Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 1034 09.1033: 'The Unconventional Orator'

“…I don’t need it.”

A few simple words, like a piece of ice, were gently thrown into the already turbulent lake in the conference hall.

The carefully maintained, warm smile on the face of the military affairs representative instantly froze and shattered.

"what why?"

He leaned forward almost in a frenzy, his voice rising eight octaves in disbelief, “General, these are the precious soldiers we have carefully selected for you! As far as I know, your Toulon fleet was recently severely damaged in the Void Battle. Don’t you need to replenish your troops?”

As instructed by General Palus, he hoped to kill two birds with one stone: both strip Horatio of his military power and create rifts within the Imperial Navy, causing the newly arrived lord to become completely at odds with the powerful commander of the Calicus fleet.

To his utter surprise, the other party rejected this "kindness" that was offered to him without hesitation.

"Hehe, maybe I'm just a weird old man."

General Latouch-Trewell shrugged slowly, the ornate gold tassels on his epaulets swaying slightly.

He wore a helpless expression on his face, as if apologizing for his "quirk," but in his deep eyes, there was a sly, fox-like glint that seemed to see through everything.

"We have the Skylen Har Group providing us with new personnel. They've taken on the basic maintenance and personnel replenishment for all the warships in our fleet, so why should we steal personnel from other brother fleets?"

Skylen Harper Group.

(The emblem of the Skylen Har Hegemony Group)

Upon hearing the name, Horatio understood immediately.

After leaving Duke Rana's residence, he had already used the extraordinary authority of Judge Thei, combined with the massive amount of information files that Chief Justice Jawi had obtained from the local legal database and Farida had secretly retrieved from the Military Inspectorate, to conduct a thorough background investigation of the deeply entrenched interest groups in Sintira.

The Terra government's representative, Sector Governor Mario Hax, cleverly implemented an ancient system of "tax farming" and "chartering" in the faction-ridden and difficult-to-govern Calicith Sector.

He outsourced the planet's jurisdiction and various industries to large commercial conglomerates, treating them like commodities.

These companies were jointly established by top investors and nobles in the Calissis sector, as well as merchant ronin families who played a pivotal role in them.

They obtained tax farming rights and franchises from the Ministry of the Interior, granting them vast autonomy comparable to a planetary governor in the areas and planets specified by the franchises, and even including the formation of a private armed force called the "Tax Collection Team".

This is almost a darker version of the East India Company and Hudson's Bay Company in ancient Terra's history.

The price they pay is that they must pay an astronomical sum of taxes to the Haxt government every year.

Of course, even so, the portion exceeding taxes can still bring them unimaginable huge profits.

This is why, in the Calissis Sector, these business groups have deep-rooted connections in various fields such as civil affairs, military, and commerce, with complex and intertwined interests, forming Leviathan-like behemoths that are difficult for outsiders to shake.

This is the root of what Duke Rana meant by "difficult to deal with"—the power of one family is indeed too insignificant when confronting a massive conglomerate jointly funded by dozens or even hundreds of families.

The "Skellen Ha hegemony" mentioned by General Latouch-Trewell is one of the most important and relatively unique groups within it.

Its vast commercial reach extends throughout the Calissis sector, and even into the neighboring Colonus and Scalus sectors, covering almost all the westernmost sectors of the entire Misty Sector.

One of its main products is the core components of starships. More importantly, the entire Calicus fleet is extremely dependent on Skylen Har, who holds the franchise, to keep its warships running normally in space.

It can be said that without the Skylen Har hegemony Group, the Calicus fleet would have been completely paralyzed in a short period of time.

However, compared to other greedy and unscrupulous interest groups, this hegemonic company can be considered neutral, or even friendly.

Its founder and lead director, Skellen Ha, built the company on a comprehensive set of philosophical principles called “tuning.”

All those loyal to the group must suppress their individual will in the name of collectivism. Its members are recruited from all walks of life regardless of birth and rise through a fair hierarchy.

The highest leadership circle consists of "tuners" who have completely abandoned personal feelings and personality.

Its operation is not bound by any emotions or morality, but only by pure rationality that maintains its interests.

The group almost never oversteps its licensed territory, does not participate in any political disputes, and always cooperates perfectly with the Mechanicus to complete every order assigned by the Imperial Navy.

This made the Imperial Navy's high command very satisfied with the organization.

Even in the 41st millennium, Skylen Ha has trained many outstanding officers for the Navy.

Of course, many in the fleet also had doubts about the motives of the hegemonic organization in placing so many members on the warships.

The Sector's state religion, the Order of St. Drusus, made no attempt to conceal their views, calling them "walking corpses lacking faith and morality, with only pure self-interest in their eyes."

(Skellen Har, a businessman in the Hegemony Group)

“However, Your Excellency General,” the representative from the Ministry of Military Affairs was still unwilling to give up, his forehead already beaded with sweat, as he tried to make a final appeal, “you can obtain a large number of higher-quality volunteers, instead of the contract crews provided by the corporation who are only selling their lives for a paycheck!”

"I've already said, it's not necessary."

This time, General Latouch-Trewell's voice turned completely cold.

He slowly set down the cup in his hand, the bottom of the cup striking the heavy wooden table with a dull but clear thud: "Don't make me repeat myself. Lord Cochrane's recruited troops should be commanded by him himself; why bother with this?"

Before the framework of our orbital landing force is fully established, our Calesis fleet has no intention of interfering in anything that is not our responsibility.

After being rejected so clearly and almost humiliatingly, the representatives from the Ministry of Military Affairs and the officials from the Ministry of the Interior looked at each other, their faces turning ashen.

They exchanged silent glances for a moment, and finally, under the old general's cold gaze, they could only lower their heads in embarrassment and helplessly signal the meeting to move on to the next item on the agenda.

Horatio turned his gaze to the old general beside him, nodded slightly, and silently expressed his gratitude with an almost imperceptible gesture.

The old general caught the signal out of the corner of his eye and responded with a barely perceptible nod.

Just as the tense atmosphere eased slightly, and everyone thought they could move on to the next tedious topic, a sharp, fanatical voice, filled with ominous signs, pierced the oppressive air of the conference hall like a blade.

"Polaberia is full of cowards who lack faith in and reverence for the God-King! The nobles there are so arrogant and dissolute that they are abhorrent to both gods and men! The common people there have lost their independent personalities and beliefs, becoming mere walking corpses dependent on the nobles!"

Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to it.

A priest from the Church of England, dressed in a simple, plain gray robe and holding a rough, long staff topped with a book of the Word of God, suddenly stood up from his seat.

He was thin and emaciated, as if a gust of wind could blow him over, but his deep-set eyes burned with a passionate and awe-inspiring fervor.

He raised a finger that looked like a withered twig and waved it wildly in the air, his emotions running high and spittle flying everywhere. His frenzied behavior was completely out of place among all the well-dressed nobles and officials present.

"To assemble the army of the God-Emperor's Shield on that planet, which has been corrupted by the faithless and steeped in extravagance and depravity, is itself a blasphemy! It is an insult to His holy fleet!"

I propose that we choose a better, more devout planet! The Imperial Navy, as the Shield of the Emperor, deserves such a pure planet! May the Emperor bless Lord Cochrane!

This unconventional speaker's voice trembled violently with extreme devotion (or perhaps excitement) as he uttered the last few words.

Horatio's gaze fell on the small bronze plaque in front of him, on which was engraved a name:
Hironimus Doloroso.

A seemingly ordinary priest of the Order of St. Drusus, the state church, aside from his fanatical to the point of madness.

(End of this chapter)