Sorry for not uploading a chapter yesterday. I had to go to the Court of Appeals and then to Family Court for duties related to my internship, so it took quite a bit of time and I didn't have enough left to finish yesterday's chapter.
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"Six hundred thirty-two million, five hundred thirteen thousand, two hundred and two inhabitants, Lord Regent," Aurel reported as he handed me the data-slate containing the completed census.
"And your estimates were four hundred million. Don't you think the difference is… excessively large?" I asked as I reviewed the numbers.
Aurel sighed. "The reason is simple. If the Administratum learned our actual population, our tithe classification would increase. It is more convenient to hide the true figure. We collect more for the planet without increasing what we owe the Imperium."
"Clever," I murmured, tapping my temple with a finger. "I've reviewed the reports. It seems merchant ships pass here regularly—one every two or three months, and the large ones every year or two. Does this always happen? Or are there more vessels that are not officially recorded?"
"Many more," he answered without hesitation. "This planet supplies food to several nearby worlds—mining worlds, trade stations, a Navigator family's station, feudal worlds that buy high-quality produce for their nobility… even developing worlds that require surplus. It is a small political-economic circuit that prefers to remain uninvolved in internal disputes."
"A commercial nexus," I concluded as I scanned more data. And the more I read, the less I liked what I found.
"Yes… is that a problem, Lord Regent?" Aurel asked, folding his hands behind his back.
"Yes. I wanted to avoid drawing attention to our presence. So we will play the masquerade here. When merchants arrive, you will receive them. You will sell what is necessary, maintain relationships… I assume you know several of them from your previous position."
Aurel smiled with a hint of pride. "And… why not you, Lord Regent? No one would care too much about a new face among itinerant merchants. Besides… your negotiation with the Ecclesiarchy was brilliant. Convincing them to support your government without receiving anything in return, and then stripping them of powers and privileges… I do not know what you showed them, but you neutralized a growing problem completely."
"Because I do not intend to remain there. I have duties elsewhere, and I am delegating this responsibility to you," I replied evenly.
Then I turned toward the shadow materializing beside us, its personal cloak disengaging.
"About time. This is Agent S40237O: ONYX. One of mine. He will govern that planet in my name."
Onyx inclined his head by the smallest fraction. His mere presence filled the room with uneasy silence. One of the few Ghosts with advanced mind-control aptitude—a perfect failsafe in case my manipulation of the Ecclesiarchy began to fade. Completely loyal, without personal agenda, unlike commanders of the Royal Guard who sometimes nursed ambitions of their own.
Aurel extended a hesitant hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Onyx."
The Ghost stared at him without moving a muscle. "I do not perform such social interactions. My function is supervision, investigation, and regime stability. Any deviation from your assigned duties will be met with immediate elimination," Onyx stated with a flat, almost mechanical voice.
Aurel cleared his throat, swallowing."Ah… wonderful. I suppose we'll get along." He adjusted his collar. "Any further orders, Lord Regent? Now that we have the complete census, perhaps I can assist in your future plans."
Onyx spoke before I could answer:
"Lord Regent, I have already transmitted our directives. We must begin the dispersal of the local population immediately. It will be necessary to redistribute inhabitants into several new cities, prepare supplies for relocation, and move part of the population to New Korhal."
"I see…" Aurel muttered, visibly unsettled.
Followed by a group of my camouflaged operatives, we left the throne hall and proceeded to one of the rooms we had designated as secure. It was a simple wine storage chamber—perfect to conceal the Protoss transposition matrix we had installed.
Inside, the energy pylon was already active. We input the coordinates without delay.
I felt the energy wrap around me and, seconds later, space tore open. The transposition returned us to Korhal.
"No matter how many times I experience this… it remains unpleasant," I muttered as I steadied myself. "But I can't complain. Minutes of travel instead of days."
There was no time to waste. I went straight to my office. Now I had to coordinate the occupation, arm the future garrison, organize the transfer of thousands of Terrans to the newly taken world, and restructure my entire initial plan.
The constant merchant presence changed everything. I couldn't flood the planet with Terran technology. The moment a Mechanicum member set foot on that world, they would detect our AIs, materials, chips, weapons and all non-STC systems.
I would have to transform that world into a flawless façade—an obedient agricultural colony, irrelevant, harmless, innocent. Even consider staging a fake vassalage with the hive, paying nominal tithe for both planets if the Imperium arrived earlier than expected to investigate the merchant's disappearance or collect overdue tithe—which was possible, though with decades of delay still giving us many years of subterfuge.
Kurt was already in my office, typing at absurd speed.
"You're back," he said without looking up for more than a second.
"My duties on that planet are complete. Hostile takeover, clean and swift. A resounding success. Worth every second of Ghost training," I replied as I dropped into my chair and powered up my terminal.
"The Cerberus scientists finished analyzing most of the recovered technology. Not much is new… but there are a few interesting items." Kurt forwarded the reports.
I opened the files.
"Mhhh… well. A water purifier with nanobots… how the hell did they get this?" I said, looking over at Kurt.
"No idea. If you don't know, I sure won't," he replied without stopping his typing.
"With this we could build a fully autonomous water-treatment system, similar to New Korhal's… but based entirely on nanobots. No decanting, gravity separation or osmosis. Nanobots dedicated to removing bacteria, impurities, and harmful elements. It's something we could replicate with our medical technology, but it's… clever. We could even redesign the cruisers completely and save a lot of internal space if we install these purifiers."
Kurt finally stopped typing and gave me a seriously? expression.
"I spent weeks getting a good design for the cruisers, and now you're asking me to remake all of it again to accommodate this new system," he said flatly.
"Hey, more space… lower weight, less power consumption. And I assume it's more efficient. More room for ammunition, extra gun batteries… I don't know, get creative. You should be happy: we just found a way to reduce cruiser weight and maintenance at the same time. If we factor in bio-steel—which is basically repair nanobots—we wouldn't even need periodic maintenance. Keeping the system running would be dirt cheap." I began listing possibilities while scanning the schematics.
Kurt turned the display of his console toward me. It showed a program full of schematics and 3D models of battlecruisers.
"I've spent weeks perfecting these… weeks," he growled. "Between coordinating the fleet for the invasion and working on this at the same time… and now I have to start again. Thank God the adjutant helps me a little, because otherwise I'd already be insane. Do you have any idea what it's like to design five different battlecruiser classes simultaneously?"
I shrugged with a smile.
"Come on, a little sacrifice for the Dominion. This is going to save us hundreds of thousands—maybe millions—of credits. Just from having a water system that requires no maintenance."
"Easy for you to say… you just give the order. I'm the one who has to rewrite all the engineering so the thing doesn't explode on the first FTL jump," Kurt muttered, rubbing his face. "What else is interesting in there? I'd rather know now than rework all my blueprints again while the shipyard is halfway done."
"We'll see… we have something similar… similar... similar....there's nothing else worth adding, integrate it into the system and we'll see what we can do," I said while beginning to design and organize the construction of an automated factory to produce trooper gear.
It was an enormous task. The Dominion's economy was beginning to function, but almost all resources were being poured into the occupation, arming the new garrisons and constructing the new fleet. The civilian economy would have to wait another year. As much as I wanted to stimulate it, there was little I could do without risking collapse elsewhere.
Just as I started to work, I received a priority alert.
"Lord Regent," said one of my Ghost operatives, assigned as a frontier scout.
"Report," I answered. Beside me, Kurt rose, crossed the room and stood next to me.
"My investigations in the east-south sector yielded results. We located several systems with potential. In one of them we found four planets suitable for terraforming. They're dead rocks with no life, but with strong electromagnetic fields that shield them from the radiation of their two local suns. The issue is that our scientists agree at least two of those worlds went through mass-extinction events. And the other two show signs of large-scale siege: we found massive amounts of unexploded ordnance."
"Good. Then we should consider populating those planets," I replied, opening new files on my terminal. "We can move part of the hive-world population to those worlds and set them to terraforming work. Send deep-mining scanners; if there are useful deposits, we must exploit them. Bring back the explosives if possible—we need to study them and see how they differ from our weapons."
Then I looked up at him."But that's not reason enough to use the emergency channel."
The Ghost remained still for a few seconds, as if ordering his thoughts.
"No, Lord Regent. I used the transmission because there is something else."
Kurt frowned.
"Continue," I ordered.
"Probing deeper into the assigned sector, we found a planet fully suitable for life. Atmospheric analysis checks out, water, biomass, everything. We even found what appears to be an Imperial settlement: ruins overtaken by vegetation, collapsed structures, a central building resembling a temple."
"Human life?" I asked.
"None. My ship's sensors detect no vital signatures matching humans. The entire settlement has been swallowed by the wilds. On the surface, it looks like a dead world."
"Then I don't understand your urgency," I said.
The Ghost bowed his head slightly, as if deciding how to phrase it."Lord Regent… the strange part is that… I feel the world calling me."
"Define 'calling you,'" I said in a neutral tone.
"It's hard to explain… but I sense a very strong psionic presence on the planet, and I cannot determine its origin. It is not a point… it feels like the entire planet is calling me. That is the reason, Lord Regent. I believe an investigation team should be sent. I have never felt anything like this."
"Good. Extract as much information as possible with your sensors. We'll dispatch a battlecruiser to the area so its probes can scan the surface before sending in scientists," I replied, then cut the transmission.
Kurt folded his arms and rested his hand on his chin, deep in thought.
"That's bad… isn't it?" he asked quietly.
"It might be. I can think of a few theories, but none of them good." I inhaled as I reviewed the coordinates. "Make sure to send a cruiser with high-resolution sensors. I want to avoid surprises. If I'm right about what it could be… it might be very dangerous."
"We have the nuclear arsenal," Kurt said calmly. "If needed, we glass the planet."
I looked at him for a moment, genuinely surprised.
"I'd expect that from Kazimir. Even from Mason. But you, Kurt… one learns something new about you people every day," I said with a tired smile.
"We don't have Royal Guard personnel to waste in a stupid siege," he replied without blinking. "But we do have hundreds of nuclear missiles. Turning a planet into a radioactive wasteland is always an option. Just keep it among your alternatives. I'll contact one of the Pride of Augustograd-Class ships. It has the best sensors—capable of analyzing deep-layer minerals."
"Do it," I said.
And I returned to work. I needed to push the weapons and armor factory forward faster than ever.if that planet was what I feared… we were going to need it.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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