Chapter 511 Heart of the Empire
There is a huge, patterned wooden table in the center of the room. It is also big enough to have 12 chairs on the side.
The tabletop was wiped almost flawlessly by the servitor, smooth and bright, projecting the reddish reflection of the lumen lampstand hanging high above the head in the upper area of the hall's vault.
Only one stain remained on the table, a tiny, imperceptible dent.
No matter how many times the craftsmen and guild craftsmen dug into it, casting it with the finest grade of resin or restoration compound from a precision injection tube supply, the flaw was never completely erased - it was made permanent The ground is added to the texture of the mahogany.
Cleopatra had long since found it indifferent, even though the Grand Inquisitor had often found his eyes resting on it over the years - on countless tiring nights when council meetings lasted until they were least important.
Only the twelve members of the High Lords Council could sit in the front seats, while other lesser officials had to hide in the shadows or sit along the walls.
This is undoubtedly a great room, well equipped and has a great atmosphere, opening the window blinds gives a great view - overlooking the rooftops of the palace, with the ring gates showing both sides of the world Densely armed.
Cleopatra Charles thought it would be a good choice for research or as a private office.
However, this is hardly a place that can be considered to manage an empire. It can only be a room behind the scenes, suitable only for conspiracy and behind-the-scenes transactions. This is not a place where the heart of power should be.
Cleopatra came in last, and his presence was solemnly noted by the recorder.
After all the high lords were seated, he first nodded to Avelisha Drachma, the Minister of Justice, who was his only true ally among the twelve high lords.
This place is not quiet. In fact, the atmosphere is quite harmonious. Everyone is talking to the people around them, and some people are laughing. Fardix, the Grand Master of the Assassin Court, is the only one who is not talking to anyone. Man, he was always taciturn.
This assassin mentor has sharp cheekbones, steel-gray hair cut very short, and an uncomfortable aura about him, so no one wants to mess with him.
But Cleopatra actually liked Fadix very much. He believed in the almost autonomous function of the Assassin's Court, because from a spiritual level, it played the same security role as the Inquisition.
He also met frequently with Fadix and other Assassin Lords in private.
Of course, to discuss operational techniques, detection methods and share intelligence between agencies.
These are all part of giving and taking.
Sitting in the second seat to the right of Cleopatra is Marshal Maul A. Sariel, commander-in-chief of the Imperial Astra Militarum, a disabled veteran with outstanding merits, but not He looked old, as if he was only fifty or sixty years old.
The fat Mereda Perez is a red-faced man with a loud voice. He is an admiral of the Imperial Navy. His fat body is wrapped in a navy blue uniform with silver thread.
It took this guy, who came from a noble family in the hive city, a while to successfully sit down and start a conversation with the Minister of the Interior, Violetta Roscavler, about a puzzling scandal.
Although Violetta Roscavler seemed to be listening attentively, Cleopatra guessed that he was not very interested in the admiral's gossip and did not even bother to Think about this.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is the largest bureaucracy in the empire, overseeing countless imperial administrative officials. Although Oletta Rothkavler is here, it is estimated that his mind has already flown a billion light years away. In addition, countless administrative data are processed.
It is these non-stop work that keep the huge hive city of Terra in order, but the Minister of the Interior has also become the one with the shortest average life span among the high lords, even with many life extension surgeries. This situation cannot be changed.
At the other end of the table, the Foundry General of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Wood Udia Lasky, was talking to the Ecclesiarch Eos Ritra and the Navigator representative Kadak Mir.
Of course, Wood Udia Laski is another person who has been transformed. Her transformation was autonomous and started when she was young. Over the years, she has become A machine so bloated that she was the only High Lord unable to sit down.
Cleopatra watched the actions and movements of the Forging General with great interest, wondering whether the soul in this body was the Forging General himself, or was it just a controlled puppet?
Due to professional instinct, he suddenly thought that these mechanical cultists were difficult to kill, and the navigators were also non-human, but at least they looked physically fragile and vulnerable.
Those weird servants of the Star Torch, led by Lucius Slode, Steward of the Star Torch in the High Lords Council
As representatives, the methods used to deal with humans still apply to them.
But Astropaths should be a different matter.
Zlata Ash Krapias, the Astropath's Steward, is their vicious, unpleasant example.
The most conspicuous person in the scene is undoubtedly Tremas Remsana Kren, the spokesperson of the Rogue Traders, a luxurious woman with an almost dramatic appearance.
Her role is considered by many to be the most insignificant, while the Rogue Trader fleet, on the other hand, accounts for almost 90% of the Empire's interstellar navigation capabilities, and in times of crisis, she wields even more power than The admiral is bigger.
The commanders of the Imperial Guard were not present as in the past - their seats among the high lords were more symbolic. They were far away from politics, even far away from the empire, especially after forty-one thousand years, no one saw them anymore. Leaving the Forbidden Palace of Terra.
Ding ding ding————!
Suddenly, the bell rang and the delegates returned to their seats, even the most powerful among them.
The little angel and the tape recorder started buzzing as if this was a big bird cage.
Lord Guilliman (this is a title similar to Caesar) walked into the crowded room, sat down, and bowed his head to his eleven senior colleagues.
Lucius Slode, the director of the Star Torch Academy, is not a very important figure, but he has the friendship of the six high lords at the meeting, which allows him to sit in the chief position.
His hair was shaved, and the huge old scar extending from his scalp to his neck was very obvious. He wore a woven robe, in the style of a lost nation of ancient Terra. style.
He was not the first human to hold this honor, but like his predecessors, both mortal and superhuman, he also used the official honorary title of his office - Kiri of Macragge Man.
Lucius Sloder looked around the room, his left eye milky white, shining beneath the long scar, and finally landed on the Minister of the Interior, Auletta Rothkavler.
"Please keep order now."
Auletta Roskafler nodded and started the computer recorder lying on the table in front of him.
Soon, the thing began to tremble, typing on the spindle-shaped keys on both sides of a big mouth with wings.
"With the blessing of the Emperor, ladies and gentlemen, the meeting of the Twelve Lords is now convened."
Lucius Slode clicked on the data pad in front of him, today's agenda items Displayed on it, he read out the first item according to the script.
“——About some of the issues that arose in the New Badab War and some of the deviant behavior of the Astral Knights, Lamenters and other Adeptus Astartes.”
More updates tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)