Chapter One Hundred And Fifteen

Thrax Secundus. The Terminus Systems.

After almost two whole terran years I was finally free to sail the stars once again yet I sat within a throne room inside a palace/fortress which had built for me on one of the many islands on this world because before I let I still needed to oversee a few matters before leaving.

Even with hard working serfs, a legion of servitors, and the machines of the Ad-Mech it took time to set up mines, houses, fishing villages and farms. I had thousands of labours and robots built in the style of those used on Fallout Earth who had not stopped work in two years so as to transform Thrax Secundus from an untamed world into a planet that could support my plans for this universe.

After we'd gained the means to feed, clothe and shelter everyone we'd focused on garrisons, airfields and fortress that needed to built. We hadn't even started to on the shipyards that the Ad-Mech planed for the second of the four moons they'd staked a claim to because the resources we gathered were being used almost as fast as we could process them. We had more than enough to sustain everything we had. it was just that we'd need more of everything if we wanted to expand further. Most our logicistcal concerns were due to a lack of manpower and high grade alloys.

So I would need to go out and get them either by taking or trading, and this meant travelling further than either the cobra raider or the Ad-Mech had gone. Without the Emperor's lighthouse no Imperial ship other than my own could travel a few lightyears before needing to drop out of the warp to get its barings, not the best way to travel if you need to cross entire sectors of the galaxy.

Due to the calmer nature of the warp in this reality that range got extended somewhat, but it was would take months for either the Ad-Mech ship or the raider to get anywhere unless they tagged along with my cruiser. Which allowed me to control where they went, helping me to stay in overall command of the Imperial expedition.

If not for the fact that humans in the 40k universe were used to matters taking time I felt sure that the raiders would have rebelled out of boredom by now. The waiting had been worse for me because I was still somewhat a 21st century person who was used to instant gratification. However I'd adapted and found ways to keep busy perhaps I'd adapted to having a longer life span that most humans. I could live for centuries more so there was no reason to rush anything.

Having another child with Dany helped with that. A daughter named Daenys Thrax after Daenys the Dreamer, the Targaryen who had foreseen The Doom of Valyeria and gotten her father to transfer the family to Dragonstone. Like her older brother Rhayger she had my dark hair and her mother's violet eyes which were seen as exotic rather than a mutation since an exotic eye colour wasn't a big deal even to the Inquisition.

Sarah had kept busy with training her Sisterhood, even recruiting new members so they she had nearly a thousand sisters ready to fight. The Sisterhood of Battle hadn't grown much in size because they rarely recruited adults, preferring to take in younger women so they could be inducted, now that people were starting families on this world I expected their numbers of recruits to start growing as people handed over daughters to the Imperial Church.

I'd not be giving Daenys to anyone as even if her mother allowed it she might turn out be a psyker or immune to fire and that would get her labelled as a witch very quickly which was not something I could save her from even if I was considered a minor saint. Best to keep my children on board my cruiser where they were easier to protect.

With me in the throne room was the Inquisitor and the Archmagos who made most of the big choices with me. I would call the rest of my council together later once I had better timetable for my departure not sensing pulling them away from their work when nothing had been decided for certain at this point.

The Inquisitor, who had her own small warp capable ship, had done her share of scouting and information gathering, had presented me with a list of targets as had the Ad-Mech, for both attacking and allying with. The red robed machine lovers had been able to get some information from the extra-net, the galactic version of the Internet, but we only received information we never transmitted anything. I had no idea how the Inquisiton got their info and was too wise to pry.

"Despite the dangers in this part of the galaxy, the Citadel races have not been deterred from traveling through and even extensively colonizing the Terminus Systems" the Inquisitor was saying "Humans, turians, salarians, elcor, asari, and volus all of them have a sizable colonial presence here. Since the Citadel Council's authority is non-existent out here, these colonies are often fully independent from any interplanetary government".

Meaning that if we attacked those colonies it wasn't likely that anyone in the Citadel hierarchy would do more than verbally protest our actions, at least at first. They couldn't even use trade sanctions because we didn't trade with them and nothing short of their combined military might would really be a threat.

"The Terminus Systems also encompass the home worlds of the quarians and the vorcha" said the Inquisitor "Or the quarians used to have their home world and colonies here. They are now all in the hands of the geth".

Had the Archmagos the ability to she would have spat on my nice marble floor upon mention of the hated geth.

"The Abominable Intelligences need to put to the sword" she stated.

If only it were that simple. I had no love for the geth and creating a peace between the geth and quarians simply wasn't possible for an Imperial citizen such as myself.

"We have discussed allying with the quarians against the geth" I said "Not a normal course of action, but we don't have the might to take on the geth directly, this is an expedition not a holy crusade force".

I had no issue looting and burning everything in the Terminus Systems, in fact it could be rather fun, however we didn't have the people or weapons to hold any of the colony worlds even if we could conquer them, at least not any colonies worth taking that we knew about.

"Working with xenos is slippery slope" warned Du Gissal.

She was right even if the quarians weren't to be trusted even if most of them were fairly decent people I well remembered one of their admirals firing on the geth dreadnought that Shepard risked himself and his ship to disable.

"The quarian fleet contains tens of thousands of vessels, and despite many of them being civilian in nature they have the biggest fleet in the galaxy" I reminded "They are a direct threat, but will be weakened by a conflict with the geth and they will be kept busy rebuilding their society for many decades to come".

We'd discussed this before and it made sense to aid the quarians in stomping out the geth and then letting them go home. It would keep the busy and out of the way.

"The aliens are unclean" said the Ad-Mech leader "The AI are must worse. If the geth are not crushed they will one day cleanse this galaxy of all human life. They have already tried once before".

Of course that was the heretic geth not the species as a whole, only there was no way I should know that and it hardly mattered. AI were forbidden and the Ad-Mech would never forgive me if I didn't at least try to stamp them out.

"I will attempt to ally with the quarians long enough to destroy the geth" I decided "And not a moment longer. I will not share our technology with them merely lend our firepower to the cause. Such is my right as the Emperor's emissary in this galaxy".

It was an acceptable compromise. The IOM had made sort term alliances with the Tau and the Eldar in the past to face greater foes.

"Do you still plan to ally with the System Alliance?" questioned Du Gissal.

They weren't aliens so she less jurisdiction in this matter.

"I do" I confirmed "I won't give them Imperial technology, instead I'll gift them with technology from Holy Terra's lesser twin. Laser weapons at least as they will be effective the alien menaces. I plan to drive a wedge between the Alliance and the alien powers if possible. To this end I'll be encouraging preachers to enter Alliance space".

Not only was the Imperial Church good at spreading the Emperor's word it would keep them from bothering me. The Emperor's most faithful already had too much influence on Thrax Secundus and by spreading the about I'd weaken their hold on the world I considered to be my planet even if it wasn't offically.

"Before the quarians will even consider an alliance I will need to gain a reputation" I told my two allies "And to make some friends. There is a human colony world that I believe may be under threat called Freedom's Progress that I want to make contact with and help defend".

No Imperial other than myself knew for sure that the Reapers existed however they were willing to believe the stories because they knew well how dangerous a galaxy could be. Very recently a little information on human colonies going dark had also reached our ears so I knew this was the time to begin making my moves.

"These colonies could be vital trading partners" said the Archmagos "We are need of high grade alloys and additonal serfs".

There were plenty of raw materials around we just didn't have the numbers required to fully exploit it all so it would be better to use some of what we had to produce laser weapons that we could sell in exchange for more allies and trade goods.

"So you will be travelling to Freedom's Progress" said the Inquisitor.

That was the plan.

"If the Emperor wills it" I replied "We can only guess at his plans so we will go where he guides us".

When the advanced warp drive took us to that world it would be seen as divine support for my plan as everyone thought that it was the Emperor's will that I managed to navigate the vessel. Since I was sure that Big E was supporting me somehow it might even be true from a certain point of view.

"This will be a chance to gather more samples of human made technology from this galaxy" reminded the cyborg.

Yes I'd make sure to bring them back something nice. I also had an idea of somewhere to stop over on the way. I'd have to claim it was part of Big E's master plan, and that was okay as it would a profitable stop over.