The Ringing of a Forge of Stars [Warhammer 40k/ Celestial forge V3||OC...ish]

[Cheetored20]

Ya... better get real fucking good at hiding what your tech really is even wearing crappy power armor in a underhive is going to make you stand out... a lot.

Click to shrink...

The beauty of Valkyrie cores is they can hide themselves and their frames. This probably can be extended to activate combat.

 

[Mastersgt]

Personally never been much of a fan of AI that share your mind/body or that connect closely to them. Like this core does. I'd have probably tried to turn the thing into functioning more like a new Organ, rather than an additional brain. So that MC can directly control it, or let it operate on the subconscious level.

 

[Cheetored20]

Personally never been much of a fan of AI that share your mind/body or that connect closely to them. Like this core does. I'd have probably tried to turn the thing into functioning more like a new Organ, rather than an additional brain. So that MC can directly control it, or let it operate on the subconscious level.

Click to shrink...

That's basically what it becomes after enough sync hours....at least if Durga is any indication.

 

[stads]

time to gear up for a rescue mission
hope the mc plays it smart and hide's the look of his tech while still using everything

 

[xizsec01]

could MC escape influence of 40k's warp by go into sub space with PSO's tech?

 

[omegasrevenge]

Finally we get to the highlight of every Celestial Forge story: The Tech Porn! Let's goooooooooooooo!

 

[ATP]

So,Chaos try to fuck his orb,he unfucked it and even do not saw that it is Chaos work?
Interesting,what Chaos would do.Since it must be Tzaaneth ,he would certainly try some too smart plot.

P.S Hide power armour? easily.just made it invisible.With his technology he could do that.

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

So some spell-guns, some laser guns, some projectile guns, some magitech armor, and some magitech fabrication field projectors are in order then? That seems like a reasonable composite result of his various Perks.

Some nanotech, both medical and otherwise, would also probably be good for utility, as probably would some neural redundancies, and backups to recover from brain destruction, some mele weapons and some vehicles. Some electronic network subversion would also probably be good. It'd probably be a decent idea to get all of the surveillance in the Hive ready and possibly even automatically alerting him of things he should know about.



Edit: what'd also probably be good would be a few bionic eyes. Possibly a few that are also miniaturized las-weapons, a la the Baleful Eye, and/or Psilencers. Possibly also a few shoulder, back, and limb, both additional and conventional limb, mounted weapons that are also complete with cybernetic scopes.

To facilitate powering some Psi-weapons, assuming that it can't rely upon the output of a conventional soul built up in a psychic capacitor, it'd be prudent to get the brain of a Psyker installed similarly to the Binary Cortex procedure.

The brains and psychic abilities of the Psykers of Necromunda are apparently enhanced via rather unfortunate methods and to rather detrimental levels, to the point that they couldn't and/or wouldn't complain, anyway so it shouldn't be ethically problematic to trim them down and use them Bondrewd Cartridge style.

Edit: Also that powered armor could probably be disguised as a Ogrin or something. I believe that one of the Underhive Gangs are known to abuse growth drugs to the point of being bloody massive.

Edit: "Spykers" of House Delaque. Normally low-level Psykers that are minimaxed to receive thoughts psychically. All of the thoughts. They're basically broken in terms of personhood to the same degree that Servitors are and release a torrent of stream-of-thought inner-narrative of the people around them.

Get your hands on one of them, fix them up as much as possible and basically connect to them like a Psychic Familiar, and you've got a nice psychic radio, battery, and rolodex of abilities.

Edit: for that matter most Psykers on Necromunda would probably be better served being Binary Cortexed into something like a Goliath 'Zerker. Their bodies are kind'a terrible.

Those Gang House Goliath 'Zerkers, by the way, are what would be the perfect disguise for the power armor.

Basically Gang House Goliath would probably be the perfect group of body builders to trade supplies and services with for some human resources.

Edit: after looking into it perhaps not quite a 'Zerker but at least a high-end Stimmer.

Edit: actually a high-end Stimmer would be perfect since they're known to use oversized high-end guns so kind'a just have them carry the Psilencer and have the Spyker power them. Maybe have a third brain or Cogitator or something in there helping to turn the influx of information from the Spyker into tactical information that the Stimmer or 'Zerker can act upon.

Edit: that nanotechnology specialty Perk should be good for making some medicine and drugs that are highly safe and effective.

It might even be a decent idea to use it for resource collection as well. Maybe engineer up a fungus or bacteria to host it and have it chew away at metal structures or rust-piles and dust-piles like a Hyperaccumulator plant. The Perk that the Nanite specialty comes from is from a setting where nanites are highly symbiotic with forms of life after all.

Edit: apparently the various Houses, and their proxies, got into a pretty bad resource dispute involving mining rights, the enforcement of those mining rights, and fuel concerns. It might be viable to set up some superior fuel refineries at some point to help ease inter-gang tension.

It might also help to redirect some of that tension from eachother to the Noble Houses to some degree.

Edit: It'd probably be a good idea to set up some biochemistry management equipment. Something like a bit of augmentation to each organ, possibly something akin to the Spartan Four Program/Procedure alongside a nice solid nanite colony to help manually move things around.

Edit: Cardiopulmonary augmentation, among other things, would probably be pretty good to have. Unidirectional air-flow, a la most birds and some reptiles, alone would be a valuable improvement to the bodies performance let alone the stuff that could be improved about the lung-lining.

 

[Slug2448]

more we need mooooooore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

A thought occurs. Necromunda has weaponized Servo-Rigs. That and, in the case of Arachni-Rigs, potentially equipped them with the sort of bracing/stabilizer limbs/servos/mechadendrites for extra carrying capacity. I bring this up because it'd probably be a good idea to have not just some sick armor and what is basically a Servo-Harness but a tank or two. Preferably a spider tank for mobility reasons. A Arachni-Rig, especially the ones with a few extra guns and some mechanical limbs acting as extra legs, is very nearly a small spider-tank in and of itself.

Edit: also it'd probably be a good idea to get a few Familiars. Both for the poor bastards that have Psychic abilities in this hellhole, because a specially designed Familiar for a Spyker would probably help, and for himself. Necromunda has a bunch of wildlife that'd probably be useful to take control of. Especially if you can get some of the Gene Stealers from the next Hive over.

Edit: Satori might also want to look into getting some Cherubs and/or Haemoncolytes for minions and/or spys. They wouldn't even need to look like proper babies since that's seemingly a intentional design choice when making them.

Edit: or just use some cyber-mastiffs. That'd both probably work and be easier to pull off. Maybe put a few cybernetic parts into a few rats as well/instead. Rats have a strong sense of community after all.

 

[Slider Zero]

*power snip*

Click to shrink...

Err...um...that's...a lot of Ideas there, my friend. I apprecialte the gesture, really.

But I'm going to have to ask you to get out of my story notes damnit. >_<

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

Err...um...that's...a lot of Ideas there, my friend. I apprecialte the gesture, really.

But I'm going to have to ask you to get out of my story notes damnit. >_<

Click to shrink...

So the idea of enhancing a few Gyrinxes or Caryatids, or making some Originium and/or Flect nanites to either give people a stable harmless and removable Originium infection or accelerate the illness to its lethal conclusion, would not be appreciated then?

 

[Slider Zero]

Late Chapter is Late.
This one fought me for a bit, and after some consultation with the advice column (read: CF discord and writers) I just rewrote the whole thing. As such, this is admittedly of...poor quality. Be warned.

---

According to Janus, Harry had been missing for over 72 hours now. Normally this would not be a big deal, as groups or cells going dark for a bit were expected to happen every so often, and a system for discreet check-ins was used for those few that had need to be disappeared for a bit to let their comrades know that they weren't in a ditch somewhere or being processed into corpsedust.

Harry, however, was different. Being connected to a ranking Augmek the way he was, and being a sanctioned information broker for the house at that, meant that he had a much stricter check-in schedule than most, and was generally required to verify his existence in one way or another every week, Circumstances being what they were, and Harry being part of the investigation team, this was more than reasonable.

Whatever incident this was that I had missed due to my isolation must have been freaking huge if they were considering a 72 hour blackout a big deal.

Time for some Q&A.

"So what exactly happened that makes you think he's been compromised, then?" I asked. "Isn't the normal check-in schedule once a week?"

Janus was quick to reply. " Normally, yes. However, the nature of the...incident required that all members of the house with leadership roles or connected to them check in within a 72-hour timeframe before being declared missing." He moved into the living room area of the maintenance shop that served as my home, and took a seat. "Agent Cain has yet to use any of the normal methods to signal that he is alive and well, and our normal spy network has yet to find any evidence that he was captured."

I nodded along, slowly putting together a barebones picture of what might have gone down. "You have any details that I can use? What exactly happened, anyway?"

Janus gave a slight grunt of assent. " I can tell you that much, at least, as it was connected to you." He stopped a moment to collect his thoughts, then continued."What do you know of the current investigation?"

I shrugged. "Not much, really. From what I understand the investigation is stalled out for lack of any real leads or obvious culprits."

Janus nodded. "Close enough. What we have managed to find out is that one of the houses is potentially compromised, which one and to what level we're not sure, by an unknown third party. This faction appears to be the driving force behind the attacks.

"What complicates matters is that there is another faction involved. And they may have screwed everyone."

I blinked. I'd expected a crock of bullshit and shadowrunning shit, not someone flipping the table.

"We have no clue who they are, what they want, or why they chose to get involved. All we know is that they exist." Janus let out an annoyed sigh. "And quite frankly, it is pissing most of us off."

Yeah, I can see that being the bane of a lot of planning. Problem is, it left a lot of questions in the air. For example…

"And how exactly did Harry get caught up in this shit anyway? I thought he was doing rear-line work, more as an analyst and processor than anything that close. Why the hell was he even in a position to get got?"

Janus shrugged. "He was in a defended location. It's what makes this whole incident weird as all hell. We still have the raw information, nothing got lost, but for some reason he appeared to be a target of the actions that day, along with a copy of the intelligence that he was working through. We still do not know WHY."

Well shit.

"So do you have any way of at least confirming that he's even still alive, then? Some kind of beacon, maybe? Or even a vox signal to home in on?" I was reaching for straws asking this, but any port in a storm...and for some reason my trap senses were tingling…

Janus' reply was not encouraging. "We don't, really. All we have is a general timeframe of where he was and where he could be given the normal movement channels available. It isn't much, but we used it to secure all of the likely routes out of the area. Hopefully this keeps our mystery aggressors occupied long enough for us to catch a lead."

I stopped myself from replying right away as I crunched at the problem. Missing operative, no clue as to location, all normal means of tracing him are lost. Likely still in a preset area or areas, and is prevented from moving out of said area through monitoring of the exits.

Two major problems: unknown capability of aggressor, and unknown operations area of the same. Because we don;t know what they can do, we have no way of knowing if our planning and strategy is effective until already in the field. Because we don't know their operations area, we have no way of being sure that the enemy is actually contained and not getting clear with our missing VIP his was going to be rough...but I have to plan around it.

"Alright, I think I might be able to lend a hand, but I'm gonna need some things." I began. "First, I need several auspex scanners, preferably handheld but if you can get some of the stronger ones that works too. Second, I'll need around 48 hours to get ready. After that we're going to do a search and rescue...and possibly a search and destroy while we're at it, if this threat turns out to be bad news. Any objections to my plan so far?"
Janus shook his head. "None on my end, although getting that many auspex on short notice might be a bit difficult. I'll see what I can get going. As for you being in the search, while I cannot directly prevent you from involving yourself, I would strongly recommend you sit this one out. Don't want to lose another one of our guys to this mess."

Huh. I was touched that they considered me as one of them. All the more reason for me to not sit back and stay idle.

"I appreciate the gesture, but not happening. Where I'm from, we take care of our own."

Janus could only give me a solemn nod at that statement, before leaving to begin his preparations.

---

Alrighty then. I had 48 hours to put together something that could not only find Harry, but stand against whatever crazy BS managed to get the drop on him in the first place. This meant that I had to take the kid gloves off and go to town on everything that I had access to, getting as much ready as possible in order to ensure the maximum chance for success. That meant I needed to triage all of my projects and tech, just to see what I could get out the door on short notice.

Another brief sensation caught my attention. It would seem that I had some new toys to play wi--oh dear god.

So, Remember how I was talking about the whole triage of projects, needing to prioritize what would get out the door fastest?

Yeah, that's gone now.

Because I had just picked up what by all rights looked like a goddamn tinker ability from Worm. The same Worm tinkers known for being stupidly fast in construction using what amounts to PAPERCLIPS to create weapons of mass destruction. That was bad enough on its own, but the specialization I had received was just outright devastating.

Miniaturization and Efficiency.

Best part? No limits, no caps, no black boxing, and no weird pulls to do stupid things. Just a massively broken power that would let me build fusion reactors the size of watch batteries with all of the output. To start.

In retrospect, that other ability to increase nearly every aspect of anything I built by a flat 15-20% across the board was very paltry. Even the minor boosts to durability and efficiency were outperformed by my other abilities...

Oh, and I also had the theoretical data on Tau energetics and plasma tech. So there was that too.

But that big part? That meant that the capacitor project just got a massive break added to it. I might even be able to get around whatever stupid limitation was holding me back before. And then?

I would equip my frame, and set out to find my friend.

And woe betide anyone who stood in my way.

---

In the end, I stuck with the basics instead of going full ham, keeping it simple while still allowing for some tricks up my sleeve if needed.

Janus had managed to come through in providing the auspex units with shocking speed. I then used them as a basis for my own custom scanner system, primarily intended to be upgradeable in the long term but for now just a smaller and slightly more efficient unit for Thoth to integrate.

Weapons wise, I was sticking to the classics, in the form of some lasguns that had the power output boosted, and a few slugthrowers of various calibers added into the mix for variety, all integrated into Thoth as part of a basic weapons compliment.. I considered pushing into the new areas provided by access to the Tau energetics, but decided against it due to time constraints.

Similarly, I didn't really do much with my limited knowledge of photon technology beyond building a basic photon rifle to use as Thoth's primary armament. I had considered going for a photon launcher, but decided against it due to lack of prep time in learning how to use it properly.

Even the breakthrough potential that I had available to me in the magic capacitor project was set aside in order to simply improve upon what was already there instead of throwing new shit into the mix...the result being a significantly streamlined and optimized 16-core Operations Orb waiting for my use as an emergency measure should I need it. In fact it was even more streamlined than it should have been, considering my skills and abilities.

Guess the stereotypical German Engineering is paying dividends after all.

As for my "mundane" gear, I had my usual complement of Alliance N7 gear, now reworked and optimized for the kind of close-in work that was likely to occur here. I had FINALLY decided to give my omni-tool another rework, mostly to streamline what was already there rather than add new equipment or programs to the gear itself, and had linked it to one of the refurbished auspex units that I would be using along with the search party. With any luck I would be able to use this to process the incoming data faster and "see" around any likely interference that we might come across. Considering our search area came dangerously close to the underhive proper, interference was likely.

I had also managed to get the kinetic barrier modules set up in a way that didn't require my armor to function, meaning that I could wear imperial standard stuff and not stand out like a goddamn sore thumb. With that accomplished, I tossed the Armor into Thoth's storage for him to integrate whenever he felt like it.

One very notable improvement to my gear was my Eagle heavy pistol. After giving it a very thorough inspection and maintenance, I had managed to improve it's workings to a surprising degree, especially since I didn't actually do a rebuild of the weapon itself, Just a disassembly for maintenance.

These perks of mine are bullshit. Really.

That took care of the tech side, and had barely taken a day.

The rest of that time was spent on any and all forms of information gathering, ELINT operations, and general planning for the op than anything else. Yes, I could have spent more time tinkering with the tech, getting more gains and better returns, but it was completely and utterly wasteful in the time frames involved.

Technology may indeed win the day, but only because of those who wielded it. And I would rather use what I had to maximum effect than bring in completely new and unfamiliar stuff and pray the edge holds. Skill trumps most things, after all.

But even with all of the preparations, all the gear, all the psyching up possible, nothing could prepare you for what would come once things got started. No operations plan in history has ever survived contact with the enemy, and this one would be no different.

And at last, the time had come, and the search team was assembled at the rally point, an old factory of some sort or another, long since abandoned due to the deteriorating conditions from what I could see.

The search team was a mixed lot, and seemed to pull a bit from everyone and everything that was available at the time, from low-level gangers with improvised armor (if any) and basic weaponry, all the way up to what I would guess were Van Saar officers or at least superiors of come kind, given the more advanced armor rigs and higher-end weapons. (one of them even had a weird shield made out of an odd energy field, probably a form of plasma. I reminded myself to get a sample later to reverse-engineer)

One of the leadership types spoke up once it appeared that everyone had arrived. "Welcome, one and all. We're here today for a search team to locate one of our own...and to deliver vengeance upon those who dared to strike against us.

"We will be doing a coordinated sweep of the area, with the intention of either flushing out our prey or locating the hole that they are hiding in. Handheld auspex units will be provided to each team to assist in the search. Our objective is to locate and either retrieve our comrade, or confirm his death at the hands of our enemies. Killing said enemies is secondary, but highly encouraged.

"Any questions so far?"

Shocking to me, there were none. My mental estimate of the competence of the locals raised itself another notch as the leader, who I was now designating in my mind as a Sergeant, continued.

"Alright then. The teams are pre-assigned, with each of you going to be running with your normal crew plus one of my boys here," He motioned to the well-equipped group, "as backup and a bit of stiffening. Before you complain," and there were already some of the groups starting to grumble about it, silenced for a moment as he shifted tacks, "this is not a mark on the ability and competence of your people, this is instead a statement of just how seriously the higher ups are taking this. I don't think I need to elaborate any further than that."

Again, much to my surprise, there was no need to elaborate any further for them, although this time it was for more obvious reasons. The potential to gain favor with the brass was always tempting to those who were unaware of just how mercurial that attention was. It could just as easily turn bad as be good.

"If there are no further questions, let's get started."

---

I ended up "assigned" to the command group of this little operation, likely a move to keep an eye on the low-level VIP more than anything else. I didn't fight the issue, even though I would have had a better chance out on the front lines. (I'd thought about sidling in with one of the reserve teams, but decided against it for the time being.)

Instead, I used the assignment to more or less take control control of the sensor feeds being relayed from the auspex units the teams were carrying around, using it to create a composite picture of the area we were in. (the operators of said net did not mind in the slightest, as the setup they intended to use had certain flaws to it that my setup avoided)

And the results of the initial scan were not promising.

Despite being an old factory, the place was an absolute warren of tunnels both old and new, some seeming to be old waste tunnels leading off to one of the processing plants, others possibly being piped to the outside to join the rest of the filth that usually built up outside of longstanding hive cities. Add in the fact that we were extremely close to the structural layer separating the hive proper from the "true" underhive and it created a nightmare situation where anything and everything could be hidden within. And even with the limited improvements that I had made to the auspex units as part of the refurbishing I'd performed, they still could not penetrate through all of that ferrocrete, meaning that searching the tunnels had to be done manually. This was quickly turning into a recipe for disaster.

Which is why I'm still sitting here tense as all hell, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and equally surprised that it hasn't actually done so yet.

The teams were using relays for both comms and sensor data to be passed back up to the base station, so there was that much, at least.didn't stop me from being paranoid as all hell, though.

The teams were encountering very minimal resistance as they progressed, and all of it currently from the "wildlife" of the hive proper instead of any organized resistance. I was concerned that we might have had the wrong place, but the Sergeant assured me that this was the place.

Still, something had me on edge. I didn't like this one bit. Thoth seemed to agree, as he was straining constantly at the seams, trying to badger me into letting him send out an active ping, which I kept denying, mostly on grounds of EMCON, but also so that we didn't look odd with having advanced scanning gear in the area with no obvious source to the auspices currently in use.

What I did do, however, was direct some of Thoth's attention to upgrading our passive scanning abilities. I did not want to get ganked because I didn't see the asshole coming. So far, there was nothing new under the Hive, but if my hunch played out, that would be changing soon.

I was sorely tempted to deploy a few drones from my omnitool, but I held off, just in case. The drones themselves wouldn't draw more than a curious eye from some of these guys, but it was best to keep a potential trump card unknown, and thus available, just in case.

So all that I could do was wait, and keep the data streams coming so that the command team had all the info they needed to make a decision, should one become necessary.

I decided to start the check-ins early, just to assuage my paranoia.

"Team one, check in".

"Team one here, nothing so far."

"Team two, check in."

"Team two, nothing to report."

The same responses kept coming through. No new information, all quiet, grumbling about the lack of action. It was kind of nostalgic, in a weird way.

"Team twelve, check in."

"..."

Well then, I guess it's starting.

On reflex, I checked team twelve's last known position, a series of what looked like access shafts to an even older factory complex that had been buried as the hive continued to grow. None of the area appeared on any of the maps I had available to me, so I was more or less blind in topography for the area beyond what we had mapped in our sweeping process..

"Team twelve, check in."

More silence. I started backtracking the routes that they would have to have taken to get there, and didn't see any connecting tunnels or anything that would have allowed for something like an ambush, at least not a traditional one at any rate. Concerned, I double checked the feed from their auspex, and the current reading was nothing out of the ordinary.

My paranoia spiked yet again, and I found myself fighting against an adrenaline surge. Need to think back to training. When in doubt, put more eyes on it.

"All teams, team twelve is unresponsive. Require visual check on last known location."

The Sergeant glanced at me with an odd look on his face. I ignored him as I used the remote link to reset team twelve's auspex to try to get a better look at the situation.

"This is team ten. We are moving to investigate." "Team eight, same."

Auspex still showed clear, even with me having just reset the unit remotely. What the hell? If there was a clear board, then why weren't they responding?

I absently fingered my Eagle as I continued to try and tickle answers out of the auspex relay…

"Understood. Be advised, auspex twelve shows clear. Be on the lookout for gas or bad air pockets." This got me another look from the Sergeant, which I again ignored.

"Roger." "Understood."

I grimaced even as I mind whirled. Because of the way the tunnels and other warrens were set up, we were deliberately limiting the use of active scanners to extremely short range stuff, only good for doing a detailed scan on a given room or section of tunnel than anything major. This was done to reduce the amount of backscatter and interference caused by our own units as we did our sweep and clear, and also to limit the potential exposure to any threat receivers set up inside of the tunnels proper. Not that I thought that would be the case, but the Sergeant insisted when I questioned him about it, so I didn't push the issue.

I was beginning to think I should have pushed harder.

The teams eight and ten were approaching the last known position of team twelve at a rather rapid pace now, and would be there in less than a minute. I was hoping that it was just a pocket of bad air or something similar that caused this breakdown, because if it wasn't…

Another hunch, this one fueled by a combination of bitter experience and rampant paranoia, prompted me to switch the auspex of team twelve to active mode for a brief ping of the surroundings, an action the sergeant noticed and attempted to stop.

His rebuke died on his lips as we beheld the sheer mass of contacts around the area, none of which I could resolve properly.

At almost the exact same time, the two teams reached the location.

I already knew what was going to happen before it started, and there was nothing that I could do to stop it.

Didn't mean I couldn't get as much intel as possible from the event, though.

"This is team ten, reporting in! We are engaged by...I don't know what the hell these things are! But they're everywhere!! Falling back!"

"All teams, contact at tunnel intersection DA33-12, last known location of team twelve. Teams eight and ten are engaged. Stand by for further instructions."

At least I could warn everybody else that it had finally dropped in the pot. I glanced at the Sergeant for any further commands, and found him staring intently at the sensor displays. Did he know something?

Movement on the boards drew my attention back to the situation in progress.

I watched as the teams began to pull back from the damned killbox that was now team twelve's apparent grave…and felt a sudden spike of unease. There was something I was missing.

I took a moment to glance around at my environment, and saw nothing that was out of place...for the moment. Still, that wary feeling refused to leave me.

The teams were now making their way back up to one of the main junctures of the tunnels in an unorthodox but quite effective fighting retreat, and actually doing DAMNED good at reaping a toll on their would-be ambushers. If the limited radio traffic was any indication, then they had yet to actually lose a man to the assault.

Even with the "good" news, I couldn't shake the feeling of something being dangerously off. I glanced around again, just to be sure.

"Team eight, reporting. We've made it to the main junction for this area. Requesting backup immediately!"

The Sergeant had apparently given an order out when I wasn't paying attention, as one of the reserve teams was already headed for the tunnel junction that we had identified prior. A quick glance showed that this was one of the "safe" corridors, with only a small number of ways in or out, of which only two could not be monitored from the "surface". Despite the minimal preparations for this raid, there was a bit more of the competence flowing around, as there was a pretty solid choke point set up for the path back to the base camp.

Teams eight and ten used the fortifications and it's defenders to maximum advantage, gunning down wave after wave of..something or another. I still couldn't resolve anything from the auspex.

The sounds of combat echoed up the tunnel, mostly the din of automatic weapons fire and the alien screams of whatever creatures may have been down there with those men. And even as tense as I was, I had a duty right here and now to provide as much accurate data as possible so as to allow them to get out of that shitstorm alive.

Still, that paranoia was only getting stronger and stronger, some back corner of my mind screaming at me to pay attention before I got killed. I took yet another look around, and saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary at all. I turned back to my board to pre--

What the fuck!?!

I replayed the last ten seconds of memories back in my head.

I felt paranoid about something. I looked around, checking my environment, and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

In the middle of an impromptu base camp for a search team with reported hostiles.

In the middle of a high alert.

In the dead smack middle of an area where NOTHING is normal..

Mental Attack.

It was the only explanation, really. Someone had sicced a psyker onto us, and was doing a damned good job of keeping us distracted from noticing them doing whatever they wanted. There WAS, however, one major problem.

I had Thoth. And he was not affected by whatever this shit was.

I finally let my core free to scan as he pleased.

The sensor pulse sent out was simultaneously stupidly powerful as it was tightly controlled, sending up a scan bubble only along the "surface" axes. Still lit up the passive-mode auspices something fierce, though.

I would have laughed at it, but we had far bigger concerns at the moment,

Namely that we were surrounded by some kind of humanoid shapes, and from the movements and postures, they were not friendly.

The odd part was that they were mostly female, though. And as far as I knew, only House Escher ran with gang compositions like that. Which begged a very important question: why the hell was house Escher involved in this shit?

There was also the far, far more important question of how the hell were WE going to make it out of this mess, but I thought I had a workable plan on that front. I would just need to time things just right…

I kept at it with the sensor board, doing my best to get a solid read on whatever the hell that team ten was fighting down there, all the while setting up my improvised counter-ambush.

Step one: tell someone other than yourself.

I waved the Sergeant over to the sensor boards as I continued to monitor the situation. "Sarge, we got these thingies here, here, here, and here, trying to do something stupid and slick with the boys down there. Might need you to send some more backup."

I then whispered the next part under my breath, but still loud enough for Sarge to hear."We are being surrounded by an unknown force, attempting a classic ambush, need to get ready asap."

The Sergeant nodded, and then turned and briskly walked away, grabbing one of his Corporals as he did so. I focused back on the sensor screen, directing Thoth to monitor the real-world situation in case he had to act.

Team ten was still holding their own, as was team eight. But there was another horde of whatever those weird things were rushing down the tunnels like a living swarm, and from appearances they cared not for what stood between them and their meal.

A second point began to bug me: these things are dropping like flies. Why the hell did team twelve go dark?

Our would-be ambushers were almost ready, from what it looked like. We needed--

I moved. No thought, no hesitation, nothing but ACTION. One moment I was there, the next I had completely vacated the space where I once was, having dived for cover completely without thinking.

The multiple lasbolts hitting RIGHT where I would have been standing not even a mere second ago convinced me that I had made the right call..

It did confirm that I was something of a priority target for whoever these people were. Either that or the comms gear and electronics that had been set up for our use. I quickly glanced over to where the Sergeant was located...only to see a pair of shots connect with deadly accuracy, leaving behind only a rapidly cooling corpse.

...OR they could be targeting the apparent and obvious leadership…

Fortunately for our defense, the newly created deader was not the Sergeant, but one of his minions, likely acting as a runner for the news and battle plan. The bad part was that we had been caught in a conflux of the laws of attack, namely that we were being attacked both when the enemy was ready to do so...and when we were not ready to defend.

I really wanted to try and whip up a defense, but whoever the fuckers on the las were had some downright disgusting aim, punishing even the slightest misstep with terrifying ease. I needed to try and get some counter-fire on those bastards so that the rest of the crew could actually defend themselves before the main push of that ambush force comes in.

I heard the Sergeant shouting orders above the din of battle. Seems he'd had the same idea, and was using his team of heavies to shield from the las fire while trying to locate the firing position. From a quick glance (that nearly got my head taken off), he was not having much in the way of any fortune. We needed some way to break the logjam we were in, or we were all going to die.

A primal scream echoed all around us.

I quickly turned to the source of the noise, almost directly across from the current ambush forces, and saw something downright terrifying. It was something grotesque, a mockery of the human form, it was simply...Alien.

Nevermind that the damned thing looked like a fucking Xenomorph to begin with.

Worse, it had brought buddies, four in all, for a grand total of five. And they did not look happy. At all.

As if things weren't already bad enough, I heard over the vox channels that the search teams were getting HAMMERED by something down in the tunnels and were either doing fighting retreats or were pinned down at the nearest defensible location and trading fire. If what I was hearing from the garbled messages was correct, a group of whatever those subterranean things were had broken loose and were on the way to the "surface" area.

FAST.

And we had maybe ten guys up here in fighting condition. Maybe eleven, if I could get to that--no, ten. Fucking sniper bitch…

I needed another option to get us out of here in one piece, or we were all going to die here.

---

Again, Difficult chapter. I'm splitting it into two chapters for that reason.

Spoiler: perks for htis chapter (so far)

-Fun in the Sun (Warhammer 40k - T'au Empire) (100CP)
Plasma, radiation, and antimatter are all similar in that they relate to exotic and high energy states of matter, whether it is stellar mass or individual particles of subatomic size. You now are a master of T'au technology as it relates to manipulating these high-energy states of matter and the physics that underpin them.

-German Engineering (Smash Up) (200CP)
Everything you build seems just a bit more. More durable, more efficient, more precise. Call it a 10-20% difference across the board?

-Miniaturization/Efficiency (Worm) (400CP)
You can miniaturize anything down to levels that any sane man would consider impossible. A fusion reactor the size of a watch battery would be the absolute minimum of what you are capable of, and you'd be able to make it far smaller than that. Your power also makes you a master of technological efficiency, anything you make needing barely any energy to run compared to what it should and continue to do so for a very long time. These specialties also make you a master of nanotechnology and similar pursuits. Of course you aren't barred from building something big like a giant robot, just that it'll be impossibly efficient and crammed full of more weapons and subsystems then should be possible

 

[TwilightHakumei]

Wow this new perks is a nice boost and the MC doesn't have protection against Pyskers?

 

[Slider Zero]

a quick author note: Perks will not be rolled for next posting as it is technically still a part of chapter 6. Perks will be rolled normally for chapter 7 using combined word count of all 6-x chapters.

 

[Cheetored20]

Oh boy, I'm guessing these are gene stealers? Don't really know Warhammer lore so I'm just going to say I like the way this is going storytelling wise. Not mission wise tho, really puts meaning into no plan survive contact with the enemy.

 

[Aalinaco]

quickly turned to the source of the noise, almost directly across from the current ambush forces, and saw something downright terrifying. It was something grotesque, a mockery of the human form, it was simply...Alien.

Click to shrink...

...tyranids...?

 

[Slug2448]

Oh boy, I'm guessing these are gene stealers? Don't really know Warhammer lore so I'm just going to say I like the way this is going storytelling wise. Not mission wise tho, really puts meaning into no plan survive contact with the enemy.

Click to shrink...

yep right on the nose

 

[stads]

and psykers those pesky things will be interesting to see what the mc can pull off to get alive out there
nice perks should help build better tech

 

[Trek]

Forget the teams, mc needs to figure out a way to get out of this shit himself first. Gene stealers are attacking, mc cant afford to waste effort on trying to save those strangers, he is not strong enough yet, bail out and do it fast.

Working for others, dealing with someone else's enemies for a pittance scrap, this is what mc is doing right now. He really needs to cut these connections and leave or set up his own organization. Being a subordinate in 40k is not a good deal.

On the other hand really good rolls this chapter, that worm power is so broken at the high end, it will be glorious.

He should disassemble and rebuild his core when he gets the time too, those new perks applying to it would give dividends.

 

[TwilightHakumei]

Snip

Click to shrink...

He cant defeat the Genestealers with a Valkyrie Core? as I was under impression of standard Impeller Field Strength is roughly equal to Titan-Class Void Shield. He should be safe and capable of escaping and the problem is the firepower and if the Valkyrie Core comes with a standard Valkyrie Core weaponry it should be fine killing an army or so of Genestealers unless its a full-blown invasion.

 

[abercrombie fizzwidget]

Another brief sensation caught my attention. It would seem that I had some new toys to play wi--oh dear god.

So, Remember how I was talking about the whole triage of projects, needing to prioritize what would get out the door fastest?

Yeah, that's gone now.

Because I had just picked up what by all rights looked like a goddamn tinker ability from Worm. The same Worm tinkers known for being stupidly fast in construction using what amounts to PAPERCLIPS to create weapons of mass destruction.

Click to shrink...

I feel the need to mention that that'd primarily Resource or Magi Tinkers that can get away with shit like that. Trainwreck, being both, is a good example of what I'm talking about.

Miniaturization and Efficiency.

Best part? No limits, no caps, no black boxing, and no weird pulls to do stupid things. Just a massively broken power that would let me build fusion reactors the size of watch batteries with all of the output. To start.

Click to shrink...

Oh hey I was just thinking about how Digi-weapon technology was required for Baleful Gaze eye lasers.

Weapons wise, I was sticking to the classics, in the form of some lasguns that had the power output boosted, and a few slugthrowers of various calibers added into the mix for variety, all integrated into Thoth as part of a basic weapons compliment.. I considered pushing into the new areas provided by access to the Tau energetics, but decided against it due to time constraints.

Click to shrink...

It'd probably have been possible to make a lot of the parts of the suspension field based fabricators, like the Mass Effect tech, pull double duty for some rail-guns. That and some plasma weapons since they use magnetic packets of plasma.

Similarly, I didn't really do much with my limited knowledge of photon technology beyond building a basic photon rifle to use as Thoth's primary armament. I had considered going for a photon launcher, but decided against it due to lack of prep time in learning how to use it properly.

Click to shrink...

It'd probably be possible to connect some Photon Technology modules to some las-weapons and plasma weapons to convert them into something with a bit more kick then they'd normally have without rendering them unusable without them or needing to make a whole dedicated Photon Weapon.

Even the breakthrough potential that I had available to me in the magic capacitor project was set aside in order to simply improve upon what was already there instead of throwing new shit into the mix...the result being a significantly streamlined and optimized 16-core Operations Orb waiting for my use as an emergency measure should I need it. In fact it was even more streamlined than it should have been, considering my skills and abilities.

Guess the stereotypical German Engineering is paying dividends after all.

Click to shrink...

Could probably have made that into a spell-gun module as well without too much trouble but whatever.

The search team was a mixed lot, and seemed to pull a bit from everyone and everything that was available at the time, from low-level gangers with improvised armor (if any) and basic weaponry, all the way up to what I would guess were Van Saar officers or at least superiors of come kind, given the more advanced armor rigs and higher-end weapons. (one of them even had a weird shield made out of an odd energy field, probably a form of plasma. I reminded myself to get a sample later to reverse-engineer)

Click to shrink...

Probably a good idea to flash-forge some quick carbide equipment for the less well off of the group. Shouldn't be too hard. Even if it'd just be equivalent to riot shields and whatnot it'd probably be a improvement.

Namely that we were surrounded by some kind of humanoid shapes, and from the movements and postures, they were not friendly.

The odd part was that they were mostly female, though. And as far as I knew, only House Escher ran with gang compositions like that. Which begged a very important question: why the hell was house Escher involved in this shit?

Click to shrink...

A primal scream echoed all around us.

I quickly turned to the source of the noise, almost directly across from the current ambush forces, and saw something downright terrifying. It was something grotesque, a mockery of the human form, it was simply...Alien.

Nevermind that the damned thing looked like a fucking Xenomorph to begin with.

Worse, it had brought buddies, four in all, for a grand total of five. And they did not look happy. At all.

Click to shrink...

Ah. Tyranids. Always fun.

It makes sense that they'd be suitable to host a Gene Stealer Cult. They apparently can't get their genes to play nicely with a Y Chromosome.

Either way I can definitely see them being taken in to clone some good minions. Both the Escher people for some gene-stock, once the problem with how they interact with Y Chromosomes has been properly mitigated, and the Gene Stealer Hybrids once their gene expression and phychic networking is properly regulated.

Odd that they managed to get out of the Necromunda Secondary Hive though.

As if things weren't already bad enough, I heard over the vox channels that the search teams were getting HAMMERED by something down in the tunnels and were either doing fighting retreats or were pinned down at the nearest defensible location and trading fire. If what I was hearing from the garbled messages was correct, a group of whatever those subterranean things were had broken loose and were on the way to the "surface" area.

FAST.

And we had maybe ten guys up here in fighting condition. Maybe eleven, if I could get to that--no, ten. Fucking sniper bitch…

I needed another option to get us out of here in one piece, or we were all going to die here.

Click to shrink...

Well if worst comes to worst both Las-weapon Batteries and Operation Orbs are able to be detonated to magnificent result. That and a good solid Omni-shield would probably be good at charging toward the ranged units.

For that matter I can't imagine why he wouldn't make a miniaturized giant Omni-tool, like a lazcannon digi-weapon, or a array of smaller ones to hand out to form a solid shield-wall so he should be able to charge into position without getting shot.

This is what he gets for going off half-cocked though. He should have had enough las-weapons and spell-guns to make a firing line blush and a few plasma blades while he was at it. Like just wings worth of the stuff. Both blades and guns.

The Psyker effect was a bit unexpected, especially since he's meant to be post-human in terms of intelligence, but it's reasonable to not expect it. Not quite as reasonable for his AI to not have a override when his judgement is compromised. Especially since it's meant to be scanning his brain.

Finally it'd probably be a good idea for him to have some biotic nanotech at some point. Biotic abilities would probably be somewhat helpful.



On a less combative subject though it'd probably be a good idea to set up some miniature stellarators at some point along with some farms. Fresh produce is probably rare and valuable in the Hives. Plus being a source of employment and goods would probably provide a lot of soft power.

Relatedly he can probably make a body-double able to provide all of the services that he promised in return for protection and resources while he moves on to set up other things and gather resources from elsewhere. Something like a fusion reactor powering some elecrochemical synthesizer nanomachines. Maybe making some plants switch from photosynthesis to electrosynthesis using some nanomachines and electromagnetic fields and have some plants or fungi turn some pollution into raw chemicals.

 

[Trek]

He cant defeat the Genestealers with a Valkyrie Core? as I was under impression of standard Impeller Field Strength is roughly equal to Titan-Class Void Shield. He should be safe and capable of escaping and the problem is the firepower and if the Valkyrie Core comes with a standard Valkyrie Core weaponry it should be fine killing an army or so of Genestealers unless its a full-blown invasion.

Click to shrink...

He can take on one sure, but what about 20 or 30 who have him surrounded?

The main issue is he has yet to update his core with all his new tech which could melt even armies, he only has basic stuff right now. If I remember right his core didn't come with the standard weaponry, the only weapons it has is the ones mc added to it this chapter.

Even all that aside if he goes all out he will be revealing all this tech to all the strangers he is helping and thus to the corrupt top brass.

 

[TwilightHakumei]

He can take on one sure, but what about 20 or 30 who have him surrounded?

The main issue is he has yet to update his core with all his new tech which could melt even armies, he only has basic stuff right now. If I remember right his core didn't come with the standard weaponry, the only weapons it has is the ones mc added to it this chapter.

Even all that aside if he goes all out he will be revealing all this tech to all the strangers he is helping and thus to the corrupt top brass.

Click to shrink...

Damn you made me read it again, no matter.

Even with theirs 20 or 100 doesn't matter since the Valkyrie Core is now upgraded it won't be strange to find its Impeller Field to rival a Starship-Grade Void Shield by now making it nearly impossible for the Genestealers to damage him. With the improvements of the Computation Orb having a 16 Core should be enough to enhanced the MC's N7 Eagle Heavy Pistol bullets with Buff-Upped Artillery Shots formula would make Heavy Bolter look inferior to it. The Genestealers can't kill him but the MC can kill a Genestealers its only a matter if his willing to reveal his tech to others.

 

[Trek]

Damn you made me read it again, no matter.

Even with theirs 20 or 100 doesn't matter since the Valkyrie Core is now upgraded it won't be strange to find its Impeller Field to rival a Starship-Grade Void Shield by now making it nearly impossible for the Genestealers to damage him. With the improvements of the Computation Orb having a 16 Core should be enough to enhanced the MC's N7 Eagle Heavy Pistol bullets with Buff-Upped Artillery Shots formula would make Heavy Bolter look inferior to it. The Genestealers can't kill him but the MC can kill a Genestealers its only a matter if his willing to reveal his tech to others.

Click to shrink...

Hope he is smart enough to bail and get away before anyone can take action and try to steal his tech after this encounter.

The choice is escape and keep your secrets or save the stangers and get hunted down so that others can loot your tech.

 

[Engineseer]

The Genestealers can't kill him but the MC can kill a Genestealers its only a matter if his willing to reveal his tech to others

Click to shrink...

It depends on the Psyker psy rating
be it a Magus ( Gnestealer hybrid who develop as a psyker or the Patriarch (Or the nightmare scenario where they have a Zoanthrope with them )
The higher level psy powers are particularly op

 

[TwilightHakumei]

It depends on the Psyker psy rating
be it a Magus ( Gnestealer hybrid who develop as a psyker or the Patriarch (Or the nightmare scenario where they have a Zoanthrope with them )
The higher level psy powers are particularly op

Click to shrink...

It also depends as the MC is practically Immune right now while we don't know the type of the Genestealer his facing but if the MC's Shield/Barrier/Field strength translate to immunity to Psyker Powers only the Alpha or Alpha Plus Psyker is a threat to the MC considering how Bullshit the Impeller Fields of a Valkyrie Core at its base and with the upgrades? yeah Genestealer would not be a problem even its a Genestealer Patriarch.

 

[Cheetored20]

Hope he is smart enough to bail and get away before anyone can take action and try to steal his tech after this encounter.

The choice is escape and keep your secrets or save the stangers and get hunted down so that others can loot your tech.

Click to shrink...

Funny thing is his tech can't be stollen because it's in the valkirie core.

 

[012345]

From a quick glance (that nearly got my head taken off)

Click to shrink...

That one is wierd. Like isnt his Valk Core equiped with sensors and it is jacked into his brain(for weeks even)? Shouldnt he have perfect awareness of whats going around him 360 degress without needing even to get out of cover?

 

[Cheetored20]

That one is wierd. Like isnt his Valk Core equiped with sensors and it is jacked into his brain(for weeks even)? Shouldnt he have perfect awareness of whats going around him 360 degress without needing even to get out of cover?

Click to shrink...

Active scanning is off....also valkiries tend to doge by a hair because of efficiency reasons.