Badab in 720.M41

Compared to the Lamenters, who could at least maintain contact with Imperial authorities and secure some support and supplies, the logistics of the Mantis Warriors could only be described as tragic.

As a region directly facing the heart of the Maelstrom, the Warp routes of the Endymion Star Cluster were exceptionally chaotic and almost entirely isolated from the rest of the Imperium, making Imperial supply shipments naturally extremely difficult.

Most of the Imperial worlds here were feudal worlds, and though the Mantis Warriors were practically the masters of this star cluster, their backward productivity could not provide them with proper logistical support.

Most importantly, as descendants of the White Scars gene-seed and a successor chapter of the Marauders, they did not inherit the bold and carefree nature of the White Scars and the Marauders, instead acting like taciturn rangers who quietly guarded their own corner of Endymion.

They had almost no communication with other Imperial factions, and the only force they maintained long-term cooperation with was the Deathwatch, fighting various Xenos enemies in the Maelstrom region together.

But the Deathwatch could not provide the Mantis Warriors with sufficient supplies either.

Over time, the Mantis Warriors Chapter grew increasingly impoverished.

By now, they even faced a growing shortage of various gene-therapies required to assist in recruit augmentation, forcing reserve initiates to fight side by side with them for extended periods without augmentation in order to weed out superior recruits and ensure the success rate of the implantation surgery.

It was precisely this practice, paired with the chivalrous ethos inherited from the White Scars bloodline, that made the relationship between the Mantis Warriors and the ordinary people of the Endymion Star Cluster increasingly harmonious, even giving rise to many spontaneous myths and legends about the Mantis Warriors among the locals.

Therefore, under these circumstances, facing the Astral Claws Chapter who had come from afar, the Mantis Warriors appeared somewhat reserved.

Second Company Captain Carl did not mind this. After exchanging greetings, she handed the list of gifts to Chapter Master Saris.

Just like Forlorn, Saris was also plagued by supply issues, so upon seeing the contents of the list, he was similarly dazzled by this pie falling from the sky.

Unlike Forlorn, however, he remained silent for a moment and asked, "What is the meaning of these supplies?"

"These are simply gifts," Carl replied, unfazed. "However, Chapter Master Huron does hope that your esteemed chapter can dispatch forces to fight side by side with us. In particular, your chapter's intelligence and information are what we need."

As an ancient chapter that had rooted itself in the Maelstrom for millennia, even though they had long operated solely within the Endymion Star Cluster, they possessed a vast amount of information regarding the Maelstrom.

Especially the specific locations of those human pirate fleets and even pirate kingdoms.

Huron had no desire to let the Raider Fleet wander around relying on luck; he preferred to strike the enemy's bases directly, wipe out their fleets in one fell swoop, and incidentally raid their vaults.

This was the underlying logic of the Astral Claws.

Saris looked over the three hundred sets of basic equipment and the munitions numbering in the tens of thousands, especially the ten Land Raiders, and nodded in agreement.

"We can dispatch three companies, one strike cruiser, and two frigates. Information on the Maelstrom can also be shared, provided your chapter can guarantee our supplies."

Unsurprisingly, Saris also relinquished the right to distribute the spoils of war.

Despite being taciturn and independent, the spirit of chivalry still flowed within the bloodline of the Mantis Warriors.

Moreover, one felt weak after taking food from others, and indebted after accepting gifts.

The gifts sent by the Astral Claws were practically worth half the value of the chapter outside of its fleet; faced with such a generous offering, he no longer had the face to demand a share of the spoils.

Or rather, he had already tacitly accepted that this gift was the return payment.

Damn it! Don't get me subjected to the Chapter Master's iron fist!

Carl was somewhat speechless. She had not even spoken yet, so why had the opposing side surrendered on their own?

Blimey, divide the spoils of war properly, will you!

After a period of negotiation, Hans and Carl finally managed to drag these two stubborn oxen back onto the right track, agreeing on the general framework of distribution based on battle merits, with the information provided by the Mantis Warriors treated as a major contribution.

Due to intermittent astropathic communications, the more specific distribution plan required Saris and Forlorn to accompany their respective dispatched fleets and travel to Badab to negotiate with Huron.

As they respectively prepared to depart, owing to the Warp's influence within the Maelstrom, Badab had already reached the year 720.M41.

Following a year of development, the Palatos Hive looked vastly different.

The training of the Auxilia had never ceased. With over eight billion Auxilia members graduating across six batches over the past year, the Badab Government's control over the entire planet had reached an unprecedented level.

These eight billion Auxilia were not all residents of the Palatos Hive; a considerable portion hailed from the other thirteen hives, all to tighten control over those other hives.

According to a census, all the hives of Badab combined housed a population of nearly seventy billion, exceeding the nominal fifty billion by almost half.

Even so, the Badab Government had completely secured this population of seventy billion, refusing to parley with the nobility and instead relying purely on its own efforts to cultivate the Auxilia from scratch.

Two years ago, Odinson had been consumed by anxiety over how to govern the Palatos Hive, racking his brain to figure out where to pull together one billion or even more grassroots officials.

Now, such worries were entirely unnecessary, as personnel were more than abundant.

Yet his workload had only increased, not because the government's controlled territory had expanded, but because there were simply too many damned bastards, and there was no catching up to the killings.

Since they had not compromised with the nobility nor utilized the old administrative systems established by the nobles, the new government subjected all aristocrats and their retainers to comprehensive trials.

The beasts and bastards alone who warranted execution filled the valleys and numbered over one billion.

This shocking proportion was even more terrifying than the Great Purges in Huron's memory, but he had agreed to the figure without a moment's hesitation, issuing the execution orders in his capacity as Sector Governor.

Because he had already been merciful, merciful, and merciful yet again.

Considering the backdrop of the Warhammer universe and the actual conditions in each hive, the relevant legal standards had been repeatedly lowered.

Manslaughter by negligence carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, heat-of-the-moment killings warranted life imprisonment wherever possible, and even offenses such as the trafficking of psychoactive drugs saw Huron suppress his revulsion to sentence bastards with small quantities, low frequencies, and minimal harm to life imprisonment whenever feasible.

Consequently, even after such continuous concessions, over a billion bastard scoundrels were sentenced to death.

Upon reviewing the relevant charges and crimes, Huron directly chose to issue the personal orders sending these doomed wretches straight to hell.

The Battle Sister incident—which had pushed him to the brink of armed rebellion—was already treated as routine in these reports, with similar occurrences reaching a scale measured in the billions.

Not to mention all the other charges and crimes whose mere textual descriptions were enough to cause his blood pressure to skyrocket.

Other high-ranking officials of the chapter and government concurred with this stance, and many Tiger Claws even felt the executions were not numerous enough.

With a unanimous consensus among the leadership, and coupled with the fact that hardly anyone within the entire governmental apparatus held any fondness for the nobility, the relevant orders were naturally executed with strict adherence.