Soon, the Sentinels began returning one after another to the Hive City's landing field.
Even excluding the Psykers handed over to the Imperium's Black Ships as taxes, tens of thousands remained.
The main reason for such enormous numbers was precisely that most routes planned by the Black Ship Guild were dangerous ones.
Of the many Tithe Fleets in this batch, every convoy escorted by the Mechanicus Fleet reached its destination.
Many Imperial Worlds even paid several batches of Tithes at once after nearly a century.
Of course, a great many Planetary Governors were also dealt with by the Inquisition for failing to pay their taxes.
After all, escorts from the Mechanicus Fleet were a rare opportunity, and many Tithe Fleets were enormous. Alongside the Inquisition's Black Ships, vessels from the Departmento Munitorum and the Adeptus Mechanicus also traveled with them.
Besides the Psychic Tax and Material Tax collected by the Inquisition, the Departmento Munitorum came to collect weapons and recruits, while the Adeptus Mechanicus collected its Mechanicus Tax, among other levies.
Newly appointed Planetary Governors naturally inherited their predecessors' debts. The easiest resource to export was cheap human labor. Countless Imperial citizens were reduced to a "price" to be paid, sold to other wealthy worlds or the Adeptus Mechanicus's Forge Worlds as Menials, with those worlds making up the shortfall in their Tithes.
The Psychic Tax was an enormous levy, potentially amounting to a tenth of a Hive World's population.
Of course, not every Hive City could meet its quota.
Local Imperial authorities regularly assessed the number of Psykers across the entire world and set the Psychic Tax as reasonably as possible.
For the Imperium's many unsanctioned Psykers, being sent aboard the Inquisition's Black Ships did not necessarily doom them to become fuel.
After returning to Terra, all Psykers would