AN: Was commissioned to write an omake report on Cain's shenanigans in the Sector. Didn't know the direction Zahariel was going to take things so consider this a taste test before we get into more substantial things.

Disclaimer: Warhammer 40k and associated franchises are the property of their respective owners. This is a fan work based on another fan work, I claim nothing that is not my own.

Commissioned by: Mackenzie Buckle

Preliminary Audio Transcribed Log on the New Heretical Sector by Interrogator Horace Thronesworth

Words for the Day
There is only the Emperor, and he is our shield and protector.

I must say that my first fully independent assignment is not a simple one. Not when I have been tasked with compiling an extensive investigative dossier on the new domain ruled by the now infamous Arch-Traitor Ciaphas Cain. His acts including [Archive of Incident Reports #XXXXXX4334AA REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition]. However my task requires me to act not merely following in the wake of his more notorious acts but instead preparing to strike at his base of power. Particularly the former Resort World of Slawkenberg and its parent Sector whose designation has been lost to the depths of the Administratum's archives and henceforth shortened to merely Sector. I propose to give a more colloquial name with some appropriate Saint or Martyr. Any attempts to use the old Giobra family will be shot.

Moving on from pondering on some unnamed figures, there are numerous matters upon which this report can be dedicated towards but for now this will be a simple preface for the investigation and founded on recovered information before the commencement of the Operation. I will log my thoughts now before I prepare a more indepth series upon my return from further [Operation Report #XXXXXX4164BA REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition]. While some of my more puritanical colleagues may consider this work heresy to at all countenance difficulty in our work, I challenge them to measure not by number of worlds burned but in the souls preserved and saved so that they can continue to toil in His Name. To work to preserve his Imperium we must be grounded in ways that are not allowed to the lesser bands of Imperial society. I do not expect to lay out grand or minor policy with this log, but I pray to the Beneficent Emperor that it provides some context for my struggles now and in the future.

Ciaphas Cain, declared a Warmaster of Chaos with the most infamous Abominable High Arch-Traitor defeated after one of his many attempts at a Black Crusade, is believed to be filling in the power vacuum in said heretic's absence and his most righteous expulsion back into the Eye of Terror. Unlike the previous incumbnet's military focus derived from their days in the Legio Astartes, Cain as a once mundane human is not so bent on Conquest from Without but Subversion from Within. At its core Cain focuses his foil attention on converting those of little faith and will to his side and in service to the Ruinous Powers. First was the world of Slawkenberg, the once loyal realm falling in a matter of days to his foul clutches. Then was the decimation of the most Righteous if desperately misguided Retribution campaign by the not much lamented Inquisitor Lord Fyodor Karamazov.

The efforts of our Thorian compatriots to declare him Excommunicatus Traitorus for his purge of the Sector's High Command is expected to finish going through the Administratum's approval process in the next century according to the assigned service ticket. The matter of perceived structural concerns was brought up in meeting at the Conclave (Minutes archived under Report #XXXXXXXXXXXXX2143CCA) and rejected, the Inquisition does not have the time to prosecute such a long term change in the wake of [REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition].

Still the aforementioned weakening of the Sector was what propelled Cain from a minor heretic to an actual factor in the calculus of the Inquisition's planning. Foremost of this being [Incident Report #XXXXXX6643VA REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition]. While only that world is under Cain's direct rule, worlds across the Sector pay homage to him both directly and indirectly. This provides an outsized source of both soft and hard power which combined with the notoriety of its Despot is growing into a matter that will require some response. Where Overwhelming Zeal has failed, a more discerning approach is needed. We cannot waste effort throwing ourselves at the satellite realms, instead a precise effort is needed to strike and excise the tumor before it grows too large. I advocate for a targeted campaign of sabotage and eventual strike upon the world, kill the head and the rest will crumble and fall back in line before they are too dammed to be spared. Something that must be considered rather then the more expedient method as recommended by some. Resources that can be reclaimed to be used against [REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition] would be welcome. It cares not for the source of flesh after all.

The Traitor's realm was founded and is still ruled by the former Commissar and his background has influenced almost all aspects of his rule from top to bottom. It has given Cain a keen understanding of the levers in Imperial society, levers he has used most ruinously while managing to remain just below the level of requiring a proper Crusade to be declared. Thus we pave the path to a proper conclusion of this affair lest it distract us in a vital moment. As heretical as it may seem, life under Cain follows broadly within acceptable bounds of approved conditions for Imperial Citizenry, a sign of the misgovernance that such meager improvements were so sorely kept away to cause such waste in the future.

It is why there may still be souls to salvage, the reports so far dictating that the Ruinous Powers do not yet have a grip on the population that would require more enhanced methods of removal. Particularly we point to the [Incident Report #XXXXXX3641ZA REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition] to reveal that Cain may yet find repentance upon being subjected to [REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition]. Something I know more Puritanical members would be frothing to decry, I challenge them to gather the required resources to prosecute any decrees themselves if they wish to sign Death Warrants so badly.

Of course pertinent to any proper operation to be undertaken is the current most understood obstacle to reclamation of the Sector. In no specific order this includes Cain, his Subordinates, and the Military of the realm. Other levers are to be pursued in [Operational Initiative #XXXXXX1133HA REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition]. Focusing first on the preliminary threat to any campaign. Cane's personal military force is the Unified Slawkenberg Army (USA) with the traitor PDF General Mahlone as directly in command of the force. The use of a more hidden security force appears split between the heretical Administratum and a cabal of [REDACTED] sorceresses, details still pending upon further investigation. Attempting infiltration or other subterfuge half heartedly is unlikely to succeed as the mentioned security measures are in place by the heretics, thus a more direct offensive will require information on these forces.

Especially as previous efforts using typical Penal Warband forces have failed, the [Campaign Report #XXXXXX1342AB REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition] in particular should be a lesson on properly applied motivation. Overenthusiastic application of a single solution to all problems is not a way to spend the God-Emperor's lives in an effective, much less efficient manner. Still it is better than the late Excommunicatus Tratiorus Commander Chenkob, the Commissariat having finally gotten its way. But back to relevant matters. The use of Inquisitorial Warbands has already failed due to factors covered in [Analytical Report #XXXXXX6532VA REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition]. For the context of a broader martial campaign we can look at two aspects, the Men and the Warmachine.

For the first, it is not a promising discovery looking through accumulated reports. To put it in short I fear Cain is developing his own parallel to the Blood Pact of the Sabbat Worlds. This means a peer fighting force to the Imperial Guard, one made up of disciplined yet still fanatical fighters with equipment and training equal to or greater than the average Imperial Guardsmen. The most apt comparison being the Karskin units of Cadia, equipped and trained to standards only matched by the Stormtrooper units from the Schola Progenium. It is likely Cain took some of his own experiences from his time at that institution and applied it as best he could to his heretical realm. An investigation of his school records along with some more quiet questioning of his teachers and former batchmates reveals that he was privy to a surprisingly broad spectrum of information, including an unknown amount of classified information which seems to be key to his current movements. Certainly it has allowed him to turn several midranking Guard Officers and tailor a message to persuade planetary populations such as on [Incident Report #XXXXXX1842JB REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition].

Cain maintains power over his subjects and offers a poisonous chalice to others through a variety of methods. These include the typical grand promises to the common people and the token symbolic gestures or false rumors. In a similar vein to others he has promised grand changes to the bedrock of former imperial society, the promise of archaeotech wonders to nourish and succor the proles in hedonistic heretical luxury, and exaggerating and denigrating the efforts of Imperial Servants. Unlike many though he has delivered some of this through the use of foul and heretical arts, undoubted through unrestricted use of witchcraft. I fear for the souls of those who drink of that chalice of falsehood and sorcer. The use of such is already present in the condition of the USA and has raised it into the threat it poses now, the bargains struck to allow such soldiers to be trained enmass must be foul indeed. So too is it worried that such effects will spread to others in turn if we do not prepare for it. Activity amongst the so called "Cold Markets" has seemingly risen in the Sector. My colleagues [REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition] are embarking on parallel operations to pursue such threats.

Tieing into this and the mentioned presence of turncoat Imperial Guardsmen is its effect on the common population of Slawkenberg and its soldiery. The USA remains a force more equal to crack Imperial Guard units then it does a not much maligned PDF formation only due to its sheer distance from any matters of import. Some pessimistic analysts have labeled the need for Stormtrooper units to combat them at a minimum. While primarily a defensive force and not deployed in large numbers outside of Slawkenberg's planetary system, cadres of advisors and mercenary forces typically nicknamed "Geardos", apparently in reference to the amount of equipment each individual soldier is equipped with, have been seen in some measure of quantity. They act as mentioned to ferment and abet Heretical and Rebellious activities but also to gather information, manpower, and resources for the Traitor's cause. With modest effort does the Traitor sow the seeds of further discontent and rebellion in our Imperium far and wide. Prominent actions of the USA outside of Slawkenberg include [Campaign Report #XXXXXX7342VH REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition].Thus this and previously mentioned incidents is the reason why permission has been granted by [REDACTED] for this operation to occur.

It is feared, perhaps warranted or not, that a possible cascading effect on any other Imperial Guard force may be the result in a conventional campaign by the Hammer of the Emperor. Where we have the Imperial Guardsmen's Uplifting Primer, so too do the enemy have their own text. The [Declared Heretical Text by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition] has had to be burnt out of distribution on several traveling units and worlds in the Sector. While the response by some has been to intensify the activities of the Commissariat and the institution has been receptive, this remains only a bandage over the wound. Long has the Inquisition been experienced at purging heretical texts, but this has proven to be particularly pervasive. Some would declare the need for intervention by His Emperor's Most Righteous Angels, however that would be considered by some in our organization to be a step too far in the needed horse trading to acquire their services. The same for the Sisters of the various Militant Orders, though as a personal recommendation I would see some of the less militant Orders brought in for help in the Occupation and Rehabilitation of the Sector but that is a subject for far in the future. For now I must finish final preparation for the Operation.

Servitor Logged Addendum to the Report, Media Format: Audio Recording

"As I embarked on final preparations I was informed of a most grievous event. I . . ."

"What do you mean it came out days ago. That should have given us more then enough time to muzzle it. What do you mean its some sort of Proclamation. Speak sense damm it! No, how did we even receive it in the first place? How are we able to receive such heretical messages?".

(Sound of Indistinct Yelling) "Well find out then! We cannot act if we are already able to be infiltrated by such measures. We are on a schedule people! Get to it!".

"The Omens of the Imperial Tarot are strange, I fear interference already from parties other then our feared foes. Laughter has been reported upon the Immaterial Sea at other time by our Astropaths, one that more veteran members report to align with recorded signatures of [REDACTED by Order of The Most Beneficent Emperor's Holy Inquisition]. I am preparing appropriate countermeasures if we are to encounter them. May the God-Emperor bless me upon my anointed task".