The Wheels Within Wheels Are a Crucial Part of the Imperium That One Simply Must Taste

Before long, Galien's face appeared on the comm-screen. "Chapter Master, is there anything you need?"

Huron wore a solemn expression. "I have received a revelation from the Emperor, and we shall be blessed by His divine grace. Go and retrieve a gene-seed along with the matching implanted organs, and select a chapter serf with low genetic compatibility but exceptional other abilities. I have a feeling that our initiate implantation surgery will go exceptionally smoothly."

Galien frowned upon hearing this.

Since he was not yet the deranged Red Corsairs Lord of the Fallen, he naturally felt quite displeased with the practice of using a battle-brother's heirloom seed for experimentation.

However, Huron had successfully broken through with the remnant forces after the previous Chapter Master was killed, and he had displayed extraordinary command talent in the subsequent battles, earning immense prestige within the chapter. Thus, Galien could not directly refute him.

Therefore, he could only nod. "Understood, I will attend to it right away."

Yet he already had an idea in mind. Since the Chapter Master had not explicitly specified that it had to be a gene-seed of the Astral Claws, using one from the Tiger Claws Chapter should probably be fine, right?

As for why the Astral Claws possessed the gene-seed of their successor the Tiger Claws, well, you shouldn't ask—asking meant it was a little secret.

Naturally, Galien was not the sort to throw a teammate under the bus, so he intended to choose a battle serf who was battle-hardened and possessed a tremendously resolute will.

During the implantation surgery, a steadfast will could combat rejection. This was why the selection process of most chapters involved various torturous stages.

While waiting for Galien to prepare the surgical procedure, Huron continued to study his system.

Opening the map interface, Huron discovered that Badab was surprisingly not colored in the green that represented directly controlled territory, but rather in blue, which represented allies and puppet states. What made it even more exasperating for him was that the surrounding territories were not unified at all, but rather a mess of large and small blue allies.

These allies even formed a cluster of various factions of all sizes.

For example, Angstrom, the sole forge world in the Maelstrom region, was an ally belonging to the same "Imperium of Man" faction as the Astral Claws, while it in turn shared the "Cult of the Omnissian Vitality" faction with the forge world of Ryza to the west of the Maelstrom.

Ryza belonged to the "Adeptus Mechanicus" faction, and the "Adeptus Mechanicus" was in the same faction as the "Imperium of Man".

You could say it made sense since the Adeptus Mechanicus truly cooperated with the Imperium, but why were other forces, such as the Lamenters and the Mantis Warriors, also treated as two separate entities?

Furthermore, the Astral Claws, the Lamenters, and the Mantis Warriors all belonged to the "Maelstrom Wardens" faction, yet the Mantis Warriors simultaneously belonged to the "White Scars" faction, while the Lamenters simultaneously belonged to the "Blood Angels" faction.

Meanwhile, the White Scars, the Blood Angels, and several other founding chapters simultaneously belonged to the "Astartes" faction.

The Deathwatch chapter within the "Astartes" faction simultaneously belonged to the "Ordo Xenos" faction, and the "Ordo Xenos" in turn belonged to the "Inquisition" faction.

Layer upon layer, the mechanism of grand factions enclosing smaller ones left Huron dizzy, feeling that it was no less convoluted than the Dark Angels' inner-circle mechanism.

No wonder the Dark Angels were the First Legion; as it turned out, wheels within wheels formed the fundamental system of the Imperium of Man!

However, leaving other forces aside for the moment, Huron simply could not look at that patch of blue over Badab without feeling annoyed. The puppet state mechanism not only reduced the number of factories provided by the territory, but it also caused him to miss out on numerous buffs.

To put it simply, if Badab were directly controlled territory, his military-industrial capacity could immediately be pushed to around 20 factories or even more, and even if he needed to dispatch forces to quell rebellions and maintain stability, it would still be entirely worth it.

Yet this was not something Huron could decide just by wishing it; Badab was likewise governed by wheels within wheels above, with those nobles mutually allied and dividing power among themselves. Even the Astral Claws were unable to meddle, forcing them to temporarily cooperate with them.

Without actual authority, the system did not recognize this as his directly controlled territory.

Therefore, after pondering the matter, Huron selected the second national focus.

New Homeland (0/360)
Description: We have occupied Badab, but all of this remains merely on the surface. The terror brought by violence can force the nobility to bow, but it cannot make the people genuinely accept us. We need to properly develop Badab and forge it into our true home.
Effect: A 5-year "Homeland Construction" buff, increasing civilian factory efficiency by 10% and unlocking a series of construction and core-integration decisions.

This national focus required a year to complete, but it was well worth the wait for Huron.

The large-scale wars that the Astral Claws would participate in were few, and their existing forces could fully maintain the status quo.

Rather than anxiously expanding his military, Huron preferred to build Badab into a true rear base; he certainly did not want rebellions popping up everywhere in his homeland while he was out fighting campaigns.

Once Huron had chosen his national focus, Galien completed his preparations and sent Huron a message stating that everything was ready.

When Huron arrived at the operating room, he saw Galien, already attired in surgical equipment, along with the battle serf lying on the operating table with a tense expression.

This was a standard tough guy with bulging, solid muscles, a scar cutting across his left eye socket, and the bionic artificial eye originally inside the socket already removed, leaving only a hollow void.

Huron recalled his name from his memories: Garrison Odinson.

He had originally been a planetary governor, and after an Orks invasion, he concurrently served as the PDF commander, leading the planet in resistance for quite some time. Later on, the Astral Claws came to support them, deemed the man a talent, and took him away to serve as a chapter serf.

Now he not only managed the mortal internal affairs of the chapter, but he was also responsible for commanding the battle serfs in combat, making him a remarkably well-rounded and useful asset.

Moreover, his prolonged, conscientious dedication earned him a higher standing within the chapter than certain Astartes initiates. It was a pity his genetic compatibility was extremely low—virtually zero—otherwise he would have already become a battle-brother.

Huron had not expected Galien to select Odinson as the test subject; if a useful talent like this were to die, both he and the original owner would experience a heartache for quite a while.

Yet, upon second thought, Odinson was indeed suitable. Firstly, his genetic compatibility was exceptionally low, and he was already over three hundred years old, having undergone a rejuvenation procedure; as long as he could succeed, then basically any human could succeed.

Furthermore, he had just been fretting that the chapter lacked a suitable candidate to play mind games with those nobles—after all, they couldn't possibly expect him, a sheer Xiao Bai at political scheming, to do it himself, could they?

A successfully augmented Odinson would be exceptionally well-suited. Not only did he possess the special status of being "Astartes" alongside the backing of the Astral Claws, but he also had abundant aristocratic experience, making it a match made in heaven.

"Chapter Master." Odinson had not expected Huron to personally come and check on him, and he hastily performed an Aquila salute across his chest.

The original Huron might simply have nodded and walked past, but now Huron returned the Aquila salute as well. "Congratulations, Odinson. You are about to become our battle-brother."

"It is my honor!" Odinson could not hide the agitation on his tense visage. Following decades of life as a chapter serf, he had long believed he possessed no hope left, yet never did he expect that he would still have a chance!