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 time, and much longer times 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 regiments 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 meant some orbital forts and a warp-less transceiver network were needed, linking Forge Machine with the new domain real time.
Advance Explorer fleets were sent to lay FTL communication routes to Forge Antax and Forge Triplex Phall, while streams of immigrants and Imperial regiments arrived monthly to be distributed into the colonies.
It took five years until the network was complete, and by this time the first underground Hive Cities had begun being built as well, sponsored by increased promethium and coal mining industry on Natale, as well as the rich mineral deposits of Radium and Liberation.
The Ultima Segmentum was eerily quiet in the meantime, 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 something 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 Lamenter 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 deployments.
"...There is the Warp Gate to the Expanse. And there are many Space Hulks not yet claimed. Plus, the Antian_Sector. " The C'tan shard advised me with a curious voice.
"What's in that sector?" I wondered while searching the galactic map.
"One of those Blackstone Fortresses, serving as a base for a Demon Prince. Also a thousand renegade Navy and pirate vessels, including a hundred cruisers and three battleships." Zarhulash explained with a knowing voice.
Well, that was a tempting target indeed. Now that I had the activation artifacts from Abaddon, a Blackstone Fortress would be a powerful weapon. And the blackstone itself would not be corrupted by Chaos.
I nodded gratefully, and retrieved two more Exterminatus torpedoes. One for Cocholos, a Demon World beyond the Maelstrom that had not been in the Pharos range til now, and the newly awakened Necron World of Nagathar, here in my backyard.
Cyclonic torpedoes both, because I wanted to send a powerful message.
Then I returned to my apartment, to enjoy my sweet blonde Amberley. Plus having sex on a floating mattress was special and annoyed Rafen as well.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Just like that...yes, oh God!" Amberley shouted as we bounced off the ceiling.
Perhaps I shouldn't have given her Alpha-level powers...whatever. Hopefully this child will be another Blank.
Lately the numbers of Blank children had grown per year, reaching 50. This probably matched some logarithmic chart somewhere keeping track of my growth in soul powers.
Very possible, as even my children were having a substantial increase in Blank births, especially my daughters when paired with natural Blanks.
This also annoyed their Catachan husbands, but it was their fault for not being Sly Marbo. That guy had everything right.
"Lady Rose requests entry, my lord. Perhaps you should climb down?" my bodyguard advised me with a wry voice.
"...Let her wait...I want more!" Amberley muttered holding me tight in her arms. I didn't mind her love, but Rose had important news if she barged in uninvited.
"Tomorrow, my love. Now go rest." I whispered in her neck, and squeezed her breasts as a reward.
She vanished from under me and let me fall, just as Rose entered the room and caught the mattress with telekinesis.
"That's an interesting trick you had Amberley perform. Must work on the landing though." The raven-haired Inquisitor commented with a smirk, and gently set me down to be examined as meat market.
"Wait outside Rafen." I sent him on the Manifold, just as Rose sat beside me and held a dataslate.
"Infocyte Calixa sent word. There is Silent Vigil on Yllax, 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 me 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 somewhere.
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 women. 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 home first, dear Dae. But if you insist, I can make time in my busy schedule, for three more women." I explained teasingly and patted her round belly. A tiny kick hit my palm weakly, so not even the kid inside liked me 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 me 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 me, just before I walked out.
Rafen grinned at me and patted my shoulder. "That's a great wife you found, my lord. Urging you to bed other women...you are too lucky."
I nodded wisely, and headed for the mess 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 Mechanicus food gave them everything their bodies needed, vitamins and aminoacids and all that. But it looked and smelled horribly.
"I think, we first visit my ship and eat a real grox steak, drink some 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 me 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 women. Right beside Rose and Serena. Proof of carefully selected genes, but I didn't mind that at all.
"He talked to me first!" the pixie girl muttered and glanced at me under her eyelashes, as if trying to provoke me.
All right then, I'll bed you first, pixie!
"... I like real steak too." the third girl from Graia whispered shyly, while her cheeks became bright red with embarrassment. 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 me Blank children, but so far it hasn't been the case. Perhaps having Sanguinius genes and an angelic face was good for something 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 metal tentacles, one had to bear it and learn to ignore minor problems.