Hmm, the Imperium does use cybernetic improvements, doesn't it? And enhances xenos to serve the Emperor. That does sound a bit like the Borg to me. So what happens if an Inquisitor is assimilated?
We are the Borg. We are the blessed Emperors gift to the xenos. Through usthey shall fine salvation. Resistance is irrelevant. You will be assimilated, as the Emperor commands.
That would also solve the manpower problem quite nicely. Lots of eager recruits around... well, at least helpless to resist. but that's the same, isn't it?
The gender imbalance would depend on which guard regiments they had, also how big those regiments where, for instance most are around three thousand, to fit on one transport, but the 50th Gundurite Rifles (found in Eisenhorn) Are at least 750k strong, the Tanith First and Only are 50/50 male/female others are all male or all female, really does depend. Also depends on what Mechanus ships are present, or if they are relying on tech marines and regimental Adepts. IF they have a Titan Legion detachment, with it's factorum ships etc, then nothing could stand against them, if not they fight a war of attrition against the Star Trek verse, crushing any one fleet, but running out of bodies and ammo.
Darmalus wrote:While the Imperium can stomp anyone in the ST verse, they have the problem of a lack of supplies and replacements. Now that they have reclaimed their home world, they are going to need to colonize it, set up factories, mines, farms, etc. or watch as their battle group slowly gets worn down and runs out of ammo and fuel.
They also likely have a very large male to female gender imbalance, so I wouldn't be surprised if they start outright attacking the Federation to secure more breeding stock when they start thinking long term. The Federation can't stop them, but they don't have the numbers to secure that many planets yet.
The First chapter states that it was a force designed to resupply a crusade, so the should be set on supplies, for a time at least. Plus, if they have forge ships, which Mechanicum (the novel) states that were around in the 31st millenium then they should be set in terms of making the gear, they only need the raw materials...
If Dr. Gatling was a nerd, then his most famous invention is the fucking Revenge of the Nerd, writ large...
"Lawful stupid is the paladin that charges into hell because he knows there's evil there."
—anonymous
"Although you may win the occasional battle against us, Vorrik, the Empire will always strike back."
Drake wrote:Hmm, the Imperium does use cybernetic improvements, doesn't it? And enhances xenos to serve the Emperor. That does sound a bit like the Borg to me. So what happens if an Inquisitor is assimilated?
I doubt an inquisitor will look kindly upon assimilation, or the Borg- they HATE non-humans, and will be horrified that Borg-humans associate with Borg-xenos.
An AdMech Magos or Iron Hands detachment, however, may try to reverse-engineer Borg technology, thinking assimilation will bring them closer to the Machine-God. Of course, they'll first claim the Borg's "blessings" are for humans alone, and EXTERMINATE all Borg-non-humans.
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
I think that the more xenophobic ones wouldn't mind the Borg system of mixing with xenos - after all, they're not real xenos being treated as people, they're convenient spare parts that used to be xenos. Dismantling a xeno to upgrade a human would be acceptable, wouldn't it?
Or would that cause yet another esoteric Order to spring into existence with an arcane theology for the Inquisitors to chew over? "Adeptus Perfectus"? "Ordo Borgia"? (A natural enemy for the Mechanicus?)
Hard to predict with the Mechanicus, given how they both love and hate Xenos tech at the same time. They might take some ideas from it, and try to reverse engineer it, BUT the Inquisition takes a very dim view of people implanting themselves with Xenos tech, and the Mechanicus knows it.
If Dr. Gatling was a nerd, then his most famous invention is the fucking Revenge of the Nerd, writ large...
"Lawful stupid is the paladin that charges into hell because he knows there's evil there."
—anonymous
"Although you may win the occasional battle against us, Vorrik, the Empire will always strike back."
I'm looking forward to seeing how the Mechanicus reacts to facing a form of FTL travel that doesn't use the warp. If there one technological advancement from ST that the Imperium would likely dive for, thats it.
Never underestimate the ingenuity and cruelty of the Irish.
Highlord Laan wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing how the Mechanicus reacts to facing a form of FTL travel that doesn't use the warp. If there one technological advancement from ST that the Imperium would likely dive for, thats it.
Except that ST warp is very, very slow by comparison, 70-100 years to cross the galaxy. WH40k warp can cross the galaxy in a year, assuming no time travel shenanigans making you arrive a century late or before you left. Transwarp is a whole different beast, but I don't think anyone but the Borg have that.
Don't forget the replicators (used in food, ammo, and weapon production), safer teleporters, and possible cloaking devices. The Mechanicus are going to be in heaven with all the new tech being discovered.
If Dr. Gatling was a nerd, then his most famous invention is the fucking Revenge of the Nerd, writ large...
"Lawful stupid is the paladin that charges into hell because he knows there's evil there."
—anonymous
"Although you may win the occasional battle against us, Vorrik, the Empire will always strike back."
Not true, if humans made it, they might consider using it. After all, this is the same group that has absolutely no problems trying to reverse engineer NECRONTYR tech.
If Dr. Gatling was a nerd, then his most famous invention is the fucking Revenge of the Nerd, writ large...
"Lawful stupid is the paladin that charges into hell because he knows there's evil there."
—anonymous
"Although you may win the occasional battle against us, Vorrik, the Empire will always strike back."
humans might have done the technologies, but they might have been influenced by daemons or xenos.
Or haven't done the 30 minutes long Omnissiah's Lithany of Succesful Workination every time they pressed a button (which is a n error punishable by execution and burning of the machine)
"I'm not a friggin' mercenary; I'm a capitalist adventurer!"
The soldiers and officers of the Imperium may be doctrinal, but they;re not idiots. They'd have died early if they were. Once they figure out that they're around 38000 years before the Imperium is even founded, they'll know that they have to start feeling things out on their own. Yes, their battlegroup is nothing anyone in Trek has ever faced, but they're alone and completely unsupported. It's very possible that if they present themselves as a threat to everyone, then they'll simply be ground down through decades of attrition. The Trek powers have a population base to draw on, the Imperium ships do not.
It won't take much to figure out the amount of firepower needed to face down Imperial warships, and once thats known theres nothing stopping other races (especially the Klingons) from getting their WMD groove back on.
Speaking of other races, I think I know what these displaced Imperials could likely do. They're in the past. The Dark Age of Technology, in fact.
Find the goddamed Eldar before Slannesh shoes up!
Never underestimate the ingenuity and cruelty of the Irish.
The Dark Age of Technology was about M15-18 IIRC, but yeah, find the Eldar before the Fall.
Of course, that leads to all the time-travel paradoxy shite. Like, stop the fall of the Eldar and maybe screw over the Imperium so it never happenned.
Or then again, maybe this batlegroup causes the Fall in the first place...
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
Eternal_Freedom wrote:The Dark Age of Technology was about M15-18 IIRC, but yeah, find the Eldar before the Fall.
Of course, that leads to all the time-travel paradoxy shite. Like, stop the fall of the Eldar and maybe screw over the Imperium so it never happenned.
Or then again, maybe this batlegroup causes the Fall in the first place...
or the Eldar are what cause the Federation to die in a fire... Seriously think about it we know the Eldar had the craftworlds and the Wraith ships at this point in time, would waking them up to the fact that theres several rival galatic civilisations be all that smart?
Defintely not. At any rate, why would the Imperial ships WANT t help the fould xenos? Do these battlegroup commanders actually KNOW that SLaneesh was born out of the Eldar fall?
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
No Eldar, no fall. Problem solved.
But there is absolutely no guarantee that the people on the Imperial ships have any idea about that. It is questionable if even the keepers of the high lords of Terra's archives know about it. The only one that would have to know it is the Emperor himself. These people barely know their own founding history. How are they supposed to know that the events ten thousand years before the founding of the Imperium were precipitated by a race of xenos?
"When in doubt, assume everything is fucked."
"Life is better when you have a stick."
I would like to apologize for the LONG time between updates here. Between life, writers block, and spending quite a few days getting my precious 707th Lubyan slaughtered on the tabletop I've been rather slow writing.....I hope this is wortht the wait, and I hope the wait gets shorter next time. Thank you all so much for your support and readership. =)
Chapter 5
USS Enterprise-D
Approaching Romulus
“What is our time to Romulus, Mr. Data?” Picard asked, sitting calmy in the command chair at the center of the Enterprise’s bridge.
“We will be exiting to impulse power in 47 seconds sir,” Data replied in his programmed voice, looking emotionlessly out at the view screen of the Enterprise. Soon enough, they saw the streaks of light slowly shorten into the individual points of light surrounding the vessel. The Enterprise’s engines calmed, toning down their rumbling till it faded into the background, and the bridge crew of the Enterprise looked out onto a sight they had never seen before.
There were no Romulan warbirds or civilian vessels around the planet. No trace of subspace communication from the planet. Ahead of them, a single massive vessel nearly ten times the length of the Enterprise orbited high above Romulus, long lances of fire leaving its side. Around it, dozens more vessels orbited, and even the smallest was twice as large as the Enterprise. The entire bridge crew of the Enterprise looked at the situation ahead of them with wide eyes. No matter what they had seen before, this was shocking. Not even the mighty Borg cubes approached the sheer mass of the vessels ahead of them, and the massive turrets and gaping fire ports along the sides of the vessels screamed that these vessels were made for one purpose, and one purpose only. War.
Picard was the first to recover and immediately gathered the attention of the rest of his bridge crew. “Mr. Worf, hail the largest vessel in that fleet. I’m assuming it’s no doubt a…flagship of some kind,” he said, not taking his eyes off the vessels. Several of the smaller ones were beginning to reorient, moving towards him and his ship with a ponderous speed that seemed to emphasize their look. As their range closed, Picard could see they were covered with towers and arches, and resembled the old Gothic cathedrals in his homeland far more than the smooth sleek ships he had long associated with space travel. Despite the fact that he knew that travelling in a vacuum rendered any smoothness or streamlining irrelevant, Picard couldn’t help but be uncomfortable with the shapes of these ships. What race would choose such a design for their ships?
‘A design that seemed to be ripped from Earth’s own history,’ Picard noted mentally.
“We have a response sir,” Worf said with a nod.
“Very good, Lieutenant,” Picard replied. “Please go and prepare the away team for the Romulan surface,” Picard ordered, standing up and straightening his shirt as the screen in front of him began to steady into an image of whatever race crewed these ships. As he heard the turbolift door slide close and whish away, the screen stabilized and Picard felt a stunned silence swamp the bridge again.
The figure in front of them was human.
A human who seemed very excited to see them.
“Humans! Humans! Oh great God-Emperor, I was afraid we would never see our own kind again!” the man on the screen seemed to shout, a massive smile on his face. “Forgive me,” he said as he stood up from a massive chair that seemed more like a throne. “Lord Captain Gabriel Nuskov, Battlefleet Lubya of the Immortal God-Emperor’s Holy Fleet,” he said with a salute. “May I ask the current millennium and year?” he asked, still beaming out at them.
“It is the 370th year of the 3rd millennium,” Data almost immediately replied, failing to suffer the sheer shock and surprise on the faces of the Starfleet officers standing around the bridge, and now shared by the man calling himself Nuskov.
“The third millennium,” he muttered, shaking his head slightly. “Thirty eight thousand years….” He whispered to himself. In the background of wherever the Lord Captain was sitting, there was a subtle flutter of movement.
“I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planet’s ship Enterprise,” Picard finally managed to speak. “May I ask where you are from? And what your intentions are in this system?”
“I am a servant of the Immortal God-Emperor of Man,” Nuskov replied, his voice losing its joviality as he heard Picard speak. “And I intend…” he began only to be cut off by a rasping, almost artificial voice.
“This communication is not approved by the Mechanicus!” it screeched. “Its use is heretical!”
Nuskov nodded slightly as he looked back at Picard. “You and I have much to discuss, Captain, but I cannot discuss it here,” he said sharply. “Would you join me on the planet surface? I’m sure the rest of my…..staff,” he said hesitantly. “Would like to meet you.”
“Of course, Lord Captain,” Picard replied, putting on a diplomatic smile as he looked worriedly down at the sensor readings from Romulus.
“Please,” Nuskov said with a similar smile, that somehow did not feel as real. To the crew of the Enterprise could not help but feel that it was the diplomatic smile you give when you’re hiding a knife behind your back. “Allow us to send a transport over with an honor guard. I’m sure that you would appreciate it.”
“You have our gratitude,” Picard replied as he cut off the signal. With a worried sigh he looked over his left shoulder at Troi.
“Deanna?” he asked. “What do you make of this? What about this man?”
“I don’t know what to think about him, Captain. I can barely sense anything…..there’s some kind of barrier stopping me from reaching their minds.”
Picard sighed. He was uncomfortable heading into a situation without the Counsellor’s special insight into the psyche and mind of any mind that he encountered. Picard settled back into his chair, rubbing his head slightly as he tried to think of the way to deal with the situations. Even though he had made first contact with more species and cultures than he could hope to remember, Captain Picard was unsure of how to deal with a first contact situation with his own species.
As he buried himself in his thoughts, Data turned to him and reported the average sensor report. “Sir, sensors detect the delegation from the Imperium vessel,” he said, flipping through his screen as he examined the report. Strangely enough, the reading of the hull on the Imperial transport seemed to indicate that it had been exposed to cosmic radiation for centuries. “I would advise sir,” Data continued as he delved deeper into the reports. “The age of the vessel suggests it may be derelict and unsafe,” he continued.
“What?” Picard said with a start as his face shot up. “Sorry, Data….you were saying?”
“I was saying that the Imperium delegation is currently docking in our main shuttle bay,” the android officer continued on. “And that you should be aware that the vessel they have sent should be a derelict. My scans indicate that it has seen well more than a century of cosmic radiation.”
“It’s obviously space worthy,” Picard commented as he shook his head. “And I doubt refusing to bored their vessel would do much good for our diplomatic relations with this new power,” he continued as he stood up. “Please contact Worf,” the Captain ordered as he headed towards the turbolift. “And ask him to join me on this mission. Counselor, you as well,” he said as he nodded at Troi. Picard sighed as she stood and walked past him. “Now…let’s see what we can learn here,” he mumbled to himself as he entered the turbolift.
Retribution class Battleship Ave Humanus
Lubyan System
Nuskov growled as the view screen ahead of him closed off and moved off his throne walking quickly behind the great seat of power.
“Well?” a voice asked from the shadows. It seemed feminine, but the audio scrambler made it hard to tell, much less discern any more information than that.
“They are human to my eyes,” Nuskov said with a nod. “I will be joining them on the surface for discussion. The Adeptus Mechanicus can confirm or deny our suspicions.” There was a flutter in the shadows, seemingly reminiscent of a nod.
“We have an opportunity here, Lord Captain. If the time is true, we will have the chance to do what any other servant of the Emperor could only dream of.”
Nuskov could not help but smile. “And I will insure our new ‘alllies’ cooperation,” he said with a quick turn on his heel as he headed for the shuttle bay.
Location [CLASSIFIED]
System [CLASSIFIED]
The Man looked around the room he chose as his own, covered with the small trinkets that He used to maintain the illusion of the mere mortal man he was disguising himself as. He smiled warmly at some of the holograms and other recordings placed in their appropriate locations. One would think that ten thousand years of life would dull a man’s senses of love and appreciation; that all the memories of past identities would blend together and become worthless. But not the Man’s.
No, His memories and feelings remained as pure as they had millennia ago. Even though His identity had changed many times, and He had taken forms as distant as a poor carpenter and mighty leaders, He still felt as if He could enjoy the subtle things that mortals enjoyed as well. In fact, it saddened Him that none of those who loved Him or whom He loved would ever see His true form. With a sad sigh He shook His head and reached deep into the millennia of memory.
The deceit was necessary. He must remain hidden until the time was right. He had guided His people, yes….but always from the shadows. The time when He could become the source of light itself was still long in the future. Far away in His master plan.
But something was happening that the Man had not forseen. His already great power had increased by the tiniest fraction of a percent: a change so small that most would consider it beneath notice, but even so, the Man had noticed it. The Man felt it and knew what it meant.
It meant that His plan was becoming unraveled.
That it might fail.
"If everything on Earth were rational, nothing would ever happen."
~Fyodor Dostoevsky
“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”
~Thomas Sowell
If "The Man" is not the future God-Emperor, then I'll eat my long black cloak. So all those suppositions about the Emperor's Identity were off target. Unless ... Flint?
"The Man" could sense a temporal anomaly that threatened his plans, and he already has over ten thousand years of personal history. This raises questions concerning the Temporal Cold War from Enterprise. Could it be that the real focus of that war was to thwart the God-Emperor? But they never had a chance because the God-Emperor worked on a larger scope and a more personal scale of history than they did. (Tatamount to fighting a war with someone who could coherently control both strategic and tactical scales at once without confusion.)
And the Lord-Captain is thinking. As any Inquisitor will tell you, thinking is never good. It leads one into all sorts of heresy.
I think Worf would be safe as long as it's appearant that the human Picard is dominant over him. I don't think they'll kill the xenos servant of a pure human. (Although Worf's opinion of the Imperials' opinion of his status will be rather NSFW.)
I will be more interested in seeing what the reactions about Data will be. I mean if I remember my fluff right he would be considered an iron man or perhaps one of the prototypes for the Legio Cybernetica. The Adeptus Mechanicus might revere or respect him but the rest probably wouldn't know what to do with him.
