En route to Iblis, I make use of the tech-priests I imported from Stygies, basically a think-tank of various clades and specialities to recover the lost STC patterns of the Macharius tank.
A twin Volcano Lance template, with two small plasma reactors to supply both the engine and the weapons, and 2 heavy bolters for defense, seems to be the best we can make at a reasonable cost. It also has the new Flare shield, which doubles the prodigious durability once more.
Much cheaper would be a classic Vanquisher cannon variant, like those Leman Russ tanks, with 3 autocannons for close defense. Could also use a heavy flar, due to its prothium-based engine. We mark it down for the Astra Militarum and other PDF style forces. The guardsn will surely love having these as their primary tanks.
The next variant, one with a Gatling heavy bolter and 2 twin-autocannons, would be hugely useful against light infantry. Not that much against anything else, and thus it's only there as a gift.
The quad lascannon variant, with 3 twin-multilasers gets my approval quite fast. Laser technology is cheap and readily available for any Forge. I would pre-order a million of them, but they are still heavy tanks. Perhaps the entire Imperium of Man might produce a million, in a hundred years. They would probably need to, considering what's coming. A Power Shield could be also installed, for extra resilience and cost.
The next variant takes more work, because it uses the Ryza plasma cannon and the Tigrus atomantic reactor. There is enough energy for a Flare shield and 3 triple-multilasers, and this beast will keep working for a decade.
Only the more advanced Forges could build them, for Astartes and other elite units. This variant though, can face the worst in the galaxy, Titans or Necrons, even Chaos Engines. Every Forge World should have a few hundreds, just in case.
The last variant has the Volkite cannon from the Glaive, with a frontal twin-lascannon and 2 quad-multilasers on the sides. It is obscenely powerful against most units, and as expensive as the plasma variant. But it doesn't stand a chance against Titans or sa class enemies. It is the future though. Forges working to build this complex beauty will need to struggle and grow, and Tyranids swarms would just lt in front of it. Only Mars can built it, or maybe Graia, if their new planet has been developed enough.
And then we arrive at Iblis, to find the place peaceful and rather confused at our arrival. This is the base of Battlefleet Maelstrom, but the war hasn't reached it yet. Seems I won't confiscate anything here, without the spark of a war.
We refuel and re-arm the torpedoes, for money. It's not that I'm poor, I'm not. My clan is damn rich and I rarely spend money for anything. I must be the strangest Rogue Trader ever.
Anyway, with the loot of this campaign, I will have the largest fleet of any Rogue Trader dynasty, even those 10 thousand years old.
We already have battleships and battlecruisers, plus all the other ships.
I tell Finona to instruct her astropath, and have Victor sell a dozen crippled Eldar cruisers on the market, via Antax. It will make us twice as rich, and more importantly famous and well--seen by the xenophobic Imperium.
Plus, we will need lots of thrones to sponsor the emigration policy and subsidize child births. Those thrones will return as taxes once the population grows.
Many tis over, if my savant implant isn't wrong by a few zeros.
Using money to promote Ork style reproduction is funny, I know. They use teeth, but it pales in comparison with a real economy.
This gives an idea, and I instruct Veryon to attempt a barter with our northern Ork neighbors, those that I bombed into bronze age. He still has a decent fleet at Natale, and a growing coal and prothium industry.
The Orks will move away from those northern planets, in exchange for a few derelict Ork ships and a new target. We could gain 50 livable planets without a long fight to cleanse the worlds and ruin the ecosystems, and without spreading Ork spores by the billions.
And if those Orks try to loot the to be deposited at Iblis for a small rescue fee.
I don't even get a thanks from the entitled bastards, but then I didn't expect one.
Can't carry a million people, but there is no need. This mining base and port is theirs, with few transport ships to keep trading. I don't need to take everything, and I don't.
Pirates and criminals get executed or transford into servitors, depending on what the locals claim. I won't sit in judgent too much. If there's a charge, death. If not, lobotomy and eternal servitude on my ships.
For the next year we continue hunting the edge of the Maelstrom, while the Badab War slowly changes focus to other rebellious Chapters like the Mantis and the Executioners.
We find 300 more destroyers, so 30 frigates and cruisers and an old Grand Cruiser transford into a casino/space station. The local mob had 100 billion of illegal thrones in the vaults, which is of course shared by a percent with the crew.
I also gain more control over the labyrinths, and line my captives in nice organized rows by race and height. The Astartes look great, like I have a thousand decks of miniatures.
Sohow, I begin to understand Trazyn's fascination with collecting various decks. It is rather fulfilling.
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