Chapter 220: All Quiet on the Terran Front
After a brief review of the internal affairs of Astorgius, the Dawnlight led its fleet away from the warp tides, following an ancient star-lane towards the source of the distress signal.
Along the way, the Dawnlight Fleet settled nearly two billion pilgrims—in reality, the colonists of this new era—who had been stranded on the cardinal world. They were relocated to thirteen colony worlds that, during the "Sector Survey" program, had met the Dawnbreakers' standards.
These so-called colony worlds were, in fact, feral or feudal worlds that lacked the capacity to raise themselves to the Imperial average. Humanity's expansion, ever since the techno-barbarians had become the mainstream during the Age of Technology, had been a rather haphazard affair. Due to development costs and the fact that the Throneworld's workload was in a perpetual state of overload, these backward, strategically insignificant worlds with no irreplaceable resources had little chance of development. The return on investment was completely disproportionate. They were basically left to develop on their own, with various Imperial factions occasionally dropping by to "Darwin" a few combat "talents," but otherwise having little interaction with them.
After a thorough survey, Romulus discovered that the Dawnlight Sector, which was by all rights a wealthy sector, contained nearly a thousand Imperial worlds, but the Imperium was actually utilizing very few of them. And so, adhering to the principle of "take good care of your own home," he acted.
Joined by various technical personnel and organized by a civil service system composed of both Astartes and mortals, and using the surplus population from the key worlds as a base, colonization teams took control of these planets and began to extensively interfere in their development.
"My Lord, a document from Terra."
An accompanying Administratum official respectfully handed over a report.
"Thank you," Romulus said, taking it and placing it in a secondary queue.
The official bowed and immediately turned away. He began to work, his fingers flying across the console of a desk that was welded to a connector on his scapula and extended before him. This official was responsible for observing the development of the various planets. As a former aide to the previous sector governor, he could also provide the Dawnbreakers with necessary information, such as the composition of each planet's ruling class and the distribution of its resources.
The aide returned to his workstation with a measured stride. Before him, the documents that had been processed by the Astartes were once again piled high. His job was to input this data, submit it to the Primarch's ruling council, and then, after it had been reviewed by the Primarchs, send a copy to Terra.
Hiss...
A dose of neural-maintenance fluid was injected into his skull, banishing his fatigue. The aide glanced at the remaining supply in the corner of his eye. Too much again, he thought, and then bent over his work. He needed to finish this data entry as quickly as possible. Afterwards, he had to attend the Primarch's council meeting and provide written recommendations.
The aide's mind ran through various scenarios. The Primarch's ruling body was not lacking in mortals. The Dawnbreakers acknowledged that the Astartes were physically superior to ordinary humans and could shoulder more responsibilities, but they did not exclude mortals from the political system. After all, one could see from the commanders on the various battlefields that, in terms of strategic vision, a mortal was not necessarily inferior to an Astartes. It was just that the absurd computational load of the Imperial administrative system was too much for them to bear. But now that the Astartes had joined the system, the tedious calculations were handled by specialists, allowing the mortal officials to better utilize their strategic abilities.
Screeeech...
The tip of his quill made a strange sound. A servo-skull instantly ejected the worn nib and welded on a new one, freshly dipped in Dawnlight Holy Oil.
"..."
The aide's gaze returned from the reservoir, which was still two-thirds full. After a two-second pause, he continued his work. Compared to his previous workload, this was a significant reduction in stress.
'These High Lords really have nothing better to do,' Romulus thought, finally picking up the document from Terra after finishing the colonization development files. It was the same formulaic approval, with no nutritional value.
Romulus didn't particularly mind the various Imperial administrative organizations setting up shop in the colonial territories. Although the leaders were always up to something shady, the grassroots civil servants were top-tier talents who had survived the 41st Millennium's brutal screening process. They could greatly reduce the Dawnbreakers' management costs in building the various planetary governments. And Romulus wasn't afraid of the Imperium's influence in the sector becoming too great, leading to a situation where the colonies' tax burden became unbearable for the residents. Those who wanted to work, he would use. Those who were up to no good, he would eliminate, conveniently freeing up a position for someone else's promotion.
But after a few months of initial enthusiasm, the High Lords had gone silent.
'Though, it is understandable. Every department on Terra is probably a bloodbath right now.'
He made a mark, indicating he had read it, and shook his head with a helpless sigh.
On Terra, although it had been agreed that the Custodes, the Administratum, the Adeptus Arbites, and the Inquisition would all have oversight, they clearly had no time for that now.
After the anti-corruption campaign had turned into an anti-heresy campaign, Ramesses, with his "big mouth," had mentioned to Navradaran that Terra had a large number of skull-relics, to mock the Custodes' inaction.
In the timeline where they did not exist, when the Great Rift tore the galaxy in two, and Guilliman returned to Terra, eight Khornate legions, led by eight Greater Daemons, had set foot on the Throneworld, staining the skies of Terra blood-red. And how had they done it? There were skull-relics on Terra that could summon eight Greater Daemons of Khorne, which had been smuggled onto the planet disguised as Ecclesiarchy artifacts.
Although there were still over two hundred years until the Great Rift, everyone knew that Rome wasn't built in a day, and the sacrifices weren't gathered in a day. This was the Throneworld. Although the Unification Wars had been a chaotic mess of lunatics, and there were still relics of the Four-Gods-Chosen lying around, they were all supposed to be under the control of the Custodian Shadowkeepers.
But a large number of Chaos artifacts flowing into the general populace... was the Throneworld just going to be abandoned?
At first, the Custodes on Terra had been confused when Navradaran had chewed them out. But thinking they had nothing better to do than mope around the Palace anyway, they had decided to investigate. And they had found something.
It started when a member of the Blood Games had noticed something odd in a pilgrim fleet from Luna. A crystal sarcophagus and its contents had shown anomalies during the investigation. Then, a Tzeentchian daemon incursion had erupted, and the Custodes, without the aid of the Sisters of Silence, had even suffered one casualty.
This had immediately put the Custodes on high alert. They began to use all their technological means to screen the Throneworld for any possible Chaos contamination. And the results were not limited to the transient population. They had uncovered a number of Genestealer Cults in the underhive, numerous Chaos cults, and a smattering of xenos.
The Custodes had also found a significant number of Chaos artifacts among the upper-class nobles and bureaucrats who were devout followers of the Imperial Cult. Especially Khornate artifacts. In the death-worshipping Imperium of Man, artifacts made of human bones and remains were not uncommon, which had given the Khornate cultists an opening. After all, the second brother also likes skulls.
Trajann Valoris had gone ballistic. He was on the phone with the Grey Knights, yelling at them for dereliction of duty, recalling the Sisters of Silence who had vanished after the War of the Beast, and holding the various High Lords accountable.
The High Lords were also in a state of shock. No one had expected that a single word from the Primarchs would uncover so many problems on Terra. This was the center of power, and they had been sitting on an erupting volcano without even realizing it. Even the Fabricator-General of Mars had turned his attention inward and had also found a number of "special individuals."
And so, because of a few casual remarks, almost the entire supreme authority of the Imperium was, at the same time, focused on the purification of Terra. The Throneworld was in an uproar. Heads were rolling. And the Mechanicus of Mars was using the opportunity to purge its own 'tech-heretics'.
With the help of the Custodes, and the fact that they had discovered it early, straightening things out shouldn't be a problem. Romulus thought optimistically. He then put down the document and asked the captain, who was focused on piloting the ship, "Captain Aurora, how much longer until we reach our destination?"
"Another... two standard Terran hours," Aurora replied. With the help of the Navigators, she was guiding the ship, keeping the fleet on its intended course, avoiding the aetheric reefs and chaotic creatures. The maneuver was not difficult. Ever since she had begun to serve the four Primarchs, stable warp travel had become the norm.
But the excessive calm still made her feel that something was amiss. "My Lord, the Navigators report that as we approach our destination, the warp influence in the surrounding realspace is rapidly decreasing. We may need to transition into the materium early and enter the system using our physical engines to prevent any unexpected situations," Aurora reported after consulting with the Navigators.
"Mm. Do as you say," Romulus nodded. He began to ponder what this planet might hold. To be able to repel the influence of the warp and stabilize reality... it was a tough one to guess.
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