Emperor's Bane

Chapter 814 Murder (12)

"No! No!"

"The battle plan has already been drawn up, how can it be changed at any time?"

"Where do you think this is? The Far East where you Dawnbreakers can do whatever you want!"

When Lana first saw the arrogant face of the commander of the 40th Expeditionary Fleet, he knew that things would not go smoothly this time.

Unfortunately, he guessed right.

In the fleet commander's command room, which was so luxurious that it was no worse than the offices and residences of most primarchs, the senior imperial officers in charge of the expedition against the Jingyuan Federation gathered together, each carrying a dozen fully armed guards, making the atmosphere seem a little tense.

After approving that Trazyn could get all the help he wanted, Rana brought along twelve of his most trusted old men: each of them could draw his gun at his gesture, and he prepared for the worst in his mind and came to attend this boring military meeting.

Rana was the last to arrive: as soon as he entered the door, a pair of eyes were staring at him.

Ogwai, the Wolf Lord of the Third Company under Russ, was a Fenrisian warlord who could command more than 9,000 bloodthirsty Skyclaws. Beside him stood the Rune Priest Heoros, known as the "Longfang". He was an extremely rare Terran veteran in the Sixth Legion and had a comradeship with Lana in the War of Unification.

In fact: he is quite possibly the oldest active Space Wolf.

He could count on their support: including the twelve wild wolves behind them.

"brother."

The Wolf Lord bared his teeth at him.

"You are finally here: I haven't had time to thank you for your assistance in the battle just now."

Lanar ordered himself to smile and responded to the Wolf Lord's greetings appropriately: but he doubted whether his acting skills had deceived the sharp noses of the Fenris people, because the Wolf Lord and the Rune Priest had already noticed something strange, and their expressions became serious.

The Wolf Lord's body began to lean back, leaning against the dark seat, looking like he was trying to relax himself as much as possible, but his palm could easily touch the handle of the gun, and his other hand secretly put the communicator into his ear: this was the unique communication channel of the Astartes.

This series of small actions are to remind his fighting brothers behind and beside him.

But the mortal officers who also stayed in the room knew nothing about this: Emperor, these white-haired guys had never fought alongside the Astartes before. Most of them were noble sons of Terra, wearing military hats for the first time in their lives and had not yet learned how to smell danger in the air.

As for why these guys are commanding an entire expedition fleet?

Thank you, Nikaea.

The 40th Expeditionary Fleet has always been Terra's absolute confidant force. Although its strength is not strong, the entire leadership has received an invitation to the Nikaea Conference: only their clothes and fragments have returned to the fleet, and the large number of vacant positions have only been given to these new Terra children not long ago.

In fact, there may be better choices in the middle-level command of the fleet, but those people do not have the blood of Terra flowing in their veins after all: rather than allowing this marginal fleet that has never been worth looking forward to to exert stronger combat effectiveness, some bigwigs on Terra are more concerned about the loyalty of the various expeditionary fleets after Nikea.

Lana knew all of this very well. He also knew that the new fleet commander in front of him was a distant relative of Lord Xicha, the lord of the Haibaxi Plateau Autonomous Prefecture of Holy Terra: he was one of the fifty most powerful mortal lords in the empire. What he liked most was to criticize the policies of the empire, but he was able to continue to rise in the Terra Parliament.

There is a reason for this: the reason is the feudal nature of the human empire.

Contrary to popular belief, the so-called War of Unification did not actually make the Emperor the true master of all Terra: because many of the territories of the Human Empire were initially acquired through negotiations rather than wars. It was just a matter of changing the flag, and the original local ruling structure was not shaken in the slightest.

Those warlords who surrendered voluntarily received the favor of the Emperor, so they retained their small kingdoms and wealth passed down from generation to generation. They not only had private armies, but also gained a good position in the power network of the Human Empire.

To this day, even though the flag of the Empire has been planted at the end of the galaxy, Holy Terra at the foot of the Golden Throne still retains hundreds of autonomous territories that act independently and do not need to follow the Empire's wishes.

The monarchs of these territories are also the most important shareholders of the Great Crusade. They ride on the momentum of the Imperial Army to establish their own power networks and trade kingdoms throughout the galaxy, and continue to extend their tentacles to the army and fleet. They have their own positions in the Terra Council, second only to the High Lord who sits at the top.

These Terran nobles maintain marriages with the Navigator families, sponsor and support their own Rogue Traders, maintain profit transfers with the Mechanical Priests of Mars, and continue to insert their own people into the Terran Parliament, local provinces, mortal auxiliary forces and expedition fleets. Many expedition fleets have even long since become the hereditary family property of some of the Terran wealthy families.

To this day, only the Emperor's unshakable authority and the Sigillite's sophisticated political skills can control these mortal beasts who are constantly pushing toward the center of Imperial power. But even the Sigillite cannot go too far: because the continuous expansion and reproduction of these powerful families is one of the underlying logics of the Empire's ability to rule the entire galaxy.

The vast majority of Imperial bureaucrats and envoys are descended from the bloodlines of these wealthy families. For those worlds that Malcador cannot take care of, the intricate network of interests between these families is responsible for involving Terra: they are the most important talent pool of the Empire and have a more steadfast loyalty than other worlds.

Without them, where would the High Lords find enough threads to bind the entire galaxy?
In the past, Dawnbreaker had no awareness of this, and he never even thought about these issues on his own initiative: but after hundreds of years of being influenced by what he saw and heard, and the Primarch's constant indirect questioning, Lana finally learned to at least check the backgrounds of these mortal officials before looking for them.

See if killing him will cause any trouble.

Dawnbreaker muttered to himself as he stood opposite the gorgeously dressed fleet commander in front of a huge strategic auspicious instrument. Around him were more than thirty officers and guards. The scarlet holographic projector kept depicting the not-so-successful offensive on the ground, and the signs of explosions and death illuminated the faces of everyone present.

At the top of the auspicious instrument, Lana could see the projection of the space fortress. There was already a dotted line connecting it with the underground city of the Jingyuan Federation: the fleet commander seemed quite satisfied with the plan.

But then, in less than three minutes, Rana told him why they couldn't turn this on: just not right away.

In the Dawnbreaker's proposal, they could stay for a while, waiting for Taraxin to take out the entire data storage center from the space fortress intact, and then launch a general attack on the Jingyuan Federation: it would take some time to wait for the relevant instruments to be shipped from the rear, but the total time would not exceed one month.

They could just withdraw the ground assault troops first. The Jingyuan Federation no longer had any anti-aircraft means anyway, so the worst that could happen was to maintain the blockade.

Lana thought the plan was reasonable, and the Space Wolves and mortal officers around him did not object after realizing what kind of treasures were hidden in the data storage device: losing these inheritances from the Golden Age would undoubtedly be a huge loss.

But there is one person who doesn't think so.

"One month!"

The fleet commander's arrogant face was twisted into an ugly mask. He raised his fat fingers and shook them in front of Lana, as if waving a scepter: the face from Terra did not seem false, he really believed that he was qualified to do so, loudly scolding a Dawnbreaker.

"What are you crazy about?"

"Do you know what kind of impact a month will have on the war situation?"

"Do you know how much preparation those bastards down there can make in a month?"

"Can you bear this responsibility?"

Rana frowned, letting the mortals' saliva splash onto his breastplate. Just as he was beginning to formulate his words, the Wolf Lord of the Space Wolves opened a private communication channel: Fenris's tone was a little lazy, and he pointed out the dilemma Rana was facing in one sentence.

"Don't listen to his nonsense."

"This brat from Terra doesn't care about anything else but climbing up the ladder."

The Wolf Lord gritted his teeth: Contrary to his unruly appearance, the descendants of Leman Russ actually know a lot of things.

"When he came here, he thought this was an easy task. In order to make his merit book look better, this idiot took the initiative to sign a military order with the War Council: Now he has little time left. If you delay for another month, you will delay his future."

"It is indeed a great achievement to seize the inheritance from the Golden Age, but this achievement belongs to all of us, while the military order belongs to him alone. You also know the morality of the War Council. They will not consider why your military order was delayed. Failure once means a bleak future."

That's it.

Rana understood what was going on, and he responded to the mortal in front of him with a mocking smile.

"With all due respect, Your Excellency."

"If you hadn't performed so badly in the past two years: if you hadn't failed to detect the hostility of the Jingyuan Federation in time, and if you hadn't been unable to better coordinate the local imperial army, and instead used a meaningless tactic of adding fuel to the fire: we wouldn't have lacked this month at all."

"you!"

The fleet commander's arrogant face instantly turned a vicious purple, and his fingers instinctively touched his pistol. This scene made everyone frown, and his other hand gestured in front of the Dawnbreaker's eyes as if he was scolding a subordinate.

"How dare you slander the facts like this!"

"Do you think I have anything to do with the delay in the war?" "Who do you think should be blamed?"

Rana's voice was much calmer than the anger in his chest. He crossed his arms across his chest to show safety, and the corner of his eyes kept catching sight of the surrounding scene: the Dawnbreakers were moving slowly, quietly occupying the best firing positions.

"Isn't the real sinner right in front of us?"

The commander of the expeditionary fleet was caught up in his own rage, waving his beautifully embroidered cloak around the operations room, pointing his finger at every face he could see, and scolding every pair of eyes that remained silent.

"Because the intelligence department is a bunch of rubbish. They haven't found anything useful!"

"Because these troops coming to support us don't listen to orders at all. If they abandon their warlord style of fighting on their own and honestly follow the plan I gave them, there will be no need for you cyborgs to support us."

Following the splashing saliva, Rana's eyes noticed a small group of people who were extremely unsociable among the more than 30 mortals present: they were auxiliary troops from other star regions, and had no affiliation with the 40th Fleet, and stood far away on the other side of the room.

"And the Adeptus Mechanicus! The efficiency of the military chaplains is so low that it took them so long to figure out what is in this orbital space station. If you hadn't brought this information to us, the Empire would have lost a large amount of wealth from the Golden Age because of their negligence."

If he hadn't spoken, Lana would never have discovered the military priest: he hid himself in the red light of the divination device, like an emotionless machine, with no anger or sarcasm under his bright red robe. He just looked at everyone present numbly and ruthlessly, with strange codes echoing in his throat.

"Of course! And you too!"

He pointed his finger in a circle, but his red eyeballs still hit Astarte's face.

"The biggest reason for all this is because of the misbehavior of you Astartes! You have no obedience at all! You are fighting like a group of barbarians! Who allowed you to act on your own on the battlefield!"

"Please pay attention."

Before Lana could speak, the scion of Leman Russ spoke.

The Wolf Lord sat upright in his seat, with his personal guards standing ready behind him. His voice was heavy and hoarse, intimidating.

"You yourself were in trouble and this war could not go on, so you asked us to come and help you break the deadlock. You personally handed over the command of the battlefield to us and allowed us to use all means. We are just acting according to what we agreed in advance."

"It's not our fault: don't be like your stupid predecessors."

"shut up!"

An unprecedented feeling of despair struck the fleet commander's increasingly heavy brain. He had obviously realized one thing: whether he agreed to the Dawnbreaker's plan or not, there would not be a good ending waiting for him.

If he fails to get back the legacy of the Golden Age, Terra will not treat him well. If he fails to get back the legacy but wastes time, the War Council will also record a sin on his resume, which will become a stain that cannot be erased for life: This is the military order of the Empire, it does not care about your contributions and difficulties.

Failure is failure.

"I am the fleet commander! I am the commander of this war!"

"You all! Must! Listen to me!"

Perhaps only those sons of noble families who were born on Terra and grew up in the glory of the Faraway, who saw endless power and wealth as far as the eye could see, who had never seen the Primarchs and the Astartes from childhood to adulthood, and who naturally regarded them and the mortal armies outside as the same things, could say this with confidence.

"whispering sound……"

The chief guard could hear the disdain behind the wolf lord's sharp teeth.

"Unfortunately, that is not the case."

Dawnbreaker shook his head and chose to take a step forward. His tall figure forced the fleet commander, who was gritting his teeth, to take a half step back: after he realized what was happening, the mortal's entire face became distorted.

Obviously, Rana's sense of oppression made this guy, who came from a wealthy family, recall some very bad things.

"I am a member of the Dawnbreaker Legion, and the Grand Steward of the Primarch Morgan. Only my Primarch and the Emperor himself can directly command me. Even the Primarchs of other Legions do not have the power to forcibly mobilize my troops. I am only here to support your war under the orders of Terra. Do not blame us for your failure."

"You are not qualified."

He pressed forward step by step, breaking the last string of this distant relative of a wealthy family.

"You're saying I don't have the qualifications?!"

An archaeological technology pistol was pointed at Lana's forehead amidst an uncontrolled roar, and the Dawnbreakers watched all this coldly, because their commander was not panicked: the Grand Steward of the Guards and the Wolf Lord who slowly straightened up looked calmly at the confused mortal officers.

There were more than thirty people. Except for a small group of friendly forces who came to support and were desperately trying to get into the corner of the room, the rest of them had been divided into two distinct groups: some senior officers and guards put their hands on their pistols and looked at Astarte with hostility in their eyes.

Some other senior officers frowned instantly, and they retreated silently with their hands hanging in front of them: Dawnbreaker could even see the anticipation for the next development of events and the undisguised malice towards the fleet commander on some people's faces.

"I'll tell you one last time, I'm the fleet commander."

"I am the representative of Terra!"

"Your Primarch is no use here!"

Lana just chuckled.

"Roaring doesn't change the facts: we are mortals."

He added more emphasis at the end.

"I advise you not to take this as Terra..."

"I advise you not to think of this as the Far East!"

The commander's voice must have broken: his body began to tremble with despair.

"This is the kingdom of Terra! I am the embodiment of Terra's will! This is not the Far Eastern frontier where you can do whatever you want. If you want to imitate your Primarch and pretend to obey but actually disobey, then get out of here and get lost in your doghouse! The Empire will not allow your rebellion to extend to the Solar Star..."

"What do you mean?"

Lana interrupted him, and the Dawnbreaker's voice became as cold as a machine.

"Are you questioning the loyalty of my Primarch and our Legion to the Emperor?"

“This is not a question.”

The fleet commander grinned, with the black muzzle of his gun pointed directly at Lana's forehead.

“This is: the truth!”

……

This is what I was waiting for.

The chief guard laughed.

------

Because this sheet has a lot of words, it is divided into two sheets, and there are more to come.

(End of this chapter)