Chapter 276: Leave Your Brain and Get Out
In the end, Karna did manage to leave. He just left his brain behind.
His next task was to liaise with the Ecclesiarchy, and then, with the Blood Angels, the various Orders of Sisters, and the civil servants of the Dawnlight Sector, begin a gene-census of the various hive world populations. He only needed to stand there, like a psychic control tower, drawing all the mortals' attention, and provide the greatest convenience for the various forces' activities. After all, the pitiful people would be able to notice nothing but the food in their hands and the Angel in their eyes. It worked every time.
And with his brainpower suddenly doubled, feeling the clarity of his vision return, Romulus straightened up. Ramesses's psychic link technology, an extension of the 'Ling-Ling' office system, was really something. It could, to the greatest extent, place a brain that was barely being used into the hands of someone who could truly make it work. If not for the fact that an Astartes's brain was too fragile and easily burned out by a single surge, Romulus could have even linked up with the Invictarus Suzerain.
'Later, when I catch those Primarchs who don't want to work, I'll have them all come and serve as my wetware,' Romulus thought viciously, while analyzing the current situation of the Eye of Terror's defensive perimeter. At the same time, his quill flew across the document submitted by the astropaths. It contained information submitted by the Astartes Praeses Chapters of the Eye of Terror.
Vigilus was already very close to the Eye of Terror, almost connected to the Cadian Sector, and was also within the patrol circle of the Astartes Praeses Chapters. The Astartes Praeses, composed of twenty Space Marine chapters stationed around the Eye of Terror's defensive perimeter, were also known as the Cadian Wardens. There were currently eighteen chapters still fulfilling their duties. Of the two that had disappeared, one had been wiped out, and one had turned traitor.
Only one turned traitor? To be honest, Romulus was quite surprised. Perhaps it was because the proportion of Second Founding chapters among them was relatively high. But the number eighteen was very unlucky. Later, after the Dawnlight Sector had established its supply line, the number of Praeses Chapters would have to be reduced to thirteen, and then each chapter would have two thousand six hundred men.
A decision flashed through Romulus's mind. He began to verify its feasibility, selecting which chapters were more suitable for the expansion duty based on his past interactions with them, and opened a sub-partition in Karna's brain to simulate a proposal. Then he picked up another piece of data.
This data in his hand was the recent deployment changes and movements in the Cadian Sector, submitted by the Ultramarines' successor chapter, the White Consuls. This chapter was very interesting. It had two Chapter Masters.
One was Semal Zedias, who was in charge of the defense of the Chapter's homeworld, Sabatine. He would command a standing force, ready to respond to a Chaos incursion from the Cadian Gate at any time. The other was Titus Valens, who was in charge of the Chapter's military operations in the more distant warzones. And the forces they controlled were very similar. Plus, with the multiple, distant, and continuous sightings, it was hard not to suspect that this chapter had two First Companies or something.
At the same time, the White Consuls also directly controlled the sovereignty of several nearby star systems. Before any Company Captain who had a chance to become the Chapter Master was promoted to a higher position, the Chapter would dispatch him to supervise the administration of each world. In this process, these officers would also train and command the local mortal forces, and supply them to the Chapter for combat. At the same time, they also provided convenience to the various surrounding Imperial departments. Not only were they on close terms with the other Cadian Wardens, but they also maintained good relations with the various Imperial departments, including the Gothic Sector Navy and the Agrippina Forge World.
Look at that, Huron! You look at how they do it, and then you look at yourself!
In short, because they were far from Ultramar, this long-historied successor chapter from the Second Founding had never taken the Codex too seriously. Their style was also more Roman, and their attitude towards the Imperium was more normal. It was very much to Romulus's liking. So after the situation in the Dawnlight Sector had officially stabilized, Romulus had also sent this chapter an invitation to establish a monastery on Dawnstar.
The White Consuls had also responded positively. In fact, it could be said that before Romulus had even sent the invitation, their Chapter Master Valens, who was in charge of activities in the remote sectors, was already on his way. The relationship between the two sides had also gradually become closer with the popularization of the Primaris Space Marine augmentation and the trade of various advanced equipment. And the White Consuls, who were both internally and externally strong, had developed exceptionally smoothly, and had good relations with the various surrounding Imperial departments, were also an important information channel for the Dawnlight Sector to analyze the situation in Cadia.
The main anomaly reported was the large influx of Mechanicus fleets into Cadia, which had begun to build forge-cities on various planets and increase their influence. This made Romulus instinctively frown. To be honest, if he had discovered Drol's anomaly before, Romulus would naturally have been happy to see the Mechanicus being forced to work and strengthen the local forces by their arrival. But now it was very different.
Romulus continued to look through the White Consuls' report on Chaos activity. The Chaos activity in the past ten years had gradually become more frequent. Even the Mechanicus explorator fleets, led by Incaladion, had been harassed and had participated in the operations against those Chaos forces. That's what they said to the outside world.
In short, as an ally, the actions of these explorator fleets were not a problem. But from an enemy's perspective?
Romulus narrowed his eyes, analyzing the activity areas of the various Mechanicus fleets in the report. This would be an encirclement. An encirclement that could, at the first moment, cut off Cadia from its surroundings and isolate the homeworlds of the various Cadian Wardens.
"This is fatal," Romulus rubbed his temples. It was a good thing they never started anything on a whim. Their grasp of the information in the target area was still acceptable. 'Looks like we'll have to stay on Vigilus for a while longer.'
After replying with the order to 'consolidate mobile forces, strengthen homeworld defenses, and conduct an investigation while ensuring your own military security,' Romulus picked up another report. This was a project that Arthur had recently been in charge of investigating. An investigation into the Vondian Dust-Wraiths on the surface of Vigilus.
The Vondian Dust-Wraiths were located in the southeastern desert of this world. Since the first colonization of Vigilus, the Vondian Dust-Wraiths, like Jupiter's Great Red Spot, had never stopped for a moment. As the name suggests, it was a persistent, violent dust storm. It had existed since the first colonization of Vigilus. Its scale was astonishing, even larger than many small hive-districts. The storm's power was enough to lift tanks and giant transport vehicles into the air. The flying sand and stones could easily tear the flesh from a living person's bones. Someone had even tried to hit the storm with a high-power lance-beam. In the central area of the storm, even a lance-beam would be distorted.
However, this giant dust storm was not a natural phenomenon, but a legacy from humanity's distant past. Unknown to the current Imperium, in the center of this destructive storm was a fortress called Fort Vigilus, which housed a doomsday weapon from the Dark Age of Technology. This device was called the "Void Claw." It could artificially create a gravitational singularity that could distort the space-time continuum. At its highest power, it could easily create an astronomical catastrophe on a galactic scale. And even when it was turned off, it still caused a perpetual, dangerous dust storm.
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