Chapter 285: Infiltrating Chaos
"A mission? What mission?" Cypher was instantly wary. "Lord Lucan, I will not do your dirty work."
"Dirty work?! What dirty work? Don't be ridiculous, this is a legitimate mission I'm giving you!" Lucan said. "Instead of wandering the Imperium, being hunted by both the Imperium and the Dark Angels, why not make another contribution to the Imperium—and to me—from the shadows? Otherwise, you'd be wasting your network of spies within the Chaos ranks. If this operation is successful, it might even serve as the proof you need to clear your status."
"What do you mean by that?" Cypher asked.
"You have quite a few Fallen Angels infiltrated among the Chaos forces, don't you?"
"That is correct," Cypher admitted. "We are not truly fallen. Our ideals were merely different. We never betrayed the Lion, but we were cast into the warp by the warp storm. However, some among us did truly turn to the worship of the Dark Gods. Even brothers who were loyal at the start... some were driven mad by their long exposure to the warp and turned to Chaos."
"Then what if I told you I could provide you with massive amounts of resources, weapons, equipment, and even warships? Could you and your followers seize a place within the Red Corsairs? I'm not saying you have to replace Huron, but becoming part of his high command should be possible."
Lucan's words gave Cypher pause. He had assumed Lucan wanted him to do some dirty work, like assassinating someone or stealing some information. He had never imagined Lucan's ambitions were this grand.
"Your idea... is bold," Cypher said slowly. "But is it truly feasible? We disguise ourselves, but once we reach the high command, we will inevitably be exposed to more of the power of Chaos. We normally avoid intervening in conflicts between Chaos factions, trying to avoid being stained by too much warp energy. Many of the brothers who truly fell, fell because of that long-term warp corrosion. I cannot guarantee that every one of us can withstand that corruption, physically or mentally."
"That can be solved," Lucan countered. "There are plenty of Chaos Undivided worshippers who don't follow a specific god. Besides, I will arrange for some of my Artificial Blanks to be assigned to you. As long as the psychic level isn't too overwhelming, they can periodically cleanse and absorb the Chaos energy tainting your bodies. Just tell me, can you do it? Now is the perfect time, while Huron is sending out invitations to all would-be champions.
"The Dark Gods' invasion of realspace cannot happen without these mortal followers. I need to know more about the Red Corsairs to prepare countermeasures in advance."
"...Perhaps this is truly worth a try."
Cypher and his Fallen Angels were experts at disguising themselves as Chaos traitors. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so hard for others to tell if they were loyal or traitors. Many of the things he had done in the past were indistinguishable from the acts of a true renegade. It wasn't just loyalists; even the forces of Chaos believed Cypher was a true Fallen Angel. He had even cooperated with Abaddon on several occasions.
In a way, this was just returning to his old job. The only difference was that this time, he had a major benefactor backing him.
"That's all I need to hear," Lucan said. "I will have Pavian and Rebecca prepare the supplies for you immediately! If you need to take out any competitors, just send me a message! We can cooperate to lure them out and kill them. Also, as you said, pay special attention to their search for Blackstone. If you discover anything, I must know immediately!
"This warship has a quantum communication system. As long as you are in realspace, you can contact me at any time. If you have any future material requests, just send a message to my Dynasty. I will have people prepare the supplies at a designated location."
Standing to the side, Rebecca's expression grew even darker upon hearing Lucan's words. Her good Lord, the hands-off leader, had just snapped his fingers, and now she had even more work to do. If it weren't for the trading platform keeping the Dynasty's funds plentiful, she would have to start scraping together funds from here and there again. But no matter how hard or difficult it was, Lucan's orders had to be carried out.
Soon, the related supplies were prepared. Lucan guaranteed that compared to the perpetually destitute Chaos warbands, Cypher's Fallen Angels would be able to live like kings with these resources, allowing them to recruit a large number of followers. The rest would depend on how he operated.
In the past, it was always Chaos infiltrating the Imperium. Now, it was time for Chaos to get a taste of being infiltrated themselves.
After the central server for the "Internet" was installed in the core area of the Cult of the Holy Machine's enclave on Agathos, Lucan began to prepare for the relief effort in the Baal system. However, just a few days later, Rebecca came to find him again. She handed him a report. It detailed that the Dynasty had recently been suffering increasingly frequent attacks from the Dark Eldar. The situation was highly abnormal.
"Have all the Kabals in Commorragh poured out?" Lucan wondered.
This was the largest and most organized wave of Dark Eldar attacks he had ever seen. While Dark Eldar were not uncommon in the Expanse, an operation of this scale was definitely not simple piracy. Many of his vassal worlds were sending distress signals to the Dynasty, forcing the Dynasty's fleets to be constantly dispatched. And as many of the fleets left Agathos, several Dark Eldar warships had even attempted to infiltrate Agathos's orbit via the Webway, but they were instantly destroyed by the massive array of orbital defense platforms.
This situation felt wrong to Lucan. It was clearly a feint, an attempt to lure his main fleet away. The real target was Agathos, but the enemy had clearly underestimated Agathos's defenses.
"Yes. They are using the Webway to frequently attack our trade routes and vassal worlds," Rebecca said, her voice filled with hatred. "They even dared to try and enter our capital!"
"That's a given. But why? There must be some benefit driving them. Otherwise, given Vect's personality, he would never have proactively made an enemy of us. There's no profit in it for him."
To face the coming Tyranid threat, Lucan needed to get Abathur out of Commorragh. While Abathur and the Zerg he had hatched could be retrieved via Nydus Worm, Lucan also needed to rescue his own Dynasty soldiers who had been stranded in Commorragh. And if he could rescue the captive Astartes from several chapters, especially the Salamanders, it would also win him more political capital. These First Founding Chapters held a special status in the Imperium.
Moreover, if he was truly going to mobilize his forces to Baal to deal with the Tyranid tendril, he needed a stable rear. The Dark Eldar, with their ability to strike from anywhere in the Webway, were too unpredictable. Rather than wait for them to come knocking, Lucan preferred to destroy their nest.
He hadn't even gone looking for trouble with them, and now these Dark Eldar had come looking for it themselves. Weren't they just walking right into the line of fire? The Dark Eldar had no idea that Lucan could already enter Commorragh via the Webway. They would have no defenses prepared for a large-scale invasion.
Looking at the forces he now commanded, Lucan thought that perhaps it was time to make a move on Commorragh. He didn't need to completely destroy the Dark City. He just needed to kill a large number of their leadership. Given the Dark Eldar temperament, they would immediately descend into a civil war over the power vacuum, leaving them with no time to harass his Dynasty.
Just as Lucan began to plan his assault on Commorragh, a dozen Eldar warships suddenly entered the Agathos system. Having just experienced a small-scale Dark Eldar incursion, the defenses of Agathos were instantly on high alert. However, these Eldar ships looked to be in poor condition, clearly having just survived a battle. They even proactively shut down their holo-fields and engines and sent a communication request to the Dynasty fleet.
When he learned the identity of the newcomers, Lucan was very surprised.
"Yvraine? The Ynnari?"
An Eldar shuttle was heading towards Agathos. Countless weapons systems were locked onto it. Onboard the shuttle were only three people: Yvraine, Eldrad, and the Visarch.
"Eldrad," Yvraine said, her voice laced with worry as she looked at the innumerable defense platforms and warships in the void, "I still find this course of action difficult to understand. Will these humans truly accept our cooperation? They could kill us with ease right now."
"If the Ynnari are to survive, this is the best way I can think of," Eldrad replied, his face grim. "The Harlequins have already sold us out to Vect in exchange for his help. No one knows the Webway better than the Harlequins. It is no longer a safe place for us. Vect's armies will find us at any moment, and the number of our kin who follow the God of Death are still too few."
Hearing Eldrad's words, Yvraine fell silent, gazing at the planet they were approaching.
The shuttle landed. Under the watchful eyes of heavily armed soldiers, the three were brought to a meeting room that Lucan had arranged.
Looking at Lucan, who sat before them, this was the first time the three of them had met him face-to-face.
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