Chapter 191: The Course of War and Reform Plans |
For the eastern sector of Ultramar, the threat of the Tyranid Swarm had been effectively contained.
Although various hostile forces, including Chaos, had inflicted unimaginable devastation across numerous planets, these regions—tainted by the energies of the Warp and gnawed bare by the Tyranids—would remain a long-term headache requiring future remediation.
However, these impacts and losses were acceptable to the Imperium and Ultramar.
With the arrival of the Expeditionary Fleet, a joint fighting force spearheaded by nearly twenty thousand Adeptus Astartes fanned out across the eastern sector. The victory of this war was a foregone conclusion.
——
Inside the Dawnlight, an auxiliary administrative body built around the Ultramarines was operating at peak efficiency. These giants processed assorted documents with a speed far surpassing that of mortals. While some of these files involved broad strategic deployments, the vast majority were focused on governance projects for the various sectors.
Scritch-scratch.
Focusing intently on the documents before him, Romulus raised his hand to dip his quill into the inkwell. As the feather tip tapped lightly against the glass, pitch-black ink flowed back up the grooves of the adamantium barrel, bearing a striking resemblance to the territories currently being reclaimed on the Star Map.
In his mind, countless projects were progressing simultaneously.
As the core of the Expeditionary Fleet, while providing combat supplies and military guidance to allied forces, Romulus consistently preferred to direct support toward planets still locked in grueling stalemates.
He would restructure the local planetary governments, organize their human resources, and then use these planets—which still retained a viable fighting force—as strategic footholds to project power outward.
The war sweeping across several sub-sectors had inflicted catastrophic losses upon humanity, but it had also created a massive power vacuum throughout the region.
Rather than letting a future Imperium-appointed Sector Governor engage in pointless internal friction over resource disputes with local nobles across various planets, it was far better to seize this exact moment, before anyone could react—
To immediately assume control of all surviving administrative institutions under the banner of the Expeditionary Fleet.
Expansion, reconstruction, deterrence, and compromise.
The Adeptus Arbites, the Departmento Administratum, Rogue Traders, the Adeptus Astartes, and the Inquisition.
Romulus cared little for honor or personal gain; his true concern lay in elevating the overall standard of humanity. The achievements of this crusade were already dazzling enough. Now, he needed to focus his attention on areas that had yet to catch the gaze of others.
"You cannot do this! This is overstepping your bounds! This is treason!"
A shrill roar pierced the soundproof doors of the administrative hall. The planetary governor, who claimed to be a descendant of ancient Terra nobles, was currently being dragged down the corridor by the arms by two Ultramarines.
His gold-embroidered cloak dragged across the floor, thrashing about like a skinned snake.
"I am a noble planetary governor! The blood of ancient Terra flows through my veins! I demand to see Romulus!"
The Astartes guards handled him with the precision of movers transporting fragile goods. Their left hands locked down his shoulder joints while their right hands supported his lumbar spine, ensuring he could not break free without leaving a single bruise beneath the immense pressure of their ceramite armor.
"I demand to see Romulus!"
He howled loudly, desperately trying to protest this "abuse of authority." Even as the last clatter of his leather shoes striking the armaglass faded into the distance, Romulus unfurled the next document without so much as lifting his head.
Parchment rustled in the Primarch's hands. He was restructuring the entire industrial network of the eastern Ultramar sector.
The foundation of the Ultramar sector was exceptionally strong. Even after ten thousand years of decline, the industrial system meticulously arranged by Guilliman along the Warp routes still bestowed its legacy upon them today.
Therefore, he merely needed to tweak the administrative systems of each planet slightly to rapidly reconnect them with the main body of Ultramar.
The Imperium's industrial standards and productivity had never been the issue. Instead, the absurdities of its social structure and bureaucratic management had perpetually kept the utilization rate of this production capacity at an abysmally low level.
Of course, Romulus dared not let the Adeptus Astartes solely control military and political affairs. Absolute power led to figures like Huron; breeding such an ambitious tyrant would result in far greater devastation.
This was an issue he had to monitor carefully. He needed to improve the reaction speed of the Imperium's border regions without sparking a massive crisis before Guilliman awakened.
He simply hoped to inject the high efficiency of the Adeptus Astartes into the Imperium's Far East system, a process that required the cooperation of various Imperial factions.
Every reform document deliberately wove a web of checks and balances: the Inquisition held the right to conduct surprise inspections, the Departmento Administratum was embedded into every decision-making process, and the Imperial Cult maintained a certain degree of control over civilian life.
Meanwhile, the Adeptus Astartes would act as high-efficiency processing nodes, linking them all together.
Undoubtedly, this required sufficient "military strength" and massive amounts of "wealth."
Fortunately, the STC designs acquired through "inspections" during the crusade, along with the secrets possessed by the Transmigrators, proved highly useful.
Cawl had always avoided stepping into the public eye, but considering the need to safeguard Ultramar, the Archmagos had finally decided to leverage the connections he had accumulated over ten thousand years.
The Adeptus Mechanicus had always disdained providing low-end industrial products for the Imperium. Given the choice, they vastly preferred engaging in high-yield manufacturing, such as constructing warships, or simply focusing on their own research.
However, they were more than happy to see the construction of a robust industrial system.
As for the other factions, they were currently unsure of how much they stood to gain, but the overwhelming military might in Romulus's hands prompted them to wisely keep their mouths shut.
The Imperium of today could no longer muster a military force capable of crossing half the galaxy to annihilate the Expeditionary Fleet.
Consequently, much like what Guilliman would intend to do in the future, Romulus was actively resolving certain issues within the Ultramar sector through "military coercion" and "political bargaining."
Although the Ultramarines explicitly stated they would not interfere with the autonomy of the various sectors, Calgar was certainly not dragging his feet in continuously dispatching Successor Chapter members to the Dawnlight.
Evidently, during this campaign, Calgar had also realized the glaring flaws within the Imperial system when facing enemies like the Tyranids.
If similar Tyranid threats were to strike again in the future, the Ultramar sector absolutely had to enact changes.
In short, Romulus hoped that in the coming period, more of the Imperium's sectors would develop according to his vision.
Even if such an approach sparked a rise in pan-Astartes supremacy, triggered conflicts among multiple Imperial factions, and made the High Lords excessively paranoid.
Moreover, he himself viewed these measures as riddled with loopholes and unsustainable in the long run. The High Lords would inevitably make constant attempts to snuff out this little spark of reform.
It could even snowball into an unmanageable problem in the future—a brand-new, bleeding wound for humanity.
But that did not matter.
When the timeline entered the 900s, bringing with it the full-scale Tyranid invasion, the awakening of the Necrons, the intensification of Chaos incursions, and the resurgence of the Orks, this dense cascade of crises would leave the Imperium with zero time to worry about internal reforms.
As long as the sector's strength could be bolstered in the short term, that was enough. To some extent, the existence of loopholes was actually a good thing. Otherwise, wouldn't it be incredibly awkward if Guilliman woke up only to find he had no room to maneuver?
The Lion had essentially been entirely sidelined for now. Romulus was still waiting for Guilliman to come and clean out the cesspit. The most pressing matter right now was forging a sturdier "shovel" for him, while simultaneously preventing anyone from using that very shovel to fling filth everywhere.
This period was one of the few precious windows of opportunity. Once this Tyranid invasion concluded, they would have to wait another hundred and fifty years for an enemy formidable enough to warrant massing such a vast amount of Imperial strength.
Once they acquired Guilliman's complete genetic data and combined it with Sanguinius's to construct a true Primarch physique, there would be few in the material universe capable of rivaling them in individual combat power.
Two hundred and fifty years.
The Transmigrators sought to forge a world that truly belonged to humanity, a superior template to display to the rest of mankind.
Then, they would intervene in the cascading series of future events, enhancing their own power while preserving humanity's strength to the greatest possible extent.
As long as they made no catastrophic mistakes.
Romulus's fingertips tapped unconsciously against the console.
They still had a chance.