As expected, the Red Scorpions agree to my proposal, although they demand 2 cruisers for their reduced recovery ability in the next decade, until their progenoid glands create more gene-seed.
I am almost tempted to refuse, just to spite them. Then again, pure gene-seeds are rare.
I disperse my Silent Sisters among the largest ships to protect their Gellar fields from Warp intrusion, because the remaining Lamenters still carry the curse. That sometimes results in Warp Storms yanking them away or unlucky damage to their Warp drives or malfunctioning weapons and many similar problems.
Most of the Lamenters have moved to the Starfort, which has its own warp-less engines now, and only an honor guard travels on the Icarus carrier.
The new Catachan regiments are also spread among the barges and cruisers, because I don't trust those Navy troop transports at all. They look like they would explode at the first missile or lance that might hit them.
However, ships are ships and one can never have enough of them.
A couple of Blood Angels depart for Baal with their new barge and cruiser, escorted by a pair of my Los Angeles destroyers. They also carry a thousand Catachans, those I got most complaints about. Pretty sure the Blood Angels will whip them into shape, and possibly even induct some of them as new Aspirants.
I'm not sure how that death world keeps producing so many regiments, there must be hundreds of Catachan regiments in the Astra Militarum, plus just as many on their own homeworld of Catachan.
They possibly bang as many times as possible, to keep their numbers high. Not a bad idea, in fact.
I did convince a new batch of Catachan women to become my 'personal guard' and by that I mean concubines. Only as a Chapter Master I have to retain dignity and stuff and be more respectful.
"Oh yeah, big boy. Pump those hips, and give me a space marine baby!" my current personal guard yells and embraces me tight. I think my spine creaked.
I inject my gene-seed and fall to the side, a bit exhausted. Still much better than all these Astartes that inject other men with their gene-seed.
I'm not sure why the Emperor came up with that idea of asexual reproduction among men. The guy was strange though, and probably lived among the Greeks and the Spartans. The Companions of Alexander the Great were battle brothers just like his space marines, and lovers too.
Thus, he now has an Imperium of Man, which kinda sucks if you're a woman.
On that note, Helena and Catherine arrive next, and begin massaging my tired and bruised body with healing oils and grabby hands.
Training with Astartes is a bit...painful, and the Catachan concubines aren't gentle either.
Helena has finally given birth to a Blank boy and Catherine has two Blank daughters, among other kids without the immunity.
"See, Lord Pef? We were right to follow you, after all. An entire Astartes Chapter, and so many heroic deeds! So will you recruit little Homer to become an Astartes like his father?" Helena asks softly, and rest her head on my shoulder.
I nod in agreement and kiss her forehead, simply enjoying Cateherine's massage of my progenitor glands.
"In his late teens, at the earliest. Homer needs to learn all he can from a tech-priest, just like I have, and sire his own natural children. Perhaps a few more nulls will appear." I say in a relieved voice.
"Again with the tech-priests! Why not call a Confessor or a Sister from Orders_Famulous?" Helena argues in a convincing voice, and this time she might be right. Those women do have excellent skills, both as teachers and as genetic match-makers.
Many Nobles make use of their talents to preserve or enhance their House's genetic purity and special talents.
"Alright, my dear. Place a call for a squad of those Sisters, because I do have many children already and many more to come. They could teach evening lessons, while the tech-priests have morning lessons with my kids." I allow as Catherine climbs on me for another pleasant duty.
"You better have some seed left for me too, after Cathy is done. How goes the cloning project?" Helena demands in a breathy voice, and bites my ear for attention. Too much, woman! I'm not without limits...although I should be good two more times.
"... Not well at all. Only genes from my non-Blank kids can be cloned successfully, for now. But a thousand girls like Larrisa are still great, and same for more Knight pilots like Lord Whitelance and Lord Vancestar." I mutter back, and consider her question.
Helena wouldn't ask unless...damn Adepta Sororitas! Still after me, and abusing my trust.
"My Order would be very grateful if some of your daughters will be sent to the Convent Sanctorum on Ophelia_VII. Not the Blanks, of course." she entices me in a throaty voice.
I meditate on that offer for the next leg of the trip. It is good and bad at the same time. Children of mine in the clutches of a religious order? Bad!
Then again, most of my non-Blank kids will either join the trader fleet or as adepts on Forge Retribution. The Cult Mechanicus is a religious order too.
But unlike the tech-priests, the Sisters kinda abuse the kids sent in their care, like any militant order.
In the end, that matters more, for me. "Not going to happen, Helena. Child abuse is not on my wish list for my kids, plus Ophelia has no real fleet or orbital defenses. Sooner or later they will be invaded and exterminated." I declare as my own fleet arrives at Illevar, the orbit full of orbital forts and hundreds of corvettes, plus a few battlecruisers.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
My dear Helena looks out the bridge window, and takes in the massive effort I have put in for defense. "The Sisters wish to be independent, so no Navy or Mechanicus base is allowed in the Ophelia system. Your clan has so many warships...no wonder you go and rescue others." she muses in a deep yearning voice.
"And it is still not enough. That's why I've brought a Starfort and an Astartes Chapter to defend my capital." I answer as the familiar myriad of vox messages begin to flood the vox box, with demands from all my subjects.
It seems another cult has risen up in a Hive City, and Victor has ordered a dozen PDF regiments to suppress the rebellion and capture the leaders for trial and execution.
They didn't succeed fast enough, and now the whole city is divided in a civil war.
Oh well, it is 40k. Business as usual for these times.
Also, I did bring 17 Catachan regiments with my fleet, plus 60 surviving Blood Angels.
Might as well let them stretch their legs and test the new weapons.
In less than a month, the rebellion is quashed brutally and I obtain almost 100 million of new lobotomized servitors with crude implants and rough bionic limbs.
Time to put them to work, as miners and farmers and woodcutters. There are plenty new worlds awaiting civilization around, and servitors will serve the Emperor, even in death.
In a single year, the Icarus makes a round and deposits the Catachan regiments, on their new jungle planets, while other ships carry forges and tech-priests, plus immigrants and servitors to begin colonization.
Sadly, my brother Veryon did not completely succeed in his task, and only half of the northern Orks have agreed to board cheap transport to be sent to fight the Necrons.
He might have, if he didn't try to battle an Ork boss in melee. Some sort of manliness ritual I guess?
Oh well. Orks are strong and die hard. Don't wrestle Orks in your next life, silly brother from another mother!
My daughter Teresa has command of the northern fleet now, as she isn't the type to wrestle, except perhaps in bed. She has a dozen kids already, which is amazing. I will need to reward her effort with 10 thousand thrones, just like I do for everyone else.
Those Eldar cruisers have all sold for 10 billion each, even damaged as they were. I can sponsor population growth for a century easily, and make sure the new generations are get low level technician training, on the outer colonies.
The Hive Cities are a different problem, as the local Nobles would oppose mass literacy projects out of inertia or fear.
But I don't need the all the Hives cities civilized, only my capital and the outlying towns.
Starting from the top, and with the young generations...and then working my way down. There are enough tech-priests here to keep the utilities and other services working, but to create a factory world will need educated people, or at least 10 percent of them.
The celebrations for my return last for a whole month, with military parades and pict-projections of our fleet actions in the Badab War, the crusade in the Magog Sector and the valiant defense of Forge Angstrom from traitor forces.
Of course, I do not stay for all that, instead returning to my Blank village, which has grown into a modern town by now.
Here, everyone is educated and civilized, and my tech-priests make sure there are training courses and various schools for every important specialty. Military arts and officer schools, manufacture and production, medicine and botany.
Over 5000 Blanks, now joined by a new batch of Silent Sisters and my freshly born kids.
Alana is ecstatic as we visit the place, and nobody recoils in fear from her Pariah aura. "This is wonderful, Pef! Everything is so clean and bright, and everyone is a Blank! It's like a dream."
Many of the Machine Spirits in this place, from the Gellar generators to the Void Shields and the defensive batteries are also Blank, using organic components harvested locally.
However, only 200 men are of age for Astartes recruitment but it will do for now, one Company for my Lamenters and another for the Blood Angels, in exchange for more gene-seeds.
Spread around the town's center are the family centers, basically 200 large mansions housing the harems of the Blank men, including my own and Victor's.
Even Catachans cannot resist so much concentration of null psyche, so the women are housed at some distance, just to keep them sane. Pregnant women are even more sensitive, but there's nothing else I can do.
And yet, no other miracle like Janice has appeared, despite two more psykers being born, and sent to the Scola Progenium on Terra via Antax.
In another village, we have the Navigator compound, which I visit sometimes to find another resilient psyker like Rose. No luck so far, but then these kids are not soul-bound to the Emperor, which reformats their mind to withstand the Warp and all its nightmares. They live under a Gellar field, and train their abilities slowly and more gently. I'm in no rush anyway.
I did capture hundreds of new Navigators, which simply get released at the edge of the compound a few at the time. Miracles happen all the time, even more so for Navigators and astropaths.
And of course, once in a while an empty ship simply appears in orbit, or in the asteroid field, devoid of crew but otherwise undamaged.
Pirate destroyers, Astral Claws destroyers, even an intact Battle Barge with Mantis Warriors symbols. Finder's keepers is the rule, so I get to keep these ships, and it's even legal.
Decima is suspicious and Hestia outright tells me I am the one responsbile. "I agree, my dear. Of course I brought a Battle Barge here, with my mind. Worship me!" I proclaim heroically and point at the sky.
Sadly, the null maiden simply slices a finger across her armored gorget, which covers her neck. No luck!