Seeking Sponsorship

"I doubt we'll be able to get help from the Space Marines," Chen Xi said, not holding out much hope for getting the Deathwatch to set up shop.

His original idea was to use Gutierrez's position to request the establishment of a Watch Fortress, allowing the Deathwatch to be permanently stationed in this Sub-sector plagued by xenos. This would be easier to get approved than directly requesting a Space Marine Kill Team for Rostov II.

After all, if he just needed a Space Marine Kill Team, Chen Xi could wait until his authority increased and use his own pawns directly.

"Indeed, the Imperium needs Space Marines everywhere. Frontier worlds like ours are unlikely to see any Space Marines, and even the Deathwatch probably wouldn't waste their valuable manpower on a world that's of little value to the Imperium," Gutierrez said, not objecting despite it being his suggestion. "But I think we should still apply, just in case. You know, Captain Titus should be with the Deathwatch right now."

"Worth a shot. If a Kill Team can come, that'd be great. If not, we'll just have to wait for the Sisters of Battle to finish their training." Chen Xi stroked his chin and turned to the other two. "Mai Mai, Twilight, what do you think?"

"I think we can drum up some sponsorship," Mai Mai said, seemingly adopting a more profit-oriented way of thinking due to his Rogue Trader role. "Our Sub-sector is barren, but developing it would bring huge profits, which is extremely tempting to many people or factions.

If we can get some sponsorship from the Sector, all our current problems will be solved.

After all, with enough money, the Adeptus Mechanicus can solve most of our needs, right?"

For the Adeptus Mechanicus, whether you want to build a planet-sized forge factory, a mega-Hive City, a giant spaceport, or adjust a planet's tilt angle, modify its orbital path, or simply dislike a planet and want to blow it up and turn it into ore, as long as you can afford it, the Adeptus Mechanicus can do it for you.

"That is an option, but considering all the circumstances, we may need to be careful about who we choose as investors," Chen Xi said, not objecting to Mai Mai's suggestion, but also stating his own requirements. "Sector nobles can be courted to invest appropriately, the Adeptus Ministorum must be kept on good terms, and as for the Adeptus Mechanicus… Mai Mai, any thoughts?"

"I don't think we need to tell them about the Necron tomb. After all, Seventeen, you said the Sarekh Dynasty is not to be trifled with. If the Adeptus Mechanicus finds out there's a tomb here, I think they'll fight a major battle here," Mai Mai said after thinking for a moment. "We'll just tell them about the Necron crypt on Rostov II, and use that to attract sponsorship. I believe the Adeptus Mechanicus would be happy to invest some money to sponsor us, right?"

"The Adeptus Mechanicus is more likely to assemble an expeditionary force themselves to dig up the entire Necron crypt, take everything away, and leave us with scraps," Chen Xi shook his head. The Adeptus Mechanicus isn't that easy to get sponsorship from.

But Mai Mai seemed very confident about this, guaranteeing, "I'm confident about this. Don't forget, I'm a Rogue Trader now. Even the Adeptus Mechanicus wouldn't easily cause trouble in a Rogue Trader's territory, right? Not to mention this is the core world of a Rogue Trader Dynasty."

"Using the Rogue Trader title as a bluff? The power of a Rogue Trader depends on the strength of their Rogue Trader Dynasty. Are you planning to declare this Sub-sector as your Rogue Trader Dynasty?" Chen Xi looked at Mai Mai, not expecting him to play it this way.

Rogue Traders enjoy privileges in the Imperium. Usually, a strong Rogue Trader Dynasty can even control a dozen Imperial Worlds. In a sense, they are the 40k version of the East India Company.

And whether a Rogue Trader is powerful depends not on who signed their Warrant of Trade and what powers it grants them, but on how much wealth and power they possess as a Rogue Trader.

In this regard, Mai Mai, as a Rogue Trader, is like a complete novice, with nothing but a frigate.

However, Chen Xi wasn't worried about whether Mai Mai could do what he wanted to do. After all, the pawns they sent into the Warhammer world all had corresponding backgrounds and abilities.

A Rogue Trader, if they wanted to, could still bring in a huge amount of wealth with just that Warrant of Trade, enough to persuade others to invest in them, even if they had nothing.

Just like Chen Xi, despite not having any administrative talent, was able to fulfill his position as Planetary Governor after arriving in the Warhammer world.

However, he still reminded Mai Mai, "Your Warrant of Trade should be able to convince all parties to invest in you. As long as you can attract enough sponsorship, you can order everything we need from the Adeptus Mechanicus."

"I don't plan to declare this Sub-sector as Dynasty territory. Instead, I plan to obtain the development rights for the entire Sub-sector through formal means, and then go to the Adeptus Mechanicus to seek sponsorship," Mai Mai said with great confidence.

As an ancient technological religion from the Dark Age of Technology, the Adeptus Mechanicus traversed the galaxy with the Emperor during the Great Crusade, collecting a vast amount of technology from before the Old Night over ten thousand years. After ten thousand years of research, it's hard for ordinary people to imagine what good things the Adeptus Mechanicus has.

Contrary to many people's imaginations, the Adeptus Mechanicus does rely on archeology for technology, repairs rely on kowtowing, and it is indeed a religious organization, but that doesn't mean the Adeptus Mechanicus doesn't do scientific research and all progress relies on archeology.

Although technological progress is very slow due to various reasons, and can even be said to be regressing, the Adeptus Mechanicus has indeed researched and invented many things over the years.

Dora Caur updated the entire Space Marine arsenal single-handedly, and even dug up the incendiary weapons from the archives. These were all based on research, not archeology.

The reason why people have this impression is mainly because humanity developed too rapidly during the Dark Age of Technology, even reaching a height that the current Imperium of Man cannot match.

In addition, the original civilization of humanity collapsed in the Old Night, colonies scattered across the galaxy, technology regressed and decayed severely, and a large amount of technology was lost, causing the overall technological system to collapse, which is why the Imperium of Man's technology relies on archeology.

After all, the things dug up from archeology are really useful! The Astronomican, the Golden Throne… these are all ancient creations from the Dark Age of Technology.

It is precisely because of this that many people think the Adeptus Mechanicus is barbaric and primitive, but in reality, these Tech-priests and cogboys have shockingly advanced technology.