Chapter Eleven

Vaes Dothrak. Esso.

Lord-General Segean Holam was not a young man and he'd spent longer in service to the Imperium while fighting its many enemies than most men would live and he'd seen more of the galaxy than many ever would. Yet despite the life-extending treatments and the cybernetics he was getting too old for this grox manure. However before he could retire to cushy civilian life as this world's planetary governor, his right as he would be the one to conquer this world or at least parts of it, he had plenty more work to do.

So far things were going well the Lord-General noted, the conquest of this city, if it could be called a city or even a conquest, had taken a very short amount of time since all the fighting men of this nation, again if it could be called that, were off living the lives of nomads, as such this city had been left vulnerable to invaders. Not that anyone would normally think of targetting Vaes Dothrak if they could have reached it, since they knew that Khal's would ride to reclaim the city in great numbers, but that was something the Lord-General was actually counting on to happen.

The regiment, which was made up of elements of the Imperial Guard from all across the sector who had been broken while holding back a sector-wide invasion by heretic forces, had been combined into the 1st Thrax Regiment (naming them after the world they could conquer and the Rogue Trader who had brought them here) were carrying out their duties well enough.

Segean Holam had long ago perfected the art of providing the men and women under his command with stirring speeches that would fill them with the Emperor's Wrath before a battle. This time he'd promised them this world, not just for the Imperium, but for them. Those officers who drew his attention for their hard work would be appointed as lesser governers, taking command of conquered towns and cities, not just as garrison commanders, but as lords of those conquered lands and their peoples.

The common soldier who had served long enough to earn retirement would be granted land to settle or be made stewards of smaller settlements. Those that fought with great skill and had service yet to give would be employed to train those who would later become part of this world's PDF and help to train future regiments who would go on to defend the Emperor's realm as they had. Others would aid in guarding conquered lands and some would even serve as law officers instead of guardsmen.

Now his soilders were motivated and hard at work. The crude dwellings of this city were quickly being torn down and replaced with a new building to provide the regiment with proper housing and places to store equipment, but the work only progressed so fast as he had a limited number of servitors and people who were skilled at such tasks. The slaves that they had captured were only suited for the most simple of tasks and it would take time for them to be trained to a point where they could be useful.

At least the city walls and outer defences were being constructed on schedule. The Ad-Mech had been generous when promising their support for the coming conquests, mostly thanks to the Lord-Captain who'd done a fine job of getting the different branches of the Imperium to work together. They all owed him fealty, but he was a new Rogue Trader in charge of a new dynasty and he'd needed to prove that he could be a leader.

While some of his fighting men and women were deployed elsewhere or still back on the cruiser, as moving an entire Imperial Guard regiment takes time, the Lord-General knew that he would soon have to send some of the more experienced fighting men and women off to help train the recruits that the Lord-Captain was acquiring for what would be the 2nd Thrax Regiment. He had an officer in mind to handle that for him.

"My lord," said one of his aides.

Lord-General Segean Holam strode into his command centre which until recently had been a meeting place for the crones, the former wives of Dothraki leaders who spent their time reading omens and offering prophecy to anyone foolish to listen to their words. Segean knew that they had most likely been frauds, but on the off chance they hadn't been and because of his plan to destroy Dothraki culture, he'd had them all publicly executed as witches. Since he wasn't a needlessly cruel man they'd been lined up against a wall and shot rather than burned alive as suspected witches were on some worlds.

The General had also ordered the false idols that the Dothraki raiders brought to this city to display as trophies, to be torn down and broken apart to provide building materials for the resource-hungry cogboy machines. This had been pleasing both to the machine cult and the preachers who were attached to the regiment, and it was rare for those two groups to agree on anything.

"Anything to report," said Segean Holam.

There was always something that required his attention.

"Yes, my lord" replied the aide "The Lord-Captain sent a report on his recent activities".

Segean Holam had long ago learned how to quickly take in the vast amounts of information, most of which was meaningless to him, that came with his reports, and how to pick out that which mattered. He was pleased to see that the Rogue Trader had not been idle while everyone had been setting up planet-side.

Many nobles would have sat back while the real men did the work and then later reaped the rewards. This Thrax was more the type to get involved and help out. To be expected from a man who had been risen from the life of menial to the nobility thanks to the blessing of His Divine Majesty. Holam had noted that the Rogue Trader was good at getting things organised and this was proven by how smoothly matters were progressing as well as the level of cooperation between the different factions involved in the conquest of this world. Even the Inquisitor had held back from taking charge and making unreasonable demands.

The Rouge Trader had already set up an agreement with one of the Free Cites that involved supplying them with vast amounts of low grade autoguns and ammunition as well as people to train the city's militia in the use of these weapons. This might seem counterproductive since the Guard might have to conquer Pentos, however, the weapons offered wouldn't even dent the armour of the regiment's tanks and the walls of Pentos would not withstand even a single well-aimed artillery strike.

More pleasing was that the Rogue Trader had taken custody of exiled royals, the children of the deposed king of Westeros, both of whom had a claim to the throne of the Seven Kingdoms. Having a puppet that they could place on that throne could serve their plans nicely. Should the current leadership bow to The Emperor and pay tribute to his Holy Majesty's chosen servents then these Targaryens could even be handed over to help secure the loyalty of The Emperor's new subjects or be kept as potential replacements should the situation change. The Rogue Trader might even keep them as play things should he so desire.

As for Pentos, it might be sacked by the Dothraki hordes even with its new supply of autoguns, but in the long run, this would be no big loss. It might even encourage the other Free Cities to seek the protection of The Imperium. Besides a sacked city could be rebuilt by the cogboys in time and according to the latest information that horde was moving eastwards.

The General's good mood faded when he read about Astapor. He'd not objected to the Lord-Captain obtaining more men, Rogue Traders were allowed to do such things and they would have no tanks or heavy weapons so they would not be too great of a threat to the regiment should it come to hostilities, nor was Segean Holam annoyed by the request for veteran soilders to be sent to train what would become the 2nd Thrax Regiment, as that would allow the Lord-General to have his own people mixed in with the Trader's army. No, what bothered him was how the Unsullied were trained. Slave soilders, castration, dead babies, even the Penal Legions weren't his brutal, these sounded more like the actions of the Archenemy.

Lord-Captain Thrax's latest report mentioned that he was considering laying waste to Astaphor, killing its ruling classes and liberating its slave population, binding them as serfs to his service and using them to aid in this conquest of the pirate dominated islands called the Step Stones. This seemed like a wise use of resources to the Lord-General and he made a note on the report supporting the idea of having Astaphor wiped off the planetary scans to ensure its vile practices came to an end.

As he did the Lord-General couldn't help noticing that the cruiser already had orders to change its orbit so that it could orbitally bombard a location far beyond that big ice wall the natives in the west had put up thousands of years ago. Segean wondered if it had something to do with the Inquisitor's investigations, and decided not to dwell on that since it was Inquisitor business.

After all, he had plenty to do around here.