114: Chapter 114 Marcus Signs the First Formal Order from the Assessment Bureau

Four hours after the Imperial Navy Tactical Assessment Bureau was established, Marcus Aurelian sat in the director's office, which had been temporarily converted from a briefing room. Spread out before him were five student self-check simulation reports, Heinrich's independent fire control system test data, Bern's psychic warning array calibration records, and Oldenburg's reserve node redeployment schedule.

He reviewed these documents one by one, then took a standard Imperial Navy issue fountain pen from the drawer, unscrewed the cap, and wrote the first official order since the establishment of the bureau on a blank sheet of order paper.

The title consisted of only one line: "Imperial Navy Sector Self-Check Simulation Institutionalization Order."

The body of the order listed the following: Effective from the date of this order, all Imperial Navy sectors must conduct routine self-check simulations on their respective anchorages, fleets, and logistics systems, following the four-step closed loop from The Swarm's tactical analysis template—prediction, observation, modeling, and strike.

The simulation standards shall be executed in accordance with the Ultima Segmentum Military Academy textbook, "Hostile Logic Simulation and Self-Examination Manual."

Each sector must establish a tactical assessment sub-bureau, reporting directly to the Imperial Navy Tactical Assessment Bureau.

Self-check simulation reports are to be submitted according to the standard cycle, and the bureau reserves the right to independently review the self-check results of any sector.

All vulnerabilities discovered during self-checks must be rectified within the stipulated time limit, and the rectification results must be verified by the bureau.

This order also applies to the psychic resistance upgrades of all Imperial Navy Void Shield filtering protocols, the multi-node synchronous locking algorithm upgrades of all torpedo fire control systems, and the randomized redeployment of all supply chain nodes.

The footnote at the end of the order read: "The legal definition of The Swarm remains frozen in the imperial codex, and the tactical analysis templates left behind by The Swarm have been reverse-compiled by the Empire into optimization schemes for independent combat systems. The Imperial Navy no longer relies on allies to define security; the Imperial Navy defines security itself."

He signed his name and stamped it with the seal of the Imperial Navy Tactical Assessment Bureau.

He then accessed the fleet channel and transmitted the full text of the order to Heinrich's Shield of the Emperor, Oldenburg's Third Assault Fleet flagship, and the High Lords of Terra.

Upon receiving the order, Heinrich read it through point by point. He spoke into the comms channel in a raspy voice, saying that Shield of the Emperor would complete a full-ship self-check simulation before the start of the next rotation cycle, and the simulation report would be submitted directly to the bureau for filing.

Self-check simulations for all anchorages of the Third Assault Fleet were initiated simultaneously.

Oldenburg added that the reserve node redeployment plan was already underway, and the evacuation progress of exposed nodes would be reported periodically as required by the bureau.

Bern sent confirmation from Griffin IV Anchorage.

The deep coupling scheme between the Grey Knights' psychic warning array and the Holy Power monitoring network had completed all field tests according to the bureau's technical specifications, and the simultaneous construction of the Fortress III Void Shield filtering layer upgrade and the psychic warning array had entered the final phase.

He stated that the position of Psychic Security Consultant for the bureau had been officially incorporated into the duties of the Grey Knights Librarian, and all psychic warning data would be integrated into the bureau's routine self-check database.

Marcus bound a copy of the order and handed it to Hasseldorf, who was sitting across the conference table.

The old jurist took the order and reviewed it point by point, then retrieved a blank draft of an imperial codex amendment from his file case and wrote "Imperial Navy Tactical Assessment Bureau Regulations" in the reserved section with a quill pen.

He said that this order would be formally incorporated into the imperial codex at the next plenary session of the Council of High Lords, serving as a permanent component of the basic regulations of the Imperial Navy.

The Military Academy textbook would serve as a technical appendix to the bureau's regulations, possessing the same legal force as the main text of the codex.

Marcus stood up and walked to the door of the briefing room, looking at the brass plaque directly above it: "Imperial Navy Tactical Assessment Bureau."

"With the eyes of the enemy, examine one's own shield."

He said to Hasseldorf, "The coalition taught the Empire how to fight alongside xenos, and it also taught the Empire how to survive on its own. The bureau's first order is not a defensive scheme, nor an attack plan, but a system. The Empire no longer waits for allies to find vulnerabilities for it; the Empire finds them itself, patches them itself, and guards them itself."

"From now on, every Imperial Navy Commander must ask themselves one question before every battle: 'If The Swarm used my anchorage to train its Self-Check Protocol, how would it strike me?' Only those who can answer this question have truly understood the legacy left behind by the coalition."