76: Chapter 76: Factions supporting and opposing the coalition nearly split in public at Terra's Eternal Palace.

At noon Terra time, the main screen on the bridge of the Wrath of the Emperor switched from the Psionic Void Network warning interface to an encrypted live broadcast of an emergency meeting of the High Lords of Terra. Before the image became clear, Bern's Psychic Talisman was already flashing frequently due to the detection of intense psionic fluctuations. Marcus Aurelian stood before the command console, staring at the oval council table coming into focus on the screen—twelve High Lords sat on either side, with the vacant seat in the middle originally reserved for the permanent representative of the Ordo Xenos, currently empty. This was because the representative of the Ordo Xenos was Marcus himself, and he was standing on the flagship of the United Fleet in the Ultima Segmentum.

The Arbiter of the Adeptus Arbites leaned his hands on the edge of the Lex, his voice as cold and hard as flint striking stone: "The joint military-industrial agreement signed by Marcus Aurelian in the name of the Coalition, under the current legal framework of the Empire, is still equivalent to permanently leasing the Forge World Metallis to xenos; this is a substantive cession of Imperial sovereignty." The rebuttal from the Chancellor of the Ecclesiarchy was even louder; as the old bishop rose from his throne, the Holy Staff in his hand struck the marble floor heavily: "The battle reports of total victory at the Star of Judgment, the assessment of the Old Ones' seals at the Void Throat, plus the testing data for the universal Void Shield coordinator submitted by Captain Oldenburg of the Joint Fleet Command—if none of these count as xenos legitimately shedding blood and sweat for humanity, then should we also consider the Holy Hammer personally bestowed by the Emperor upon the Grey Knights as xenos contamination? Severus's turncoat captains were just being interrogated in the prisoner-of-war camp, and the Adeptus Arbites is already in a hurry to find a legal basis for his actions?" The Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy tapped his knuckles on the table, suppressing the argument. He stated that the Third Assault Fleet of the Imperial Navy had fully equipped itself with Coalition universal armor plating and Void Shield coordinators; a month ago, this batch of equipment had just come off the line from the Metallis United Military Industrial Complex, and the fleet loss assessment from the Star of Judgment campaign showed a significant increase in ship survival rates after the refit. His conclusion was that the Imperial Navy could no longer do without the Coalition's military-industrial lines. The Chancellor immediately proposed a comprehensive loyalty audit within the Ordo Xenos to thoroughly investigate the entire funding and authorization chain of the "Hammer of Purification," the radical faction to which Severus belonged.

In the fleet channel, Marcus lowered his voice and said to Bern, "This is the consequence of letting them discuss the Coalition charter themselves—now they aren't arguing about whether the Coalition exists, but how to distribute responsibility within it." Bern rested the Holy Hammer across his knees, the Psychic Talisman resting securely against the inside of his breastplate. Looking at the council table on the screen where the Chancellor and the Arbiter of the Adeptus Arbites were jostling each other, he said that the collapse of Severus's radical faction would cause the Inquisition to completely lose its exclusive voice on xenos affairs for decades to come. The Brood Queen sent a reminder, requesting that the United Fleet maintain a silent defensive alert while the outcome of Terra's internal strife remained unclear, and to not actively intervene in Terra's internal debates.

Before leaving his seat, the Chancellor dropped one last remark: "The legal status of the Coalition War Council was personally bestowed by the Emperor through the Old Ones' certification at the Void Throat—whoever opposes the Coalition is opposing the Emperor's will." The Arbiter of the Adeptus Arbites closed the Black Codex, making a rare compromise, stating that the case of Severus's betrayal would be fully transferred to the Coalition War Council's military court for trial, and that all reservations previously held by the Council of High Lords regarding the "Crime of Xenos Alliance" clause in the Coalition charter would be withdrawn.

Marcus pressed the communication button. On the screen, beside the council table in Terra's Imperial Palace, the Arbiter of the Adeptus Arbites closed the Black Codex, the Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy put away his tactical data slate, and the Chancellor of the Ecclesiarchy lowered his Holy Staff. He switched the screen back to the Coalition fleet channel and formally notified the War Council of the Council of High Lords' vote: the legal status of the Coalition War Council was unconditionally recognized by Terra; the behind-the-scenes supporters of the Ordo Xenos's radical faction would formally face legal action.

At the end of the announcement, he said to Oldenburg, "Have the Third Assault Fleet send a routine United Fleet patrol notice to all defense zones in the Ultima Segmentum. The 'Coalition War Council' should be the primary signatory in the body of the notice, with Terra's full authorization attached at the end. Let them get used to the Coalition leading the way." Oldenburg stood at attention and saluted, then turned to walk into the command cabin. Bern stood up and shouldered the Holy Hammer once more, saying he needed to return to Terra to confront them in person and nail those guys hiding behind legal codes into the Inquisition archives. Marcus nodded, saying the War Council authorized Bern to attend all proceedings of the Severus case as the Coalition military court's Holy Power Overseer, making all records of the betrayal public. Bern shouldered the Holy Hammer and left without looking back.

In the hangar of Griffin IV, Sebastian whispered into the communication channel, "The Inquisition is only just learning what 'Coalition' means; it took them a full half-year." The Brood Queen's quantum-state translator lit up quietly in a corner of the main screen, the cool green text displaying only one sentence: "The Overmind says the Coalition is now legal. In the next battle, the enemies will no longer be limited to Tyranids and Chaos." Marcus stared at that line for a moment, then opened the fleet channel again to issue the next command to the entire United Fleet: all fleets of the United Fleet are to begin large-scale deep-space patrols to search for remnants of the Tyranids and any traces of unregistered Chaos Hulk Fleets. The Ultima Segmentum no longer needs to wait for the enemy to come to them; the Coalition will strike proactively. He added one last thing—Lord Admiral Van Strauheim of the Imperial Navy has departed from Terra and will personally lead an Imperial Fleet to be integrated into the United Fleet's order of battle. This will be the first time in ten thousand years that an Imperial Navy Lord Admiral accepts the command of a xenos-human coalition headquarters.

Just then, a new encrypted psionic communication flashed on the communication panel of the Wrath of the Emperor's bridge, with the sender clearly marked as Lord Admiral Van Strauheim himself. Marcus paused, then reached out to press the receive button; this Imperial Lord Admiral, who was about to join the Coalition with his fleet, seemed to have something he wanted to clarify with him in advance.