The Chapter’s high-ranking officers looked at one another, but no one spoke up in opposition.
With the success rate of recruitment effectively guaranteed and brand-new weapons being pulled out of thin air, no one dared to suggest Huron was falsely using the Emperor’s name.
If Huron truly was the Emperor’s Chosen, wouldn’t opposing Huron be the same as opposing the Emperor?
Furthermore, the idea of Huron declaring himself the Tyrant of Badab was something they had all agreed upon.
Seeing no opposition, Huron nodded in satisfaction.
“Since no one objects, Garreon, you will lead the Apothecarion.
Begin culturing the organs for all our stored gene-seed and commence the modification of new recruits.
The Emperor has revealed to me that for the next twenty-nine Terran days, our recruitment process will be under His divine protection.
Inform me immediately if you encounter any difficulties.”
Chief Apothecary Garreon nodded.
“I will complete the organ cultivation as quickly as possible.
However, Chapter Master, where shall we prioritize the selection of aspirants?”
With a one-hundred-percent success rate, genetic compatibility was no longer the most critical metric.
The pool of potential recruits suddenly became vast.
“First, select those among the Chapter serfs who previously failed the modification process.
Then, look to the ship captains, serf commanders, and boarding parties.
If there are individuals skilled in administration and governance, they should also be prioritized for selection.”
Huron had already planned out the recruitment priority, though he would have preferred to wait for the first batch of Auxilia to be trained so he could pick the best from among them.
But considering the morale of the Chapter, he needed a large-scale success first to instill confidence in everyone before he could push forward with subsequent reforms.
“Next, the Armory.
Amanneus, arrange a warehouse for me.
From now on, I will place the equipment bestowed daily by the Emperor inside it.
You may collect it directly.”
“As you command, Chapter Master.” Curiosity sparkled in the eyes of Master of the Forge Amanneus.
He believed the recruitment success was the Emperor’s blessing, but he didn’t quite believe these fresh-off-the-line weapons were divine gifts.
Rather than a gift from the Emperor, he suspected the Emperor had granted the Chapter Master some powerful STC templates.
Some powerful STC templates could produce items without consuming equivalent matter or energy—truly “reversing the meter,” so to speak.
This matched the Chapter Master’s performance perfectly.
Amanneus couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.
As a Techmarine who had studied on Mars and was officially certified by the Adeptus Mechanicus, his passion for STC research was no less than that of any tech-priest.
The fact that the Chapter Master didn’t explicitly mention having STCs was likely to prevent those vultures in the Mechanicus from trying to coerce or steal them.
Regardless, the prize was already in the pot.
Once the Chapter grew strong, the Chapter Master surely wouldn’t mind sharing some STCs with the Armory for research, just as the Iron Hands or Salamanders did.
“One more thing,” Huron continued, having settled the matter of the new recruits.
“Brother Odinson will represent me in the governance of Badab.
Go to your respective companies and see if anyone is willing to assist him in his administration.”
The officers looked at each other.
The Astral Claws were a Chapter that found glory only in battle.
Asking them to govern mortals was akin to exile or punishment.
Among them, Captain Valerius Corien of the 2nd Company had the most visceral reaction.
“Chapter Master, why?
Why punish Battle-Brothers who have committed no wrong?!”
Seeing his bulging eyes and furious expression, Huron sighed.
“Fine.
Your Tiger Claws needn’t worry about this.”
The Tiger Claws had been secretly sheltered by the Astral Claws for a long time.
Huron knew the culture of that Chapter was purely bellicose; they lived only for war.
As the nominal 2nd Company Captain but the actual Chapter Master of the Tiger Claws, Corien was the fiercest fighter and the most loyal to his men.
Naturally, hearing what sounded like a sentence of “administrative duty”—which was worse than death to him—he jumped out in protest.
Huron explained, “I am not exiling or punishing them.
Governing mortals is a means to better carry out the Emperor’s Great Work.
Leaving Badab to those mortal nobles and allowing them to ruin the Emperor’s subjects is a disgrace.”
“Most importantly, if we do not develop Badab properly, we will lack high-quality recruits, sufficient logistics, and a massive fleet.
We cannot simply wait for the Emperor to provide every piece of equipment.
Making Badab flourish is the true practice of the Emperor’s Way.”
Seeing Huron invoke the Emperor’s name again, the others fell into thought.
The most important factor was that Huron’s words made sense.
They currently had two thousand men relying on the Emperor’s gifts, but what about when the army expanded further?
They couldn’t have soldiers waiting around for gear forever.
Therefore, governing Badab properly was a necessity.
High Chaplain Damian voiced his support.
“True.
The Reclusiarium should have some Chaplains interested in the enlightenment of mortals.”
The Chief Librarian followed suit.
“There are many psykers on Badab.
Since the success rate of modification is so high, expanding and training our Librarius is of the utmost importance.”
Neither the Chaplains nor the Librarians were professional administrators, but they were enough for Huron’s purposes.
He wasn’t some Astartes supremacist.
Even if he were, the Chapter—even with the new recruits—only numbered two thousand.
How could they possibly manage Badab, a world with a recorded population of fifty billion?
These Space Marines were actually meant to provide legitimacy for Odinson.
The true backbone of his administration would be the Chapter Auxilia, whom Huron planned to train using the system.
Currently, the system could train two million troops at once.
By adjusting the training standards, he could produce two million grassroots administrators in a few months.
Only with such a force could Huron wipe out the Badab nobility, centralize power, and turn a puppet state into an effectively controlled territory.
With the arrangements finished, the meeting adjourned, and everyone went about their business.
Garreon included the “Pseudo-Astartes”—those who had failed modification but survived—into the reserve pool, along with many commanders from the Chapter serfs.
As per the Chapter Master’s request, Garreon also selected some clerical and administrative staff as aspirants.
These individuals would, like Odinson, focus primarily on the governance of Badab.
Once the aspirants were in place, Garreon led the Apothecaries in beginning the modification surgeries.
Initially, everyone was cautious, fearing an accident.
But with the double protection of the system and “the Emperor,” the Apothecaries soon found the process almost boring.
They would open the incision, insert the gene-seed and the superhuman organs, and then…
nothing.
They didn’t have to do anything else.
The aspirant’s body would complete the rest of the process on its own.
At this level of difficulty, let alone a full Apothecary, even an apprentice could handle it.
To increase efficiency, Garreon simply handed the surgeries over to the apprentices as practice, leaving one Apothecary to supervise while he and the others focused on culturing more organs.
In this manner, over a thousand gene-seeds were implanted in less than ten days, without a single failure.
Under such a terrifying pace, even with Huron’s extra aid, the Armory couldn’t churn out a thousand sets of Power Armor fast enough.
Amanneus was sweating bullets from the pressure.
Fortunately, these new recruits would require a period of training and physical development before they were formally armored.
For now, they could simply rotate through training suits.
Huron looked at the summary on his data-slate: [Total Battle-Brothers: 2,026.
Bolter Deficit: 219.
Power Armor Deficit: 633…]
He couldn’t help but feel like a revolutionary leader starting from scratch.
“Back when the unit first started, we only had two thousand men and a thousand guns…”
As for what kind of “men” and what kind of “guns” they were…
well, best not to ask.
Now that the recruitment was underway, it was time to build up Badab and train the Auxilia.
His civilian factories were already hungry for work.