Let em peep a seed
It is withholding knowledge that has led to the Empire's current piss-poor state.
Grant permission for the fights
It's a good way to blow off steam and increase morale!
Agreed on the seed.
But, recall Bulvak for discipline - but with a moderate touch. There is a command structure for a reason and he should have used it, but at the same time, the fights should be allowed and we would have allowed them if the rules were followed. He should be disciplined for not following them, not for the fights themselves.
+1
Don't allow them to access the seed, but do draft a few as discount mortal apothecaries.
And since we've got the cream of the crop, see if any of the genetors are suitable for implantation. Then we could certainly trust them to examine the stuff.
Allow the fights to continue, no reprimand. What are chapter veterans for, if not making good decisions under fire? Under metaphorical fire in this case, but still.
Now that we've got resource income that is positive, ships in serve right now will be properly maintained again.
We're now going to implement the proper fortifications on 7/3, with space for ten thousand auxiliaries/100 Marines, at level 4. Maximum rush, of course. This is 400 resources spread over 40 months...though we're going to slash the time to a quarter which I THINK is going to result in an added cost of 60 resources, two per month cut. So 460/10 = 46 per month to build this thing. Otherwise it's an up-front cost which we can actually afford at the moment.
Maximum rush on the shipyard, as well, a reduction from 9 remaining months (I think? Is it actually 8 months now? It might be eight months now) anyway to about 2 months for ABOUT 6 months' saving at a cost of 12 resources. I think.
Do NOT recall Bulvak, initiative is a positive quality in superhuman soldiers expected to fight in small groups detached from a command structure...and every one of our Astartes is now an officer of a sort, given how few of us there are and how we must expect to find ourselves leading swathes of auxiliaries should any enemies arrive.
Assign the Astartes on Zahn to, in addition to the games, examine the local forces' capabilities to find ways to integrate them into our combat doctrine, or rather reshape our combat doctrine to include Zahgun auxiliaries who we can expect should find their way into the roles best suited for them...while humans occupy the much safer, much-lower-casualty positions like "officers" and "artillery gunners" and "tank crewmen". They will serve humanity, willingly it appears. What an inspiration for the possibilities of Xenos in service to humanity.
Spread the word of such wondrous potential for improving human lives all around the Chapter, only throughout the Marines though, we will need to work on our propaganda for the regular humans. Note that this is the sort of not-exterminating-Xenos that we wish for; preserving them only as a tool for preserving and improving humanity.
We are no longer a mere Chapter, we've become a government. We are going to scour the planets (well, mostly 5/5) for the best administrators, bureaucrats, Administratum-equivalent adepts, and whatnot, to assemble a functioning sector government. We're in charge, but we need ministries of economics and trade and propaganda and agriculture and industry, to maintain our sector-wide Empire and implement our decisions with the sort of human touch that the superhuman killing machines of our Chapter simply no longer have. Promotions into these institutions will be entirely merit-based, naturally. We are going to tie the sector closer together to itself and our rule, through greater competence of said rule.
We desperately need an Apothecarion again, desperately enough to work with non-Astartes. We will certainly take the suggestion of checking the geneticists for Aspirant potential, but we will have a Prognosticator inspect them for loyalty and choose the most loyal and most skilled, and give them the honor of continuing to work more closely with the Chapter. These auxiliary apothecaries will work with the medics amongst our ranks, such as we have, and grow our knowledge. Under the watchful eyes of Prognosticator and Astartes both, they will be allowed access to geneseed for the express purpose of raising our own understanding of the science so that we can restore the Apothecarion. Some of the next-best, who we don't retain in direct Chapter service, will be given the option to move to our other worlds as transport allows, to use their science for the betterment of the rest of our worlds.
Gilded Rider is going to load up a bunch of Prognosticators and 8th Company, and begin searching 5/5 for psykers strong enough to manifest Warp phenomena. All such psykers will be gathered up and brought to the safety of the Fortress-Monastery for the moment. Anyone not strong enough to manifest phenomena is not a problem. We will ensure that anyone who is losing family members to this knows that they are effectively just going to a school, and that it is for the safety of all. We will naturally need to recruit a reasonable group of non-Astartes to actually manage the psykers, especially young ones, and this can include members of their families if they wish to accompany said psykers. Not separating very young psykers from their parents is a great way to avoid Warp-powered tantrums, y'know? Caretakers are free to leave, the psykers must be trained and must serve the Chapter with their powers. First up is definitely going to be figuring out Astropathic choirs so that we can actually communicate.
Related, an installation is to be built on Antwir for the safekeeping and training of psykers of all ages. It doesn't have to start very large but will absolutely be rushed to completion. It is to be COMPLETELY safe from the outside world of Antwir so that it is effectively just a piece of civilized world; with the one difference being that if anything escapes the compound, it's a long walk to the nearest other bit of civilization, and every inch of the ground on the way there is trying to murder you for the crime of stepping on it.
Company 3 will be ruin-diving with Company 7 after the investigations over the last couple months have evidently turned up no further corruption.
Company 2 will load up in Fatebreaker and ship off to Hardwater-5/5, primarily to be a garrisoned response force in case of problems there, but also to participate in parades and such to bolster support amongst the locals. They will also assist 8th Company in searching for psykers.
Company 6 will be moved by Peacemaker to Triarius-1/1, again as a garrison force. Scout the land, search for anything untoward that has so far been missed, etc.
Argent Raiment and Verdigris Cloak are to stop moving Auxiliaries once they've put 40k auxiliaries on the planet, and are to move to double overloading due to the route's established safety, that is 60k people total on the ship per trip, 40k of them being colonists/auxiliaries.
OK I don't remember if that's everything but, well, it's close enough. Probably.
+1, thank you MM for being the excellent plans guy.
+ 1
Thank you for doing this so I don't have to
+ 1
By the Terran Calendar: 36,133.7
You determine that, although the gene-seed is sacred, its holiness means nothing if you can't understand it. The geneticists are screened for the utmost competence and loyalty, they are subject to questioning and in several cases, their very minds are searched by means of psychic power. In the end, tens of thousands become hundreds of the skill and faith necessary, and the most brilliant handful of these receive the chance to examine a gene-seed. The least visibly healthy from the least honoured non-heretical marine, it is still of a grandeur that would warrant the death of millions if slighted.
The geneticists aren't unsupervised, a prognosticator and full squad of veterans watch over them, boltguns in hand, and wait for them to make the slightest disrespect to their gene-father's bounty. Needless to say, they are terrified but they are professionals and soon get into a steady rhythm of study. The Chapter at large is profoundly uncomfortable with the thought of mortals examining their gene-sire's legacy but they recognize the need for apothecaries as much as you and acknowledge the necessity. All that's left now is to wait for their research to yield results. In the meantime, the rank-and-file are tested to determine the brightest among them that aren't already techmarines or techmarines-in-training. These few start to study under the mortal geneticists, who struggle to teach them all that they know. This will be the work of decades but its rewards will be worth even centuries of struggle.
After the revival of the Apothecarion is set into motion you consider the problem that Bulvak Aquonus of 9th company, 10th squad has posed. On one hand, his push for Astartes-on-Zahgun fights has singlehandedly moved the Astartes from rabidly baying for xenocide to almost willing to see them slaughtered in combat for the glory of mankind, but on the other hand, he mustered his peers to pressure the captain to allow them to take place. This represents a slight deviation from the conventional hierarchy, that being the captain hears his subordinates and presents it to the Chapter Master but at the same time, The Watchtower has little care for the formalities of rank and he's gotten results. You value initiative and would've allowed them yourself, so you make a judgement and grant permission for the fights to continue.
From what the Prognosticators say of each other's dreams and the messages from freighters, overladen with the products of Xenos industry, you piece together that this move was extremely popular with 9th company. They've continued the fights and over time, they may grow into a grander spectacle of martial excellence. For his part, Bulvak seems indomitable, at one point slaying three back-to-back through physically tearing them out of their shells, hooks and all, and ripping them apart, but as time goes on, he takes to observing fights rather than participating. Supposedly he's started to take an interest in the Zahgun way of life outside of battle and has asked the Prognosticators to teach him their language. They oblige and this sets an example for the 9th company, who've started to almost enjoy their position and consider you wise for decreeing it in the first place. This has done wonders for your popularity in 9th company, elevating your respect to the same level as when you were chosen by prophecy, but is sadly limited in regards to the other companies. So be it, you're confident they'll catch on sooner or later.
At your behest, the less xenophobic and more tactically-minded veterans of 9th company start to draft plans for how to implement Zahgun
cannon fodder auxiliaries alongside human forces, putting both to the tasks in which they should, theoretically, excel. Making a completely new and "heretical" military doctrine takes time and you'll allow all that they need. You almost wish there was a proper threat to field them against but you aren't sure the cannibals on Death World #14/2- Antwir would be worth the attrition from the planet itself. All things in due time.
As it is, you invest the totality of your resources into entrenching the Chapter's power-base, as only from a sturdy foundation can you build a future for the masses of mankind, freed from the inefficient cruelties of the Imperium. A tremendous sum goes toward building a sprawling rockcrete bastion on Feral World #7/3- Overlook, to oversee their defence and ensure the wretched Xenos, the Gremlins, are contained. Likewise, you move heaven and earth to ensure the Small, Crude Shipyard in-progress receives anything it could possibly require, man or material, as soon as possible. Between the industrial output of Kauril, or Hardwater, depending, and Zahn, both projects should be complete in a timely manner and with much to spare. To that end, the maintenance of active ships, your Frigates, can resume. The larger craft will receive the attention they deserve in time, when you can afford giving it to them.
Likewise, the native psyker populations of Death World #14/2- Antwir and Civilized World #5/5- Kauril/Hardwater are too useful to the Chapter and dangerous to the general population to let them fend for themselves. You decide that #5/5 is the best place to start and arrange for two frigates, the
Gilded Rider and
Fatebreaker along with 8th and 2nd company, respectively, with a full complement of Prognosticators to be sent there, the former to search for psykers, the latter to assist and garrison the planet. Both disembark immediately.
While you're at it,
Peacemaker is to take 4th company to Feudal World #1/1- Triarius, to garrison the planet and hold as a potential strike force against minor incursions. That settled and
Argent Raiment and
Verdigris Cloak hard at work transmitting colonists to Feral World #3/3- Overlook, you take the time to draft a system of governance. Far less glamorous than the Astartes taking tithes and leaving each planet to its own devices, having a subset of sufficiently skilled mortals handling the day-to-day management will free you far more time to work with machines, and between the 7th and 3rd, desperately penitent, companies' work in the ruins of Death Worldn#14/2- Antwir, there should be little shortage. Gradually, the daunting task of finding reliable, useful bureacrats to handle lesser domestic affairs begins. Perhaps the most frightening order you've levelled on your mortal charges yet.
In addition, over the next few weeks, a couple of letters you'll be needing to turn your attention towards come in. One from egg-G0 and one from Archaeus, they look to be most interesting...