Chapter 190: The Progress of War, The Proposal for Reform
For the eastern fringe of Ultramar, the Tyranid threat had been effectively contained.
Although the various enemy forces, including Chaos, had inflicted unimaginable destruction upon countless worlds, and although the regions tainted by warp energy and devoured by the swarm would remain a long-term problem, these impacts and losses were acceptable to both the Imperium and to Ultramar.
With the arrival of the Crusade Fleet and the full deployment of a joint task force spearheaded by nearly twenty thousand Astartes, the victory of the war was already a foregone conclusion.
Aboard the Dawnlight, the administrative body, built upon a foundation of Ultramarines adepts, operated with chilling efficiency. These giants processed endless documents with a speed far beyond that of any mortal. But the contents of these documents, aside from grand strategic deployments, were increasingly focused on the governance of the various reclaimed sectors.
Scratch... scratch...
Romulus, focused on the document before him, paused to dip the tip of his quill into the inkwell. The dark ink flowed up the grooves of the adamantium nib, a black tide receding, much like the territories being reclaimed on the star-charts.
In his mind, countless other projects were running in parallel.
As sector after sector was reclaimed, the operational posture of the Dawnlight Fleet began to shift from armed assault to regional governance. As the core of the Crusade Fleet, while providing combat supplies and military guidance to his allies, Romulus always preferred to direct his support to worlds that were still contested.
Reorganize the local planetary government, mobilize human resources, and then, using these planets which still retained their fighting strength, radiate influence outwards.
The war that had swept across several sub-sectors had inflicted grievous losses on humanity, but it had also created a massive power vacuum in a vast region of space. Rather than wait for the Imperium to appoint a new sector governor who would then engage in meaningless internal strife with local nobles over matters of profit and privilege, it was better to act now, while everyone was still reeling.
In the name of the Crusade Fleet, he would immediately assume control of all surviving administrative institutions.
Expansion. Reconstruction. Deterrence. Compromise.
The Adeptus Arbites, the Administratum, Rogue Traders, the Astartes, the Inquisition.
Romulus cared little for honour or profit. He cared more for the overall improvement of the human condition. The results of this crusade were already dazzling enough. Now, he would turn his attention to the places where others were not yet looking.
"You cannot do this! This is overreach! This is treason!"
A shrill shriek pierced the soundproof doors of the administrative hall. The planetary governor, who claimed descent from an ancient Terran noble house, was currently being dragged down the corridor by two Ultramarines. His gold-threaded cloak trailed on the floor like the flayed skin of a snake as he struggled.
"I am a noble Planetary Governor! The blood of Old Terra flows in my veins! I demand to see Romulus!"
The movements of the guards at the door were as precise as if they were handling fragile cargo. One hand controlled his shoulder joint, the other supported his lumbar spine, ensuring he could not escape without leaving so much as a bruise from the pressure of their ceramite gauntlets.
"I demand to see Romulus!" he howled, attempting to protest this 'abuse of power'. As the final click of his fine shoes on the reinforced plasteel faded into the distance, Romulus, without looking up, unfurled the next document.
The parchment rustled in the Primarch's hands. He was reorganizing the entire industrial network of the eastern fringe of Ultramar.
The foundation of the Realm of Ultramar was strong. Even after ten millennia of decay, the industrial system meticulously laid out by Guilliman along the safest warp routes still paid dividends. All he needed to do was make a few adjustments to the administrative systems of the various worlds to quickly reintegrate them with the Ultramar mainland.
The Imperium's industrial standards and productive capacity were never the problem. The problem was that, due to its archaic social structure and abstract approach to management, the utilization of that capacity had always been abysmally low.
Of course, Romulus would not dare to give the Astartes sole control over both military and civil affairs. Absolute power, as in the case of Huron, could breed an ambitious tyrant whose potential for destruction was even greater. This was a problem he had to be mindful of. He needed to increase the reaction speed of the Imperium's frontier regions without causing an even bigger mess before Guilliman's awakening.
He simply hoped to inject the efficiency of the Astartes into the system of the Imperial East. This process would require the assistance of multiple Imperial factions. Every reform document was deliberately woven with checks and balances. The Inquisition would have the right of summary audit, the Administratum would be embedded in every decision-making process, the Ecclesiarchy would retain a degree of control over the populace's welfare... and the Astartes would serve as the highly efficient nodes connecting them all.
Without a doubt, this would require sufficient 'military strength' and vast 'financial resources'.
Fortunately, the STCs 'inspected' along the crusade's path, along with the secrets held by the Dawnbreakers, proved useful.
Cawl had always avoided the public eye, but in the interest of maintaining the security of Ultramar, he had decided to leverage the network he had built over ten millennia. The Adeptus Mechanicus had always disdained providing low-end industrial products for the Imperium. If they could, they would rather focus on high-return manufacturing, such as warships, or on their own research. They were more than happy to see the construction of a powerful new industrial system.
As for the other powers, they were not yet sure how much they stood to gain, but the overwhelming military strength at Romulus's command had persuaded them to hold their tongues. The Imperium, in its current state, could not muster a force capable of crossing half the galaxy to annihilate the Crusade Fleet.
And so, just as Guilliman would in the future, Romulus was using 'military coercion' and 'political transactions' to solve some of the Realm of Ultramar's problems.
Although the Ultramarines had explicitly stated they would not interfere in the self-governance of the various sectors, Marneus Calgar's actions—continuously dispatching successor Chapter members to the Dawnlight—spoke louder than words. It was clear that Calgar, too, had recognized the systemic problems the Imperium faced when dealing with an enemy like the Tyranids. If a similar threat were to arise in the future, the Realm of Ultramar had to change.
In short, Romulus hoped that in the time to come, more Imperial sectors would develop along the lines he envisioned.
Such a course of action would inevitably lead to the rise of Astartes-supremacism, create friction with multiple Imperial factions, and make the High Lords of Terra even more paranoid. And this measure, in his own view, was full of holes and was not a long-term solution. The High Lords would undoubtedly try to extinguish this spark of reform. It could even become an intractable problem in the future, a new wound on the body of humanity.
But it didn't matter.
As the timeline entered the 900s of M41, with the full-scale Tyranid invasion, the awakening of the Necrons, the resurgence of Chaos, and the rise of a new Ork WAAAGH!, a dense series of crises would leave the Imperium with no time to worry about such things.
As long as the strength of the sectors could be increased in the short term, that was enough. The existence of loopholes was, in some ways, a good thing. Otherwise, it would be quite awkward if Guilliman woke up and found he had no room to maneuver.
The Lion had, for all intents and purposes, been completely replaced. Romulus was now waiting for Guilliman to come and clean up the mess. The most urgent task was to sharpen the 'shovel', while also preventing anyone from taking that shovel and flinging filth everywhere.
This was a rare window of opportunity. After this Tyranid invasion ended, the next enemy worthy of gathering such a massive Imperial force would not appear for another hundred and fifty years.
Once they had Guilliman's complete data and combined it with Sanguinius's to construct a new Primarch body, there would be few individuals in the material universe who could match them in personal combat strength.
Two hundred and fifty years.
The Dawnbreakers wanted to build a world for humanity. A better model to show to the rest of their species. Then, they would intervene in the series of events to come, strengthening themselves while preserving humanity's power to the greatest extent possible.
As long as they made no major mistakes...
Romulus's fingertips tapped unconsciously on the console.
They still had a chance.
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