The Astartes Family's Notebook

One after another, many of the support troops promised by the Astartes Chapter also arrived at the Industrial World where Leothers was stationed to meet the Inquisitor Grand Master.

Leothus is a very generous old scoundrel. The fact that you Astartes are here is a great honor for me. We'll talk about the work later. Please accept this gift first; otherwise, you're disrespecting me.

And so, they moved countless people in Astartes who were struggling to make ends meet.

Loyal Astartes members even brought an entire squadron of frigates to fight.

No offense intended to the Raptor Squadron brothers. The other 5th Company was fighting a cruiser whose plasma reactor was broken, so they had no choice but to come to the rescue in two frigates. Even so, they made major modifications to the frigates.

So you guys also damaged the cruiser, right?

Katz also witnessed a destroyer carrying three squadrons.

There were even those who wanted to share a ship with the Imperial Navy or hitch a ride in the Inquisitor's vehicle.

It was only then that Kaz realized how fortunate he was to be a member of the Wings of Desolation.

But comparing goods will only lead to waste, and comparing people will only lead to ruin.

While the Wastewings may have some wealth, they are not among the top-tier wealthy groups. Just how much magic does Guilliman possess? How much Throne Coin can the Ultramarines earn by selling Primarch sightseeing tickets? And how is it that an Ultramarines subgroup that I've never even heard of can amass such a luxurious fortune as a battle barge and an Opalon battleship?

For Astartes fans who love big guns and battleships, the Imperial-class battleships are undoubtedly the best, since the Glorious Queen-class is no longer available, so don't even think about getting one.

However, the Imperial-class battleships are only a verbal promise from the Empire.

Until the M39 era, the Cult of Mechanics claimed that the key technologies for building Imperial-class battleships had been lost.

And guess what? During the M39 era, two space wrecks were built and merged with the Imperial-class battleships.

Well, for these two space wrecks, the Empire lost at least one chapter of Astartes and a subsector-sized naval fleet.

Then these two Emperor-class battleships were detached from the space wreckage, but I haven't heard of them joining any specific star system fleet.

Okay, okay, the hull is hard to build, the power unit is hard to build, let's not talk about the space wreck for now.

Abaddon's eleventh Black Crusade is too late, so let's just leave it at that and not mention it.

When the twelfth Black Expedition arrives, what's the deal with those eight Emperor-class battleships in the Solar Starfield? Come on, Martian Mechanical Cult, come out and explain! Even if you repaired those two Emperor-class battleships salvaged from the space wreckage, plus the five that the Solar Starfield already had, where did the last one come from? Tell everyone loudly, where did the last one come from?!

Each Imperial-class battleship, a national treasure, is registered in the official register; they don't just appear out of nowhere.

So, this is a matter that those who understand it understand, and those who don't shouldn't go into detail, because the waters are too deep.

But I digress. Let's get back to the big ships and their massive cannons.

Compared to the Retribution-class battleships, which pursued ultimate firepower, the Opalon-class battleships were all-around ships that aimed to form an entire fleet.

Like the Thunderhawk gunboat, being an all-rounder also means being an expert in nothing.

But Opalon is a battleship, it's a battleship, big means strong, big means beautiful, and Opalon's tonnage makes up for all its shortcomings.

For the Astartes Chapter, the battle barge, apart from its toughness and double void shield technology, is inferior to Opalon in every other respect.

Ingus, being overly comprehensive, added even more explanations to Katz.

"Your understanding is slightly flawed. The Opalon-class battleship is actually rarer than the Imperial-class battleship. The Opalon-class battleship was an early variant of the Imperial-class battleship, but the Imperial Navy preferred the specialization of ship usage, so in the later stages of the Great Expedition, they completely abandoned the Opalon-class battleship design and used all their production capacity to build Imperial-class battleships. Therefore, before the Great Mutiny, the number of Imperial-class battleships far exceeded that of the Opalon-class. It's just that the war was so brutal that a large number of Imperial-class battleships were destroyed in that war, creating the illusion that the Imperial-class is rarer now."

"Brother Ingus, how do you know all this?"

Kaz asked, puzzled.

Who doesn't like big ships?

"Too."

Maintaining an Imperial-class battleship is too expensive and costly. Even if you could get your hands on a Desolate Wing, you probably wouldn't be able to afford to maintain it. But the Opalon-class is something to look forward to.

After all, after the Emperor-class battleships were nominally shut down, the Mars Shipyard and the Jupiter Shipyard restarted the Opalon-class battleship production line.

In other battle groups, the Astartes of the Fourth Company wouldn't have been so emotional.

The problem is that it's a ship belonging to the Ultramarines sub-group.

Lord Guilliman, may you enjoy good health forever!

Chapter 143 Household Contract Responsibility System

Let heroes investigate heroes, let good men fight good men.

-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------

Why would a war involving thousands of imperial worlds be managed by a judge?

Because Holy Terra does not recognize this as an imperial civil war.

Don't think this is pointless or unnecessary.

The human empire is simply too vast; the chaos in the Taiping Starfield is nothing more than a topic of conversation in other starfields.

More than half of the empire's population didn't even know who Markarius was, and of the remaining half who knew about the Sun Lord's canonization, ninety percent were completely unaware of the internal strife within the expeditionary force.

The proportion of the population truly involved in the War of the Successors is less than one ten-thousandth of the Empire's population.

Therefore, not recognizing the rebellion or the civil war is the most cost-effective approach for Holy Terra and for the High Lords.

The main concern is the cost.

With real money invested, over a thousand habitable planets with established industries have been created. These are not worthless assets that can be easily discarded.

Once we get it back, the initial investment is nothing. Once we get it back, many internal conflicts can be transferred and resolved.

This is not a desolate wasteland like the Limitless Starfield, which is separated from the Solar Starfield by the galactic center. This is the familiar territory of the Pacific Starfield. The Macarian Expeditionary Force has already explored the routes for both real-world and subspace travel.

Originally, the Starfield Government, having already suffered a great loss during the Macarian Expedition, was indifferent to Leothus. "You, the Inquisitor Grand Master, represent Holy Terra, and we won't trip you up. But if you want the Starfield Government of the Peaceful Starfield to go to war again, sorry, no way."

Because Holy Terra lost everything, the Pacific Star Region's star region government fared no better; they were rolling in money.

The Death Ghosts are truly ruthless.

While the Desolate Wings were still resting and resupplying in planetary orbit, others had already conquered the first fortress world.

What a great start!

Kaz had only heard of the Fortress World, but never seen it, and didn't understand what it meant. So he asked, and was then ridiculed by Ingus, the company champion.

Ingus, too lazy to explain, took Katz directly to the archives and retrieved a holographic file from the company database that only had a number and no specific text description.

"See for yourself."

Katz operated the console, zooming in and out on the holographic projection, turning it left and right.

After studying it for a long time, Kaz couldn't help but sigh.

"Death Ghost is awesome!"

For humans, planets have many levels of defense, but without a doubt, fortress worlds are the second most fortified, and Cardia is a famous fortress world.

The first is Holy Terra.

Generally speaking, there are only two scenarios when an empire builds a fortress in a world.

One type is like Kadia, used to guard specific targets, such as the Eye of Fear or the Great Vortex.

Another option is to provide a warground for a new expedition, such as Karlak.

The Infernal Galaxy treats every intelligent race equally and cruelly. Even the Eldar and the Orcs are troubled by the transportation problems of the vast galaxy.

Therefore, the human fortress world was not decided on a whim by a certain leader, but was actually built only after rigorous investigation and discussion by various departments of the empire, including the Mechanicus.

In other words, it is an unavoidable strategic location that military strategists must contend for.

This kind of world is far too insane, even considering the ruthlessness of the human empire.

The fortress world is surrounded by defensive fortifications. The first layer of the defensive space is the Mechanicus's combat space station, whose oracle arrays scan the void around the clock.

Then came the massive void shipyard, where the Order of the Mechanics repaired ships and slowly built new vessels for the navy. Huge orbital platforms held all sorts of steel constructs, massive behemoths designed for war. Surrounding these platforms were numerous smaller orbital space stations; while their mobility couldn't compare to the Empire's warships, their firepower was exceptionally fierce—calling them stationary battleships wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Now that we've covered the things in the heavens, let's talk about the things on earth.

Most fortress worlds possess planetary-level shield defense systems. Although the Empire no longer constructs planetary-level Void Shields for various reasons, its energy shields are still of excellent craftsmanship.

Here, I must once again name and criticize Holy Terra and Mars.

In fact, the human empire's technological level is quite high, for example, in plasma technology. Although the production of miniaturized energy shield devices is fraught with problems, building large-scale devices poses no technological difficulty for the human empire.

If it weren't for the endless wars, the Empire could have installed a planet-level shield defense system on every planet under its rule over ten thousand years.

However, this kind of public service management, which should clearly belong to the Imperial government, has become an expensive, customized service that the planetary governor has to pay for out of his own pocket.

The Martian Mechanical Cult also adheres to its clique-like approach. If you want to install a planetary shield system on your own planet, fine, but they won't extort your last pair of underwear. It's because all the technical priests are incompetent!

Even if a few fortress worlds cannot afford to install planet-level energy shields, they will still make do with installing continent-level super-large energy shield systems.

Most of the Forgeworlds can produce shield systems of this caliber, leading to intense competition within the industry and driving down prices through internal competition within the Cult of Mechanics.

However, aside from orbital defenses and planetary shields, the various permanent fortresses on the surface and underground of the Fortress World are what truly terrify invaders.

Comfort has never been a concern in the fortified world.

Existence is everything, and everything is for the sake of existence. In addition to being a source of war, the fortress world is also a huge live target, waiting for those with ulterior motives to attack it.

There's an old saying in Ancient Terra: fortresses are most easily breached from within.

However, Fortress Worlds took this into account from the very beginning of its construction. The independent, block-based design concept meant that if you were to attack a Fortress World, you either had to annihilate all the defenders or simply not attack at all.

Otherwise, it's hard to say whether you conquered part of the world's fortresses or were tricked into entering the fortress world and killed.

Katz knew that his authority was insufficient to analyze the holographic projection data that Ingus had retrieved from the number to determine which fortress world it belonged to. However, as an Astartes without a brain defect, he could still make connections.

That's a planet-sized iron turtle, it's incredibly powerful!

Amidst the感慨 (feeling of admiration/reflection), a sense of bewilderment arose: how exactly did the Death Ghost manage to devour an entire fortress world in just a few months?

Anyway, after putting himself in her shoes, Katz was completely baffled.

With the example set by the Ghost of Death, Leoth finally leveraged power and public opinion.

The three leaders of the appeasement faction, who had been hesitant to take any further action, finally believed that Holy Terra was serious.

Meanwhile, the nobles of the Pacific Starfield, who had been ripped off by the Makarius Expedition and were on the verge of tears, discovered that their long-abandoned sunk assets still had a chance to recover their losses, and finally began to cautiously increase their investments.

And so, a storm arose in the Pacific Starfield.

Local nobles and politicians deeply rooted in the Pacific Starfield even contacted the Desolate Wings Chapter.

It's only been sixty years. The expedition bonds purchased back then haven't even been eaten by insects or rats yet. Seeing that these worthless papers have the potential to be monetized, many local nobles whose ancestors had dealt with the Wings of the Wasteland are even willing to collectively finance a "timely" battle for the fourth consecutive campaign.

Is this some kind of makeshift operation?

After receiving the reply from the warband commander, Motor Sich was already irritable, and the noise from the star nobles made him even more irritable.

The warband commander's reply was very easy to interpret. The Star Language Choir responded to the questioning of an Astartes company commander with reason, evidence, and composure, and sent a copy of the reply directly to the Astartes' psionicists for them to interpret themselves.

"Eurah, what's your explanation?"

The Victory Balance and the Pioneer Star now have Star Speakers, but regardless of kinship or class distinctions, Motor Sich still approached the think tank.

"Accept reality, Motor Sich brothers."

Euler could understand rationally, but it was difficult for him to suppress his laughter emotionally.

[Do what you think is best].

The leader of the Desolate Wings' reply to the Star Message was concise and clear, making it difficult to misinterpret.

Alright, old man, if you're so engrossed in expeditions that you neglect worldly affairs, then don't blame me for letting loose too.

Motor Sich made up his mind and went to Leosys to get the mission.

result......

Is this really such a makeshift operation?

The Makarian Expedition was spearheaded by Holy Terra, with full support from the Pacific Star Region's government. Sun Lord Makarius was in charge, and six of his chosen generals, at the level of marshals, served as army commanders, which led to the miracle of a thousand worlds in seven years.

Who is Leothus, who is now leading the charge? He is an Inquisitor, a Throne Agent, and a dog agent of Holy Terra!

Let Leothus take charge of military affairs. Does that old scoundrel have the ability to do so?

No!

Regardless of what others think, Leothus himself doesn't believe in his own abilities.

But being a seasoned thief, his main strength lies in his flexible thinking.

Why involve so many Astartes Chapters in this?