“We are recording, Headmaster. Please proceed,” says Róisín.

“This is Headmaster Aileen Nan Sop of the Marwolv psy-errants initiating the after action review for Operation Sea Mither. With me today is Magos Explorator, Lord Captain of the Distant Sun, and Commander of this fleet, Aldrich Issengrund.

“Also in attendance is the Master-at-Arms of the Distant Sun, and commander of the imperial forces on Marwolv, Thorfinn Ursus as well as his second in command, Commander Maeve Muire, leader of Distant Sun’s special operations.

Junior enginseer, Róisín Paorach, is present with her fellow students as a learning experience and to aid the proceedings, as are the adjuncts of the other parties. Commander Muire, please start the after action review with a summary of Operation Sea Mither.”

“Thank you, Headmaster,” says Maeve. “Operation Sea Mither was a retaliatory seize and destroy mission against the invasive tau xenos after they reneged on their own non-interference pact by abducting citizens of Marwolv.”

Maeve clasps her hands and leans forward on the table, “The aim of Operation Sea Mither was to sabotage the tau’s capacity for conflict and to gather intelligence on their civilian and military goals and capabilities.

“During the operation, we negated approximately fifteen hundred tau infantry, between two hundred and two hundred and seven tau vehicles, and nineteen battlesuits.

“Of the nine boarding torpedoes, three hundred and seventy kataphrons, four hundred and eight heavy infantry, eight cyber mastiff logistic dogs, one chimera, and one tech-priest that took part in the operation, only one hundred and seventy-six heavy infantry, three cyber mastiffs, and one tech-priest, Magos Issengrund, were retrieved via teleportation.

“The battle servitors, boarding torpedoes, and chimera were intended to be left behind and fought autonomously until disabled, then self-destructed. The infantry casualties are much worse than we expected.

“In return for our efforts we have crippled their research, industrial, and vehicle facilities, flooding three domes, and learned that the tau are attempting to hybridise human psykers with tau genetics.

“The Magos informed me this is a perilous task and we fell foul of this when a warp entity, now code named ‘Bad Penny’, used these clones to invade the tau domes and opposed both sides with its sword wielding minions.

“We abandoned our prisoners and seized materials to make our escape easier. Even so, a third of our casualties were from these minions while we were scattered throughout the three domes.

“Magos Issengrund slew the prime manifestation of ‘Bad Penny’ during his retreat.

“Returning to the tau, their likely aim is to create navigators of their own so that they can pilot imperial void ships through the warp and it is speculated they may do so by either attempting to seize the Distant Sun or Iron Crane.

“Alternatively, they may seek to use stolen technology, which we know they have some of, to build a new vessel of their own and travel back to their home territory on the other side of the galaxy, a task that they cannot complete in a reasonable time frame without said technology and navigators of their own.

“During the assault, our support, blue water fleet, one strike craft carrier, one amphibious assault ship, four cruisers, eight destroyers, four submarines and a factory ship worked as cover and a deployment platform for the nine boarding torpedoes.

“The tau retaliated against the blue water fleet with two mantas and twenty eight other strike craft, the details of which you can find on your data slates. They also fielded nine sky ray gunships and two drone harbingers as well as three submarines of an unknown design.

“While they were unable to sink any of our vessels, the entire fleet is in for repair, we lost eight hundred crew, and a fifth of the fleet will likely be scrapped.

“That is all.”

“Thank you, Commander Muire, for your concise summary,” says Aileen.

Maeve gives him a brisk nod.

“I will now lead us through what went well, what went poorly, and then you may each take turns offering suggestions on how to change future engagements. Finally, we will open the floor to the junior members for ideas. Please raise your hands and wait to be asked, should you wish to contribute.”

We all give our affirmation and the Headmaster leads the discussion. Thanks to his unnatural skill we are able to get through a more detailed review without too many accusations flying back and forth, or the discussions becoming unhelpful.

When it is her turn to speak again, Commander Muire looks over to me and says, “Magos, Corporal Moredelg and I have spoken and he found the enhanced capabilities of your armour and shielding greatly aided the survival of his squad as the ire and ordinance you attracted let him act with greater effectiveness and survivability, sans the warp entity event, than the other squads.

“Would it be possible to include one power armoured individual to perform a similar role in other squads?”

I purse my lips and hum, “We could, potentially, add a tech-priest to each squad with power armour, or provide them for officers. The problem with that, however, is these are the most time consuming people to train and we’d be setting them up to take the most hits.

“Power armour is good, but it’s not so invincible we couldn’t slowly be ground to death, losing the people we need to create and maintain our equipment, or command our forces.”

Maeve frowns, “Could we not have a melee specialist or three in each squad?”

“Not in power armour with our current industrial and logistics capacity, unless they were making their own. I’d rather have such capable individuals performing other tasks. I do think the idea is worth pursuing though.”

Róisín raises her hand.

“Go ahead, adept Paorach,” says Aileen.

“How about more cyber mastiffs? If all you want is something to take hits and get in the enemy’s face, a dog is more effective than a person and a cheaper solution.”

“That is possible,” I say. “The tau use kroot hounds to great effect. I see no reason why we can’t do something similar. If you could gather a study group, overseen by yourself and Purser Brataich, and explore the issue, I would be most grateful, Róisín.”

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

“Yes Magos,” says Róisín with a big grin. “I and my fellow students also have another idea related to decreasing casualties, if I may?”

“I have no objection,” I say.

Headmaster Aileen looks about the room, “Go ahead adept. Please keep your audience in mind.”

“Yes, sir. We’ve been looking into the imperial equivalents of tau energy shields and found them to be absurdly complex and expensive to produce. Rather than tackle the issue, we decided to look elsewhere first and came across the Distant Sun’s field bracing. Would it be possible to apply such molecular binding reinforcement technology to power armour or our heavy infantry’s equipment?”

I blink rapidly, “Well, what an idea! You seem quite determined to gather all the rewards for hard work there, Róisín. Perhaps the three who accompanied you today could look into miniaturizing field bracing technology instead? I will collate everything I have on the technology and forward it to you all. For both the canine and field bracing project all four of you may contact me directly on the issue and I will aid where I can.”

“Thank you, Magos,” says Róisín. She looks either side of her and two tech-priests nod to her and the third gives her a thumbs up. “We look forward to the additional tutoring.”

“We are all students of the Omnissiah, Róisín. I expect I’ll learn a thing or two as well.”

“Yes, sir.”

I turn back to Aileen, “Is there anything else on today’s agenda, Aileen?”

“I don’t think we’re quite finished just yet. I have questions of my own. Reading through your own account, Magos, I noticed that the majority of casualties suffered from the warp entities were mind related. We do have warding schemes for protective hoods for our psy-errants and you have many similar designs in your archives.

“Would it be possible to extend this protection to us all?”

“Unfortunately not. I am yet to learn the intricacies of creating such wargear and, as such, none of my students are either. Additionally, the rare materials required for wards are all tied up in the production on the Iron Crane and the refit of Distant Sun.”

“That is unfortunate.”

Thorfinn raises his hand.

“Yes, Thorfinn?” says Aileen.

“The Imperium does possess psycho-indoctrination technology that can reinforce the mind against such terrors. It is reserved for their space marines, inquisition, and high ranking officers. While not infallible and a most unpleasant procedure, it does aid in surviving against such horrors.

He looks at data slate, “For protection against casual exposure, psycho-indoctrination reduces episodes of fainting, hesitation, and fear by ninety percent. Against more direct exposure, the chance of madness and death is cut by fifteen to eighteen percent. It is of little help against the most powerful unless paired with extensive training and genetic modification. It would be a lengthy process to perform on everyone, but it is possible.”

I nod slowly, “Get me the exact numbers and write up a proposal for, let’s call it ‘warp inoculation’.”

“Sure, I’ll need First Officer Lobhdain's assistance though.”

Eire taps at her data slate for ten seconds then looks at me, “I could make space on my schedule for such a project.”

“Then please go ahead. Give me an update each week. We can reassess then, if need be.”

“Assist Thorfinn on warp inoculation feasibility study and update once a week,” Eire nods. “Shall we meet after this, Thorfinn and coordinate.”

“Can do.”

“I have something to add,” says Aileen. “I possess enough material and knowledge to create protective hoods. Not to imperial standards, but they do aid the most susceptible of psi-errants. There is enough material for a platoon and the idea of doing nothing at all is abhorrent to me. Perhaps some precursor squads to establish protocols, Magos?”

“Volunteers only. Please coordinate with Thorfinn and Eire. Having a special team for such matters would greatly aid us. Thank you headmaster.”

“I shall. Protection against the warp is a duty I take seriously. I am glad you do so too.”

“That reminds me, Thorfinn. We have yet to establish twist catchers on the Distant Sun, Erudition's Howl, or for the Iron Crane. How about doubling down on Aileen’s generous offer and have the experimental platoon take up the role? The psi-errants could lead them and the twist catchers could double as our guardians against warp incursions on Marwolv as well.”

“We’ll need more than one platoon if we do it that way, Aldrich, but it is a good start. If the Headmaster is willing to assist, I will see it done.”

“I am,” says Aileen.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Aileen.”

“Do not worry about it, Magos. I have one further line of questions. What are the estimates for the return of tau hostilities and how will further actions in this campaign affect Marwolv? The Gael Democracy and its peers across the other continents are pleased and nervous about your efforts. Perhaps you could give them a greater voice, or visit in person to talk to them?”

“A bit of both,” I think. “We’ll save hashing out our policies for another meeting, and once we have them in place, I will visit and address what concerns I am able. As for the tau’s capabilities, I defer to Thorfinn and Maeve. I am, however, willing to aid in data processing and answer questions.”

“That is good to hear. Thank you for accepting my request, Magos. Thorfinn, please give us your best understanding of the tau’s likely time table.”

“Will do, Headmaster. Though, perhaps a break first? I would like to stretch my legs and get my thoughts in order.”

Aileen sighs and smiles. “A fine proposition. Thirty minutes then. While longer would be nice, I think we’d all rather get this productive meeting finished sooner rather than later. Magos?”

“Go ahead.”

“This is Headmaster Aileen Nan Sop of the Marwolv psy-errants. We will halt for a recess of thirty minutes. Junior enginseer Paorach, please suspend the recording.”

“The recording has been halted, Headmaster.”

I place my hands on the table and stand, then turn to Quaani, “Let’s see what biscuits we can coax out of the food printer.”

Quaani smirks, “Nothing that reaches your low snack standards, Aldrich.”

I cross my arms and nod, “You’re right. I should have baked some shortbread.”

“I don’t think there has been a single member of the mechanicus who ever brought home made biscuits to a meeting,” says Quaani, his eyes wide, “Though I’d love to see it.”

“Next time then.”

Eire Lobhdain, smiles, “I didn’t know you liked to bake, Lord Captain.”

“Quaani was a fussy child.”

“Oi.”

Purser Brigid Mac'Ille na Brataich chuckles, “Just like my own boys, Lord Captain. I always found having them make their own food quickly squashed any grief about inadequate fare.”

“We did try that a time or two. It was a learning experience for both of us. Fortunately the servitors were able to clean up the mess, though they couldn’t quite get everything and I eventually resorted to dissolving residual matter with my nanites. Since then, Quaani has become rather good at using the food printer, though he can at least cook for himself when required.”

“I’m right here, Aldrich.”

Eire looks up at him, “That’s half the fun.”

Quaani huffs, “Never mind that. What are you mixing up in that satchel of yours? It’s been putting out weird vibes for the whole meeting.”

“Oh! Well, I discovered the plans for something unusual. Would you like to see?”

“Yes, Aldrich! Why do you think I asked?”

I pat Quaani on the arm. “I’m sorry about the teasing, Quaani. Here, check out this.” From my satchel I pull out a half metre rod with bent, incisor-like ends, “Guess what it is.”