Evan seemed to have no good candidates for Chaplain. Ten men were with the Chief Apothecary, and ten were studying on the Forge World. Of the twenty-two who had campaigned alongside him for years, quite a few were stationed on other worlds. Evan intended to have William take command of the Second Company, while Xiao Lan would command the Tenth Company and lead the recruits.
There were also those who had gone off to command the Command Fleet... Hey, Nian Cijin seemed to have made a good impression. Everyone in the fleet spoke highly of him. (Mostly because he had brought back plenty of ammunition and done an excellent job implementing their fundamental strategic policy of fleecing the Adeptus Mechanicus.)
Recruitment began in earnest on Scaria two months after the Astra Militarum soldiers started taking leave in rotation (going planetside to argue). As the saying went, as long as I never designated a recruiting world, every world I visited was my recruiting world.
Nian Cijin was forcibly dragged down to familiarize himself with the recruitment process.
Meanwhile, after returning from the exhibition hall of the Emperor's deeds, old Captain Sloft shut himself away in his room and ignored everything outside. This exhausted Adjutant Wienas. She had to handle all sorts of supply issues and periodically bail people out of the planetary constabulary. Those grunts who resorted to fists whenever they lost an argument about the Emperor's divinity kept her run off her feet.
In the desert, the Emperor's damaged statue had been repaired. After using every sort of scanning method, everyone finally confirmed that there was nothing else inside, and it was put back into service.
At the foot of the enormous Emperor's Icon, the Crimson Tide's Astartes led everyone in "paying homage" to the Emperor's sacred visage. Then, shouting