Emperor's Bane

Chapter 741 At this time, in Terra
"Less than two hours ago, a Charter Fleet Commander I sent to the Maelstrom region reported to me: he is convinced that at least one company belonging to the Imperial Fists has taken control of the main star of the Endinion Cluster, and the governor who rules there is willing to pay taxes to Terra."

"Are you sure? My communications personnel at the front line haven't sent back any news yet."

"The charter captains sent to the Maelstrom region are carefully selected and they are trustworthy."

"Charter Captain? I thought you would rather call yourselves Rogue Traders."

"In a serious occasion, a more serious title is naturally needed."

Kelsey-Demidov, the newly appointed spokesperson for the Charter Captains, was the agent of the collective will of tens of millions of Rogue Trader Dynasties in the galaxy. Although this was only her second time entering the parliament hall that could arbitrate the fate of the entire human empire, her innate noble temperament made her look like a king who was born and raised here.

The exquisite smile touched the facial skin that had undergone at least three rejuvenation surgeries, and the nails wrapped in refined gold tapped casually on the central round table that symbolized the highest power: this masterpiece with a diameter of nearly nine meters was made from a whole piece of priceless petrified mahogany from the last forest in Northern Europe. Scattered around it were all the respectable noble figures in the Terra Senate.

Now, all their eyes were focused on Demidov: doing the same thing were the low-level officials who were huddled at the edge of the hall. Their number ranged from thirty to fifty. Unless designated by the Terra elders, these people had no right to speak in this sacred hall.

But once they step out of this hall, each of these low-ranking officials is a powerful beast who can easily decide the life and death, honor and disgrace of an entire star zone: even the implementation of the policies of the seal holder himself cannot be separated from these humble and pleasing bureaucrats who look no different from mechanical servants.

"The Endinion Cluster can threaten Badab's territory in the east of the Maelstrom. Perhaps we can send another fleet that is absolutely loyal to Holy Terra. Although the warriors of Dorne are loyal, they are definitely not willing to interfere in more matters."

"I agree. Some things still need to be done by our own warriors. The Ministry of Justice has an armed fleet in the Maelstrom. I can transfer them there immediately. Their strength is enough to rival the elite Solar Auxiliary Army. With the current combat power of the Badab army, those guys cannot win the bloodshed that may break out."

"There is no need to be so extreme, Your Excellency, Marshal of the Ministry of Justice."

"This is not extreme, this is simply law enforcement action in accordance with Imperial law, Mr. Ossian."

The Marshal of Justice turned slightly to look at his colleague who disagreed with him: Who would have thought that this guy who was so cautious that he even needed a magnifying glass to read documents would be the first Minister of the Imperial Finance Department appointed by the Seal Holder? And even sit at the round table of the High Lords?

I heard that he even faints at the thought of blood?

The Law Marshal, who came from a military background, suppressed the sneer in his heart.

"Moreover, since our Ministry of Justice's action is to solve the long-standing problem of overdue tithes on Badab Prime, why should your Ministry of Finance be so restrained? As long as Badab can pay their taxes, then I think your department's next financial report will look better, right?"

"The Treasury Department's statistics won't change for a planet."

Finance Minister Ossian gathered his luxurious robe and turned a deaf ear to the Marshal of Law's implication. He took a document from the servant behind him, wiped off the ink on it calmly, and then picked up his magnifying glass again.

"What's more, Badab's current armed conflict is no longer about the taxation of a single world. The tax commissioner I sent there visited every industrial zone and hive city on Badab's main planet and came up with a statistical record that is not optimistic: Badab may not be able to pay their taxes at all."

"Even if your judges from the Ministry of Justice squeezed out all the water from every inch of soil there, they still couldn't pay the taxes. The economic figures that these local nobles have concealed over the past few decades are too shocking. Even if we collect the lowest amount of taxes, Badab will definitely rise up in resistance."

"I'm not surprised at all."

The Law Marshal searched the documents and recording board in front of him, and then glanced at his colleagues present: the steward in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Forge Commander who spoke on behalf of the other head of the double-headed eagle, the navigator envoy of noble blood, and Lady Hesula who symbolized the Astronomican Court.

The Law Marshal knocked on the table: after he was sure that the Rogue Trader representative who was speaking had acquiesced to this.

"We are not surprised by the predicament of Badab Prime, are we? Our goal from the beginning was not their taxes, at least that was not our main goal: our goal was to repel the advance of the Five Hundred Worlds, and then dismantle Badab's Great Vortex hegemony and rescue the worlds they ruled."

"A region where all forces are relatively balanced and no one force can become too large can serve as the stable eastern gateway of Holy Terra. And only the scattered planetary governors will meekly hand in their obligations. This is much more important than the mere Badab Prime."

"I do not deny the justice of the purpose."

The Rogue Trader nodded.

"But we should note that we have already encountered problems at the first step of implementation: I do not want to stir up disputes, my Lords, but we must always figure out why our originally reasonable demands have fallen into this situation? Only by finding out where the mistakes were made can we have the possibility of resolving this crisis peacefully."

"That is something you don't need to worry about, Mrs. Demidoff."

The Marshal of Justice did not speak, and it was the steward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who sat in the second seat of honor, who spoke in his place: this celestial official who had inherited the authority of the Sigillite Malcador, had a naturally serious tone, but his face was childish enough to make others frown.

"Feel sorry."

The Rogue Trader nodded.

"But if I remember correctly, the last time I walked into this hall, the person who spoke on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was..."

"Sir Simeon-Pentassian."

The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs nodded, sadness accumulating between his pale brows.

"He was my teacher and the second chief steward of the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs who took over the power of the Master Seal. His term ended when the Nikaea Incident broke out. He and his nine most loyal assistants all died in the line of duty, including almost all the leading figures in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I had to temporarily take over his responsibilities."

"Feel sorry."

The wandering merchant lowered his head hastily.

She had no doubt about this, because this was a common secret of the entire Terra power structure: during the past Great Crusade, the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs, as the only monster department that could be equal to the Primarchs in status, had always been led by the Sigillite Malcador himself, so his most loyal and capable backbones were mostly concentrated in the power system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

As it should be, in order to maintain the normal operation of the Nikaea Conference, an unusually large number of internal affairs officials participated in that meeting: as a result, the personnel losses of this primary authority in the Nikaea incident were almost more than those of the other Terran authority combined.

The only one that can be compared with the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the Ministry of Justice. The original legal director Lantal died on the spot, which led to the smooth replacement of the original district legal marshal Roll: the first half of the new marshal's life was spent in pure killing and trial. During his short leadership, the Ministry of Justice has shown an increasingly dangerous and tough style.

“Who would have thought…”

The word "Nikea" was like a heavy ballast stone, and the dead silence instantly spread throughout the round table: only the most leisurely navigators and representatives of the Astronomical Court could continue their whispering in their minds. After all, the crisis being discussed at the moment had nothing to do with their departments.

"Mr. Brahm."

The Astronomican representatives blinked, the voice echoing in their minds.

“I remember that countless pilot families were also traumatized in Nikaea.”

"Yes."

The pilot noble nodded: even when speaking with the psionics in his mind, his voice had a lingering native accent.

"So many people died. A distant uncle of mine and my niece died there."

"Please observe a moment of silence."

"It's such a pity, their son and daughter are only six months old."

“Fortunately, they had organized an engagement ceremony for their sons and daughters before Nikea.”

"..."

Mrs. Hesula was silent, and it took her several minutes to find her words.

"Then, have you ever thought about why such a tragedy happened? We, the members of the Astronomican Court, did not attend the Nikaea Conference, but even so, we were strictly forbidden to discuss any words related to Nikaea. We only know that a terrible disaster had occurred there."

"To tell you the truth."

The navigator glanced secretly at his colleagues who were in the middle of a discussion.

"I was there. I am certain that I attended the meeting on Nicaea, but I remember nothing. Like you, I only know that a terrible disaster broke out on Nicaea, and that Master Magnus and his Thousand Sons Legion were accused of being involved and were excommunicated by the Emperor."

"But it's really strange: other psyker organizations were not affected at all."

Mrs. Hesula's eyes flickered.

"Especially the think tanks in the Astartes Legion. They can actually function normally."

"Didn't they say that these legion think tanks and Lord Magnus were on the same front?"

"That's not the reason."

The navigator shook his head mysteriously.

"Appreciate further details."

Madame Hesula rubbed her fingertips.

"I personally owe you one."

"It's not a personal thing. I just heard a few words from someone else."

The navigator took a sip of his drink.

"Although the Emperor ordered the erasure of all memories about Nikaea, some records were still preserved. We can connect some clues and clues together: the problem is not the think tank, nor anything related to psykers. The real cause of the disaster may be the Thousand Sons Legion."

"how you said that?"

"Because the Emperor's reasons for placing Lord Magnus under house arrest were very wrong." "We all know that a large number of high-ranking officers of the Thousand Sons were directly arrested or even executed on Nikaea, but do you know what the charges for their arrest and execution were? The arrested Thousand Sons officers were accused by the Custodians of no longer being pure, and those who were directly executed..."

"Their crimes are treason and rebellion!"

"There is also the sin of corruption: and it is the sin of corruption concerning aliens!"

"Alien?"

Mrs. Hesula took a deep breath.

"You mean..."

"Yes."

The navigator nodded.

"It is rumored that the tragedy on Nikaea was caused by a small group of rebellious officers in the Thousand Sons hierarchy colluding with alien forces to attack the Imperial hierarchy. It is also said that they infected the gene seed of the Thousand Sons Legion, making the other Thousand Sons warriors no longer reliable. That is why Prospero needs to be sealed off until the relevant test results come out."

"Colluding with aliens?"

Mrs. Hesula was a little bit unbelievable.

"This...how is this possible?"

"I didn't believe it at first, but have you heard about Lord Magnus? Although Lord Magnus is recuperating, the Emperor once publicly stated that he was very disappointed with some of Lord Magnus' actions, and it is said that the Custodians also accused Lord Magnus."

"The charge is that he failed to discipline his subordinates and failed to ensure the loyalty of his troops to humanity."

"Such a crime can actually be used to accuse a Primarch. You can imagine how angry the Emperor is this time. The accusation against the Thousand Sons Legion should not be wrong. Some of them have indeed colluded with alien forces."

"What xenos? What xenos is capable of contaminating an Astartes Legion?"

"Is this..."

The navigator hesitated to speak.

"Just listen to me. This is just some gossip I overheard. Some of our distant relatives were urgently recruited by the Emperor and the Imperial Guards immediately after the outbreak of the Nikaea Incident. They were ordered to lead an entire expedition fleet to the northwest of the galaxy. I don't remember anything after that."

"But I heard that after the Emperor left Nicaea, he and some of the Custodians did disappear for a while, along with a large number of elite mortal auxiliary troops. Some of these auxiliary troops returned to the Empire not long ago, while others have not been heard of until today."

"What do you think they went for?"

"In the northwest of the Milky Way..."

Mrs. Hesula thought about it for a moment.

"Isn't this what happened back then..."

"Yes, Randan."

The navigator chewed on this word: In today's human empire, only the absolute high-ranking figures like them are qualified to remember this name, and even they are only allowed to remember this name and the long bloody history behind this name.

"The greatest enemy of the Empire back then, the Alien Empire, which took a whole generation to finally destroy: if there are still some remnants of it, and if these remnants can influence the Thousand Sons Legion, I will definitely not be surprised."

"They can definitely do it. Otherwise, how could the 11th Legion have been established..."

The pilot did not continue.

Because right in front of him, the Law Marshal had stood up again.

"So, I think you should have understood the origin of this series of tragedies."

The words were spoken to the wandering trader.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs lost a large number of elite personnel in the chaos in Nikaia, including the current Director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Maelstrom Commissioner who was specially appointed by the Master of the Seal to be in charge of the affairs of the Maelstrom. The latter's death is the direct cause of the current crisis."

"If the Commissioner of the Great Whirlpool Region had not died in Nicaea, he should have personally rushed to Badab to preside over the tax collection issue after the meeting in Nicaea, instead of letting a group of low-level tax collectors and financial personnel develop the situation to the current state."

After saying this, the Marshal of Justice did not forget to nod to the Minister of Finance.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ossian, I have no intention of condemning your men."

"I know, Mr. Roll."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer looked calm, and just stroked his magnifying glass quietly: Who would have thought that this seemingly luxurious and amiable senior official was the one who frightened the governors of the empire the most among all the people present? With just a slight touch of his pen, he could turn countless worlds into hell on earth.

"For the crisis in Badab, our Ministry of Finance does bear some responsibility, but we should not be blamed entirely: the officials I sent are the most capable, they are just faithfully performing their duties, the problem does not lie with them."

"After all, according to the original plan of His Excellency the Master and the Commissioner of the Maelstrom, the Ministry of Finance itself plays the role of a sharp blade. We need to meticulously calculate Badab's gains and losses and work out a number that represents their limit. Only in this way can we allow the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to appear and make the subsequent negotiations smoother."

"Ask for a high price, but negotiate the price down to earth."

The Rogue Trader shook his head.

“Who would have thought that the mistake was made at the first step.”

"When acting, you have to act realistically."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer was also somewhat helpless.

"So, my tax collectors were not informed of the subsequent plans at all. Their own ranks were not that high. This was all to better deter Badab and the Maelstrom. Who would have thought that the Maelstrom Commissioner who was originally rushing over to replace them would make a mistake and implement the originally exorbitant price."

"But, think positively, everyone."

The Marshal of the Ministry of Justice pounded the table.

"At least our most important goal has now been achieved."

"You mean, the confrontation with the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar?"

"That's right: expose Guilliman and his ambitions to the entire galaxy."

"Let them know whose army has entered the land of the Solar Segment."

The Chancellor drew back. He really could not argue with that statement.

In the final analysis: no matter what Terra's fundamental purpose was in provoking this crisis, the direct reason why the High Lords decided to take action was because Guilliman's vassal fleet was already patrolling in Betangamon's space, and because even some worlds in the Solar Segmentum had begun to wave the flag of Ultramar.

"In the face of such threats, nothing we do will go wrong."

The Rogue Trader stroked the tabletop.

"But the price is the crisis we face today: the entire galaxy is watching us."

"That's right, everyone."

The Law Marshal nodded.

“Abandon your illusions.”

"No matter what our original purpose was, now that things have developed to the point where everyone is paying attention, we only have one goal left: We must win this war of confrontation with the Five Hundred Worlds at all costs."

"Because, we all know."

"When everyone in the galaxy is watching us in silence, then whether it is the issue of taxes or the issue of territory, it no longer matters at this moment: the only thing that matters is the issue of majesty."

"To put it more simply: this is a matter of face."

"If we retreat this time."

"Then after this: no one will obey Terra's orders."

"That's true: but how do you think we should keep this face?"

"..."

"this problem."

"I think we need to wait for His Excellency the Master to return before we are qualified to discuss this."

(End of this chapter)