Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

"Less than two hours ago, a Charter Fleet Commander I sent to the Maelstrom area reported to me: he is sure that at least one company belonging to the Imperial Fists has controlled the main star of the Endinion Cluster, and the governor who rules there is willing to pay taxes to Terra."

"Are you sure? My communications personnel on the front line have not sent back any news."

"The Charter Captains sent to the Maelstrom area are carefully selected and they are trustworthy."

"Charter Captains? I thought you would rather call yourselves Rogue Traders."

"In a serious occasion, a more serious title is naturally needed."

Kelsey-Demidov, the newly appointed spokesperson for the Charter Captains, is the agent of the collective will of tens of millions of Rogue Trader Dynasties in the galaxy: although this is only the second time she has walked into the parliament hall that can arbitrate the fate of the entire human empire, her innate noble temperament makes her look like a king who was born and raised here.

The exquisite smile involved the facial skin that had undergone at least three rejuvenation surgeries, and the nails wrapped in fine gold were casually knocking on the central round table that symbolized the highest power: this nearly nine-meter-diameter masterpiece was made of a whole piece of priceless petrified mahogany from the last forest in the Nordic region. Scattered around it were all the noble figures worthy of respect in the Terra Senate.

Now, their eyes were all focused on Demidov: the same action was done by the low-level officials who curled up at the edge of the hall. Their number was between thirty and fifty. Unless they were designated by the Terran elders, these people had no right to speak in this sacred hall.

But as long as they walked out of this hall, each of these low-level officials was a power beast that could easily decide the life and death, honor and disgrace of an entire star zone: even the policy implementation of the seal holder himself could not be separated from these bureaucratic groups who looked like servitors with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes.

"The Endinion Cluster can threaten Badab's territory in the east of the Maelstrom. Perhaps we can send another fleet that is absolutely loyal to Holy Terra: Dorne's warriors are loyal, but they are absolutely unwilling to interfere in more matters."

"I agree. Some things still need to be carried out by our own warriors: the Ministry of Justice has an armed fleet in the Maelstrom. I can transfer them there immediately. Their strength is enough to rival the elite Solar Auxiliary Army. With the current combat power of the Badab army, those guys can't win the bloodshed that may break out."

"There is no need to be so extreme, Your Excellency the Marshal of the Ministry of Justice."

"This is not extreme. This is just a law enforcement action in accordance with the laws of the Empire, Mr. Ossian."

The Marshal of Justice turned slightly and looked at his colleague who disagreed with him: Who would have thought that this guy who was so cautious that he even needed a magnifying glass to read documents would be the first Minister of the Imperial Finance Department appointed by the Seal Holder? And he could also be listed at the round table of the high lords?

I heard that he even fainted at blood?

The Marshal of Justice, who came from the military, suppressed the sneer in his heart.

"Moreover, since our Ministry of Justice's action is to solve the long-standing problem of overdue tithes on Badab Prime, why should your Ministry of Finance be so restrained? As long as Badab can pay their taxes, I think your department's next financial report will look better, right?"

"The Ministry of Finance's statistics will not change for a planet."

Minister of Finance Ossian gathered his luxurious robes and turned a deaf ear to the Marshal of Justice's implication. He took a document from the attendant behind him, wiped off the ink on it calmly, and then picked up his magnifying glass again.

"What's more, Badab's current armed conflict is no longer about the taxation of a world. The tax commissioner I sent there visited every industrial zone and hive city on the main planet of Badab and came up with a statistical record that is not optimistic: Badab may not be able to pay their taxes at all."

"Even if the judges of your Ministry of Justice squeeze out the water from every inch of soil there, they cannot pay the taxes: the economic figures that these local nobles have concealed in the past few decades are too shocking. Even if we collect taxes at the lowest amount, Badab will definitely rise up in resistance."

"I am not surprised at all."

The Marshal of Justice searched the documents and record board in front of him, and then glanced at his colleagues present: the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the forging commander who spoke on behalf of the other head of the double-headed eagle, the navigator envoy with noble blood, and Lady Hesula, who symbolizes the Star Torch Court.

The Marshal of Justice knocked on the table: after he was sure that the representative of the wandering trader who was speaking had acquiesced to this.

"We are not surprised by the plight of Badab Prime, are we? Our goal from the beginning was not to collect their taxes, at least that was not the main goal: our goal was to repel the five hundred worlds' step-by-step pressure, and then dismantle Badab's Great Vortex hegemony and rescue the worlds they rule."

"An internal force maintains a relative balance, and no force can make the Great Vortex region larger, which can serve as the stable eastern gateway of Holy Terra: and only the scattered planetary governors will meekly pay their obligations, which is much more important than Badab Prime."

"I don't deny the justice of the purpose."

The Rogue Trader nodded.

"But we should note that we have a problem in the first step of execution: I don't want to provoke disputes, my lords, but we must figure out why our original reasonable demands have fallen into this situation? Only by finding the mistakes can we have the possibility of peacefully resolving this crisis."

"You don't need to worry about this, Madam Demidov."

The Marshal of Justice did not speak. The one who spoke on his behalf was the steward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who sat in the second honorable position: this celestial official who took over the authority of the seal holder Malcador has a natural serious tone, but his face is childish enough to make others frown.

"Sorry."

The wandering merchant nodded.

"But if I remember correctly, the last time I walked into this hall, the one who spoke on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be..."

"Sir Simeon-Pentasien."

The steward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs nodded, and sadness accumulated between his pale eyebrows.

"He is my teacher, and he is also the second general manager of the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs who took over the power of His Excellency the Sigillite. His term of office ended when the Nikaea Incident broke out. He and his nine most loyal assistants all died in the line of duty, including almost all the leading figures in the Ministry of Internal Affairs system. I had to temporarily take over his responsibilities."

"Sorry."

The Rogue Trader lowered his head hastily.

She had no doubt about this, because this was a common secret of the entire Terra power structure: during the Great Crusade in the past, the Imperial Ministry of Internal Affairs, as the only monster department that could be on the same level as the Primarchs in status, had always been led by the Sigillite Malcador himself, so his most loyal and capable backbones were mostly concentrated in the power system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

As a matter of course, in order to maintain the normal operation of the Nikaea Conference, there were also a lot of internal affairs officials participating in that meeting: the result was that the personnel losses of this primary power department in the Nikaea Incident were almost more than the other Terra power institutions combined.

The only one that can be compared with the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the Ministry of Justice. The original Chief of Justice Lantar died on the spot, which led to the successful replacement of the former District Law Marshal Roll: The first half of the new marshal's life was spent in pure killing and trial. During his short leadership, the Ministry of Justice has shown an increasingly dangerous and tough style.

"Who would have thought..."

The word [Nikaia] was like a heavy ballast stone, and the deadly atmosphere instantly spread throughout the round table: Only the most leisurely navigators and representatives of the Star Torch Court could continue their whispers in their minds. After all, the crisis being discussed at the moment has nothing to do with their departments.

"Mr. Brahm."

The Star Torch Court representative blinked, and the voice echoed in their minds.

"I remember that countless pilot families were also traumatized in Nikea."

"Yes."

The pilot noble nodded: even if he spoke with the psychic power in his mind, his voice had an indelible local accent.

"Too many people died. One of my distant uncles and my niece died there."

"Please observe a moment of silence."

"What a pity. Their children were only six months old."

"Fortunately, they had organized an engagement ceremony for their children before Nicaea."

"..."

Mrs. Hesula was silent. It took her a few minutes to find her language.

"Then, have you ever thought about why such a tragedy happened? Members of our Star Torch Court did not attend the Nicaea meeting, but even so, we were strictly forbidden to discuss any words related to Nicaea. We only knew that a terrible disaster had occurred there."

"To tell you the truth."

The navigator quietly glanced at his colleagues who were discussing.

"I was there, I'm sure I attended the meeting on Nicaea, but I don't remember anything. Like you, I only know that a terrible disaster broke out on Nicaea, and Master Magnus and his Thousand Sons Legion were accused of being involved and were excommunicated by the Emperor."

"But it's strange: other psyker organizations were not affected at all."

Madam Hesula's eyes flickered.

"Especially the think tanks in the Astartes Legion, they can actually operate normally."

"Didn't they say that these legion think tanks and Master Magnus were on the same front?"

"That's not the reason."

The navigator shook his head mysteriously.

"I'd like to hear more about it."

Madam Hesula rubbed her fingertips.

"I personally owe you a favor."

"It's not a favor: I just heard a few words from hearsay."

The navigator took a sip of his drink.

"Although the Emperor ordered the purging of all memories about Nikaea, some records have been preserved. We can connect some clues and clues together: the problem is not the think tank, nor anything related to psychics. The real cause of the disaster may be the Thousand Sons Legion."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because the Emperor's reason for imprisoning Lord Magnus is very wrong."

"We all know that a large number of high-ranking officers of the Thousand Sons were directly arrested or even executed on Nikaea, but do you know what the charges for their arrest and execution are: the arrested Thousand Sons officers were accused by the Guards of no longer being pure, and those who were directly executed Thousand Sons..."

"Their charges are treason and rebellion!"

"There is also the sin of depravity: and it is about the sin of depravity involving aliens!"

"Alien?"

Mrs. Hesula took a deep breath.

"You mean..."

"That's right."

The navigator nodded.

"There are rumors now that the tragedy on Nicaea was caused by a small group of rebellious officers among the Thousand Sons senior officials who colluded with foreign forces to launch an attack on the empire's senior officials: and it is said that they also insulted the gene seeds of the Thousand Word Legion. , making other Thousand Sons warriors no longer reliable, so Prospero needs to be blocked until the relevant test results come out. "

"Colluding with aliens?"

Mrs. Hesula was a little disbelieving.

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"This...how is this possible?"

"I didn't believe it at first, but have you heard about Lord Magnus? Although Lord Magnus is recovering, the Emperor once publicly declared that he was very disappointed with some of Lord Magnus' actions. , and it is said that the Imperial Army also accused Lord Magnus."

"The crime is that he was not strict with his subordinates and failed to ensure the loyalty of his troops to humanity."

"Such a charge can actually be brought against a Primarch: one can imagine how angry the Emperor was this time. The charges against the Thousand Sons Legion should not be wrong. Some of them did collude with alien forces. ”

"What alien? What alien has the power to contaminate a Legion of Astartes?"

"Is this..."

The navigator hesitated to speak.

"Just listen, this is just a piece of gossip I overheard: some distant relatives in our family were urgently recruited by the Emperor and the Imperial Army as soon as the Nicaea incident broke out. They were ordered to Guide an entire expedition fleet to the northwest of the galaxy, and forget what happened after that.”

"But I heard that after the Emperor left Nikea, he and some of the Imperial Guard soldiers did disappear for a period of time, along with a large number of elite mortal auxiliary troops: some of the numbers of these auxiliary troops were reappeared not long ago. Returning to the empire, some of them have never been heard from again to this day.”

"What did you think they did?"

"The northwest of the Milky Way..."

Mrs. Hesula thought for a moment.

"Isn't this what it used to be..."

"Yes, Ran Dan."

The navigator chewed this word: In today's human empire, only the absolute top figures like them are qualified to remember this name, and even they are only allowed to remember this name and the meaning behind this name. That long bloody history.

"The empire's biggest enemy back then, the alien empire that took an entire generation to finally eliminate: If there are still some remnants left among them, and if these remnants can affect the Thousand Sons Legion, I am absolutely convinced of this anyway. Wouldn’t be surprised.”

"They can definitely do it: otherwise, how could the Eleventh Legion back then..."

The navigator did not continue.

Because directly opposite him, the legal marshal had stood up again.

"So, I think you should have understood the origin of this series of tragedies."

The words were spoken to the rogue trader.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs lost a large number of elites during the chaos in Nicaea: including the current Director-General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Commissioner of the Maelstrom who was specially designated by the Master of the Seal and was fully responsible for the affairs of the Maelstrom: the death of the latter This is the direct cause of the current crisis.”

"If the Commissioner of the Maelstrom had not died on Nikaea, he should have rushed to Badab in person to preside over the taxation issue after the meeting in Nikaea: instead of letting a group of low-level tax collectors and the finance staff to get things to where they are now.”

After saying this, the Legal Marshal did not forget to nod to the Minister of Finance.

"Sorry, Mr. Ossian, I in no way meant to condemn your men."

"I know, Lord Rohr."

The Chancellor of Finance looked innocent, just stroking his magnifying glass quietly: Who would have thought that this seemingly noble and amiable high-level personage would actually be the one who, among all the people present, frightens the governors of the empire the most? , with just one touch of his pen tip, he can plunge countless worlds into hell on earth.

"For the crisis in Badab, our Ministry of Finance does bear certain responsibilities, but all responsibilities should not be attributed to us: the officials I sent are all the most capable, and they are just fulfilling their responsibilities loyally. The problem is not with them."

"After all, according to the original plan of the Master of the Seal and the Commissioner of the Maelstrom, the Ministry of Finance itself plays the role of a sharp blade. We need to meticulously calculate the gains and losses of Badab and calculate the numbers that represent the limit of their endurance: Only in this way can the internal affairs The presence of personnel from the Ministry will make the subsequent negotiations smoother.”

"Asking for high prices, talking about money on the ground."

The Rogue Trader shook his head.

"Who would have thought that the mistake was in the first step."

"When you act, you have to act realistically."

The Chancellor of Finance was also a little helpless.

"So, my tax collectors were not informed of the future plan at all, and their level is not that high. This is all to better deter Badab and the Maelstrom: Who would have thought that they would rush over to replace them? The Maelstrom Commissioner actually made a mistake and fulfilled the originally sky-high asking price.”

"But think on the bright side, folks."

The Marshal of the Ministry of Justice banged on the table.

"At least our most important goal has been achieved now."

"Are you talking about the confrontation with the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar?"

"That's right: let Guilliman and his ambitions be exposed to the whole galaxy."

"Let them know: whose army has entered the land of the Solar Segment."

The Chancellor of Finance shrank back. He really couldn't refute this statement.

In the final analysis: no matter what the fundamental purpose of Terra provoking this crisis was, the direct reason that really made the High Lords decide to take action was because Guilliman's vassal fleet was already patrolling the space of Betangamon, because even some worlds in the Solar Segment began to wave the flag of Ultramar.

"In the face of such a threat, we will not do anything wrong."

The Rogue Trader stroked the table.

"But the price is the current crisis: the whole galaxy is watching us."

"That's right, everyone."

The Marshal of the Ministry of Justice nodded.

"Give up your illusions."

"No matter what our original purpose was, now that things have developed to the point where everyone is watching, we only have one purpose left: we must win this war of confrontation with the Five Hundred Worlds at all costs."

"Because we all know."

"When everyone in the galaxy is watching us in silence, then whether it is the issue of taxes or territory, it has become unimportant at this moment: the only important thing is the issue of majesty."

"To put it more simply: this is a matter of face."

"If we retreat this time."

"Then after this: no one will obey Terra's orders."

"That's true: but how do you think we should maintain this face?"

"..."

"This question."

"I think we need to wait for the return of His Excellency the Seal Master before we are qualified to discuss it."