Warhammer 40,000: Echoes of Divinity

Qin Mo put aside thoughts of commemorating the fallen, the weight of their sacrifice briefly acknowledged with a silent nod. There was no time for mourning now. Something far more critical demanded his focus: designing warships, vessels that would shift the balance of power in the Talon System forever.

Qin Mo had a clear, uncompromising vision for the fleet:

At present, the Imperial Navy's presence in the Talon System was weak.

- 1 Lunar-class Cruiser

- 3 Sword-class Frigates

And given how deep corruption ran within the Hive's ruling class, it was almost certain these ships had already fallen to treachery or incompetence.

But Qin Mo had no doubts: his warfleet would crush them utterly.

His initial blueprints revolved around two core classifications, each built for dominance and precision:

1. Frigates – Interceptors & Tactical Support Vessels

Role: Rapid-response screening units, engineered for flexibility and precision. Designed to intercept enemy strike craft, nullify missile salvos, and providing covering fire in high-threat engagements.

Armament:

High-velocity, fast-tracking light turrets: Designed with gyroscopic stabilization for multi-vector arc coverage, allowing the vessel to track multiple fast-moving targets simultaneously.

Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS): Pulse-laser arrays for hyper-precision point-defense, effective against incoming torpedoes, drones, and boarding pods.

Torpedo Launchers: Designed for deep hull penetration, these warheads targeted critical systems like plasma reactors, power cores, or command decks.

Unique System:

Teleport beacon launchers: experimental payloads that deploy Dimensional markers directly into hostile vessels or breach points, enabling surgical teleportation strikes mid-battle, bypassing external defenses and creating chaos behind enemy lines.

2. Cruisers – Fleet Line Combatants & Capital Killers

Role: Primary offensive vessels, equipped for broadscale warfare and capital ship engagements.

Armament:

Forward-mounted Particle Lances: Capable of extreme-range precision strikes, these weapons were engineered to core through enemy hulls in seconds.

Saturation Missile Batteries: Able to launch volley-based barrages, suited for both area denial and orbital bombardment.

Rotational turret arrays: Designed for maximum broadside efficiency and overlapping kill zones, ensuring no blind spots in high-intensity engagements.

Unique System:

Teleportation Grid Arrays: High-capacity systems capable of deploying entire strike teams, automated war constructs, or mechanized boarding pods directly into the enemy vessel's interior during peak combat scenarios.

Above all else, Qin Mo's warships would carry more firepower per tonnage than any other warship of the same class.

Qin Mo's fleet would reject two fundamental Imperial technologies.

1. No Gellar Fields

Unlike Imperial vessels, Qin Mo's warships warships would never touch the Warp.

Instead, they would utilize Dimensional Engines, bypassing the need for a Gellar Field entirely.

Unlike Warp Drives, these systems sliced through localized dimensional subspace, threading through micro-folds of reality without ever breaching into the Immaterium.

During transit, a teleportation shield would form around the ship, ensuring it was not torn apart in the dimensional corridor.

This would eliminate the risk of daemonic incursions, as Warp travel was no longer necessary.

2. No Void Shields

Qin Mo had no affinity for the Warp, and as such, had no need for Warp-based defenses.

Instead he devised a one-way energy barrier:

A constant-phase kinetic barrier that allowed outgoing projectiles to pass freely, while repelling all external fire, regardless of velocity or origin.

Unlike Void Shields, this system had no vulnerability to slow-moving projectiles or boarding torpedoes.

....

Battle Doctrine & Shipboard Efficiency

If close-range combat became inevitable, Qin Mo's cruisers would unleash concentrated missile barrages and kinetic weaponry to devastate enemy formations.

Unlike Imperial designs his ships would not waste space on shrines, chapels, or excessive crew quarters.

All personnel would be stationed near the ship's core, eliminating the need for long corridors. Instead of running between battle stations, crews would be linked via neural interfaces, controlling ship systems as if they were an extension of their own bodies.

During non-combat periods, crew members would enter suspension stasis, reducing long-term resource consumption and psychological fatigue.

....

Failsafe Teleportation – The Ultimate Contingency

Even in defeat, Qin Mo's design held a trump card.

Should a ship be critically damaged or destroyed, stasis pods would activate emergency mass-teleportation protocols, retrieving all personnel to safety within milliseconds, preserving experience and leadership assets for future campaigns.

The ship might die, but its crew would live to avenge it.

....

As Qin Mo finalized the schematics, a dangerous idea surfaced.

A weapon unlike anything the Imperium had ever fielded before.

A truly devious weapon.

Dimensional Bomb Deployment

A supermassive implosive warhead, housed within each ship's hangar bay, would be stored in magnetic containment fields.

In combat, the bomb would be teleported directly into the heart of an enemy ship, bypassing all external armor, shields, and hull plating.

Due to the unpredictable movement of ships, precise targeting would be impossible, but even one successful deployment would result in instant destruction.

Once the opposing crew realized a bomb had materialized inside their vessel, they would face an impossible choice:

- Break formation and scatter, sacrificing battlefield cohesion and tactical unity.

- Stay and die, allowing the detonation to consume their fleet from within.

Either way, the battle would already be lost.

Qin Mo smirked.

"This is getting interesting…"

Designing the ships themselves was easy.

The real challenge?

Perfecting the weaponry, refining the Dimensional Engines, and testing them under duress.

That would take time.

But for him, this was an enjoyable process.

....

Meanwhile, in Tyrone Spire

While Qin Mo was forging the future of naval warfare, the Spire Lords convened for an emergency council.

For the first time in decades, nearly every noble house of Tyrone Hive answered the summons.

This was no ordinary meeting.

It was held within the Grand Ecclesiarchy Chapel, beneath the watchful gaze of the Emperor's golden effigy, its stern visage illuminated by flickering votive candles.

The air was heavy with sickly-sweet incense, imported from Holy Terra itself, curling around hovering servo-skulls that drifted like hollow-eyed ghosts.

At the pulpit stood the Governor of Tyrone Hive, a towering man wrapped in robes woven with gold-thread and chem-fiber. One augmetic eye whirred softly, its red lens pulsing in time with his breathing.

His voice boomed from a vox-grille implanted in his throat, each syllable wrapped in static and authority.

"Gentlemen, Deacon-Primaris David is dead."

The assembled nobles exchanged glances, their expressions flickering between skepticism, amusement, and concealed relief.

Some even cursed the Governor silently.

"So now that David's dead, you finally decide to show yourself?"

The Governor continued, unbothered.

"Autopsy results confirm David died of heart failure."

A rare diagnosis in the Imperium, where most noblemen replaced failing organs with augmentics.

The room snickered.

"How touching David was such a 'pious man' that he refused cybernetics."

Then the Governor asked the real question.

"Who, then, orchestrated this... miraculous demise?"

Immediately, one noble scoffed.

"The answer is obvious: the First Legion."

"Why?" The Governor pressed.

The noble grinned, spreading his arms theatrically.

"Because he was their enemy."

Then, with a mocking smirk, he raised his voice:

"If I were one of them, I'd have poisoned the old bastard myself!"

The chapel erupted in laughter.

The nobles doubled over, howling in amusement.

As if they hadn't just been mourning David a moment ago.

Meanwhile, the lowborn serfs standing in the hall looked at their masters, utterly bewildered.

One moment, the nobles were grieving.

The next, they were laughing like hyenas.

Their emotional instability was… unsettling.

Though to be fair, they had never been particularly stable to begin with.

"Enough. Settle down."

The Governor smiled, motioning for silence.

Then, he made his declaration:

"War with the rebels is now inevitable. We will order the forces within the Hive to attack. Meanwhile, we will retreat to Talon III."

One noble frowned.

"What if the 'Cult of the Lord of Wisdom' refuses to follow orders?"

The Governor's expression darkened.

"Then we unite against them and purge every last one of their leaders."

The room fell silent.

Then, the nobles grinned smugly.

Plots and betrayal? That was their specialty.

"But understand this," the Governor said coldly, "the forces attacking the rebels will not be our Planetary Defense Forces. They will come from Talon II."

Then, the Governor's gaze landed on a single figure, a man clad in a Marshal's uniform, seated at the far end of the chamber.

"Stinger."

The Governor's voice cut through the silence.

"You will oversee this operation."

The Marshal stood, his salute sharp and mechanical.

"Understood."

Then, he sat back down.

The other nobles scowled.

"A former slave commanding our forces?"

"Outrageous!"

They had never approved of Stinger.

To them, he was nothing more than the Governor's glorified lapdog.

The Governor smirked.

"Perhaps Stinger should remain a slave, then. After all, the position of Marshal should go to someone… braver. Someone willing to stay behind and die while we escape."

The nobles immediately changed their tune.

"No, no, Stinger is the perfect choice!"

"I fully support him!"

"No one is better suited for this role!"

The Governor chuckled.

Then, he turned back to Stinger.

"Make it look good. Don't just throw troops at them."

"Yes, my Lord."

Stinger bowed deeply.