The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Walking through the Titan factory, which resembled an ancient abandoned palace, Sol leaned on what it would take to restore this forge world. In the long run, it would definitely be profitable. After all, Alateemos had a solid foundation. Even in decline, its number of sages and the level of its scientific research and production team were stronger than those of a small forge world like Ekvoria. What it lacked was a material foundation. As long as that was met, it could immediately explode with the production capacity of the Great Crusade era.

But the question was, how much would need to be invested in the short term?

The Legion was already straining to maintain the battlefields of the Archdiocese. If such a large investment were made all at once, there might be a situation where all aspects were stretched thin if something happened.

However, there was good news. The blue ant that Talos had inadvertently created, with the assistance of unseen mysterious hands, had grown into a cross-sector mining conglomerate. It covered the mining and trading of nineteen star systems, three sub-sectors, and two main sectors. Although, under the Imperial system, the development of all resource planets theoretically required the approval of the Imperial authorities, the Storm Sector itself had a very low degree of development, and there were many "black zones." Many planets were not even within the Imperial star chart standards. Therefore, the control over resources within the Storm Sector was relatively low. The blue ant gradually grew and expanded in this gray area, becoming a commercial entity comparable to a Rogue Trader dynasty—its composition was now much more complex than in the past. It included mining guilds from various planets, legitimate Rogue Traders, and even planetary governors and lords. The structure adopted a shareholding and board of directors model, but more than one-third of its shares were controlled by a mysterious big boss.

This person was not publicly known, and had no specific name, but those who knew would not say, and those who did not know dared not ask.

Now, this "civilian commercial organization" had become a very useful front, accomplishing many things that were difficult to solve with force, especially in the Storm Sector, which lacked Imperial bureaucratic power and regulatory power. It could obtain resource extraction rights from many planets at a very low cost, perhaps through a simple bribe, or a secret banquet. For Internal Affairs officials in dire need of money, this was by no means a crime, but a "savior." After all, the territory of the Empire was never linear. In fact, 70-80% of the vast territory was uninhabited star systems that had never been set foot in or reached by power. It was definitely a worthwhile deal to allow them to be "reasonably" developed with just a little money.

As for the purpose of the developers.

As long as they had money, as long as they were human, what else could be asked for? After all, there had never been anything completely clean in this Empire.

But now the output of the blue ant was somewhat "excessive." Supplying Ulanhuda and Zhao-Akad was more than enough. Most mineral resources could only be sold as primary trade goods. Taking advantage of the reconstruction of Alateemos, these production capacities could be digested and transformed, increasing their value and turning them into more useful industrial products, ships, and weapons.

"Director Christopher, although the Storm Sector does not have serious heretical disturbances, the Tyranids, Orks, and even the mysterious Necrons have been making frequent movements recently. The Empire's energy is being tied down in the Maelstrom Sector. In order to protect the territory and the people, and to have the strength to turn the tide when the Empire is in crisis, I hope that the Star Knights, and even the Alliance of Suffering, can reach a strategic alliance with you."

When Sol said these words, it meant that he had made a decision, and the Forge Director was silent for only two seconds before replying:

"It would be an honor."

"There is one more thing, I would like to borrow your territory to hold a meeting."

"That is not a problem."

Sol then extended invitations to Zhao-Akad and Ekvoria, asking the Forge Directors on both sides to send a representative to Alateemos to discuss important matters, and the responses from both sides were quick, sending fully authorized representatives at the first opportunity.

Soon, a meeting began on the magnificent bridge of the Randle, and through the huge observation window, one could see the slowly rotating forge world, and the various engineering ships busy in orbit, clearing the wreckage of many large pits from orbit to lay the foundation for the upcoming reconstruction.

"Since the Emperor launched the Great Crusade from Holy Terra, the Empire has been established for more than ten thousand years."

Four Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus in red robes stood on four suspended platforms on either side of the huge red carpet. At the end of the carpet was a silver throne carved with the emblem of crossed double-sword Aquila, on which sat Sol in elaborate ceremonial armor. Silver-gray and white Terminators stood on either side of the avenue, holding flagpoles decorated with spearheads, on which hung a red flag with a burning hollow black sun and the number ⅩⅠ in the center.

This was also the first time Sol publicly proclaimed the existence of the Eleventh Legion in front of outsiders.

"For ten thousand years, countless warriors, heroes, and mortals have fought, battled, and sacrificed in the stars, in exchange for the Empire's ten thousand years of national fortune, but to this day, the galaxy is still plagued by alien invasions and the poison of Chaos is overflowing. More lives and more resources are invested in the war, but it is always impossible to suppress the fires in all directions. Various Astartes Chapters can only be exhausted in putting out fires, fighting to the last person in various terrible battles. In my personal opinion, one of the most critical reasons lies in efficiency. I believe that the four of you can also feel that the efficiency of all aspects of the Empire at the end of the forty-first millennium has been so low as to be appalling. The tax revenue of the Internal Affairs Department is like a dice game. Even if the instability of the Warp routes is set aside, after layers of progressive orders, the average lag in tax revenue and resource allocation still reaches an astonishing 20-50 years! And along with it, the Empire's industrial production and troop deployment have all become extremely inefficient games of luck. I believe that you must be very clear that, due to inefficient instructions, how much materials and equipment have various forge worlds produced over the years that are not used at all, or that no one comes to transport at all."

Speaking of this, Director Christopher, who personally participated in the meeting, had the most say. He immediately replied:

"Yes, a hundred years ago, our three large warehouses still stored a batch of lasguns and flak armor approved for production by the Department of Munitions in the late M38, but after we produced them, there was no follow-up. We have also sent messages to the Department of Munitions and Mars many times, requesting the Department of Munitions to pick up these equipment, but there was no reply, resulting in them being piled up in the warehouse for nearly three centuries. In the end, in order to free up inventory, we had to destroy those brand new equipment that had never been used."