Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 398 The Fortress Flagship of the Forge Master
In the 7th solar month of 850, Rosicky Cech's ship arrived in the Skot system.

He immediately went to the Shadow of the King and met Ninglu in his private office.

“My Lord, I followed Primarch Vokhan to study Saturn’s defense technology and recently created the first batch of prototypes.”

"On my ship, there are ten prototypes of the Saturn Terminator and one prototype of the Saturn Dreadnought."

Rosicky bowed and began his briefing.

Ning Lu nodded slightly. He knew that the Saturn type was not as mature as the Iron Cavalry type and had not yet been put into formal production.

The current prototype version is deployed to the battlefield to be tested in actual combat, and improvements can be made after any shortcomings are discovered.

The prototype's truly mature version didn't appear until the Battle of István V.

At that time, the escort ship Furnace Fire would be equipped with twenty sets of finalized Saturn-shaped prototype armor.

Volkan originally intended to send the prototype to other legions, including the one renamed "Sons of Horus," at that time.

Before the grand birthday celebration, even the "Iron Hand," which was part of the experimental legion of various Terminator models, was not equipped with a prototype of the Saturn type.

However, due to Mars's thirst for space dwarf technology, the "Shadow of Order" has equipped the Ironclad Terminator on a large scale before the "Iron Hand."

Furthermore, because Nimrod agreed to Volkan's request to send technical sergeants to provide fortress-level energy shields to the world protected by the Eighteenth Legion in order to counter the threat, Volkan specifically agreed to let him send personnel to join the research and development.

"In that case, let the First Battle Group equip the Saturn-type Terminator and tear through the Hearthburg's defenses."

"Besides teaching the technical sergeants how to manufacture the Saturn-type Terminator, you will also work with Malevolus to research the Hunter's Suit technology and develop armor suitable for the Royal Court monks."

“My lord…” Rosicky frowned and looked at the Black Emperor.

The armor of the royal monks should be top secret, and allowing an outsider like Malevolus to come into contact with it would pose a risk.

“It doesn’t matter. He, like Wojciech Belik and Ryan Ramirez, can already be considered a member of the Legion.”

The "corruption" of the "Corrupted Baron" has already made Malevolus loyal to him, and he has also made the Tech Priest a "Generalist" to lead the armor development work.

"I hope that the Royal Court monks' armor will be based on the Hunter's Set, power armor, and Terminator armor, combined with the living metal of the Space Necromancers, Ran Dan's personal energy shield, the Space Dwarfs' gold alloy, void armor and shield-weaving defense technology, and the Eldar's related technologies, to develop different types of armor."

Upon hearing this, Rosicky realized that the Legion had already mastered many technologies related to armor.

Technologies such as living metal did not exist before he was sent to Saturn.

During my time on Mars, the Legion continued to grow and expand under the leadership of our Lord.

I will take the knowledge I have learned from Primarch Volkan back to the Legion to serve my Lord.
While Rosicky was pondering, Ninglu continued.

"We need not only models with enhanced defense like the Terminator, but also models with enhanced attack and agility."

The master of the furnace noted down the Black Emperor's request and answered the call.

"As you wish."

Ninglu smiled and said to Rosicky, "The space dwarf fortress I captured is yours. It is not only a powerful warship, but also a warship that integrates exploration, mining and forging."

“Thank you, my Lord.” Rosicky knew that not only on Mars, but also in the Saturnian technology conference he had previously attended, many people were impressed by the Skotians’ powerful abilities in forging.

Before he returned to the Legion, he often heard the monks at the Technological Conference speak of the Skotians’ magnificent underground cities, their heavily fortified fortresses, and their fortified ships that combined mining and forging.

Compared to the Empire's ships, the Skot ships are larger, with even their smallest ships reaching the level of Imperial cruisers. This short-statured race, ironically, has no frigates or destroyers.

Moreover, their ships have thicker armor, just like the species itself.

The alliance's flagship will likely be even more magnificent.

Rosicky then followed the Black Emperor, boarded a landing craft, and flew to his warship.

Through the viewing window, Rosicky saw the enormous object in the void.

He saw the enormous object in the void and instinctively felt that it was over twenty kilometers long, reaching the level of the Queen Glory-class battleship.

The mechanical tentacles behind Rosicky moved rapidly above his head, activating the head-mounted integrated scanning matrix.

A moment later, the compiled scan results were fed back to Rosicky's private thinker.

[25.41 kilometers long...] [It really is a battleship of the same class as the Glory Queen-class battleship.]
He examined the stereoscopic images compiled by the oracle and immediately noticed their difference from those of the Queen Glory-class battleships.

[Compared to warships like the HMS Shadow of the Throne, this warship was much heavier, wider, and taller.]
After the landing craft landed on the deck, Ninglu placed a data crystal in Rosicky's hand:

"Master of the Forge, go and inspect your ship. From this moment on, it is yours."

“When the space dwarves come into contact with others, it doesn’t always involve war; they trade with other factions.”

"There are many things among them whose purpose is unknown. I have ordered them to be collected and stored in the warehouse. Use your spare time to identify them. This is the best way for you to master the power I have given you."

Nimrod told the "appraiser" that the things he was referring to had all been examined by the "Corrupted Baron," and were neither potion ingredients nor anything he knew of.

Although the Skot Alliance is a young alliance that has only been established for 490 years, the items discovered by the six participating legions still fill three decks, along with some items inside the Primarch Palace, all awaiting processing by the "Appraisers".

“Yes, my lord.” Rosicky picked up the data crystal and placed it in the mechanical tentacle.

The mechanical tentacles placed the data crystal into an external playback device on its chest and began a rapid review.

Rosicky then discovered that the data crystal contained information compiled by the Honor Guard after exploring the ship.

Two thousand mineral storage decks and four hundred and ninety mineral refining decks.

Of the 1,200 cast decks, 380 were dismantled and 520 were remodeled.

The product storage deck has 2,000 units and is awaiting redesign.

[Demolition? Renovation?]
With a puzzled look in his eyes, Rosicky walked toward the nearest casting deck, number thirteen.

The relevant information recorded in the data crystal is: [It was formed by the dismantling and merging of two deck sections.]

Rosicky walked onto the casting deck and immediately saw thousands of workers busily working on the production line.

With a little observation, he realized they were making explosive guns.

The owner of the furnace discovered that more than a dozen of the processes were very different from what he knew, and the finished product had a wider and thicker gun body.

“Lord Rosicky,” the legion servant in charge of management had received orders that the Forge Master would arrive at the ship today.

Upon seeing the black-armored giant with a mechanical arm behind him, he immediately ran over and knelt on one knee.

"Are you from Vostoria?"

Upon hearing the thick Vostochny accent, Rosicky asked a question.

“Yes,” the legion servant said, “not only me, but all the workers on this casting deck are from Vostoria.”

"We are fortunate to have been chosen to depart from Vostonia and come to this ship to serve His Majesty."

"The deck I manage is responsible for producing the new bomb gun model, which is called the Bedrock type, and the standard construction template comes from the Skots."

"When we first arrived, we found that this deck was not suitable for us. At that time, the deck ceiling was only slightly higher than me. After I reported it, I received permission from the Great Order Shadow Technology Sergeant to open up the two decks and make adaptive modifications to the machines."

Rosicky nodded, looking up at the nearly five-meter-high ceiling, understanding the meaning of dismantling and modification within the data crystal.

The Furnace Dwarves are shorter than humans, and their working environment and equipment cannot be used directly, requiring adaptive modifications.

The Ironborn were in charge of mining; equipped with mechanical devices, they were tall and required no modifications.
"Continue working," the master of the furnace commanded.

"As ordered."

Rosicky used two ship standards to quickly grasp the ship's situation.

He then went to the ancestral shrine at the bottom to report to the Black Emperor.

"Thanks to my Lord for this gift, I will make good use of this warship to develop and provide more equipment for the legion."

“You should give it a name,” Ning Lu said with a slight nod and a smile.

"The entire ship is like a large forge, encompassing the entire process from ore to casting and storage. Laboratories and other facilities also serve the casting process."

"Let's call it the Forge."

(End of this chapter)