The captured Ork Kroozers were either towed behind or left to journey on their own, 60 of them in better shape grouped in squads of three and sent towards 20 different Forge Worlds to be repaired and upgraded.
As for the rest 35 Kroozers that had been damaged were towed behind my fleet back to Forge Machine, to be converted into more Drop-Cruisers.
I had Forge Machine working on restoring the Teleport STC constructor and begin mass-producing drop-pods with teleport beacons, which would allow rapid recovery of our turrets in the future. It would take decades anyway, because research takes ti, and much longer tis with techpriests. And constructing the devices wouldn't be fast either.
After a week inside the Pharos, and scanning the nearby star systems attentively, I departed with the newly arrived Guard regints and a million techpriests and acolytes to settle 50 more planets, using the Catachans to establish security and the techpriests to construct the infrastructure and defenses, plus mines and railroads and dozens of small cities on each world.
This also ant so orbital forts and a warp-less transceiver network were needed, linking Forge Machine with the new domain real ti.
Advance Explorer fleets were sent to lay FTL communication routes to Forge Antax and Forge Triplex Phall, while streams of immigrants and Imperial regints arrived monthly to be distributed into the colonies.
It took five years until the network was complete, and by this ti the first underground Hive Cities had begun being built as well, sponsored by increased prothium and coal mining industry on Natale, as well as the rich mineral deposits of Radium and Liberation.
The Ultima Segntum was eerily quiet in the anti, if we except the loud Orks and occasional Necrons waking up.
A trillion Orks were gathering to besiege Armageddon, riding on asteroids and Space Hulks and various captured ships.
It wasn't sothing a single Astartes Chapter could deal with, but the Imperium had three Primarchs now. Surely one of them could take care of the Orks.
"What do I need?" I mused out loud, and glanced at Zarhulash for advice.
"You need ships, Pef Lancefire. Much stronger ships too, if you want to fight the Tyranids." the C'tan said in a cold voice.
"... I looked all over, Mighty Zarhulash. Unless I dive into the Maelstrom to fight Corsair and renegades, there's only pirate destroyers and frigates, maybe a few light cruisers. Nothing really interesting." I replied with a pained sigh.
Those targets were still good, and I had Lanter snatching raids sent all over the Eastern Fringe to board pirate hideouts and recover more escorts, but even hundreds of destroyers wouldn't be of real use, except as defense fleets for the Lancefire domain. The escorts were too small to carry powerful lance batteries, and they also needed Warp-drives which made them a liability for long deploynts.
"...There is the Warp Gate to the Expanse. And there are many Space Hulks not yet claid. Plus, the , with a thousand Silent Sisters...and their dependents." Rose explained as the galactic map opened to pinpoint a northern galactic world at the edge of the Imperium.
"Let guess, they use Rogue Traders for supplies." I deduced with my genius brain.
"I'll need a pair of Sisters and a battlecruiser to 'recruit' that Rogue Trader and reach Yllax. I think Alana and Aleya would work best." the Inquisitor whispered while undressing herself for a final round.
This was a great find indeed. Rose deserved a big reward, and Calixa as well when I caught up with her sowhere.
I left Rose filled with liquid love and probably pregnant again, and went to check on my Titan Legion.
Luckily, the Blessed Autocimulacra self-repair device worked just fine and the damaged Titans were restored to duty. Which was great, because they will be needed, just like my Knights and the Leviathans.
Dae was round and rosy with our fourth child, overseeing the training of the Princeps and the Titan crews from her desk.
"My beloved wife...you look radiant today." I murmured and stole a kiss.
"And you stink of sex and other won. And not even those three new Princeps pilots that arrived from Lucius and Graia." my wife bit my lip in revenge and complained loudly.
Uh, I should bed those three, before I left. More Titan pilots would be nice.
"I wanted to let them feel at ho first, dear Dae. But if you insist, I can make ti in my busy schedule, for three more won." I explained teasingly and patted her round belly. A tiny kick hit my palm weakly, so not even the kid inside liked right now.
"... Busy schedule? A month spent in bed is busy schedule? When are you going on Crusade again, eh?" the Titan piloting wife chided and poked my chest, sounding a bit annoyed.
I kissed her for a long minute, then caressed her rosy face while Dae struggled to catch her breath.
"Very soon, my love. Probably two weeks, if nothing goes wrong until then. I won't take the Scout Titans though. They need atomantic reactors and shields to avoid another debacle, like on Phytos." I said in a level voice, and began walking out.
"Don't forget about the new girls!" Dae yelled after , just before I walked out.
Rafen grinned at and patted my shoulder. "That's a great wife you found, my lord. Urging you to bed other won...you are too lucky."
I nodded wisely, and headed for the ss hall, and sat down to eat with the three new arrivals.
"Lord Lancefire, is it our turn today?" A pixie cut lady with brown hair and a deep tan asked a bit hopeful, while poking at her grey slop of food with disgust.
Sure, the chanicus food gave them everything their bodies needed, vitamins and aminoacids and all that. But it looked and slled horribly.
"I think, we first visit my ship and eat a real grox steak, drink so expensive Iax wine and chat a little. Nobody is forced to join my family, pretty ladies." I answered after scowling in disgust at the crappy food. It was worse than nutrigruel, and those were liquid combat rations.
"You had at real steak, my lord. Plus, you're so cute!" another woman announced, tugging at her ponytail to let curly black hair fall on her shoulders, while she pushed her magnificent chest out, very proudly.
Lady Sira Lu'ginni was certainly the most beautiful pilot I knew, and among top three of all my won. Right beside Rose and Serena. Proof of carefully selected genes, but I didn't mind that at all.
"He talked to first!" the pixie girl muttered and glanced at under her eyelashes, as if trying to provoke .
All right then, I'll bed you first, pixie!
"... I like real steak too." the third girl from Graia whispered shyly, while her cheeks beca bright red with embarrassnt. She had platinum hair cut in a bob, and green eyes, which worked perfectly with her white skin.
Probably liked beefy muscles as well, if I was not mistaken.
If it was really necessary, I had other tools to convince the Titan pilots to bear Blank children, but so far it hasn't been the case. Perhaps having Sanguinius genes and an angelic face was good for sothing today.
I'll have to visit Fabricator Gemmina soon and thank her very deeply for the new pilots, which were possibly not easy to obtain. She was only half-cyborg anyway, and her face was quite natural. As for the tal tentacles, one had to bear it and learn to ignore minor problems.
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