Chapter 257: Dragging Others Into the Water
In fact, after receiving the Primarch's order, the Commander disobeyed.
The crackling of the vox came through, followed by Hades' weak and weary voice over the channel.
[Mortarion, if it's not urgent, I can't get away right now.]
So Mortarion, who had just returned to the Barbarus system and deliberately cleared some time for himself, went to see what Hades was up to.
What he saw was… Hades drowning in a sea of paperwork.
"Mortarion, since you're here, don't leave. Help me go through some of this."
Mortarion silently, slowly, walked over toward Hades and picked up a stack of reports—It's Barbarus Ring's third-quarter water cycle data.
He frowned.
"What are you doing?"
"Reviewing and checking the past data."
Hades' resentful, exhausted voice came from within the mountain of documents.
"Long-range astropathic transmissions can't carry huge amounts of complex, precise data, so the warriors stationed there can only report Barbarus' general condition to the Legion. The rest of the data has to be checked after we return to Barbarus."
Mortarion tossed the stack back down, then randomly pulled up another: Barbarus 4 annual fleet traffic summary.
"And the others?"
"Actually, all of these are the already-checked and condensed reports from the Death Guard stationed on Barbarus."
"Then what are you doing?"
Mortarion's tone was starting to carry a faint irritation.
"I'm checking them again."
Hades replied calmly,
"I don't trust it. Some data you just have to personally verify."
"Then you go check it yourself. Once you're done, give me an explanation about Barbarus' current state."
Mortarion set the papers back down and was about to—
"Wait! No! You can't actually abandon me like this! I've bled for the organization! I've fought for the organization!!"
Seeing Mortarion really about to walk off, Hades instantly broke down, the lofty tone from moments ago vanishing, replaced with desperate rambling about things like 'everyone has a duty to build the Death Guard' and other nonsense.
Mortarion gave him his daily second of silent contempt, but still reached out a hand, gesturing for Hades to hand over some files.
"Haha, here you go—uh, I mean, documents, coming your way—"
Hades immediately switched faces, stuffing a stack of papers into Mortarion's hands.
Ignoring Hades' babbling, Mortarion lowered his head and began to go through them.
A summary of Barbarus system missile silo models and maintenance costs, investments into large-scale avian servitor projects, the construction and integration of the entire system's defense network, the expansion of mortal garrisons…
Mortarion fell silent. He was, in truth, interested in these.
The Death Guard Legion's routine paperwork often included similar documents, but compared to Barbarus' files, those were on a much smaller scale.
After all, these concerned the defense setup of an entire star system—one that was still in a phase of heavy expansion.
Mortarion continued reading.
Before leaving, the Lord of Death had indeed made demands regarding Barbarus' defenses, but he had not gone into much detail.
Seeing Mortarion fall silent, still bent over the paperwork, Hades sneered inwardly. These were deliberately set aside for Mortarion. Beyond them, there were still two more piles.
No one's getting away today.
Just as Hades was thinking this, two more figures knocked on the office door: Garro and Vorx. The two gave a simple salute and, under Hades' expectant gaze, accepted their share of paperwork.
Hahaha~ let them all share in my suffering!
Though Hades was secretly gloating, he still didn't skip giving them proper instructions.
"Ahem, Garro, Vorx, start by reviewing these files. If you run into anything unclear, come ask me."
"Garro, you've got most of the files for planets 4 and 5. Vorx, yours are for planets 6 and 7."
The Barbarus system had seven planets in total, with its star at the center. Barbarus itself was the third planet.
Aside from Barbarus, which was relatively well-positioned and habitable, the other planets of the system were not particularly suitable for direct habitation.
The fourth planet had been transformed by the Graia Mechanicus into an industrial world, tasked with supplying the entire system with daily necessities. Both Graia's forces and Death Guard troops were stationed there.
The fifth planet had been remade into something like a "buffer zone." A large number of foreign vessels would dock there instead of heading straight for Barbarus.
Only those certified by the Death Guard could receive an invitation to enter the Barbarus Ring.
Important detail to note—it was the Barbarus Ring they were allowed into. To reach Barbarus itself required a separate round of approvals and reporting.
As such, most diplomatic affairs were actually resolved at that stage already. Those still insistent on reaching Barbarus were, more often than not, driven by some spiritual pursuit.
The sixth planet was entirely militarized: missile silos, defense laser arrays, void-shield generators, battle stations floating in planetary orbit, fleets concealed among asteroid fields.
The seventh planet housed astropathic relay stations guiding traffic through the system, as well as large-scale survey instruments to direct fleets as they emerged from the Mandeville Point.
Of course, the seventh planet was also highly militarized.
In truth, within the Barbarus system, finding a world with low levels of defense was no easy task.
"Garro, Vorx, you need to prepare a comprehensive report on your assigned planet. Summarize its development up to the present, analyze its possible future trajectory. Focus particularly on the Mechanicus, the outsiders attempting to establish order there, and the position of the Barbarusians themselves."
"These figures were collected by teams of Grave Wardens—five warriors in each team, each conducting surveys. Of course, if you believe the data is wrong, you're free to conduct direct checks yourselves. You have the authority to interface directly. Just don't be careless."
As an aside, Hades had already drafted a standardized code of conduct for every stationed Grave Warden: how to conduct investigations, what to look for, and the need to study both things and people—especially the relationships between them.
Graphs of currency purchasing power fluctuations, food supply volumes, wastewater output at population gathering points, newly emerging slang and idioms of the locals—
Even a single category like food was broken down into sub-data: imported staple grains, maps of major bulk food trading hubs in human settlements, staple grain price fluctuations, bulk records of sugar trading, and surveys of black-market food sales.
Hades had already skimmed the basics—food, water sources, and materials that could potentially be used to manufacture weapons. Nothing seemed obviously wrong. But Garro and Vorx would still need to comb through the details.
Hades had even carefully annotated a rough outline for them. With the instincts Garro and Vorx had honed after years of sparring with Imperial officials, they would know what deserved special attention.
Some things, when examined in isolation, looked fine. But cross-check them against other data, and inconsistencies appeared. When that happened, it was either falsified data—or someone up to mischief.
With growth this fast, population flows this volatile, and such messy origins, Hades simply did not believe it was a system where one could say, "nothing happened today."
But if anyone truly dared to cause trouble on Death Guard turf, Hades would be more than happy to teach them a lesson—show them, through action, exactly what military authority meant.
At that thought, a kindly red glow flickered in Hades' left eye.
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