Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 31: Warp Navigation

In the vast galaxy, if one is to undertake long-distance travel, it is inevitable to enter the Warp.

That is a realm very difficult to describe with human words. In that realm, all laws of physics are null and void, including time and space. Because of this, a journey that requires thousands of years in the materium might only take a few days in the Warp.

It is a non-three-dimensional, non-planar, and non-linear realm. Even the most learned scholars of the Adeptus Mechanicus can hardly glimpse a hint of its profundity.

It is humanity's blessing, but also humanity's curse.

Human civilization was once glorious because of it, and also on the verge of extinction because of it. If an analogy must be found, then the Warp is like a vast and boundless ocean, and what humanity has interacted with has always only been the shallow surface water.

While deeper within it, lurk horrors utterly unacceptable to reason.

Chaos Daemons. This is the Imperium's official umbrella term for those unspeakable horrors. Regardless of whether it fits reality, they have indeed plagued humanity for tens of thousands of years.

Even now, the Inquisition, the Ecclesiarchy, and the Adeptus Astartes remain vigilant against these immaterial threats.

And those most susceptible to attacks by Chaos Daemons are ships purposefully entering the Warp.

Throughout the long history of the Imperium of Man, countless ships disappear into the waves of the Warp every day. Some of these vanished ships will forever be lost in the crevices of time, while others might be ejected from the Warp at certain times, often returning to the materium as a dangerous "gift."To protect the safety of Warp navigation, the Geller field was invented in the 18th millennium. At its core is a comatose psyker. Upon activation, it forms a bubble membrane that isolates Warp power. Only within this bubble membrane can humans be spared from the intrusion of those evil forces.

But this is also not absolutely safe. Once entering the Warp, one essentially has half a foot in hell.

Because the Starfire was the Chapter's sole hope, Soshyan repeatedly ensured the proper operation of the Geller field before entering the Warp. Even after the warship activated its Warp engines, he kept the warship in a state of high alert.

There could be no mistakes on this journey.

"Chapter Master, the headcount is complete. Currently, we have a total of 12,300 human servants and 1,500 servitors. Among them, there are 8,821 technical servants and 1,000 technical servitors. Additionally, there are 8,250 armed servants, which can form four combat battalions, and 500 armed servitors. However, our small arms reserves are insufficient. They are mostly solid-projectile weapons, with only a small number of standard lasrifles."

Lothar, appointed as second-in-command, reported the Starfire's current personnel roster to Soshyan on the bridge.

"The Astropath choir currently comprises ten individuals. There are three Tech-priests, responsible for the engine room, main weapon decks, and the Geller field generator. They each have a portion of apprentices and servants, which I have not included in the count."

Soshyan's fingers tapped against the railing of the captain's dais. He was calculating and thinking.

For a strike cruiser like the Starfire, although this personnel configuration could guarantee operation, it was clearly insufficient.

The Starfire belonged to the Vanguard-class cruisers, which was also the most widely used type of strike cruiser by Space Marine Chapters. Its design emphasized thrusters and loading capacity, allowing the Vanguard-class to operate independently for long periods without resupply, but its offensive capabilities were relatively weaker.

Moreover, the Starfire's armament was of the weakest variety, having only a large lance array and macrocannons, paired with attack craft launch bays.

But even so, as a massive ship 8 kilometers long and 1.2 kilometers wide, the Starfire should in principle be manned by over a hundred thousand crew members.

But the Sable Swords had already let Soshyan take what could be taken. He couldn't be greedy and ask for more.

"Say, after we arrive at M'Khand II, will we be able to replenish a batch of manpower."

Lothar shook his head.

"Although M'Khand II is not a very important Forge World, it still falls under the jurisdiction of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The only reason we can order goods from there is because we once helped a Magos locate a certain STC fragment. After the matter was resolved, that Magos promised to provide the Chapter with equipment resupplies for two hundred years, and this is the final batch."

"Two hundred years, couldn't they gift us some menials out of sentiment."

"Chapter Master, you might not fully understand the logic of the people in the Adeptus Mechanicus yet. They only talk about exchanges, not sentiment."

"Is that so..."

After pondering for a moment, Soshyan said,

"Regardless, M'Khand II is very likely our last resupply opportunity in the near future. We must find a way to acquire as many resources as possible, be it materials or manpower."

"I don't know if that Magos is still alive now. If he's still in power, there might be a turning point."

Soshyan nodded and patted Lothar on the shoulder.

"You take charge here for now. I'll go inspect the other areas."

"Yes."

Leaving the bridge, Soshyan turned toward the aft decks, where the Space Marines lived and trained.

The Starfire was divided into three main levels. The upper deck was responsible for ship control and housing the Space Marines. The mid-deck was the weapons deck, housing the main weapon systems as well as the flight decks, where combat personnel and technical personnel also lived.

The lower decks, generally referred to as the slave decks, were mostly crowded with servitors and menials in a dark, perilous environment. They were mainly responsible for the propulsion and energy systems.

Because Space Marine voyages could sometimes be extremely long, even going a century without docking at a port, slaves and sailors would settle down and reproduce on the ships.

Many had even served for several generations, forming small families, which could be considered a major characteristic of the Imperium.

And Space Marines, under normal circumstances, would basically never set foot in the lower decks, and even rarely visited the mid-decks. They mostly had their own independent spaces.

The lighting in the aft decks was much dimmer than on the bridge. When Soshyan entered, a whirring noise arose.

A dozen hard-wired combat servitors distributed in the spacious corridor immediately aimed their weapons at him upon his entry.

The newly promoted Chapter Master ignored them and continued forward. Barely a moment later, they returned to their original postures like grotesque marionettes—the threat assessment scan was complete.

Subsequently, cloaked servants hurried over from the shadows of the hall to bow. Soshyan waved a hand, dismissing them.

This was a temporarily opened training ground. Almost all the Space Marines were training here. The current main focus of their training was hand-to-hand combat and melee.

Logically, these training sessions should be conducted under the guidance of veterans or instructors, but with no such roles left, the recruits could only train alone or with one another.

Soshyan saw two bare-chested warriors repeatedly throwing each other to the ground, while further away two soldiers were engaged in a sword-fighting bout.

He had to admit, their skills were genuinely too immature. Soshyan had envisioned how long they would survive if placed on a battlefield like the World Engine.

The resulting estimation was incredibly pessimistic.

Even more fatal, he himself lacked the confidence to instruct these recruits.

Aside from sparring with comrades, Space Marines could originally also opt to use training servitors, but the Starfire happened to lack such facilities. Soshyan could only figure out a way to get some from M'Khand II.

At this time, the training recruits also noticed the Chapter Master's presence and stopped what they were doing one after another.

"Sir!"