From Terra to Terra, the Star Emperor's Holiday

Si Ye looked out the window, his eyes shining with psychic energy looking through the curtain of reality, watching the constantly surging supreme sky, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

...

Chapter 313 Visitors

"Good job,"

Will, who had just completed the purge of the green-skinned orcs on the mining satellite and returned to the base, was summoned by Si Ye.

Regarding the battle to clear the mining satellite, military observers of the Star Empire commented that the two sides were evenly matched and had good talents. However, one side was composed of new recruits who had only participated in virtual cabin training, while the other side was a half-crippled greenskin orc tribe led by a greenskin boss. It was normal that the battle took nearly a month to determine the winner.

However, the Star Sea Auxiliary Army (tentative) still had its moments of glory. At least under Will's command, those recruits who had only completed basic training still completed their tasks well and ended the battle with extremely low losses, proving to Si Ye and the Star Sea Empire that they were indeed worth continuing to invest in.

"Your Excellency, Lord Si Ye, this is my duty."

The more Will felt Si Ye's wealth and power, the more respectful he became to Si Ye. This officer from the lower nest obviously possessed some unique wisdom that made him very good at judging the situation.

"The Elfindo Dynasty doesn't emphasize seniority. We believe that capable people should be promoted. So congratulations, you've become the commander-in-chief of the first detachment of the Xinghai Auxiliary Army."

Si Ye hooked his finger, and the synth on standby presented Will, who was kneeling on one knee, with the standard military medal of the Star Empire.

"The Star Sea Auxiliary Army will eventually become a private army belonging to our Rogue Merchant Dynasty, so you won't be able to obtain additional military ranks recognized by the Human Empire's Military Affairs Department. However, the treatment you receive from the Elfendor Dynasty will satisfy you."

With the huge population base of the human empire, the probability of an outstanding person emerging is also quite high. Will's talent is obviously not limited to commanding PDF, so Si Ye plans to be a mentor and give him a chance to move to a higher level.

Of course, if Will was too rigid and cared about the appointment of the Ministry of Military Affairs or something else, then he would have to be the commander of PDF for the rest of his life, which is a pity.

"I am willing to die for you!"

When Si Ye's words reached Will's ears, they took on a different meaning. He believed that Si Ye, the traveling merchant, had noticed his abilities and planned to recruit him as a retainer.

Becoming a retainer under a Rogue Trader was a much easier way to achieve a class leap than climbing the ranks in the PDF and IG queues, so without a second thought, Will excitedly swore allegiance to Night's Man.

"Very good. I've given you the authority to go down and check. Promote those you trust. Don't delay the training of the new recruits."

Currently, according to the plan given by the Military Research Institute, the Star Sea Auxiliary Army will adapt to local customs and be divided into regiments according to the habits of the Human Empire. However, one regiment of the auxiliary army will have 50 people, and will be specialized based on a mixed regiment equipped with light and heavy weapons and armor, so as to give full play to the abundant supplies of the Star Sea Empire.

Drip!Drip!

Just as Will was sent away, a faint alarm sounded in the command room.

"Your Majesty, signs of a subspace rift have appeared at Mandeville Point in this system, and mass fluctuations are evident. A ship is about to jump in. Should we activate the hyperspace lock's countermeasures?"

"Can you observe the appearance of the person coming?"

Si Ye became excited. The Ragtomo galaxy was too barren and there was really nothing interesting to do. If some Chaos Warbands or Necrons could come and allow the Imperial Land Combat Cluster to collect some more combat intelligence, it would be able to kill some boring time.

"The channel probe is activating and the image is being forwarded."

The hyperspace lock is hidden in the space interlayer and is equipped with a space probe specifically for hyperspace detection. It can gain advance insight into the appearance of spacecraft or creatures that are about to jump into the space node.

The footage was quickly sent to the bridge. Si Ye sat up straight and scratched his chin.

"Gear Skull, the Adeptus Mechanicus, and a company of Astartes... With so few people, it doesn't look like they received a distress signal and came to support..."

After checking his memory, Si Ye immediately confirmed the origins of the two spaceships in the picture: a Moon-class cruiser belonging to the Mechanicus and a Sword-class frigate carrying an unknown Astartes regiment.

According to the Astartes' operational practices, such a Sword-class frigate would have at most one or two companies of Astartes, or 100-200 people.

If the enemy came to rescue the Lagtomo hive world, then such a small number of Astartes would not be able to continue to fight against a large number of greenskins. They could only prepare for the operation to behead the warboss, which would require taking great risks.

Not to mention that the Sword-class frigates were followed by the Mechanicus' Moon-class frigates. Those oil men were not the kind of people who worked for the country and the people. If they took the initiative to rush to the aid of a world without profit, it must be that the world had some ancient technology or even STC (standard construction template) worth their while.

However, for the extremely barren Lagtomo galaxy, Si Ye felt that the emergence of the Mechanicus could only be another possibility.

They are here to collect debts.

As mentioned before, because the Lagtomo Hive World was marginalized, the components of PDF had to be paid for by the Planetary Governor Griffin himself, and the Chimera armored vehicles had to be sold one by one. The only time they were generous was because PDF was in urgent need of a large number of armored vehicles for training.

Therefore, the batch of Chimera armored vehicles that Planetary Governor Griffin ordered from the Border Forge World was purchased under an installment agreement. To be honest, the interest on that installment agreement is almost higher than the principal. It is such a waste of talent for these oily-headed people in the Mechanicum to not go to the Dead Space world to become capitalists.

If we think along this line of thought, it is easy to understand why the Mechanicus came into being.

Distress signals are usually sent over a wide area, so border forging worlds can naturally receive them. In the event of an alien invasion, whether the hive world still has the ability to repay its debts requires consideration by the great sages of the forging world.

For these oil men, every part from the foundry world must have value, and if they cannot recover enough value, it is undoubtedly an unacceptable thing.

Therefore, the Forge World sent a Moon-class cruiser. If the battle between the Hive World and the Alien was in an advantageous and balanced state, then the Skitarii of the Mechanical Priests would be dispatched to assist the Hive World in clearing out the Alien. While collecting gratitude, it would also be natural to ask the world for more rewards.

If the hive world has fallen and the aliens have begun to wreak havoc, then the Mechanical Priest will fulfill the responsibilities of every subject of the Empire, rescue the survivors, and save the valuable products on the hive world, in disguise to make up for the losses caused by the hive world to the forge world.

As for these oil guys who like to have direct "academic exchanges", Si Ye feels that his inference should be roughly correct.

As for why there are Space Marines following, it is most likely that they are some chapters that are on good terms with the Mechanicus or owe the Mechanicus a favor. Only these chapters will act as the Mechanicus's vanguard in certain circumstances.

"Let them come over. Have the battleships and above activate their stealth positions. The star base activates its interference field. Don't let the other side's nervous auspicious instruments detect them."

As Si Ye gave the order, the battleships, Titans and Colossi on standby in the distant intergalaxies all activated their force fields to conceal their bodies. In order to prevent the divination instruments with machine souls from performing beyond their capabilities, the interference broadcasts from the star base began to echo throughout the entire galaxy.

Si Ye had no intention of activating the abnormal induction system of the hyperspace lock and throwing the opponent back into the subspace channel. He was bored and desperately wanted to find some fun, and these oil-oil guys of the Mechanicus were undoubtedly very good candidates for fun.

...

Chapter 314: Forge World and Astartes

"The Lagtomo galaxy purchased 117 Chimera armored vehicles from the 74th Foundry, choosing to pay in installments. The Great Sage reluctantly agreed, considering the other party's family had once come from Holy Terra. However, before the repayment could be made, the galaxy received a distress signal from the alien invasion, and then there was no further news..."

In the Mechanicus' Moon-class cruiser that had just sailed out of Mandeville Point, the mechanical priest in charge of this matter was mumbling to himself in binary language.

"To prevent the worthless loss of the sacred Om Messiah creation, if the Hive World has already fallen or suffered heavy damage from the alien invasion and is unable to repay the debt, then I must obtain compensation from the Lagtomo Hive World sufficient to make up for the losses of the Forge World."

The compensation mentioned by the Mechanical Priest is actually a very simple and crude thing: population

On the extremely polluted Forge Worlds, only a very small number of the people of the Human Empire living there can be selected by the Mechanicus to become taciturn Skitarii or, by chance, become a priest. The vast majority of the population will become the lubricant of the Forge World, allowing this huge planet-level machine to operate.

In order to accommodate as many furnaces and production lines as possible, the ecological circulation equipment in the cities within the Casting World is often designed to be extremely extreme by the Mechanics, maintaining a state where one or two breaths will not kill you, but too much will definitely not make you sick.

The mechanics who modified their bodies would certainly not be afraid of the pollution and poisonous gases produced by the operation of these machines. They even called these highly toxic substances the breath of Om Messiah and inhaled them with great pleasure.

But ordinary citizens of the Empire would be afraid. It would be difficult for ordinary people to survive in such an environment for a long time, which would often cause the workers on the forging planet to have a shorter lifespan than the residents of the hive world.

Only a very small number of workers with good performance will be qualified to be transformed by the Mechanical Priest and continue to serve the Forge World. However, the final fate of these people is often to be welded to the production line as efficient mechanical parts until they completely collapse.

Therefore, the population of the Forge World is often insufficient to cover its expenses, and the Mechanicus will go to the surrounding Hive Worlds or Feudal Worlds to gather population at the right time to fill the gap caused by the frantic operation of the Forge World.

According to the mechanical priest's idea, if the Lagtomo hive world is indeed unable to afford and repay the debt, then he can just gather a large number of hive residents who have been harmed by the aliens to fill the population gap of the 117 Foundry under his management.

"…We've arrived at the Lagtomo system."

A slightly gloomy voice came from the communication audio array. It was the voice of an Astartes Space Marine on the Mechanicus' Luna-class cruiser, the Sword-class frigate. The fact that the two parties arrived in the Lagtomo system at the same time could only be said to be a coincidence.

"There's no sign of Chaos invasion, nor any trace of aliens. The hive world of Lagtomo is in an abnormal state. It seems we've come here for nothing."

After leaving the subspace, the Geller force field outside the cruiser, which was used to maintain order and stability, gradually closed, and the baffles of each observation window rose. With the help of the servitor's vision, the mechanical priest saw the actual situation of the Lagtomo galaxy.

If the Astartes had said, the lead-green atmosphere of the hive world of Lagtomo had disappeared, and the large, uncovered hive stood on the surface like a collapsed tower.

Are we too late? Have the aliens already destroyed the hive world and fled?

There was no response from any hostile targets on the auspicious instrument, but the mechanical priest had already activated the servitors at various positions on the cruiser through the sacred neural links, and the void shield had begun to operate.

"Is that... a naval base?"

The Astartes on the Sword-class frigates also became alert, but they discovered the silver man-made structure below the side of the star more quickly. There, a huge star base was stretching its arms wantonly, shining brightly under the light of the star.

"This design doesn't look like a product of the Imperial Navy. Could it be an ancient relic that existed in the galaxy? There are such things in the Lagtomo galaxy!"

Seeing the technological creation that was not of the style of the Human Empire, the mechanical priest's electronic nerves were firing wildly, making his sound array pronunciation system sharp and piercing, like scratching a blackboard with fingernails.

"This is the star system belonging to the Elfendor Dynasty. Mechanicus and Astartes Brothers, please report your purpose."

The expressions of the passengers on the two Human Empire warships froze. This operation of directly connecting to the warship's internal sound array was undoubtedly a warning to them.

Along with the sound array announcement, three warships that looked like Moon-class (Star Empire cruisers covered with church-style projections) but were much smaller than Moon-class cruisers suddenly appeared, constantly repeating the sound array announcement.

"The Elfendor Dynasty? Who do you belong to?"

Generally speaking, those who can use the word "Dynasty" as their self-proclaimed name are either powerful feudal knight worlds or traveling merchants. Although the Astartes on the Sword-class frigates are not well-informed about the information of the surrounding universe, the Mechanical Priests on the Moon-class Cruisers can be regarded as local tyrants.

The Mechanical Priest had never heard of the Elfindor Dynasty to which the Lagtomo Hive World belonged. He immediately launched a counter-inquiry to the so-called Elfindor Dynasty warship, and at the same time began to charge the various weapon arrays on the cruiser.

"We belong to the great Rogue Trader Nyx de Elfendor, Brother Mechanicus. Stop charging the weapons of your warships, otherwise we will regard it as a provocation and retaliate."

The auspicious instrument array on the Moon-class cruiser made a sharp explosion. Although it was unclear what type of warship the opposing Ronin Dynasty merchant ship was, which was between the Sword-class and the Moon-class, the huge energy feedback and alarm on the auspicious instrument made Astartes and the Mechanical Priest sweat profusely.

"Please stop. We mean no harm. It's just that the planetary governor of the Lagtomo hive world has a debt dispute with our border forge world. Please inform us of his whereabouts."

"Planet Governor Griffin has died heroically in the fight against the green-skinned aliens. They are offering us the ownership of the Lagtomo system in exchange for saving this world."

"May the great Emperor rest in peace."

Planetary governors were usually mortals, who would often become afraid and panic when danger struck, and would think of escaping. As an Astartes who had served for quite some time, he was accustomed to seeing planetary governors who were afraid of death, but when he heard that the planetary governor of this world had actually "died in battle", he could not help but be stunned, and then he muttered to himself.

“…died in battle? How could he die in battle! He also…”

The mechanical priest in the communication array made a sharp and piercing sound, but fortunately, the tubes inserted into the priest's brain delivered soothing drugs to him in time, allowing him to gradually calm down.

"…I have no intention of offending a Rogue Trader, but this debt will tarnish the honor of Om Messiah. May I ask if the Adeptus Mechanicus may settle this debt from the wealth of the Ragatormo system?"

Hearing the Mechanical Priest's words, which were neither worldly-wise nor backed by laws and regulations, the Sword-class frigates belonging to the Astartes Legion moved away silently, as if they were afraid of blood splattering on them.

Rogue Traders holding Credentials are usually at the same level as Captains of Space Marine Chapters or Archmagos of the Forge World. It would be fine if the Rogue Traders were weak, but the enemy's six warships almost made the Auspex crash. They don't look like a soft persimmon at all. You, a Mechanical Priest, say such offensive words. Are you really not afraid of death?

"You mean, you want to transfer the debt to the Elfendo Dynasty?"

"No, it's just that the wealth of the Lagtomo Hive World already has a debt owed to the Border Forge World. I just hope that your dynasty can pay this part of the debt and interest. This will help build friendship between your dynasty and the Border Forge World, right?"

Normally, as the only forging world in the peripheral expansion zone, Rogue Traders would have to go through the peripheral forging world if they wanted to gain profits in the expansion zone. Therefore, the Mechanical Priest seemed to have a firm grasp on the Rogue Trader in front of him, and his tone of voice became increasingly firm.

"... "

The energy reaction on the auspicious instrument became more and more intense. It seemed that only a slight accidental discharge of a gun would cause a civil war in the "Human Empire" to break out in this barren galaxy. Fortunately, the voices of the Rogue Trader's men were heard again in the sound array.

"The great Rogue Trader, Lord Nighthawk, wants to see you. Put away your little tricks..."

The Astartes Captain didn't want to know what the psychotic grease guy on the Moon-class cruiser was thinking. He was just looking for a world with the chapter documents to recruit servants and new recruits. He thought he could get some free manpower from the grease guy he had worked with before, but he almost got involved in a conflict.

Now, how to say goodbye gracefully and then find a hive world or prison world to recruit people became the only thing in the mind of the Astartes captain.

"The Emperor's blessing."