11-11-69 was the internal Legion designation for the sixty-ninth world discovered by the Shadow of Order's 11th Chapter.
At the headquarters of the capital garrison, the garrison commander stood respectfully beside the desk.
Per Koschelny, lord of the 11th Chapter, sat in a specially made golden-thread nanmu chair contributed by the members of Corrosion, rapidly reviewing a Data Slate.
[March 8, 988: First Company Captain Gibbs brought world 11-11-49 into submission and took control of its Double-Number Black Gold mines. March 27, 988: Second Company Captain Kirkland brought world 11-11-51 into submission and took control of its fifteen industrial cities. ... May 14, 988: First Company Captain Gibbs assisted the 18th Company in bringing world 11-11-68 into submission and taking control of its starport and shipyards.]
The Black Emperor had decreed that their conquest of the entire cluster be concealed, so their communications did not use the Imperium's thousand-part timekeeping system.
Per set down the Data Slate and nodded in satisfaction.
Over five months, the 11th Chapter had carried out the Black Emperor's decree, bringing four of the Ark Fringe Cluster's six star systems into submission. Only the system he was in remained on the Chapter's list of objectives.
Per looked at the garrison commander. "Are you ready?"
"My lord, everything is ready."
"We move at eleven," Per ordered.
World 11-11-69 completed one rotation in thirteen local hours. Eleven o'clock corresponded to the second working hour of Vostonia's Nightfall Troupe.
Eleven o'clock was both his tribute to the Black Emperor and the time when the locals were least vigilant.
The locals, particularly the military nobility, had observed a strict daily schedule for forty-eight hundred years.
They and their soldiers conducted their third military training session of the day at nine, then ate at ten.
At eleven, the soldiers