Warhammer: Empire Reboot

He looked up at O'Shaughnessy.

"I need to borrow the great scientist and engineering team from the Tu family."

O'Showa's gaze first fell on Lawson's face, then turned to O'Visa.

He was not happy about it.

Four top technologies have been handed over, 111 out of 120 planets have been cut off, the Dawn Blade has been confiscated, the fleet has been disarmed, and a combat moon with a diameter of 1,200 kilometers still rests in orbit around the main star.

Now, Lawson still needs people, and he still wants Ou Vesa.

O. Vesa was no ordinary engineer; he was one of the Eight Visionaries, a key figure who enabled the Visionary Enclave to maintain its military industry, armor maintenance, and colonial projects even after it broke away from the Tau Empire's home system.

Without him, the reconstruction of the remaining nine planets would be twice as slow.

But O'Showa quickly suppressed his objections.

The unconditional surrender has been signed, and the technology has been handed over. If Lawson really wants to forcibly take O. Visage away, he doesn't even have enough bargaining chips to stop him.

Since we can't stop it, let's at least turn this into an exchange.

O'Showa looked at O'Visa.

"Visa, what's your opinion?"

O. Visayas bowed slightly to Lawson.

"I can lead a group of Tu's engineers to assist in building the first batch of drone production lines, completing the rewriting of the construction matrix interface, material substitution verification, and command system access testing."

"But I have a request."

Lawson looked at him without interrupting.

"The Visionary Enclave has surrendered, and we will honor the terms. However, there are still a large number of civilians, wounded, infants, and non-combatants on the remaining nine planets. If the Chaos, Orcs, or Tau Empire invade the Visionary Enclave in the future, I request your assistance."

Lawson looked at him for two seconds.

This old man is very clever.

Present your value to others with neither arrogance nor servility, and then use that value to secure a clear guarantee.

"You want me to shield the Vision Enclave from the Titanium Empire?"

O. Vesa did not shy away from the question: "If they come to settle scores with Oshova, the Huo army will not be the only ones to suffer in the end."

Lawson pondered for a moment.

Visionary Enclave is now a defeated force, but it can also serve as a model.

It could become a thorn in Lawson's side on the Tau border, a buffer zone, a technology transfer station, or even a fulcrum for tearing apart the Tau Empire's homeland defenses in the future.

As long as Oshowa lives, the visionary enclave will have cohesion.

With O. Vesa's willingness to cooperate, the absorption rate of the Tushi technology will be much faster.

Helping them fend off invasions by orcs, chaos, or even the Tau Empire a few times is inexpensive but yields long-term benefits.

Lawson nodded: "Okay."

"Thank you, Your Excellency. I will ensure that the engineering team fully cooperates."

O'Showa also bowed: "The Visionary Enclave will remember this promise."

Without bothering with pleasantries, Lawson asked directly, "How many people are you bringing?"

O. Visayas was clearly prepared.

"Of the first batch of 327 Tu engineers, 62 were responsible for building the matrix, 81 for maintaining the drone nest, 100 for materials and local sourcing processes, 47 for production line debugging, and 37 for cold fusion small-scale power supply interfaces and safety monitoring."

"Too little."

"These are people who can set off immediately and who have mastered the core processes. They can be dispatched in batches later with remote data assistance."

Lawson did not press further.

O. Vesa issued an order to the outside of the conference hall.

In less than twenty minutes, the first batch of Turk engineers had assembled at the airport below the highest administrative district.

They weren't wearing armor, but mostly wore gray-white work clothes with Tu clan class insignia on their shoulders. Each of them carried a small document box and two or three maintenance drones.

Ou Visa stood at the front of the line.

"My Lord, how shall we proceed? Do we need to board a ship, or use a transport boat?"

Lawson raised his hand, and a static force field unfolded in the airport.

"Go in."

O. Visa glanced at the silver-gray light screen, then looked at O'Showa.

"Go."

Eugene Vesa was the first to enter.

Subsequently, more than 300 Tu engineers followed in a queue, with the repair drones closely following behind their owners, one after another being swallowed up by the light screen.

In less than a minute, the airport was empty again.

Static force field convergence.

O'Showa stared at the vanished space for a few seconds.

With over three hundred people and a full set of equipment, he arrived at some unknown place in the dark side of the empire in the blink of an eye.

He used to judge human empires as ancient, decadent, and sluggish.

This judgment is supported by a wealth of evidence: many worlds of the Empire do indeed rely on superstition to keep their machines running, the Mechanicus packages maintenance procedures as religious rituals, interstellar travel depends on mutant navigators, and strategic decisions are dragged out to rot by bureaucracy and dogma.

The distance between what Kolosen showed and that decaying empire was like that between two civilizations.

O'Showa didn't intend to dwell on the issue for too long, because the answer wouldn't make him comfortable.

Lawson turned to O'Showa.

"Next, I want to see your most representative combat suits."

O'Showa snapped out of his thoughts.

"You have obtained all the means of production."

"Data is data. I need to see the actual machine, the driver's reaction, the extreme maneuvers of different models, and the maintenance procedures."

"And how does your Huo clan use them?"

O'Showa understood what he meant.

What Lawson wants is not just technical parameters, but tactical culture. Why can combat suits become the core of the Fire Clan's mid-level elites? Why are Fire Clan commanders willing to entrust the combat rhythm to these highly mobile firepower platforms? Why can the Crisis Armor formation form a system in long-range suppression, rapid retreat, and drone coordination?

These things won't be fully represented in the drawings.

O'Showa did not refuse: "I will arrange the testing grounds."

He turned to the Fire Clan officer beside him.

"Notify the Third Test Range to prepare the XV8 Crisis Combat Suit, XV25 Stealth Combat Suit, XV88 Wide Blade Combat Suit, Cold Star Command Armor, and Torrent Combat Suit. Replace all live ammunition with training rounds, and maintain the shields at standard power."

"We don't need to replace all the training rounds," Lawson said.

The Huo clan officer looked up.

O'Showa looked at Lawson.

"I look at real combat performance, real weapons, real shields, real mobility, and I provide the targets," Lawson said.

O'Showa was silent for two seconds.

"Yes, but there are civilian areas near the test site."

"That proves your fire control system is worth my attention."

Several Huo clan officers' expressions darkened slightly.

Lawson's words were both a compliment and a test. If the fire control wasn't precise enough and accidentally damaged civilian areas, it would mean that this system wasn't worth his time to learn.

"Heading to the third test site."

The high-altitude transport ship from the Farsighted Exclave arrived quickly.

The transport ship left the highest administrative region and flew over the city.

The Tau cities below are not stacked in layers like the Imperial hives, nor do they follow the Eldar design of pursuing curves.

It is younger and more practical, with clear traffic lines and distinct divisions between residential, industrial, defense, and research areas. The building exteriors are uniformly white and gray.

The city gradually receded, replaced by a vast, gray-white experimental wasteland.

The ground is covered with a liftable firing range, mobile obstacle towers, shield test walls, and anti-armor target vehicles.

In the distance, several mountains have been hollowed out, revealing the lighting inside the combat suit maintenance depot.

In the test range, several Tau combat suits have been lined up.

The XV8 crisis combat suit stood at the forefront.

The three-meter-tall aircraft boasts clean and sharp lines, with its dorsal thrusters operating quietly. It is the standard vehicle for the elite mid-level officers of the Fire Clan, relying on modularity and mobility for its livelihood.

A smaller XV25 stealth combat suit stands on the side, its outer shell gradually blending into the background, its outline barely visible.

The heavy XV88 broadsword combat suit occupied the rear position, while the heavy railgun was locked at a safe angle.

A Cold Star Command Armor hovered several meters above the ground, its thrusters responding extremely quickly. It was a commander-exclusive model, prioritizing speed and communication.

Finally, there's the largest of all: the Torrent Combat Suit.

The heavy firepower platform is the largest single-soldier vehicle that the Tau tribe can offer.

Lawson's gaze swept over each of the combat suits.

Next, he wanted to see for himself the extent to which the Titanium Clan had applied these technologies.

…………

Ash Velos and Salasian Thousand Strings did not take Lord's orders with them when they left the Supreme District.

Lawson gave him a single look, the meaning of which was clear: Go see what this planet is really like.

The surrender terms in the meeting room are one thing.