Ill Intentions

Blackwatch ships were busy installing new equipment. Watching the Tech-priests hurrying back and forth, Ace felt miserable.

Once, she had been one of the Legion's leaders, chatting and laughing with her brothers as they plundered treasures. But now she had lost the thing she loved most and could no longer be one of the boys.

In a daze, Ace returned to the Fourth Company and entered the Dreadnought bay where she had once been housed. Sure enough, seeing Ace's dramatic transformation, the other Dreadnoughts burst into hearty laughter. That only made him—no, her—even more irritable.

Watching her former subordinates laugh so hard that smoke seemed to rise from the deck, Ace couldn't take it anymore. "Damn it, if I've changed, none of you are getting away untouched. You're all changing too!"

She decided that as soon as the reconstruction pods were installed, she would take her best brothers to be remodeled. If they couldn't be brothers anymore, they could at least be sisters.

Hogg paid so much attention to Blackwatch's defenses and firepower for one reason: to minimize casualties. Blackwatch had begun churning out troops and had even taken in some Eldar, but there simply hadn't been enough time. There were still fewer than twenty thousand new recruits at the Alicia home base, and the fleet he'd brought with him totaled just thirty thousand. The fleet's main strength, however, lay in the Imperial Guard. What could a mere fifty thousand Space Marines do?

Just think of Guilliman, churning out a quarter of a million Ultramarines before the Horus Heresy by developing Macragge. Even knowing Guilliman was loyal, Hogg had to admit, "That guy's terrifying. He's bound to be ambitious."

"Ugh! If I had two million Space Marines, I'd just steamroll my way through. Even the Emperor would have to call me Daddy. Is the recruitment process too strict? No, that can't be it. We've already cut Catachan's wilderness survival training down to four months!"

Lost in his daydreams, Hogg couldn't help voicing his thoughts aloud.

Emilia had long since grown used to her Primarch's blasphemous remarks.

She had joined Blackwatch out of admiration for Hogg, thinking she would get close to the Primarch and carry out her plans. Who could have guessed that she'd wake up one day as his daughter? Hogg only handled the broad strokes of the complicated administration; she did everything else. It was as if Emilia were the Legion Commander.

Her former admiration had long since been completely destroyed by Hogg's ridiculous behavior. "Forget it! I'll just think of it as raising a child." Looking at Hogg rolling around on the floor and complaining, Emilia could only console herself that way.

"My Primarch, since you're always saying Macragge is rich in resources, why not go visit your brother? We could recruit from there, couldn't we?"

"...You're right! How did I not think of that? Guilliman's so good at managing things. As his eleventh brother, it's not unreasonable for me to ask him for some men! Emilia, you're so clever—you're almost as smart as me."

"Oh, yes! The Primarch is the smartest. Go on and play, then! I've got work to do, so stop bothering me."

Even a Space Marine's superhuman body couldn't keep Emilia from feeling worn out as she waded through a mountain of paperwork.

After leaving the Legion Commander's office, Hogg went to the bridge and issued his orders. The fleet would leave a squad of warriors on Coral to wait for the Alicia mining team; the rest of the ships would head for Macragge. He also told an Astropath to message Guilliman: "Thirteenth brother, your big brother's coming to see you."

Once the orders were given, the Blacklight Fleet's engines began to accelerate. The Eldar ships serving as navigators moved to the head of the fleet, guiding the main force into the Webway.

Guilliman was known as "Guillidaddy," and in the future he would earn many other impressive nicknames, such as "the Ultimate Duellist," "the Elf Keeper," and "the Ogryn with Negative Psychic Potential."

Of course, those were just jokes. As a Primarch, Guilliman had maxed out his skill points in administration. Compared with his more eccentric brothers, he was probably the most normal one—after all, he'd had both a father and a mother growing up.

Before the Emperor found him, Konor, the Archon of Macragge, had taken him in as his adopted son. He had entrusted Guilliman's care to his steward, Tarasha Euten. The two of them had filled the roles of father and mother during Guilliman's childhood.

Konor had been a nearly perfect father (a hundred times better than the Emperor), but he was later assassinated in a coup. Euten, who remained, loved her adopted son Guilliman all the more.

A few years ago, the Emperor had personally led a fleet on the Great Crusade. On Espandor, he heard the story of Guilliman. Later, the Emperor met Guilliman on Macragge, which had already been under his rule for five years. By then, Macragge was self-sufficient and had begun trading with the surrounding systems. Then, of course, came the predictable family reunion.

Once Guilliman had received his Legion, he had actually reclaimed more worlds than anyone except the Luna Wolves. But he still preferred to develop his homeworld, just like Hogg.

The Macragge Sector, however, was far larger than a little place like Alicia. With its 500 Worlds, Macragge could easily be called a small empire. Its people could astonishingly live to the age of forty, making the Imperium's "benevolent rule" look rather poor by comparison.

In ancient times, if a prince had a self-sufficient domain, a prosperous and obedient population, and a powerful army, which minister—except for Zhu Biao's—could feel at ease?

So the other Primarchs were green with envy and all called Guilliman an ambitious man.

As usual, Guilliman finished dealing with the tedious administrative matters. Reports that would have been complicated and confusing to an ordinary person took him less than an hour to process. Normally, he would take a break and have some tea at this point, but his mother, Lady Euten, came over with a message.

"Child, your brother Hogg Menethil, Primarch of the Eleventh Legion, Blackwatch, is coming to visit Macragge. He's bringing his fleet, too." Lady Euten, usually so composed, did not seem pleased by the news.

"Blackwatch? What are they coming here for?"

The message contained just one sentence: [Thirteenth brother, your big brother's coming to see you!] It was a perfectly ordinary line, but Guilliman was politically sensitive enough to read more into it.

Guilliman didn't know much about his brother. What little information he had gathered came from merchants arriving from the Alicia Sector. The only unusual thing was the Blacklight Cult that had traveled with the merchant caravans.

Guilliman happened to have a copy of the so-called Blacklight Scripture on his bookshelf. He'd read it himself and even attended one of their prayer ceremonies.

To be honest, Guilliman found it rather interesting. He'd even gotten a little Primarch figurine out of it. Besides, the Blacklight Sect had said and done nothing to threaten Macragge, and its doctrine closely matched the Imperial Truth, except that it also involved worshipping his brother.

But Guilliman was wary of the Blackwatch Legion. The reason was simple: the Legion was too unusual. The Primarchs' private discussions had led them to believe that, like the Space Wolves, it was a "military police Legion" directly under their father, the Emperor.

Perturabo, the only one who had ever spoken with Hogg, had kept silent on the matter. Some veterans also said that back when the Eleventh Legion had still been known as the Dark Raiders, they had liked to roam everywhere, collecting all kinds of strange things.

This only made the Primarchs more certain of Blackwatch's true identity. And now they were coming with a fleet, too.

Having thought it through, Guilliman turned to Lady Euten. "Mother, I think they've come with ill intent. We mustn't give them anything to criticize. In that case, let's welcome them with the highest honors. And have the fleet return to Macragge as well."