num_pages: 18
description: An Adeptus Mechanicus short storyThe radiation-soaked Skitarii Vanguard deploy to a dying world. The locals think they’re to be rescued, but the cyborg soldiers know that there is no surviving the battle to come.READ IT BECAUSEAs if the prospect of skitarii vanguard fighting against a tyranid horde wasn't enough, The Zheng Cipher also reveals the cold, calculating nature of the Adeptus Mechanicus and how the radiation-soaked vanguard can spell doom for enemy and ally alike.THE STORYAs the mining world of Kotir-8 falls to the hive fleets of the monstrous alien tyranids, the arrival of a force of skitarii under Alpha Vanguard 6-Friest seems like an Omnissiah-sent miracle to the planet's battered survivors. But as the radiation-soaked skitarii vanguard hold off the tyranids, their true motives for arriving on Kotir-8 come into question. Are they there to save the people of the planet - or do their Adeptus Mechanicus overseers have something more sinister in mind?
language: English
title: The Zheng Cipher
publisher: Black Library