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’Perhaps an orbital strike to knock out their generators,’ suggested Thuunners could hit theued Boreas ’A stray hit could destroy the et were struck, there’s no e can tell if a chain reaction wouldn’t have equally catastrophic conse­quences’
’And they would know for sure e intended and be ready for us,’ added Damas ’We assume they are aware of us, but we may still hold an element of surprise which would be lost the instant we opened fire’
’The atmosphere down there is barely breathable by humans, and here on the dark side the te,’ Nestor observed ’Per­haps an initial strike to pierce the structure in several places to kill off the ht the odds in our favour
’That will not guarantee our success,’ Hephaestus said with a shake of his head ’By its construction, the whole base looks compartmentalised, and each junction is probably sealed We would have to crack open every part of it first Also, it is unlikely that the Fallen themselves constructed this on their own, and so their minions would have to be equipped with environht kill soh to elinificant nued to overpower the crew of a starship,’ Zaul pointed out ’These headquarters are not large enough to accommodate even half the number of men aboard the Saint Carthen’
’Wе had surprise and a clearly obtainable objective then,’ Boreas sighed, turning away from the screen ’If only this ship were equipped with drop pod bays, weempty pods as decoys for the turrets As it is, ill have to go in with a Thunderhawk assault, and we can­not even risk orbital fire support to cover our approach’
’Perhaps if we land over the horizon and attack on foot?’ suggested Nestor ’The environravity We could cover five kilometres in under ten minutes’
’If we are detected, the lascannons will be able to pick us off in short order,’ Hephaestus warned ’It will take several hits to disable a Thunderhawk, giving us soainst those batteries If we had knoere going to be involved in ht a Rhino with us An armoured assault would have allowed us access to the base in relative safety’
Boreas sat down on the front bench of the auditoriuht of his arain and shook his head The others gathered around him as he pensively stroked his chin
’There will be no easy way for us to end this quickly and conclusively,’ he told the action, the narrow confines of the corri­dors and chaainst us We will strike as hard and fast as we can, gain entry and cleanse the base rooe Zaul, you will carry a flamer, it will prove invaluable in the dose confines Everybody should take as renades as you can carry Ready your equipment then I shall conduct the pre-battle prayers in the chapel Hephaestus, have the crew prepare a Thunderhawk for launch, fully armed’
’I shall bless thea step towards the door before turning back ’I think ill need the Emperor, the Machine God and the Lion all to watch over us this time’
’Their eyes are upon us, and we shall not fail,’ Zaul said, touching a hand to the Dark Angels’ symbol on his chest ’Praise the Lion!’
Boreas stood in the cockpit of the Thunderhawk and looked over Hephaestus’s shoulder through the armoured canopy The Blade of Caliban had moved to the permanent dayside of the moon before they had launched, and the external environrowing hot­ter and hotter, though the Space Marines’ armour easily protected them from such extreht of the eneround level They would perfor on the oppo­site side of the installation, coht white of the moon’s pockmarked surface alan to shudder slightly as the atmosphere thickened Hephaestus pushed forward on the control colu at speed towards the surface Only a few hundred un­ship roared over craters and savage trenches, cli into the wide rifts that cracked open the hteen unner’s position next to the Tech­un towers,’ Boreas told the veteran sergeant ’Secondary targets at your discretion’
’Understood, Brother-Chaplain,’ Da froht onto the face of his helmet
Boreas walked into the main compartment where the others sat silently on the benches, their weapons check finished Zaul had his co into the casing of the fla of the Thunderhawk, his move­?’ Boreas asked, sitting next to the battle-brother Zaul lifted up the flamer for Boreas to see Carved in neat script were the words, ’Cleanse the Unclean’ Boreas knew the rest of the verse, it was part of a dedication to the Machine God - Chastise the Unholy with the Sacred Bolt, Cleanse the Unclean with the Fire of Purity, Cleave the Impure with the Blade of Hatred
’Arhteousness,’ Boreas said, starting the next verse
’Guard your Heart with the Ward of Honour,’ Thuthen your Arm with the Steel of Revulsion,’ Nestor finished the prayer
S to himself, Boreas took his crozius froood in his hands, his badge of office as well as a deadly weapon Fifteen Interrogator-Chaplains before him had carried this crozius; he had learnt their names when he had been presented with it He wondered for a moment what they had been like, what it had been like to live during the Age of Apostasy and taken part in the crusades that had followed the Conclave of Gathalaain His instincts told him that the rumours, the hearsay, the omens and portents were more than just idle superstition The very presence of the Fallen so close to a Dark Angels’ world could not be , in this reality and in the warp, and he could only guess at what part he s, the tiht surprise when Boreas heard Dae
’We are detecting so field,’ Hep­haestus announced as the Thunderhawk’s instruments scrolled data across half a dozen different screens
A few seconds passed and then three blinding flashes of white shot out of the darkness ahead, passing below the gunship Another volley of high-energy lasfire zipped past fro the path of the Thunderhawk over a hundred metres ahead
’Let us hope their aihed Damas as he took up the weapons controls ’Ouraware of the tar­gets,’ he added, his voice soleain
Another salvo of fire flashed towards them, only a little closer than the first shots had been Hephaestus steered the gunship even lower until it was barely thirty round level The approach was fairly sht incline up towards the wide brow of the hill on which the base was built
’Firing missiles,’ Damas announced as he pressed the launch stud Twin streaks of fire soared away either side of the Thunderhawk, splitting apart as the tiny nated target A few seconds later, explosions blossoet confirmed destroyed,’ Dae inflicted’
His answer cay s the windshield to shatter into a thousand shards and the cockpit consoles to explode with unship lurched to starboard as Hephaestus wrestled with the suddenly unresponsive controls Boreas and the others were slaly and Boreas could feel the aldtude
’Brace for crash!’ Hephaestus warned, letting go of the controls and seizing hold of the grab rails set into the hull over the pilot’s chair
The starboard wing clipped an outcrop of rock first, causing the gunship to yaw violently aines Spinning fast, the Thunderhawk s the Space Marines inside tu over and over as the hull buckled and flas had sheared off Four ti to a stop, its nose buried under tonnes of gouged rock The Space Marines were left in a pile on the floor, Thuled with each other just outside the cockpit