The Astartes Family's Notebook

Subspace travel is fraught with danger; every subspace voyage is a test of resilience.

Even the Imperial Navy, protected by the Geller Stance, frequently loses ships inexplicably.

Therefore, unless it's an ultra-long-distance express delivery, the various factions within the Empire don't actually like using the subspace express delivery service.

In the human empire, it was actually the Imperial Charter fleet that took on the real responsibility for galactic logistics.

It is worth noting that the Imperial Merchant Fleet is actually divided into two major factions: the merchant fleet of the wandering merchants and the Imperial Charter fleet.

It is incorrect to simply understand merchant ronin as pirates and explorers with legal privateering licenses. The main business of merchant ronin was actually running trade routes and transporting goods.

Therefore, if a planetary governor has some special hobbies that are not so convenient to disclose, it is always good to get to know a few merchant captains who have been certified by the Empire. These individual transporters can always quickly and considerately help you deliver your custom-made goods to the governor's palace and residence.

Moreover, due to the special nature of mobile crimes, planetary nobles can entrust traveling merchants and wandering warriors to handle some conflicts that are inconvenient to discuss openly.

However, the Imperial Charter Fleet is different. Compared to private companies like the Merchant Ronin, which are similar to SF Express, the Charter Fleet is more like the Empire's state-owned postal service.

However, this does not mean that all merchant ships in the Charter fleet belong to the Imperial Government.

In fact, many charter fleets of merchant ships are the private property of planetary governors or sector nobles.

Although the human empire, as the dominant power in the galaxy, cannot issue laws such as a sea ban, it is necessary to obtain official authorization from the empire to operate transport services in the galaxy.

There is an unwritten rule that does not exist in any written documents: generally, the sailing time is limited to one year. The imperial government agencies of the sub-sectors can freely issue trade licenses for short-distance routes, while transport routes with a sailing time of more than one year must be reviewed by the representative of the Imperial Constitutional Fleet at the sector level before a sailing license can be issued.

This is a fee charged by shipowners for turning permits for nobles of various empires, and is an important source of funding for sector and sub-sector governments.

These navigation permits are not permanent; they are generally issued every hundred years and must be renewed upon expiration. Otherwise, the Imperial Navy has the right to seize and confiscate the unregistered merchant ships, cargo, and crew, once their permits have expired.

Is there any way to obtain a long-term navigation permit?

Yes, brother, yes.

That is to join the Imperial Charter fleet.

However, to join the charter fleet for transport, one must first sign a merchant charter contract at the sector-level imperial government, pledging allegiance to the human empire.

This is also the origin of the name Charter Fleet.

The signing of the Charter of Merchants meant that if the Empire needed them, the government had the right to requisition the merchant ships of the Charter fleet, but could also enjoy all the legal rights of the Imperial Charter fleet.

As the dominant human empire in the galaxy, its transport capacity is never enough. As long as it is not plundered by pirates, does not encounter astronomical disasters, and is not involved in sudden wars, a charter merchant ship can recoup its investment in just 30 to 50 years, with the rest being pure profit.

Therefore, most of the nobles in the human empire with a bit of family background also held the identity of charter fleet owners.

When you have spare money, it's better to own a few armed merchant ships than to indulge in drinking, gambling, and whoring.

However, for the governor of Skord, things were not so simple.

The galaxy is so vast, and the Empire has never lacked mining worlds. Apart from the rare mineral deposits in the earth's crust, Skold has no other distinctive products to offer.

In other words, if it weren't for these rare mineral deposits, Skord would essentially be a barbaric world, a remote and desolate world far removed from both the warp and the main routes of the real universe.

This means trade asymmetry, meaning that either the governor of Skold is willing to be a charter merchant fleet owner who is always at risk of being cheated by his own people, or he must accept the high cost of running empty on one side of the trade route.

Therefore, adhering to the idea that it is better to buy expensive things than to buy the most expensive ones, the governors of Skold were unwilling to be ripped off and simply ignored the recommendations of the governors of other planets in the sub-sector, refusing to fall into the trap of buying ships for transportation.

Even the governors of Skold found that doing so had its advantages.

The charter fleet, which arrived fully loaded, couldn't possibly return empty-handed. Besides rare minerals, they needed to buy some ceramics, steel, plastics, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, light and heavy rare earth elements, and so on. Although goods from other planets were more cost-effective, they had already come all this way, so they couldn't just leave empty-handed.

Because the profits from the Skord route are too low, the Imperial Charter fleet only comes once every three to five years. Compared to the bustling scenes of other routes, although the governor of Skord is rich, extremely rich, the planet's interstellar trade has long been in a state of not opening for three years and then making enough to live on for three years.

Otherwise, how could it be said that Motor Sich deserved to be promoted and valued by the Chapter Master? Ordinary Astartes would not know the intricacies involved, nor would they know that the Charter fleet still has emergency avoidance clauses that have been used since ancient Terra and are still in use today in the 41K era.

The orbital space station was destroyed, the orbital ladder tower was also destroyed, and there were still a large number of warship fragments left behind after the fleet battle in the planet's orbit. The No. 1 Nest, which was the planet's capital, had been captured by the Chaos traitors. There were still nearly half a chapter of Astartes fighting on the planet's surface. At this time, any captain leading the Charter Merchant Fleet who was not a greenhorn knew that this situation could trigger the emergency avoidance clause.

Therefore, Motor Sich dispatched two frigates to escort the Imperial Charter merchant fleet, ostensibly as an escort, but in reality, it was a convoy transport mission.

Trying to run? No way!

Unlike the merchant ronin, whose power derives from the Emperor and Primarchs, or at the very least, the Highlords Council of Terra, the Astartes Chapter, aside from certain merchant ronin dynasties that have existed since the Great Crusade, or those who are watchdogs kept by the Highlords, can afford to offend the Astartes Chapter without serious consequences.

However, the Imperial Charter fleet was different. Although it did not have the almost unlimited free trade and navigation rights of the merchant ronin, it monopolized the two most important privileges of the human empire.

Trade privileges and freight privileges.

When dealing with the Charter fleet, it is essential to be in the right. If you are not in the right, and the Charter fleet's representatives seize on your weaknesses, even a founding group cannot afford the consequences.

After all, if you can't afford to offend them, you can always avoid them. The Astartes Chapter, which has been completely blacklisted by the Imperial Charter fleet, will no longer have any Charter merchant ships to transport goods for them.

Unfortunately, ninety percent of the merchant ships of the Human Empire belong to the Imperial Charter Fleet.

Motor Sich must do a good job and shut these charter merchant ship captains up in order to legally requisition this sizable merchant fleet for his own use.

After all, just by drawing on the armed sailors from these armed merchant ships, several mortal legions could be formed.

With Skord's PDF troops at the bottom, Motor Sich had high expectations for the armed sailors of the merchant fleet.

Chapter 121 Gazing at the Stars

To look up at the stars, one must keep one's feet on the ground.

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

Humans cannot imagine things beyond their comprehension, and Astartes is also a member of the human family.

Therefore, bizarre and fantastical warp entities can also exert tremendous impact and pressure on the Astartes' psyche.

However, shock is shock, pressure is pressure, and fear is fear; they cannot be confused.

At least the four loyalist Astartes who formed a temporary team had no sense of awe towards the Chaos Demons.

Both Ingus and Tyrant had glorious feats of tearing apart vampires with their bare hands, so they had no sense of awe for the Khorne demon, which could be killed by them.

Kars is not very capable and has not had the opportunity to directly confront the warp demons, but he has already killed two demon hosts and blown up one of Nurgle's plague beasts. Personally, I feel that he is just so-so.

As for the Fifth Company's championship...

Güne fits all the stereotypes that other Astartes in the Empire have about the Nineteenth Legion.

He was withdrawn, melancholic, and taciturn to the point of being almost autistic.

However, when Company Commander Yesfe introduced Gune to the Third Company's Muscle Head, he said it like this.

“Gu Nie is good in every way, except that he is too shy. He clearly wants to get along with everyone, but he doesn’t know how to start a conversation. You’ll know he’s a really nice person once you get to know him better.”

Hey, hey, hey, are you talking about the champion brothers from your Fifth Company, the Gune brothers, or the stunning high school girl named Komi?

Considering Jessfona's cheerful disposition, which doesn't fit the characteristics of a crow prince, Katz held the greatest reservations about the Fifth Company Commander's words.

But without a doubt, the one who can become the company champion is definitely not a rookie. Kaz tacitly acknowledged that he was the weakest in the tactical squad.

Therefore, during the tactical discussion meeting, Katz was determined not to say anything carelessly.

but......

"Ingus, what's your opinion?"

"You are the acting company adjutant."

"Gu Nie, what's your opinion?"

"You can decide for yourselves."

"Kaz, what's your opinion?"

"I think you should suggest replacing me with the Euler brothers in this operation."

“Very well, that’s what I was thinking too. Could you three please suggest to Motor Sich that I be replaced?”

Tyrant's excitement gradually subsided; all he wanted now was to eat something simple and then take a nap.

Why did things turn out this way? It's a long-awaited combat mission, and my teammates are all incredibly strong, yet I feel so exhausted.

The veil of reality exerts a strong suppressive effect on the subspace; unless a certain critical value is exceeded, chaotic energy cannot exert its influence on the real universe for an extended period.

After repeated scans by the Victory Balance's oracle array, it was confirmed that the Death Shadows' warships had been deactivated by subspace energy, so there was no need for the think tank Euler to undertake this mission.

Or, after carefully assessing the seriousness of the situation, Motor Sich believed that Euler was more important than the four problem children.

If there is truly no risk, there is no need to assemble such a powerful lineup in a tactical squad.

However, as the strongest psionic unit, Motor Sich dared not send Euler out. Who knew what kind of monsters were hidden in the Chaos Traitor's warships? If Euler went out of control, the harm would be immeasurable.

So after much discussion, the final result was to post more "pure" marks, cut down anything that came up, and kill anything that appeared.

The overall tactic can be summed up in four words: act according to circumstances.

To this end, Tyrant changed into a set of Terminator armor and brought out the company's sacred warhammer.

At the farewell ceremony, Euler hesitated for a moment, but ultimately remained silent.

The Raptor's think tank stared wide-eyed at the artifact warhammer of the Desolate Wings Quadruple, but couldn't see anything supernatural about it.

This hammer isn't even a powered weapon; it's just an ancient warhammer made of unknown material.

But it's not a big problem. The Gune brothers' power claws can fight even demons, so they should be fine.

Originally, more than two months had passed, and it wouldn't have been a problem to leave the wreckage of the Chaos traitor's warship unattended. Once the ground war was over, we could just send a frigate to thoroughly blast those three sections of wreckage into mincemeat.

However, in order to eliminate the pretext of the Imperial Charter fleet in advance, it was necessary to send out combat brothers to clear the battlefield.

However, Euler's attempts at psychic foresight yielded no results.

This could mean there are no obstacles to action, or it could mean that some chaotic evil is interfering with Euler's premonitions.

In short, it's like saying nothing at all; the risks of the task are unknown.

The unknown is the greatest terror, so when the Thunderhawk gunboat brought the four Astartes closer to the wreckage, Katz asked a rather disappointing question.

Does the "purity mark" really work?

"It's useful. When the mark of purity ignites, it means that the anomaly in the subspace energy has already affected the real universe."

Ingus answered calmly.

Oh, Katz, who was getting his first purification mark, really liked it. I heard that Pastor Hammurabi prostrated himself in the Hall of Icons for a whole day and night, chanting the Word of God until his voice was hoarse before he got these purification marks. It's such a waste to just burn them like this.

Jump packs are primarily designed for combat on planetary surfaces. In low-gravity environments, jetpacks can be attached to the exhaust nozzles of power packs to solve the problem.

The four men jumped out of the Thunderhawk's cabin one after another. After confirming that the magnetic boots were working properly, they signaled the pilot to stand by remotely.

Then they entered the cabin through the crack in the broken hull.

Because this traitor's cruiser was destroyed by cannon fire from the loyalists, rather than by a reactor explosion, the three pieces of the ship did not scatter very far, and still maintained a rather strange feeling of being both broken and intact.

There's a strange feeling that this 30 million-ton steel behemoth isn't actually completely dead.

Therefore, although the tactical group did not reach a consensus on tactical opinions, their tactical objectives were very clear.

First, check the bridge, then take a look at the power compartment. After all, it's based on an Imperial standard cruiser. As long as the gravity generator module isn't completely rotten, straighten out the wiring, have the frigate get close, and run a cable to connect it. The problem will be solved.

If it's completely rotten, you'll have to pick an unlucky ship from the fleet and salvage some of its gravity modules to use.

Walking inside a dead warship would be incredibly stressful for mortals. The broken metal frame, which has lost its overall stability due to thermal expansion and contraction, would emit eerie sounds, as if a dark beast were lurking in the dead steel jungle and howling in despair.

However, Katz didn't seem to be under any mental stress.

The Chaos Warband of Nurgle can't possibly be playing with the Genestealers, can they? It's just a space wreck. At most, they might ambush one or two Chaos Astartes that aren't quite dead, or some of Nurgle's Plague Beasts. It's no big deal.

Compared to the carnage on the battlefield, the deaths of the crew members who were strangled by the vacuum of space after the warship was damaged were gruesome enough, but they did not stir the hearts of the loyal Astartes.

So, on their way to the bridge, the tactical team encountered no obstacles other than the locked isolation doors.

Both Ingus and Tyrant replaced the Terminator armor with hot melt blowguns, making it quite easy to dismantle a door. However, the battleship blessed by Nurgle just didn't look very harmonious.

Inside the bridge, a large number of fleshy, proliferating organisms covered the walls and control panel.

Although the plasma furnace function has been lost, the built-in batteries of some devices have not yet run out of power, and indicator lights show that these devices are still operating at low energy consumption.

Tyrant and Ingus discussed it and abandoned the idea of ​​directly establishing a physical connection with the Chaos Battleship Thinker Array, deciding instead to check out the power bay section.

Ingus suggested that they work in pairs, one to check the power furnace and the other to check the gravity generator.

However, Katz raised objections.

Gune remained silent, while Ingus was fine with whatever he wanted. Tyrant thought for a moment and agreed with Kaz's opinion. Thus, the four-person tactical team was not split up and continued to travel together as a whole.

Thus, because the conventional route was blocked, the tactical team had to detour from the upper deck to the lower compartments.

The unexpected finally happened.

There really are remnants of the Chaos Astartes.

Although enchanted warriors are more common among the other three factions, that doesn't mean Nurgle doesn't have them.