158: Chapter 158 Fleet

Deep space, Mobius Prime.

Because Governor Cromwell had long ago issued mobilization orders to all major military factories, the upper society on Mobius Prime was not particularly surprised when the war mobilization order to crusade against the rebels on the junk heap was officially issued today.

The roar of machines echoed through the Hive City.

Bottom-layer laborers sweated and bled day and night on the assembly lines, desperately producing standard-caliber ammunition and high-energy cesium fuel.

The nobles, who held real power over the fleet, began frantically mobilizing their family-owned industrial assets and privateers.

In just a few days,

Over a hundred fully armed military defense boats, nearly a thousand heavy gunboats converted from heavy merchant ships with Macro Cannons, and countless small armed shuttles began to ignite and ascend, completing a massive fleet assembly near the Hive City's orbital defense platform.

The supreme Commander of this fleet was appointed to a direct member of House Rofis — Duolong Rophis.

He was the younger brother of the current Governor Cromwell.

Having him in command was enough to show the absolute importance House Rofis placed on this war of vindication.

In the spacious and luxurious circular conference room of the Governors Mansion,

Core members of the major families of the Mobius system and high-ranking Commanders of the capital ships all sat upright.

Governor Cromwell, dressed in a magnificent gubernatorial ceremonial uniform, stood at the head of the long table.

His gaze swept coldly over the old imperial nobles present.

"Gentlemen."

Governor Cromwell's voice was low,

"Do you know what that barbarian leader entrenched in the junk heap is trying to do?"

He struck the table heavily,

"According to reports from secret channels, he has actually openly declared that he wants to completely abolish all rights of the nobility! He wants to abolish the legitimate ruling rights granted to our ancient families by the High Lord Council of Holy Terra since the Great Crusade!"

Upon hearing this, the nobles present showed disdain and sneered.

Governor Cromwell continued:

"Even more ridiculous is that the madman is actually promoting some bullshit civilization in his territory. He is delusional enough to want those base bottom-layer laborers to be able to eat their fill and have houses to live in every day!"

"This is the height of absurdity!"

Governor Cromwell spread his arms, scanning the crowd mockingly,

"Our Mobius Prime has a population of nearly ten billion! If we let these bottom-layer dregs eat their fill every day, in less than half a month, they would eat everyone sitting here into bankruptcy!"

"Therefore!"

Governor Cromwell suddenly drew the ceremonial rapier from his waist, pointing at the coordinates of the Outpost Planet on the star map,

"This battle! It is not just to retake that occupied Abyss Prison, but to completely purge those heretical traitors who attempt to subvert the imperial class order! To defend the glory inherited by our families for generations! Use fire to purify their stupidity!"

"For the God-Emperor! For the glory of the family!" The noble generals stood up one after another, fanatically echoing.

...

Such large-scale military assembly and fleet mobilization naturally could not escape the eyes and ears of other forces on Mobius Prime.

Inside the magnificent black fortress of the Adeptus Arbites,

When the supreme precinct marshal of the Adeptus Arbites learned that the Governor was mobilizing on a large scale against a remote junk heap,

He didn't even lift an eyelid; he didn't care at all.

For these cold imperial machines of the Adeptus Arbites,

As long as Governor Cromwell handed over the tithe prescribed by the Empire on time and in full, even if Cromwell slaughtered all the civilians in the entire system, the Adeptus Arbites would not interfere in his internal affairs.

Not to mention just suppressing a native rebel force.

Compared to this boring war,

The precinct marshal was more worried at this moment that the Warp in this star sector was still in a completely locked-down, dead-silent state.

He had been unable to contact the Grand Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites at the Sector Capital via an Astropath for nearly a month.

This prolonged Warp silence meant that Mobius, this remote human world, had been completely isolated in the dark physical universe.

This was definitely not a good omen.

On the other side,

Inside the cathedral of the Ecclesiarchy on Mobius Prime, Archbishop Anthony showed unusual concern for this suddenly erupted war.

He constantly sent out spies to collect intelligence on both sides in various secret forms.

In the inner chamber of the cathedral,

Archbishop Anthony was sitting at a large oak desk, bowing his head to read through parchment files.

A deacon wearing a magnificent robe walked in quickly, holding several files that had just been summarized.

"Your Excellency, we have received reliable news regarding that junk heap planet through several merchants who have been there."

Anthony did not look up, continuing to annotate the files with a quill: "Speak."

The deacon swallowed and reported:

"The merchants reported that the force calling itself the Spark Alliance has very powerful ground combat capabilities. Not only did they defeat the Orks, but they are also equipped with some kind of individual heavy armor we have never seen before."

"But strangely, their number of space warships seems extremely scarce. It is said that when they sent troops to annex the Abyss Prison a few days ago, they actually spent a lot of money to rent a large number of dilapidated civilian merchant ships from Coastal City to act as troop transports. There were no decent military warships at all."

Anthony's quill paused, but he still did not look up:

"What is the attitude of the local church on the junk heap towards this alliance?"

"The local church firmly supports the Alliance."

The deacon replied,

"It is said that the leader of that alliance once publicly demonstrated the God-Emperor's miracle outside Coastal City, burning a terrifying Warp heretic to death with golden flames."

Anthony finally looked up, his deep eyes looking at the deacon, and a meaningful smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Did they gain new territory to expand the influence of the church after the war?"

"Yes, my lord."

The deacon nodded immediately,

"After the war, they obtained a large piece of prime land on the east side of the Alliance headquarters camp to build a large-scale branch church."

Anthony couldn't help shaking his head and let out a light laugh:

"This so-called miracle is mostly a fake phenomenon fabricated by that warlord to deceive the faith of the bottom-layer. It is nothing more than a means of exchange of interests between power and religion to fool the civilians."

Anthony stood up and walked to the window,

"Just like now, the clouds of war are gathering, and this is another excellent moment for the exchange of interests. In this dispute between the Governor and the rebels, how much power and wealth our Ecclesiarchy can seize by taking advantage of the situation is the most important thing."

The deacon hesitated: "Then, my lord, on which side should we place our bets this time?"

Anthony narrowed his eyes, looking at the Hive City scenery outside the window, and pondered for a long time.

"That junk planet is located on the edge of the star system, and its resources are pitifully scarce. Even if their ground troops can fight, what use can it be?"

Anthony analyzed coldly, "In the vast space, warships with absolute firepower are the only standard of hard power! That alliance leader doesn't even have a decent warship, yet he dares to annex the Governor's prison. The ambition of this emerging warlord clearly does not match his strength."

"However..." Anthony stroked his chin,

"You should still send a team of grassroots missionaries to that junk heap to make contact. Probe them to see how much of a price that leader is willing to pay to the church in order to save his life."

The next day.

A small, unarmed Ecclesiarchy shuttle lifted off from Mobius Prime and flew rapidly toward Outpost Planet 586.

On this ship sat a grassroots missionary sent by the bishop to probe the situation.

As the most basic staff of the Ecclesiarchy, the missionary's usual duties were usually just to inspire the morale of the people by loudly reciting doctrines in the factories, streets, and barracks of the Hive City.

Of course, it would be better if combined with distributing some low-quality nutrient paste and starch paste.

Don't underestimate these cheap little favors.

In the eyes of the bottom-layer civilians, apart from those ruthless gangsters, these missionaries who distribute food are the ones whose words carry the most weight.

When the shuttle approached the low Earth orbit of the Outpost Planet, it immediately received a warning from the Fire Seed Shelter's anti-aircraft radar.

After the missionary arrogantly stated his identity as an envoy of the Ecclesiarchy in the communication channel, the system sent him coordinates for a surface landing.

The shuttle passed through the atmosphere and landed slowly on an open space on the outskirts of a large camp.

The hatch opened.

The missionary puffed out his chest and walked down arrogantly.

A camp guard with a crew cut and tanned skin, actually a miscellaneous player, stepped forward to greet him.

"Praise the Emperor, I am an envoy of the Ecclesiarchy. Where is your leader?" the missionary asked condescendingly.

The dark, thin player scratched his head:

"Oh, looking for our boss? He's not here right now, he went to another planet to inspect work. If you have anything, you can just tell me..."

The missionary's brows furrowed immediately upon hearing this, and he interrupted the player rudely:

"Not here? Where is he?"

"At the neighboring prison planet, just took it down, probably still counting the loot," the player answered truthfully.

The missionary snorted coldly; he had no interest in talking nonsense with a bottom-layer lackey.

He turned around and was about to return to the shuttle.

But before boarding the gangway, he stopped and turned to look carefully at this so-called headquarters camp of the Spark Alliance.

Not looking was one thing, but once he looked, the disdain in his eyes became even stronger.

He saw that at the very center of this camp was a cement watchtower that was simple to the extreme, only a few dozen meters high.

At the top of the watchtower stood a towering metal signal tower.

Around the watchtower were large areas of low buildings hastily constructed from various metal plates and red bricks.

Not to mention the strange shape, this kind of simple bungalow could not accommodate many people.

"This is the warlord's headquarters that dares to challenge the Governor's authority?"

The missionary sneered in his heart.

Just by taking a rough look, the missionary made a final strategic assessment of this so-called Spark Alliance.

In his view.

This shabby camp that couldn't even build a decent high-rise tower could not possibly be the true core of this rebellion.

This alliance must just be a puppet pushed to the front to attract fire by the down-and-out nobles in Coastal City who had nothing better to do.

Their pitiful combat power probably all came from the mercenaries of Coastal City.

The missionary didn't even have the interest to go to Coastal City or the prison planet to investigate on the spot.

"Since the headquarters of the lair is so dilapidated, the defense lines in other places definitely can't be any better."

The missionary sat back in the shuttle and ordered the pilot to take off directly,

"Let's go, back to Mobius to report. A group of mud-legged warlords is not worth the church wasting energy to win over."

The missionary's shuttle had just left.

The dark, thin player looked at the departing spaceship, scratching his butt in confusion:

"Is this NPC crazy? Came to ask one sentence and just left?"

A few hours later.

Inside the cathedral on Mobius Prime.

After listening to the report brought back by the missionary, Archbishop Anthony sighed with some regret and completely accepted the conclusion that the junk heap force was weak.

"It seems this is just an overwhelming crushing without suspense. The opportunity is too rare."

Anthony shook his head,

"Wanting to take advantage of the war to bite off more power from the mouth of that old fox Cromwell is no longer possible. Can only wait until after the war to find ways to collect wealth from the refugee camps at the bottom."

Just then.

The deacon walked quickly into the inner chamber, reporting with excitement:

"Your Excellency! The Governor's crusade fleet has officially set off!"