Chapter 31 Subspace Navigation
In the vast galaxy, if you want to carry out a long-distance voyage, you must inevitably enter the subspace.
That is a field that is difficult to describe in human words. In that field, all physical laws will fail, including time and space. Because of this, it takes thousands of years to travel in the physical world. It may only take days in the Warp.
It is a non-three-dimensional, non-planar, and non-linear field. Even the most knowledgeable mechanical teaching scholars can hardly get a glimpse of its secrets.
It is a blessing and a curse to mankind.
Human civilization has been glorious because of it, and it is also on the verge of extinction because of it. If you have to find a description, then subspace is like a vast ocean, and what humans come into contact with is always only the shallow water surface.
And in its deeper depths, there is a horror that cannot be accepted by reason.
Chaos Demons, this is the empire’s official unified name for those unspeakable horrors. Whether it is true or not, they have indeed plagued mankind for tens of thousands of years.
To this day, the Inquisition, the Ecclesiarchy, and the Adeptus Astartes are still wary of these non-physical threats.
The ones most vulnerable to attacks by Chaos Demons are ships that actively enter subspace.
In the long history of the Human Empire, countless ships will disappear into the waves of subspace every day. Some of these disappearing ships will be lost forever in the gaps of time, and some will be sent away from subspace at certain times. Space, they are often given back to the physical world as a dangerous "gift".
In order to protect the safety of subspace navigation, the Geller Stand was invented in the 18th millennium. Its core is a comatose psyker. When activated, it can form a bubble that isolates the power of the subspace. Membrane, in this bubble film human beings can be protected from the intrusion of those evil forces.
But it is not absolutely safe. Once you enter the subspace, you have essentially stepped half a foot into hell.
Because the Starfire is the only hope of the chapter, Soshyan repeatedly ensured the normal operation of Geller's position before entering the subspace. After the warship started the subspace engine, he still kept the warship on alert. state.
There is no room for error on this trip.
"Captain, we have counted the number of people. Currently we have a total of 33,672 mortal servants, 51,854 servitors, including 8,821 technical servants, 10,031 technical servitors, and 8,250 armed servants, which can form four combat battalions. There are 13,110 armed servitors, but our small arms reserves are insufficient. Most of them are live ammunition weapons and only a small number of standard laser rifles."
Lotha, who was appointed as deputy, reported the current Spark to Soshyan on the bridge. The staffing situation of the number.
"There are currently ten people in the choir and three mechanical priests, who are responsible for the engine room, main weapons deck and Geller stand generator respectively. They each have some apprentices and servants, which I did not count."< br>
Soshyan's fingers tapped on the guardrail of the captain's platform, he was calculating and thinking.
For a strike cruiser like the Starfire, although such a staffing can ensure operation, it is obviously not enough.
The Spark is a Vanguard-class cruiser, which is also the most widely used type of strike cruiser by Space Marine Chapters. Its design emphasizes propellers and loading capacity, allowing the Vanguard to operate independently for a long time without supplies. But the attack ability is relatively weak.
And the Spark's armament configuration is still the weakest, with only a large light spear array plus macro cannon, combined with the attack boat launch bay.
But even so, as a giant ship 8 kilometers long and 1.2 kilometers wide, the Spark should in principle be equipped with more than 100,000 crew members.
But the Sable Sword has already asked Soshyan to take away what he can, and it is impossible for him to push further.
"Tell me, after we arrive at Ma'kande No. 2, can we add a group of manpower."
Lothar shook his head.
“Although Ma’kande No. 2 is not a very important forging world, it is still under the jurisdiction of the Mechanicus. We can only order from there because we once helped a Mechanicus Bishop find a certain STC. Fragments, the bishop promised to provide the battle group with equipment supplies for two hundred years after the completion of the matter. This is also the last batch."
"For two hundred years, can't you give us some slave labor out of emotion? "
"Chapter Commander, you may not understand the logic of the Mechanicus. They only talk about exchange, not friendship."
"Is this so..." Sosh. After Yang thought for a moment, he said:
"In any case, Ma'Kande No. 2 is likely to be our last supply opportunity in the near future. We have to find a way to obtain as many resources as possible, whether it is materials or manpower."
< br>"I don't know if the bishop is still alive now. If he is still in office, there may be some changes."
Soshyan nodded and patted Lothar on the shoulder.
“You are responsible here first, and I will go on a tour of other areas.”
"Yes."
After leaving the bridge, Soshyan turned to the rear deck, where the Space Marines lived and trained.
The Starfire is divided into three floors. The upper deck is responsible for the control of the ship and carrying Space Marines. The middle deck is the weapons deck. The main weapons systems are there, as well as the flight deck, combat personnel and technology. People live here too.
On the lower deck, generally called the slave deck, most of the servitors and slave workers are crowded in this dark and dangerous place. They are mainly responsible for the power system and energy system.
Since the voyages of the Space Marines sometimes take very long periods of time, and they may not even dock at a port for hundreds of years, slaves and sailors settle down and live on the ships.
Many have even served for several generations, forming small families, which is also a major feature of the empire.
Under normal circumstances, Space Marines rarely set foot on the lower deck, and even rarely go to the middle deck. Most of them have their own independent space.
The light on the rear deck was darker than on the bridge, and there was a whirring noise when Soshyan entered there.
A dozen hard-wired fighter servitors, scattered in the wide hallway, immediately aimed their weapons at Soshyan as he entered.
The new Chapter Master was adept at ignoring them and advancing, and after a while they returned to their original positions like grotesque marionettes - the threat assessment scan completed.
Then cloaked servants came quickly through the shadows of the hall and bowed, and Soshyan dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
This is a temporarily opened training ground. Almost all space warriors are trained here. The current main training direction is fighting and close combat.
It stands to reason that these trainings should be conducted under the guidance of veterans or instructors, but now there is no such role. The recruits can only train alone or with each other.
Soshyan saw two shirtless warriors constantly throwing each other to the ground, while further away there were two soldiers competing in swordsmanship.
It has to be said that their skills are too immature. Soshyan imagined how long they would survive if they were put on a battlefield like the World Engine.
The results are very unsatisfactory.
The more fatal point is that he himself does not have the confidence to teach these new soldiers.
In addition to sparring with their comrades, the Space Marines could also choose to use training robots, but there happened to be no such facilities on board the Starfire. Soshyan could only find a way to use the training robots from Ma'Kande II. Get some on.
At this time, the new recruits in training also noticed the presence of the Chapter Leader and stopped what they were doing.
“Sir!”
(End of this chapter)