107: Chapter 107 The Terra Highlord Council issues the Supreme Directive for Imperial Military Reconstruction

The briefing room of the Emperors Hammer did not have a moment of respite after The Swarm fleet sailed toward the edge of The Galaxy.

Marcus Aurelian projected the Supreme Directive for Imperial Military Reconstruction sent by Hasseldorf from Terra onto the main screen; the header of the directive was no longer the Coalition War Council, but the Imperial Navy Ultima Segmentum Theater Command.

In the body of the directive, Hasseldorf wrote a foreword in extremely neat High Gothic, a passage that would later be engraved on the base of the Orbital Defense Platform at the Griffin IV Anchorage: "The Coalition taught us one thing—the Empire cannot pin its hope for survival on the eternity of allies. Allies will leave, agreements will expire, and authorizations will be revoked. Only the Empire's own fleets, its own anchorages, and its own laws can hold the Ultima Segmentum forever."

Heinrich von Strauheim stood on the right side of the conference table, the medal of highest valor awarded by the Coalition on his chest gleaming with a cold, hard metallic luster under the lights.

He pushed the comprehensive inspection report of the Shield of the Emperor's independent fire control system onto the table, his voice hoarse but his speaking speed extremely fast: "All ships in the Imperial Navy Ultima Segmentum Theater have completed the refit for the independent combat system. The randomized scheduling of rotation cycles is running stably, the supply chain dynamic allocation algorithm has passed three rounds of stress testing, and the Void Shield charging random jitter layer has been embedded. All sixteen Strike Cruisers of the Third Assault Fleet have been connected to the quantum-state encrypted command chain. The Orbital Defense Platforms of the sixteen Imperial anchorages in the Ultima Segmentum have completed firmware rollback and physical reinforcement, and all energy bus exhaust pipes have been fitted with triple-layer adamantine isolation mesh. The Imperial Navy no longer needs the Coalition to hold the Ultima Segmentum."

Bern projected the deployment progress of the Grey Knights Psionic Warning Array onto the star map.

The multi-layered Psionic Warning Arrays around the Griffin IV Anchorage were fully operational, utilizing the remaining nodes of the Living Psionic Network left behind during the Coalition era for passive monitoring.

He said that although these nodes could not actively synchronize with the Hive Mind of The Swarm, they could capture fluctuation signals from the living neural network when the Leviathan Battle Group of The Swarm mobilized on a large scale.

The real-time trajectory of The Swarm fleet heading toward the edge of The Galaxy was still being tracked continuously.

The physical construction plan for the first phase of the Psionic Beacon project had all engineering data handed over by the Brood Queen before the dissolution of the Coalition. Imperial engineers could independently complete the mechanical installation and energy docking of the beacon nodes, but the synchronization authorization of the core protocol layer with the Hive Mind remained in a frozen state.

Sebastian sent a report on ground forces from the Griffin IV hangar.

All Terminator Assault Platoons had completed the refit of their ceramite breastplates, and the reverse-compiled data of the Universal Void Shield Coordinator had been fully written into the Imperial independent fire control algorithm.

The Third Assault Fleet engineers were incorporating the Coalition Universal Armor Plate sealing procedures into the Departmento Munitorum standard operating manual.

He said that a portion of the legacy left by the Coalition could continue to be used—not the Gene-phage sequence of The Swarm, not the synchronization authorization of the living neural network, but the tactical data and engineering standards accumulated by the Coalition in actual combat.

These things did not rely on protocols, did not rely on allies, and relied only on the Empire's own military archives.

Oldenburg reported that the Third Assault Fleet had completed a round of defensive exercises at the Griffin IV Anchorage, and the coordination latency of the independent fire control algorithm had been reduced to the lowest value allowed by the Imperial Navy standard operating manual.

Marcus summarized all the reports, stood up, and walked to the star map.

The sixteen Imperial anchorages in the Ultima Segmentum were marked one by one with blue cursors, each annotated with the timestamp of the completion of the independent combat system refit and the defense assessment rating.

He projected the full text of the Supreme Directive from Terra onto the star map, point by point: "First, expand twelve permanent orbital defense fortresses based on the existing anchorages in the Ultima Segmentum, with each fortress equipped with independent Void Shield arrays, Lance Weapon batteries, and Macro-cannon positions. Second, extend the Grey Knights Psionic Warning Network from the Griffin IV Anchorage to the entire Ultima Segmentum, with multi-layered Psionic Warning Arrays deployed at all anchorages. Third, immediately initiate the physical construction of the first phase of the Psionic Beacon project, completing the mechanical installation and energy docking of all beacon nodes while the core protocol layer is frozen. Fourth, establish a permanent garrison rotation system for the Imperial Navy in the Ultima Segmentum, with the Third Assault Fleet as the permanent main force and Marshal Heinrich serving as the Theater Commander-in-Chief. Fifth, establish the Imperial Ultima Segmentum Military Academy on Griffin IV, using Coalition combat data as teaching material to cultivate a new generation of Imperial Navy Commanders."

Heinrich stood up and gave a standard Imperial Navy salute.

He said that the Imperial Navy Ultima Segmentum Theater would complete the site survey for the twelve orbital defense fortresses within one week, and all ships of the Third Assault Fleet would transition to the fortress garrison mode.

The Shield of the Emperor would continue to serve as the theater flagship, and the Coalition emblem on the bow would be permanently retained as a historical record, but the Void Shield charging frequency would never be switched back to the Coalition mode.

In the final report sent to Terra that day, Marcus wrote: The Coalition taught the Empire how to fight side-by-side with xenos, and also taught the Empire how to survive alone.

The Ultima Segmentum will no longer be a buffer zone between the Empire and The Swarm, but the Empire's most solid military fortress at the edge of The Galaxy.

The High command of Terra subsequently replied with extremely solemn wording, stating that the Empire would no longer wait for allies; the Empire would become its own ally.