112: Chapter 112 The first batch of cadets at the Imperial Military Academy completed their self-assessment simulation.

The combat simulation chambers at the Griffin IV orbital dock remained ablaze with light for the entire day that followed.

Fifty students were divided into five groups, with each group assigned a real Imperial Navy anchorage in the Ultima Segmentum as a target for their simulation.

Their task was to utilize The Swarm's four-step closed-loop and Self-Check Protocol, assuming the role of tactical planning nodes for a Swarm Leviathan Battle Group, to conduct a comprehensive hostile logic simulation against all defensive facilities of their assigned anchorage.

The simulation standards were based on the vulnerability scanning templates found in The Swarm technical annex, leaving no exhaust vent entrance unchecked.

Marcus Aurelian stood beneath the star map in the center of the simulation chamber, while the students' simulation data scrolled line by line across the holographic screens surrounding the map.

He did not intervene in the simulation process of any group, merely recording an observation note on his data pad every few minutes.

The first group was responsible for the Griffin IV Anchorage itself; they extracted the switching schedules for all energy buses of the anchorage from The Swarm observer privilege data packet and input this data into The Swarm's predictive model.

The simulation results indicated that the Void Shield charging gaps exposed during energy bus switching still existed; although the rotation cycles had been randomized, the switching procedures themselves were dictated by the Imperial Navy Standard Operations Manual, and the randomization did not cover the execution steps of the switching procedures.

The students wrote in their report: "If The Swarm attacks Griffin IV next time, it will not wait for the rotation handover window—it will launch the strike directly while the energy bus switching procedure is executing, because every step of this procedure is fixed."

The group proposed a dynamic randomization modification scheme for the switching procedure, breaking down the switching steps into multiple parallelizable non-fixed sequences, with the execution order generated in real-time by quantum-state encryption algorithms.

The second group was responsible for the outermost anchorage in the Ultima Segmentum—an asteroid converted into an orbital supply station.

During the simulation, the students discovered that although the supply station's dynamic supply chain allocation algorithm had covered all known attack windows according to The Swarm template, the standard flight paths of the supply transport ships still utilized the old routes used during the Coalition era when they patrolled jointly with The Swarm Leviathan Battle Group.

The node coordinates of these old routes were fully recorded in the Coalition shared database and had been completely downloaded by The Swarm during the period when observer privileges were active.

The report recommended abandoning all old route coordinates and regenerating a set of route networks that had never been stored in the Coalition shared database.

The third group was responsible for the third fortress among the twelve newly constructed orbital defensive fortresses.

The students embedded The Swarm's mathematical model for Chaos psychic infiltration into the fortress's Void Shield filter layer simulator; the simulation results showed that the fortress's Void Shield still possessed infiltration windows in specific frequency bands when facing psychic shrieks at the level of Tzeentch Error-correction code.

The students recommended deeply coupling the fortress's psychic early warning array with the Grey Knights Holy Power monitoring network, using the purification algorithms of the Holy Hammer Holy Power to fill the frequency band vulnerabilities of the filter layer.

Bern sent confirmation from the Griffin IV Anchorage—the Grey Knights Librarian had already incorporated this coupling scheme into the next upgrade plan for the multi-layer early warning network.

The fourth group was responsible for the independent fire control system of the Shield of the Emperor.

The students imported The Swarm's multi-node synchronous targeting algorithm into the fire control system's simulated test environment; in the first round of testing, torpedo locking latency was significantly reduced, but an algorithm concurrency limit appeared after synchronously locking onto a certain number of targets.

The students pointed out in the report that the living neural network of the Hive Mind far exceeded the Imperial Navy's quantum-state encrypted command chain in concurrency processing capability, and the Empire's current hardware architecture could not fully replicate the multi-node synchronous targeting efficiency of The Swarm.

The report recommended setting the concurrency limit of the synchronous targeting algorithm to the maximum number of targets the Imperial Navy could actually handle, with any excess being assisted by the Grey Knights psychic early warning array.

Heinrich forwarded this report to the Third Assault Fleet engineers, requiring the upper limit to be practically tested before the next defensive exercise.

The fifth group was responsible for the strategic material reserve system across the entire Ultima Segmentum.

In the simulation, the students used The Swarm's predictive model to re-evaluate the distribution of existing reserve nodes and discovered that the layout of all reserve nodes still conformed to the joint defense logic of the Coalition era—at that time, material reserve nodes and the anchorages of The Swarm Leviathan Battle Group were deployed in an interlaced manner to facilitate joint resupply.

After the Coalition dissolved, a portion of the reserve nodes were too close to The Swarm-controlled zones, making it highly likely they would be instantly cut off when The Swarm launched its first wave of attacks.

The report recommended withdrawing all exposed nodes to the rear of the Griffin IV Anchorage and redeploying the reserve nodes along the Gravity Reef Channel, which was closer to the Imperial heartland.

Marcus set the priority of this report to the highest level, forwarded it directly to Heinrich, and endorsed it with: "Execute immediately."

All five Self-Check Protocol simulation reports were compiled in Marcus's hands.

He reviewed them one by one, wrote annotations on the cover page of each report with a red pen, and then packed all the reports together and sent them to Heinrich's Shield of the Emperor and the High Lords of Terra.

In the forwarding postscript, he wrote: "The first batch of students at the Ultima Segmentum Military Academy has completed the Self-Check Protocol simulations for five key anchorages in the Ultima Segmentum, with simulation standards referenced against The Swarm tactical analysis templates.

The students' simulation conclusions have been cross-referenced; The Swarm's grasp of the Imperial Fleet's defensive vulnerabilities during the period when Coalition observer privileges were active far exceeded the Empire's own self-perception during the Coalition era.

Now, the Empire has incorporated The Swarm's four-step closed-loop and Self-Check Protocol into the mandatory curriculum of the Military Academy, and has formed a normalized Self-Check Protocol simulation system.

The five attached simulation reports reveal several weak links in the Imperial anchorage defense system, and the Third Assault Fleet has already initiated corresponding optimization modifications based on the report recommendations.

From now on, Self-Check Protocol simulations for each anchorage will be conducted regularly, and the simulation results will be directly copied to the Adeptus Arbites on Terra and the Naval High Command for record-keeping."

Heinrich sent a brief confirmation from the Shield of the Emperor: "Received. All suggestions in the simulation reports have entered the execution procedure within the Third Assault Fleet. The practical testing of the concurrency limit for the independent fire control system of the Shield of the Emperor will be conducted during the next defensive exercise."

Bern sent a supplementary confirmation from the Griffin IV Anchorage: "The deep coupling scheme for the psychic early warning array and the Holy Power monitoring network has been officially approved by the Grey Knights Librarian, and the upgrade to the Void Shield filter layer of the third fortress will be constructed simultaneously with the psychic early warning array."

The reply from Terra was personally signed by the Arbiter of the Adeptus Arbites, Hasseldorf.

The old jurist wrote in the reply: "The Self-Check Protocol simulation system established by the Ultima Segmentum Military Academy is the most effective way to utilize the legacy of the Coalition.

I suggest institutionalizing the Self-Check Protocol simulations, covering all defense zones of the Imperial Navy, and establishing an Imperial Navy Tactical Assessment Bureau specifically responsible for the review and implementation of simulation results."

He attached an authorization order passed unanimously by the Council of High Lords, officially approving the establishment of the Imperial Navy Tactical Assessment Bureau, with Marcus concurrently serving as the first Director, and the Military Academy students' simulation reports directly incorporated into the official assessment process of the Tactical Assessment Bureau.

Marcus forwarded the full text of Terra's reply to all students.

He subsequently assigned the next phase of teaching tasks for the Military Academy: institutionalizing the Self-Check Protocol simulations; all Commanders of the Third Assault Fleet must complete a full Self-Check Protocol simulation for their respective anchorages before the start of their rotation cycles, with the simulation results submitted directly to the Imperial Navy Tactical Assessment Bureau for record-keeping, and the Self-Check Protocol simulation standards for all Imperial Navy defense zones shall be executed in accordance with the textbooks of the Ultima Segmentum Military Academy.