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Chapter 208: Bringing Hope to Cadia
🕑 Added 2025-08-08 14:05:46 +0000 UTCChapter 208: Bringing Hope to Cadia
As a Custodian, Dius considered himself to be well-versed and had seen countless grand scenes. Having fought alongside the Emperor in the past, he had also witnessed much of the technology from that glorious age of humanity. But at this moment, he still found it a bit difficult to suppress the emotions within him. He had forgotten the last time he had worn such an expression.
"By the Emperor... does such a technology truly exist?"
He recalled Lucan's words. The man had told him with a smile that in his eyes, the dangerous warp was no longer an obstacle to his advance. He only needed the Custodes to provide him with an accurate star chart of Cadia, and he could directly cross the warp storms created by Chaos and enter the system.
Hearing Lucan's words, Dius had thought he was just spouting nonsense. Even the great Emperor had not accomplished such a feat. But Lucan had proven himself not with words, but with actions.
Dius now understood why the Emperor had commanded them to find this Rogue Trader, Lucan.
And Dius's status as a Custodian also meant that Lucan did not hide the jump drive technology he possessed from him. After all, anyone could be corrupted, anyone could fall to Chaos, but these Custodes absolutely would not. Others might question or doubt the Emperor, even his own sons, the Primarchs, had done so. But these Custodes never would. In terms of loyalty, no one could compare to them. This allowed Lucan to reveal his secrets to them with confidence.
After Dius learned of this matter, without even asking Lucan, he left six members of his squad by Lucan's side to protect his safety. Another Custodian took a warship and returned directly to Terra to report to the Captain-General, Trajann. Dius did not even dare to report this matter through an astropath. After all, astropathic messages had to pass through the warp. Although the astropaths who served the Custodes were the most loyal and skilled, selected from thousands, Dius still did not dare to reveal this matter to them. They were afraid of any accident that might allow the beings of the warp to intercept the message and learn of Lucan's current location.
Even though Lucan said he did not need their protection, Dius remained insistent.
And at this moment, he, along with two other Custodes, had boarded a transport ship of the Mongorte Dynasty carrying a large amount of supplies and had arrived on the outskirts of Cadia.
The appearance of this fleet immediately put all the Cadian defense fleets on high alert. These few massive transport ships had appeared as if from nowhere. A communication from the transport ships also identified them.
"The Mongorte Dynasty?!"
The betrayal that had once occurred at a Cadian landing field meant that any reinforcing Astra Militarum had to undergo a strict vetting process, for fear that another team that had secretly fallen to Chaos would launch a surprise attack on Cadia from within.
When Creed learned that this fleet belonged to the Mongorte Dynasty, he also found it incredible. He had just been mentioning this Rogue Trader Dynasty, and now they had suddenly appeared in the Cadian system. Could there really be such a coincidence in the world?
He also learned of the supplies carried by the transport ships. The astonishing number of a million combat suits made Creed and a host of Astra Militarum commanders jump to their feet. The commanders of the various Astartes Chapters also wanted to investigate.
"Assemble the guard! I'm going to the landing field personally!"
Under the escort of Kasrkin and Astartes, Creed rushed to the landing field. The originally empty field was now filled with transport aircraft, which were continuously flying back and forth between the Dynasty's transport ships in orbit. Large quantities of brand-new combat suits were being unloaded, one after another. However, limited by the production capacity of nano-alloys and the needs of Lucan's own troops, not all of these combat suits were made of nano-alloys. Most were made of plasteel, which was still far superior to the flak armor used by the Astra Militarum.
After seeing the quantity of this equipment with their own eyes, no one doubted the words of Harald and Philip any longer.
"Lord Logan! See, I was right! This Mongorte Dynasty is truly filthy rich! I really don't know how they do it! With these combat suits, let those traitors come! We will tear them to shreds on the ground! They won't even think of breaking through our defenses! Our weakness in the void can also be compensated for. Don't those traitors like to board ships? Let them come! I want to see the looks on their faces when they encounter these loyalists in combat suits when they board our warships. We could even take the initiative and board their ships to disable them!"
Harald was very excited. His hearty laughter seemed to dispel the gloom that had been hanging over everyone's faces for this period of time. This was one of the few pieces of good news since the war had begun, and it was news that was enough to boost morale and greatly strengthen Cadia's defensive forces.
As another batch of transport ships arrived, one by one, tech-priests and adepts walked down the ramps, followed by rows of SCVs.
"Praise the Holy Machine, Lord Castellan Creed. We are the priests of the Cult of the Holy Machine from Agathos. We have come under the orders of the Living Saint of the Emperor, the master of the Mongorte Dynasty, Lord Lucan Drex Aurelian. We have brought you the miracle of the Omnissiah. You can safely entrust the repair work of your heavy vehicles and warships to us! We will provide you with sufficient logistical and maintenance support."
"Repair warships? With just you people?"
Creed directly questioned these tech-priests. Even on a forge world, repairing a warship was no easy task. Just soothing the machine spirit took a great deal of time. The small shipyards and docks that Cadia possessed were already filled with warships waiting for repair. Looking at the tech-priests before him, no one thought they had this ability.
Just as the crowd was about to question these so-called priests of the Cult of the Holy Machine, three figures slowly walked out of the transport ship. Their golden power armor made them stand out exceptionally in the crowd.
"Cus... Custodes?!"
The Chapter Masters all looked in disbelief as the Custodes appeared before them. These agents of the Emperor's will in the mortal world had actually walked out of the Imperial Palace and appeared in the warship of this Mongorte Dynasty.
The surrounding mortal Astra Militarum and commanders all knelt on one knee. They had all heard the legends of the Custodes but had never seen them with their own eyes. They could only see the figures of these golden giants in the exquisite murals of the Ecclesiarchy's cathedrals. Not to mention these mortals, how many of the Astartes present had ever seen a Custodian in person?
"How did these Custodes get out of Terra..." Logan muttered under his breath.
The Astartes of the Black Templars also saluted the Custodes.
At this moment, most of the mortals in the crowd only felt that they were saved. The Custodes must have received the Emperor's guidance to come and help them.
Dius looked at the crowd.
"Lord Castellan Creed, as the agents of the Emperor, I vouch for the priests of the Cult of the Holy Machine in the name of the Custodes. You can trust them. We will also remain on Cadia to assist you in fighting the enemies of mankind."
Dius's words made the crowd look at these tech-priests in surprise and doubt. For the Custodes to vouch for them, what was the origin of these people?
But when the priests of the Cult of the Holy Machine truly began their repair work, they really began to believe that this was a miracle of the Omnissiah.
The news of the Custodes' arrival quickly spread throughout Cadia, bringing hope to everyone. And the combat suits began to be distributed to the different units according to their needs.
