Chapter 126: Rogue Trader Alliance

Chapter 126: Rogue Trader Alliance

Soon, eight of the Rogue Traders present on the spot chose to join the alliance proposed by Lucan.

A Rogue Trader Dynasty alliance, led by the Mongorte Dynasty, was clearly and slowly taking shape. Lucan believed that after the joining members enjoyed more and more benefits, others would sooner or later be tempted.

The sponsorship of combat suits alone could bring a qualitative leap to the strength of these minor Rogue Traders' crews.

This meeting brought joy to some and sorrow to others. The Kourda Dynasty had gained nothing; they had even lost their Rogue Trader in battle. The Kourda Dynasty's fleet could only hurry back to their own home system.

The subsequent struggle for the Rogue Trader position would likely be another bloody conflict.

They were so preoccupied that they couldn't even be bothered with the planets they had previously conquered, and the garrison troops left on those planets had no choice but to withdraw along with the fleet.

And Lucan chose not to have the Mongorte Dynasty digest these ownerless planets all by itself. He very much wanted to swallow them all in one go, but the Dynasty currently lacked the manpower to manage and develop these planets.

Managing and developing the few planets he had already taken was enough to keep Lucan busy for a good while.

And Lucan also extended a second olive branch to those minor dynasties that had proactively attached themselves to him.

Lucan could temporarily hand over the management and development rights of these planets to them, for them to manage and develop cooperatively.

For some of these Rogue Traders who had no planets of their own, this was an simply irresistible temptation.

However, Lucan also had conditions; none of this was free. Of course, the first was that they had to remain loyal. While maintaining their loyalty to the God-Emperor and the Imperium, they also had to maintain their loyalty to Lucan.

At certain times, their loyalty to Lucan even had to be higher than to the Imperium. And the remuneration Lucan provided was to supply them with food and construction resources during the initial development phase.

And though these resources seemed to be free, Lucan was also cultivating these dynasties' dependence on him. When every aspect of these dynasties' required supplies came from the Mongorte Dynasty, even if they were not officially incorporated into the Mongorte Dynasty, they would, in reality, be unable to leave Lucan.

Lucan believed that many among them could see through his intentions; few people who reached this level were fools.

They might be thinking of using this method to suck Lucan's blood dry, and then find a way to completely seize the planets for themselves and break away from the Mongorte Dynasty.

But by the time they truly developed to that stage, it would likely be too late for everything.

Once a dependency was established, breaking away was not such a simple matter. Perhaps you, as the Rogue Trader, would agree, but the other people in your Dynasty would not necessarily be willing to abandon their current lives.

Moreover, by that time, the Mongorte Dynasty would already be a behemoth. You join with a smile, take enough benefits, and then want to run? There's no such good thing in the world.

If the other party attempted to do anything to harm the Mongorte Dynasty, besides resolving it with military force, he could also choose to sponsor other candidates for the Rogue Trader position within that dynasty. Almost no dynasty was without disputes over the Rogue Trader's seat.

And when these Rogue Traders obtained the right to rule these planets, they also had to hand over a portion of their profits to the Mongorte Dynasty, just as the Imperium collected the tithe from planets. Lucan would dispatch some supervisors to these planets. These supervisors would not become rulers, but they would supervise them to ensure they implemented the policies of the Mongorte Dynasty, such as not arbitrarily killing or abusing civilians, and a mutual defense pact for when a member of the alliance was attacked.

Or, when plunderable wealth was discovered that a single Rogue Trader dynasty couldn't handle, how the benefits would be distributed after requesting aid from other alliance members.

The Mongorte Dynasty became the supervisor and leader of the alliance.

And these supervisory personnel would also audit the output of these planets to ensure their tribute was accurate. And the existence of quantum communication could also ensure that these supervisors need not fear being prevented from sending astropathic communications by the temporary managers, and could send the current status of these planets back to Agathos at any time.

If there was any unusual movement, the jump-capable fleet could immediately resolve the hidden dangers of these dynasties.

Although they were dissatisfied with the various demands of tribute and supervision to Lucan, these individuals still suppressed their discontent. After all, the benefits were simply too great.

This was enough to double the size of these small Rogue Trader dynasties.

In this way, Lucan would establish a Rogue Trader alliance centered on himself and possessing controlling power.

The tale of the War for Winterscale's Realm would continue to spread throughout the Expanse for some time to come, and the legend of the name "Lucan" would rise once again.

Only the living are remembered, while those who have died are quickly forgotten. After all, death is an all-too-common occurrence in this dark universe.

The archives of the Imperium's Inquisition would add a line stating that Scyvilla had given his life to destroy a daemon world, but that was all.

The fleets lingering in these star systems did not stay for long.

This star system no longer held any value. Everyone needed to return to rest and refit. And those with a keen sense of smell had already begun to prepare to compete for the power vacuum left by the Winterscale Dynasty. Even the Kourda Dynasty would be too busy to pay attention to certain interests.

And these interests were enough for some factions to obtain a large amount of resources.

However, the biggest beneficiary was ultimately still Lucan. After all, the planets themselves were the greatest value, and Pavian and his host of Tech-Priests had stolen a massive amount of technology.

After all, the Winterscale Dynasty had been digging graves and picking up trash for so many years; they had accumulated quite a few good things. Many of their technologies were complementary to Pavian's current research.

For example, the void shield that protected the hive city. For nearly a thousand years, the Winterscale Dynasty and the Adeptus Mechanicus they cooperated with had never stopped researching this void shield. Some of the technologies they had developed at great technical cost had now all benefited Lucan.

With a little more effort and the help of some residual technology from the Stellar Pioneer, there was a chance they could build their own void shields.

And the most important thing was the warship construction technology from the Winterscale Dynasty's dockyard.

Besides the construction technology for several types of light frigates, there was even the construction technology for a Dauntless-class Light Cruiser.

This dockyard actually belonged to the Adeptus Mechanicus, exchanged for with the resources of numerous planets and the profits of exploration.

But the resources needed to build a warship were astonishing.

At least, Lucan had never seen the Winterscales possess a Dauntless-class cruiser.

The dockyard's greatest use was for repairing warships and building a small number of frigates. But the difference between having it and not having it was huge.

Being able to build them himself meant he no longer needed to be constrained by the Adeptus Mechanicus. After all, the Mechanicus rarely sold warships of this level to Rogue Traders; most were supplied to the Imperial Navy.

The Imperial Navy in the Expanse had always been in a situation of having more men than ships.

And when counting his own losses after the war, Lucan also felt a pang of heartache.

Although the harvest this time was huge, not only in material terms but also in terms of power and reputation, the battle on the planet's surface had still brought him considerable losses.

The existence of daemons was still too great a threat to mortal bodies. Lucan had even guessed a Greater Daemon might appear, but he had never expected it to be Skarbrand.

Looking at the long list of casualties, Lucan could only sigh.

And when a truly large-scale war occurred, with the presence of Medics and SCVs, his troops' equipment losses were not significant. The truly massive expenditure was actually ammunition.

Lasguns were convenient to recharge, but solid-projectile weapons like the C-14s in the hands of the Marines or the grenades of the Marauders, although they had advantages in penetration and fire density, the ammunition they consumed was an astronomical figure.

War was never just about the combat effectiveness of soldiers, but also about sufficient logistical support.

After all, the Marines here didn't have infinite ammunition like in a game. The ammunition consumed by soldiers and vehicles was an astronomical figure.

(End of Chapter)

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