The Imperial forces were in a dire state.
While the evolution of the Primal Zerg might not have seemed revolutionary in a massive planetary war, its effectiveness in a localized surprise attack was devastating. Zehaka had risen to his full height, looming directly before the massive Great Gate of the Mid-Hive.
The gate was over ten meters of reinforced plasteel, but Zehaka was ready to tear it down.
How would he breach it?
He had his methods. A radiant light began to glow deep within Zehaka's throat, shifting into the searing white-gold hue of an Igniter's plasma.
"Yes, yes—that's it, my little monster!"
The Overmind was thoroughly satisfied with Zehaka's performance.
Zehaka unleashed a torrent of scorching plasma from his maw. The beam struck the gate, and within seconds, the ancient metal began to liquefy and slough off in glowing rivulets. When the fire finally ceased, a massive, jagged hole—large enough for the entire munitions train to pass through—remained, dripping with molten iron.
"Nothing can resist the combination of behemoths and fire."
A standard Zerg strain couldn't produce this level of focused thermal output, but Zehaka was a different breed. Furthermore, his claws functioned like the monomolecular blades of an Ultralisk; even if the gate hadn't melted, he would have shredded it like parchment. The Imperial dream of stopping the Swarm with simple walls was dead.
Realizing the gate was useless, the garrison commanders scrambled to deploy self-propelled artillery and PDF units on the platforms flanking the tracks. Their orders were simple: blow the entire train to pieces. They no longer cared about preserving the railcar or the munitions; if this xenos could burn through one gate, he could burn through the next.
"Any word from the Sisters of Battle or the Storm Troopers?" the garrison commander barked.
"They've encountered fierce resistance, sir. I can tell from the vox-chatter—things are going badly back there."
"Give them more time. Everyone else, focus fire on the approach!"
The railcar finally reached the internal checkpoint.
"Activate the deceleration clamps!"
The maglev brakes groaned as specialized magnetic stopping blocks rose from the tracks. These barriers couldn't halt a train of this mass traveling at full speed, but they could leech its momentum, buying the defenders precious seconds to intercept.
You might ask: Why didn't they just block the front of the train?
The answer was simple: even an Emperor-class Titan couldn't have braced against the kinetic energy of that munitions car. It would have been like trying to stop a falling moon with a shield.
The first to strike was a fresh squadron of Valkyrie gunships. Zehaka looked up, preparing to clear the sky.
"Open fire!"
The Imperial defenders unleashed a coordinated barrage first, their shells impacting Zehaka's chest and shoulders, interrupting his aim. Zehaka roared in fury, and the Primal Hydralisks clinging to the car began to retaliate. Each launched a missile-sized spine, turning the air into a lethally jagged canopy.
In the first salvo, four Valkyries were vaporized or sent spiraling into the Hive's infrastructure. The losses were staggering, but the Imperium's answer was always the same: More.
A second wave of dozens of gunships swarmed in. Hydralisks fired wildly, and more aircraft plummeted, but the sheer numbers finally told. The Valkyries broke through the anti-air screen, raking the car with high-caliber fire. More than a dozen Primal Hydralisks were shredded on the spot. Despite their size, they couldn't ignore the sustained fire of heavy aircraft cannons designed to crack tank armor.
However, the cost was high—several more Valkyries were lost during their egress. It would be some time before the Air Force could organize another run.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Zehaka leaped from the slowing train onto the garrison platform and began a massacre. Despite being the size of an Imperial Scout Titan, he moved with the predatory grace of a raptor. His humanoid structure and massive tail allowed for an agility that baffled the human observers.
Zehaka swept his tail, sending three self-propelled artillery pieces flying like toys. In the distance, a Manticore missile battery launched a man-sized projectile that slammed into his back. The explosion was significant, tearing a crater in his carapace.
But the wound began to knit together almost instantly.
Zehaka had become a "numerical monster." He possessed the agility of a Hydralisk, the regeneration of a Roach, the plasma of an Igniter, and the blades of an Ultralisk. He didn't look like a member of a swarm; he looked like a solitary god of war.
"The shelling is working! Keep firing!"
On the opposite platform, another battery opened up. Zehaka ignored the pain, relentlessly smashing the cannons into scrap. He completely bypassed the fleeing infantry—they weren't worth the effort.
"Exactly," the Overmind observed. "Ignore the humans; they are nothing without their guns. Break the steel, and the flesh will follow."
In minutes, one battery was silenced. As the second continued to fire, Zehaka did the unthinkable: he crouched, loaded his massive leg muscles, and jumped across the tracks.
"That's impossible!" a Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus cried out. "What is that creature's endoskeleton made of? It should have shattered under the stress of such a leap!"
Zehaka didn't just survive the jump; he used the impact of his landing to crush a dozen soldiers and overturn the remaining cannons. To finish the job, he unleashed his plasma breath again, detonating the battery's ammo dump. A chain reaction of explosions consumed the platform, drowning out the screams of the defenders.
Zehaka leaped back onto the train just as the deceleration devices reached their breaking point. With a series of metallic cracks, the magnetic clamps failed. The train began to accelerate once more, leaving the decimated checkpoint in its wake.
Reinforcements arrived only in time to see the tail of the train disappear into the smog.
"We failed! Signal the Command Spire—the beast has passed the first gate and is heading for the inner sanctum!"