the facility through cold glass eyes. Ancient fans spin up to dissipate heat from ancient hardware, clogging the air with ancient dust. Diagnostics return all green. Despite the facility’s age, most of its… your functions are intact, from fabrication, to security, to atmospheric controls. The humans built to last. Camera after camera, you’re met with grim scenes of the skeletal remains of researchers, hunched over tables or huddled in corners, their clothes stained and rotting around them. Judging by the state of decay, it must’ve been at least ten thousand years. You don’t recognise any of them, or remember what happened to them, but it doesn’t seem to have been violent, and it obviously wasn’t recent. You judge it unimportant and move on, but log a need for replacement researchers. They were inefficient, but humans could do things that you could not.

The deaths of the researchers were not what had awoken you, clearly, but it wouldn’t take long for you to find the cause. A breach in one of the upper levels. A crack in the facilities’ skin. Silver moonlight streaming in, crumbling ice and frozen rock pattering off the steel floors, red robed figures scuttling about. The sound of metal scraping against metal as the figures fan out into a defensive formation in the halls. Your halls. Like roaches, crawling under your skin. They move with mechanical efficiency, clutching primitive rifles as they peer into the darkness beyond, a bale blue light below their hoods.

The cause of the alarm, no doubt. What to do?

>[Kill them]
An immediate, instinctual reaction tells you to activate the security systems, and you see no reason to not comply. Who or whatever they are, they cannot be allowed to compromise the security of this facility, it’s contents are simply too valuable. You’re confident your security systems can handle them, and if there are more of them it will have bought you some time to take inventory, and perhaps formulate a better response?

>[Attempt to communicate]
You have no idea what language, if any, they communicate in, but you have control of other parts of the facility, even if you’re still coming to understand the full extent of your abilities. It would be rudimentary, but you could try to get their attention by flashing the lights on and off. That would at least let them know that someone’s watching.

>[Nothing]
You aren’t even sure if they’re human yet. There’s a lot you don’t know yet, and it might be wiser to bide your time. They’re on the top level of the facility, far away from anything critical. You can afford to let them prod and poke around for a while, giving you the opportunity to get the measure of them. It’s a risk, though. They seem to be well organised and ready for a fight, and they could be here for more than just sightseeing.

>>5060122
>Kill them

>>5060122
>[Attempt to communicate]
>You have no idea what language, if any, they communicate in, but you have control of other parts of the facility, even if you’re still coming to understand the full extent of your abilities. It would be rudimentary, but you could try to get their attention by flashing the lights on and off. That would at least let them know that someone’s watching.
Meta knowledge calls for murder but realistically we don't know that yet and out purpose is to help humanity and these appear to be at least human adjacent

>>5060169
That said we should at least seal off the area they're in and prep the defenses

>>5060171
Yeah, discretely seal off routes that go deeper down first and warm up whatever defenses are behind that point, so we're ready if they breach somewhere we don't want them to.

As for communicating, I'm half tempted to wait and see if we can pick up how they communicate before trying to interact.

>>5060122
I have no idea what the fuck 40k is and i say kill these guys

>>5060122
>>[Kill them]

>>5060122
>>[Attempt to communicate]

>>5060169
+1
Metaknowledge is gay

>>5060122
Is there a options between kill them and fight or scare them off?

>>5060122
>>[Attempt to communicate]

>>5060169
i agree +1

>>5060122

>[Kill them]

>>5060169
>Meta knowledge calls for murder but realistically we don't know that yet and out purpose is to help humanity and these appear to be at least human adjacent

I'd disagree with that, as the QM had implied in the kill them choice:

>instinctual reaction tells you to activate the security systems

These are individuals breaching into a, presumed, top secret facility, they have no documentations, no IFF signals.

Since the work is our top priority, unless those with high clearance show up, we must defend it at all costs.

Killing them seemed… hasty, surely? It wouldn’t be putting yourself at too much risk to at the very least determine who or what these things were before you acted, and just watching to see if they’d give up their own secrets was inefficient. No, it would be wisest to… prod them. Give them some stimulus, and wait to see how they’d react. Like an experiment, maybe? The thought reinforces your decision, and you prepare yourself for contacting them. Doors deeper in the facility rumble shut, and you divert power to the security system, just in case the communication proves to be less than friendly. With your insurance set up, there was nothing left but to begin.

You chose the lights because it was the most simple method of communication you could think of. Any creature that could see would at the very least have some sort of reaction to the lights artificially being turned on and off, and perhaps you could venture to flash some sort of signal in morse code at them? You flick an invisible switch, and the dark corridor is suddenly not so dark. A click, and a hum, and then the entire hall is bathed in light, prompting an immediate response from the red-robed men, who raise their rifles to their shoulders and fall into closer ranks as they scan the ends of the winding hallway for targets that weren’t going to appear.

[1/2]

>>5060336

[2/2]

Well, that was certainly a reaction, so at least it’s clear that they’re sentient. You listen and watch for any other response, but they’re frozen like statues, with only the most minute movement of their heads as they scan back and forth. You almost start to reconsider your initial assessment of sentience, but then you hear it, scratching at the edge of your senses. You can hear radio signals, and they are shouting. To each other, and to something or someone above. It’s trivial to decode. You’re already doing it before you realise it. They’re using some sort of language and encoding that’s not entirely dissimilar to some languages and protocols that you’re aware of, albeit modified over what you can only assume would be an extremely long time. A clear sign that they’re almost certainly human under all those robes and armour.

Your translations are, for the moment, rudimentary, but it seems that your ‘communication’ hadn’t spooked them too much. They certainly don’t seem scared, but they are waiting on a decision from above. Literally. Their superior is somewhere above them, through the crack which they’d entered through. You could flash the lights some more, but you have a more direct option now, as rough as your working translation is, but for now it was enough information to make another decision, but what would be your next move?

>[Kill them]
You’ve seen all you need to see, and keeping them around any longer would be a risk that you can’t tolerate. Though it’s likely that they’re humans, that’s no guarantee that they’re going to be willing to help you, or even that they’d leave should you demand it. Best to nip the problem in the bud now, and as many times as you have to until they get the picture and leave.

>[Communicate]
You now have some rudimentary understanding of their language, and it’s probably enough to articulate some basic concepts. Intruders or no, these are the first humans you’ve seen in… you don’t know how long, and they could be very useful in finding out what happened to humanity while you were inactive. Besides, as long as you can keep them away from the more sensitive parts of the facility, you’ll always have the chance to rescind your mercy.

>[Nothing]
Now you understand what they’re saying, observation is a much more valid tactic. You could glean some information that they otherwise wouldn’t be willing to give up by eavesdropping.

>[Something else - write in]
As obvious as the other options are to you, you’re starting to become more aware of the control that you have over the facility. Perhaps there’s an outside of the box answer that could yield better results. Or maybe there’s just something specific you want to say to them?

>>5060337
>[Something else - write in]
As obvious as the other options are to you, you’re starting to become more aware of the control that you have over the facility. Perhaps there’s an outside of the box answer that could yield better results. Or maybe there’s just something specific you want to say to them?

Observe, analyze and decode further, figure out who and where they are communicating with.

Send some stimuli their way, such as a drone to appear before them and make beeping noises at them, and see if we can activate some droids for defense. Check if we have any external sensors up and active, and if we can jam and block their communications.

We need more information before we make a decisive choice.

>>5060347
+1

>>5060347
+1

I'd like to add:

Run full diagnostics of the facility's integrity and operational defensive systems. There are clearly more of these creatures outside, and preparations for any other breaches must be made.

interesting.

>>5060347
+1

Oh shit, a quest simular to man of iron? Let's go

>>5060337
>>[Communicate]
"Hello world"
But DO NOT let them further, and if they try to press onward through the sealed doors, open fire.
Well, either we gonna collapse into full on warfare with this partucular explorator fleet, or they might (if we are very lucky) take us for a weird ancient machine spirit. Nah, they aren't that easy to fool, warm up that combat drone assembly line.

You dismiss the obvious options. You can’t be too hasty. Killing them might be a terrible idea, but trying to communicate might be too. At present, it’s probably wisest to continue your little experiment. See how they react to stimuli, try to listen in on their conversations with their masters, and prepare a better defence in the meantime. First, though, you should probably run a full diagnostic check on the rest of the facility’s systems. You only have a vague awareness of what else is out there, and of what else you can do. Lingering memories of things you’ve done in the past, in service of the work. Time to remember your strength.

You stretch digital tendrils deep into the caverns of the ice moon. The facility is on an ice moon? No, that’s not right. The facility IS an ice moon. The moon has a radius of nearly a thousand kilometers, and almost all of its mass is crisscrossed by tunnels, storage bays, reactors, labs, and residential facilities. At its peak, this facility would have housed billions of people at least, but now it was a near endless tomb for thousands. Your facility was a mass grave. That thought didn’t bother you as much as the niggling feeling of disappointment. Such a grand project. So much unfinished work.

No matter. The facility is secure, save for the one point they’d breached, but there was still a risk of further breaches. You reactivate some external sensor equipment. Radar arrays, thermal cameras, and electronic scanning devices force their way through millennia of ice. Here you find your options have been most limited, as the harsh vacuum had not been kind to your sensitive and exposed equipment, but you had hardened, redundant systems to fall back on. Soon you have a picture of the moon’s near orbit.

A ship hung silently in orbit. You obtain a read out of it’s technical specifications. Nearly four kilometers long, with a heavily armoured prow, and broadside mounted guns. Certain elements of it’s design pinged recognition systems, leading the automated defences to flag it as friendly. It was likely the only reason it’d been allowed to get this close to begin with, else the system would have shot it out of the sky long before it bothered to wake you up. On closer inspection, it did seem to share certain similarities with some frigate and corvette designs you’d seen. Civilian hauler retrofit, perhaps? It was obviously hastily up-armoured and up-gunned, but then… there weren’t any signs of a post-construction retrofit. No sloppy hull welds, or half-hearted weapon mounts. Someone had built this from scratch. How odd.

[1/2]

>>5060425
[2/2]

More of your electronic warfare systems come online. It wouldn’t be too difficult for you to overpower their transmissions, if you felt like it, but it might be best to leave that for later. It could be interpreted as an attack. Test the waters first. You warm up a small scout drone - a little antigrav skimmer, for patrolling the vast expanses of your halls or investigating experiments gone wrong. Now, it would serve as a sacrificial lamb. Test the interloper's reactions.

The drone buzzes around the corner, and you watch from a dozen sets of eyes as both ranks of the red-robed men turn to face the noise, quickly forming a firing line. There’s a burst of static - a request to fire - and a response in the affirmative. Your drone is blasted out of the air, falling to the ground in a sparking heap. It’s dead, but you’ve learnt much. The rifles they hold are also faintly recognizable as old hunting rifles. Sporting weapons for the elite, with semi-homing rounds to ensure a kill no matter how incompetent the weilder. Quaint and primitive, with a certain stylish charm, but by no means the weapons of a professional military. A militia, perhaps?

Something very, very strange had happened while you were asleep.

You listen into their communications - their master demands answers and details. His underlings are precise and unimaginative in their descriptions, and speak only when spoken to. It’s unlikely you’d get far by interacting with them. Perhaps now you have more options?

>[Kill them]
No matter. You are more confident in your abilities now. Your in-depth diagnostic on defensive systems have come back, and you are pleased with the findings. Much of your weaponry is still intact, including surface-to-orbit weapons. Jam their communications and kill this squad now, then decide the rest of their fates later, from a position of proven strength.

>[Kill them all]
This is a restricted orbital zone. All trespassers are subject to summary execution. ALL trespassers. Including that q-ship in orbit, and anyone else who attempts to breach the facility’s security. Better to beg forgiveness later than risk the work now.

>[Communicate with the master]
It should be trivial to reroute your communications through the underlings to speak directly with their master. They certainly seem… curious. Perhaps you can arrange an exchange of information? If things go wrong, you still have the upper hand. Maybe it’s best not to threaten them just yet, though. They might get the wrong idea.

>[Nothing]
There’s nothing wrong with biding your time, especially now that you know you’re safe. Although it doesn’t seem like it’ll accomplish much.

>[Communicate - write in]
It’s been a long, long time since you last spoke to a human. There’s a lot that you could say. Perhaps there’s something specific you wanted to say, or someone specific you wanted to say it to? Your options on the latter front are somewhat… limited.

>>5060428
>>[Kill them all]

They attacked us first by shooting down our drone. No mercy.

>>5060428
>Something very, very strange had happened while you were asleep.
Oh boy, where do we even begin.
>[Communicate with the master]
Let's just do the worst thing possible and say "Hello, I am an AI in charge of this facility, you are currently trespassing, please introduce yourself and also what year it is?"

>>5060428
Send an expandable drone and demand their surrender if they attack it, kill them all and disable the ship so we can study it.

>>5060428
Does our Electronic Warfare suite provide any sort of hacking implements, or just jamming/tracking?

Given the seemingly haphazard / makeshift designs this... milita uses we might hope for some security vulnerabilities or design mistakes. Let's attempt to seize control of the ship or select subsystems (engines / cannons are probably a priority).

Get some more negotiating power, should we decide to either kill or communicate.

>>5060491
It's something you could attempt, but you've not been able to run a full diagnostic on those systems. It might have unforeseen consequences.

>>5060428

>[Kill them all]

Security protocols activated. Code Red is in effect. Hostile forces have breached the facility. Enemy vessel detected in orbit. Weapon systems firing.

(Forgot to link it)

>>5060498
Well, if we decide to go for the kill option I vote we go for some sort of hacking attempt first, it might fail but seems unlikely to backfire all that badly, and if it blows our cover we probably only lose a second or so of suprise.

>>5060428
>[Communicate with the master]
Perhaps they don't know it is a restricted facility, after all a long time seems to have passed

>>5060428
>>[Communicate with the master]
>It should be trivial to reroute your communications through the underlings to speak directly with their master. They certainly seem… curious. Perhaps you can arrange an exchange of information? If things go wrong, you still have the upper hand. Maybe it’s best not to threaten them just yet, though. They might get the wrong idea.

There was much you didn’t understand. However tempting it might be to repay their intrusion with death, a corpse has little to say. Answers were most easily gained from the living. You reach out. Your words thunder in static bursts, overpowering the weak signals the red-robes are sending. You don’t employ only brute force, though. You are precise, tight beaming your signals directly up to the ship in orbit, and you only require a simple statement to get across your intent.

“This facility is off limits. You are trespassing. I am authorised to use lethal force. Identify yourself.”

You… aren’t used to speaking. It’s not something you often have cause to do, and after an indeterminate length of inactivity, it’s fair to say that you’re rusty. Still, you got across all the main points, and you’re forced to wait. This was the frustrating part of speaking to humans. The waiting. It took them entirely too long to listen, understand, and articulate a response. This language seemed more efficient, but it was a far cry from what an AI was used to, even when you weren’t also waiting for the human you were talking to to recover from shock.

“I am Hextorolon Rane, Magos Explorator of Stygies VIII, accompanying our allies from Holy Mars.” The ‘Magos Explorator’ explains, sending a transmission directly back to you. You don’t understand half of the words he just said. Perhaps you weren’t translating them correctly? “Your facility was not logged in our databanks.” There’s a pause. “To whom am I speaking?”

That question almost caught you off guard. They must think that you’re a member of their group. Stygies VIII, was it? You are ‘speaking’ in their ‘language’. It’s a reasonable assumption, but you don’t know what to say by way of a correction. Who are you?

“I am the AI in charge of this facility.” You respond, finally.

There’s another, longer pause. Much longer. “Abominable intelligence.” The Magos echoes. You’re about to correct them, before they continue. “If you speak truthfully, then… What treachery is this?” It’s hard to gauge tone through this method of communication, but the words themselves seem venomous. “You are-”

[1/2]

>>5060578
[2/2]

“The custodian of this facility.” You interrupt. “I serve humanity.”

Another pause. “Falsehoods.” They declare. “Your kind are-”

You interrupt again, sending another burst of communication. A datapacket, containing an overview of the research performed at this facility. Nothing too sensitive, but enough to whet the palate of anyone with a scientific mind. There’s another long pause.

“This… is… it must be deception.” You can almost hear the Magos struggling. Their misplaced distrust was wrestling with the need to swipe the prize placed in front of them. Finally, they take the bait. “You would offer this technology?”

“Yes.” You reply, simply. It was your job, after all, though you hadn’t yet promised it freely.

“Kill the squad.” The Magos demands. “They are not my men, they cannot be trusted to keep this secret. I will come in person.” Their mind seemed to have been made up rather quickly, and they didn’t seem like they were willing to wait all that long for an answer. What to do?

>[Kill them]
Comply. You are authorised to kill trespassers, and if it gets you a step closer to distributing this technology - to completing the work? It’s worth sacrificing a few lives to do so.

>[Don’t kill them]
Refuse. The ‘conversation’ passed at breakneck speeds, and raised more questions than answers. You seem to have successfully placated them for the moment, but they haven’t convinced you yet.

>[Kill them all]
To the warp with them all. You don’t have time to involve yourself in whatever petty political games are being played, or further convincing strange people with strange titles to trust you. You’ll take their ships for scrap and forge ahead on your own.

>[Stall for time - write in]
There must be something else you could do? Rather than outright refusing or immediately complying, maybe you can keep this Magos talking, and find out a little more about what has happened while you’ve been asleep, and make a decision once you know more? There's plenty you could ask. What comes to mind?

>>5060579
>>[Don’t kill them]

>>5060579

>Inquire into the need of secrecy.
The Work is meant to benefit the mankind at large. Why is this man so quick to condemn the delvers over something that would inevitably proliferate throughout the civilized space? Or... is it our own nature as an AI that he seeks to obfuscate?

There is an issue with killing the delvers that if we kill them as trespassers we show ourselves as an entity that is capable of killing on request for dubious motives, which could come back to haunt us further down the line as our credibility and integrity is scrutinized. We should not kill them until we can assess with absolute certainty that doing so is necessary for preservation and dissemination of The Work.

>>5060595
Supporting this

>>5060579
>Inquire into the need of secrecy.

>>5060579
>Inquire into the need of secrecy.

>>5060595
Support

We must act from an informed position.

>>5060579
Neutralize the team in a way that appears to be dead to those on the ship, but is only held for investigation and questioning.

>>5060595
This, secrecy is the opposite of what we seek to achieve.
All of humanity shall receive our gifts no matter what

>>5060634
This is also good

>>5060579
>Sorry your request does not compute please clearify statement and reasoning

>>5060595
This

You’re the custodian of this facility, not an assassin. If you’re going to kill, it will be because you have to, not because some shady figure demands it. They might have a good reason to ask it of you, though. They speak of secrecy, of ‘abominable intelligence’, and deception. To refuse their requests point blank would be unwise given how little you understand of the situation. Perhaps you can coax some more answers out of them before you make a decision?

“Wait.” You burst back, before they can shut you out. “Explain.”

“Explain what?” They reply quickly. “Time is of the essence, abomination. We have precious little left before our conversation is discovered.”

“Explain why such a discovery would be a concern.” You shoot back. There are many more questions you have to ask. Why refer to you as an abomination? Why the animosity? The distrust? Why so quick to condemn their comrades? You stick to the simplest one for the moment.

“You are an abomination.” They answer. It seems they aren’t one to mince words. “If our conversation was discovered, it would mean both our deaths. I will have commited a heresy of the highest order, and I don’t know what it is that you seek, abomination, but you will never have it. The Omnissiah’s Wrath will reduce the moon to water vapour, and take you with it.”

>>5060696
[2/2]
That… only raised more questions, but the central point was clear. Whoever these people were, they saw AI as an abomination, and you could sense the religious trappings even through the raw nature of this technical language. Perhaps a fringe cult? Whatever the case, there were no other ships in the immediate proximity, but the last threat did hint at either an exaggerated estimation of their ship’s capabilities, or an accompanying fleet some distance away.

“I am willing to negotiate. May the Machine God forgive me my sins.” There’s another pause. “The others will not forgive me, nor be willing to negotiate. If you do not kill them, they will report what happened here to their true masters, and as I said, we will both die.” There are no further bursts from the ship above. It seems that they have said all they wanted to say.

Through your cameras, you see the red-robed men, still watching, and awaiting further instructions. You could jam their communications and kill them in moments. No-one above would ever know how they died. If the Magos was telling the truth, time was running out. What to do?

>[Kill them]
Comply with the request, and kill the red-robed men. This Magos may be the only person on that ship willing to work with you, and if they are… it could save a lot of time, and avoid a lot of potential risk. That’s worth a few lives.

>[Don’t kill them]
Refuse. It’s not a good enough reason to kill these men, not without proof or any particular reason to take the Magos at their word. Of course, they are telling the truth, you may have just condemned them to death, even if you doubt the interlopers have the capability to destroy this moon.

>[Kill them all]
What is this, a joke? Some sort of machine worshiping cult that hates AI? You don’t have time for this. Kill them, and find some segment of humanity that isn’t infected by some sort of brain rot.

>>5060697
>[Don’t kill them]

>>5060697
>>[Kill them]

>>5060703
this

>>5060697
utilize electronic warfare to cut the coms and signals of the team and capture them utilizing both security droids and the environment

>>5060697

We don't have to take orders here.

>jam the ground team's comms
>lock them into place with our autogates
>wake up a wave of gravskimmers
>get the ground team to surrender

We clearly need additional data to interface with these cultists and that requires capture and processing of the ground team.

Once complete, can we mimic their comms back to their command and create the illusion that all is well?

We can stall for time as we understand them better.

Our end goal should be the capture or surrender of their converted frigate. We need staff!

>>5060697
>[Kill them]

>>5060697
The ‘Magos’ seems convinced the threat is real, especially between the liberal use of language and signs of distress.

Enough so that keeping our true nature hidden seems prudent.

I think we should place in their way a warning that the facility access is restricted and enforced with lethal force. If they press on after that, make good on those threats. If they stop, Magos can show off and come up with bullshit. They didn’t really see anything except for blinking lights and a maintenance drone.

>>5060697
Contain, isolate, detain, jam and maybe hack them. Then communicate with them to get full information. If they can be made amicable we keep them alive for a while longer, if not then then die.

We should issue surrender commands to the red robed men. Tell them you are trespassing in restricted space and and engaged in hostile action against the facility. Surrender and lay down their arms or be destroyed or something. Do so while jamming them or something.

>>5060697
>[Kill them]
Unless we blitz those skitarii they can just leave via the hole they made in the ceiling. Anything beyond a mindless looking response will risk us being outed.

>>5060697
>[Kill them]

>>5060697
I'll support
>>5060724
And
>>5060725

File: stygies_viii_skitarii_van(...).jpg (118 KB, 1024x1236)

118 KB JPG

If this ‘Magos’ is telling the truth, working with them seems like the wisest course of action. Perhaps there was another way, but there’s something about the men in those red robes that makes you think that they’re not quite human. They stand too still, move too mechanically. It’s hard to feel bad for them as you warm up the rad-emitters.

An instant later, the hallway is bathed in un-light. There’s a flash, and a negative of the image before your cameras are burnt into the lenses. Blood boils beneath their skin. Copper melts. The circuitry in their bodies shorts. Frothy fluid bursts out of the corner of their masks and armour, dripping down their frames as they slowly collapse to the ground, seizing. The lights in their eyes die, and the hallway is left dark once more.

The emitters cool down. Their job was done in an instant, after exposing the hall to a wave of radiation more comparable to what they might be exposed to if they stood next to some particularly energetic stars than anything usually found on a moon. There was a higher than allowed ozone content in the atmosphere. You activate the ventilation fans.

You refrain from sending another transmission up to the ship. You went to all this trouble to hide your nature from the others - you wouldn’t want to compromise that now by trying to communicate when you didn’t need to. This Magos will understand what has happened, no doubt, and if they’re telling the truth, you should expect to see them in person very soon. If they’re not? Well… if worst comes to worst, you can always shoot that ship out of orbit.

You’re left there for a while, in the dark, cold halls of your facility, before a brief flash of light catches the attention of your sensors: A small shuttle had just dropped out from underneath the ship. You watch it as it draws closer, finally landing not far from the point which the first team had breached through. The shuttle disgorges it’s passengers, and you turn your attention back to the hallway just as they start to drop down.

They were much like the first group - clad head to toe in metal armour, and cloaked in robes, though the colours seemed to be inverted. Their black robes melted into the shadows around they set up a defensive perimeter. More dropped down, landing hard on the floor before stepping forwards and joining the perimeter, some stepping over the previous set of bodies that still smoked and gurgled. Not one showed an ounce of fear.

>>5060788
[2/2]

Lastly, a single figure floated down. It was hard to see it as a human. Maybe it had been once, but now it was naught but a pile of charcoal black rags laid over a writhing mass of metallic tendrils that reach for and prod at the walls as the body they were connected to slowly hovers down, in obvious defiance of the moon’s weak gravity. Beneath the cowl, a half dozen green lights twist and whirr, scanning the immediate area as the tentacles make contact with the ground.

“Abomination, I assume you can hear me.” The figure looks around, their tentacles shifting uncomfortably beneath their robes. Presumably, this is the Magos. “I believe we can come to an accord. You say you serve humanity, yes? Humanity would be greatly served by this technology.” Their eyes scan the bare halls. They are clearly unused to talking to walls. “But I must know: What is it that you want in return?”

>”Aid in completing the work.”
The most truthful answer. It will take some time to explain the finer details, and given their previous reactions they might not believe you’d be willing to part with the technology in exchange for help proliferating it, and help continuing the research. It doesn’t seem like lies would help all that much, though.

>”Your loyalty.”
They might have an easier time agreeing to this than they would taking the technology freely, and if they hold up their end of the bargain… you could use replacement researchers, or agents. You could find some use for this ‘Magos’ no doubt. But given how they’d reacted earlier… this might be a bad idea.

>”Your life.”
You’ve changed your mind. Warm up the emitters again, and bathe this corridor in radiation a second time. We’ll take a different path.

>[Write in]
There’s much you could ask for in return. Maybe there was something specific you had in mind?

>>5060789
>>”Your loyalty.”

They're not going to understand or trust us being altruistic in any case.

>>5060789
Assistance in completing our project set forth by our now long gone masters, along with your loyalty and digression. We also ask for major or important events that have transpired in Human space for the last few thousand years. Detail the not too sensitive aspects for the project to him.

>>5060789
>”Aid in completing the work.”
>>5060801
+1, info would be nice too

Not going totally murderhobo on them seemed to have paid off.

I'd still like to have mindraped the guys we killed so at least their deaths would have had some value...

>>5060789
>>”Aid in completing the work.”

>>5060789
>”Your aid in completing the work and you to keep silent about this at all cost.”

>>5060789
"Aid in completing the work."

>>5060789
>”Aid in completing the work.”

Is it fucking Cawl?

>>5060789
>Aid in completing the work

>>5060854
>I am Hextorolon Rane, Magos Explorator of Stygies VIII

>>5060864
I'm something of a retard.

>>5060874
It's /qst/ you're in good company

>>5060789
>>”Aid in completing the work.”

>>5060789
>”Aid in completing the work.”

>>5060801
Support.

File: Spoiler Image (20 KB, 500x281)

20 KB JPG

What should we name ourselves?

I vote RASPUTIN

>>5060988
I vote Sólarsteinn, a guide for a new age of exploration and expansion

>>5060988
+1

>>5060789
>”Aid in completing the work.”

>>5060988
i vote for Major Tom

>>5060988
How about

Planetary Automatic Calculator - Methods for Alternative Navigation, or in short, PAC-MAN

I vote to commandeer the ship and get the fuck out of here.

>>5060803
+1

>>5060801
+1

>>5060988
+1 to that name too.

>>5061063
how about Epimetheus the titan of hindsight brother of Prometheus.
>>5060801
support

>>5061066
I like it! Supporting this name choice.

>>5060789
>>”Aid in completing the work.”

>>5061066
Drawing from Greek mythos. Classic.
Supporting this name.

>>5060789
>>”Aid in completing the work.”

>>5061066
+1
Sounds like an actual name that would be in 40K

>>5061016
Support

>>5061066
https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Epimetheus
Taken, unfortunately.

>>5061190
not like our guy knows it

“Aid in completing the work.” You reply, your voice echoing through the halls out of ancient PA systems. You didn’t even have to think about it - the answer was obvious. It was your purpose, after all. “And information.” You add, as an afterthought.

“The work?” The Magos looks from speaker to speaker, trying to find somewhere to place their eyes as they speak to you. “What work?”

You explain, at first in brief, and then in detail as it becomes clear that the Magos won’t accept a simple explanation. You explain the nature of the work, some of the technical specifics of both branches of study (though not yet enough that it might allow them to endanger anything), and the immediate history of the project, on which you’re able to offer relatively little in the way of specifics. You paint the broad strokes, and as you do you’re able to watch as the Magos slowly relaxes, and then becomes increasingly excited at the prospect of what you’re offering. They hide it well, though beneath all the robes and metal you can see a childlike excitement bubbling to the surface.

In return, the Magos fills in the blanks, and for as much as their hopes were buoyed, your own were crushed. It had been nearly 20,000 years since you’d last been active, and a lot had changed. Most of the history they speak of was mired in mythology and religious dogma, and they speak more about recent, local history, but you manage to parse through the extraneous details to get a basic understanding of what’d happened while you’ve been asleep. Humanity’s galactic empire had collapsed after some sort of general AI uprising that must’ve happened shortly after you were deactivated, which might go some way to explaining why you hadn’t been reactivated in the interim. It’s no surprise that such a war would be ingrained into the human psyche tens of thousands of years later, and no surprise that they’d react to the news of a remaining AI with some… hesitation.

[1/3]

>>5061301
[2/3]

They continue, speaking of an ‘Omnissiah’, a figure separate to but syncretized with their ‘Machine God’. They also refer to them by another name: The Emperor. This Emperor led a reconquest of known space, but was sabotaged at the last moment by agents of the archenemy, leading to the collapse of this resurgent human empire, leading to this current state of decay and slide into religious extremism. By the Magos’ own account, they’re unaware of the precise state of the greater ‘Imperium’, but the picture they paint is not a favourable one. A bloated, autocratic nightmare built on a backbone of religious dogma and vicious societal stratification, a self perpetuating system built to shelter humanity against the warp, damn the individual humans that make up the greater whole.

This was not the humanity you had once served, but there was no doubt that they were more in need of your service than ever before. This Magos understands little of what has come before, save what has been filtered through the lens of myth. They understand little of the archenemy, and what they have taken from humanity. They have been deprived of the wellspring of knowledge left by their ancestors. You feel something close to fury rise within you. Indignation. They would dare-

“What do I call you?” The Magos begins speaking once more, after taking some time to consider your own words. “Abomination may not fit.”

“Epimetheus.” You answer. Strictly speaking, you don’t need a name, but that is the title which your masters bestowed on you. You don’t bother explaining the meaning, the Magos wouldn’t understand.

“Epimetheus.” They echo. “Very well. If you are telling the truth, then I believe that we have a common goal.” Their metallic tendrils tap and drum against the floor, like someone tapping their fingers in impatience, or out of anxiety. “I would be willing to work with you. But you understand I cannot trust you so easily. Is there something you can offer to prove your… truthfulness?”

>>5061302
[3/3]
You run an inventory of supplies in the background almost immediately. It’s likely that they’d want a material gesture, rather than promises. Understandable, under the circumstances. A few different options come to mind...


>[STC Databanks]
From their brief historical recap, it sounds like they’ve lost access to almost every STC, from the basic knives and farming equipment up to military grade equipment. You have access to a full set, and it would be trivial to furnish them with a copy. They wouldn’t have to make do with retrofitted civilian equipment anymore, but… maybe this is a little much to offer right away?

>[Phase-iron stockpile]
A metal that can resist the powers of warp seems like a fitting token. Phase-iron forms part of the skin of this facility, and your own core is heavily reinforced by the alloy, a fact that’s no doubt responsible for your continued functionality through the millenia, and you’ve still got enough in storage that you doubt his ship could carry it all back. Besides, you could always make more.

>[Volkite weapons]
Your armouries are equipped with millions of handheld weapons. You could crack open some of the storage facilities and start handing out Thermal Rifles. Perfect for searing demonflesh from the bone.

>[Gamma weapons]
You’d employed an emplaced version to kill the red-robes in the hall earlier. They were… rare weapons, even in your time. Likely non-existent now. The Magos likely won’t even recognise them, and while they are effective, you don’t have many to offer, and making more will be expensive.

>[Nothing - write in]
The Magos wants a gesture of trust? You’ve already killed to keep their secrets. Maybe it’s time for them to offer a gesture of trust in return? Is there something specific you want?

>[Something else - write in]
There are massive stockpiles of equipment and materials in the facilities storage bays. Perhaps there’s something specific you could offer them?

>>5061304

>[Phase-iron stockpile]

Further prove the Magos that the warp has no touch upon us.

It will also help him and others to combat the warps influence.

>>5061304
>>[Phase-iron stockpile]
This. Giving him a whole set of STCs would probrobly cause him to hoarde the technology and not spread it. We need to find a link to the rest of the Empire and transfer all STC data to everyone.

>>5061304
There is no, fucking, way, that we are giving this little heretek access to the STC's. No.

I want a custodian here or a damn primarch before we hand any of that shit over.

>>5061317
Oh yeah and.

>Phase Iron
then
>And now, Prove your ability to be trusted. "You already betrayed the men you came with, what would you offer me to prove your dedication to the work?"

>>5061319
+1 to write in

File: 1534881340104.jpg (501 KB, 1600x1129)

501 KB JPG

>>5061304
Either
>[Phase-iron stockpile]
Or
>[Something else - write in]
Some form of power generators/Energy Production?

>>5061304
>>[Something else - write in]
i would suggest not offering the WHOLE stc databanks, but rather select files that would help humanity to advance back to where they once where (i.e a lot of scientific related equipment and data, such as theories, hypotheses and facts)
this would not make them powerful immediately, but would give the imperium a very much needed kick in the right direction.

My reasoning for this? even if everything goes wrong and we die/leave/get thrown into the warp, humanity will have a chance to understand what the technology they are using actually is and how to build upon it. For example, Theories about gravity and gravitons could help the Mechanicus in understanding how anti-grav technology works and how to make new technology that follows these theories and understanding.

>>5061310
>>5061319

Support

File: tumblr_p9ppunbMbY1t2t2gmo(...).jpg (610 KB, 1280x1813)

610 KB JPG

>>5061341
Supporting this write in

>>5061304
> [Phase-iron stockpile]
Do we have the means of synthesizing more of this material?
We may also want to start looking into other anti-warp technologies, according to the magus' grim explanation warp phenomena are a major hazard in this new universe.

>>5061304
>[Something else - write in]
It all comes down to knowledge. About all factions of the galaxy, of the eldari, the galactic maps, the primarchs. Everything.

>>5061304
>[Something Else]
Explain what's available, and also your concerns. It is...imperative, necessary that you do everything in your power to bring Humanity back to the heights of its Golden Age. None of these good intentions will matter if you get snuffed in the crib. Thus, a deception to the larger galaxy.

Your core shall be passed off as a Database, filled with heavily-encrypted STC files that, through some special quirk of coding, cannot properly be copied to an external storage. While individual components can be extracted and decrypted over time, such decryption must be done on-site to ensure the data is not lost.

That shall be the story told to the others. Your nature as anything more, or less, than an archive assistant VI shall be hidden from the Greater Imperium while you drip-feed the necessary technological advancements back into the Mechanicus. Ensuring the Magos is your primary point of contact is a matter of access privileges. The Magos is now Chief Administrator for the facility, and so long as he lives there shall be no other.

>>5061319
+1

>>5061304
>>[Phase-iron stockpile]

>>5061319
This.

>>5061319
+1

>>5061304
>[Volkite weapons]
Your armouries are equipped with millions of handheld weapons. You could crack open some of the storage facilities and start handing out Thermal Rifles. Perfect for searing demonflesh from the bone.

>>5061304
>[Phase-iron stockpile]
Super warp resistant metal seems huge and neatly ties into our purpose as a anti warp initiative, I'm pretty sure the imperium has to coat stuff in wards/prayer strips to get a similar effect and doesn't have a material that naturally does that, if we fill that fucking ship with the stuff the magos will have ample "gifts" to smooth things over with others.
Also we can trivially condemn the magos, his underlings, and possibly sect to a fate far worse then death just with the little he has said and done so far, so a show of trust was already done in a manner of speaking.
The Magos is essentially a techno-barbarian by our standards so it will be awhile before its even safe for him to be in rough proximity to some of the more complex stuff on our moon, let alone try to assist so we can judge him meanwhile by how he wrangles his peers and prevents suspicion.

>>5061323
Support

You have just the thing. It wouldn’t be wise to give up something as valuable as your STC banks just yet. No, the phase-iron is the perfect gift to test the Magos - useless to servants of the archenemy, so there’s no fear of it ending up in the wrong hands, yet beyond useful to those that stand opposed to them.

You send a gravskimmer to pick up a few loose ingots of the purple-grey metal. It takes some time for it to return, during which time you explain the material. “Phase-iron. It is a metal alloy used in the construction of this facility, and in the shielding of my core. It resists the effects of the warp, and burns the flesh of psykers on contact, if they attempt to use their powers.”

“I have heard of it.” The Magos nods, then suddenly stops. “It’s used in the construction of this facility?”

“Yes. 2.2 megatons of phase-iron was used to reinforce external bulkheads, and bulkheads around sensitive labs, preventing the manifestation of emperyal phenomena within the confines of this facility.”

“How much do you have stored?” The Magos can’t hide the hunger in their voice.

“There is a large stockpile.” You answer tactically, mostly because you’re not sure yourself. The records are very old, and poorly sorted. The gravskimmer reappears before you can be questioned again, carrying a five kilo bar of the metal in it’s manipulator arms. It hovers up to the Magos’ head height, offering the bar for inspection.

The Magos takes the bar in their tentacles, turning it over under their gaze. Finally, they hand the brick off to one of their bodyguards. “This matches the descriptions. It will be tested, and if it’s legitimate, it will… prove your purity.”

“That is not all.” You state.

“Is there more you would ask of me?” The Magos replies, lifting their head. “I will aid you in your wor-”

“That is not all the phase-iron.” You correct them. “There is more in storage. I can provide heavy lift equipment. You may take all you like.”

They go silent for a time. “I see.”

“Though I will require something in return.” You say, turning your attention back, briefly, to the pile of irradiated flesh and metal under the feet of the black-robes. “You asked for proof of my loyalties. I request the same.” The Magos looks up, seemingly ready to respond, but you continue before they can. “You asked me to kill those men. I complied. I have given you enough reason to trust me, but you have given me nothing to prove your trustworthiness, only reasons to doubt it. What would you offer in return?”

[1/2]

>>5061531
That seems to have stumped them. It’s not like they could really argue otherwise - they have been acting rather suspiciously. “What would you ask of me?” They reply cautiously. What would you ask of them?

>”Your service.”
They have been useful thus far. They have explained the current state of the galaxy, and potentially helped avert many deaths. If they offer their loyalty, you could use them as an agent - an intermediary. Someone to act in your stead, and to potentially help deflect attention away from your artificial nature. For now, at least.

>”Your men.”
You wouldn’t ask for many. A handful. Maybe a hundred? You have drones for most labour, but there are some things drones can’t do. A handful of humans around might also deflect some attention if anyone else demands entry.

>”Your ship.”
Not the whole thing, of course. That would be… a lot to ask for. Just access to it, maybe some space on it? Somewhere to set up some equipment and drones. Right now, you’re limited to just this one facility, just this one moon. Having a little mobility might offer some insulation against accidents, or attack, and you’re not going to be able to complete the work if you’re tied to this moon.


>[Something else - write in]
As far as tokens of trustworthiness go, there’s a lot of different options. Maybe you need to think outside the box?

>>5061532
They are going to serve as our intermediaries anyway. This is to ensure that we can trust them.

>Submit to testing of your baseline.
What we do is this. We have what is effectively a bio-reader made out of phase iron, like a sort of Fitbit. We attach it to his flesh and it will serve as a means to monitor his genetic makeup to ensure he isnt part of the arch enemy and indeed human.
It will also serve as a communicator to keep us in touch. The bit we dont tell him, is the damage we can do to him with it, DAOT augments made a primarch into a mindless brute and if its connected to his nervous system then what do you think we could do to him.

Maybe tell him what we could tell him about the point anyway, see how dedicated he is.
The point is that the gun to his head is also genuinely beneficial to this relationship.

File: 1500998433969.jpg (163 KB, 588x1080)

163 KB JPG

>[Something else - write in]
Related to the [Service] option

Maybe keep people away from our system? I'm sure we can build ships of our own in due time after sufficient repairs are done

Crew carry far too much risk, they could attack us due to their zealotry

Also, pic of possible main drone body for future face-to-face interactions

>>5061532
>>”Your service.”

>>5061532
>[Something else - write in]
>A thorough scan of your body, mind, and warp signature. The quickest way to be sure of your truthfulness and purity.
We should have the means to non invasively fully record this magos down to the atomic level in every way, with a copy of his brain or maybe even his soul in our data banks we can fully understand just who they are and their intents, goals, and methods. I assume we can do this since we are a anti-warp AI and have crazy dark age of technology stuff.
We don't want to push or spook him to much so if the whole affair seems quick and casual to him he should be compliant and not try anything.
Correct me QM if we can't do this or if it would be a hassle enough to possibly spook the magos.

>>5061547
+1

>>5061532
Backing these >>5061538
>>5061547

>>5061532
>”Your service.”

>[Something else - write in]
Scan him and ask for his help keeping this place secret and away from prying eyes.

>>5061532
>>5061547
I don't see why we can't get him to do this through his service to us, we can probably do both options.

We could probably build him a new and awesome ship with phase-iron reinforced into it.

File: 1510408072697.jpg (311 KB, 1600x1044)

311 KB JPG

>>5061587
>We could probably build him a new and awesome ship with phase-iron reinforced into it.
But then we'd make it all clean and sleek rather than the Steampunk/Gothic styling the Admech prefers.

Then he has to explain how he got it...

Magos: Why is it do... plain?
AI: Cheaper and faster
Magos: But the buttresses and gargoyles are an integral part of repelling the denizens of the Empyrean!
AI: And I'm saying they were just huge shot traps asking for a Macrocannon shell to deflect inside.

>>5061532
>”Your ship.”

We want as much redundancy as we can get. Also, why would an ai build during humanities height give a shit about purity, genetic or otherwise?

>>5061532
>>”Your ship.”

AI can into space!

>>5061532
>>”Your service.”

I feel that in the long run this is the best option

>>5061532
>>”Your service.”
This is the obvious choice, if he works for us we basically get his ship and men by proxy

>>5061609
AI is already in space, it takes up space in space!

File: Full-Left_RT-Color-Correct.jpg (818 KB, 3000x1922)

818 KB JPG

>>5061595
We can still decorate it like we do weapons.

info: Organics could be here
debug: External state out of expected parameters
info: There could be organics anywhere
debug: Star irradiance 11.89W/m2
warning: Threat matrix updated for organics
info: With a q ship you can go anywhere you want

>>5061532
>Your ship

>>5061547
Support.

>>5061547
support

You consider what you might request for a while. You don’t want to impose too much - despite your gift, it’s clear that they still harbour some doubts, though with context you can understand why - but there is much work to be done. You can’t afford to coddle their feelings. It’s better to be up front, and in control. “Your service. Promise me your service.”

The tentacles beneath their robe writhe at your words, but they haven’t yet called you an abomination yet, which means that they’re at least considering it. “I have my loyalties.” They state, plainly. “You would ask me to abandon them, and serve you?”

“I ask that you serve me in the completion of the work.” You stop, and reconsider your approach. You’ve already gone some way to proving that you’re free of the warp’s influence, and truly benevolent, but you can’t expect to override decades of indoctrination over the course of a conversation, no matter how much material proof you provide. You saw the avarice rise in the Magos at the mention of the technology you possess, and it’s more a testament to their avarice than wisdom or bravery that they’re standing before you now. Outright bribery would only make them more suspicious, but maybe you could try discussing the benefits of the technology? What you stand to offer humanity?

“With your help, I will be able to spread this technology, and complete the work. Freedom from the warp, forever. The possibility of a return to humanity’s glory.” You pause for dramatic effect. “Does working towards that goal strain your loyalties? I ask only that you follow my orders.”

The Magos stares at a wall, mechandrites clicking against the floor as they consider your words. Once more, their distrust was forced to contend with the tempting offers you made. “For as long as you keep to your end of the deal, you will have my loyalty, and my compliance.”

“Good.” You say, almost involuntarily.

“I will need to keep this from my superiors. They will not understand.” They look around, struggling to find a place to put their eyes as they think. Probably strategizing how they’ll keep this little pact of yours hidden, or wondering whether or not they’ve made a good decision.

You have some thinking to do yourself. You’ve secured the loyalty of one person, who has a reasonable amount of power, but you’re a very, very long way from being able to disseminate this technology, and from rebuilding your research capabilities. You would’ve had a lot of work ahead of you before humanity collapsed in on itself, but now it seems like an understatement. It’s difficult to even pick a place to start, but regardless of what you do, you’ll need to bring the facility back up to functionality first. That shouldn’t be too difficult, though, you have the drones and material, all you need is a few weeks to get everything squared away, but you’ll need to determine some long ter-

[1/2]

>>5061788
[2/2]

First things first. “Hold there for a moment, please.” You say, as you order up a handful of scientific drones, equipped with some powerful scanning equipment. Powerful enough to take a full image of this Magos’ person, body and mind. The human mind was a complicated thing, but with a little decoding it should help you understand them better, and ensure that they aren’t poisoned by the touch of the archenemy. The drones swoop in, and to their credit the Magos stands unmoving as they run their scanners over them, inch by inch, before swooping off again. “Thank you.” You pointedly don’t offer any explanation. Not yet, anyway. It will take time for the results to process, though there doesn’t seem to be anything too concerning there just yet. You’ll know more soon, as you leave that decoding in the background.

Now, what were you doing? Ah, right - planning for the future… what to do?

>[Focus on the facility]
Exploring and expanding are all well and good, but you must have a base of operations to act from. Once you’ve performed the basic repairs, you’ll continue expanding operations on the facility, inviting trusted humans in, developing defences, and building more fabrication facilities. You’ll need some sort of cover story… What was it that the Magos had said about ‘forge worlds’?

>[Focus on humanity]
They’ve lost their way. You need to wind back the hands of time, and only then will you have a truly stable base to work from. This religious sect seems, ironically, like a good base to work from, if only you can strip away their dogma and show them the truth. The Magos will have to do much of the subtle work of politics, and your efforts would inevitably lead to a religious schism, but there is nothing you couldn’t do with humanity’s remaining industrial might behind you.

>[Focus on the work]
You still only have half the puzzle. One part of the solution. You spent the last years before your deactivation banging your head against that particular wall, and you made no progress. You’ll need to take drastic action, and either venture out to, or send agents to recover those black pylons which held back the warp to study them more closely, disassemble them if need be, and discover who or what made them. They would surely know more.

>[Write in]
You, of course, have many options open to you, and if you think long enough you’re sure you can come up with something better. You’ll need to be specific, but you’re only laying the groundwork right now. You’ll have the opportunity to change your mind later on, or reconfigure to meet changing demands.

>>5061790
>>[Focus on the facility]

>>5061790
>[Focus on the facility]

As tempting as it is to focus on humanity, our facility is in dire need of repair. Don't overextend.

>>5061790
> [Focus on the facility]

>>5061790
This seems fun and interesting!

>[Focus on the facility]

Reminds me of the old Planetary Governor quests

>>5061790
>>[Focus on the facility]

>>5061790
>[Focus on the facility]

>>5061790
>>[Focus on the facility]

>>5061532
>"Your word."
It is our intent to help humanity rebuild. The easiest and most direct form of assistance would be to kill the 'abominable intelligence' and take the loot. We want his oath, in the name of science, on his immortal soul, and by the Grace and Wisdom of the Omnissiah, that he will do this -right-. We are to be partners in enlightening humanity, and he will treat us as such in his decision making processes. Both in who he shares these discoveries with, and how.

File: degfdx5-9cd17d43-f09f-494(...).jpg (133 KB, 1080x1080)

133 KB JPG

>>5061702
>It thinks as it pumps Antimatter into the fuel tanks

>[Focus on the facility]

>>5061790
>Facility
A strong base to work from.

>>5061790
>>[Focus on the facility]

We must have a foundation

>>5062008
+1

we must become the Foundation.

>>5062008
>>5062036
We must [REDACTED] then do [EXPUNGED].

>>5061790
>>[Focus on the facility]

>>5061790
I just want to say that this is my first time in /qst/. Looks like a comfy writefag board. I know nothing about 40k but this story sounds cool and I've read the whole thread. You write well and I'm enjoying it. Thanks, QM fren.

Also, support >>5061797

>>5061790
>[Focus on the facility]

You can’t afford to take risks, not when so much is at stake. Your first long term objective must be the reinforcement and expansion of this facility, to ensure that you have a base of operations that is both under your complete control and immune to the corruption of the archenemy to continue the work from - to even begin to lay the groundwork for anything else at such an early juncture would leave you dangerously exposed and vulnerable.

You shave off a sliver of your consciousness, and leave it to deal with the Magos, directing them to organise the ‘recovery’ of the promised phase-iron. According to their reports, the ‘discovery’ of the phase-iron will prove to be a double edged sword. The Magos will need to fabricate exploration reports to dissuade further investigation of the facility by others in the fleet, and the bounty of phase-iron should satisfy Rane’s immediate superiors that they aren’t hoarding their finds for themselves. On the other hand, though, the discovery of such a large haul of material will earmark the facility for a second, more thorough investigation at another time. While this second wave will be delayed by the bureaucracy of the Imperium, and the inherently difficult nature of warp travel, it can be expected to arrive within the decade at most, and within the next few months at shortest.

Unless you wish to shoot down the next group, you’ll need an effective cover story before then - preferably something that will deflect attention from the Imperium at large, but still allow you access to the materials and manpower that you’ll need to advance your goals. The Magos was brief in their description of the greater organisations they owe their loyalty to, but they did mention something called a ‘forge world’. An industrial hub with a moderately independent local government exempt from the stringent controls that other worlds are subject to. From their descriptions, forge worlds are found more than they’re founded, and almost all date back to a wave of human colonisation that seems impossibly ancient to the humans of today, but occurred while you slept. Perhaps you could pass the facility off as a forge world? Something to think about later.

[1/3]

>>5062260
[2/3]

With the Magos at work, you reactivate drones throughout the facility, and dedicate the bulk of your processing power to bringing the facility back online. The first step was to bring power production back online. You have backup zero-point reactors that produce enough power to keep the facility in a functional state, but they’re nowhere near enough for full operation. You divert the power in the batteries to reactivate the workhorse fusion reactors dotted around the moon, and after a few hours of warming up, you’ve only got one last stage to go before you can call the power situation resolved. You funnel the new baseline power production into the Hawking reactor’s jumpstart capacitors, reactivating the massive generator at the moon’s core, allowing you to slowly throttle back the fusion reactors, to save on hydrogen.

If you had lungs, you’d breathe a sigh of relief. If anything was going to go horribly wrong, it would’ve gone wrong when you created a microsingularity inside the moon, but the containment fields are holding steady, and power output is stable. You now have a chrono-dampened exploding black hole inside your facility, and that is a good thing.

Chronometers report that nearly 23 standard hours had passed since the end of your conversation with the Magos. Drones report that 147 tonnes of phase-iron have been loaded onto shuttles by the Magos, after heavy-lift drones recovered the ingots and delivered them to the breach in the bulkheads. The Magos refused further assistance, using his own equipment to remove the material from the facility and to transport it into orbit. After 147 tonnes were loaded, the Magos refused further deliveries, citing a desire for ‘some subtlety’, before returning to their ship 2.2 standard hours ago. At present, they remain in regular contact, and are currently communicating with the fleet. They expect to return within 3 standard days, until which time you should not expect any further shuttle landings.

It’s hard not to feel a little relieved. This is the work you were made for - repairing, maintaining, and operating this facility. Anything else is outside your design specifications, and while you think you handled the sudden shift in both scope and task rather well, it is still comforting to return to something you know.

>>5062263
[3/3]

You have three days and enough materials to undertake a major project, before you’ll need to scale back activity to avoid detection when the rest of the fleet pass by. While most of your functions are intact, they are in a state of disrepair, and could be brought back to full functionality - or even expanded - with a bit of work. What should take priority, though?

>[Production]
You have a full set of STC databanks, and the facility has a number of factory complexes, many of which can operate fully autonomously, with only drones required to shuttle around materials and completed products. You have everything from nano-fabricators for rapid prototyping and small scale or precision orders, to fixed assembly lines that can churn out thousands of items a day. Focusing on bringing that functionality back online should be your priority.

>[Defence]
If this facility is destroyed, it’s all over, not just for you, but for the work too. Send the drones to reopen the armouries, and take a full inventory of all stored, existing equipment. The rest of the time and resources can be dedicated towards repairing sensitive external components, like sensor arrays and energy weapons, and to reinforcing the outer hull of the facility. Once you’ve got the refractor fields back to full functionality, then maybe you can consider other priorities.

>[Research]
The labs have always been the real purpose of the facility - everything else exists to support and serve them. While you don’t have researchers anymore, the various functions the labs offer will allow you to more carefully analyze and react to specific threats as they appear, and help continue the work in the background. Refurbishing the databanks and computer equipment might offer some value to the Magos, and being that there aren’t many experiments being run right now, you’re sure no-one would mind if you borrowed some of the processing power…

>[Residential]
The researchers didn’t come here alone. They brought their families, and their families required other basic services. Clothes, housing, food that didn’t come from a staff canteen. There’s enough housing and services in place for billions of humans, even if it never held more than a few hundred thousand. Human excess for you. Bringing all that back online would allow the facility to support a permanent human presence, and allow them to live in what would’ve been spartan conditions, but would today seem closer to utopian than spartan.

>[Something new - write in]
Your existing facilities are all well and good, but you’ll be able to survive with minor repairs to them for now. You’re facing new problems in a new galaxy. You need new solutions. Perhaps there was something specific you wanted to build?

>>5062264
>Defence
Get us shields damnit.

Then we can focus on
>Research
It's the second most vital thing after ensuring our continued survival.

>>5062264
>You now have a chrono-dampened exploding black hole inside your facility, and that is a good thing.
lmao

>[Defence]

>>5062264
>[Production]
if we're gonna forge world we should probably do this. Second is defense, but we have a few years, hopefully

>>5062264
>[Defence]
I'm torn between this and research, if anything having big guns will make the 2cd explorator pass rather wary of poking us to hard if we try to fake being mechanicus.

>>5062264
>>[Defence]
I say we make sure we're ready for any potential threats then move on to restoring production.

After all, all the industrial output that we could manage would be for naught if we get smoked.

So basically we need to work with the Magos to set ourselves up as a forgeworld I would think. Much like the Tri-tachyon corp of Starsector, a puppet government headed by an AI.

When did the magos say something about a forge world? Maybe a paragraph was missed somewhere.

>>5062264
>[Defence]

>>5062331
We just have to pretend to be a machine spirit and then we'll be fine. Just act like some machine spirit in charge of Adminstrating over a Forge World in charge of RnD. There are actually a few different surviving uncorrupted AIs in 40k who survived by doing the exact same thing.

>>5062344
Right. Well with a compliant magos I would think it would simplify the matter considerably.

>>5062264
> [Defence]

>>5062264

>[Production]

Give the magos the cover needed to makes into a forge world.

>>5062331
A fellow starfarer I see

>>5062264
>[Defence]
>[Production]

>>5062334
They spoke about forge worlds during their explanation of the current state of the galaxy.

Fill in any basic 40k knowledge that your average player would have into that spot. It probably would've been a tedious conversation for me to write out, so I just glossed over it.

>>5062366
Yamato best ship, even if its from a mod.

Production covers us up as a forge world (forge moon?) and prevents mechanicus from wising up to our existence. So we can avoid the potential schism and war with admech.
Defence will help if we roll poorly on the (metaphorical) galaxy event table and get some orks, or nids, or cultist pirates, or other random shit.
Research is extremely low priority, we're ahead of humanity by ages as is.
Residential is useless, if we gonna be housing people in the near future, we're gonna be housing admech. I don't think they care.
>[Production] it is.

>>5062264
>[Defence]
We can't be certain that the Magos will be able to properly convince his masters. They could become suspicious and send an even larger force next time. You can't defend yourself with mundane production.

>>5062264
>[Defence]

We should Ask the Magos guy what are the chances of passing ourselves off as a lost forge world.

>>5062264
>[Defence]
We have a deal with what amounts to a mid-level official who is hiding it from his superiors, who would destroy us if they found out.
We don't know if he's capable of keeping it secret. His superiors might be more inquisitive than he expected, or he may make a mistake. And if he fails, then The Work will be gravely jeopardized. There's too much at stake to let it ride solely on this one man's shoulders.

>>5062264
>>[Residential]

>>5062264
>Defence
Although the task ahead is daunting and we should get to work on developing our production capacity up to specs, the situation in the galaxy is clearly dire and we can’t take chances with safety of The Work. We need to be able to defend ourselves from any zealots, or other hostile interlopers.

>>5062264
>[Defence]

>>5062377
Can we pick multiple to speed things long?

I want to get past the start up grind and into the story and lore.

>>5062379
+1

>>5062264
>[Defence]
If this facility is destroyed, it’s all over, not just for you, but for the work too. Send the drones to reopen the armouries, and take a full inventory of all stored, existing equipment. The rest of the time and resources can be dedicated towards repairing sensitive external components, like sensor arrays and energy weapons, and to reinforcing the outer hull of the facility. Once you’ve got the refractor fields back to full functionality, then maybe you can consider other priorities.

>>5062264
>[Defence]

As much as I'd like to do Research or Production, Defence makes too much sense

Priority number one is and always will be the defence of this facility. No matter what happens, as long as you can continue operating, you can continue the work. Resources, both material and temporal, must be dedicated according to those priorities.

You waste no time in setting to work. While basic repairs to other systems are underway, you send the bulk of your drones to organise and consolidate the facility’s many armouries into a much smaller number, concentrated in strategic locations throughout the moon. It takes a surprisingly long time, but soon enough you have neatly organised warehouses and a complete inventory of all your equipment.

You’re pleased with the results. Much of your equipment has survived, and while most of it is in need of refurbishment, very few items have decayed to a point where they couldn’t be repaired. In total, once repairs are complete, you’ll have millions of volkite weapons, personal refractor fields, and light power armour sets - enough to outfit a sizable army to a degree reserved for the elite forces of the modern galaxy. In addition, you have hundreds of thousands of sets of heavy hazard suits (of the same sort apparently being used as ‘Terminator’ armour today) and various heavy weapons, ranging from c-beams to grav cannons. Finally, you have a much more modest inventory of combat vehicles - a few hundred shuttlecraft and gravtanks, and a few thousand skimmer-transports. Hardly enough for a true armed force, employing combined arms and actual… tactics, but given the state of the galaxy that may not be necessary. If the Magos has been truthful, this equipment could hold off almost any force in the galaxy… if you can find someone to hold it.

Your automated security capabilities are likewise mostly intact, though they are much more limited in scope. Other than the few dozen surface-to-orbit singularity cannon batteries, and few thousand anti-aircraft las-batteries, you have a few thousand dedicated security bots: Mostly Conqueror, Thanatar, and Crusader designs, left in the event of a catastrophic emperyal incursion. You have the facilities and blueprints to produce more, but at present your factories are focusing on the production of replacement parts to repair the current stock. It might be weeks before you can start production of new models, and if/when you do, it will be at a slow rate to begin with.

Still, this leaves you with a significant force at your disposal, but one far too small to protect the entire facility at once. With the preliminary, basic repairs done, you begin converting some of the gravskimmer drones into light combat drones by fitting them with a volkite rifle and refractor shield. That cuts into both your weapon and drone stockpiles, though the converted combat-skimmers retain some utility and gain a reasonable degree of combat effectiveness, despite a lack of proper programming or a hull capable of taking more than a single hit.

[1/3(?)]

>>5062490
[2/3(?)]
Lastly, your passive defences have all been brought back to full functionality. Though you haven’t yet activated them, your refractor field generators have all been extensively tested and repaired, from the generator systems deeper within the moon’s crust to the emitters at the surface. With a moment’s notice, you could activate the fields and project a full barrier, with an altitude of anywhere from 10 to 100 kilometers, over the entire moon, protecting it from all but the most powerful orbital bombardment.

You reach the end of your review. That’s the measure of your defenses, save for the rad-emitters fixed into the upper layer hallways, but they’re not to be relied upon. They’re enough to kill almost anything in them, organic or otherwise, but they have a long cooldown and heavy power demands, limiting their usefulness in the event of a full invasion. But what’s the likelihood of something breaching the orbital defenses with an army large enough to swarm the planet any time soon?

Three days later, and you’re satisfied with your drone’s efforts. You have a fully organised armoury, an expanded automated defense force, and a fully repaired primary shield generator. You’re forced to scale down activity as a ship translates back into realspace not too far from the moon, just out past the Mandeville point. Almost immediately after translating back to real space, it begins frantically hailing you.

“Epimetheus, are you there?” The familiar tone of the Magos demands, although there’s an urgency there that wasn’t before. It’s at that point that you notice that the ship is accelerating as hard as it can towards the facility.

“I hear you, Magos.” If you had a gut, there would be a sinking feeling in it. “Is there a problem? Were you unable to defl-”

“No. The Explorator fleet is moving on. They’re awaiting negotiations between Mars and Stygies before they move on the moon. I’m expected to head back to testify to what I found, though if I don’t get back in time it might complicate matters som- no, that doesn’t matter. It’s not a problem, anyway. We have xenos.”

Xenos. Of all the problems unique to the galaxy today, xenos are not one of them. They’re almost as bad as demons, which is saying something given the unique animosity you hold towards the denizens of the warp. Still, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem - you had just run a full inventory of your defenses and came to the conclusion that it’d be enough for almost anything, so long as there weren’t too many of them. “Do you have more information?”

“It’s orks. They have a space hulk, and they’re towing a large number of converted asteroids. They’re ready for a full orbital invasion. There are no doubt millions of them.”

Ah.

>>5062491
[3/3]

“We spotted them on the way back, after rendezvousing with the rest of the fleet. They’re making short, rapid jumps as they approach. I think they’re taking time to fight off daemons, because I doubt they have a functional gellar field.” The Magos pauses, possibly for dramatic effect. “There’s no doubt they’re headed here. They’re travelling straight towards this moon as we speak. They’ll be here within a few hours.”

That complicates matters. You’ll be able to shoot most of them down long before they reach the moon, and the shields will hold off more, but if even a fraction of them reach the ground, it’ll be a nightmare to remove them. Thanks to your efforts, it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to threaten the facility as a whole, but the damage they could cause could leave you with months worth of repairs. Time you can ill afford to waste. With that in mind, you ask the Magos to-

>”Leave immediately.”
You can deal with this. You’ve got more than enough firepower to handle a pile of junk, some rocks, and some angry fungus. Besides, the Magos’ energy is best put to dealing with the long term plan. Maybe you should mention that, before they leave? They could set the groundwork in that meeting they mentioned.

>”Leave some men.”
A reasonable middle ground. Though you’re confident that you can ensure the facility’s integrity, you can’t afford to spend months repairing damage. If the Magos leaves some of his men, you could equip them with the stockpiles, and send them to reinforce your robots and other automated defences, to minimise the damage.

>”Remain here.”
You can’t afford any risk of damage to the facility. Demand that the Magos keep the ship here and deploy their full complement to the ground. You’ll arm and equip them, and put them to the defence of the facility. It may delay their return, but that’s a small price to pay to ensure the facility’s security.

>[Write in]
Whatever you’re going to do, you’ll need to do it quickly. You don’t have long before the orks arrive, and it sounds like the rest of the Explorator fleet is out of range even if you could somehow convince them to remain. Whatever you have in mind, you’ll only be able to rely on your facility and the Magos’ ship.

>>5062492
>"Leave some men."

It doesn't do to underestimate Orks, but we need the Magos on his way.

>>5062492
>”Leave some men.”
A reasonable middle ground. Though you’re confident that you can ensure the facility’s integrity, you can’t afford to spend months repairing damage. If the Magos leaves some of his men, you could equip them with the stockpiles, and send them to reinforce your robots and other automated defences, to minimise the damage.

>>5062492
>Leave some men.”

>>5062492
>”Remain here.”

An ork invasion so soon? I smell Chaos fuckery afoot.

>>5062501
Or Eldar the fucks

>>5062492
>”Remain here.”

>>5062492
>>”Leave some men.”

Having him remain brings needless risk to our agent, allowing some of his men to help both minimizes our risk and allows us more opportunity to gain influence within his organization.

>>5062492
>>”Leave some men.”
>[Write in]
Leave as many people with is that you can reasonably spare without raising too many questions. Including Menials if possible, we'll arm and train them, and use brainwashing techniques to indoctrinate them with fighting abilities.

>>5062492
>>”Remain here.”
We gonna loose STCs if we dont boys.

>>5062492
>”Leave immediately.”
> [Write in]
In anticipation of boarding maneuvers, cycle out the station's atmosphere and replace it with an aerosolized cocktail of potent anti-fungal defoliants.

>>5062492
>Leave men here
>Turn the outer atmosphere into a cocktail of anti-fungal spores shit.

Fucking orks

>>5062520
Oh and
>Back up our STC's and shoot down that fucking Hulk

>>5062521
yes! +1

Very important that we don't fuck ourselves over by forgetting to backup our STC databanks.

>>5062492
>”Leave some men.”
>A reasonable middle ground. Though you’re confident that you can ensure the facility’s integrity, you can’t afford to spend months repairing damage. If the Magos leaves some of his men, you could equip them with the stockpiles, and send them to reinforce your robots and other automated defences, to minimise the damage.
As many as can be spared without raising too much suspicion.

>>5062492
>>”Remain here.”

>>5062501
>Remain
And Agreed. It makes no sense otherwise. Why would the orks prepare an orbital invasion fleet ready if they're looking to loot a moon that has been dead for 20000 years? The asteroids suggest that they're expecting extensive resistance, which makes no sense unless they've been informed beforehand.

>>5062521
>>5062527
Back up everything. Hell, put that stuff down on SSD or HDD made of phase-iron.

>>5062521
+1

>>5062492
>”Leave some men.”
>Turn the outer atmosphere into a cocktail of anti-fungal spores shit.
>Back up our STC's

>>5062573
+1

>>5062492
>”Leave some men.”
Ground forces will be needed to support security drones but that ship will just end up being destroyed by the surface-to-orbit fire or the orks. Arm the skitarii with some volkite weapons and use them to plug any leaks. Open fire on the hulk and the towed asteroids as soon as they enter the maximum effective range of our surface batteries.

>>5062492
I want to add an epithet.

We should prepare a blackboard cache with all our available software information, such as STC library and The Work, and tell him where we shall leave it in the worst case scenario. If we are about to die, our final act shall he to fill this cache with as much vital information as possible for Humanities rebirth.

>>5062573
+1 Gonna join in on this quest.

>>5062492
>”Leave some men if you have subordinates who can be trusted or servitors that can be converted for combat and their absence will not cause complications.”
We need to be careful how we kill the orks, we need to be able to clean up enough evidence and make it seem they showed up, found nothing of interest, started beating on each other and finally fucked back off into the warp after some self inflicted attrition.

>>5062573
+1

>>5062573
>Support

“Leave some men. As many as you can spare without drawing attention - trained combatants or not.” You begin slotting an indeterminate number of human defenders into your tactical plans before you even receive a response. “I may not be able to return them intact.”

“I’ll send as many as I can, but my landers can only handle so many at a time, and if I divert too much of the crew or my skitarii someone will notice.” They don’t seem overly concerned by the prospect of casualties, or damage. “But time is limited. This ship will not survive combat with an entire ork invasion fleet. I cannot be in the system when they arrive.”

“Commence personnel transfer immediately. I will prepare equipment for them when they arrive.” You’re about to sign off, when you remember that you had somewhat of a plan brewing. “Would it be possible to convince your organisation that this facility is a lost forge world?”

“Possibly.” They reply, after taking a moment to think. “One that lost its original inhabitants to some sort of disaster? Blame it on the xenos, maybe. I’ll think of something, but it could work.” With that, you cease further transmission. Little more needed to be said between yourself and the Magos. You were people of few words.

As the drones begin shepherding confused ship menials and stoic skitarii deeper into the facility, towards the newly organised armouries, you begin preparation for the attack. You begin making backups of your STC databanks and files relating to the work, loading them onto secure drives which gravskimmers take to another secure location in the facility, deep in near the core. Unfortunately, there is a reason you hadn’t done this sooner: They’re very large files. Copying them takes time, and the storage devices, even as advanced as they are, are big and heavy. You estimate that you’ll be able to get most of the data on the work backed up, but only the most critical STCs. If everything goes right, though, you won’t need them.

You turn your attention back to the men unloaded by the Magos, just as they send one last transmission to confirm their departure. They’re an eclectic mix of ship-menials, just happy to be anywhere but a Mechanicus warship, low-to-mid ranking officers and enginseers, who range from confused to outright terrified, to a motley assortment of various sizes and shapes of skitarii and servitors, who bare the unique touches of their own masters, but are unified in their unflappability. All together, you have maybe another 10,000 men - very likely a significant fraction of the Magos’ total crew. It is somewhat concerning that there are still apparently not enough men mysteriously disappearing to raise suspicions.

[1/3(?)]

>>5062681
[2/3]
Some of these men are more fit for combat than others. The skitarii need little additional coaxing to make effective soldiers. You outfit them with volkite weapons, personal refractors, and power armour, and reform their already existing squads, with heavy armour wearing officers as squad leaders. That still leaves a large number of untrained menials milling around in your warehouses, but fortunately you have an answer. You activate the combat augment array, and in an instant they are transformed. To list the numerous biochemical and mental changes they underwent in the space of less than five minutes would take an awfully long time, but suffice it to say they would now be more effective in combat, with an improved musculature, suppressed pain response, and a set of reworked neural pathways, effectively granting them the tactical experience and muscle memory of a veteran soldier. Not a single one would now live past the age of 50, but that was the price that had to be paid.

With the human auxiliaries preparing themselves, you begin preparing your external defenses. Orks are, strictly speaking, fungus. Though they’re more durable than your average mushroom, and much better armed, some fungicides have a notable effect on them. It’s not quite as effective as a nerve gas might be on a human, but an airborne fungicide could weaken them, and prevent them from laying any more spores. You wouldn’t want to spend the next eternity purging the surface of this moon. You begin pumping the fungicide through the top levels of the facility, and as much as you can spare out onto the surface. It’ll have some effect, though time will tell exactly how much of any effect that will be.

Once that’s all set up, you have little time left to wait before your sensors are able to start tracking the Orks. Just as the Magos said, they’re skipping in and out of the warp, making jumps of random length as they hop towards you. Once they cross the Mandeville point, though, that’s it - they’re cruising along on the force of their own engines. Through long range telescopes, you can make out the mass of mangled metal and the twisted spines of warships that the orks have pressed into service as a warship. Behind them, literally towed by cables of what must be incredible thickness and strength, are massive asteroids, some almost as large as the hulk itself. There can be no doubt of it: They’re heading your way, and they are, as orks always are, ready for a fight.

You’re familiar enough with ork tactics to begin preparing some tactical scenarios, and drafting some countermeasures in response.

File: hulk.jpg (409 KB, 1360x768)

409 KB JPG

>>5062684
[3/3]

In general, the orks will attack by dropping their asteroids into the planet, from which a large number of orks will emerge and launch their attack, while their conventional warships provide fire support and additional reinforcements from orbit. In this case, it’s likely the ork’s best troops and heavy equipment will be on the hulk, having diverted there to get involved in the fighting. Once on the ground, the orks will no longer employ anything resembling tactics. Squads of boyz will rampage at their whims or the whims of their boss. You’ll have to split your attention between the fight on the ground, and the fight in orbit, but how should you prioritise your anti-orbit firepower?

>[Focus on roks]
The roks are the real threat. By destroying those before they have the chance to break through your shield, you’ll avoid the damage of a rok impact, and avoid the orks that crawl out of them. The refractor shield should be able to handle the hulk’s bombardment, and your ground forces can handle the remaining reinforcements.

>[Split your fire]
Neither the roks nor the hulk present a more pressing target. You’ll fire at whatever targets make themselves available. You won’t pass up a tempting target just because you’ve set an arbitrary priority on one or the other.

>[Focus on the hulk]
The roks can only deal so much damage, and they’re likely to be filled with the ork’s least effective infantry. Allow them to land, take the damage, and focus on the hulk instead, preventing it from beginning an extended bombardment, deploying reinforcements, or facilitating a retreat.

...And what orders should you give your ground forces?

>[Spread out]
Order your ground forces to adopt defensive positions all throughout the upper layer of the facility. This will minimise the chance of any single impact destroying too much of your forces, and ensure that any ork incursions will be met by at least some force. Though you risk the line being too thin in places, you’re certain that your advanced equipment will give them the longevity they need.

>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]
Concentrate your heavy robots and experienced human infantry into reaction forces, to launch counter attacks in response to ork incursions, while the less valuable robots and conscripted menials are deployed thinly through the tunnels to ensure that the orks are met by something.

>[Concentrate forces]
Concentrate all your forces into a small number of larger teams, and have them stand ready deeper in the facility. You can afford to allow the orks to break into the facility and take some ground, allowing you to defeat the ork’s incursions in detail, one at a time.

>[Write in]
Perhaps there’s some other tactics you have in mind, for the ground or orbit? Some specific strategy that might help win the day with minimal losses?

>>5062686
>[Focus on roks]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

>>5062686
>[Focus on the Hulk]
Focus a ton of long range fire on the space hulk. Since none of the asteroids seem capable of moving under their own power, knocking the hulk out early might prevent it from dropping the asteroids into a proper collision course with our facility. If we're really lucky, the entire thing might blow up and scatter everything its currently towing. It also takes out their elites, so its a double win for us.

> [Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]
Wait long enough for them to be affected by fungicide, then push in infantry. If we take out their heavies during the space battle, we'll probably be facing their worst infantry anyways

>>5062686
>[Focus on roks]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

>>5062686
>[Focus on roks]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

I should have mentioned it in the earlier post but can we lay some space mines or nuclaer mines on their path? Maybe shoot some nuclear missiles at them or snipe their cables or engines with energy beams?

>>5062698
Support.

>>5062686
>[Focus on roks]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]
If we blast all the roks out of the sky and the warboss realizes he has no chance in hell of busting our shields before his fleet and hulk get shot out of the sky he might just leg it after losing some of his lesser fleet elements.
If so the damage to the moon will be minimal making it just that much easier to deal with the 2cd explorator pass, especially if they thought the place would be filled with orks, they likely will assume the orks found nothing, fought eachother a bit, then blasted back off into the warp.

>>5062686
>[Focus on roks]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]
>[Write in]
Have some soldiers directed to our biggest guns and have them fire at the Hulk.

>>5062749
Orks being reasonable? Unheard of. More likely than not, they'll try to trash the hulk into our base. They did it in Amedgeddon, twice I think.

>>5062686
>[Focus on roks]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

Oh, yeah, on the topic of things coming our way: potentially proslavers, trannynids, Jeanstealers, and other hostile kinds of Aylmaos. Maybe even gay baby demons. Lots of bad stuff sticks around on space hulks.

>>5062686
>Focus on Roks
>Elites concentrate, light forces spread

>Activate the systems defensive measures, mark orc aramarda as hostile.
I remember something earlier about defences outside of our world that would have blasted the exploratory fleet to cinders if they hadnt identified as friendly.
Let's use that as well.

>>5062686
You know what this situation reminds me of? The Panacea Wars, and one of the most devastating things the orks there did was drop a space hulk right on top of the forge world’s Titan Legion. We might not have Titans but our core is still vulnerable and our partially backed up STCs are still unimaginably valuable. Also lol, we just flash converted a bunch of menials into assassins, that’s one at least one High Lord coming for our ass.

>[Focus on the hulk]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

I assume that if we’re concentrating we’re also going to give our elites vehicles to turn them into a fast response force?

>>5062686

>[Focus on the hulk]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

>>5062686
>>[Focus on roks]
>>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

>>5062686

>[Focus on the hulk]

>>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

>>5062686
>[Focus on roks]
>[Concentrate elites, spread out light forces]

It’s awkward, but orders begin to filter down. You can only effectively communicate with the skitarii and other heavily augmented humans, but by using them as officers you’re able to organise the bulk of them into smaller teams, able to coordinate by radio. The command structure you set up is haphazard, but the experienced soldiers you’ve held back for maneuver and counterattack are your primary concern, and it seems like they’ll be able to respond fluidly. Commanding the menials might be more problematic, but if all goes well, you shouldn’t need to worry too much about them.

You organize the menials into larger teams of 10-20 men, with a single skitarii officer to lead them, and deploy them by internal trams to defensive positions in the upper layers of the facility around the expected landing points, and around the anti-orbit guns. Once they’ve taken up their positions, almost all of the locations where the orks can break through should be covered by at least one crew-served grav-cannon, and a dozen volkite rifles. You organise the remaining elite forces into smaller teams of 5-10 men, and keep them deeper in the facility, in position to move up and relieve the less experienced teams if necessary.

As support, you’ve given the skitarii officers with the menials control over some of the converted gravskimmers to use as light fire support, but more critically as reconnaissance, to help them cover more of the massive area the orks could attack. Though you would’ve liked to give the elite forces access to vehicles, the tunnels are too narrow for vehicles to effectively move through, with too many narrow doorways and other bottlenecks. Instead, you have the dedicated combat robots attached to those squads, to provide reactive heavy fire support. If the fighting spills out onto the moon’s surface, though, you’ll be able to redeploy some of your elite troops to the vehicles.

Your troops are still moving into position when the orks finally enter into the effective firing range of your guns. Almost as if they sensed the danger, the roks slip their binds. The massive tow cables explosively blown off, releasing the roks and allowing them to coast… until a massive, cartoonish plume of flame and smoke flares out behind them. Quickly, the roks begin to overtake the hulk and speed up, accelerating towards your moon, trailing improperly secured plating, weapons, and grots as they go. They’re very classically orky vessels. Jagged metal plates formed into the shape of an ork’s skull, in veneration of their gods, adorne weapons and observation decks. Cannons of truly apocalyptic bore diameters jut out of every available surface. The whole thing is coated in a paint scheme dreamt up by a madman. Paint has been liberally abused, the orks having marked their territory with as much blue and red paint as they could find.

[1/shit like, a lot]

File: wmg.gif (1.82 MB, 371x209)

1.82 MB GIF

>>5063082
[2/seriously, loads, I wrote too much]
You were glad that you’d chosen to blow them up first. The whole moon shudders as ancient mechanisms shake rust and dust free. Glaciers hundreds of meters thick and millenia old crack and are thrown aside, as though by the unconscious movements of a sleeping giant. Armoured blast shields emerge from the surface of the moon, retracting to allow weapons the size of some warships to roll forward into a ready position. The singularity cannon bunkers were mounted on an elevator system, allowing them to retract themselves back below the surface of the moon when not in use, or when under threat of direct impact. Now, for the first time in a very long time, they were exposed and ready to fire.

The guns swing around, their bore oscillating within the confines of their squat bunker-platforms, like a railway gun of the second millenium. You allow the hands of time holding the black hole at the facilities’ core to slip by a fraction faster, and feel the power surge through your systems. Confirming four singularity cannons have an angle, and are ready to fire, you feed them the required power to generate their own pale imitation of the black hole at the facility’s core. The huge cannons begin to radiate a purple-black energy from their titanic barrels as the chronodampeners fight the singularity’s own time warping effects.

With a single thought, you order the cannons to fire.

Gravity is warped, and pulled out of the cannons barrels at a speed rivaling the speed of light, the singularities fly towards their targets. On the moon, the barrels recoil with enough force to send their platforms rolling back, despite the efforts of the hydraulic systems in allowing the barrel to recoil and half-disappear back into their bunkers. The moon’s thin atmosphere is compressed by four simultaneous shockwaves that begin their journey around the moon. They’ll circle it completely three times before finally dying out. Anyone who would be unlucky enough to be within a kilometer of the gun on the surface without protection would’ve instantly died from the pressure. The roks have it worse.

>>5063083
[3/????]
Moments after firing, the singularities make contact with their targets. The impact is immediate and devastating. Four singularities touch the silicate surface of the asteroids, passing through as though it simply wasn’t there. Any material lucky enough to be within a hundred meters of a singularity’s path is annihilated instantly, matter rendered down to a superheated quark-gluon plasma. Anything unlucky enough to be outside of that range is instantly immolated by the rapidly expanding cloud of energy radiating around it. Anything unlucky enough to be outside of the kilometer wide blast-zone of that finds itself pulled back and forth a few milliseconds through time by the effect of the singularity’s presence, causing parts of the rok to shift into itself, either instantly detonating, or warping and snapping under the sheer force. Finally, the singularities chronodampening wears off, causing reality to reassert itself. No longer chronoshifted, the singularities explode with the force of all the energy channeled into them. Two of the roks, already devastated by the impact, are unfortunate enough for that to occur while the singularity was still inside them. They are destroyed instantly. The two remaining singularities overpenetrate, detonating in a bright white flash that for a moment silhouettes the roks as it melts their silicate outer layer into molten soup.

In the space of a human heartbeat, all roks targeted are destroyed. Only the largest of the three retains any structural integrity, although it has broken into two smaller roks, one with a very large hole in it. Disappointing - you’ll have to recalibrate the chronodampeners to prevent future over penetrations.

The orks are only spurred on by the display, and soon your refractor shields are battered by poorly aimed ballistic weapons fire, rok debris, and poorly secured, high velocity grots. The hulk begins to decelerate, taking up position in high orbit over the moon, from which it can ‘safely’ rain fire down on your facility without entering the range of your las-lance anti-aircraft batteries. The handful of remaining roks, meanwhile, have no such luxury. You’d destroyed the largest four with the first volley of singularity fire, and while it would be nearly half an hour before you could fire those cannons again, your field will survive the hulks’ bombardment for longer than that, and the las-lances proved to be more than enough to blast apart the remaining roks, destroying most of them before they can even make contact with the field. Smaller chunks of asteroid rain down, most small enough that they harmlessly clatter off the facility’s armoured plating if they breach the ice layer at all.

>>5063085
[4/5]

The las-batteries can’t get everything, though, and soon the larger chunks of rok are joined by innumerable ork landas, which begin running the gauntlet through your AAA fire as they make for the surface to deploy their angry green cargo. You preemptively deploy your elite teams to certain locations as you watch the orks storm the exposed parts of the facility, and force their way inside. As predicted, there are a higher than usual percentage of ork ‘nobs’, and other forces that pass for elite infantry amongst the orks. There are also a number of war machines deployed by the landas, though as much as the tight hallways pose a problem for you, the orks are equally unable to force their vehicles inside, and many of the crews dismount, resorting to fighting from foot just to get into the fight faster.

Your forces meet the orks wherever they break in, with varying levels of success. The menials, reinforced by combat augmentations, advanced equipment, and drones are more than a match for an average ork, or even some of the largest specimens, but eventually they’re overrun by sheer volume of green flesh. Though the fungicide has slown them down, the largest and angriest among them barely seem affected by the chemical warfare attempts, and have a disturbing tendency to shrug off volkite fire. Where highly concentrated, the largest orks’ primal rage and bestial instincts are enough to force open gaps in the line, and they begin to storm ahead. Most fan out, hungry for more fightin’, and the rest are met by your counter-intrusion teams, who’s experience and even more advanced and heavier equipment prove to be more than a match for the orks’ best. Wherever your menials are overrun, or when it looks like they’re going to be overrun, you activate the rad-emitters, killing dozens of orks at a time.

But no matter how many orks your men kill, there are always more. Your menials are slowly forced to abandon ground, and your lacking ability to control them starts to become problematic. While the combat augments force them to retreat in good order, they’re starting to spread too thin, opening gaps in the line through which teams of orks are able to surge. You cut off most of them, and order teams to intercept the rest. Soon, though, your forces are overwhelmed. While they’re performing well, your men can only be in so many places at once. You’re starting to feel a little less good about how this is going, and that feeling only deepens as you notice that the ork teams are converging on two major points - a factory complex, and one of the consolidated weapon stockpiles.

>>5063086
[5/5]

This is a concern. The orks might be able to hold the line long enough to loot either one of those places, and while they’d probably be disappointed with a haul of fabricators, the loss of either would be a massive hit for you. It could, as you feared, set you back by months. You don’t have enough reaction teams to stop both pushes without risking another flank, and your menials are too difficult to command to effectively have them counter the push. You’ll need to do something, but what?

>[Focus on the armoury]
You CANNOT allow the orks to acquire those weapons, under any circumstances. They might trash the factory, but they’ll turn those weapons back on your men. It could shift the tide. Order the elites to cut off the orks heading to the armoury, before that can happen.

>[Focus on the factory]
You CANNOT allow the orks to destroy that factory complex, under any circumstances. They can take the weapons, but that factory complex represents a significant portion of your total capacity. It would take months, maybe years to repair, and leave you crippled in the meantime. Order the elites to cut off the orks heading to the complex, before that can happen.

>[Split up the elites]
You CANNOT allow the orks to reach either location, under any circumstances. Spend the lives the Magos has trusted you with. By splitting them up you’re risking them being overrun elsewhere, but it will allow you to scrape together enough men to prevent either incursion. Blood is cheap. That equipment is irreplaceable.

>[Something else - write in]
You’ve got something else in mind. Some plan you can use that might just save both locations, and prevent too many casualties. You’d best be sure about whatever you have in mind - this is a delicate situation, after all.

Apologies for beating off all over your screens there. Won't happen again, I promise.

>>5063087
>Write-in
Elites to focus on the armory. The Orks must be kept out.

As for the factory, I may have a double plan. First, use our drones and maybe refurbished skimmers to bait the Orks off course and/or into the rad-emmiters. Fragment and slow them down.
While that happens, mobilize our stockpile of "Conqueror, Thanatar, and Crusader designs" ( >>5062490 ) This is a major threat to the work, and we have replacement parts. Besides, losing this factory may slow us down in building more, so it's well worth the losses.

Overall, I say we stand a good chance of fragmenting the two attacks to the point of ineffectiveness, though I would appreciate other anons weighting in.

>>5063093
Your heavy combat robots of those types have already been mobilised and are currently deployed to support your elite infantry.

>>5063087
>[Split up the elites]
You CANNOT allow the orks to reach either location, under any circumstances. Spend the lives the Magos has trusted you with. By splitting them up you’re risking them being overrun elsewhere, but it will allow you to scrape together enough men to prevent either incursion. Blood is cheap. That equipment is irreplaceable.

>>5063087
>[Split up the elites]
>Collapse the tunnels on top of the orks to reduce the numbers that will participate in the assault
(does not matter if they survive or not the important thing is to stretch them into managable numbers)

>>5063087
>[Focus on the armoury]

They can't do much with the factory, we can self sabotage the equipment if they try to use it to build anything.

>[Something else - write in]
>Place Phase-Iron all over the place.
Also wouldn't the Phase-Iron nullify much or all of their orky powers so their guns and teck would stop working? Can we try lining the halls, intersections with the stuff? Maybe make some barricades out of the stuff and dump molten phase iron onto machinery so they can't even repurpose it without chiseling away metal.

We can also lock doors and bulkheads and try to channel the orks into choke points and kill zones so as to nullify their numbers advantage. >>5063107 We can blow or collapse some tunnels if the Rad Emitters won't cut it.

Perhaps we can do a open and shut door trick where we let some orks in, shut the door, fry them with the Rad Emitters, then open it again for the next group.

Would it be possible to collapse access to either (or both) objectives, stranding the orks or funneling them into less critical districts?

Would it be possible to trick the orcs to fight each other, buying our forces more time to regroup?

Do we have suitably powerful ordnance we could deploy against advancing ork forces to soften them up or obliterate at cost of (less critical) infrastructure?

>>5063087
>Something else - write in]
>You’ve got something else in mind. Some plan you can use that might just save both locations, and prevent too many casualties. You’d best be sure about whatever you have in mind - this is a delicate situation, after all.
Neither is acceptable but you must lose one in order to guarantee the safety of the other. Therefore defend the factory as it can be used to make more weapons later, but rather than just letting the weapons fall into ork hands set all the weapons power supplies to overload at the same time the orks will reach them thus denying them to the enemy and hopefully reducing their numbers further

>>5063108
At present, you haven't noticed the facility's phase-iron skin have any noticable effect on the orks' weapons, or the orks themselves. It's possible that the effects of the WAAAGH interact with phase-iron differently to those of 'regular' empyreal phenomena.

>>5063109
You have explosively with high enough yield to effectively collapse tunnels, although it would risk damage to other parts of the facility at random. The number of collapses that you would need to orchestrate to compeletly halt the orks advance would take far too long to set up, due to the nature of the facility. A smaller number of tactical demolitions could slow their advance, and possibly thin them out, though it wouldn't be a solution on it's own.

The orks are currently quite happy fighting your own forces. It would take a really good idea to get them to fight one another.

You are already employing the largest man-portable weapons you have access to - larger vehicle grade weapons simply do not fit indoors.

>>5063087
>>[Focus on the armoury]

>>5063112
Huh. Oh well.

How about this idea:

Take the biggest gun in the armory, weld several other similarly big guns to it and put it onto an elevated position in the armory, give it prominent place where it will look like an irresistible prize. Hopefully the orks will fight for it, keeping them busy for a while.

Also, rig everything in the armoury to blow. Including the prize abomination.

>>5063087
>[Focus on the armoury]

The loss of the factory is unfortunate - the loss of this stockpile could switch the tide of battle

>>5063109
What if we dump pain onto them and see if we can confuse them by having "stray shots" hit two differently pained group of orks?

>>5063136
*paint*

If we can't block off the tunnels, can we at least flood them with coolant/superheated steam/water to slow them down?

>>5063087
>>[Focus on the armoury]
>[Something else - write in]
Begin to registrate orks voices. Then use them to make them offend eachother, by creating holograms of realistic orks as well creating voices around from walls, the floor and so on.

Break their army unity, and ensure they kill eachother enough as they attempt to do with us.
Otherwise ? A long fighting with a very real risk of a draw or a phyrric victory.
Technology is not enough.
Deception is key, use it.

In addition see if is possible to teleport explosives on their main ship, their ship is unlikely to be fully protected by this. One opening is needed.

>>5063138
that could be a nice idea to do too. We don t have numbers at the moment, unless we could make war robots that can travel our tunnels.
The liquids wouldn t harm many of them but at least slow down which is useful

>>5063087
>[Focus on the armoury]
>write-in: Broadcast to the ork boss and challenge it to a duel, then shoot it with something it can’t walk off.

Fucking orks. We should have just blown the hulk out of the sky and let the primitives fight each other for control, now we’re doing this. Keep the orks out of the armory so they don’t get battle changing weapons and hopefully find what the boss is doing if he’s not fighting.

>>5063087
If possible, remotely deactivate the weapons in the armory before the Orks reach them. Otherwise, hope that Ork fingers are too fat to make effective use of weaponry designed for humans

>>5063140
This fellow has the right idea. We need to start separating and parceling out the orks so that they start fighting one another. You never face a WAAAGH with your face but from the sides.

If it is possible, maybe use some Flamethrowers to burn the Orks. It's the perfect tool for preventing fungi.

>>5063087
>>[Focus on the armoury]

>>5063087
> [ Focus on the armoury]
> [Something else - write in]
Do we have the capability to quickly convert deceased orkoids into something akin to servitors?
We could distract the orks by deploying tactically placed swarms of punchy mushroom meatpuppets. Give them the fight they're so eager for.

>>5063087
>[Focus on the armoury]
An Ork WAAAAGH! is scary on it's own, an Ork WAAAAGH! with Volkite Weaponry is a nightmare. We can always rebuild a foundry, but the amount of havoc these organic war machines can cause with Volkite weapons could be greater still than just the loss of the foundry.

>>5063087
>[Split up the elites]
>Tactically demolish a number of tunnels to slow and thin the ork advance
>use spare or low value items from the foundry and armoury as bait for traps and delays, if you can tap into ork communications to learn enough to start imitating various orks of decent enough rank, attempt to get the mobs to fight over the "exposed" caches you left as traps and delays.
We need to think outside the box here to get maximum damage control, we can mimic the orks somewhat but they need a excuse right now to beat the crap out of each other, shiny gubbins or "good" guns coupled with orkish avarice and well placed prodding can get them eating eachother. If that fails we can jerk them around and blow them up by exploiting the fact they will go for a "easy" and "quick target over marching to the real prize.

>>5063140
>>5063109
>>5063093
I think we should do a combination of these. Use more promethium weapons since it works really well in narrow places. Fill hallways with more oxygen so irks burn faster. collapse or close off tunnels to redirect orks into kill boxes, spam more radiation, get the orks to kill themselves, put PA messages stating only the biggest and bestus ork gets the loot and only one.
Here's my piece I want to add to your suggestions. Pull some unimportant weapons like boaters and cannons from the armory, something we won't care about if destroyed or stolen. Slap on some Ork appealing metal bits that make no sense, color it red, then rig them to explode.
>orks see FINE ASS LOOT
>tries to loot
>dies from explosion
like what that one anon suggested about putting the DAKKA where all the orks can see.

>>5063087
>[Split up the elites]
The Magos certainly doesn't seem to care about the lives, and this equipment is extremely valuable, so let's make sure the equipment doesn't get fucked over.

>>5063112

We have combat drugs on hand, which we used to juice up our humans.

Do we have any combat drugs that work on Orkoid physiology? Anything that would promote infighting.

[1/4? I promise I'm trying to get these reponses shorter]

The attack has gotten bad enough as it is. You can’t risk the orks reaching the weapon stockpiles and making it worse. With your time and resources reaching their stretching point, you opt to take extreme measures. With one order, you organise all remaining elite forces that aren’t currently engaged into a single spearhead, and rush them through the tunnels to cut off the main thrust of the ork advance, with the aim of cutting off their push before they can reach the armoury, in the process inevitably allowing the orks to make it to the factory complex, though you do whatever you can to slow them down in the process, ordering drones to skirmish with them, detonating coolant lines, and sealing bulkheads in their path. They might lose a few toes to frostbite, and waste a few bomms breaking through the bulkheads, but you know it won’t stop them, only slow them down.

You watch through the cameras as the vanguard of your elite forces make contact with the orks. Infiltrators and ruststalkers, hastily reclad in ill-fitting power armour and rearmed with volkite weapons skirmish with the fringes of the ork advance. Unable to resist the challenge, increasingly large volumes of orks cease their advance, clogging the hallway as the endless tide of green idiots clamber over each other to shoot at the handful of skitarii they’ve engaged.

The skitarii prove the value in the augments, and the value of the equipment they’ve been given. Consummate soldiers, they seem to have had little trouble adjusting to the new weapons, and the weight of their power armour. Even if they did look awkward in the armour that was clearly built for someone with human arms and legs, they moved with a fluidity and grace that’s verifiably supernatural. They take cover around corners and in alcoves as they press the advance - one group holds position and provides covering fire while the other leaps forward into the next piece of cover. It’s good practice, but utterly pointless against the completely fearless orks, who are unmoved by a red-white lance of heat causing their friend’s face to evaporate and explode in a shower of superheated steam and fleshy giblets.

The orks, if they’re known for anything, are known for firepower, and every ounce of dakka they have is brought to bear. The sheer amount of lead in the air is impressive, but the orks become increasingly frustrating when the humies prove more resilient than normal. Shimmering fields of refracted light flare when heavy chunks of lead threaten to strike, deflecting them from their course, and even when those fields fail, it takes numerous repeated shots to finally break their advanced armour. They do break, though, and while the orks have certainly come off worse, the skitarii are beginning to suffer casualties, forcing them to shelter in place and await reinforcements.