Editing Nobledark Imperium Imperial Forces (section)

==Imperial Navy==

===The Five Flagships===

''Phalanx''. ''Nicor''. ''Mirabilis''. ''The Rock''. ''Terminus Est''. These are names that are instantly recognized by any scholar of Imperial history, as well as feared throughout history by those who sought to do the Imperium harm.
 
The Five, often colloquially referred to as the “Five Big Bastards” after a comment made by primarch Rogal Dorn, were a series of massive super-dreadnoughts commissioned by the Imperium in the last days of the Unification of Sol and the early years of the Great Crusade. Each of these ships were roughly 25 kilometers long and bristled with conventional weaponry. The five ships were roughly comparable in size and shape, though the ''Phalanx'' was perhaps a little larger and a little more heavily-armed than her sisters. In addition to newly constructed material mined from the Sol system, the Five were also constructed from the recycled remains of the numerous scattered shipwrecks throughout the Sol system (many of which came to the attention of the Imperium at the suggestion of the primarch Horus), making them packed full of whatever Dark Age-era technology could be salvaged from the wreckage.
 
The original construction of the Five was intended to be a show of solidarity between the newly unified nations of Sol. The ships were to be commissioned by the newly named Steward of Earth, constructed by the Mechanicum of Mars in the shipyards of Luna, and would be crewed by the Void Born of the Sol migrant fleet. However, because of the time and resource-intensive nature of their construction, only two of these ships — the ''Rock'' and the ''Phalanx'' — were ready by the beginning of the Great Crusade. The ''Rock'' was sent out as the flagship of the Imperium's first expeditionary fleet helmed by the Dark Angels, whereas the ''Phalanx'' remained in the Sol system to act as a deterrent to any potential force that would threaten Mars and Old Earth. Construction of the remaining three — the ''Nicor'', ''Mirabilis'', and ''Terminus Est'' — was not completed until much later in the Great Crusade, when the resources of additional systems could be brought to bear for their completion.
 
The Five were intended to be a long-term investment. In addition to building ties of unity between the major factions of Sol, the Five were meant to be a show of strength, on the part of the nascent Imperium, to the greater galaxy. The huge size of the Five meant that their internal workings could support much larger than average hydroponic bays, which meant they could function away from the Imperium for long periods of time without resupplying and be largely self-sufficient if they were ever cut off from Imperial supply chains. This made the ''Rock'' the ideal flagship to send out with the expeditionary fleet. Eventually, the plan was for the Five to be sent to the far corners of the galaxy, one for each major Segmentum, to act as flagships and command centers for the Imperial Navy. The ''Phalanx'', ''Rock'', ''Terminus Est'', ''Nicor'', and ''Mirabilis'' were to be sent to Segmenta Solar, Obscurus, Pacificus, Tempestus, and Ultima, respectively. Unfortunately, random chance and the whims of history ended up scuttling this plan. Although originally constructed as part of a set, each of the Five suffered dramatically different fates.
 
The ''Rock'' was infamously stolen by the arch-traitor Luther during the Chaos of the War of the Beast, only to be reclaimed by the loyalist Dark Angels after the Lion's final battle with his brother. Luther had not had his hands on the ''Rock'' long enough for it to be irrevocably tainted by Chaos, and the Dark Angels were able to repurpose the battleship for their own uses. To this day, the ''Rock'' remains the mobile headquarters of the Dark Angels chapter.
 
The ''Phalanx'', although heavily damaged in the War of the Beast, remains as it always has in the Sol System, an old guard dog ever-ready to fight those that would threaten the capital of the Imperium.  Its [[Nobledark_Imperium_Writing#Ork_Diplomacy|legendary ramming action]] that repelled the Beast's attack planet Ullanor during the War of The Beast obliterated much of the original ship, as the relativistic impact vaporized almost all of the Phalanx, with only relatively small parts of the drive superstructure remaining attached to the ship's neutronium ramming prow and keel, which was later recovered from a highly elliptical orbit around Sol. Any conventional matter, including the body of Pius himself, would have been vaporized on impact, but neutronium is made of tougher stuff. The Phalanx was rebuilt from around this neutronium keel, missing many of the archaeotech systems originally contained within its frame but [[The_War_of_The_Beast#The_Fist_of_the_Imperium|the keel was enough of a plank in the ship of Theseus to claim continuity with the original ship]]. The Imperium doesn't like to take defeat lying down. 
 
The ''Mirabilis'' remains active in the galactic East, still acting as a flagship of the Imperial Navy rather than commanded by any chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, perhaps the only one of the Five along with the Phalanx that is still performing the job the Imperium intended for it. However, the Ultima Segmentum is nearly an order of magnitude larger than any other part of the galaxy, and there is little the ''Mirabilis'' can do beyond putting out fires.
 
The ''Nicor'' fought valiantly for many years, but was presumed lost in the aftermath of the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Drafts#Second_Black_Crusade|Second Black Crusade]]. In late M40, the Carcharodons found the carcass of the ''Nicor'' floating out in the middle of the Segmentum Tempestus, and — after much friction with the rest of the Imperium — refurbished it into their new headquarters. Although the ''Nicor'' is probably capable of void combat once more, the Carcharodons prefer to keep it in a strategic location in the galactic South to act as a central base from which they can coordinate their attacks. Ironically, the ''Nicor'' in some ways is performing the job it had always been intended to do in the first place, striking fear in the hearts of any who would threaten the Imperium in the Segmentum Tempestus.
 
The ''Terminus Est'' served the Imperium through more military campaigns than any other member of the Five. After being sent to take back the Segmentum Pacificum when the Imperium set out to reclaim the Segmentum, the ship was commandeered in the aftermath of the war by Typhus the Pilgrim, who made it into the mobile headquarters of his breakaway chapter the Black Templars. For six millennia, the ''Terminus Est'' was a constant presence on the western front of the Imperium. Much like the Black Templars themselves, the ''Terminus Est'' was forever marching to war, never resting, never stopping, almost seeming to have an indefatigable personality of its own. If there is any truth to the Mechanicus' claim that ships have machine spirits, there is perhaps no better argument in support of this idea than the ''Terminus Est''.
 
However, no ship can fight forever. In late M38, the ''Terminus Est'' finally broke down after back-to-back fighting in an Armageddon War and putting down an assault on Necromunda. The ''Terminus Est'' managed to limp its mass to high Necromundan orbit before tidal forces tore the ship apart. Today, the ''Terminus Est'' is the closest thing the Black Templars have to a static headquarters. Like the ''Nicor'', the Templars claim the ''Terminus Est'' might have a few more battles in her, but so far none have been willing to put that claim to the test.

===Blade of Luna===

The Blade Of Luna is one of the first in a series of modified Mars-class battlecruisers equipped with oversized engines, the sensor networks of an Emperor-class battleship, and cutting edge vox warfare systems. Recently built by the shipyards based around Luna — not the orthodox masters of Mars — it is designed to serve as a support ship maintaining inter-fleet communications and tracking enemies for improved battlefield awareness.

This description vastly oversimplifies their role. While rebels and pirates who barely know how to keep a stolen ship's anti-gravity working are little threat to the pirate-extermination forces that a ship of this type would lead — the Crone Eldar, Necrons, Olamic Quietude, and Dark Mechanicus, to name the most infamous — all have their own foul brand of techno-sorcery.

Daemonic scrap-code can cut power to point defense arrays just long enough to let a barrage of boarding pods bite into the hull, secure encryptions can be cracked in milliseconds by machinery powered by broken star gods, crucial orders can be lost under a tidal wave of jamming signals, augurs that previously tracked micrometeorites from one end of the solar system to the other suddenly lose their visuals; the list goes on. The Imperial Navy has learned its bloody lessons over ten thousand years of war, and its more technically-minded factions are the inheritors of practices fine-tuned prior to the Dark Age of Technology.

Hence the limited production run of ships like the Blade Of Luna, testbeds for the latest electronic warfare systems to serve as sword and shield against the Imperium's enemies. Her higher decks are packed with banks of compartmentalized, EMP-shielded cogitators and consoles, each linked to a backup battery in the event the redundant power couplings to the Generatorium fail in battle. Augur arrays normally found only on the Emperor-class battleship cover the Blade Of Luna in a thin forest of sensor spars and domes, and in concert with the cogitators enable the ship's Techpriests to tune out false positives and home in on elusive cloaked enemies. Gellar fields, hexagrammatic wards, and crude automations of machine exorcism are present to fend off the more daemonic varieties of scrap-code. There are other technologies that are not so enthusiastically discussed by the rather open-minded Mechanicus builders, but they have risen to meet the monumental challenges of those who would challenge the Omnissiah's vessels of war.

===Deep Field Recon===

Knowledge of its many enemies is vital to the Imperium's survival, and quite hard to come by. Oh, you can learn some things on the battlefield. Weapons and tactics. But this is far, far from a complete picture. It tells you nothing of their logistics, of their politics, of their inner minds, of the deep knowledge needed to strike at the heart of an entire civilization. Fighting on the battlefield tells you how to fight on the battlefield, but not how to craft grand strategy. 

Channels for gaining this deep knowledge are few. It is impossible to infiltrate the Silent Court, and there is no gossip there; likewise a tyranid cannot be bribed to turn against the Swarm, and even the smallest bribes in Shaa-Dome are far too horrible to pay. There is no trade with the Orks, and an embassy in Commorragh would be nothing but a buffet table. Intercepting the communications of Chaos is actively hazardous to the health of the reader's mind and soul, and any wire-tapping the thoughts of a dark God is wont to become a conduit for them into reality. All the tricks human nations have used to spy on each other since time immemorial are useless against the vast majority of the Imperium's foes. But ignorance is not an option.

Thus, the Deep Field Recon squadrons. 

The Deep Field Recon squadrons are one of the few methods the Imperium has for investigating the inner reaches of enemy territory. Deep Field Recon ships are made to be as stealthy as possible, typically mounting multiple forms of concealment. Reflex shields and Eldar holo-fields are standard, as are various forms of passive stealth such as low-signature engines and auspex-baffling plating. Some are equipped with more exotic devices still; archeotech and xenotech cloaking devices salvaged from the far corners of the galaxy. An (un)lucky few bear psychic choirs on board, actively diverting the attention of possible searchers away.

The design of any two ships are often dissimilar; due to the incorporation of xenotech in the design, the main body of the Mechanicum refuses to construct them. Thus, their creation is left to the heterodox and other member states; the Hubworld League, the Eldar, the Interex, and increasingly the Tau.

With these techniques, they dive deep into the sanctums of the enemy, gathering information, inserting and extracting commando teams, and striking targets of opportunity. The Deep Field Recon squadrons are a vital part of anti-Ork efforts, providing forewarning of rising WAAAGGHHs and delivering kill-teams to eliminate rising Warbosses. Others ghost through the Silent Empire, mapping tomb worlds, counting World Engines, and watching for any preparations for an attack. This is one of the highest mortality duties among in Deep Field Recon; the Silent Empire guards its borders jealously, and its reserves of techno-sorcery are vast and deep. There are even rumors of ships covered in hexagrammatic wards operating under the auspices of the Alpha Legion, plunging into the Eye of Terror itself to strike at the Great Enemy in its lair. 

Life in the Silent Service is frequently nerve-wracking. By the nature of their missions, they spend their time deep in enemy territory far away from any possible reinforcements. Often for years on end, as they slowly assemble a complete picture of enemy numbers and capabilities from telescope pictures and stray vox-chatter. At the same time, it is often quite boring, drifting through space with everything but stealth systems and passive sensors powered down, watching an enemy with no idea of their presence. When hunting, the nature of the wait and tension changes as they slowly glide towards their targets, moving into position for a single kill-shot and hoping their exit route remains clear.

Deep Field Recon squadrons usually operate under the auspices of the Inquisition. Typically, they are attached to various Watch Fortresses keeping an eye on specific threats or regions of space. Most Recon ships operate with an Inquisitor, or at least an Interrogator, on board, specializing in the specific threat the ship is operating against. Many Inquisitors use vessels of similar design as their personal vehicles, even if not specifically on Deep Field Recon duties; the class is well-suited to Inquisition duties generally.

There are few Deep Field Recon vessels. Due to the exotic equipment and demanding tolerances of the class, they are difficult to build; only a few thousand exist at any given time. But, in enemies of the Imperium ambushed and destroyed, and even more in vital knowledge gathered, each is worth ten times its number in conventional vessels.