Alright I'm toying around with trying my hand to write a Bolo/WH40k one shot... (I have a rough idea how it would start and up to the middle but can't get further than that...)
But in the meantime I figured I post a rough timeline of what I was considering...
Early Terran history...
-Generational colony ship is sent out with experimental first warp drive.
-Said drive malfunctions slightly throwing the ship FAR from Earth, Eldar Empire, most known races. Indeed just beyond the very edge of the territory that 41st millennium Imperial space will fill in the future.
-Unaware of how far off course they are said ship colonizes a nearby planet they entitle Earth-Theta colony.
-Time passes, some natural disasters knocks their technology into regression, much historical data is lost or corrupted. As the colonists recreate there technology they start to assume that the historical data refers to there current planet, eventually raising the common knowledge that Earth-theta is in reality the Earth solar system.
(not to far fetched remember the first Horus novel had Horus leading a assault on a planetary system that claimed IT was holy Terra in the opening chapter.)
*from this point inhabitants of the planet call it Earth... But for the sake of avoiding confusion I'll still refer to it as Earth-Theta.*
-Development of the first Bolo's on Earth Theta...
-Denizens of Earth Theta begin to leave their system establishing the Concordiant, and discovering numerous alien species... the Majority of which are hostile (although some are neutral and friendly).
-Earth Theta and colonies develop Non-warp FTL known as Hyperdrive. Interestingly enough the inhabitants of the sector of space that Earth Theta inhabits, also all develop non-warp methods of FTL. As a result the Barriers between the Materium and the Immaterium in this sector of space is unusually strong. Main side effect is that Psyker's are incredibly rare among all human and Xeno Species of the sector...
- Eldar Empire Implodes, creating Eye of terror and massive Warp storms. The strength of separation between the Immaterium and Materium caused by the lack of warp travel in the Earth Theta sector of space acts as a barrier against the ensuing warp storms. As a result Theta Sector is spared from much of the ensuing chaos. Except for a rash of time space anomalies.
-several Convoy of Mark XXIV Bolo's disappear in several Warp storm anomalies among the sector. Current fate unknown (Chaos Bolos? )
-Minor Ork Waarrrgghh into Concordiant is repelled...
-Concordiant encounters Melconian Empire
-Concordiant-Melconian war erupts
-One fleet action accidentally awakens a minor Necron Outpost in the sector. Necrons rampage across several Melconian and Concordiant Planets before Outpost (and its planet ) is finally destroyed by Melconian battle...
Several Hawkish hardliners in both Melconian and Concordiant Military take what might have been a unifying foe and paint it as a terror alien ally of the opposing forces. Worsening relationships even more and escalating the Melconian and Concordiant conflict.
-Both Melconian and Concordiant military issue 'total annihilation' orders for any planet shown to have the slightest hint of Necron tech, assuming they are forward bases for unknown alien allies of the Concordiant or Melconians. Several planetary massacres are caused by odd xeno trinkets being studied due to these orders.
Necron outposts and Tomb worlds are decimated in earth-theta sector, as both concordiant and Melconian fleets annihilate discovered worlds as soon as discovered before the necrons can revive from hibernation to defend their outposts.
(Remember at this point not even the Deceiver is awake, so for the most part the Necrons are dormant. And both Forces of Melconian and Concordiant are operating on 'Necrodermis detected? Blow up the whole planet!' type overkill... so the Necron bases have little to no time to revive and assess the threat before they are atomized by the fleet)
-Melconian and Concordiant 'final solution' implemented. Majority of inhabitable planets in the sector sterilized, contaminated, made unfit for sentient life. Only a handful of planets remain inhabitable. 'Dead' planets form rather large shield between the soon to come Imperium of mankind and survivors of the 'final solution'
-Various Bolo's nurture surviving human, and in one case Human/Melconian, colonies back from the brink of extinction... several Mark XXXIII Bolo's expand into unknown universe after their human companion fleets were destroyed in the final solution. Most famous is the Bolo XXXIII Sherman that spared a surviving Melconian refugee colony before vanishing into the unknown in its command center ('Endings' Bolo book 2')
-Rise of the Human New Republic and the Melconian/human Star Union of Arat from remains of the Concordiant and Melconian empires ('a Time to kill' BOLO by Weber). Due to lingering pain over the Melconian/Concordiant conflict both powers expand AWAY from the scarred area of Earth Theta, and incidentally prevent any chance of encountering the newly resurgent Imperium of Man lead by the God Emperor...
-34th-35th Millennia Unknown pacifistic Human power rediscovers Earth-theta, and uses Nanotechnology to make planet inhabitable again. Discover Bolo mark XXIX Victorious in sealed container. Appearance of unknown Xeno species wiping out said pacifistic power startles exploration team to use Nanites to bring Victorious back to full combat capabilities. Ensuing chaos also Downloads spirit of the leader of the expedition into the Bolo adding a second personality to Victorious. ('Legacy' Bolo Bk 2) Victorious successfully defeat attacking Xeno's and then leads survivors of expedition off to search for other remnants of their society.
-Nanites left on Earth-theta continue to follow last instructions, namely repair ecosystem of the planet and bring Bolo's back to combat capabilities. Nanites discover several abandoned Bolo Depots. Repairs commence slowly due to lack of energy and damage caused by Xeno bombardment. Over next Millennia 3 Bolo bases and 10 XXX Bolo's are repaired by Nanites to operating condition. (Note this includes the Repair and manufacturing systems of the depots as well as their communications and other military base functions as well.
All three bases are buried under millennia of gravel, rocks, and tectonic movement (not all natural). One buried deep enough that massive archeological excavation would be required for its 3 Bolo's to be able to leave the compound. Other two are relatively closer to the surface. Newly repaired Bolo's send commands to base drones to begin long process of digging access to the surface and establishing a surface watch post. Due to not knowing that there are no hostile force, or any forces for that matter, on the surface Bolo's issue commands for all such diggings to be done under maximum combat stealth.
Bolo's go into standby mode while they wait for digging and stealthed drone recon bases to be established. Nanites and base drones quietly maintain Bolo's in standby.
-Imperium begins to survey Earth-theta sector... noting large number of 'dead' worlds. Correctly assuming two or more Xeno empires had a apocalyptic confrontation with each other ending in mutual destruction, but unaware that one of the powers was a Human one.
Imperial survey miss numerous Deep space Concordiant A.I. stealth listening stations, who in turn miss Imperial surveyors due to different FTL philosophies
-Imperial forces discover a surprisingly inhabitable Earth-theta (seeing as every other planet nearby is at best a scarred wasteland, asteroid rubble, or having nasty bio viruses running amok). Imperium colony settled on Earth Theta. Due to Warp FTL and lack of in system drones, settlement of colony fails to alert Bolo's which remain on standby.
-38th-40th millennia Pro-Necron Adeptus Mechanius infiltrate colony. begin to set up subtle sabotage of Imperial Colonies long range 'warning stations' about incoming alien ships...
-Bolo command drones set up 'stealthed com towers' in mountains, due to stealth settings nearby Imperium colony and its defending forces remains unaware.
(this would be about where my one shot would begin if I write it)
-Trio of Necron Warships enroute to Earth theta to annihilate Imperial colony unknowingly trigger Ancient Concordiant deep space platform 1 year out from there target. Senile A.I. sends warning back to Earth-theta on Concordiant frequencies while Necrons head on towards there target unaware of the brief contact.
-Deep space warning retrieved by Bolo depot com tower. Bolo's awakened on standby. Bolo's discover Imperial colony. Bolo's secretly infiltrate Colony's computer system for more data. Discover many things, many of which are disturbing to the Bolo's in both the short term and long term.
-Discover Pro-necron Mechanius tampering with Colonies sensors... Bolo's take advantage to expedite their drone excavation from their tombs and launch stealthed planetary satellites. After Minutes of conference Bolo's decide to remain hidden from Imperium forces till unknown Xeno force arrives.(Necrons).
phew... I'll post some more comments in a sec. thoughts?
-
But in the meantime I figured I post a rough timeline of what I was considering...
Early Terran history...
-Generational colony ship is sent out with experimental first warp drive.
-Said drive malfunctions slightly throwing the ship FAR from Earth, Eldar Empire, most known races. Indeed just beyond the very edge of the territory that 41st millennium Imperial space will fill in the future.
-Unaware of how far off course they are said ship colonizes a nearby planet they entitle Earth-Theta colony.
-Time passes, some natural disasters knocks their technology into regression, much historical data is lost or corrupted. As the colonists recreate there technology they start to assume that the historical data refers to there current planet, eventually raising the common knowledge that Earth-theta is in reality the Earth solar system.
(not to far fetched remember the first Horus novel had Horus leading a assault on a planetary system that claimed IT was holy Terra in the opening chapter.)
*from this point inhabitants of the planet call it Earth... But for the sake of avoiding confusion I'll still refer to it as Earth-Theta.*
-Development of the first Bolo's on Earth Theta...
-Denizens of Earth Theta begin to leave their system establishing the Concordiant, and discovering numerous alien species... the Majority of which are hostile (although some are neutral and friendly).
-Earth Theta and colonies develop Non-warp FTL known as Hyperdrive. Interestingly enough the inhabitants of the sector of space that Earth Theta inhabits, also all develop non-warp methods of FTL. As a result the Barriers between the Materium and the Immaterium in this sector of space is unusually strong. Main side effect is that Psyker's are incredibly rare among all human and Xeno Species of the sector...
- Eldar Empire Implodes, creating Eye of terror and massive Warp storms. The strength of separation between the Immaterium and Materium caused by the lack of warp travel in the Earth Theta sector of space acts as a barrier against the ensuing warp storms. As a result Theta Sector is spared from much of the ensuing chaos. Except for a rash of time space anomalies.
-several Convoy of Mark XXIV Bolo's disappear in several Warp storm anomalies among the sector. Current fate unknown (Chaos Bolos? )
-Minor Ork Waarrrgghh into Concordiant is repelled...
-Concordiant encounters Melconian Empire
-Concordiant-Melconian war erupts
-One fleet action accidentally awakens a minor Necron Outpost in the sector. Necrons rampage across several Melconian and Concordiant Planets before Outpost (and its planet ) is finally destroyed by Melconian battle...
Several Hawkish hardliners in both Melconian and Concordiant Military take what might have been a unifying foe and paint it as a terror alien ally of the opposing forces. Worsening relationships even more and escalating the Melconian and Concordiant conflict.
-Both Melconian and Concordiant military issue 'total annihilation' orders for any planet shown to have the slightest hint of Necron tech, assuming they are forward bases for unknown alien allies of the Concordiant or Melconians. Several planetary massacres are caused by odd xeno trinkets being studied due to these orders.
Necron outposts and Tomb worlds are decimated in earth-theta sector, as both concordiant and Melconian fleets annihilate discovered worlds as soon as discovered before the necrons can revive from hibernation to defend their outposts.
(Remember at this point not even the Deceiver is awake, so for the most part the Necrons are dormant. And both Forces of Melconian and Concordiant are operating on 'Necrodermis detected? Blow up the whole planet!' type overkill... so the Necron bases have little to no time to revive and assess the threat before they are atomized by the fleet)
-Melconian and Concordiant 'final solution' implemented. Majority of inhabitable planets in the sector sterilized, contaminated, made unfit for sentient life. Only a handful of planets remain inhabitable. 'Dead' planets form rather large shield between the soon to come Imperium of mankind and survivors of the 'final solution'
-Various Bolo's nurture surviving human, and in one case Human/Melconian, colonies back from the brink of extinction... several Mark XXXIII Bolo's expand into unknown universe after their human companion fleets were destroyed in the final solution. Most famous is the Bolo XXXIII Sherman that spared a surviving Melconian refugee colony before vanishing into the unknown in its command center ('Endings' Bolo book 2')
-Rise of the Human New Republic and the Melconian/human Star Union of Arat from remains of the Concordiant and Melconian empires ('a Time to kill' BOLO by Weber). Due to lingering pain over the Melconian/Concordiant conflict both powers expand AWAY from the scarred area of Earth Theta, and incidentally prevent any chance of encountering the newly resurgent Imperium of Man lead by the God Emperor...
-34th-35th Millennia Unknown pacifistic Human power rediscovers Earth-theta, and uses Nanotechnology to make planet inhabitable again. Discover Bolo mark XXIX Victorious in sealed container. Appearance of unknown Xeno species wiping out said pacifistic power startles exploration team to use Nanites to bring Victorious back to full combat capabilities. Ensuing chaos also Downloads spirit of the leader of the expedition into the Bolo adding a second personality to Victorious. ('Legacy' Bolo Bk 2) Victorious successfully defeat attacking Xeno's and then leads survivors of expedition off to search for other remnants of their society.
-Nanites left on Earth-theta continue to follow last instructions, namely repair ecosystem of the planet and bring Bolo's back to combat capabilities. Nanites discover several abandoned Bolo Depots. Repairs commence slowly due to lack of energy and damage caused by Xeno bombardment. Over next Millennia 3 Bolo bases and 10 XXX Bolo's are repaired by Nanites to operating condition. (Note this includes the Repair and manufacturing systems of the depots as well as their communications and other military base functions as well.
All three bases are buried under millennia of gravel, rocks, and tectonic movement (not all natural). One buried deep enough that massive archeological excavation would be required for its 3 Bolo's to be able to leave the compound. Other two are relatively closer to the surface. Newly repaired Bolo's send commands to base drones to begin long process of digging access to the surface and establishing a surface watch post. Due to not knowing that there are no hostile force, or any forces for that matter, on the surface Bolo's issue commands for all such diggings to be done under maximum combat stealth.
Bolo's go into standby mode while they wait for digging and stealthed drone recon bases to be established. Nanites and base drones quietly maintain Bolo's in standby.
-Imperium begins to survey Earth-theta sector... noting large number of 'dead' worlds. Correctly assuming two or more Xeno empires had a apocalyptic confrontation with each other ending in mutual destruction, but unaware that one of the powers was a Human one.
Imperial survey miss numerous Deep space Concordiant A.I. stealth listening stations, who in turn miss Imperial surveyors due to different FTL philosophies
-Imperial forces discover a surprisingly inhabitable Earth-theta (seeing as every other planet nearby is at best a scarred wasteland, asteroid rubble, or having nasty bio viruses running amok). Imperium colony settled on Earth Theta. Due to Warp FTL and lack of in system drones, settlement of colony fails to alert Bolo's which remain on standby.
-38th-40th millennia Pro-Necron Adeptus Mechanius infiltrate colony. begin to set up subtle sabotage of Imperial Colonies long range 'warning stations' about incoming alien ships...
-Bolo command drones set up 'stealthed com towers' in mountains, due to stealth settings nearby Imperium colony and its defending forces remains unaware.
(this would be about where my one shot would begin if I write it)
-Trio of Necron Warships enroute to Earth theta to annihilate Imperial colony unknowingly trigger Ancient Concordiant deep space platform 1 year out from there target. Senile A.I. sends warning back to Earth-theta on Concordiant frequencies while Necrons head on towards there target unaware of the brief contact.
-Deep space warning retrieved by Bolo depot com tower. Bolo's awakened on standby. Bolo's discover Imperial colony. Bolo's secretly infiltrate Colony's computer system for more data. Discover many things, many of which are disturbing to the Bolo's in both the short term and long term.
-Discover Pro-necron Mechanius tampering with Colonies sensors... Bolo's take advantage to expedite their drone excavation from their tombs and launch stealthed planetary satellites. After Minutes of conference Bolo's decide to remain hidden from Imperium forces till unknown Xeno force arrives.(Necrons).
phew... I'll post some more comments in a sec. thoughts?
-