Gao Yi took a deep breath, and his mood settled down a lot.
Gao Yi certainly knew how much of a cesspool this world was, and perhaps many things were necessary or helpless acts.
Yet Gao Yi still believed that he needed to do whatever was within his power.
The food and supplies Gao Yi doled out were nothing to him at all, but to those shipworkers, they were rare treasures.
He could not care about what others did, but at the very least, he wanted to make his own crew live a little better.
At least he wanted to make them think twice about whether it was worth it if they were ever forced to turn traitor.
After taking in those shipworkers, Gao Yi checked the intelligence sent over by Tantos once more.
Are the guys from the Void Concordat really putting a bounty on my head? Hearing that, the God-Emperor himself would stand up from the Golden Throne and slap both of them with a psychic backhand!
Veil twitched the corner of his mouth. Over the past few days, he had heard his captain utter quite a few statements that could be considered blasphemous, though fortunately Gao Yi only spoke like that in front of him and remained a faithful believer to outsiders.
"Captain, I think it's better to say less of those things, just in case someone hears you."
"I know, I know!"
Veil could not possibly leak those words. He believed in the God-Emperor, but the interests of the Dynasty still came first in his eyes, and true fanatics of the God-Emperor were far fewer than one might imagine.
"That pack of pirates has been driven to a dead end. As soon as the Halo Construct incident broke out, both the Inquisition and the Imperial Navy deployed in full force, striking their strongholds and fleets everywhere. Over a hundred charred corpses are still lying in the plaza of the Landing Port."
Those pirates who had been dragged out and bound to pyres to be burned to death served as the best warning to others, and these charred corpses would not be cleared away for quite some time.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. The methods of the Inquisition are still as ruthless as ever."
Gao Yi continued to read through the intelligence sent by Tantos, but just when he thought today would bring nothing but good news, he saw a piece of bad news.
Veil also saw Gao Yi's gloomy face.
He walked to Gao Yi's side and took the document Gao Yi was clutching in his hand.
"Omicron 2 was forcibly occupied?! And it happened over a month ago?"
"Veil, what is going on with the Suarez Dynasty?"
"The disputes between the Suarez Dynasty and our dynasty are not a year or two old; their scale is much smaller than our dynasty's.
They have raided our merchant ships, and we have likewise retaliated and destroyed their trading posts. There is deep-seated blood feud between both sides, but attacking each other's planets is happening for the first time. Their Trade Warrant was merely granted by a Sector Lord; they have sullied the name of Rogue Traders, and they are more like a pack of privateers!
Their Rogue Trader Cantos Suarez is more like a madman, with honesty being utterly worthless in his eyes, and there are even rumors that he colludes with xenos and heretics! The Inquisition once investigated him but found nothing, and Lord Ludwig always kept him suppressed when he was around, so no major issues ever happened.
The God-Emperor above, what kind of nerve gives them the audacity to make a move against our planet!" Veil was even more agitated than Gao Yi.
"What kind? What else could it be? He simply thought that the Mongert Dynasty had lost its Rogue Trader and become lambs to the slaughter!"
From the original memories of this body, Gao Yi also knew the territory range of the Mongert family, with the capital of the Dynasty located in the Agathos System.
There were three planets within the system, and the capital was also named Agathos, being a massive Hive World.
Agathos was an industrial world, where an Adeptus Mechanicus contingent cooperating with the Dynasty produced a large quantity of industrial goods and weaponry for trade and self-armament.
Aglarans was a mining world, and the minerals it produced were mostly supplied to the Forge World for production.
There was no suitable agri-world within the system, while Omicron 2 was the sole agri-world belonging to the Mongert Dynasty. Transport ships owned by the Dynasty regularly traveled to Omicron 2, providing the food required by the Mongert Dynasty and sustaining billions of people across the three planets, alongside several mineral resource outposts scattered across various worlds.
Under normal circumstances, a world like Omicron 2 possessed the Planetary Defense Fleet of the Mongert Dynasty. The fleet lacked large capital ships, but still featured a total of 10 destroyers and frigates for defense—a fleet size that, even if unable to defeat opponents, would at least have time to send distress signals to neighboring systems or the capital.
The planetary surface also held a considerable number of Planetary Defense Force troops.
Yet the Mongert Dynasty, having lost its Rogue Trader, had plunged into prolonged chaos. A lack of management coupled with half of the fleet being recalled to Agathos to participate in internal strife was precisely what prevented the fleet in orbit of Omicron 2 from holding out until reinforcements arrived.
"Does the Empire not care about this kind of invasion?"
"It does not. The Empire considers this to be merely a trade dispute between Rogue Traders."
"Veil, once I return to the Capital World, the Dynasty is due for a massive blood transfusion! These vermin are not worthy of bearing the name of the Dynasty!"
"But... the relationships among these great families are extremely complex, and they control every aspect. Won't this have too huge an impact?"
"Only by excising the necrotic parts can one attain new life! And I believe that families loyal to the Dynasty still exist, right? Take your family for instance?"
Hearing Gao Yi's words, a surge of joy rose in Veil's heart. He himself was already the flagship master serving alongside the Rogue Trader, but his family was not a prominent one within the Dynasty.
There was no dynastic bloodline within Veil's body, and as a latecomer, reaching this position had been no easy feat. Now Gao Yi was giving him and his family an opportunity to hold high positions, so how could he not recognize it.
"How are the repairs on the Golden Ram coming along?"
"They are nearly completed. The capabilities demonstrated by the SCVs you brought are truly breathtaking; aside from some damage to the exterior of the warship, it is already completely capable of spaceflight once more, and the repairs to the Sword Rain will soon be resolved as well."
"Have the crew make ready! We will deal with the problem on Omicron first, and then return to the Capital World!"
Following the issuance of Gao Yi's orders, everyone in the Landing Port who served the Mongert Dynasty grew busy.
A large quantity of living supplies was transported into the cargo holds of the warships. Having tasted the benefits of cooperating with Gao Yi, Jie Yi worked even harder, for latching onto a Rogue Trader was far better than going it alone.
The high-ranking advisors on the warship told him that Jie Yi was using his name to expand her own sphere of influence. Gao Yi did not care about this; he lacked a competent person in the Landing Port, and Jie Yi fit the bill quite well, deserving at least a small investment from Gao Yi based purely on her ability to procure supplies and gather intelligence.
As long as Jie Yi committed no heretical acts, Gao Yi intended to let it slide.
Shell after huge macro-cannon projectile was also provided by the Adeptus Mechanicus and transported into the warship.
These massive shells cost a fair bit of coin to buy—under normal circumstances, the Mechanicus would never provide them for free, charging for every single bullet and every single gun.
Yet now they were being supplied to Gao Yi for free.
Gao Yi was also observing the newly joined shipworkers and navy soldiers.
Despite higher compensation, the shipworkers maintained their enthusiasm for work. Although they felt some apprehension upon hearing that they might join a battle, after other survivors hyped up the strength of the Rogue Trader and his soldiers, their hearts settled down quite a bit.
The performance of the navy soldiers was much better than that of the crewmen. The fact that they continued their combat preparations in an orderly fashion showed that the Navy at least had not fobbed him off with useless dregs.
Furthermore, the pay Gao Yi offered these soldiers was considerably higher than serving in the regular navy.
Before you continue