Emperor's Bane

Chapter 799 A strange combination of circumstances
"I came to retrieve a sword that I accidentally left on the battlefield."

"It is a slender sword, with an amethyst in the hilt: has any of you seen it?"

As a veteran with an actual service age of over two hundred Terran years, and also the de facto number two figure in the entire Dawnbreaker Corps and even the Far Eastern Frontier, it can be said that no one understands the details of war better than Lana: especially wars involving the Dawnbreakers.

Even if he closed his eyes, tied his hands and feet, and filled his mouth with Guilliman's coffee creamer and Konrad's secret sandwich: Lanar could still calmly command his beloved Dawnbreaker Legion to complete a war.

And during this time, he was able to take care of every detail perfectly.

No matter how important it is: such as how to minimize the casualties of battle brothers and the loss of gene seeds, how to negotiate with mortal generals, as well as many other issues involving the people's livelihood, humanitarianism and the mental health of soldiers in the empire.

Or those that are less important: such as the [exploration and reuse] of local historical and cultural resources, negotiation of interests with Mechanicus allies, dealing with those incompetent Terran artists on the ship, and selectively promoting the so-called Imperial truth.

All of the above are marked on Rana's skill list. In the past eighty years, they have been lit up one by one by the Chief of the Guards: the death squad officer who was once known as the Phoenix has become a general who can stand on his own.

Of course, Rana is not the only one in the Corps who has shown such obvious signs of progress.

It is a well-known secret that the personality and hobbies of the Primarch often imperceptibly and permanently change the Astartes Legion he leads: regardless of whether the Primarch himself intentionally promotes this, it only takes one or two generations for the entire legion to undergo earth-shaking changes.

The most obvious examples of this issue are the Blood Angels and the Word Bearers: Sanguinius of Bhaal used his kneeling and love to permanently change the fate of the 9th Legion. It took less than ten years for the warriors of the 9th Legion to go from crazy and unbridled ghouls to the much-anticipated Sons of Sanguinius.

On the other hand, the most important mission of the Seventeenth Legion, formerly known as the Iconoclasts, was to destroy any records of heresy and witchcraft in the name of the truth of the empire. But forty-six years after Lorgar took over the legion, these former Iconoclasts began to lay the first brick of the perfect city as the most fanatical believers.

All these vivid memories illustrate how profound and comprehensive the influence of the Primarch on his own Legion is: except for a few extremely special examples, as long as a Primarch has the slightest awareness in this regard, he will achieve unimaginable results.

After all, the vast majority of Astartes warriors will sincerely cater to and imitate the preferences displayed by the Primarch, whether they are external or internal, and regardless of whether they are beneficial to themselves or not: making the Primarch happy is the greatest benefit.

The external results of this internal trend are often ridiculous. For example, the Luna Wolves, as a regular army, are filled with gangster-like internal structure and artistic aesthetics from top to bottom. Of course, the Death Guard or the White Scars are also in a situation where the eldest brother does not laugh at the younger brother.

When it comes to the Dawnbreakers, the situation becomes even more contradictory: although Morgan also relies on a moderate degree of mysticism to rule her legion and country, the Primarch has never concealed her personal preferences and what kind of subordinates she appreciates.

Everyone in the Second Legion knows that the most fatal red line for the Lord of Avalon regarding the Dawnbreakers is her absolute control over the descendants of her legion: no matter whether it was more than a hundred years ago or now, Morgan will never allow the emergence of even the slightest variable that she cannot control in the Second Legion.

This almost obsessive desire for control can be said to be unique even among all the Primarchs: there is no shortage of people who can rule the army with an iron fist among the Emperor's descendants, but no matter which one of them, they are all a little bit lacking compared to the Spider Queen.

It is true that the likes of Jonson and Perturabo were renowned for their control over the Legion, but the Lion of Caliban was limited by the characteristics of the Legion itself and had to allow some particularly ancient Inner Circle organizations to completely seal off their inner situation and shield all outsiders, including the Primarch, when necessary.

As for Perturabo, although he seemed to have excellent control over the Fourth Legion, if one took into account the numerous garrison camps scattered like stars in the sky during the Great Crusade, one could know that the Lord of Steel did not have complete control over the Fourth Legion.

There are at least dozens of warsmiths thrown into the corners and moldering, and their almost independent steel camps, which are forces that Perturabo cannot directly control: it is even doubtful whether the Lord of Steel can still remember the existence of these offspring.

However, problems like these did not bother the Dawnbreakers: the number of Morgan's descendants was already a common topic, and although the Spider Queen had never stopped expanding her army during the century she had been in charge of the legion, the total strength of the Dawnbreakers was now less than 100,000.

Specifically: more than 92,000 people.

This is still the premise that the Second Legion has always maintained a large-scale military expansion: even when participating in the Battle of Ullanor and the Conference of Nikaea, the legion's pharmacists and recruiting officers did not forget to take the opportunity to recruit some fresh blood in the worlds outside the Far Eastern frontier.

According to the calculations of the pharmacists, if the Dawnbreaker Legion continues to expand its military strength at this rate, then by the time the 31st millennium arrives, their number is expected to exceed 150,000: but this still cannot change the fatal flaw of the entire legion's extremely weak reserve force.

For Morgan, who could easily handle the entire Far Eastern Frontier affairs or an entire Apocalyptic-level war, remembering the names and locations of less than 100,000 people was not a difficult task, and there was naturally no possibility of being forgotten: even the Ministry of Internal Affairs agents stationed throughout the galaxy were remembered in the Primarch's heart.

As for another question: there are indeed many ancient organizations in the Second Legion, but unlike their big brothers, the Dawnbreakers did not have a very satisfactory time in the Great Crusade before reuniting with their own Gene Primarch: not only did they lack sufficient honor and victory, they were even torn apart by internal struggles.

Naturally, they could not stand up straight in front of their Primarch: the Astartes and the Primarchs had always been a two-way journey, and the brothers of different legions were keen to compare the achievements of their own Primarchs on their home planet. When each legion reunited with the Primarch, the first thing they often did was to proudly take out their past honors to prove that they were a team worthy of the Primarch.

It is obvious that Morgan has always been a competitive topic when being compared with her descendants: the Spider Queen not only completed the novice task of unifying the home planet, but also became a well-known Soul Drinker and a prominent figure in the Great Crusade by relying on her abilities and military achievements before reuniting with her own legion.

Compared to her, the Dawnbreakers naturally had no confidence to argue: this huge difference in honor was also the reason why Morgan was able to reorganize the legion so smoothly back then.

So, when the Primarch decided to unite the Second Legion again, the old guys within the Legion did not resist at all: those ancient organizations that should have been labeled as the Inner Circle of the Dark Angels were wiped out by the Spider Queen and redistributed according to her ideas.

These coincidences and necessities together established Morgan's absolute control over the Legion: let alone open opponents like Astelan, even internal divisions like the White Scars did not exist among the Dawnbreakers.

In many major matters, if there is no order from the Spider Queen, the Second Legion would rather passively bear the losses than make relatively proactive choices. However, this leads to another problem, that is, the legion itself lacks initiative.

Morgan was troubled by this.

After all, the Far Eastern frontier was too large, and no matter how powerful the Primarch was, he could not take care of everything: it was inevitable to leave some fronts to his capable descendants, which was exactly the opposite of Morgan's desire for control.

Therefore, while the battle brothers of other legions were trying their best to become what their primarch liked, the Dawnbreakers were having trouble with this problem: because their mother wanted offspring who could absolutely obey orders, but could also stand on their own when necessary, have the wisdom to make decisions, and have a big heart to seize the initiative.

This requirement is like an artificial intelligence with independent thinking ability, which is somewhat incompatible with the current empire.

But as the saying goes, there are always more solutions to a problem than the problems themselves.

Although the Spider Queen's taste is so picky and weird, in order to please the preferences of their genetic mother, the Dawnbreakers still completed this impossible task: on the one hand, they maintained a rigid inner morality, and on the other hand, they were able to be flexible and independent, dancing on the edge of schizophrenia.

Even though this sounded impossible, it was ultimately defeated by the Astartes' determination, low self-desire and strong learning ability.

And in this process, Rana was naturally the best one: he was always the best one, so he had always been the chief guard who no one dared to question.

Rana used his own performance to perfectly illustrate what loyalty to the Primarch looks like: on the one hand, he abandoned almost all hobbies and entertainment time, did everything possible to improve his professional qualities, and did not hesitate to ask questions on every issue, which ultimately led to his outstanding military capabilities.

But on the other hand, in order to be able to better protect the Primarch, the Lord Chancellor of the Guards was willing to give up the results of his hard work: the military qualities that should have shined on all fronts and won him countless victories and honors, were in vain in order to adhere to the Primarch's bottom line, and remained unknown to outsiders for a long time.

In the eyes of other legions, and even in the eyes of most of the Dawnbreakers, Lana was an outstanding Grand Master of the Guards and an excellent guard, as well as a mediocre military commander: because he had never won any honors in battle, his chest was always pitifully empty, so pitiful that it could only be filled with small items given by the Primarch himself.

The Lord Chancellor of the Guards was happy with this and accepted his mission calmly, never thinking about how to fight for the command of a war or an army: this situation continued until the two consecutive major events of Ullanor and Nikea.

Since Nikea's return, for some reasons unknown to outsiders, the Spider Queen began to tentatively delegate power to her subordinates: company commanders like Davout, who were accustomed to being stationed outside, were given more autonomy by the Primarch, and Lana also took advantage of this favorable situation.

Unconsciously, the Spider Queen no longer personally led every battle of her legion as she did before: although she still appeared on the battlefield, she had begun to tentatively transfer the command of the front line to several of her most trusted lieutenants and company commanders.

Even Bernard, who served as a clerical adjutant, was thrown onto the battlefield and began to learn how to manage the logistics of the entire front line. Rana was naturally no exception: after Morgan announced the launch of the crusade against the Assassin civilization, the Primarch handed over the command of the alien operations to the Chief of the Guards.

In fact, the entire annihilation campaign was commanded by Lana, while Morgan was absorbed in her own affairs: judging from the attitude of the Primarch, the performance of his brothers and the actual results of the battle, the Grand Steward of the Guards commanded this annihilation campaign quite well.

The arduous battle that was originally expected to last for at least a month ended in suspense after less than a week: not only were the casualties of the Dawnbreakers far lower than expected, the losses of the Mortal Auxiliary Forces were not that great either, and the naval fleet even maintained a proud record of zero casualties.

After a short war, the meritorious generals within the legion began to have faith in Lana: Morgan's instigation was of course indispensable. The Spider Queen seemed to intend to establish a second core who was absolutely loyal to her within the Dawnbreaker Legion as a backup option at certain times.

But in Lana's opinion, what he did was far from perfect. At least, a truly meritorious coach would not drop his sword in a battle: this is not a question of combat effectiveness, but as a coach, he should not go to the front line of the firefight.

Yes, the situation was so urgent that he, the commander-in-chief, had to step in personally. Doesn't this just show that he still has shortcomings as a military commander? Otherwise, how could the situation be so urgent?
So, at least when Lana found the quartermasters responsible for recycling the armaments, he still felt a little guilty in his heart: but being around the Primarch allowed the Lord Chancellor to maintain his demeanor very well and uphold basic etiquette when interacting with mortals.

"A sword, you mean?"

The quartermasters in charge of statistics and recycling were also old friends of Rana. As subordinates of the Dawnbreaker Legion, they naturally did not show more awe. Instead, they talked to each other, then took out the electronic list and checked it carefully, then shook their heads at Rana with some pity.

"I am sorry: but I think you are late."

"The sword you mentioned was put into the forge six minutes ago. It was badly damaged. The Dawnbreaker in charge of the appraisal believed that it was no longer worth repairing. But we have kept the amethyst on the hilt. I will have someone bring it to you right away."

"That's it..."

Rana felt a little disappointed, but he was not angry about it.

"You mean: six minutes ago?"

"Yes."

The quartermaster nodded.

"Well, according to the tradition and custom of the Corps, officers who unfortunately lost their personal belongings during the war and wanted to come to the recovery department to look for them would come to look for them or complete the registration report within six hours after the war. But Sir Lana, you are really a little late this time."

"Something happened."

Lana didn't say anything more, but just looked with some disinterest at the smelting furnace that had just been set up in the distance.

"So: where will this recycled scrap metal be put to use?"

"Extension work on the Aurora."

The quartermaster smiled.

"You know: The Aurora will soon usher in the next round of transformation plan."

"I see. Then it seems my sword is not completely useless."

Rana's mood calmed down a little: although he was a little upset about losing the sword, as long as he thought that the sword would exist inside the entire Aurora, the knots in the Chief Guard's heart were untied.

but……

Rana remembered the quartermaster's words: he certainly knew the rules that the Legion's recycling department had always practiced. After all, these rules came from the Primarch and him, but there was indeed a reason why he was late.

It was because after the battle, the Primarch suddenly called him over, and without saying why, he asked his little daughter Lucy to circle around him twice, looked him up and down silently, and then sent the confused him away: six minutes were wasted in this way.

such a pity……

Lana shook his head and took the amethyst handed to him by the quartermaster.

Well: more beautiful than he remembered.

Just keep it on you.

As Lana was thinking, he saw the quartermaster beside him poking him with some gossip: there were more mortals gathering nearby.

"Is that sword important to you, Lord Steward?"

"how to say."

Lana hesitated for a moment, but after a sudden impulse, he decided to tell the mortals around him: a memory related to Lucius appeared in his mind as smoothly as flowing water, and everything seemed so just right.

"That was more than a hundred years ago..."

(End of this chapter)