Warhammer: Empire Reboot

There was something subtle in his tone, a kind of self-deprecating composure unique to the elderly when acknowledging the facts.

"But since the two races have already formed an alliance..."

He bowed slightly.

"This STC item is for Lord Master."

T-001 was transported to the Starfire Royal Court via a static force field.

As the Spirit Clan chiefs watched a two-meter-tall black mechanical body emerge from the silver-white light screen, several of them instinctively placed their hands on their weapons.

The T-series assassins look different from the Imperial Mechanicus's technical priests; they are more sophisticated and less like living beings.

Lawson stood in front of the star chart, waiting for the results.

Forty seconds later, T-001's analysis report was transmitted to Lawson's consciousness through swarm intelligence.

The moment the data was displayed, Lawson's expression changed.

This is a complete STC for an air combat platform.

The completeness is close to 98%, with only a very few auxiliary subsystems having iterative annotations from the Golden Age standard, requiring secondary verification.

The core design, power system, weapon architecture, armor scheme and avionics logic are all intact.

T-001 added an assessment at the end of the report: This STC's design level far surpasses any of the Empire's current air combat platforms.

Lawson instructed T-001 to project its core parameters onto the holographic star map of the Starfire Royal Court.

A 3D wireframe of a fighter jet was displayed before the clan leaders.

The aircraft is 45 meters long and has a wingspan of 36 meters. This size exceeds that of the Empire's largest transport aircraft, the Thunderhawk.

But its lines are much sharper than the Thunderhawk's, and its aerodynamic design from the Golden Age is far more refined than the Empire's imitations from 40,000 years later.

The fuselage has a flat, rhomboid cross-section, and the main wing adopts a variable sweep configuration, which can switch between high-speed penetration and low-speed dogfighting.

The twin vertical tails with embedded thrust vectoring nozzles give the aircraft extreme attitude control capabilities.

Its empty weight is 310 tons, and its fully loaded combat weight is 420 tons.

Maximum speed within the atmosphere: 4.5 times the speed of sound.

The Empire's most powerful active-duty Thunder fighter can only reach Mach 2.2.

This golden age of fighter jets more than doubled that number.

Moreover, it is a dual-domain platform, capable of operating in both atmospheric and vacuum environments.

Its short-range space combat capability allows it to take off from the ground and directly penetrate into low Earth orbit to intercept enemy landing craft and orbital vehicles, before returning to the atmosphere to continue its ground attack mission.

The Empire's current atmospheric fighters and space fighters are two completely different equipment systems; this fighter is doing the work of two people.

Weapon configuration.

The aircraft is equipped with a twin-mounted heavy laser turret on its back and abdomen, with a range and armor-piercing capability more than twice that of similar weapons currently in service with the Empire.

The four wing-mounted multi-barreled rapid-fire cannons are arranged in a fan shape, providing near-complete fire coverage in the forward hemisphere.

The internal weapons bay under the fuselage can carry 24 guided munitions. The guidance logic of the Golden Age is far more accurate than that of the Imperial Soul. The T-001 is estimated to have a hit rate that is about three times higher than that of Imperial missiles under the same interference conditions.

The armor design adopts a multi-layered composite structure, a standard feature of the Golden Age.

After comparing the armor data of the Empire's current Thunder fighters, T-001 gave an assessment: the equivalent protection strength is about 2.3 times that of the Thunder fighters, while the weight only increases by 40%.

The standard crew consists of two people: a driver and a weapons officer.

However, the avionics system supports a single-person control mode, with the onboard cognitive core taking over the management of weapons and sensors.

T-001 added a footnote at the end of the report...

If swarm intelligence replaces the onboard cognitive core and is connected to the direct neural interface of the combat sequence, this fighter jet can achieve full-function control by a single person, with a reaction speed faster than a two-person formation.

With the stasis field of the arsenal providing real-time replenishment, ammunition and fuel consumption no longer pose operational limitations. Theoretically, a squadron of fighter jets could operate continuously for weeks without logistical support.

Lawson reviewed all the data.

He smiled.

This time I'm really happy.

The T-series has been researching modification options for existing Imperial fighters, attempting to design an air combat platform that is truly suited to combat sequences and swarm thinking.

However, the Empire's fighter jets were of poor quality. Forty thousand years of technological regression had left the Empire's aviation industry at a design level that was merely "good enough to fly." The T-series aircraft were patched up on a rotten foundation, but they never met the standards required by Lawson.

Now Salosin has presented him with a complete STC from the Golden Age.

No need for repairs or modifications.

Direct mass production.

Flying Bear Motorcycle has solved the problems of low-altitude heavy firepower and ground assault.

This fighter jet will fill the gap in mid-to-high altitude air superiority and orbital penetration.

With the two working together, the Flying Bear crushes below while the fighter jets sweep above, covering the entire three-dimensional space from the ground to low orbit with its firepower.

With the stasis field of the arsenal providing instant replenishment, these fighter jets can have an unlimited supply of ammunition and fuel.

Once a magazine is emptied, new ammunition can be loaded in a fraction of a second.

When the laser cannon runs out of energy, the armory directly transfers a recharging module.

Even damaged parts of fighter jets can be repaired remotely in flight using living metal.

The biggest weakness of the Empire's fighter squadrons has always been logistics. When they run out of ammunition, they have to return to base; when they run out of fuel, they have to land; and when parts break down, they have to go to the factory.

Losen’s fighter squadron did not have this weakness.

His fighter jets can fly and fire indefinitely without ever landing.

Until all the enemies are dead.

Losen turned to Salosin.

The old clan chief stood to the side, watching the 3D wireframe diagram.

Although he couldn't understand human technical parameters, the Eldar's tens of thousands of years of war experience allowed him to judge the approximate threat level from the lines and size of a weapon.

This fighter jet is very dangerous.

"Old clan chief."

Lawson spoke with a warmth he rarely displayed today. "I accept this gift."

Salosin bowed slightly.

Lawson looked around at all the Eldar chieftains in the Starfire Royal Court.

"As everyone knows, being my enemy, Lawson, is a terrible fate."

He was simply stating a fact when he said that.

But every Eldar present had experienced the meaning of that statement firsthand over the past few hours.

“But I, Lawson, never mistreat my friends.”

He raised his hand and pointed to the area of ​​the Agrippina star sector on the star map.

“From this day forward, your Ark will be under my protection. Within the Agrippina Sector, if any force dares to touch a single bone of Saim-Han, be it Chaos, the Necromancers, or the Dark Eldar, I, Lawson, will stand up for you.”

The Eldar are proud.

To hear the word "protection" uttered by a human warlord should have been jarring.

But the Eldar present, including Sarosin, Horace, Kelah, and even the young chieftains who were still full of resentment, felt inexplicably at ease after hearing these words.

Perhaps it's because they've just experienced the most dangerous war since the Ark was built.

Perhaps it's because their Eldar, whom they've always relied on, are all absent during this crisis. Or perhaps it's because, although Lawson is overwhelmingly powerful, he genuinely had the confidence to say "I'll stand up for you."

This human is too strong.

Being protected by him is embarrassing, but it does make me feel very safe.

Horace nodded slightly.

Sarosin leaned on his staff and whispered in Eldar, "The safest place in the storm is the eye of the storm."

The atmosphere at the Starfire Royal Court has eased considerably.

The battle footage projected onto the dome is still being updated, but it has changed from a desperate multi-front collapse to a one-sided mopping-up operation.

The main Chaos fleet withdrew after the Battle Moon crushed the Omen Ark.

Without a flagship to anchor the fleet and without the support of the Ark, the Chaos escort ships and the remaining landing forces lost unified command and scattered into a chaotic mess.

After the Necromancer fleet retreated via Somtatec, it also began to shrink back. Without a Overlord present, the Necromancer's tactical AI automatically switched to conservative mode and ceased launching new attacks.

On the surface of the Ark, the remaining forces of Chaos and Dark Eldar no longer pose a threat.

Lawson's battle formation is cutting them down and eliminating them.

The clan leaders watched the scene with mixed feelings.

On one hand, there was the relief of surviving a catastrophe; on the other hand, there was a complex feeling of watching the human army mop up the remaining enemies on their own ark like cutting vegetables.

On a spirit bone corridor bridge, two dark Eldar raiders attempt to escape.

Their cloaking field was half activated, and a shadowy curtain was spreading upwards from their feet, making their bodies semi-transparent.

In another second, they will completely blend into the shadows and disappear into the darkness of the spirit bone structure.

A giant hand reached out from the side of the image and precisely grabbed their heads one by one.

The invisibility field was meaningless in the face of that hand's grip.

The five-meter-tall bear guard used its second-order Spider Eye full-spectrum vision to lock onto the stealthy targets. Holding a Dark Elf in each hand, it pulled them out of the semi-transparent shadows like a farmer pulling up radishes.

puff puff!

The two heads were crushed in Xiong Wei's palm.

The corpse of the Dark Elf was dangling in Xiong Wei's hands, its slender limbs hanging down. Its black tight-fitting armor, thin body, and excessively long limbs did indeed resemble a black bean sprout.

"Owner."

Salasion had somehow gotten closer, his purple eyes fixed on the two Dark Eldar corpses on the projected screen, his lips twitching slightly.