Warhammer 40k: Starting as a Rogue Trader

Chapter 149: Stirrings in the Warp

In her command post, Glydus listened to her soldiers' reports. She finally understood why Frank had screamed at her to close the underhive gates. It wasn't that the Chaos cultists had failed to join the battle as the gods commanded; it was that they had been devoured by these unknown xenos. Among the aliens were a large number of infected and controlled humans, who were now using the very weapons she had supplied to the cultists to attack her own soldiers.

"Governess! Xenos! Unknown xenos are attacking the garrison!! There are too many of them! The enemy fleet in orbit has also begun to move! Our ground defense installations are being destroyed! The enemy has begun their orbital drop!!"

The xenos and the enemy had launched their attacks at the exact same time. There was no such thing as such a perfect coincidence in this world. The only explanation was that these xenos were the biological weapons of this Mongorte Dynasty.

And these xenos did not act like mindless monsters; they were even selective about their targets. Her PDF and the cultists Frank had infiltrated into the army were their primary targets for slaughter. However, the many civilians in the hive who had been forced to join the war were not subjected to the same devastating attacks. They discovered that as long as they did not attack these xenos, the creatures would not harm them.

Most people did not want to die. Faced with these suddenly appearing xenos who wouldn't attack them, many simply threw down their weapons.

Lucan needed this population, and the entire Swarm, guided by psychic energy, was now surging toward Glydus's hidden command post.

Ultralisks, transported at great cost by Nydus Worms, were like biological titans, destroying all enemy resistance in their path. The cannons of ordinary armored vehicles could barely penetrate their biological armor, while an Ultralisk could destroy a Leman Russ tank with a single stomp. The massive kaiser blades on their heads possessed terrifying cutting power, capable of easily piercing through heavy armor plating.

The Swarm's advance was only slightly curbed when it encountered the factories controlled by the Dark Mechanicum. The hereteks used sheer firepower to suppress the Swarm's push, and a large number of combat servitors temporarily held them back. A few Daemon Engines even emerged from the blasphemous factories to clash with the Ultralisks.

At the same time, Marines from the various Rogue Trader dynasties began landing in the upper hive. These alliance members might have been hesitant in a losing battle, but in a winning one, they were truly motivated. For them, their efforts would be exchanged for terrifying wealth.

The situation was developing exactly as Lucan had envisioned. The Zerg compensated for the fleet's disadvantage in terms of insufficient ground troops.

Leon and Ian also stepped out of the Inquisition's sanctuary. They were not yet aware of what had happened in the underhive, but when they looked up, they saw squadrons of Viking fighters streaking across the hive's sky. Countless anti-air batteries were inexplicably exploding, and one transport after another was landing soldiers in combat suits in the upper hive.

Two Gorgon-class battlecruisers had even broken into the atmosphere. Any attempts by the other hive city on Malfi to send reinforcements were blocked by these two warships. Not a single unit, ground or air, could cross the wasteland. Medivacs were also deploying Thors onto the surface of Malfi.

Leon listened to the reports from his agents, his face a mask of disbelief. He had assumed that the soldiers in unknown combat suits with Damon were an elite unit sent by the enemy. Ian had never told him that every single one of their soldiers wore a combat suit.

Warships that could enter the atmosphere, and even beings similar to Knight-Titans... besides the Adeptus Mechanicus, no other faction in the Imperium should possess all these things at once! The power the Mongorte Dynasty was displaying now was enough to fight an entire war on its own. Although its forces were composed of different parts, similar to the Imperium, all of these forces followed Lucan's commands alone. In terms of efficiency and resource utilization, they had reached the absolute limit.

Leon, of course, knew how powerful a military under such a centralized system could be. But most of the armies in the Imperium today dared not do this. Just as the Space Marine Legions were broken up by the Codex Astartes, the danger to the Imperium would be far too great if such a centralized army were to rebel or fall to Chaos. In the past, the Legions were not like the modern Chapters; under the Astartes were countless mortal auxiliary troops and manufacturing departments. Weighing the pros and cons, the Imperium would rather endure greater losses than integrate the various parts of its military.

"Lord Hawkins, no need to be so surprised," Ian said calmly. "This is not the full strength of Lord Lucan. You may not know this, but in the Expanse, with these soldiers, we withstood a legion of Khorne's daemons and even banished a Greater Daemon of Khorne."

Although the appearance of the DOOM Slayer was the key to that victory, the Raiders had indeed held the line against the daemonic legion's charge.

"A daemon legion? Banished a Greater Daemon? What is this unit called?"

"The Agathos Raiders. Strictly speaking, they also have an official Astra Militarum designation. I know your Reunificationist Sect advocates for change, and what Lord Lucan is doing in the Koronus Expanse is also a form of change. Perhaps your sect and Lord Lucan will have more opportunities to cooperate. And the cooperation I speak of is not just for this one time, but a much deeper partnership."

Ian's words caused Leon to fall into deep thought. He began to seriously consider the matter.

"However, Lord Lucan has one condition."

"A condition? What condition?"

"Lord Lucan wants your cloning technology!"

"Cloning technology? That's impossible! The value of this technology is immeasurable, and we cannot allow anyone outside the Inquisition to possess it!" Leon's immediate reaction was to refuse.

"You need not be so certain. A set of cloning technology in exchange for the Dynasty's support is an absolutely worthwhile trade!"

Looking at the power the Mongorte Dynasty had displayed, Leon was tempted.

The Raiders were destroying the last pockets of resistance in the upper hive. The advantages of their combat suits in conventional battle were simply too great. The Ghosts, having failed to assassinate Glydus, had turned to assassinating her officers. The collapse of the command structure made the upper hive's defenders even more inept.

Malfi's only advantage was its vast superiority in troop numbers. They were trying to wear down the Dynasty's soldiers with sheer manpower. The numerical disparity was at least a hundred to one. But apart from the truly corrupted traitors, most of the enemy soldiers were just caught up in the tide of events, led astray by their officers' propaganda into believing Lucan's soldiers were simply invaders. A large number of civilians were also being used as cannon fodder to charge the Raiders' positions.

Malfi's Ecclesiarchy had even tried to stop the "invasion." In their eyes, although their governor and nobles were obsessed with intrigue, they were pious followers of the God-Emperor. However, using the list of Glydus's blood-relatives provided by Leon, Bishop Holter led the Raiders to forcibly breach their palaces. The various heretical acts hidden within left the members of Malfi's Ecclesiarchy utterly speechless and filled with immense shame. Debauchery, depravity, and hedonism—the corruption of Slaanesh was the most widespread among these nobles.

Now, calling themselves the shepherds of the God-Emperor, the local priests began to use their faith to persuade the soldiers to surrender.

Lucan remained on the bridge of the Stellar Pioneer. His forces had developed to a point where he no longer needed to lead the charge himself. The upper hive was being occupied by the Raiders, and from the bottom up, the Zerg were breaking through one defensive line after another. Even though they were temporarily held up by the Dark Mechanicum's forces, the Swarm did not fear a war of attrition. The Tyranids could not harvest inorganic matter, but the StarCraft Zerg could convert the energy and metal from slain combat servitors into the nutrients they needed.

Glydus was completely trapped in the hive city. If nothing unexpected happened, taking over Malfi was now only a matter of time.

But as if on cue, Lucan suddenly felt a strange fluctuation from his warp projection, making him curse himself for jinxing it. Violent warp waves began to affect realspace, and the void around Malfi started to become turbulent.

Sensing the problem, Lucan immediately linked his consciousness to his warp projection.

The "Emperor's Sun" was blazing with its full psychic fire. And around this sun, and around Lucan himself, the powers representing the Four Gods of Chaos were closing in.

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