Chapter 137: Forging Worlds with Blackstone Rings

This could be considered the best-lit place for the Death Guard in the orbital habitats, with white light illuminating every corner of the space.

Hades stood outside the medical bay. Before him was Apothecary Leo.

"An estimated 1,377 recruits are expected to successfully join the Death Guard."

Leo brought up the data for this batch of enhancements, reporting to Hades.

"Good."

To Hades' surprise, the compatibility rate for the surgeries remained high this time.

Soon, the Death Guard would gain a new batch of soldiers from Barbarus.

And after training, these recruits would join the few companies that suffered heavy casualties at Garspa.

Time to plan the training for the next wave of recruits.

Leaving the med bay, Hades contemplated as he brought up the initial training plans for the Death Guard, or Dusk Raiders back then, intending to give the newcomers a grand welcome package.

Yet at the corner bend of the corridor, a big black blob suddenly bumped right smack into his face. Even without sensing malice initially, Hades nearly reflexively launched a blight grenade—

"Greetings, Legionary Hades."

Seemingly unaware of any impropriety, Magos Biologis caught up to match Hades' footsteps while leisurely greeting him:

"Greetings."

The corner of Hades' mouth twitched but he maintained a polite tone still.

These Tech-Priests likely did not care for such pleasantries anyway.

"The successful augmentation rate for the new recruits has achieved a rather ideal number this time."

Electric currents hummed evenly.

Below his helmet, Hades shot the Magos Biologis a look. Indeed, this batch of organ implants and gene-seed had been provided by him.

After the Death Guard gene-seed vault was nearly ambushed, Mortarion had specially paid the Magos a visit to express heartfelt gratitude.

Naturally, the unfazed Magos took the chance to draw no small amount of blood from Mortarion, for manufacturing a new batch of quality gene-seed.

Just picturing Mortarion sitting there woodenly letting his blood get tapped made Hades want to laugh.

Ahem, back to the main issue—what business did this Magos have with Hades?

"Yes, thanks to your expertise indeed."

"May the Omnissiah continue bestowing His radiance upon you," Hades threw in a formulaic prayer phrase when replying to Tech-Priests.

It helped facilitate their conversation for the Magos to wrap up his last topic and state his reason for coming.

"Praise the Omnissiah."

On reflex, Magos Biologis also responded with the prayer stock phrase:

A brief silence temporarily shrouded them before the Magos finally spoke hesitantly:

"Legionary Hades, I wish to ask, is the Death Guard relocating all Barbaruns to the orbital habitats?"

Hades blinked. He recalled Mortarion informing the Mechanicus of the migration plans, didn't he? Lately, construction in the rings had been proceeding full steam ahead.

"That is correct," Hades answered.

"Due to Barbarus' adverse environment, we plan to move most of its people onto orbital habitats—to build ring cities encircling Barbarus."

"Then what of Barbarus itself?" The Magos ventured to ask, red robes swaying as he walked.

From the data gathered by the Mechanicus in this period, they discovered this tech Legionary named Hades occupied immense influence among the Death Guard.

Generally, tech marines educated on Mars tended to favor the Mechanicus highly. So...the other magi had simply stationed him here now.

Hades briefly recalled—most Tech-Priests stationed in the Barbarus rings arranged to terraform the planet had grown very impatient.

Moreover, after Hades verified the environmental issues on Barbarus were caused by psychic forces, these magi became completely fed up.

Few among the Mechanicus dabbled in the fields of psychic and immaterium studies. Among them, these two domains remained rather blank zones openly looked down upon by the mainstream.

Presently, what limited research the Mechanicus had on psychics related somewhat to directives from the Emperor.

Regular magi typically did not touch these thankless domains unless plagued by some major affliction.

Of course, this further highlighted Magos Ahriman's uniqueness...what a pity...

Inaudibly, Hades inhaled and refocused his attention on the present. He eyed the Magos' newly-repaired body.

So this was...the magi sending out someone more amiable with the Death Guard to probe around?

Likely these magi wanted to flee now. Barbarus was truly unsuited for their continued research.

"Much appreciation to the Mechanicus for your previous efforts on Barbarus," Hades said after some thought.

"Magos, you've also seen the papers I wrote on Barbarus' climate yourself."

"Admittedly, conventional means are ineffective now. More drastic measures would likely be forbidden by our Lord Primarch."

"What is Legionary Hades' view currently then?"

The Magos Biologis opened both main limbs, seemingly to demonstrate his sincerity as he inquired Hades.

Hades pondered briefly before answering.

"I still hope to attempt mimicking that pylon you all saw previously."

"Based on existing data, a Blackstone matrix should hypothetically suppress or eliminate Barbarus' psychic resonance."

"But the orbital construction still takes priority for now. Also, fabricating a Blackstone Pylon would demand copious amounts of blackstone by Magos Ahriman's records."

Hades deliberately credited it as Magos Ahriman's creation. After all, he could not actually state it belonged to xenos. That would suffice.

"Therefore...actual development of Barbarus' surface may be postponed, with focus still mainly on the orbital rings currently."

"Of course, if you have any suggestions now, tell me first. If suitable, I will report to our Primarch."

Before Hades even finished speaking, he was certain of hearing the Magos' internal engines revving loudly opposite him.

"I do have a few proposals, Legionary Hades."

"First, due to the influx of new populace in the rings, I recommend adopting decentralized designs for current constructions to prevent outbreaks of plague."

This stemmed from the Magos Biologis' personal views actually. When debating habitat designs with other magi, they had promptly opted for higher density cities more conducive to centralized manufacturing.

As for potential plague outbreaks?

No issue—the dip in productivity from a few outbreaks could not match the superior output of focused manufacturing.

But the Magos Biologis disagreed. As someone analyzing some Barbaran organisms, he acutely sensed the faster mutation and contagion rates of bacteria and viruses here.

Hades furrowed his brow. Recently, he had been fully occupied with the recruits and functional planning of the rings. The Mechanicus was given full authority over city-building.

But now, it seemed he still had to keep an eye on things.

"Understood. Thank you for the valuable input."

"I will consult with the engineering magi shortly," Hades readily agreed.

Luckily, major construction had not kicked off yet, still in material transport and planning stages.

Delighted at Hades' smooth acceptance, Magos Biologis thought inwardly—

Those magi said whatever earlier but what could they do in the end? Final authority over ring development still lay with the Legion's side.

"Secondly..."

The Magos Biologis recalled the string of honeyed words his colleague spewed while shoving him out.

Barbarus truly held no more value for additional excavation. Most magi had long wanted to leave. Normally, such planets would just have their biospheres razed entirely for re-terraforming.

But unable to alter much with the Death Guard valuing this world so highly, the stymied magi hatched other plans instead—

Why not ride the tide and curry some favor? See if they could persuade this seemingly tech-responsible tech marine to loosen restrictions and allow some magi to depart first.

After all, they had come at the direct order of the Imperium. Simply leaving outright was infeasible.

Actually, part of the magi stationed in the Barbarus rings now came from Mars, accompanying the Great Crusade. Another part was assigned directly from nearby forge worlds instead.

And apart from Mars, the majority originating forge world was Graia.

Unlike the Martian ones, these magi from Graia held little regard for the Imperium's administrative departments. With their home forge so nearby, they had wanted to abscond home for the longest time.

If appeased with some useless rocks...

As Hades came to an outright halt in his tracks, the Magos Biologis watched him steadily.

"The magi share utmost regret over Barbarus' circumstances internally too."

"Thus, we wondered if there was anything we could assist with."

"As chance would have it, after the magi's searches..."

"Sizable blackstone deposits were discovered on a mining planet belonging to the Graia Forge World."

"Should the Death Guard require it, the Graia magi are willing to furnish ample blackstone resources for the Legion."

Among Mechanicus research, blackstone was a category V mineral—only good for decorative pieces and bludgeoning beyond utterly useless otherwise.

If appeased using some worthless stones...

The Magos Biologis did his best to put on a friendly facade for Hades, extending his most hand-like manipulator.

"That is all. What are your thoughts?"

Hades smiled and clasped the proffered limb.

Let him think how to take advantage of this forge world.

A forge world...not easy to collaborate with. These machine magi symbolizing an Imperial Aquila head were craftier than most Imperial departments even.

But roping in a forge world meant the Death Guard would have equipment supply chains set up in future.

Moreover, with some luck, temporary command over a Titan legion from this forge could be secured too.

Yes—apart from future Warmasters possessing direct leadership over Titan legions, the rest belonged to the Titanicus Conclaves of the Mechanicus, only allies to the Legions. Primarchs of each Legion could only make requests and temporary deputizations for them.

It was fine during the Great Crusade, but who knew which side these Titan-managing tech-priests would take when the Heresy erupted?

Connections between the various forge worlds and greater Imperium were actually quite loose. So the Legion needed to vie for a forge world more intimate with the Death Guard.

Hmm...or at least one loyal to them, maybe.

Hades kept his expression neutral, maintaining a satisfied tone:

"Much gratitude to Magos Biologis for the suggestions, all excellent proposals."

"Speaking of which, could you elaborate more on that Graia blackstone batch?"