Chapter 418: Progress on the Private Warship
Kian's eyes lit up.
"Lord Doron, are you sure about this? That Sword-class wreck is mostly intact, sure, but Orks held it for a while, its internals could be jury-rigged to hell and back. Towing it all the way to the Forge World might mean a full-scale rebuild, and I definitely can't afford to cover a repair bill like that."
Captain Doron said, "The Crimson Bite Chapter keeps plenty of combat barges. Our third company alone fields a full strike cruiser. With a strike cruiser and some auxiliary chemical rockets, hauling that Sword-class wreck to the Forge World is well within our means. As for whether the Forge World agrees to repair it, I'm confident they will. If our Chapter hadn't arrived when we did, this world would likely have fallen already. That's a debt the Governor and the Magos both understand."
Something clicked into place for Kian. This meant he had a very real shot at owning a proper warship.
"Well then, Captain Doron, let's talk specifics."
The group pulled up iron chairs and settled in to hammer out the details.
Captain Doron's asking price: a stable annual supply of a thousand Regen-Bolts, five hundred canisters of sanctified Coolant Balm, and a hundred daemon-slaying weapons.
Doron explained. "Our Chapter fields ten companies, a hundred Astartes each, over nine hundred brothers in total. If every warrior has reliable access to a stock of restorative medicine, our casualty rate drops considerably."
Chaplain Reisach added. "As for the daemon-killing dagger, I can sense the sacred power within it isn't especially stable. I tested it myself, killed five daemons with it, and by the fifth the blade's sacred charge was nearly spent entirely. Against a truly powerful daemon, it might not even kill the thing outright, just a single shallow wound could be enough to burn through every last trace of the blade's holy power. A weapon like this can only really function as a consumable. We need a genuine supply of sacred weapons if we're going to keep cutting down these damned Chaos traitor-daemons."
Librarian Budas, the Chapter's own psyker, held the tin of Coolant Balm and studied it with genuine wonder. "The moment I applied it, I felt my mental focus sharpen considerably. Using my abilities afterward, I could feel something sacred actively shielding me. I gave a sample to our Navigator. His course accuracy improved by five percent, and his ongoing mutation stopped cold."
The Astartes started talking over each other, praising the value of everything Kian had brought. Kian raised a hand and cut them all off.
"Honored brothers, you can all see these items carry real power of the Emperor, and I don't need to tell you that. But I need you to understand, my production capacity for this kind of thing isn't high. Right now, in one go, I can offer three hundred Regen-Bolts, a hundred Coolant Balms, and ten daemon-killing weapons. Going forward, that's the maximum I'll be able to supply every year, no more than that."
Hearing the numbers, every Astartes present frowned. Sacred material this valuable, and production really was that limited?
Kian continued. "Honored brothers, I'm willing to pay that amount annually, for ten years, to cover the cost of towing the frigate and repairing it. After that, I'd like to establish an ongoing relationship, a fair exchange of goods between us. What do you all think?"
The Astartes fell into thought. After a long moment, Captain Doron finally spoke.
"Count, would you consider joining our Chapter? Given your age, the Astartes implantation process is well past its usual window, but that doesn't make it entirely impossible."
To this captain, Kian was an irresistible prize. A man who might well be a genuine living saint, capable of producing sacred material infused with real Emperor-blessed power, in this kind of quantity. Bringing him into the fold could multiply the entire Chapter's combat capability several times over.
Nor'n opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and stayed quiet. He had real reservations about Kian joining the Chapter, but with every senior figure in the Chapter present, an ordinary sergeant wasn't in much position to speak up.
Fortunately, becoming an Astartes had never been part of Kian's life plan. His goal had always been to become a Rogue Trader, free to roam the galaxy on his own terms. The Astartes lived under brutal military discipline, four hours of sleep, one hour of leisure, everything else spent training or fighting. Kian was fully certain he couldn't handle that intensity, and worse, there was no walking away once you joined. It was a lifetime commitment, service until death.
Kian shook his head immediately, declining.
"Sorry, Captain Doron. I don't have the honor of becoming an Astartes in me. Besides, becoming one of you might leave me with a critical weakness against any enemy who happens to carry a whip."
Doron was genuinely disappointed but knew better than to push. Still, three hundred Regen-Bolts a year wasn't bad at all, thinking it over. His Astartes were the elite of the elite, and combat encounters usually went one of two ways: they killed the enemy instantly, or got killed instantly themselves. Situations that actually called for a Regen-Bolt were rare. Used sparingly, nine hundred brothers would never come close to burning through the full supply.
"Then, Count, our arrangement is settled. Once the Ork crisis here is resolved, our Chapter's fleet will return to this world, and I'll have a strike cruiser tow the frigate wreck here and see that the Forge World gets it repaired properly. In exchange, you'll supply us with three hundred Regen-Bolts, a hundred Coolant Balms, and ten daemon-killing weapons, every year, for ten years."
Kian nodded, thoroughly satisfied with the arrangement.
"Then it's agreed. And of course, beyond the fixed quota, if you ever need more sacred material, we can always work out additional exchanges."
And with that, Kian had successfully established himself with an Astartes Chapter, laying the groundwork for a long-term partnership.
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