Author Note

The conquest and exploitation of Planetos will be a story arc of sorts lasting a couple of years.

The next arc will involve an enemy that can fight back. Haven't decided who yet.

Reviews

Hardrian Caeser

I'm not sure if Valyrians would be considered witches by 40k standards due to members of that race dreaming of the future, being immune to fire, and controlling dragons. That said Rogue Traders are given wiggle room so Thrax will have a Targaryen wife at least. His genes with Valyrian genes ought to be a fine foundation for a Rogue Trader Dynasty.

Rogue Trader CYOA Story

Part 2

"There can be but one Emperor, one god, one saviour, one deliverer. Without Him, a billion billion souls are nought but fodder for the ever-thirsting evils of the Warp."

— Ecclesiarch Theodacus V, Indroit to the Verses of Dusk

Aurora-class Light Cruiser. Thrax System.

Hidden behind a holo-field and shielded from psychic detection, that kept it from discovery by the humans the small Eldar cruiser floated in the void of space, damaged yet not crippled. Even now the bonesingers worked their craft to bring the fighting vessel back to peak performance. Once that was done those that command this might machine of war would have to decide what course of action to take next.

Farseer Galadeer of the Yltar Craftworld had not expected to find her ship dragged along in the wake of the crude human vessel that she had been seeking to destroy. Her visions had foretold of her victory, of how she would ambush the vessel of the human empire and unsure that it played no further role in the future that she wished to bring about.

Only that hadn't happened, her vision had failed her, the humans had not charged into battle without thought as their crude kind were known to do, rather they had turned and fled as if they'd known that a trap had been prepared for them. This was Galadeer's fault, she had forgotten that while the humans were savages compared to her noble breed, they were not as simple as the orks. She should have been prepared for the humans to show some cunning and a second fleet prepared to attack from behind.

The Farseer knew that chiding herself was pointless. Rather she needed to focus on what to do. Simply destroying the human vessel was no longer an option, or at least it wasn't a very good option. The human cruiser was a flying fortress-city, and yes it was vulnerable from the rear, and not that well-armed for a vessel of its size, it had have strong defences. Even with the element of surprise, a victory could not be certain.

Besides there was a mind on that vessel, one very different from the others, one with knowledge and power that no human should possess. Galadeer felt certain that it was this mind that had deduced the possibility of an ambush and ordered the vessel to flee rather than fight. The human she sensed possessed power she did not understand and did not wish to challenge without learning more.

Another factor to consider was the warp. Never had it felt so pure, so clean, the world in this system sent turmoil that echoed into the other realm, hardly surprising given that it was infested by humans, yet the creatures of the warp were not coming to feed. The Farseer could only detect a few minor warp creatures, which were like small fish swimming in an ocean when compared to the predators she was used to, and they fled from her when she lashed out with her powers.

The Farseer wondered if they had somehow been sent to the past, to a time before the War In Heaven when The Warp was a peaceful realm only that didn't feel right and how could a world of humans exist in such an era? No this was not their universe.

As she sat in her meditation chamber, a simple space that was free from any distractions, Galadeer let her awareness move beyond the cruiser to the world that the human vessel was now orbiting. She sensed cold death there and something made from fire and shadow. Compared to other dangers that the Eldar had faced these were minor threats, but they should be dealt with and quickly.

In the long term, the Eldar vessel was stuck in this system, they had been caught up in the wake of a warp jump that the Eldar had simply not been prepared for, and it was only by sheer chance that the cruiser had been consumed by the predators of the warp. They should all be dead, consumed by She-Who-Thirsts, and the Farseer wondered if their salvation had come from the strange human she sensed, the one with a connection to the warp differed so much to that of his kin.

The human's vessel was the only way the Eldar had of returning home and perhaps the human mind she sensed could be of us to her people. If the humans had somehow stumbled across a means of travelling to different realities, dimensions free from Chaos, that could mean a new home for her people and a new future. This would have to be handled carefully. They couldn't destroy the ship or try to seize it as the humans outnumbered them too greatly.

A more gentle touch was required, the human leaders would need to be carefully contacted and made to see the benefits of an alliance. She would find a way to direct the humans on a path that was pleasing to her. This took time and she would need to study the humans, to better understand them, so that was what she would do.

(Line Break)

His Glorious Aspirations. In Orbit of Planetos.

My office was a testament to the wealth and power of my station as well as an example of how the Imperium as a whole worked. I had a data slate, which was the Warhammer version of Star Trek datapad on my desk along with a pile of important documents that looked as if they belonged on a teacher's desk at Hogwarts rather than on a spaceship. I had to unroll and sign scrolls each scroll to make my orders official and then apply my thumbprint to the electronic version of the same document.

I drank recaff, basically space coffee, out of a fine china mug while doing my work and as I did I looked up at the walls. The former captain of this vessel must have had a big ego as he'd put up portraits of himself looking very heroic hanging about all over what was now my personal quarters. I would have them all removed and painting of me put up because this was my warship and I also had a big ego. It was my turn to conquer worlds, to destroy the heretic, the aliens and the demonic. It helped that we would be invading the setting of Game of Thrones for my first conquest as that world could so with some rigid Imperial authority so I didn't feel bad about having it conquered in the name of the Imperium.

Also up on the walls were a collection of laser rifles and pistols that I imagined the governments of my world would pay fortunes just to let their scientists examine, and yet they were put up along with more primitive tools of killing such as flintlock pistols and what I assumed to be crude orcs weapons. These two would have to go as I would soon have trophies of my own to put up.

I allowed myself to be distracted by some of the reports that crossed my desk. While the navigators and astropaths didn't seem to understand that we're in another universe (assuming that Game of Thrones didn't take place in Warhammer 40k, something which would not shock me) they were reporting that the Emperor's light could be faintly senses, although I wondered if that was me, and that the warp was calm here. So need to worry about demonic possessions.

Making an effort I remained focused on the paperwork, the Imperial buracary could not be escaped no matter how far you flew from Holy Terra it turned out, and since I was the highest Imperial authority around, at least in some sense, I had to authorise the deployment of the Imperial Guard as well as the Ad-Mech before they could do anything other than prepare to land on the planet that had been named after me.

Technically I should not be able to order them to anything since they were separate organisations with their own chains of commands, but someone had to be in charge overall and this meant that should things go wrong I'd end up being the one to blame. The IOM wasn't going to fund me if I asked for help taking over some backwards world that they would assume was a lost colony of no importance so I had to carefully manage our limited resources. Hence why I was giving the Ad-Mech all of Ulthos as then they would support the conquest of the rest of the planet.

The Imperial Guard would invade Westeros one day if they didn't all bend the knee, but that could take years, so I should have plenty of time to exploit the locals and it might be possible to bring the natives into the fold. The leadership of the IOM wouldn't give a damn who ruled Westeros as long as they got some tribute and the Lord-General knew this so he might be satisfied with direct control over Essos and to allow Westeros to rule itself for the most part. We'd see how things went.

At least I didn't have to authorise the Inquisition to do anything and they could handle the spooky stuff for me. The Inquisitor had spoken about rewarding me for our friendship down the line as had the Ad-Mech who would be getting a lot of free labour and minerals from this world. The Lord-General had plans to turn the Dothraki city into a fortress-capital for this world and to rule from it, and to do that he'd need my support as well as that of the Ad-Mech who would actually build it for him, or at least the servitors would. My job was mostly to help the different groups get along and to keep working together for a greater good, not that I'd ever call it that out loud, even thinking those words made me feel a bit dirty. Bloody Tau.

There was a polite tapping on the door of my study, and when I bid whoever it was who wanted my attention to enter, I saw one of my battle harem (I didn't know which as I couldn't see her number and she was covered from head to toe in a protective body suit) and she informed me that Bishop Brennen was here to see me.

I knew the bishop to be the highest-ranking member of the clergy on board and he served the Cult of The Emperor Saviour. The Temple of the Saviour Emperor was one of the many Human religious cults which grew up around the worship of the Emperor of Mankind as a god after the Horus Heresy back in the 31st and 32nd Millennia. It went on to become the dominant state church of the Imperium, the Adeptus Ministorum or Ecclesiarchy as the organisation was more formally known.

The more extreme theological doctrines of the Temple of the Saviour Emperor, which called for the Ecclesiarchy to dominate every aspect of Imperial politics, fell out of favour during the Age of Apostasy and were reformed by the Ecclesiarch Sebastian Thor and the reborn rival sect of the Temple known as the Confederation of Light in the 36th thousands of years later there are those within the Ecclesiarchy who exhibit a desire to use the institutions of the Imperial Church to gain wealth and political power for their own sake. This has been referred to within the church as having a "tendency towards the Temple" as a warning against returning to the old ways.

Those who are actually found to adhere to the beliefs and practices of the pre-reformation Temple of the Saviour Emperor are regarded as Heretics who have turned their backs upon the current incarnation of the Imperial Creed. However, there do exist secret cults that actively work against the current Ecclesiarchy in the Emperor's name, in an attempt to return to the old ways as they regard the current religious theology of the Adeptus Ministorum as the true heresy.

I'd made sure to have built a very fancy temple dedicated to the fella on the Golden Throne to ensure that I appeared to be a proper Emperor lover while in truth I only paid lip service in matters of faith since I knew that Big E didn't want to be worshipped as a god.

"Your holiness," I said while standing up "What may I do for you?".

The old man came and sat down without bothering for me to invite him to sit. Playing the role of infirm elder rather nicely. I got the sense that he was deeply troubled by something, or that he was acting that way. I knew enough about the faith to understand that it existed as a means of controlling the masses of humanity, the faith taught that people like me were in charge because this was how the big golden guy wanted it, as such, it suited me to support the faith.

"Given how busy you are Lord-Captain it might have escaped your notice just how many of the God-Emperor's faithful are in your care," he said "Their needs must be met".

I was aware that while I'd hired an experienced crew of navy veterans there would be many people on board who'd just ended up on board during the refit and stuck around afterwards as they had nowhere else to go. Even a light cruiser like my vessel were cities in space. Cites had their homeless and jobless, all of which still had needs even if they weren't being met at this time.

"Now I understand my duty during the coming conquest, and I will have my preachers prepare to spread the light of the Emperor to the infidels," the bishop told me "However something must be done with the faithful who have no role to play on this ship in the holy wars to come. Therefore I would like your permission to set up a place for the Emperor's loyal followers to flock to, a sanctuary-city and centre of faith for the world we are soon to claim in his most holy name".

An action that would place Bishop Brennen in a position to claim the title of Cardinal if my thinking proved to be correct. Central to the Ministorum's power within a sector of Imperial space is the dioceses, the demesnes of the faith, each of which is under the command of the cardinals of the Sector Synod. Some dioceses can encompass more than one world or even an entire sector in the case of the officials granted the extremely powerful rank of Cardinal-Astra. Although I was unclear on where the rank of bishop appeared in the ranking structure as no Imperial organisation was uniform across the board.

This division allows the Ministorum detailed control over the sub-regions within a sector as well as giving individual worlds or specific problems direct attention. Each cardinal of the Sector Synod is a powerful individual in his or her own right, having risen to his lofty position through years of sacrifice, devotion to the God-Emperor, and most importantly, cunning and relentless politicking. Each cardinal maintains their own diocese on the world on which they reside, more commonly referred to as his seat of power, the centre of the cardinal's authority and base of operations within their archdiocese, from which they rarely if ever leave. A sanctuary city on Thrax Primus could serve as a diocese.

"And for this, you'll need plenty of land and my support" I reasoned.

That was actually rather easy to sort out for the most part. There was plenty of unused space on the planet below. The tricky part would be getting the faithful planetside with the support they needed as the Ad-Mech had its own issues and the Guarded needed support. To make the bishop's plan work I'd need to offer a lot of support in terms of food and other supplies.

"It would be a rough start until you can start to grow your own crops, you'd be dependant on supplies from the ship" I explained as I showed the high ranking holy man a map of the Ameros landmass "and your needs would come behind that of the Imperial Guard and the Ad-Mech as they are required to tame the wild world that we now orbit".

The Bishop didn't seem too concerned by this.

"With the blessing of Him On Earth and hard work of the faithful we will survive" he assured me "It will be possible to hunt on these lands and fish in its waters while we sow the first crops. In time proper homes will be built as will temples".

Thinking on I realised that there would be many displaced people in the years to come. I mentioned this to the bishop and how we might be able to find him, labourers, with some skill. He was pleased to hear this.

"Thus those in need of conversion will come to us," he said.

The Lord-General and the Archmagos would need to be informed of this addition to our plans, but I figured that they'd be glad to have the Emperor-bothers on the far side of the planet where they would have no one to preach to than each other and anyone I wanted to dump somewhere. The guard had its own chaplains, who would do a fine job, and the Ad-Mech was its own cult.

"I am sure that with your support that by the time your work is done on this world we will be paying tribute to you Lord-Captain rather than be a burden upon your mighty vessel" I was promised "The faithful shall be rewarded for their good deeds".

In other words, if I went along with the holy man's plan he'd get to rule his own little kingdom and in return, he'd make sure that I got my share of the riches that could be obtained. There was a lot of metals waiting to be mined all over the world we orbited. Gold and rare gems would be found and there would be other rewards.

The Bishop promised to do what he could to prepare his flock to settle a new land while I called up my First Officer as this mass landing would take quite some effort to organise even with the guard lending some of their troops transports and survival gear. It might be best to try to get the Lord-General to send along some of his more pious troops with the Bishop just to help keep order. I didn't mention this for now as it was one of those minor details that could be worked out later.

(Line Break)

Pentos. Esso.

While my intention was still to invade the Stepstones and to take the islands one at a time until I was the prince of them, it would be best to avoid using the title of king if I wished to open diplomatic talks with people from Westeros, that sort of thing takes time to prepare for. It wouldn't take long to actually conquer the islands, relatively speaking, once the invasion started, as I could land troops directly on the island and maintain the supply lines for the invasion using those same landing crafts, but it was still going to take time to organise such the forces required for such a conquest.

Killing all the slavers and pirates would be the easy part as while I lacked the fighters and bombers carried by other IOM warships, and I didn't wish to destroy the islands with orbital bombardment, some of the landing craft used by the Guard and by my own forces did have laser cannons and they would be more than enough to destroy slow-moving wooden sailing vessels that depended on the wind and to wipe pirates fortresses off the map.

The hard part would be holding the islands with only naval armsmen as they were not Imperial Guard. So I would need to convince the Lord-General to send troops to garrison the islands and that would be a lot easier if I got the Ad-Mech to convert capture pirates bases into something close to proper fortresses. I could simply order these things done as I the authority, at least on paper, but politics plays a big role in gettings thing done even for a Rogue Trader so I would need to offer something in return.

If I could acquire more manpower of my own along with other resources, such as gold, I would have a much easier time convincing my allies to give me more support. My thinking was that if I could buy healthy enough slaves, offer them better conditions and even pay, they would serve me faithfully and if I had them then I would only need enough of the Imperial Guard regiment to train my own forces.

To appease the Lord-General I could offer him wealth to help fund his wars and I could give him healthy young men and women that he could use for labour or begin training to become part of the PDF (the planetary defence force) which could be used to support his guardsmen and women. The Ad-Mech would likely turn anyone I gave them in servitors so I would give them any prisoners I took from the Stepstones and in exchange, they should be able to share some of their efforts with me.

Gold has uses for the Ad-Mech for more than decorative purposes and it was used in some of the technology they produce I didn't understand the details as the cogboys, to use some Imperial Guard slang, kept their secrets and what really mattered was that back at the forge-world, the people who I would need to bargain with to be resupplied for my next expedition would accept gold and labourers in person.

I also needed workers to send to Ameros and well as supplies for the holy city the Emperor bothers wanted to build there. If that project worked out the clergy would be very pleased with me even if they wouldn't directly profit from what happened here in Westeros directly since I'd be spreading the God-Emperor's light to the heathen masses.

Since my personal ship wasn't suitable for the landing operations going on all over this planet, a slow process that would take weeks to finish since everyone important wanted to get down to the surface to stake some sort of claim, I needed something to do so I'd decided to take advantage of the fact that the former captain of my cruiser had left all his stuff lying around.

Given my intention to get rid of it all my thinking had been to come here and sell what to me was junk, and to exchange it for the two things this world had to offer that my allies cared about, gold and people. Now that I'd signed all the paperwork other people had taken over the preparation work leaving me free to go do what Rogue Trader's did best. Which was to make a profit.

With all that in mind, I'd come to one of the Free Cities that was located on the western coastline of Essos, across the Narrow Sea from Westeros. To Pentos, which is a large, rich city-state of merchant lords, who practised slavery and had plenty of gold.

I knew that Pentos' economy was based mostly on trade and commerce of products such as cheese. As a result, Pentoshi traders like Illyrio Mopatis are often referred to derogatorily as "cheese-mongers". They conduct some trade with the Seven Kingdoms across the Narrow Sea and use their wealth to pay tribute to the Dothraki to avoid being sacked by the nomadic people.

Pentos is nominally ruled by a Prince, a man who is chosen by the city's Magisters from among the Pentoshi noble families. The Prince supposedly holds the powers of trade, justice, and war, and on every new year, he must deflower the Maid of the Field and the Maid of the Seas to bring good fortune to the city. However, should a crop fail or a war be lost, the Magisters slit the Prince's throat and choose another. In truth, the Prince's power is only nominal, and the true rulers of the city are the council of Magisters, the wealthy merchant-princes. They were who I needed to deal with.

I also knew that this city was the home of Magister Illyrio Mopatis. Another interesting fact was that Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen temporarily reside in Pentos for about one year before Daenerys's marriage to Khal Drogo. I hadn't seen them yet, but given a large number of horse riders camped out not that far from the city it seemed likely that the Targaryens were here. The exiled royals did not matter when it came to my plans for this world, but I thought it might be interesting to meet them, and my plans could change should I have some chance to acquire them.

To not freak out the locals too much I'd had my pilot land outside of the city but on the far side from where the Dothraki were camping out as I didn't wish to cause any conflict with them when I only had my battle-harem and two squads of naval armsmen with me. My battle-harem and armsmen could easily cover my escape, but if I ran I'd lose face before the natives, that simply couldn't be allowed.

Aside from carrying a lot of the former captain's junk, which was being sold for whatever was offered to anyone willing to come out to the campsite I'd thrown up outside the city, I was here to sell guns to the locals. That might seem counterproductive since the Lord-General was working to conquer Essos, but I would not be selling anyone the kinds of weapon that would be able to harm his tanks and the locals didn't have anything like artillery, nor could they quickly move troops around on flying transports, so giving them guns wouldn't make much of a difference. Since I would be the only source of bullets (it would take years for the locals to set up the kind of infrastructure required to supply even a single garrison with enough ammo) I could cut off anyone who didn't do as I wished for them too. At least within reason as I did need their gold and people.

As for where I'd gotten the guns from, I had impressive manufacturing machines onboard my vessel and plenty of junk metal left lying around from the refurbishment. The guns were while crude was also simple and dependable. The Ad-Mech built weapons meant to last for centuries as long as they had regular maintenance, and that could be performed by even simple-minded people as most of it was needless mysticism that got mixed in with the cleaning and maintenance.

Magister Illyrio watched as some of my navy armsmen demonstrated the crude rifles that I was willing to sell. While primitive to even someone from my time they were clearly superior to crossbows in every way, they had better range, a faster firing rate even if they were single-shot as loading the rifles was easy, the weapons did more damage and the weapons were more durable.

"The real danger is not a single rifle, but rather it comes from entire lines armed with these weapons," I said to Magister Illyrio "Imagine if the walls of your city were projected by hundreds of men with these weapons. Any Dothraki horde or sellsword army who dared to attack you would be slaughtered even before they made it to the walls. Even the Dothraki can be made to flee in the face of such losses and the khals who lead their armies would be the first to fall".

While arming their slaves soilders with such weapons did come with risks I had ways to assure the merchant lord that he would remain in control.

"These guns of your seem like formidable weapons" stated Magister Illyrio Mopatis, the merchant lord who had been sent to treat me with "With a supply of these weapons and the bullets required to make use of them we'd need never again payoff the Dothraki".

Bribing the horse riders so that they wouldn't attack this city wouldn't remain an issue for much longer if the Lord-General has his way, but there was no need to tell the Magister that when the threat of a Dothraki attack only made him more eager to buy guns from me.

"I will sell the weapons to anyone willing to pay," I told Illyrio "I am after all a trader and I would supply some ammunition to those buyers, but simply training with the guns will require many bullets. As such anyone who brought up my supply would have control over all of the guns as without the bullets they are worth less than clubs. I also have people who can train others to use these weapons. The teachers would need to be provided for and whoever did would be able to decide who got trained in the use of the guns".

Illyrio Mopatis hadn't become one of the leaders of this city by failing to sense opportunity when it came knocking.

"You'd give me sole right to buy these bullets and to decide who is allowed to purchase them?" he asked.

I saw no problem with this so I confirmed that this was what I'd been getting at. I didn't care who sold the bullets since I was the only source of the guns and more bullets. All of which were made with recycled metals and next to no cost to me.

"The other Free Cities will make their own arrangments, but I would sell ammo to no one else in Pentos or any lands that part of the Free-City, and you will receive the guns before anyone else" I informed the overweight man "And before you say anything I realise that the other Free Cities have not always been friends to Pentos so perhaps you seek some advantage. Something I would not sell to the other cities".

Of course, he expressed interest and added in some flattery before I showed him the design for what on my world would be called a pillbox, which was a type of blockhouse, or concrete dug-in guard post, normally equipped with loopholes through which to fire weapons. Unless you have tanks, which the Imperial Guard had plenty of, getting an army past these would be a nightmare.

"These small fortifications might not look like much" I was now saying "But if you station a couple of our more rapid-firing weapons inside the pillboxes... well perhaps you better see for yourself".

I took the Magister over to where a couple of what I would call Maxim machine guns had been set up and when the armsmen began their demonstration they pulverised the targets.

"Imagine one of those in a hundred pillboxes surrounding your city," I said to the Magister "Now they would use up a lot of ammo, but you can't put a price on the safety of your city, and with these defences, no army from this world could take Pentos".

Very true, but the Imperial Guard wasn't from this world and no amount of pillboxes would stop the Lemen Russ battle tanks that the Lord-General had under his command. The single Baneblade the regiment had access to, the machine that acted as the Lord-General's fist, to the people in that destroyer, all this machine gun fire would be no more dangerous than rain. And if Pentos caused too much trouble, that was what orbital bombardment was for. Although I'd like to avoid that if possible as I'd rather not kill millions and there was no profit in it.

"You'd trade all this for gold and slaves?" the Magister asked.

I would, however I didn't intend to keep them as slaves, rather they would become serfs in the service of the Ad-Mech, the Imperial Guard, the Church or myself since it made sense to offer the slaves a slightly better life as that would earn some loyalty from them. Unlike slaves, serfs could not be bought, sold, or traded individually though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land. Slaves, in contrast, could be traded like goods, could be abused with no rights over their own bodies, could not leave the land they were bound to and could marry only with their lord's permission.

Serfs who occupied a plot of land were required to work for the lord of the manor who owned that land. In return, they were entitled to protection, justice, and the right to cultivate certain fields within the manor to maintain their own subsistence. Serfs were often required not only to work on the lord's fields, but also in his mines and forests, and even work to maintain roads, but in theory, they could just leave.

The Imperium of Man worked much like this only on a much larger scale and while being a serf might not sound like any sort of improvement over slavery there were some benefits as long as the local didn't abuse his power too much.

"Ah, Lord-Captain let me introduce Princess Daenerys Stormborn and King Viserys Targaryen" introduce the Magister as the exiled royals came over to where we were standing "They have been guests of mine for the past year".

I gave them a short bow as while it paid to be polite they weren't ruling monarchs and even if they had been this was just a backwater planet in the middle of unknown space.

"Greetings your highnesses," I said, "I am Rogue Trader Maximinus Thrax, Lord-Captain of the His Glorious Aspirations and ambassador of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Mankind".

Viserys gestured to my luxury craft.

"His Glorious Aspirations, is it the name of that flying machine?" he asked, not waiting for an answer "If I had one of those I could land at the false king's doorstep and kill him in person".

His ignorance amused me.

"No your Grace that is just my personal transport His Glorious Aspirations is a warship that flies among the stars," I told him "Although my transport could take you to the Red Keep in a matter of hours, the Usper's guards would cut you down long before you reached the Iron Throne".

Viserys didn't take that as an insult in any way, if only because he was barely stopping himself from drooling over the guns on display. It didn't take someone with my intelligence and imagination to figure out what he was picturing in his mind.

"Even a small army of sellswords armed with these weapons could see me on the throne," the beggar king said to his host "We wouldn't need the Khal or his savages".

Putting Viserys on the throne wasn't impossible. As long as he or she who sat on the Iron Throne paid lip service to the faith of the God-Emperor followed certain laws and paid their taxes no one really cared who ruled a single world or part of it.

"In time all of this world will be ruled by the Imperium of Man," I told the beggar king "and while the Imperial Governor would have overall command, one man can not rule an entire world. Someone will have to administrate the daily affairs of the Seven Kingdoms and ensure that the laws of the Imperium are followed. They would have my support in exchange for a reasonable tribute. It would take a year or two at the most since we would need to train a large enough army in the use of the guns I wish to sell, and we would need to make allies, but I have the ear of those who could help make it possible to put you on the Iron Throne".

Viserys might already be mad, and he couldn't really understand just how much I'd already changed this world by introducing firearms and letting them know that flying machines were possible, but he wasn't a total idiot. He'd already realised that I could do far more for him than Khal Drogo and he only had one thing worth anything in trade, his sister.

"Perhaps we should talk Lord-Captain" the exiled royal suggested while glancing at his only living sibling "An alliance between House Thrax and House Targaryen could be profitable for the both of us".

Princess Daenerys Stormborn was a little too young for me, but I didn't mind waiting if a long term engagement could be set up. I could have the Targaryens as guests aboard my cruiser and ensure that they were both educated. Daenerys as the wife of Rogue Trader and her brother would need to learn about warfare and rulership. I had more than enough luxuries and entertainments on board to keep them amused. I could also take them sightseeing sometimes. I could even assign one of my battle-harem as a guard for Viserys in case he got of hand. The beggar king would be appeased if I gave him a few girls to fuck and his own weapons to train with.

Yes, this could work out nicely. I'd like to have my own puppet king and a princess who would give children who could perhaps command ships of their own one day.

"Your Grace," said the Magister "It would be unwise to upset Khal Drogo".

That was no concern of mine since I could leave if things got out of hand, but I did understand his worry.

"With these weapons, you need not worry about any Khal" I assured Illyrio "I can start shipping them down the right way and begin training your guards in their use this very day".

I would need to keep Illyrio on my side for as long as it was profitable. Once I had his gold and slaves it wouldn't matter much what Drogo did as his days were numbered.