Hive Cities were originally created in the Golden Age of Technology as a way for a large number of Humans to live together in an advanced society without damaging the surrounding planetary ecologies and biosphere.
However, the terrible damage wrought by the Age of Strife on Human-settled space led many hive cities to lose the technologies and behaviours that had allowed them to remain in balance with their environments.
"As a result of the damages, incomplete construction and insufficient technological level, each Hive City creates millions of metric tons of trash and industrial waste that is directly pumped out into the surrounding cities' environment. Given the massive population of most Hive Worlds, this means that their surfaces are usually reduced to industrial wastelands covered in toxic deserts where nothing can live or grow save for the hardy mutants who call these 'ash wastes' home and often raid the covered train-like transports that move passengers and cargo between hive city clusters."
Even though there wasn't any talk about powerful foes, Esdeath was actually fascinated by this to a certain degree.
She never left the Fenran Rex IX., or rather, she never even crossed through the borders and reached the Southern Hemisphere of the planet where the more advanced remnants of the Federation were located.
I noticed that she was still pretty curious about the outside world and about everything outside of her home planet. So she even patiently listened to my ramblings with keen interest.
"We are we even here in the first place? Considering all the things that you said, this world should be very important for the Imperium, right?"
I nodded, knowing the gravity of the situation.
Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought was certainly one of the most advanced starships of the Terran Federation, not to mention I made many adjustments based on the Chthonic Technology, meaning that this was a really wondrous piece of tech.
Yet, there was still the undeniable fact that this was only one single ship.
If the Imperium really attacked us, then we would be swarmed by so much firepower that eventually we would be overrun and destroyed. Not to mention, I was pretty sure that the Imperium had a lot of entities that were on the same level as Planetary Busters...
And there was the topic of the Emperor.
"One thing for the two purposes... You see, in the ancient past, Araneus Prime was one of the most important worlds for the Federation, and there was a very important research facility within the world. Deep near the planetary core, there is a research facility that not only contains a complete STC... but also one of the few mainframes of the MTC and my own laboratory with some things that we need to open the portal to Webway and do some other things."
I explained because this was one of the pristine research centers of the Solar Terran Federation in the past... during the Golden Age of Technology, Araneus Prime served as one of the core worlds for the Federation.
The Araneus Continuity also became one of the major hubs for technological development within the Federation and was one of the most crucial member states of the Federation.
"So how do you want to do it?"
Esdeath asked, as I could already read her thoughts without even having such an ability, because it was clear that she wanted to use frontal assault. Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought could certainly push through it and conquer the planet alone if there were not many ships that would overwhelm us with their sheer numbers.
Which they fortunately didn't have, but that wasn't the approach I wanted to take.
"We will infiltrate the planet and take the MTC and the things needed to open the Webway to the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer Dreadnought, and then we leave. Necromunda is one of the most important Imperial Worlds for the Imperium of Man. Any frontal attack would be met with reinforcements, and even though I have confidence in my technology, we could be overwhelmed by their numbers."
In the Immaterius Universe, there were, technically speaking, not many things that could pose a viable threat to me, because this Universe had a somewhat random power structure...
Even the Emperor's Primarchs were barely a threat unless they awoke their Warp Essence and Warp Presence, which would elevate them to the solit Tier 10 or Tier 11 powerhouses.
Rather, I was wary only of the Emperor, Chaos Gods, and anything that was related to the Warp and could drag me into the Warp. Warp Entities, and being used by the Warp, were countless times stronger in the Immaterium than they were in Realspace.
Even the Greater Daemons, which were already Tier 9 peak and some of the most powerful Tier 10, would be enormously suppressed and weakened in the Real Space to the point where even some much weaker could slay them.
Nevertheless, when it came to these individuals, there was no need to provoke them and create unnecessary conflict. Contrary to some of my wives... I was always and constantly careful not to provoke or create needless conflicts if they could be avoided.
My main reason for that was that I wasn't really sure whether the powerful Psykers or others in the Immaterius Universe had a way of dragging me into the Warp with them.
"Don't need to stare at me like I killed your wolf... You will have an opportunity to wreak havoc within the Commoragh later. But not right now... though on the second thought, if we go into the Underhive, you can do what you want."
In common with most other Imperial worlds, Hive Worlds are often based on a very obvious class system, with a ruling noble class and a bureaucratic middle class, although with populations so tightly packed, there always develops a lower working class that often fuels the explosive growth of violent street gangs.
As can be expected, the upper classes are situated in the affluent upper areas of the hive cities, whilst the middle classes are situated in the middle areas, and the working classes are packed together in the lower areas.
The very bottom sections of a Hive City, the "Underhive", were often areas where the underclasses and criminals are sent to be forgotten about and anarchy rules.