Chapter 243: Let's Go. I'm Taking You Home.
"You're here," Romulus said, detaching himself from the conference as Karna approached his side. "Come, say hello."
He unceremoniously pulled Karna over, prompting Ramesses to open another psychic channel.
"Lord Karna!"
Compared to the respect they had shown Romulus, the voices of the Chapter Masters were now tinged with a deep reverence.
"Greetings," Karna said with a perfect smile, waving at their ethereal forms. Well, it seems that with Baal's conditions improving, Dante's complexion is much better now than the weary old man he was a decade ago.
"How is Baal?" he asked Dante.
"It is well, my Lord," Dante replied. Unlike the structured reports from Huron and the others, his tone was like that of a man telling an elder about the changes in his hometown. "Baal has been transformed into a paradise world. We have cleared the toxic red earth, and the Red Thirst has abated. Baal now has vast green fields and fruit orchards. The salt-farmers and wasteland raiders are no more. You should truly come back and see."
By selling their blood to provide the necessary and safe, sacred information-bearing artifacts for the functioning of human society, the Blood Angels were now fabulously wealthy. This had been Karna's decision. The blood was Sanguinius's, so they could mass-produce it. After all, the doctrine said: The Great Angel would rather shed his own blood than see a single human life lost. Although it was a bit disrespectful to Sanguinius, it was a great merit to be able to reduce the demigod-like human sacrifices.
And it wasn't just this one source of income. Baal was now benefiting from the ancillary revenue brought by pilgrimages, enough to support the entire line of Blood Angels' Chapters. It wasn't just the wealth of equipment that their increased economic strength brought, but also a great deal of political resources. Many successor Chapters had already established offices on Baal. The high-ranking Imperial officials, while on pilgrimage, could also directly communicate with these Chapters on behalf of their own sectors to request assistance.
The Blood Angels, in turn, were responsible for transmitting this information to their successor Chapters across the galaxy, for them to make their own decisions.
Here, one had to mention the two Librarians, Mephiston of the Blood Angels and Tigurius of the Ultramarines. They were super-psykers, on the level of the Emperor's Chosen, true cultivators among a sea of psychic dullards. Ramesses, adhering to the principle of "shared suffering is better than suffering alone," had dragged these two into the mess as well. Of course, they didn't have the luxury of Aeldari operators, but they could learn from Malcador's methods and directly link the Librarians of the various successor Chapters for direct communication. After all, there were only so many successor Chapters. Tigurius might have a bit more pressure, but just passing on messages... it probably wasn't too tiring.
"Yes, I will go in the future!" Karna said with a smile. For safety, the four of them couldn't be too far apart. Even now that they had dispersed, they were still operating within the Dawnlight Sector, and Ramesses's psychic phone could reach them at any time.
He then glanced at the nearly-burned-out Ramesses and couldn't help but say to Romulus, "Should we call it a day?" He's like this now. What will happen when we leave and have to remotely control the Dawnlight Sector? Will he die?
Romulus glanced at his companion, who was playing dead, and then nodded. "Alright."
"Lord Romulus, we will take our leave," Calgar said at the opportune moment. His reporting task was short; it was more about coordinating with the other special development zones. Unlike the other sectors, Ultramar, which had been fully developed by Guilliman ten thousand years ago, did not really have a "development strategy," but rather a "recovery plan." Calgar himself only needed to re-establish the connections between Macragge and the surrounding systems, send out his successor Chapters to suppress any trouble-making planetary governors in key regions, and then copy the policies Guilliman had written ten thousand years ago onto each planet. And then, it would all naturally come together.
The development pressure on their side was the lowest. They only needed to focus on dealing with the threat of war. By the way, they had also recalled the Blades of Obsidian Chapter. After all, their Ancient had already been interred in a Dreadnought once due to radiation. They couldn't let it happen again. The Chapter was now garrisoned on Macragge.
"Good," Romulus said, and directly cut the communication.
"Aren't you waiting for Arthur?" Karna asked, puzzled.
"He's still on his way. We have to leave. There's work to wrap up here," Romulus replied, then scanned the众人 in the conference hall. The Archmagos, Trazyn, the representatives of the Human Federation, and his own companions.
And... Commissar Alexei Cain.
Romulus's gaze fell on the Commissar of the Broken Swords, who was much older than when they had first met twenty years ago. And behind him, the Astra Militarum, who all, to varying degrees, showed their age.
Compared to the now-sainted Arabella, the biomancer-psyker Aglaia, the long-lived Astartes, and Cawl, who had already lived for ten thousand years, the marks that time had left on these most ordinary of Imperial men were so clear.
'It's been twenty years,' Romulus thought with a sigh.
The 43rd Cadian "Broken Swords," along with the Order of the Sacred Rose, were the first Imperial armed force the Dawnbreakers had encountered. It was because of their existence that the Dawnbreakers had been able to endure the darkness and take up a more noble ideal in this universe. And the colors they represented would, with the steps of the Dawnbreakers, gradually spread across the stars.
But now, they were old. They could no longer keep up with the pace of the demigods.
Romulus had thought of asking them to stay. After all, the Schola Progenium being built all over the Dawnlight Sector needed excellent instructors. The reform of the planetary defense forces was also beginning to show results. After a lightning-fast purge, the military-related power was firmly in the hands of the Dawnbreakers. The PDF of the Dawnlight Sector was now uniformly trained and managed by the sector government. On every industrial world that produced weapons, there were a large number of Schola, to accommodate and educate the reservists who had been selected from within the sector.
The excellent and suitable would become Astartes candidates. The next tier would be selected by the various important departments and formed into special units. The rest would be assigned to the Astra Militarum as mechanized mobile forces, usually operating in conjunction with the Astartes. And finally, those who were unfortunately not selected would be assigned to the various planets to serve as the Planetary Defence Force.
In short, this system was in desperate need of people. There was no shortage of students; recruitment had never been a problem in the sacrifice-worshipping culture of the Imperium. But they lacked those who could pass on their experience, who could turn an army that wanted to fight into an army that could fight. So Romulus had also been deliberately recruiting these members, including the Cadians who had fought with them until now. After all, the Dawnlight Sector government could provide better benefits, better living conditions, and more stable and humane policies. All things that the current Imperium lacked.
But it was time for them to go home.
His gaze swept over each and every one of them. They all held boxes of various sizes. These were the relics of their fallen comrades: ashes, a pict-capture, a small, broken piece of equipment, inscribed with a name, waiting for their comrades to take them home.
Romulus looked at these mortals who had fought with him until now. Their eyes were filled with an unparalleled pride. They had witnessed the return of the demigods, witnessed the rekindling of hope. They had participated in it, and had added their own bones and blood to that hope.
What right did he have to stop them from going home?
"Let's go," he said. "I'm taking you home."
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