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It was towards the capital, Kadillus Harbour, that the Thunderhawk gunship now descended As the aircraft entered the upper atmosphere, Hephaestus called to Boreas to join hih the armoured windshield, the Chaplain saw the massive oceans of the world and the thousands of scattered volcanic islands that ringed the planet in thou­sand kilo chains Alest island, Kadillus itself, rose ah and foreo-thermal activity that had created such a world now provided the inhabitants withfro as a thick haze over the island, obscur­ing the ground below the tips of the volcanoes
’Sergeant Danal froator-Chaplain Brade was the commander of the Imperial Guard forces stationed on Piscina for the last few years, ever since an ork invasion had almost conquered the world Pockets of orks still held out in the wilderness areas, and despite regular cleanse and bureenskin aliens, never would Piscina be free from the threat of their wild attacks
’Thunderhawk communication,’ Boreas commanded the counship’s longer ranged array This is Interrogator-Chaplain Boreas, how may we be of assis­tance, colonel?’
’Lord Boreas, there is a serious ork attack under way at Vartoth,’ Brade’s crackling voice told him Vartoth was one of the old s and underground tunnels Boreas realised immediately that if the orks were allowed to establish the short of a full-scale assault to drive them out
’Please behis head slightly with unconscious disapproval
’We estih the perimeter walls of the cos,’ Brade explained ’I have three infantry platoons already at the battle zone, and three arreenskins will be well and truly dug in by the time they arrive The orks seem to be very well armed somehow Please assist’
Brade’s men were currently outnumbered, Boreas cal­culated quickly, and despite the arht support tanks of the armoured fist pla­toon, they would find it hard to establish any foothold hich to launch a concerted effort on the mine head
’Of course, Colonel Brade,’ said Boreas He glanced at Hephaestus, who had been listening in on the exchange The Techmarine ht up a tactical schematic
’We will be with you inside ten minutes, colonel,’ Hephaestus told the Iital map
’Be ready to push fore arrive,’ Boreas warned
’I am a kilometre south of the mine head, I await your arrival,’ Brade said ’We shall discuss how best you can assist’
’You misunderstand me, colonel,’ replied Boreas ’We will commence an immediate assault, please have your troops prepared to exploit any breakthrough’
’Oh, I’ Brade stammered ’Of course, we shall start our advance immediately and will be prepared to pro­vide additional troops on your arrival’
’Thank you, Colonel Brade,’ Boreas replied before he cut the coe machine-spirit to take us in Open the armoury and dis­tribute jump packs’
’Understood,’ replied the Teche hands danced quickly over the controls of the gun­ship before he stood up and made his way to the armoured section at the back of the Thunderhawk Con­trolled by its own artificial h the clouds towards Vartoth
The young aspirants huddled in the corner watching the Space Marines preparing for battle, plugging each other into their jurip-harnesses The jump packs were even bulkier than a normal power plant backpack, ned to allow the wearer to bound through the air at high speed They fixed their helmets and drew bolters from the weapons rack, while Boreas opened his sht forth his poord
He tested the activation stud and the long blade was enveloped by a shi arh bone Satis­fied that all was in working order, he sheathed the sword and took out his rosarius, the syht in the shape of a square set with a glinting ruby which doubled as projector for the coed-skull key from the reliquary, he fitted it to the rosarius and it hu drop zone,’ warned Hephaestus from the cockpit and Boreas nodded to hiator-Chaplain told the squad and they asse towards the forward assault ramp He walked over to Varsin and Sanis, ere dwarfed by the warriors around the silently in bewilderhtly, ould rather you were not har at the safety harnesses hanging from the inside of the hull ’The Thunderhaill take you to safety once we are gone Do not attempt to rise from this posi­tion even when you have landed The Thunderhawk may be recalled at any moment and it could prove unfortu­nate if you were not secure at that time’
Both the aspirants nodded els’ discipline aboard the Blade of Caliban, and knew that they had to obey every order to the letter
’Lowering raun-ship’s hydraulics when he saw that the boys were safely secured in the crash harnesses
’What will become of us?’ asked Varsin shrilly ’Can we not cohed Zaul ’That would take too long You’ll not be following us anywhere, just stay in the Thunder­hawk and you’ll be safe’
The roar of the engines grew to deafening proportions as the rarey-blue of the Piscinan sky Wind whipped into the gunship’s interior and the boys grabbed the straps tightly as it blew their hair and lashed at their faces The ground could be seen screa past some hundred metres below, and Boreas looked at the others from the front of the column
’Weapons check co into a run, Boreas threw himself down the ramp ’For the Eator-Chaplain hurled himself off the end of the assault ra Above them the Thunderhawk banked sharply away fro it to a safe landing zone to await recall by Hephaestus
A burst of fire from his jump pack slowed Boreas’s decent for a couple of seconds and his lighting-fast roup of five buildings clustered around the h curtain wall had been breached to the north, the rubble strewn across the rockcrete apron within
Muzzle flare and las-bolts flickered in the darkening twilight as the orks within the buildings exchanged fire with the Guardsate and the gap in the wall But the humans were pinned down, there was little cover for theround was dotted with dead and wounded
Inside the cos were rey ferrocrete, pitted by erosion and cracked in round beneath the wildly at the I the courtyard with bullets and spent shell casings The greatest concentration of fire see from a ten-storey tower to Boreas’s left