Warhammer 40k: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 155: The Tithe (Bonus chapter)

Staring at Lucan, Glydus's eyes were already filled with hatred. In the end, this was the result that her faith in the dark gods had brought her.

"Why would the Emperor bless you? Why not choose me?!" Glydus said weakly.

"The Imperium may be rotten, but Chaos is a pile of filth. You fundamentally fail to see this simple truth. Realspace and the warp simply cannot coexist. The moment you tried to borrow the power of those dark gods, you had already become their pawn. Perhaps your existence was a mistake made by the Inquisition, but the root cause was still your own choice. You claimed to believe in the God-Emperor, yet you brought harm to his people and even to Him."

Hearing Lucan's words, Glydus remained disdainful. A conviction held for a hundred years could not be changed by a few simple words.

"Since you think I was wrong, then I would like to see how you handle what comes next."

As she spoke, Glydus's eyes filled with mockery. Lucan frowned.

But no matter how Lucan questioned her after that, Glydus would not reveal the reason for her words. Instead, she began to curse the Imperium and the Master of Mankind.

Lucan had no desire to continue the verbal sparring. He snapped Glydus's neck, and her memories began to flood into him.

Lists of merchant guilds, manifests of heretical goods, and the locations of Chaos cults still hidden on Malfi. As he sifted through the memories, Lucan also understood the meaning of Glydus's final words.

"The collection of the Imperial Tithe?!"

Lucan walked out of the cell and immediately asked Leon when the Imperium had last collected the Tithe from Malfi. The answer he received was that the Imperial Tithe fleet would be arriving soon.

The pit Glydus had dug for Lucan before her death was the collection of this tax.

For many years, Malfi had always exceeded its Tithe quota. But the pedantic Administratum of the Imperium would not give you any reward for over-fulfilling your duty. Paying the Tithe was your obligation. The officials of the Administratum would only think that your planet had a greater capacity to pay even more.

The Tithe was not fixed; wars in the surrounding sectors or Segmentum would affect the amount. If a major warzone was short on supplies, it was possible for the Tithe to be raised to fifty percent of a planet's entire production. Although Malfi, as a sub-sector capital, would not be raised to that level, the current situation in the Calixis Sector was absolutely an emergency that warranted an increase.

Before Lucan's arrival, Glydus had already received the astropathic message from the Administratum regarding the Tithe. Looking at the exorbitant demand, which far exceeded previous years, even Glydus, with all her ability, would not have been able to fulfill it without crippling Malfi. It would have damaged the very foundation of the planet. No amount of administrative skill could conjure weapons and ammunition out of thin air, nor produce qualified soldiers. All of it required time.

Glydus had been racking her brain on how to fulfill this tax. And now, the task had fallen squarely on Lucan's head.

The Administratum didn't care who the ruler of your planet was. As long as you acknowledged the rule of the Imperium, worshipped the God-Emperor, and could pay the Tithe on time, they would hardly bother you, as long as you didn't commit any intolerable acts of heresy. You could do whatever you wanted. Tyrant, benevolent ruler, dictator—your governing philosophy meant nothing to the Imperium. And in any case, the Imperium lacked the ability to manage every single planet within its borders.

But if the Tithe was not paid on time, you would have to face the Imperial Tithe Fleet. If you couldn't do it, the Imperium would simply replace you with someone who could. As long as the tax was paid, sacrificing a large portion of the planet's population was considered a worthwhile trade by the Imperium.

When your planet was threatened, the Imperium might not respond to your astropathic pleas for help. But if you didn't pay your taxes, the arrival of the Imperial fleet was guaranteed.

"Dammit... there are no tithe fleets in the Expanse. I almost forgot about this whole thing!" Lucan couldn't help but scratch his head.

The Administratum didn't care if he was a Living Saint. Without a tax exemption permit signed by the High Lords on Terra, it didn't matter who you were; not a single bit of the required tax could be short.

The Tithe that Malfi paid had always been in the form of weapons, ammunition, and various industrial goods produced by the planet. In addition to these, Malfi also had to provide a large number of soldiers as part of its Tithe, to be thrown into the Imperium's various wars.

Although Lucan's conquest of Malfi had not been devastatingly destructive, the Zerg's raid on the lower hive's factory districts had caused immense damage to Malfi's industrial capacity. The amount of ammunition and weaponry consumed in the war was also massive. SCVs could repair these facilities, but production still took time.

However, the problem of weapons and ammunition was relatively easy to solve. At worst, he could use his Gorgon-class battlecruisers as transport ships to bring them over from the Expanse. Failing that, he could use the mountain of C-14 rifles piled up in his warehouses to pay the tax. After all, the rules didn't specify what kind of weapons. The production of ordinary goods on Agathos and his other planets was within the normal range, but when it came to weapons and equipment, his ability to produce them was no different from creating them out of thin air. Glydus could never have imagined the extent of Lucan's industrial capacity.

The most difficult part was the population tithe.

Lucan entered the meeting room. The Rogue Traders of the alliance and their important members were all gathered there.

"Inquisitor Hawkins, you've been in the Calixis Sector for so long. Can you use your influence to reduce the Tithe requirement?"

"Lord Lucan... the Imperial Tithe is sacred. It is the duty every Imperial planet owes to the Imperium. Let alone me, a single Grand Inquisitor, even the entire Reunificationist Sect cannot touch this forbidden area. It is the foundation of the Imperium."

The surrounding Rogue Traders' scalps tingled as they looked at the total amount of tax Lucan had presented. It seemed that being a ruler of a planet within the Imperium was not so easy. If they paid this tax, not only would the profits they had just gained on Malfi be gone, but their own dynasties would have to chip in a considerable amount of their own assets.

Fortunately, Lucan announced that he would cover the bulk of it. Hearing this, the others' faith in Lucan grew even stronger. See, this is a true leader! One who can bear the burden is a true leader!

But while the material goods were easy to solve, the population tithe was not so simple. Ordinary civilians could not be used to pay the tax. The Imperium needed qualified soldiers who could fight across the galaxy. And as it happened, the most qualified soldiers on Malfi had been supported by Glydus, which was why their resistance had been the most fierce. Their losses were also the greatest; almost all their formations had been completely crippled by the Raiders and the Zerg. A considerable number of soldiers had even become biomass.

Given the current situation, if they were to fulfill the combat personnel portion of the Tithe, in addition to handing over the remaining PDF, they would also need to send in the Dynasty's own soldiers in their combat suits. Lucan was not opposed to throwing them into the war, but he was afraid that the fools at the Departmento Munitorum would use them as cannon fodder, or even forcibly seize their equipment.

"Inquisitor Hawkins, can you use your connections in Calixis to find out from the Departmento Munitorum where the conscripted soldiers will be sent?"

"If it's just that, it should be possible. I will inform the members of my sect on Scintilla. That is the sector capital, and our sect has contact with some Munitorum officials who are in charge of these matters. Give me some time, and I should receive a reply soon."

A few days later, the astropaths received a reply.

"Proceed directly to Scintilla to rendezvous with other Astra Militarum regiments, and then provide support to the sectors near Cadia?"

♧♧♧

We've officially reached our 400 Power Stones goal! 🎉

As promised, here's your well-deserved bonus chapter for the week.

Thank you all for the amazing support—let's keep the momentum going!