Rep'ilogue
Ferrous Dominus – sector 14 sub-level C
Laboratorium C-22 : quarantine level Beta
“Halt implantation. Thish ishn’t working. The hosht tissue ish rejecting the inshertsh.”
+Acknowledged. Withdrawing article 9-731.+
+Analytic: Host cells are highly reactive to core radiation. Immunoresponse unexpected. Flesh complicates progression. Corrective: Render core inert for implantation process.+
“Infeashible. It won’t lasht long enough unpowered. The rishk ish too great.”
+Corrective: Replace additional flesh to minimize rejection proxima.+
“Alsho bad. I want to presherve ash much ash posshible.”
Crackling static filled the room.
“We’re going to have to neutralize the cell mitoshish directly. Prepare precishion particle bombardment to shection V-421.3 with halienshish load. Concentration 9.2, shpread pattern 3. Prepare rad-shcreens.”
+Tissue damage will be extensive.+
“Affirmative. But temporary. Asshuming we can get the core inshtalled properly, of courshe. A few extra daysh recovery time ish no great price to pay. Proceed.”
Solon loomed over a large, metal operating table. His right augmetic had been replaced by an array of surgical tools at the end of small servo arms and servo winches, while a series of status holoscreens surrounded his head. A half dozen Dark Techpriests ringed the platform with him, each of them either working at cogitators or leaning over the table themselves to better observe their subject.
Above the table hung an object securely held by a ceiling-mounted augmetic clamp. It was about the size and shape of a common coconut, with a gleaming gem-like exterior of bright, ruby red. Several tubes hung down from the device, some of them swinging loosely and some of them already attached to the subject of this strange surgery.
A clunking noise came from above, and the array of heavy servo arms overhead started to move. Solon scuttled backward a few steps, and then swiped at one of the holoscreens. It turned into a plane of rapidly shifting code, and he paused.
“Well that’sh shtrange. There’sh an unushual degree of data traffic right now. What hash Kaelith sho agitated?” the Warsmith wondered aloud.
He was about to connect to the noosphere feeds when a vox alert from Sliver interrupted him. It was marked as mid-priority; not enough to describe an emergency, but serious enough to clear the protocols protecting Solon from frivolous contacts while he was busy. Curious, Solon connected the link.
“Yesh Shliver, what ish it?” Solon asked, turning away from the table.
“I hope I haven’t interrupted you at an inconvenient time, Warssmith,” Sliver began, “but I bring newss.”
“Good newsh or bad newsh?”
“Good newss… and then better newss… perhapss.”
That didn’t sound quite right to Solon, and he turned back to his experiment while he spoke. “All right, sho what ish it? And doesh it have anything to do with why Kaelith ish shcreaming acrossh half the nooshphere right now?”
“The good newss, Warssmith, iss that we have recovered the landing ship that the Tau inssurgentss made off with during their gambit to flee thiss world. It hass been given over to Nurgle, incidentally, but with ssome conssecrationss and ssufficent prayer, it shall sserve again.”
“Excellent! That wash an important operating asshet!” A projector above the table started humming, and a continuous yellow beam shot down into the middle of the table. “Sho what’sh the other newsh?”
Rather than speaking, Sliver linked him to a data feed. A new holoscreen appeared, showing a vid-feed that Solon immediately recognized as coming from the Company’s orbital station. Centaur III itself was visible in the corner of the screen, but the bulk of the view was taken up by a void ship. A rather large void ship, bristling with weapons and painted blue and black.
“…… Shliver, why ish a vesshel with a delta-level quarantine docked with the shtar bashe?” Solon asked.
“The quarantine hass been… ressolved, Warssmith.” Sliver snorted. “It sseemss your equine minionss decided to do ssomething usseful while you play with your new toy. They sseem quite… proud of their conquesst. I shall leave them to you.”
“Leave who to me? What happened? Shliver?!”
Despite his questions, the vox link to Sliver terminated, and a new holoscreen opened over the orbital view. This one featured Princess Luna, standing in the interior of a void ship’s bridge. Her helmet had been withdrawn, and several drones and servitors were working in the background to clean away the collected blood and gore.
“Greetings, Warsmith! We return triumphant!” Luna cheered, stamping a hoof on the floor.
“I… wash not aware you left,” Solon admitted. “What happened? What ish thish?”
“Behold, the Omen!” Luna announced brightly. “’Tis our mighty star chariot, rescued from the throes of ceaseless orbit and its crew of fell beasts! Is it not delightful?”
Another series of screens opened up, displaying the scans of the omen’s decks.
“You… You boarded the Tau derelict?! Are you mad?!” Solon shouted. “You could have been killed! And not jusht in combat, againsht shome feral monshter, but from a lossh of core containment, or a munitorium fire, or shimply a shtatic Warp diffushion event! Do you have ANY idea how dangeroush a rift derelict ish?!”
“Nay!” Luna said firmly, much to Solon’s chagrin. “But ‘tis no matter any longer! We hast recovered a star-sailing vessel in adequate condition! And We hast done so without casualty! Equinought Squadron shalt require further repairs to their wargear, however.”
“You took Equinought Shquadron with you?!” Solon shouted, bringing up a new series of screens to check the ID signums within the Omen. “You took GAELA with you?! You absholute fool! And you brought them into the quarantine zone with no shupport jusht sho you could claim the damned ship for yourshelf?!”
Luna recoiled, surprised. “But… We art victorious!”
A hefty puff of smoke blasted from Solon’s exhaust stacks. “That… That ish quite fortunate, Princessh. But what are we shupposhed to do with thish?!” He jabbed a servo arm at the scan holoscreen, and the pincer clanked shut irritably.
Luna furrowed her brow, still confused. “Thou need do nothing. We recovered the vessel. It needs but to be disinfected, and mayhaps given colors more similar to our own.”
“Oh, really? Then who’sh going to PILOT your new ship, Princessh? Who will man itsh gunsh? Who will operate itsh augursh? Are you going to flit about the galaxy carrying the entire heap with your pshychic will? Ish there a hosht of pony crew waiting with void craft shtamped on their rearsh?!”
Luna had the grace to be embarrassed as Solon leaned in closer to the screen. Her ears flipped down, and a faint blush brightened her cheeks. “We… see thy point, Warsmith. We acted in haste, and without realizing the enormity of the task before us.” Then she straightened. “However, We believe thy assignment of crew shalt bear dividend! Is this not a mighty vessel of war, with which We may excise thine enemies from the stars?”
“It’sh quite an impresshive battlecruisher!” Solon volunteered. “If only it had a proper Warp drive rather than a worthless dive engine!”
“…… We do not comprehend thy meaning.”
“The enginesh won’t work properly, you petulant barn animal!” Solon shouted, slamming a fist on the operation table. The Techpriests flinched back, and the comms holoscreen floated closer to Solon’s face so that his visage loomed in the vid-feed. “That heap of pretentioush shcrap can’t maintain an acceptable shuperluminal shpeed! Itsh enginesh need to be completely overhauled if it’sh to leave thish shyshtem with the fleet! And asshuming that happensh, it can’t even be sheen with the resht of the fleet! Our ship patternsh are bashed on Imperium merchant vesshelsh for a reashon! We can’t fool an Imperial patrol or defenshe network with a damned Tau warship in our formation! And the munitorium! Did you even realize that we don’t have manufactorum capacity for xeno ordnance of that shcale? You can’t fit macro-cannon shellsh and plashma-ionizer coresh in Tau weaponsh batteriesh!”
Luna didn’t know what to say, clearly overwhelmed by the litany of technical issues that impeded her new space ship. And before she could muster a response, Fennin leaned in behind her and waved to the vid-screen.
“Hi! As long as we’re going over things that need to be fixed before this craft gets to go plundering booty and such, you should know that there’s a roughly 30% chance that the reactor cores are haunted. We’ve experienced two overloads and a minor containment breach that managed to slip by automated protocols. The angry cyborg lady is praying right now to try to solve the issue. I do not expect this to help.”
Solon backed away from the screen. “That’sh fine, actually. If the reactor were not daemonically posshesshed, we’d probably have to corrupt it anyway to meet the extra power requirementsh of the Warp drivesh.”
“Lovely,” Fennin deadpanned. “Also, we’ll need to fix all the bridge equipment. The horse Princess of Really Loud Shouting broke nearly all of it while purging the daemons. I had to jury-rig the comms just to keep your ships from shooting us on approach.”
Solon groaned. “Fantashtic. Anything elshe?”
Fennin laughed mirthlessly. “Of course there is. The atmospheric cycl-“ He was interrupted when a black gauntlet suddenly flicked him in the shoulder, knocking him away and out of sight. The engineer screamed in pain and shock, and then a crash came from off-screen.
“Warsmith, We confess We art quite benighted as to the myriad complications of managing a void ship!” Luna said, her voice pleading. “But We desired only to empower thy flotilla! This endeavor hath delivered a mighty boon to thine army, has it not? Dost thou not WANT the Omen to serve thy fleet?”
“I’m sure we can find a ushe for it, Princessh,” Solon said, sounding much calmer than before. “Perhapsh it can be refashioned into a defenshe orbital, or a bombardment fixture for asshailing the Orksh. But it will not sherve as your flagship. Ish that clear? The cosht ish too great and impractical.”
A long pause settled over the vox link, broken only by the loud humming of the radiation beamer.
Then Luna sniffled.
“What? You have shomething to shay?” Solon demanded.
Luna squeezed her eyes shut, and her lips trembled. “We… We were but trying to ASSIST thee!” she said as the first tears rolled down her dark blue fur.
“No you weren’t! You came to me to demand a void ship of your own BEFORE you embarked on thish damned errand!” Solon shouted back, causing the alicorn to flinch and whimper. “Shtop that! Shtop weeping!”
Luna did not stop, instead hanging her head and sobbing louder. Solon started sputtering blasts of angry Binaric Cant in response, trying to think of a means to calm the mare.
Then another voice came from off-screen. “Princess Luna! What’s the matter?! What’s going on in here?!”
Solon’s smokestacks blasted out another jet of smoke at the sound of Twilight’s voice. “All right! All right! I’ll fix it! You can have the ship! Jusht shtop!”
Luna snapped her head up immediately, blinking away her tears. “Truly? Thou shalt grant us a crew and the necessary accommodations?”
Fennin stepped in behind Luna again, giving the vid-screen an incredulous look. “You can’t be serio-“ The Iron Gage immediately clamped onto his head and shoved him away.
“Luna! Stop! What are you doing? You could kill him if you’re not careful!” Twilight complained, still out of view.
“I’ll work shomething out! Jusht don’t expect me to put everything elshe on hold to prepare it for you!” Solon fumed.
Luna released a happy squeal, rearing up and kicking her forelegs. “Huzzah! Thank thee, Father! Thou shalt not regret this!”
“I highly doubt that. Goodbye.” Solon swiped his hand in front of the screen like he was swatting away an insect, and the holoscreen vanished.
Solon finally moved back to the operation table and began a deep-tissue scan of the subject. The Dark Techpriests across from him did not join him, staring silently at the Iron Warrior through rows of bright green optic sensors.
+Interrogative – Notation: Polite – How do you intend to address the previously mentioned discrepancy in hull pattern?+ asked one of the black-robed cyborgs.
A disgusted noise emerged from Solon’s vox grille. “I’ll probably jusht inshtall a shtealth field and modify the engine block. It should be able to keep formation with the fleet without being detected, and shneak off when it needsh to.”
+A stealth field on a vessel with battlecruiser-scale mass displacement?+
“Yesh. Although I shtill don’t know where I’m going to find enough crew for shomething that shize. Now shut up.”
The isotope projector shut off, and a heavy grinding noise came from above as the machinery mounted to the ceiling shifted to bring more servo arms to bear. The ruby-red core remained in place, a gentle clicking coming from within.
“Cell responshe should be mitigated. All shcansh optimal. We proceed with implantation. One thing at a time…”
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..... Rep'ilogue? Dat pun hurts us so... Well done.
So who is going to befriend the Omen's new daemon-possessed/powered reactor? Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy?
I have been wondering about the crew compliment for the Omen. Will be be mostly ponies, or humans... or a combination of the two?
I'm also curious WTF Solon is doing with Chrysalis... Whatever it is is apparently very invasive.
worth your effort honestly
Kaelith screaming throught the noosphere?
, Sliver having fun with this?
also Fennin has become my fav Tau, really that attitude
also i want to point this:
Solon is close to be the archetipe of practicality and pragmatism so much sought for the IV Legion, need heavy artillery? i have an arm for that, need to test need technologies? i have another arm for that. Ned to operate queen buggo with dubious and experimental ways? i have the arm for that...
Also he's taking the fact that Luna calls him Father quite well...
9775123
"errr Mr Reactor, can you bring us to imperial space... if's not a bother to you?" i can imagine the demon in the reactor developing tentacles just to hug Flutthershy
That pun was fantashtic!
And Luna continues to be a teen in immortal terms, in true demigod fashion.
9775150
A millenia as teenage.... you redefined hell kid
Finally a use for the remaining Tau... err, are there any others who didn't join the rebels?
Anyway, great addition!
Chief-engineer Gearworks?
Maybe a mostly pony crew.
Equestria do have a lot of manpower to offer, and Luna's face on recruitment poster might help.
The problem with that tho is that most of that manpower are not trained for void ship wok.
They might find trainers among the Tao engineers, but Tao and Equestrians in tight quarters might result in bruised Tao.
Yay
9775196
for some reason i think Blueblood fits in... could be possible that his cutie mark applies too to star travel?
5% Fun has been added. Great addition by the way, and Solon is really a doting fa-chaos lord indeed... Cos most others (Fathers included) would have at least taken away Luna's toys by now, hah!
Now make another story >:3
I do absolutely love your stories and can barely wait to see how will this one impact the next
I expect voidship cutie marks to start appearing soon and the ponies to start manufacturing ammunition for the new ship with their magic shenanigans. And plenty of pirating space pones in the future. Maybe taking the bearers to conquering new worlds in the name of Chaos and Harmony?
Wait, did I miss something? We know that it's Chrysalis that he's experimenting on?
Also, wonderful set of chapters. I was looking forward to a continuation for some time. While the ship will eventually join the fleet, in the mean time I can see it as primarily an orbital bombardment platform. Also, I can now imagine an entire generation of foals developing cutie marks associated with void ship design and function. With the CMC and Luna leading this generation.
"Huzzah! We hast recruited a vast crew of capable volunteers to operate this mighty vessel."
Solon looked behind Luna at the mob of foals in oversized hats and uniforms. Some of them were still in diapers but where expertly regulating the ship systems via dataslates that they seemed glued to.
"Father, why art thou walking away? Father? Father!"
Also, after fighting against and helping the ponies with the traitor Tau, I'm hoping that it does at least begin to bring ponies and tau together a bit. Like Dash showed, they still rib them quite a bit, but now it's more playful. Or at least no longer has the bitter edge of hatred behind it. I do hope ponies and tau do learn to have some friendship between them because the tau do need to start having families and settle down if they are to continue to work with the fleet and be with them for more than just the immediate future.
Great work and thank you for this addition!
9775196
Naa, Gear Works has already got a lot on his plate, and he won't learn more from the Dark Mechanicus off-world. What we need is a member of the Pie family, with a Khorne Chaos Mark for chief engineer. They fix things by hitting them repeatedly with an axe and/or hammer while screaming at it at the the top of their lungs. And it actually works. Because the Pie family are descendants of Discord, so screw logic.
I just had a thought: How likely is it for Tellis to begin pouting when he finds out they went and captured a daemon-infested battlecruiser without him?
Can't wait to see the ponies on their first pirate raid.
Honestly I really want the ponies to play a role on the new ship. Maybe have Fenin and Gear Works figure out some ways to adapt the control systems for ponies, and maybe integrate pony magic into the ship's systems somehow? Honestly I just want to see Pony magic actually be used in an impressive manner to show it's got a few advantages that the ruinous powers can't just instantly one up.
But all in all? Wonderful Rep'ilogue! It really got me hyped for the potential future story lines XD
I am a little worried about Solon plans with Chrysalis, he is working on her and I doubt it is to make her a living trophy on a pedastal.
When you work your ass off to get an Air-ship, but then the DM asks, "Do you know how to operate the damn thing?".
No one has that kinda technology, only the raven guard with their reflect shield technology secret tech switch they have not shared with rest of the imperium can only make their energy signature extremely small by cutting of life support and lights.
9775988
we're talking about Solon, he will manage eventually
9776133
Mechanicus is unable to do it, Kelbor-Hal is unable to do it, Tau is unable to do it to their ships, even raven guard after the Horus heresy lost that technology. Sou there would not be any other in the whole galaxy with that kinda technology sou i doubt it. What he is gonna invent something that no one else has done for ten thousand years?
9776316
ain't you taking all of this too seriously?
9776316
Clearly you've never heard of the Necrons and the Shroud. I would also point out that Silent Running is very much a thing and was done to effect in the novel Shadowpoint.
9775988
Dark Eldar do.
9776434
i read "lukas the Trickster" and there is no mention of dark eldar craft able to go invisible. And i have not heard anyone been able to reverse engineer eldar tech.
9776389
Shroud does not make something invisible, reflect shields did in "deliverance lost" but that tech has been lost. And silent running is not a thing, it does not make a ship invisible it only makes it harder to detect in long range. Like in the book "apocalypse" where white scar battlebarge where they hide in asteroid field but even then they were detected when word bearers came close. And necron tech has not never been reverse engineered. Ultra marines tried but it almost cost them their chapter master in "veil of darkness" audio drama.
9775123
It will be a mix (because c'mon; you can't crew a battlecruiser with Friendship), but that mix will include a substantial number of Tau.
They need to "acquire" some more, though...
9775128
He's gotten pretty used to all the weird horses and their weird horse quirks. He just wishes they'd stop badgering him for equipment and repairs all the time.
9775193
There are, but not enough to man a battlecruiser.
9775285
Oh, it's never clearly stated that it's Chrysalis.
But c'mon. It's definitely Chrysalis.
9775455
Oh, he's gonna be peeved. But such are the trials and hardships of Friendship! Sometimes the ponies you keep using for projectiles retaliate by cutting you out of the good action.
9775680
Any pony with a crosshairs cutie mark would be at least the equivalent of a human gunner, guaranteed. Engineering is somewhat more finicky given the tremendous knowledge gap between civilizations, but there are many roles on a void ship in which talent can compensate for experience and training ponies isn't especially problematic. In any case, operating any ship is more dependent upon the collective efforts of hundreds to thousands of crew rather than the expertise of a few key professionals. That's the only excuse the Orks have, anyway.
Just gotta make the buttons big enough
9776472
The ship won't be literally invisible, and doesn't need to be. It only needs to avoid long range augurs to effectively be invisible in most void engagements. That's basic equipment for Dark Eldar ships, at least according to Battlefleet Gothic II.
As for using Eldar tech, Solon does it routinely. Dash's power armor incorporates an Eldar weapon. Luna's daemon armor has wraithbone in it. And Sliver's teleporting armor was partially constructed from the husks of Warp Spiders.
I mean, if you want to say it's dumb and broken even within the narrative bounds of the story, okay, but this sort of thing is well-established as being right up his alley.
I bet it'll be easy for Solon to find a crew for the Omen once word gets around that people who get adopted by a pony tend to have an abnormally low mortality rate. Harmony protects, even if the Iron Warriors continually wish the process didn't involve quite so much hugging and feelings and all that.
9776518
But battlefleet gothic is a game switch has game mechanics, imperium cant make small range warp jump because that is not how warp works. Is is not a problem that they use eldar tech because in a apocalypse book, a pirate had won a shuriken pistol in a card game from eldar ranger and of course killing him afterwards. But saying that he can make wraithbone without bone singer is something that is not possible. And saying that he can make a heavy power armor without using black carapace and having it bee as responsive as strong as as space marine power armor switch no one else has not made even fabricator general of mars. In a Ciaphas Cain book a inquisitor had a power armor relic switch was slow and after every mission required months of repair to work.
9776483
Solon isn't talking about a visual cloaking device.... He's talking about high stealth capability.
You apparently don't know your lore as well as you think you do. Shrouds made it all the way to Mars, and only were detected by chance. They passed through the minefields without triggering them.
Silent Running IS a thing. In the original tabletop game disengaging is done by a sudden alteration in course and shutting down of it's non-vital power systems so it can't be detected. It drifts out of the immediate combat area and can resume functions afterwards. It's worded very specifically as such.
And as I already said, silent running was used in the novel Shadow Point. Chapter 16. The Drachenfels, captained by one Erwin Ramas, ran silent while stalking a Dark Eldar cruiser that was incidentally using it's Mimic Engine to disguise itself as the Drachenfels. The Mimic Engine mimicked both the energy/id signature and the visual appearance of the Drachenfels while in operation. The Dark Eldar cruiser did not detect them until they powered up their weapons systems and launched torpedoes at them at point-blank range.
And did you apparently miss the very first chapter of Iron Hearts: Planetfall? The one where Solon has a forge room filled with xeno technology, including eldar, tau, and Necron? Such as the treaded vehicle he'd mounted Gauss weaponry to? Or the living metal that was writhing in molten slag?
9776501
Oh hoh, so one of their first raids is going to be against the Tau, eh? Seems fitting. You try to use our planet as Ork bait, we steal all your shit.
I'm guessing they'll also be stealing some manufacturing equipment so they can keep the Omen resupplied in the future.
Edit: And I can just see Tellis going from raging mad, to crossing his arms and pouting like a petulant man-child.
9776574
So your problem is "this use of technology isn't backed up by the technical aspects of the canon lore," which is... fine. That's a valid complaint.
I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway, though. This sort of thing is very well-established in the narrative by now.
(Since you brought it up though, everyone who uses power armor in the story has had surgery to install connection nodes, and Solon does, in fact, have his own enslaved Bonesinger)
9776574
You're talking about BFG Armada the computer game (which is an awesome game), I am talking about the original tabletop game and it's lore-rich rulebook. I'm going by what the lore says, not the rules.
9776584
And shroud was still detected in the end, and such tech has not never captured sou it could not be used as to all necron tech. Because always when necron is killed, it and its weapons are teleported to tomb to be repaired like in "Down amongst dead men" book. And having massive tau cruiser go silent and go after a stream of other ships and hoping that some one would not just notice when always system defence fleet make inspections to ships ho arrive to systems edge. And having a ship bee without life support for several days will be deadly. Raven guard did go "silent" in deliverance lost but they were only sou succesful because of their reflect shield and then got sou close that they used warp drive to warp taking unprepared traitor ship with them.
9776640
You're the kind who just picks and chooses what points he'll argue, aren't you?
The Shrouds were making a suicide run to Mars for reasons unknown. Mars is in the most heavily fortified and defended system in the Imperium, and they were only detected by chance. You think most systems, especially in Ultima Segmentum where Tau and Centaur III are located, are going to have that level of security or scanning? No, I don't think so.
Can you refute the events of Shadow Point where silent running was used successfully by the Drachenfels against the Dark Eldar at close range? No you cannot.
Can you refute that disengaging is done by a sudden course alteration and going to silent running? As stated by lore? No you cannot.
Did you miss the part where I said "non-vital"? Life support is sort of a vital system.
Incidentally, Necron ships do not automatically phase/fade out upon taking catastrophic damage. There are lore examples of this not happening and of the Necrons making a point to turn around and destroy their own drifting hulks to prevent their capture by the "lesser races". And again I would point to chapter 1 of Iron Heart: Planet Fall. Solon has Necron tech welded to a tank. Not everything phases/fades out. Your argument is invalid.
You are also acting as if the Imperium of Man is the be-all, end-all of tech. They are the second worst, after Orks. If the Imperium of Man lost the tech, well that doesn't really matter to CHAOS and TAU forces who happily use XENO equipment, now does it? Who cares what the Imperium thinks is or isn't possible.
And finally, a solar system is a BIG freaking place. The average radius to Pluto is 39.5 AU (Astronomical Units). Say warp transition can occur anywhere within that area of a solar system, and you're looking at a spherical volume of 2.58×105 AU. Massive doesn't even begin to describe it. Do you really think 99.999% of systems (and that's being generous) are going to have sufficient manpower, resources, etc to monitor and traffic control all of that space, particularly for a bunch of pirates who likely won't want to be noticed? If that were the case, piracy wouldn't be an issue in the Imperium, but it clearly is. Hell, there are still pirates on our own planet. Monitoring all that open space is not an easy task.
Again an amazing story written by you in the warhammer 40k lore. Even though short by you standards I enjoyed every second while I was reading. Also Solon needs to be a bit more creative with his naval tactics. I mean you could use the ship as bait. You know the Kau'va tactic from the Tau?
9776682
It's traditional to use the ships that look like weak, helpless transports as bait, not the big, overgunned warship.
9776679
And going silent is not some magical button that will just work and that all ships can just vanish and cannot be seen no matter how close. Did traitors use it during solar war? No. Did Abbadon use it during first black crusade? No. Did imperial fist use it at tallarn? No. Did imperial navy or Abbadons fleet use it in Pandorax? No. Did word bearers use it at primaris cardinal world? No. Sou you have one ships from thousands,and you expect that suddenly all can magically use such things even thou there is no proof? Its like saying that during deamon invasion all citizens of the imperium all need is to speak few words from lectitio divinatus and deamons would vanish just like it was once used in apocalypse book. Or how about imperial bomb that can disperse massive warp storms and just spam it at eye of terror because they used it once in Skitaari book?
9778008
My dude, I'm not sure you really grasp the premise of fictional narratives.
You can, indeed, do any one of those things that were done once among hundreds of stories because it's been established, in canon, that it is a possible thing.
You can even do things no one has done before! With absolutely no canon backup! Some people might think it absurd and breaks the story's internal logic and they're free to think that, but creative license matters.
Silent Running is not only a tactic used in that one battle in canon, it's also a routine tactic used by small ships in Battlefleet Gothic, which is as good a source as any for how void combat works in the 40k universe. The Dark Eldar literally equip all their ships, including battleships, with stealth technology that makes them invisible to long-range augurs. I'm not seeing the grounds for declaring it impossible.
9777569
Well two factions would go for it. Instead of the weak transport ships. The Tau because they would want to have their prototype back and Orks.... well their should be no explanation be needed because they are Orks.
Oh as a bonus. The Necron Lord Trazyn would go for it just to put it into his Museum.
9778008
It doesn't matter if silent running was done in those examples of yours or not. The fact is that there are canon examples of where it HAS been done, so you're all of your arguments stating that it's impossible are invalid.
You have a really poor grasp on the way space combat works in 40K, don't you? I'm guessing you don't even know what silent running actually entails. Silent running is not some cloaking device that renders you invisible to the naked eye (or optic sensor as the case may be). Silent running is (as has previously been established) the shutting down of all non-vital systems and running the ship as cold and quiet as possible. You're not giving off energy emissions that can be picked up, you're not using communication channels. You're literally running silent. Pretty basic concept, ya? So if you want to pick something running silent you're likely going to need active scanners. You only need to constantly monitor 2.58×105 cubic AU of space with those active sensors. Good luck!
Space combat normally happens at ranges of tens to hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Tell me, how well are you going to see a 3km long ship at a distance of ten thousand kilometers (which is incidentally very close range)? What about thirty thousand kilometers? Sixty thousand kilometers?
Now let's say that the 38th's fleet jump into a system is detected. If they happen to get close enough to analyze engine signatures, are they going to pick up any Tau signatures? Nope! Solon has already stated he's going to be rebuilding the Omen's engines. Tau ships don't travel by warp, so it'll have a warp drive. And all bets are he'll be working to make the propulsion engines mimic conventional imperial engines, because that's sorta what Solon does.
However any adversaries even detecting the fleet's movements requires they be close enough. The likelihood of ANY ship being within twenty million kilometers of their position upon system breech is infinitesimally small, nevermind ten million, five million, or one million km. What are they going to detect at that range? Basically a warp rift. The energy pouring out from the immaterium is going to cover any individual ship signals. And if the Omen were to immediately begins running silent and hanging back hundreds of thousands of km from the fleet, they're not going to be noticed.
I happened to do some research on those Reflex Shields you mentioned. They are basically void shields that reflect inward rather than reflect outward on a broader spectrum. That's it. They're noted as being very low efficiency and that they do not protect from any outside damage. They can be altered back and forth to act as void shields or reflect shields, but it takes significant time to make those alterations, which isn't possible in immediate combat situations. They are also noted as having very low efficiency as a ship can only have their reactor operating at half power and a low speed if they wish to avoid detection. This also means that they are technically less efficient on smaller ships, since the smaller the ship, the less actual energy they can actually reflect. A bit counter-intuitive there.
I also only found two ships of note to have the system. The Shadow of the Emperor, which was a Gloriana-class Battleship, the same class of ship as the Vengeful Spirit and Macragge's Honor. Some of the largest warships ever built by mankind.
The other ship was the Avenger from the novel Deliverance Lost. The Avenger was a Battle Barge. Something that is FAR larger than any battlecruiser-sized vessel and frankly without a subtle bolt in it's entire hull. They are blunt instruments, not objects for stealth missions or covert operations.
You mentioned a White Lions Battle Barge trying to hide in an asteroid belt and getting detected, right? At what range was it detected?
Thus far, your examples of why a ship that has been specifically given an extensive overhaul for stealth would not be able to run silent and would get detected have included ships that are an order of magnitude larger than a battlecruiser, and are about as subtle as a bombardment cannon to the face.
9778008
9778366
If I may, I would like to bring up some relevant canon I am familiar with, from the first book of the Ultramarines series:
In this book, there is a dark eldar ship, with holofields and mimic engines. Against a space marine strike cruiser it was able to close to within weapons range without even being detected, while fully powered and even getting ready to open fire. 60,000 Km, which is pretty close for void engagements in 40K. Even when detected the strike cruiser's sensors registered it a specific Imperial system defense ship. If it weren't for the dark eldar being idiots and using the identity of a ship that was destroyed five years ago the space marines would have had no idea something was wrong. Later it turns out there is some sensor oddity that gives away the ship when it is disguised, but they had no idea it was there until they were looking for it, and the stealth tech still works just fine.
So basically with the right xenos tech, it is entirely possible that the tau ship may not need to hide away at all, and could easily do so if required. Especially if they add in some of the tau stealth tech too, which works in different ways to eldar tech.
9779193
You speak of the novel Nightbringer. That's a good book. That left mental scars on Uriel for a long, loong time. I would also mention the little stunt would have worked against the Ultramarines if it wasn't for the Inquisitor who was onboard. He was the one that confirmed the deception as I recall.
9779193
Do the Tau possess any stealth tech on a starship scale? I'm not aware of any. I seriously doubt they can simply upscale the technologies used in their battlesuits.
9776316
He has access to an entirely new branch of research, and a pet changeling queen. I am positive that he can come up with something.
9778845
Sou its in "apocalypse" book, audiobook for me. Chapter 11. Its says that word bearer ship is chasing a helpless convoy. He notices their vox is too quiet and notices that they and that convoy are jammed and starts to trace its signal. Suddenly two of his escorts are destroyed. "They are using debris field to mask them selves, he could feel it. Cunning" Then he turned his ship to get his broad side to line against depris field. "Broken stretch of a depris field came in the view. "Magnify". The image expanded. "again!" He saw them then". a sleek black strike cruiser.
Led by white scar battle barge "silent horseman" ho was commanding 3 demi companies of imperials fist and raven guard ships.
9779812
I could have sworn I had seen some reference to it, but it is proving to be elusive. I can't find my copy of Farsight: Crisis of Faith, which may have the information, so for now I don't have anything direct.
But in Courage and Honor the Tau do deploy significant advance forces to a well developed, and battle ready, Imperial planet without detection. Stealth teams, pathfinders, transports, Kroot, and even seeker missile launch systems were all definitely in place well before the visible fleet arrived. Enough to cripple the response to the fleet when it did appear. I do not believe they could deploy so much without at least some starship stealth technology, though this isn't direct evidence. Probably not good enough to hide a battleship, but that hasn't stopped Solon from making improvements before.
9780019
So the only reason they were detected is they engaged in vox jamming and opened fire on the Word Bearers ships. If they hadn't engaged in jamming nor opened fire it is unlikely they would have been noticed.