Chapter 363: Wait, I Just Started Plotting, And You Tell Me the War is Over?
Looking across the galaxy, the balance of power was shifting.
The Eldar were sequestered in their corners, split into three factions and dying a slow death. The Orks had lost their prime-worlds; with the rise of the Beast strangled in its cradle, they were reduced to small-scale harassment, expanding their living space wherever they could.
Even the mighty Tyranid Hive Fleets faced a Waterloo in their initial invasion. Hive Fleet Behemoth was now blocked outside fortress worlds by the endless legions of Ultramarines. Any attempt to invade was met with the iron fist of a reunified Realm of Ultramar.
Chaos was embroiled in endless infighting. Other xenos species were of little concern. Only the Imperium was thriving.
No matter how you looked at it, against the myriad threats of the galaxy, the advantage was with the Imperium!
"..."
Romulus looked at the documents one by one, then at a report handed to him by High Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars, analyzing the series of problems reflected within.
When the Dawnbreaker Fleet arrived at Vigilus for final refitting, it had been nearly three years since the victory parade.
In the three years following the parade, Romulus prioritized the demobilization of Astartes and Imperial departments gathered from various sectors. He dispatched accompanying liaisons and civil servants to initiate preliminary reforms on the homeworlds and headquarters of these organizations, establishing administrative bodies.
Once the Dawnstar Sector had digested the gains of this campaign, subsequent technical support would be built around these Imperial department headquarters and radiate to surrounding systems.
The Dawnbreaker Fleet itself was not in a hurry to return to the Dawnstar Sector. Instead, it maintained patrols around the Cadian Gate, dragging the scrapped Iron Blood to world after world, consolidating the Dawnstar Sector government's rule over the planets directly administered during the 'Iron Blood Invasion'.
Rewarding the loyal, punishing the traitors, and raising the local average standard of living.
Although accusations of ambition were inevitable, Romulus felt it was better to keep these planets in his hands than to hand them over to local Imperial autonomy.
In this process, Romulus mainly conducted partial planet handovers with the Astartes Praeses Chapters, headed by the Argent Consuls.
Mainly some planets in the Scarus Sector opposite Cadia on the other side of the Eye of Terror, and Charr, which faced Vigilus from afar, forming a ring connecting to the Forge World of Agrippina.
Expanding the efficient system combining Astartes and mortals, and relying on the psychic LAN for strong control over planetary development, the liberated productivity and trained technicians of Agrippina could radiate to the surroundings through these solid nodes, allowing these Chapters to better fulfill their defensive duties.
Next was the most important target of this war.
The Adeptus Mechanicus.
The Dawnbreaker Fleet had won, and Romulus's technical plug-ins had been installed. Currently, they could effectively shelter some scientific technologies from Chaos corruption.
Although the process felt like corrupting these technologies first so other Evil Gods would have a hard time occupying the niche.
But as always, this universe is a huge pit. You have to believe in a Machine God. Compared to believing in a senile Emperor, a non-responsive Void Dragon, or the warp profiteer Vashtorr, it's better to believe in Romulus.
He was open source here.
Although there were still many conservatives within the Mechanicus, and the armed forces in their hands were not a small number, most were more concerned with personal interests and didn't care much about the fire in the distant Obscurus Segmentum.
And the High Lords of Terra were still in a state of turning a deaf ear to external affairs.
The Cult of the Creator, the only faction with some strength, was ostensibly absorbing the Dark Mechanicum in full swing, but in reality, everyone including Vashtorr was scared to death.
So the summary now was—
Manageable, manageable, still manageable.
Good, time to flex some muscles.
The Black Templars naturally followed the Dawnbreaker Fleet. Without even having time to overhaul the Eternal Crusader, they dragged their old rival's flagship around, making other Imperial Fists successors green with envy.
The summary given by Romulus, his keen understanding of data, and the general direction of strategic deployment—adjusting, predicting, and planning prediction results in advance.
Although precise, it was not micromanagement down to the last detail, thinking for others. Instead, he manipulated variables one by one, using personnel arrangements and instructions to dismantle those terrifyingly complex problems, looking more like a master manipulating a chessboard.
Look at the prosperity of Vigilus.
He used ten years of war and three years of peace to build this planet into a pearl of the Obscurus Segmentum—
One of them.
After just a brief observation, Helbrecht's respect for Lord Romulus's talent rose to a new level.
Although some criticized Lord Romulus for being too strong in governance, he was the best choice for the crucial task of governing the Imperium.
No one could do better. Helbrecht found himself memorizing seriously, captivated by the series of plans Romulus subconsciously displayed.
"Speak frankly, our High Marshal."
Examining the few scattered cats and dogs in the report, Romulus said bluntly:
"We are indeed hostile to the conservatives within the Mechanicus. Of course, I don't care about the petty matters of conservative members, nor do I think they can do anything to this Imperium—"
"On the contrary, I will trouble them. So now, you introduce the cause of this incident and the implications involved."
The Dragon Lord from the Lathe Worlds, dressed in red robes, rubbed his face, looking blankly at the documents in his hand with an expression of disbelief.
Of course, existences who had witnessed the intensity of the Dawnbreakers couldn't understand this kind of thing.
Every Magos who met Lord Romulus basically ended up like this.
Ignoring the Dragon Lord trembling in his seat for half a day, Helbrecht glanced at the proposal submitted by the other party, which was equivalent to a contract of servitude.
Suppressing his doubts, planning to ask the Techmarines later about the importance of the 'Knowledge Web' signed by various departments for free access and gradually popularized among technical personnel, the High Marshal spoke directly.
"Report. The cause of the incident was five years ago. To recover the relic left by our gene-father, the Soul Drinkers Chapter went to the Ultima Segmentum. During the recovery process, a conflict broke out with Magos Biologis Vitek of Mars, leading to accusations..."
Helbrecht quickly reported the course of events.
The Soul Drinkers, a Second Founding successor of the Imperial Fists. Their relic was the 'Soulspear', a weapon once used by the Imperial Fists Primarch Rogal Dorn, from which the Soul Drinkers got their name.
At some point in M40, the Soul Drinkers' flagship disappeared into the warp due to a catastrophic translation, along with this Chapter relic.
Until now, the Soul Drinkers had been searching for traces of the relic to welcome it back to the Chapter.
Towards the end of the 'Cadian Gate Self-Defense Counterattack', the Soul Drinkers captured an orbital defense platform in the Ultima Segmentum hiding the Soulspear. Just as they were about to recover the relic, a fleet of the Martian Mechanicus suddenly teleported in and left with the Soulspear before the Soul Drinkers could react.
The Soul Drinkers reinforced the platform's defenses and demanded the Mechanicus return the Soulspear. However, the Soulspear had already been transferred to another ship preparing to transport it to a Forge World.
After denying they had stolen Dorn's relic, the Mechanicus starship aimed a massive siege weapon at the Soul Drinkers on the defense platform. Inheriting the violent side of Dorn's sons, the Soul Drinkers were forced to board the Mechanicus ship to destroy the weapon for self-preservation under multiple coercions. During their escape to their two Strike Cruisers, they caused some casualties on the Mechanicus side.
Finally, an Inquisitor intervened in the conflict and ordered a ceasefire.
Because it was on the edge of the Dawnstar Sector, this Inquisitorial force did not rush to define the conflict. Instead, ignoring the Mechanicus's coercion, they launched an investigation and convened representatives from both sides for negotiations.
During this process, the Mechanicus representative, Magos Vitek, consistently accused the Soul Drinkers as a victim. As negotiations dragged on, losing patience, they recently threw out a series of evidence extremely unfavorable to the Soul Drinkers.
Including accusations of heresy regarding the Soul Drinkers' Chapter dogma The Catechism Martial, and questioning the origin of their gene-seed.
Very serious accusations.
If not loyalist, then traitor, right?
This accusation even alarmed the Imperial Fists, who were still assisting the Custodes in clearing various hidden dangers on Terra.
The Imperial Fists sent First Captain Lysander to intervene. Meanwhile, extreme emotions sprouted within the Soul Drinkers, believing they needed to use force to fight for their rights.
This scared the Inquisitor over there a bit. But thinking that this was under the nose of the Dawnbreakers, with fleets and military deployments supplied by the Dawnstar Sector, he didn't need to give face to the Mechanicus. After stabilizing the Soul Drinkers with persuasion, he simply used his connections to see if he could contact a heavyweight existence to intervene in this negotiation.
And then he found the Black Templars.
It is well known that the Black Templars are the social butterflies among the many sons of Dorn.
Whether it was fighting alongside the Iron Knights in the past, helping them through difficult times, or the friendship of exchanging colors with the Crimson Fists, or sheltering the Celestial Lions who were almost wiped out for offending the Inquisition in the future, all proved their stable status in the social circle of Dorn's successors.
And because of Sigismund and the Eternal Crusader, the status gap between the Black Templars and the Imperial Fists wasn't as huge as other loyalist successors and their parent Chapter.
Upon hearing this news, the High Marshal was furious.
They had just finished fighting the Iron Warriors and snatched their flagship, preparing to hold a Feast of Blades to invite brothers to fight and celebrate. Turning around, they found a brother being persecuted.
Chapters including the Crimson Fists and Executioners were all fired up, ready to fight for their brother.
But Helbrecht thought about the Primarch above them now. He couldn't act rashly and embarrass the Primarch, so he simply came to ask for an opinion.
"The Soul Drinkers haven't done anything extreme, have they?"
Romulus asked.
"Apart from the initial conflict on the orbital defense platform, no subsequent conflicts occurred. The Inquisitor has been mediating, and the armed forces of both sides have been separated."
Helbrecht replied.
Thanks to the presence of the Dawnstar Sector, at least this time the Inquisitor didn't apply a one-size-fits-all approach as per the stereotype, but actively launched an investigation.
Apart from the initial conflict, the Soul Drinkers didn't attack other Imperial departments. Most departments were watching from the sidelines, giving no cause for gossip.
"Unintentionally saved us a lot of trouble."
Romulus carefully recalled the story of the Soul Drinkers in his memory, then shook his head.
The original history wasn't like this. After contact with the Inquisition, the Soul Drinkers were unilaterally branded traitors and forced to rebel. During their escape, civil war broke out, they offended all brother Chapters, and finally became isolated when caught and judged by the Imperial Fists.
As for the 'Soulspear' they were searching for, well—
The Mechanicus didn't say, and others didn't ask.
This weapon was a spear-shaped warp rift weapon. Just the description sounded extremely valuable for research.
Knowing that the Imperium's technology to tear open warp rifts, apart from a series of explosives, was limited to incredibly massive warp engines.
Compared to the momentary greed in the original history, the event happening now was basically an attempt to challenge their authority.
Yes, Romulus reasoned, and the Dawnbreakers were also exporting their universal values. So the actions of this Magos Biologis named Vitek in this process were always aimed at forcing the Soul Drinkers to initiate an attack.
As long as the Soul Drinkers acted rashly and confirmed their betrayal, given the degree of mutation this Chapter suffered from the slightest warp influence, saving them would be impossible, and the Dawnbreakers wouldn't try.
Perhaps failing to protect a Second Founding Chapter would strike a blow to their prestige among many Astartes groups in the eyes of the Mechanicus. If they chose to shelter them, the Dawnbreakers would also negate the ideology they had been exporting. Either way, no loss.
But this Magos probably didn't expect to meet an Inquisitor who could receive supplies from the Dawnstar Sector and thus didn't need to care about him at the root. Nor did he expect the other party to be willing to persuade the Soul Drinkers, planning to use more official means to solve internal problems.
This was the victory of the Dawnbreakers.
Looking at the Dragon Lord standing like a lackey in front of his seat, Romulus smiled.
And the Dragon Lord knew what the other party was smiling about.
Like to make a fuss? Like to play political games?
Now it was his turn to make a fuss.
Looking at Romulus, the Dragon Lord couldn't help but secretly rejoice.
Fortunately, their efficiency was low enough, their ideology soft enough, and their guts small enough. In ten years, they did nothing but watch. The Dawnbreakers wouldn't give up uniting them, the moderates. As for those who still couldn't see clearly and planned to cause trouble, or were already causing trouble...
They were dead.
The meta changed too fast.
"My lord?"
"Organize representatives to depart early. You must prevent conflict between the two sides."
Romulus ordered, lifting a document to mark the next one.
"The Dark Angels will be in position soon."
"Yes!"
Ultima Segmentum, Incaladion Sector, Frontier Forge World
"Vitek, Vitek!"
Facing a dark and cold room, Magos Biologis Vitek from Mars stood frozen in place.
"Your accusation was indeed correct. The Soul Drinkers' genes are problematic. In the warp tide test promised by the Imperial Fists, we found many severe genetic mutations, among them—"
The ally's voice was loud. This was an Archmagos Dominus who controlled a Forge World.
He was responsible for the research of the Soulspear, and Vitek secured the help of this Archmagos with this reward.
And the news he brought was exciting enough.
But Vitek, the hitherto confident Magos Biologis, felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
In the room, countless data scrolled.
This was the various evidence he had been collecting all along, aiming to completely force the Soul Drinkers to rebel.
But at this moment, he ignored the data he had reviewed day and night, hoping for no flaws, staring blankly at a certain display screen.
It contained news transmitted from the other end of the galaxy after three years.
How could the war be over?
Countless emotions exploded in his mind at this moment, finally turning into a unified echo.
Clatter!
Vitek slumped to the ground.
Despair climbed onto his face, unrecognizable after countless modifications.
How could it be over?
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