"Goddamned xenos!"
Kent was not the only one. More workers could be heard cursing from the dim alleyways.
They were equally furious, even heartbroken, over losing their chance to benefit from the "relocation jackpot."
Kent stared at the luggage already packed inside their home, his silently weeping wife, and their sleeping child. The guilt in his heart only grew heavier.
The wonderful life they had envisioned had vanished into thin air.
If the evacuation had not been canceled, his family would have left this impoverished planet and moved to a prosperous region.
Their child could have awakened in family housing provided by a major conglomerate, breathed clean air, and played in gardens nestled between towering buildings.
Kent and his wife had watched promotional hololiths produced by the major conglomerates. They knew how generous the benefits were for conglomerate employees.
They could have enjoyed the prosperity of the central segmenta instead of remaining on this impoverished frontier, working jobs that barely kept them fed.
Of course, things were already vastly better than they had been during the great famines, but who did not want a better life?
Kent had received some education and possessed a basic understanding of the Imperium's circumstances.
As the books explained, the Imperium was undergoing a period of revival. Development remained uneven between regions, and many areas would likely remain underdeveloped for a long time.
A frontier world like Korosan, which possessed neither unique resources, advanced technology, nor an important transportation hub, would probably take an extremely long time to develop.
They could not afford to wait that long.
For educated citizens living on frontier planets, moving to a prosperous region offered the best chance for advancement.
However, the process required far too much preparation and accumulated credentials. People like them, who had not graduated from the Loyalist Academies, could not easily pass the examinations required to enter a major conglomerate.
Countless citizens from prosperous regions were already fighting for those jobs. How could people like Kent possibly compete with them?
Even this limited opportunity for social mobility had only appeared after the Imperium established the psychic network, opened Webway transportation routes, and completed the necessary infrastructure.
Otherwise, lower-class workers like Kent would never have left their home systems. They would have lived and died without ever knowing what the outside galaxy looked like.
Kent had glimpsed that wider world, only to discover that he could not become part of it.
That alone was a devastating blow.
After the evacuation of his system was canceled, his spirits sank to rock bottom.
Had the Sun of Hope not protected him, the intense turmoil in his emotions might have allowed some entity of Chaos to quietly corrupt him.
Kent sat beside his wife on the edge of their rusted iron bed. Neither of them spoke, and a suffocating gloom settled over the room.
They did not know what their future would look like or what they were supposed to do next.
Were they truly going to remain on this planet?
They had imagined so many wonderful possibilities.
"O Savior, please protect us. Your faithful servants need your guidance..."
His wife held their child and bowed her head in quiet prayer. She always did this whenever she felt lost or saddened.
Kent clenched his fists, his thoughts unreadable.
Suddenly, a melodious sacred hymn rang out.
The couple instinctively rose and stood at attention, listening closely.
Broadcasts like this were rare. They represented the Savior's will, so everyone was expected to receive them with piety and respect.
Both of them were believers, and Kent's wife was especially devout. She had never missed a single day of worship.
"Ah, the radiance of our great Savior shines upon us forever.
"Loyal citizens of the Imperium, I deeply regret the cancellation of the evacuation operation..."
The planetary governor was addressing the Imperial citizens of Korosan, hoping to prevent this unexpected development from causing discontent or unrest.
Such emotions could become fertile soil for corruption. Even under the protection of the Sun of Hope, they could not afford to relax their vigilance.
Furthermore, under the rule of the great Savior, the new Imperium rarely used enforcers to suppress dissatisfied citizens unless the matter involved serious xenos or heretical activity.
The governor announced that he had formally protested to the Sector Administration Department and secured new opportunities for Korosan.
With the outbreak of total war and the arrival of the Imperial Navy, Korosan would also receive new development initiatives. The planet might even have the opportunity to establish conglomerates of its own.
The relevant details would soon be released in the form of a public notice. Citizens were advised to consult their personal terminals or public psychic-network facilities.
"Darling, I'm going out for a while."
As soon as the broadcast ended, Kent rushed out the door.
He wanted to know what the announcement said.
Every Imperial citizen understood the importance of official notices. Whether they concerned new development plans or government policies, they could profoundly affect people's lives.
As a result, checking public notices had become a deeply ingrained habit.
Personal dataslate terminals were still fairly expensive for lower-class workers, however, and not everyone was willing to buy one.
With the support of the Ministry of Communications, the Mitt Information Conglomerate had gradually begun releasing highly affordable personal terminals. It proclaimed that everyone should be free to enjoy the psychic network.
However, limited production capacity meant that these devices still could not reach most Imperial citizens.
The Imperium was simply too vast, and its population too great.
Kent did not own a personal terminal. He normally consulted public notice boards or communal terminals whenever he needed information.
Back in their home, Kent's wife waited anxiously. Every so often, she soothed their child to prevent the troublesome little fellow from waking and crying.
She looked toward the holy icon hanging on the wall.
The Savior, the Sun of Hope, gazed down upon them with merciful eyes.
"The Sun of Hope will protect us," Kent's wife thought firmly.
She believed that her faith would lead her to a better life.
Indeed, it already had.
Under the Sun of Hope's protection, she had escaped starvation, met a good husband, and built a family.
She believed that as long as she remained sufficiently devout, she would receive even greater favor and live an even better life.
Yet the growing commotion outside the alley made her deeply uneasy.
Before the radiance of the Sun of Hope and the Savior had enveloped this planet, such uproar had usually heralded rebellion and bloodshed.
She could not help but worry.
Soon, however, she forced herself to calm down.
The Sun of Hope would never allow such horrors to happen again.
Besides, ever since the Savior's Angels descended upon the planet, every rebel and heretic had been destroyed.
The brutal governor had subsequently been replaced by a young planetary governor, and their lives had steadily improved.
"Praise the Savior..." she prayed under her breath.
Kent returned not long afterward, his expression overflowing with excitement.
Every trace of his earlier dejection had vanished. He had clearly received wonderful news.
"Hahahaha! We... We're not going to the central segmenta anymore, and we don't need to worry about relocation!
"We're going straight to Dawn City. We'll settle there!"
Kent was panting for breath, but his voice brimmed with confidence.
"What?"
"Dawn City?!"
His wife had no idea what he was talking about. She froze, utterly dumbfounded.
Everyone knew Dawn City was the capital of the Imperium. It was a hundred times more prosperous than the central segmenta and a destination longed for by every devout believer.
It stood closer to the Sun of Hope than anywhere else, and it was home to the Ecclesiarchy's greatest holy site!
"Oh, my Savior!
"Darling, what in the world are you talking about? How could people like us possibly qualify to enter Dawn City?
"We shouldn't even dream about something like that. Has the shock driven you mad?"
Once she recovered, his wife became even more anxious.
If they received enough divine favor to visit Dawn City just once in their lives, that alone would be an immeasurable blessing.
How could they possibly live there?
She suspected the disappointment had been too much for her husband, causing something in his mind to break.
"No, I'm not talking nonsense." Kent excitedly paced around the room before turning to his wife.
"The governor secured a new batch of military recruitment quotas for our planet. I've already passed the preliminary application.
"If everything goes well, I'll enter the Storm Army Group and become a soldier in the Imperial Army."
His imagination was already racing ahead.
"The announcement said that anyone who earns sufficient honors and military merit during this total war can apply for residency in Dawn City and become one of its citizens!"
"Darling, you can join the Storm Army Group?"
His wife did not even process the rest of his words before being swept away by excitement.
She had never imagined that her husband might receive the opportunity to be recruited into one of the Imperium's Storm Army Groups.
What incredible fortune!
In the old Imperium, being conscripted into the Astra Militarum through the planetary tithe had been a terrible calamity, practically equivalent to the destruction of an entire family.
Once someone boarded a troop transport, they would almost certainly never return. They would either die anonymously on some distant battlefield or succumb to accumulated wounds in an unfamiliar segmentum.
Few ever met a good end.
The new Imperium was different.
Joining the military now meant better pay and benefits, which also extended to the soldier's family. The treatment was no worse than what employees of major conglomerates received.
The living standards within the modern Imperial military were far above the Imperium-wide average. Soldiers received fresh grain, vegetables, and fruit.
During Victory Day and other celebrations, representatives would even visit military families and deliver cooking oil, rice, flour, and other essential supplies.
A soldier's income was enough to provide their family with a comfortable life. They also enjoyed respectable social standing and preferential treatment when traveling or purchasing goods.
Even if a soldier was unfortunate enough to die in battle, their family would receive generous compensation.
Of course, the Imperial military was now equipped far better than before. Its casualty rate was incomparable to that of the old Imperium.
In simple terms, the new Imperium no longer needed to conscript soldiers by force. Prospective recruits had to volunteer and pass the application process.
Not just anyone could join.
The military's standards for its recruits were quite demanding.
Furthermore, because the armed forces recruited from across the entire Imperium while strictly controlling their total size, every region had to fight for its share of recruitment quotas.
Korosan had previously received very few quotas, numbering only slightly more than a hundred thousand.
Compared to the planet's total population, that number was pitifully small.
Even though the population enthusiastically applied, most of those who ultimately boarded the troop transports were young people from military families or minor noble houses.
They had trained since childhood and possessed excellent physiques.
Unless an ordinary citizen was extraordinarily gifted, exceptionally fit, or possessed some special skill, they had almost no chance of passing the selection process.
This time, however, the governor had used the cancellation of the evacuation operation to request a recruitment quota of ten million from the Department of Military Affairs.
It was an astonishing surprise!
In a sense, it was compensation for the Imperium's decision to reverse its earlier promise by canceling the evacuation and relocation operation.
So long as it possessed the means to do so, the Imperium never failed its loyal subjects.
With such a generous recruitment quota available, Kent had been fortunate enough to pass the preliminary application. Barring an unexpected problem, he would become an honored soldier of the Storm Army Group.
His citizenship grade, along with those of his immediate family members, would also automatically rise to Grade Four, Junior Tier, granting them access to better public benefits.
Naturally, Korosan had only received so many recruitment places because the Imperial military was undergoing a comprehensive expansion.
Even so, granting a single planet ten million places at once was an extraordinarily generous form of compensation.
That was not all.
The Imperial Court had also introduced additional reward programs to bolster the soldiers' morale.
These included increased rewards for honor and military merit, greater material benefits, and preferential access to education.
Most importantly, they included the right to reside in Dawn City.
Once soldiers earned enough honor and military merit, they could apply to settle in Dawn City's newest development zones.
That was the capital of the Imperium, the safest and most prosperous place in the galaxy. Its Webway network connected it to every segmentum and sector across the galaxy.
Whether one considered available resources or the convenience of everyday life, Dawn City stood at the pinnacle.
Who would not want to call the capital home?
"Darling, what do you think the houses in Dawn City are like?"
"Ha! I heard the houses there never get damp, and sunlight reaches them every single day. The weather is wonderful too!
"As soon as we step outside, we'll be able to take the Webway transit lines to the great cathedral in the holy district or visit the Central Garden World.
"There's also the most prosperous market in the entire galaxy. You can see xenos merchants there, and they sell anything you can imagine.
"Our child could even attend a Loyalist Academy..."
Inside their little home, Kent and his wife surrendered themselves to their tremendous joy, imagining the life awaiting them.
This total war was certainly fraught with danger, but it had also brought their family new opportunities.
In truth, the various wartime laws and policies introduced by the Imperial Court benefited vast numbers of lower-class citizens and opened numerous paths for social advancement.
Certain senior officials had already realized that the Imperium's rapid development over the past several years had given rise to a new privileged class, while the opportunities available to lower-class citizens had steadily diminished.
It was a contradiction that could not easily be reconciled.
Therefore, when new opportunities emerged, the Imperial Court deliberately tilted them toward lower-class citizens.
The latest expansion of the Imperial military, for example, prioritized ordinary citizens rather than drawing primarily from established military families and minor noble houses.
This allowed the Imperium to restore a degree of balance.
It also ensured that the newly released opportunities and resources benefited a much broader portion of the Imperial population instead of becoming concentrated in the hands of an already privileged minority.
The same approach was being taken with expansions in other sectors, providing countless opportunities for the lower classes.
Other measures were also being prepared, including postwar assistance programs for the lower classes, major development projects along the frontier, and relocation subsidies for underdeveloped regions.
Those policies would create even more opportunities.
As the Savior had said, only when individual citizens became prosperous could the Imperium of Man grow truly powerful.
For the moment, at least, Korosan was swept up in a tide of excitement.
Its people no longer feared an invasion by the Necrons. They no longer feared that the xenos veil would swallow their souls.
Gradually, Kent and his wife heard a surging wave of cheers rising outside their home.
The people were roaring, their confidence in the coming war absolute.
"For the Savior!"
"Drive out the Necron xenos and crush their invasion! In the Savior's name, purge the mechanical abominations!"
"We'll defeat those xenos!" Kent declared, clenching his fist.
The confusion had vanished from his eyes. In its place burned unwavering determination, along with a trace of hunger for honor and military merit.
In the eyes of these workers, the hideous Necrons were no longer terrifying enemies.
They were shining piles of military merit waiting to be claimed.
The workers wished they could charge onto the battlefield that very instant.
They had to win. Otherwise, everything they had dreamed of would vanish.
This war concerned more than humanity's fate. It would also determine the futures of every soldier and their family.
The two were now inseparably linked.
This was precisely the enthusiasm the Imperial Court wanted to create.
People did not willingly fight wars that had nothing to do with them. Even if they were forced onto the battlefield, they would struggle to unleash their full combat potential.
Faith was not omnipotent.
Nor did the Imperium treat human lives as currency to be fed into the battle lines.
Instead, it told its people the truth and ensured that every soldier understood why they were fighting.
Then it placed the weapons capable of changing their destinies into their hands.
Once that happened, every one of them would hunger for victory.
They were not merely fighting for humanity.
They were fighting for themselves!
Da-da-da-da-daaa!
Several days later, Korosan echoed with the stirring sacred hymns of the Savior.
Then Kent and his wife saw countless new stars appear in the dark night sky.
They grew brighter and brighter.
Neither of them had ever seen stars shine so brilliantly. They filled the heavens in dense clusters, illuminating the night as never before.
It was the fleet of the Imperium!
(End of Chapter)
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