40 Thousand Reasons

En route to Iblis, I make use of the tech-priests I imported from Stygies, basically a think-tank of various clades and specialities to recover the lost STC patterns of the Macharius tank.

A twin Volcano Lance template, with two small plasma reactors to supply both the engine and the weapons, and 2 heavy bolters for defense, seems to be the best we can make at a reasonable cost. It also has the new Flare shield, which doubles the prodigious durability once more.

Much cheaper would be a classic Vanquisher cannon variant, like those Leman Russ tanks, with 3 autocannons for close defense. Could also use a heavy flamer, due to its promethium-based engine. We mark it down for the Astra Militarum and other PDF style forces. The guardsmen will surely love having these as their primary tanks.

The next variant, one with a Gatling heavy bolter and 2 twin-autocannons, would be hugely useful against light infantry. Not that much against anything else, and thus it's only there as a gift.

The quad lascannon variant, with 3 twin-multilasers gets my approval quite fast. Laser technology is cheap and readily available for any Forge. I would pre-order a million of them, but they are still heavy tanks. Perhaps the entire Imperium of Man might produce a million, in a hundred years. They would probably need to, considering what's coming. A Power Shield could be also installed, for extra resilience and cost.

The next variant takes more work, because it uses the Ryza plasma cannon and the Tigrus atomantic reactor. There is enough energy for a Flare shield and 3 triple-multilasers, and this beast will keep working for a decade.

Only the more advanced Forges could build them, for Astartes and other elite units. This variant though, can face the worst in the galaxy, Titans or Necrons, even Chaos Engines. Every Forge World should have a few hundreds, just in case.

The last variant has the Volkite cannon from the Glaive, with a frontal twin-lascannon and 2 quad-multilasers on the sides. It is obscenely powerful against most units, and as expensive as the plasma variant. But it doesn't stand a chance against Titans or same class enemies. It is the future though. Forges working to build this complex beauty will need to struggle and grow, and Tyranids swarms would just melt in front of it. Only Mars can built it, or maybe Graia, if their new planet has been developed enough.

And then we arrive at Iblis, to find the place peaceful and rather confused at our arrival. This is the base of Battlefleet Maelstrom, but the war hasn't reached it yet. Seems I won't confiscate anything here, without the spark of a war.

We refuel and re-arm the torpedoes, for money. It's not that I'm poor, I'm not. My clan is damn rich and I rarely spend money for anything. I must be the strangest Rogue Trader ever.

Anyway, with the loot of this campaign, I will have the largest fleet of any Rogue Trader dynasty, even those 10 thousand years old.

We already have battleships and battlecruisers, plus all the other ships.

I tell Finona to instruct her astropath, and have Victor sell a dozen crippled Eldar cruisers on the market, via Antax. It will make us twice as rich, and more importantly famous and well--seen by the xenophobic Imperium.

Plus, we will need lots of thrones to sponsor the emigration policy and subsidize child births. Those thrones will return as taxes once the population grows.

Many times over, if my savant implant isn't wrong by a few zeros.

Using money to promote Ork style reproduction is funny, I know. They use teeth, but it pales in comparison with a real economy.

This gives me an idea, and I instruct Veryon to attempt a barter with our northern Ork neighbors, those that I bombed into bronze age. He still has a decent fleet at Natale, and a growing coal and promethium industry.

The Orks will move away from those northern planets, in exchange for a few derelict Ork ships and a new target. We could gain 50 livable planets without a long fight to cleanse the worlds and ruin the ecosystems, and without spreading Ork spores by the billions.

And if those Orks try to loot the Novokh_Dynasty, it will be fun to watch. Who knows, maybe the Necrons will deploy their C'tan Crimson God and I might get a chance to steal him.

I'm not sure what abilities the Crimson C'tan shard might have, but better send the Orks first and observe. The greenskins are not completely stupid, but promise of loot and a strong enemy always makes them jump head first.

It is a very risky mission for my brother, but such is life for all Rogue Traders. You want an empire and riches, you have to take risks.

He basically needs 50 Orkish ships to lift off their entire population and escort them towards Dhol, the Necron capital. Then run away and just observe from a great distance.

My own fleet begins hunting the Magog sector, closer to the Maelstrom, and I do capture an Ork Kroozer and a pirate Dictator_Cruiser, a carrier type with 5 squadrons of Fury fighters on board, as well as bombers and landers.

This pirate had 3 allied destroyers and a parasite Stalwart_Escort_Ship with melta charges on the prow ramp, for boarding. Like a 800-meter-long boarding torpedo, filled with ravenous and rapacious looters and criminals.

This loot is already worth 70 billion thrones, and I have just begun. As long as we avoid the Hrud temporal event-horizons, we should be fine. I'm certain Trazyn can deal with the Hrud just like he can with anyone else, but I lack his 60 millions years of immortal studies. Gellar fields are no protection against the Hrud abilities, but perhaps they could be used on the Tyranids or Chaos.

And speaking of Chaos, two systems over we find an Ork Empire battling a Chaos fleet and winning. I hold my ships while we observe, and when the Ork Boss teleports with his meks and nobs on the Chaos battlecruiser, I steal his Ironclad battleship and all the escorts. 10 ships already captured, and they even have leader-less green crew.

Perhaps gathering enough forces to drown the Necrons in a green sea won't be that hard.

Once the Chaos marines are butchered, I contact the Ork boss to tell him where he can find the next 'gud fight'. Somehow his meks take over the infected Chaos ship and depart to fight a Necron god. They didn't bother to close the hangar doors, so I expect a lot of demons will provide entertainment till their final destination.

"What just happened, my lord?" Chaplain Delos asks me a bit confused and amazed.

"What do you mean, Astartes?" I ask in fake innocence.

"You allowed the Orks to capture that traitor vessel, and sent them to fight Necrons..." he mutters in dismay.

"Not sure what is your point, Chaplain." I wondered in real confusion.

He loses his train of thoughts for a moment before sighing in defeat. "I keep forgetting you're a Rogue Trader."

My bridge crew laughs heartily, glad we didn't have to risk our skins in a rather perilous boarding for no gain, as Chaos ships should always be pushed into a sun.

Before we depart, we fire our lances at the surface, burning off most of the Ork infestation, looted cities and factories crawling with gretchins and boyz. The mushrooms will return, but without industry, ships or a Warboss they won't be a danger for a millennium.

Next five systems are empty, and then we stumble into a nest of pirates and some kind of criminal cartel, mining some rare minerals.

Twenty pirate destroyers, 5 Tempest_Frigates and 2 light cruisers with macrocannons get vanished into my crystal labyrinth before we launch our invasion. Of course, my Blood Angels are kinda overkill for this type of enemies, but I'm here for loot and plunder.

We also have thousands of combat servitors with adamantium shields and a battalion of void marines with Volcano sentinels.

A dozen various transport and courier vessels get boarded and captured, and we find almost a 50 billion thrones in valuable jewelry, rare art items and lots and lots of ancient weapon patterns and portable shields. On top of that, we liberate a million slaves, including captured Nobles, Administrators and Navigators, even some Navy officers and another Knight pilot.

I keep the Navigators and the Knight, as I can provide them with ships and a new Knight suit, and the rest of the more important former slaves are loaded on my new Fast_Clipper to be deposited at Iblis for a small rescue fee.

I don't even get a thanks from the entitled bastards, but then I didn't expect one.

Can't carry a million people, but there is no need. This mining base and port is theirs, with few transport ships to keep trading. I don't need to take everything, and I don't.

Pirates and criminals get executed or transformed into servitors, depending on what the locals claim. I won't sit in judgement too much. If there's a charge, death. If not, lobotomy and eternal servitude on my ships.

For the next year we continue hunting the edge of the Maelstrom, while the Badab War slowly changes focus to other rebellious Chapters like the Mantis and the Executioners.

We find 300 more destroyers, some 30 frigates and cruisers and an old Grand Cruiser transformed into a casino/space station. The local mob had 100 billion of illegal thrones in the vaults, which is of course shared by a percent with the crew.

I also gain more control over the labyrinths, and line my captives in nice organized rows by race and height. The Astartes look great, like I have a thousand decks of miniatures.

Somehow, I begin to understand Trazyn's fascination with collecting various decks. It is rather fulfilling.