Herald of the Stars: Chapter Three Hundred and One

Alpia, Heralds, Astartes, and Sororitas, board my personal shuttle and stow their gear. My Class 3 D-POT is a little different from the others as not only is it designed for diplomacy, it’s also tricked out as an escape vehicle with all the tools and data needed to restart civilization. It has a gellar field and was warded and blessed by me. With all its extra features and manufacturing, its transport capacity is much reduced at 2,000 passengers, rather than 6,000. Its vehicle capacity has also been reduced by two thirds.

How then, one might ask, do I guarantee mine and my family’s escape should the worst come to pass? Well, that’s where the Warp Gate I built into the exit of the hangar comes in handy. Normally, one can fly right through the gate and out into space. When powered, the Warp Gate takes me right next to E-SIM. It’s a scaled up version of the first gate I created when I was building and growing data structures for Navigator ritual ingredients. 

I don’t know how to make a Warp Gate that goes anywhere other than E-SIM, unfortunately. That would be super handy!

As the Vanguard Armour and Leman Russ-Es stomp and trundle towards the rear ramp, three Leman Russ stand out, being a pattern I haven’t seen before. They’re also not on my Order of Battle.

A query to the tanks’ internal systems reveals that all three are prototypes sent along for field testing that the Acquisitions & Assimilation department were hoping to sneak by me.

This really isn’t a mission for playing around and I’m tempted to send them right back out with a stern rebuke. On the other hand, getting sucked into this fight is a lesson my over eager researchers won’t soon forget.

Before I make my decision, I access all the pertinent files on the project to see what they’re actually trying to achieve.

The first thing I spot is a long abstract, or more like a rant, about how the Leman Russ-E does not follow standard naming conventions and that this Leman Russ-E Mark Ⅱ is called the Void Pattern Leman Russ Mark Ⅱ to prevent further confusion among visiting Tech-Priests. The Leman Russ-E Mark Ⅰs have all been retroactively renamed to the Void Pattern Leman Russ Mark Ⅰ by a zealous administrator in a fit of pique.

I chuckle at the reams of supporting evidence for the name change from efficiency savings in pointless meetings and case studies where good designs have been chucked out during the proposal phase due to improper names. 

Despite being somewhat silly, this administrator does have a point. The average Imperial Guard soldier does not care if their tank uses electric motors or not, or even know what they are, so distinguishing a vehicle by its drive train, rather than its purpose, like everything else is, is confusing and inefficient. Russ-E sounds more like a toy than a war machine too. I bet the rank and file of the Stellar Corps will keep calling them Russies though.

I decide to roll with the change.

The actual design brief for the Void Pattern Leman Russ Mark Ⅱ was to create a tank that is useful in void combat. The Stellar Fleet has a lot of vehicles and tank crews that don’t get deployed, or are used as general infantry, as there are few tank battles in space. This is wasteful and I do remember approving this research project, mostly because Brigid was laughing about my enthusiasm to build the ultimate tank when we live in space. 

With so much supporting evidence I am forced to admit to myself that I am just as prone to odd fixations as she is. I suspect that it has something to do with the cranial implants we use, as without a focus, one would go quite mad with the time dilation and ego splitting that we constantly undergo.

I make a note to commission a study on the link between cranial implants and eccentricity when I return.

Herald Primarus Maeve Muir of Stellar Fleet MANI put forward the initial Mark Ⅱ proposal after fighting the Necrons on Kinbriar, and Herald Primarus Domhnall Noake and Artisan Laisren Toolin of Stellar Fleet SOL took over the Mark Ⅱ project from Cybersmith Rósín Paorach when the fleet split. 

The purpose was not to have flying tanks, like the ridiculous, and fictional, Macross Variable Fighter, but rather tanks that can be deployed inside void ships, or the narrow corridors of a Hive City, and not have them be total death traps for the crew. The Void Pattern Mark Ⅰ could already function in a vacuum and this was the next logical step in the idea.

The basic premise was to remove the Mark Ⅰ’s missile launcher, and re-jig the internals so that the hollow space left behind has the connectors for multiple different modules. Basics include extra storage for fuel and ammo for long patrols, or keeping the missile launcher of the Mark Ⅰ.

There are also other big changes in the internal layout. One crew member has been replaced with a Servitor, making the tank semi-autonomous. The Servitor and crew can control the repair drones, so rather than making the drones intelligent and keeping them close to the tank, the drones can now range freely and are far cheaper to produce.

The hull has been changed to a monolithic design, all made from MOA and can be grown or printed into shape.

Not a great trade-off and it assumes that a badly damaged tank will be stripped of components and recycled, not repaired. This is at odds with some Mechanicus dogma. On the other hand, it is often more energy intensive to transport a tank to and from the battlefield than it is to deploy them once and assume you won’t get it back and build a new one.

Technically, the super-structure can be repaired, but unlike a standard Leman Russ that’s welded together in sections, it would be more time efficient to build a new Void Pattern Leman Russ than cut out and reprint the damaged sections of the super-structure.

This design choice has Brigid’s metaphorical finger prints all over it. Any excuse to use the grav-lift on Distant Sun and drop things from orbit. She finds watching stuff float, when by all reasonable measures it should be hurtling to its doom, immensely entertaining. It’s the 40K equivalent of watching a winged pig fly.

The next big change is that the sponsons have been turned into retractable ball turrets. This makes the Mark Ⅱ far easier to transport and narrows its profile when necessary. The munition swatters on all four corners of the tank have also been given the same treatment, as has the hull mounted gun at the front. An additional turret has been added on top of the main gun though it isn’t retractable like the rest of them.

The down side is that there isn’t much room for ammo, so you can only mount volkite, las, or plasma weaponry. There was enough space left over from removing the auto-loaders and most of the ammo storage to increase the size of the linear generator though, which is needed to charge all of the energy weapons. The ball turrets also have a better firing arc.

I quite like the simplicity and flexibility of solid ammunition. It is cheap and easy to tailor to the mission or target. It can also be fired in an arc for greater range like the Tau do with their rail guns. You don’t need any of that inside a Hive City or void ship though and plasma weapons can be fired indirectly if required. I also like the reduction in moving parts.

The Mark Ⅱ still has all the original extras of the Mark Ⅰ in place as well, like extra armour, smoke launchers, dozer blades, and so on. Even without the all the changes, the Mark Ⅰ was a tough tank and I expect we will continue to use it as it does have its own niche.

The last general change is that the armour has been swapped out for the design acquired from the Rogue Pattern Power armour. Between the lighter frame, lower ammo count, bigger generator, and lighter armour, the Mark Ⅱ has a slightly higher top speed of 80km per hour, rather than 70 while retaining the same, 1000km range.

The Mark Ⅱ trades tech burden for more, and more powerful guns. Hell, the default gun on top of the main turret is the same one found on the Bargest’s Rapiers, a Mark Ⅲ Marwolv Pattern Quad-linked Multi-Laser, a ‘light’ anti-armour gun that functions more like a beam weapon that, at full power can slice through several metres of ferrocrete. It’s such a ridiculous level of over-kill that it makes my old heart fight against its pacemaker.

Bola would love it, I’m sure.

The three test subjects, and their foolish volunteer crews, reach the bottom of the ramp, so I rush through the rest of the document before they get any further.

The actual innovation and design brief completion comes from three different modules that can replace the missile launcher. The first variant holds armed spider drones or other battle automata. Handy for the corridors that the tank can’t actually fit down. It’s labelled the Mark Ⅱa.

The Mark Ⅱb and Mark Ⅱc both have a micro-fusion reactor for additional power. For anyone other than the Aeldari and Necrontyr, it is a ridiculous piece of technology to put inside a tank and I immediately hate it. Then I look at what they’re actually doing with all that extra power.

The Mark Ⅱb has a mobile void shield generator in it that can project a protective bubble up to sixty metres across. Given that my troops, when using grav-skates, can run as fast as the tanks, that’s actually pretty neat and you wouldn’t need more than four Mark Ⅱb’s a company to cover a whole company’s advance.

One of the main issues we had when facing the Necrons was that they could kill us all before we even got in range. The Eldar solved this with speed. My engineering team opted for more protection. I hate the cost of the design, but I do see its necessity. Afterall, it is cheaper to build four shield tanks than replace a whole company. I can’t fault my research team for solving an existing problem that I asked them to tackle.

They’ve also prepared other designs, folding the advancements into our Chimera, Rhinos, Crassus, and even the basic trucks and bikes. So if one wanted to put a shield module inside a transport, or give them retractable ball turrets and a monolithic hull, we can now do that. Brigid has not authorised the replacement of any of our vehicles though as we’re rebuilding strike craft and many of our ground vehicles are unused.

The Mark Ⅱc swaps the Void Shield for Field Bracing, rendering the tank near immune to most infantry and crew served weapons. You’d have to break out a Volcano Cannon, a Titan mounted Mega-Bolter, or a Tyranid Psy-Lance to take them out. That, or drown them in an absurd amount of lesser weaponry to overwhelm the Field Bracing.

The chance of encountering one of these weapons is rather slim and many of my Warforged use the Field Bracing to protect their Praetorean Servitor frames. The Mark Ⅱb is better on an open field. Mark Ⅱc trades all that to make a tank an unbreakable blockade. 

Both designs have enough spare power to be fitted with repulsors or anti-grav, rather than tracks, if I wanted to compete with Belisarius Cawl’s Primaris vehicles. There are even mounting points on the hull already baked in for such an upgrade. The Mark Ⅱa, Ⅱd, and, Ⅱe doen’t have the power for it. The Ⅱd and Ⅱe being the missile and storage variants.

For now, those advanced traction connections are used on all five models to induce a mag-boot like effect so that the tanks can cling to plasteel decking and not float off if someone cuts the artificial gravity. I note, with much amusement, that at full power a Void Pattern Mark Ⅱ could climb a wall, so long as it was sufficiently ferrous and flat.

I watch the three tanks head up the ramp and say nothing. I do, however, give them a long and obvious stare. The chance of these researchers dying for their craft is significant. I am unsure if they are dedicated or ignorant.

I huff. It’s both. Definitely both.

As the last vehicle, a Gheist Mark Ⅰ Dreadnaught, gets clamped into place I stroll up the ramp. No one, other than me, knows where we’re going yet or why and I’m not going to tell them. All I’ve told my people is that we’re heading into the Warp to fight Daemons.

Not a single one of them baulked or even questioned me. Tech-Marine Balor Roan, who is leading the Barghest contingent, even had the audacity to shrug!

It is only when I replace the pilot, gently pointing out that he’s not a Navigator and therefore can’t see where he’s flying without going mad, that I realise that the Soritas and Astartes are so used to being told nothing about what they’re doing or why, that my explanation was within their expectations for an emergency deployment.

I lower the armoured shutters, and raise the ramp, cutting off my shuttle from any outside view. The hangar fills with an alarm and all remaining personnel rush for the exit. Once they’re out I initiate a lockdown, then send my codes to the Warp Gate.

With a near silent thrum, the shuttle rises a metre off the deck and the landing gear retracts. The Warp Gate snaps open and all around me the shuttle’s crew wince as we’re assaulted by the noise of a sobbing man, his cries of grief digging like needles into our minds.

A golden ripple of power moves through the shuttle, then forms a barrier around us as Alpia exerts her might upon the unwanted phenomena. We slip through the gate and into a new hangar. I turn the shuttle around so that it’s facing the exit, then set it down again.

I power down the shuttle and say, “Transition complete. We have arrived.” I skim the thoughts of those around me, then vox the whole shuttle, “No, I’m not playing a prank. We really have arrived already. Alpia, Balor, Ephrine, and Bedwyr you're with me. Everyone else stay on the shuttle. We’re going to meet a Data Guardian, the predecessor of a Machine-Spirit.”