Originally, after seeing the Inquisitor, he had planned to go back and comfort Farida, who had endured a night of battle.
But Horatio helplessly realized that he couldn't even spare the time for a round trip now.
Currently, as unknown dangers and the black hand in the shadows drew closer to the Gothic Fleet, the formal establishment of the Hellspawns began to accelerate.
After wrangling with the Department of Military Affairs and avoiding suspicion regarding the Guilliman Codex,
the Gothic Naval Department established a dedicated Naval Special Operations Command under the Military Intelligence Command and the Fleet Security Committee.
It was abbreviated as the Naval Special Operations Command, a pilot program existing only within the Gothic Fleet.
This department was under the dual leadership of the Gothic Fleet Military Intelligence Command and the Fleet Security Committee.
Although the Naval Special Operations Command's principal and secondary officers were theoretically required to conform to the Navy Department's 'one Captain leading two Lieutenants' system template,
considering the urgent needs of the current situation, the Navy Department temporarily broke this rule for the first appointees, prioritizing the rapid formation of combat effectiveness and deployment for missions.
Lieutenant Stirling was appointed as the principal officer, while Acting Lieutenant Horatio was chosen as the second-in-command and overall commander, with the third position temporarily vacant and subject to Horatio's nomination.
This was partly because Horatio, as the overall commander of the first experimental officer training unit of the Hellspawns,
had grown with it since its inception, understanding its combat style, strengths, and weaknesses better than most, thus eliminating the need for time-consuming adjustments and allowing for immediate combat readiness.
It was also an acknowledgment of his capabilities and a reward for his achievements.
This appointment also served as an assessment of his administrative skills.
He was, in fact, the linchpin in the regularization and institutionalization of this department.
Commodore Peru arranged an administrative office for him in the Navy Department's Military Intelligence Command office area, then had people move in a large pile of old investigation files to help him screen for useful clues.
These towering piles of leather scrolls, some even moldy and worm-eaten, emitted varying smells of old and new ink.
Combined with the scent of paper preservatives uniformly used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the air freshener sprayed during the expedited renovation, his new office smelled like a disaster.
He might have been the youngest Naval Officer with an office in the Star Realm Navy Department.
Although he had the authority of an Acting Lieutenant, Horatio was still a Naval Officer cadet at the officer preparatory school.
He still had to attend school to learn advanced ship and fleet command knowledge.
Fortunately, because Naval Officers are very busy, Navy schools arrange for officers to attend classes whenever they have time, teaching them together.
Therefore, Horatio's student life schedule was relatively relaxed and free, with no time constraints.
He also knew that with the assistance of the "Golden Finger," he would learn very quickly, almost equivalent to graduation, and was not worried that the Navy Department's work would delay his studies; it would only elevate his future prospects.
Soon, Lieutenant Stirling walked in.
Even he, who cared little for office environments, couldn't help but complain, "This is absolutely the most cluttered office I've ever seen in the shortest amount of time."
After venting about the terrible office environment, he quickly got to the point.
"Currently, the principal officer of the Military Intelligence Command is Commodore Peru, and the Fleet Security Committee is overseen by Lord Captain Elphinstone.
You and I have also been included in the 'Vice Admiral Hood Assassination Investigation Team' established by Commodore Peru.
My office is next door; just tell me what you need, and I'll have the Navy Department procure it for you."
"I want to transfer people from the Hellspawns.
This is a critical period, and I don't trust others much; the Hellspawns have at least undergone strict background checks, and the military academy environment is relatively closed, with less contact with the outside world, making them one of our most reliable forces right now."
"No problem, you can make decisions like this entirely on your own, no need to report to me.
It seems the office across the hall will also need to be cleaned and organized for their use."
"Exactly." Horatio personally moved a large stack of moldy confidential documents to the balcony to air out:
"This 350-square-meter office is already quite stifling."
He clapped his dust-covered hands, watching the scribes still bringing in mountains of documents, stack by stack.
He instantly understood what Imperial-style paper shit-mountain code was, the kind that even Guilliman would find vexing.
The sheer volume of these files was despair-inducing; although thinker arrays existed, the Empire's preference for handwritten paper records was a historical inertia that had been difficult to change for millennia.
Even the writing machines operated by pressing a letter button, which then mechanically moved a quill to write the corresponding letter on paper.
The end result was that the documents from just one Star Realm Navy Department could fill a space as large as the Moon.
This was also one of the reasons why the Gothic Ministry of Internal Affairs was the largest and most spacious building among the Imperial departments here.
While it wasn't allowed to be taller or larger than the planet's highest Ecclesiarchy Bishop's Cathedral, it was truly immense in width.
It was as bottomless as a Tyranids / Tyranid' maw, accumulating hundreds of millions of parchment documents within.
"These are copies of the suspect documents compiled by Vice Admiral Hood.
Just received from Commodore Peru; each page is numbered, and to prevent loss, they must be stored in an adamantium safe after viewing."
Horatio took them from the Lieutenant. These were the anti-loss copies he had suggested printing for the investigation with Inquisitor Ravenor.
"I'm heading back to my office now; I'm going to be swamped." The Lieutenant sighed, both in pain and helplessness.
"To be honest, I'd rather switch with you; public relations work makes me sick."
Horatio smiled and said nothing.
He wouldn't want to touch public relations, let alone Imperial public relations.
Commodore Peru assigned Horatio to handle the investigation, while Lieutenant Stirling helped the Navy Department navigate the public relations challenges of the incident.
Everyone's tasks and work were not easy, but at least Horatio's job would be more pleasant.
Horatio understood the gravity of the matter he was handling.
He had been granted power far exceeding his rank.
This urgent incident had put the Gothic Fleet into a heightened state of alert.
Rarely, all naval-related detention centers, naval bases, and jurisdictions began a full lockdown.
This level of alert was, in principle, only activated when the Star Zone Fleet faced a fatal threat.
The last time there was such a large-scale mobilization was during the Gothic War.
And Horatio, as an Inquisition Acolyte and an investigator for the special task force,
at the request of Inquisitor Ravenor to the Gothic Fleet, had been granted immense autocratic power to arrest suspects and bring them to the 'Sky Dome Cage' for interrogation and torture without requiring approval from superior departments.
Arrest first, then interrogate; a Throne's special permit.
Horatio sat in the spacious office, wielding great power, experiencing a disturbing sense of pleasure.
The instinctive part of his mind subconsciously pondered how this power could benefit him and how he could rapidly rise to prominence.
His unrealistic fantasies grew increasingly exaggerated; he even imagined himself using this power.
Under a reign of terror, he would arrest the Governor, arrest the Fleet Commander, then torture them to death during interrogation and usurp their positions.
He envisioned himself sitting in the top seat as the Governor of Abyss Port, or even the Commander of the Gothic Fleet.
To stop these unconsciously emerging terrible thoughts, Horatio shook his head, forcefully redirecting his mind.
He understood that this vanity and thirst for power could easily attract the attention of Slaanesh demons, who would then exploit his inner desires to lure him step by step into the abyss of corruption.
He even thought that perhaps his current thoughts were already Slaanesh setting a trap, enticing him until he was corrupted and fell, becoming one of His followers.
He adjusted his mindset, silently recited a few lines of purifying maxims from the Emperor's *Holy Sayings*, forcibly suppressing his wild thoughts, and spread the duplicate files on the table.
Ignoring the busy scribes, he began to fulfill his duties.
The situation was so urgent that, aside from fulfilling necessary basic physiological needs, he had no time to waste.
In the afternoon, he was to accompany the Inquisitor to the Church of the Celestial Woman for an on-site inspection of yesterday's attack, and in the evening, he planned to work overtime.
First, he would screen out a portion of the files that did not involve sensitive confidential matters and assign them to the Black Wing Society, the intelligence agency he reorganized from the Labor Gang, for investigation and processing, and then assign reconnaissance missions to Yoyo.
The enemy in the dark, to protect themselves, might be even more diligent than him.
To catch up with them, he had to make progress to intercept them in time before a larger conspiracy unfolded.
At the same time, he had to race against other Inquisitors from the Imperial side to prevent the Gothic Fleet from becoming the protagonist of a Greek tragedy.
[What an abstract and absurd race.] Horatio shook his head.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
The person knocking was a middle-aged man, about thirty or forty years old.
His hairline was quite high, his short brown hair was neatly combed and shiny, and he wore a senior civil servant assistant uniform from the Ministry of Internal Affairs; under his slightly thick eyebrows, his eyes held a professional humility.
The man looked a bit like Mr. Bean. Horatio casually looked up from the pile of files, observing the honest and simple middle-aged man who walked in carrying a large pile of documents after the door opened.
"Uh… Sir." He looked at the Naval Officer, who had buried his head again, and respectfully called out.
Horatio looked up again.
"Please speak."
"I am Bernard Woolley of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Minister's Chief Private Secretary, from the Administrative Affairs Department."
Horatio nodded, giving a perfunctory welcome out of politeness, but his hands did not stop, remaining focused on his work. He had already identified several suspects and three suspected gathering places, one-third of which could be handed over to the Black Wing Society, to be investigated by Fleet Intelligence and security departments first, to help them sort out the network of connections behind these suspects.
"Does the Ministry of Internal Affairs have any instructions?" he asked. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was, after all, the Navy Department's direct superior, and even with work on hand, it could not be neglected.
"It's not really instructions."
The man's words were a bit too cautious, like a timid and honest scribe nervously relaying a message to a great person, which perfectly matched his first impression.
"The Ministry of Internal Affairs has always placed a high degree of trust in the professional competence of the Navy Department, believing that the Navy Department can properly handle all its affairs.
However, this incident is indeed too significant, and therefore, we have been notified that the Administrative Affairs Department, as the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will work with the Imperial Navy to handle this matter."
"Is it public relations or investigation?" Horatio raised an eyebrow, cutting straight to the point.
As a former civil servant in his previous life, he somewhat knew how to deal with civil officials.
"To be precise, it's collaborative public relations, Sir. Jim Hank, the Minister of the Abyss Port Administrative Affairs Department, and Sir Humphrey, the Permanent Secretary, are currently liaising with Lieutenant Stirling next door.
Furthermore, as Minister Hank's Chief Private Secretary, I have been dispatched here by my superior to liaise with you and assist in your work. It seems the documents here are excessively numerous, Mr. Horatio, may I have the honor of offering you some assistance?"
The honest man bowed slightly, a humble smile on his face, like a humble public servant, awaiting the fruit of Horatio's careful consideration.
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