In the vast galaxy, if you want to make a long-distance voyage, you will inevitably have to enter subspace.
It 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, a journey that takes thousands of years in the physical world may only take a few thousand years in subspace.
Days.
It is a non-three-dimensional, non-planar, and non-linear field, and even the most knowledgeable mechanical 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 deeper inside, there is a horror that cannot be accepted by reason.
Chaos Demons, this is the empire's official unified name for those indescribable 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 most vulnerable to attacks from 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 cracks 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 film that isolates the power of subspace. In this bubble film
Only in this way can human beings be free from the intrusion of those evil forces.
But it's not absolutely safe. Once you enter subspace, you've essentially stepped half a foot into hell.
Because the Starfire was the only hope of the chapter, Soshiyan 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.
There is no room for error on this journey.
"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 there are only a small number of standard laser rifles."
Lothar, who was appointed deputy, reported to Soshyan on the bridge the current staffing situation of the Wildfire.
"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. Each of them has some apprentices and servants. I have not included them."
Soshyan tapped his fingers on the guardrail of the captain's platform, calculating and thinking.
For a strike cruiser like the Starfire, although this kind of 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 the Space Marine Chapter. 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.
Moreover, the Spark's armament configuration is still the weakest, with only a large light spear array plus macro cannon, combined with an attack boat launch bay.
But even so, as a giant ship with a length of 8 kilometers and a width of 1.2 kilometers, the Spark should in principle be equipped with more than 100,000 crew members.
But the Sable Sword has already allowed Soshyan to take away what he can, and he cannot 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 still falls under the jurisdiction of the Mechanicus. We can order from there only because we once helped a mechanical bishop find a certain STC fragment. That bishop was in
After the completion of the matter, we promised to provide the battle group with equipment supplies for two hundred years, and this is also the last batch."
"Two hundred years, can't you give us some slave labor as a gift out of emotion?"
"Chapter Commander, you may not quite understand the logic of the Mechanicus. They only talk about exchange, not friendship."
"Is this so..."
After thinking for a moment, Soshyan said:
"In any case, Ma'kande No. 2 is likely to be our last chance to resupply in the near future. We have to find a way to obtain as many resources as possible, whether it is materials or manpower."
"I don't know if that 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 controlling the ship and carrying Space Marines. The middle deck is the weapons deck, where the main weapons systems are located, including the flight deck, where combatants and technical personnel also live.
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 aquatic creatures settle down and live on the ships.
Many have even served for several generations and formed small families, which is also a major feature of the empire.
As for the Space Marines, they would rarely set foot on the lower deck under normal circumstances, 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, spread out across the wide hallway, immediately aimed their weapons at Soshyan as he entered.
The newly minted Chapter Master was adept at ignoring them and advancing, and after a while, like weird marionettes, they returned to their original positions - 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.
Logically speaking, these trainings should be conducted under the guidance of veterans or instructors, but now there is no such role. New recruits can only train alone or with each other.
Soshyan saw two shirtless warriors throwing each other to the ground, and further away, two soldiers were competing in swordsmanship.
It had to be said that their skills were 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.
What's even more fatal is that he himself doesn't have the confidence to teach these new recruits.
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 the Starfire, so Soshyan could only find a way to get some from the Ma'Kande II.
At this time, the new recruits who were training also noticed the presence of the Chapter Leader and stopped what they were doing.