Chapter 210: Ambitious |
"That is the Primarch!"
Huron gazed up at the knight seated high upon the throne, his resolute face openly displaying reverence and pride.
The Primarch had just finished detailing the core objectives of the first phase of the meeting to the Chapter representatives. He now sat with his head bowed, silently observing something, leaving the delegates time to discuss matters amongst themselves.
"This is my first time seeing a Primarch,"
Thokcha, Chapter Master of the Emperor's Scythes, murmured in awe.
"And to see five of them all at once."
Huron stared at Calgar's back and could not help but smile. "Aside from the Ultramarines, it is a first for everyone else."
The Great Rift was exceptionally far from Macragge. Had it not been for this war against the Tyranid hive fleet, his duties guarding the Great Rift would never have allowed him to travel specifically to Macragge to seek an audience with Guilliman.
Only the Ultramarines could enjoy such a privilege.
"Brother Thokcha,"
A burning fire ignited in his heart as Huron turned to ask Thokcha,
"Once the meeting concludes, we representatives will also return to the Great Rift. The High Lords have dispatched the Minotaurs Chapter for oversight and invited multiple factions for joint defense. The location has been chosen as the Calis Sector. Are you interested?"
As the first experimental site for the Ultima-Obscurus Sector Collaborative Assistance Project, the Great Rift drew considerable attention from the Imperium due to its unique geographical location and the fact that its leader, Huron, had a prior record.
Romulus had already prepared a comprehensive industrial construction plan. This included not only the production of MK10 weapons and gear but also military equipment for the Astra Militarum.
As a mortal auxiliary force privately established by Huron, the Tyrant's Legion would face disbandment. Stripped of its authority to guard the Imperium's void space, it would be reorganized into a training institution.
The Great Rift region suffered from a complex environment with frequent threats from Orks and Chaos. Meanwhile, the wildly inconsistent quality of the various Planetary Defense Forces and Imperial Guard regiments made it impossible to establish a reliable defense system.
There was a good reason Huron had constantly demanded the Imperium send reinforcements. He recognized the weakness of these troops, though Terra's inaction had only further enraged him.
Now that the Wings of Dawn had officially established contact with the High Lords, Romulus naturally would not allow an ambitious man like Huron to hold absolute regional power.
In the Great Rift zone, worlds incapable of raising Imperial Guard regiments or Planetary Defense Forces that met the standards of the Astral Claws would, under the new policy, only need to provide manpower and basic planetary resources.
As for training, equipment, and military deployments, everything would fall under the jurisdiction of the Great Rift Military Commission.
The High Lords were naturally willing to accept such a change, as this approach improved the quality of the troops while simultaneously reducing their own workload.
Furthermore, after careful analysis, the representatives agreed that the Great Rift's geographical location near the galactic core, along with its rich network of warp routes, made it fully capable of shouldering even more critical responsibilities.
The devastation caused by the Tyranid hive fleet invasion was still fresh in everyone's minds. The High Lords had to consider whether these extragalactic Xenos might breach the Solar Segmentum from other directions.
They also shared the goal of transforming the Great Rift region into a powerful, multifaceted defense system capable of continuously exporting resources outward.
None of the aforementioned plans had originally been under the High Lords' consideration. It was only the presence of the Primarchs that forced them to focus their attention on this seemingly unremarkable stretch of space.
They had no choice but to conduct the analysis, ensuring that the time they spent pulling themselves away from countless administrative tasks marked as "important," "urgent," or "top secret"—tasks that could last into the next century—would not go to waste.
However, decentralizing authority meant placing power into local hands, which in turn meant that any potential local rebellion could cause far greater devastation.
Thus, the composition of the Military Commission required little debate. Aside from the Warders of the Great Rift, the Departmento Munitorum, the Adeptus Administratum, the Wings of Dawn, and the Ultramarines acting as the progenitor Chapter would all intervene in its management.
The High Lords dispatched the Third Company of the Minotaurs Chapter to provide oversight, and naturally, the other factions responded in kind.
The squabbling over vested interests had dragged on for some time, with every party hoping for a relatively satisfactory outcome in the future. Yet, even before the dust settled, Huron had undeniably emerged as the greatest beneficiary of these negotiations.
He was already the leader of the Warders of the Great Rift, commanding the vast majority of the military forces within the Great Rift Sector.
Now, he was poised to become the true leader of the Great Rift Sector in every sense, nominally managing all Sector affairs on behalf of the Imperium. His relationship with the Council of High Lords had somewhat thawed, and the Wings of Dawn favored his administrative capabilities.
Even though the Primarchs' attitudes still carried a hint of distrust toward a former rebel, Huron could not care less.
As long as the Astral Claws could reach unprecedented heights under his command, as long as the name Huron could be immortalized in history, and as long as he could forge enviable achievements, none of it mattered.
Today, this stage was vast enough to accommodate his ambitions.
He looked down on mortals anyway. Leaving the political wrangling to the Primarchs and the Ultramarines suited him just fine.
"I am afraid I must decline. Sotha still requires our protection, and as members of the Greater Ultramar defense network, we shoulder critical responsibilities. We cannot afford any lapses."
"You do not need to deploy a full company. Sending a representative will suffice."
A smile graced Huron's face.
"I will not take your favors for granted. The Great Rift will heavily focus on developing military industry in the future, and I can easily smooth the way for your equipment trades."
Sotha was a third of the Galaxy away from the Great Rift, not to mention that it was nestled right inside Ultramar.
Thokcha looked somewhat awkward, well aware of what Huron was attempting to do.
He was trying to gather an impressive roster of allies to bolster his own prestige.
"I know Ultramar is far wealthier, but if you do not need the supplies now, you can stockpile them. The Great Rift sits near the galactic core; it is easily accessible to everyone. Not everyone is a son of Guilliman, and the disparity in resources controlled by different Space Marine Chapters is an undeniable reality."
Huron's primary targets were the Space Marine Chapters from the Second Founding. With very few exceptions, these Chapters possessed both extensive histories and formidable strength.
"The quotas can be reserved for you. When the representatives finalize the arrangements, you can offer your support as you see fit."
Space Marines boasted exceptionally long lifespans. Even a single instance of aid spanning decades or a century would become lived history for many within a Chapter.
Through such exchanges over time, a network of favors and alliances would inevitably be woven together.
"Very well."
Seeing that Huron had laid his cards on the table, Thokcha could not help but nod in agreement.
As a farmer's son, his reasoning was quite simple. If they had surplus grain, there was no harm in supporting their brothers.
"It is just the Mechanicus."
Briefly moving past their previous topic, Thokcha frowned slightly as he reviewed the documents.
"Are the Imperium and the Primarchs planning to bypass the Mechanicus for this construction?"
This entire series of plans relied on the Wings of Dawn providing the master manufacturing templates and schematics, while the Imperium supplied the manpower and oversight. Both sides would jointly provide military protection.
Although the Imperial Navy could be somewhat eccentric, their sheer presence was intimidating enough.
"Yes."
Huron nodded, a flash of satisfaction coursing through him at the decision.
He had suffered plenty of disgust and frustration at the hands of the Mechanicus in the Great Rift.
"Many factions within the Imperium have been dissatisfied with the Mechanicus for a long time, but that sort of political wrangling is beyond our scope to intervene."
The Mechanicus would undoubtedly be displeased, but the Great Rift was primarily supplying basic gear for the Adeptus Astartes and the Astra Militarum. Since it did not infringe upon the core interests of the Mechanicus, some individual Forge Worlds would certainly throw fits, but the rest would be left to the High Lords and the Primarchs to handle.
He then leaned in and whispered to Thokcha,
"Furthermore, I have a feeling that the Primarchs will definitely ensure we break free from the control of the Mechanicus first."
In Huron's eyes, his little schemes to pull favors and fulfill personal ambitions were nothing in the grand scheme of things.
What the Primarchs were undertaking was the truly ambitious, world-shaking endeavor.
'Why did you never show this much emotional intelligence when you were squabbling with the Imperium?'
Arthur complained inwardly. He was currently studying the Ícarus Protocol, as well as a series of 30th Millennium combat logs submitted by the Ironwing detailing annihilation operations against the Mechanicum. He could not help but look up and sweep his gaze across the assembled Adeptus Astartes.
His eyes lingered on Huron for a moment before shifting to the entire collective of Ultramarines.
It had to be said, they truly lived up to their reputation as the faction comprising seventy percent of all Space Marines.
The delegates from other Successor Chapters arrived in small groups of two or three. Descendants of the Raven Guard, like the Sharks, were even left sitting completely alone.
Only the Ultramarines were an exception. Seated right behind Calgar were nearly forty representatives of their Successor Chapters.
It was safe to say that, from any angle, Guilliman was viewed as an immensely ambitious figure by the various factions within the Imperium.
And he had already achieved his goal of "satisfying his lust for power."