One day later, the Chapter Barque of the Hands of Judgment reached the near-orbit of Lotasen. By now, the planet's surface was entirely swathed in Creep.
The Captain of the 7th Company, stationed in orbit, did not immediately launch an assault—a piece of advice left for him by the fallen Ares.
"What is the status of the battle? Where is Ares?!"
"Forgive us, Chapter Master. Captain Ares has made the ultimate sacrifice."
The Chapter Master of the Hands of Judgment stood clad in Tactical Dreadnought Armor (Terminator Armor). His weapons were a pair of custom Power Fists, bearing a striking resemblance to those of Marneus Calgar, the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines.
"Is it the Tyranids?"
"No. According to the data transmitted by Captain Ares, we have found no units belonging to any known Tyranid hive fleet. We cannot link this new race to the Tyranids, though their combat style is remarkably similar."
The Chapter Master carefully reviewed the intelligence regarding the Zerg. Indeed, not a single unit matched Tyranid morphology. While questions remained, one thing was certain:
They were the enemy!
Imperials could be quite obsessive—they saw enemies everywhere. Sometimes they saw enemies in their own ranks; eventually, they might even see the Emperor as an enemy and turn to Chaos.
"May his soul return to the Emperor. But now is not the time for mourning. We must launch a new offensive and purge this Swarm from this world entirely!" The burly Chapter Master added, "Or, purge the world itself!"
The Chapter Barque carried a full array of Exterminatus weaponry, including virus bombs, ensuring the planet would be left with no path to survival. However, they wouldn't bombard the planet immediately. The fallen Space Marines carried Gene-Seed that needed to be recovered by specialized squads first.
But they were overestimating their chances. The Zerg Swarm wasn't just planning to deny them the Gene-Seed; they were planning to make landing nearly impossible.
As the Chapter Master was drafting the assault plan, a massive shell of caustic bile erupted from the atmosphere, hurtling toward the fleet before detonating violently. The shockwave caused the massive Chapter Barque to shudder.
"What happened?"
"Our vessels are under attack from the planetary surface."
"Impossible. Tyranids have no means of striking near-orbit unless they deploy Hive Ships."
"It's not a Hive Ship. It's..."
The ship's auspex array scanned the source of the attack. A Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus let out a gasp of disbelief. "Such a colossal biological construct?!"
That mountain of flesh was a Bile Spitter (Bile Launcher)—a massive defensive structure Abathur had evolved from the Spore Crawler. It was currently the Zerg Swarm's longest-range and most powerful offensive and defensive building. It was also the most expensive. The Overmind had only built four, yet the resources consumed were enough to produce a hundred Ultralisks.
But it was worth it. Spore Crawlers had limited range and destructive power, unable to inflict significant damage on capital ships. The Bile Spitter was different. Its power rivaled the primary batteries of a Hive Ship. A direct hit could potentially vaporize a Frigate and severely punish a Cruiser. Of course, after every shot, the Bile Spitter required a long time to recharge. But for a building capable of striking orbital targets, such drawbacks were expected. If it had high power and a high rate of fire, Abathur would be shouting about the "non-conservation of matter"—the Zerg didn't exactly conjure units from the Void like the forces of Chaos.
The remaining Bile Spitters continued their barrage. As the fleet was buffeted again, the Chapter Master steadied himself and barked orders: "We cannot allow this bombardment to continue! 2nd and 3rd Companies, commence planetary landing! 5th and 6th Companies, execute the Gene-Seed recovery protocol! 1st Company, guard the Barque against aerial ambushes! Move out!"
While four companies were landing, that only amounted to about three to four hundred men. Since the publication of the Codex Astartes, full-strength Chapters of over a thousand men were rare, except for those First Founding Legions who treated the Codex like toilet paper. However, one should not underestimate this thousand-man Chapter; they possessed Dreadnoughts, Land Raiders, and a vast array of armored might.
The landing site remained the PDF base, but this time they were met with overwhelming Zerg resistance. As the Thunderhawks entered the atmosphere, swarms of Mutalisks rose like a black cloud to intercept them.
"Punch through!"
The Thunderhawks opened up with their forward guns, forcibly tearing a hole through the Mutalisk swarm. However, one or two Gunships had their engines crippled, trailing black smoke as they fell. Those lacking propulsion were quickly swarmed by Mutalisks.
"Open the hatches!"
The rear ramps of the Thunderhawks dropped, revealing the Hands of Judgment Marines inside. Magnetic locks on their boots kept them anchored to the floor as they opened fire with bolters and heavy bolters, swatting the pursuing Mutalisks out of the air. Mutalisk armor was thin—to maintain high-speed agility, they lacked the heavy plating of ground units and couldn't withstand bolt shells.
"Prepare for emergency landing!!!" the pilot yelled. The damaged Thunderhawk bounced across the terrain before finally coming to a halt. The Marines inside emerged unscathed. Even if a Space Marine fell from dozens of meters, they usually wouldn't be injured; those with jump packs could even survive a solo drop from the upper atmosphere.
"These bugs are beyond absurd!"
"Deploying Hammerfall Bunkers!"
Following the first wave of troops, standardized drop units began streaking through the atmosphere. Drop pods containing Marines and automated weapon systems slammed into the ground around the base.
The Hammerfall Bunker was one such weapon—an automated fortress deployed from space for Astartes planetary assaults. Its roof featured missile pods, while the sides were mounted with heavy bolters or heavy flamers.
†Hmm...†
The Overmind watched these bunkers and felt a strong urge to complain.
†Whoever says StarCraft is the 'son' of Warhammer again is going to hear it from me. From now on, let's just say they're related in a weird way—StarCraft calls Warhammer 'Dad', and Warhammer calls StarCraft 'Daddy'.†
What did they call it again? "Mutual inspiration"? Yes, "mutual inspiration."
The Mutalisks tried to strike the ground units, but those missile pods were no joke. Clumped Mutalisks were shredded by the explosive salvos, suffering catastrophic losses. The vast swarm was reduced to a few stragglers in seconds, the rest turned into chunks of meat. It was a perfect recreation of StarCraft II missile turrets vs. Mutalisks.
†I am NEVER stacking my Mutalisks again! Curse this splash damage!†
The Overmind scanned the Astartes ranks for a specific figure. He saw Dreadnoughts and Terminator squads. Finally, he spotted the man—the one covered in icons of glory, the biggest and "WAAAGH-est" of them all, protected by the Chapter Champion's boarding shield.
†Found you. The Chapter Master!†