MC: Lucien Starr

Father: Titus Starr

Mother: Veronica Vonherr-Starr

Ultima Segmentum

Luhnborg System

Luhnborg-IX

Forge: Accatran

05.429.M39

I don’t know how or why it happened. No gods, ROB, trucks, warpy shits, etc. I went to sleep in my comfortable, perfectly safe bed. Then I woke up here as a 15 year old boy. With a soul searing migraine and memories of a different life..

Who am I now? Lucien Starr. Just a regular run of the mill human. Well.. other than the lineage stuff. Son of Rogue Trader Titus Starr and Knight Scion Veronica Vonherr-Starr.

That was 14 years ago (MC: 29 yrs old 05.429.M39). You're welcome for sparing you the 500 page training montage of a teenager.

The increased focus of being an adult stuck in a child’s body even if appreciated by my instructors did not go unnoticed. Luckily my arrival coincided with all the cybernetics being shoved into my adolescent brain. Thus the Magos Biologis (Genetor) chalked up my “quirk” as a blessing from the Omnissiah.

Having parents that were ‘passionate’ about my education was different. That migraine on arrival and the cybernetics? Thank the Omnissiah for those! It made learning the course work as easy as connecting to my MIU and taking the time to absorb the information. Still not instant but when paired with my other cerebral, logi and remembrance implants it wasn’t difficult.

Training to pilot a Knight while fun was generally accepted as more a right of passage and prestige than a preparation for war. So while I successfully completed my ritual of becoming by bonding with a Knight Cerastus on my 18th birthday. I will rarely have the need to pilot it outside of ceremonies. It goes over well with the cogheads at least. As well as anything does, I suppose.

Father is however adamant that I sire a lot of children. He intends for our Dynasty to also be an independent Knight House. Can’t say I blame him. The benefits politically and militarily are quite significant. Especially so if he intends for us to expand into the planetary conquest game.

He’ll need to address the availability of Knight Frames though.

I continue to find my martial training and aptitudes humorous much to the chagrin of my instructors. While being physically fit and a good shot. I’m bluntly put bottom tier trash with a sword. I am constantly reminded that I’m nearly as likely to injure myself or an ally if I ever need to use it in anger. I may or may not have stabbed or cut myself a few times…. Don’t ask.

Where I’m happy to have continued to excel beyond all expectations has been in simulated fleet actions. To an even larger degree when allowed to customize fleet doctrine to my preferences. So well in fact that my father had all of my simulation records purged from the ship’s systems and saved externally on one of his personal data vaults.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I was surprised at the response he and Magos Dominus Delta had. Mind you I didn’t and still don’t think it makes me a prodigy. Which raises the question of how I excelled to such a high degree right? Following basic principles of warfare that seem to have been lost in this era. Being faster, shooting further and simplified logistics.

The meta for the last however many millennia is big, slow ships with heavy broadsides. Most force doctrines view light cruisers, cruisers etc as primary combat elements. I see them as support or heavy armed transports.

Give me 2-3 appropriately fitted frigates or clippers and I’ll gladly send them against a force that is many times their mass. Admittedly it’s expensive to do but it really comes down to their combat efficiency right? If they’re 25%-50%-75%more expensive but 5 times as effective it’s a simple choice....right?

My father, Magos Delta and I were all in agreement that it was. The issue was how effective it is. What happens if a captain turns traitor and turns it against us or other Imperial forces? The brain storming session for coming up with safeguards was fun.

Delta suggested that a battery of surgeries similar to what Skitarii undergo be performed on ship officers. While effective it likely wouldn’t go over well if gone to the extreme.

My first suggestion was acquiring a Hypno-Indoctrination Chair but limiting its scope to loyalty and maybe some fleet tactics. The added benefit would be the ability to set up role specific training packages. Supplementing existing education and training programs for a multitude of roles. This was readily agreed to as an acceptable option. Now it’s up to father and his contacts to find one. Guy could sell singing lessons to the Sisters of Silence.

My other suggestion. More a question really. Maybe slight tech heresy. Was in regards to the Throne Mechanicum of a Knight and the Helm Mechanicum of Armigers. You see a Helm Mechanicum neurologically bonds the armiger pilot to the Scion in their Throne Mechanicum. Even allowing the Scion to override control of the armiger frame remotely.

I knew it wouldn’t be a simple plug and play type situation. There’s simply no way a person could handle the load those types of command thrones would put someone under if they tried to control a starship by themselves.

However, what if there was a way to get just this element of the Mechanicums to work on starships? If not, could we adopt a method similar to Titan Princeps and Moderati? I wouldn’t be opposed to the operations adopting methods similar to that of a Titan.

Magos Delta showed interest in the idea. Something about a possible increase in combat efficiencies for a myriad of reasons. It might make things more killy so he was interested. Father approved the study with no qualms and away it went.

Father was quite quickly able to locate and acquire an Indoctrination chair as well as some mechanicus specialists to set it up for our needs. I expected it to be more difficult to find or acquire. Turns out they’re not all too rare if you know the right people.

Magos Delta’s results were that it would be simpler to attempt a system similar to Princeps and Moderati. As well as significantly less heretical. It would require a higher minimum level of cybernetics amongst the command staff. Just another hoop to jump through but preferable to treating the crew like Skitarii. I actually quite like Skitarii. Exceedingly loyal and lethal. Just as the Omnissiah intended.

Magos Delta even built a working prototype that we tested on 2 pirate raiders that our Dynasty had captured at some point. The ships weren’t pretty and were being held to trade at some point. However they were still capable enough for our needs of testing the Mechanicums. Sure enough it works.

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