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Chapter 315: The Infiltrated Defense Force
🕑 Added 2025-09-22 17:36:37 +0000 UTCChapter 315: The Infiltrated Defense Force
"Are you saying that the underground city has been almost completely taken over by Genestealers?"
"Perhaps," Lucan replied. "Even if it hasn't, it's almost certainly been thoroughly infiltrated. Without sufficient numbers, why would a Tyranid tendril come all this way to the Cryptus System? It's precisely because they provided the beacon. The moment we are engaged with the countless Tyranid creatures, they will pour out from the underground city to assist their masters."
Hearing Lucan's words, Mellen felt a chill. He knew that Genestealers existed on this planet, but he had never thought the infiltration had reached such a level. Since he had garrisoned this planet, the Genestealers had not made any large-scale movements, though they were suspected to be behind some of the gang-related riots.
"Besides the governor's bunker, the underhives and sump-levels of this planet are also certainly infiltrated. They may even have people in the upper hive. But the underhives of this 35-billion-person world are simply too large. We don't have time to screen them all. The only thing we can do is capture the Genestealer Patriarch. If we can kill him, we will have a much smaller problem on our hands."
Lucan explained his thoughts.
"I will dispatch troops to assist you, my Lord," Mellen offered. "I have a unit called the 'Drost Urban Elites.' They are composed of my finest lads, and they include an entire company of Ogryns. They will be of great use in this kind of terrain."
"Ogryns? Are you expecting Ogryns to carry out an infiltration?" Lucan countered. "Too many people will just tip them off, and might even cause them to launch their uprising prematurely. Our defensive fortifications are not all complete, and the distribution and familiarization of the new equipment isn't finished. This is not the time for a civil war. Rest assured, Mellen, my people will take care of these creatures."
The Ghosts and the Dark Templar would enter the bunker to find the Patriarch. As long as they could capture or kill him, Kerrigan could then invade the cult's hive mind and seize control of all the Genestealers on the planet.
Lucan looked at the star chart again, his attention turning to Tartarus. That was the location of one of his objectives: the Grand Prism. It was a gas giant, completely barren, with only a few thousand human inhabitants. It was not enough to attract a large-scale Tyranid attack.
What concerned him more was another death world: Peltar. Beneath the surface of this seemingly barren, worthless planet lay a slumbering Necron dynasty. If the Tyranids were to invade it, they would trigger the dynasty's alarms, awakening it completely, and its distress signal would also summon an even larger Necron dynasty.
At that moment, on Iphix, the 1635th Vostroyan Armored Regiment had received Mellen's order. Colonel Demetrin sat in his Shadowsword tank, reading the directive. In orbit, 20 massive Mongorte Dynasty transport ships were already docked, waiting to take them to Asphodel.
"Someone is replacing us in the defense of Iphix?!"
Demetrin opened the hatch of his Shadowsword. He saw only soldiers in powersuits and Tech-priests, using engineering vehicles to unload giant containers onto the surface.
"With these infantry?! This planet has no natural defenses... This is sending them to their deaths! I don't even see any heavy armor support..."
Demetrin grumbled to himself about this incomprehensible order from Mellen, but he had no choice but to obey.
However, as soon as the Vostroyan Firstborn and all the workers had boarded the transports and left Iphix, the metal containers all opened on their own. Swarms of Drones poured out and immediately began to morph into Hatcheries. Nydus Worms began to burrow, and a large number of Queens crawled out from them. They spread out in all directions, beginning to lay down Creep. The Creep began to absorb the planet's radiation and the isotopes from the refineries, converting them into the energy the Zerg needed. The massive number of larvae they had brought with them also began to hatch, using the biomass they had carried in.
The Drones didn't just morph into production buildings; they also began to morph into a large number of static defenses: Spine Crawlers and Spore Crawlers.
If Demetrin had been able to look back at Iphix from the void, he would have seen the entire planet, with their abandoned camp at its center, turning into a sea of dark purple at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Zerg had already taken root on this planet, preparing for a great war with the Tyranids. It would be a race to see who could devour whom faster: the Tyranid Swarm or the Zerg Creep.
The transport ships, after dropping off the supplies and troops, immediately returned to Agathos to pick up more. The one hundred Gorgons, with the Stellar Pioneer as their flagship, advanced toward the Castellan's Ring. Along with the Imperial Navy, they would use the asteroid belt's fortifications to eliminate as many of the invading Tyranid bio-ships as possible, to relieve the pressure on the subsequent war.
Back on Asphodel, Lucan, along with Norris, Zeratul, and Kerrigan, had arrived at the Governor's Palace with their respective forces.
After Norris used his mind-control abilities on several of the governor's former aides, they found the entrance: a massive door made of adamantium and various alloys. The location was well-hidden, and the door was sufficiently strong. It was, indeed, a safe place... at least until the majority of Asphodel fell.
"Mellen, is there any way to open it?"
Mellen shook his head helplessly. "I have questioned all of the governor's former officials, but no one knows how to open it. According to them, all the entrances can only be opened from the inside. Who knows how many resources and how many years that governor spent building this bunker. There are almost no hidden entrances. The life support and supplies inside are enough to sustain him for more than a decade!"
"I understand. You can return to your defensive preparations. I will handle things here."
After Mellen left, Norris and Zeratul de-cloaked at Lucan's side. Zeratul ignited his dark green psi-blade and tried to pierce the metal door, but with little effect. The door was absurdly thick. Norris also tried firing a lock-breaker round to paralyze its mechanical structure, but that also failed.
"My Lord, we may not be able to open this door."
Seeing that neither of them had a solution, Lucan himself walked forward and placed his hand on the steel door. His divine Mechanicus Authority began to flow, converting the door into a Daemon-steel nerve cluster. As his power permeated the metal, he seized control of its machine-spirit.
"This ability is so useful," he mused. "Conventional Imperial machinery won't be able to stop me at all in the future."
But he did not open it rashly. By controlling the machine-spirit, he could also see the situation on the other side. He used his ability to cut off all the warning systems near the door.
"Kerrigan, there is a small force on the other side. Deal with them for me."
Kerrigan's eyes began to glow with psionic power. Nearly a hundred Aether-Zerglings emerged from the wall beside her. They then shifted into their void state and passed directly through the door's physical form.
Inside the gate, a hundred-man Planetary Defence Force squad was responsible for security.
"Trik, are we really going to be in here for ten years?"
"Palin, don't be so pessimistic. The great Four-Armed Emperor is with us. Didn't you hear the Patriarch say? The angels will descend soon! The Day of Ascension is at hand! When that time comes, we will open the gates to welcome the Star-Saviours. Never mind ten years, I reckon it'll only be another ten days!"
The governor had never imagined that his own defense force had long since been infiltrated by the Genestealer Cult. Even this crucial post of guarding the main gate was in the hands of hidden cultists. Through their years of operation, many of the key positions in the bunker had already been replaced by their faithful.
