Iplanen waited patiently on the landing field with Jan. The troop transport that had Jan's brother as well as numerous parts and other oddities, would be arriving soon. Then, to his surprise, Istaal joined them on the landing field.
"Istaal? Are you getting a transfer?" Jan sounded and looked quite surprised. His face was so expressive. Istaal shook his head.
"No, I've gotten temporary leave to attend a wedding." Ah, how interesting. "I'm married to Duleth's daughter, you know that. Her sister is getting married." Istaal sounded congenial enough, apparently the earlier hostilities between the two of them had been smoothed over.
"Oh really, Zelda? I hadn't heard she was serious with anyone, but we wouldn't out here. Who is it?" Iplanen let his attention wander as they two of them exchanged what he would label as gossip. Instead, he pondered some recent designs he'd been working on for an improved energy transfer system. Without the dogma of the Mechanicus to hold him back, Iplanen wanted to at least try to invent things. Then his attention was attracted by a small group of pwi-Necrons on the landing field.
What was happening over there?
Military technology on Hope had a very different ethos than the Imperium of Man.
Essentially trained in the arts of war by the endless attacks of the drukhari, Hope's military had learned to put a premium on speed and agility, as well as resource management. The Pride tanks were the perfect example of this philosophy. Very technologically advanced for Hope's overall tech level, they were extremely fast and maneuverable yet also deadly.
There were other examples of this philosophy to be seen. The Knight armors were also meant to be quick and maneuverable, in a largely futile effort to keep the pilots alive before they had adamantium. Hope flying craft followed the same theme, putting a premium on speed. Everything was meant to be fast, above all else.
So it was, perhaps, unsurprising that Hope did not choose to build the heavier armaments they had access to. Certainly, the STC had the plans for Baneblades, but to Hopians they were too large and slow and resource intensive. The adamantium of the Uhnashret Dynasty did not belong to them, and needed to be used judiciously at every point in production. How could they justify dumping it into a Baneblade? They would be much better off making a Titan, if they chose that route.
(there were a few Titans under constructions and they had plans for them)
And as Hope's technology advanced, a new consideration came to the fore. Why make new technologies for humans at all? With improved biotransference on the horizon, then available, it made far more sense to make technologies suited to Necrons, pwi-Necrons and other shells. Just as Immortals were wired into their Doom Scythes, new vehicles and technologies could be built that ignored human limitations entirely. That gave the designers far more scope, and that was ultimately the path Hope's military technology would take… the path that stepped beyond humanity.
The Necrons, in the form of Imotekh the Stormlord, also encouraged this path. Some of his Overlords might have had misgivings about the potential numbers of the new Necrons and human built shells, but the Stormlord did not. Unlike what the C'Tan had forced upon them, only the worthiest of humanity would be allowed to transcend life, and only after a full mortal life had been lived. That was actually being codified into law, as Hope set the minimum allowable age of transference at thirty for warriors, and forty for civilians. Also, for women in particular, at least three children were required before they were allowed to abandon their bodies. A harsh tactic to ensure women did not remain childless, perhaps, but it worked extremely well.
Hope was still at least twenty years away from being able to produce truly adequate android shells, and decades more away from being able to produce military-grade ones that could equal the Necrons. But they would get there, and technology was already shifting in that direction. That was already resulting in a few things the Imperium would have regarded as heresy on top of heresy, and Iplanen got to see one before he left Luminous.
"It's for us?! Aw, you shouldn't have!" The pwi-Necrons were fawning over a piece of technology that made Iplanen's palms a little sweaty, with the desire to take it apart to understand how it worked.
It was a craft that to Iplanen's eyes, was meant for both interstellar and ground-based combat. The design of it was a strange hybrid of xenos and human technology. His expert eyes could pick out all the small signs of human work, but this was a design unlike anything he had seen, even from the Dark Age of Technology. Iplanen could not know, but the craft had some resemblance to a Doom Scythe. Not surprising as it was designed to fill exactly the same role, but with modifications to make it suitable for use in a civilian, human worlds that wouldn't appreciate a vehicle specifically designed to cause terror by the sound of its engines.
Still, while it had some resemblance to a Doom Scythe and took inspiration from them, this was an entirely new and Hopian design for the pwi-Necrons. And that led to a few problems.
"Can I trust you idiots to pilot this thing to the barracks without crashing it?" A younger man with a strong familial resemblance to Jan said. Two of the God's Hands were too busy exclaiming over the machine to reply, but their officer had that in hand.
"Hopefully. These two have been practicing in the simulations you sent. I expect they can manage that much." There were only two of the ships. Hmm, this had to be a new design, not in full production. "Then we can get down to really learning to use it. Why are these being sent to us, by the way? I would have thought Hive Antioch needs them more." Iplanen had heard about that. Their ork infestation was much more severe than Luminous.
"They do, but that's exactly why, we want you to give us reports and help us iron out the kinks before we send them to Antioch. Also, Antioch is going to be getting a Titan soon." What, really? "If these work out well, we might also start producing them for the Stormlord, although they're inferior to Doom Scythes. They do work much better on friendly planets though."
"I've heard about that… the engines of Doom Scythes are quite the thing, aren't they? Makes breaking the sound barrier small potatoes." From the context, Iplanen could understand that Doom Scythes must have very unpleasant effects on civilians. Luminous hadn't seen them, the Guard had not even tried to defend their planet in a ground war. Understandable but Iplanen sometimes thought it was particularly unfair that the Inquisition would expect himself and Emerard to resist to the death against the xenos. The GUARD had pulled out, what were they to do exactly? But logic had never been the Imperium's strong suit. "Hopefully given a bit of time and technological advancement, we can make them equal to Doom Scythe's, too."
"Yes, that's the ultimate goal. Still probably a good fifty years off. Well, lets get them wired in." Ah, so the machines were meant to be used that way. It was likely that human pilots could not use them at all. That was actually quite practical. Then someone touched him on the shoulder
"You'll be able to see more of those on Hope, and our transport is here." Ah, right. Iplanen gave a backward glance to the machines, but joined Jan and Istaal in the transport.
Soon, he would be able to learn more about the technology of Hope.
Iplanen actually got to learn something absolutely earth shattering long before he reached Hope.
Hope itself was, to Iplanen's surprise, incredibly remote. He knew the planet was on the fringes of the galaxy of course, but it was still a bit shocking to realize it was past the Exodite worlds, in the great, uncharted emptiness of the far south eastern corner of the Galaxy. There were many planets there, of course, but they were all circling ancient stars and mostly resource poor and unsuited to life. Iplanen was honestly a bit surprised that a human colony with the strength of Hope had established itself there. Most colonies in such a remote location would be purely agrarian. He happened to mention that to Jan, who chuckled a bit at the thought.
"We were exactly that, before the drukhari came upon us." Ah. Of course. "And the Uhnashret Dynasty is actually the Necron equivalent of what you're describing… they were small and poor, by Necron standards. They survived primarily on diplomacy and trade." How interesting, that the xenos had much the same dynamics. Jan seemed to have his mind on something else, though, and had a troubled air. "Iplanen… there is no way for you to abandon this trip now. So I am allowed to tell you something. You remember your mention of the STC?"
"You have STC fragments." Iplanen had already guessed Jan's secret. No doubt he thought it would be a shock but it wasn't hard to –
"No, we have an STC." What. "She is a truly great AI." WHAT? "She guides our – " Iplanen couldn't stand it anymore and nearly shrieked.
"You have an STC?!" Jan flinched away with a wince and Iplanen struggled to gentle his voice. "The holiest of holy relics of human technology?!"
"It isn't the holy grail." YES IT WAS! Iplanen actually understood the reference now, he'd learned enough about Christianity, and it was EXACTLY the holy grail of the Mechanicus. "I knew you would react like this… Iplanen, she is just a machine. A very well built one, the greatest pinnacle of human technology, but still a machine." Her machine spirit had to be incomparable! How could they treat her this way! "She would not approve of how you are acting. STC does not want to be worshipped, she is a teacher and a helper, not a god." Intellectually, Iplanen knew that Jan might have a point. But he was just too excited to absorb it.
"All the secrets of the Dark Age of Technology are contained in the holy STC," Iplanen murmured, placing his hands together in a way that looked like prayer to the alarmed Jan. "I only thought to find Necron technology but this is priceless beyond compare." The achievements of the xenos were nothing compared to re-discovering all they had lost.
"Please just don't burn incense or try to put unguents on her. STC wouldn't be angry, because she doesn't get angry, but she would calmly and logically explain to you why that is pointless." Iplanen wanted to snarl back, but stopped as he suddenly realized.
"Is this where your people get this disdain for machine spirits?" Did… did the STC herself hold her own spirit in disdain? That suddenly seemed so sad to him. Jan hesitated, biting his lower lip.
"Iplanen… it's not that we hold them in disdain, we just… don't believe they are real. STC doesn't either." Oh. Iplanen felt a great sadness for the STC. He would show her proper reverence. "I'm worried about how you are going to relate with her now. STC is definitely not used to this… well, hopefully she can sort you out."
"I am looking forward to it." Even if STC might disagree with him, Iplanen would always revere her as a holy thing. And most of all, he looked forward to deeply immersing himself in the great achievements of mankind.
When Manric got to Hope, he was outraged but also amused and even a touch pleased. His outrage was directly related to Zelda's condition and her very obvious baby bump.
"Daddy, I know what you're going to say." Yes, she most certainly did! "But I didn't want to wait. It's time and you know this sort of thing is permitted." Well… yes… but… Manric still didn't like it! For a brief moment, his mind went to that rather thorny issue. Because men went to war and died, and also tended to be taken more often by the drukhari than the women, there had always been a population imbalance. Multiple marriages were not sanctioned by the church, yet women were expected to have children. That had led to a rather odd acceptance of unwed births, provided the woman had a deep support network of family and the man in question was expected to also provide. It was honestly multiple marriages in all but name, with many men having as many as three "wives". Was it infidelity? Yes, but many women chose to look away, knowing quite well the situation their sisters labored under. Honestly, it was all a bit of a headache.
But that did mean that Zelda was right that her unwed pregnancy would pass completely unremarked. As a scion of the Duleth family, she had the resources and male relatives to raise the child by herself. And since she WAS getting married, it was an absolute non-issue.
"Ah, Zelda, I am an old fool." Manric gave up, feeling amused at himself. What was he complaining about? Although he hadn't even gotten those complaints out before she'd cut him off. Did that mean they didn't count? "At least I will have a grandchild very soon." That was highly pleasurable. Artur was not yet married, although hopefully when he came back from his tour of duty he would begin to look into that. Nanci had two children, and would likely have more when Istaal came back from his tour of duty. "How many are you intending to have?" For the sake of Hope, as many as possible would be good. Zelda wrinkled her nose at him.
"Daddy, we're not sure yet. At least three." That was acceptable, although he would prefer a few more. Perhaps he could give Rafeef some encouragement? No, no, that would probably get him hit, he should keep his nose out of it.
Speaking of whom, Rafeef was a bit deer-in-the-headlights when they met again, but Manric said nothing of it. To his deep pleasure, the rest of the family was there, Nanci, Istaal, Artur and of course Eloise. She also had her new babies and husband in tow and Manric rubbed his chest. Was that the damage to his soul, or just a bit of heartache? He couldn't even tell.
Despite that mild pain, he was very much looking forward to the wedding.