Ferreira led the Fra'al forces toward the battleships.
After advancing two kilometers, Ferreira suddenly signaled the driver to halt.
The open-topped Fra'al command vehicle stopped. Ferreira narrowed his eyes and looked to the sky.
In his aetheric vision, the thing carried no trace of life.
'Not a creature… some kind of machine?'
Ferreira barked through the communicator:
"Biomancers, aetheric lightning, strike down whatever spies on us from above!"
To unleash the full power of aetheric spells, Fra'al Aethermancers rode in open vehicles.
A dozen biomancer Aethermancers raised their staves. Psychic lightning gathered in the air.
The bolts, first finger-thin, thickened until they became a massive dragon of lightning, as wide as the Fra'al themselves.
The lightning dragon split the skies, striking the gray-and-yellow construct above.
The mechanical eagle belched smoke and plummeted like a cut kite.
Ferreira waved, and the driver restarted the vehicle to continue forward.
The "Iron Hands" battle line.
Beside DuCaine, the Techmarine bearing the title Holy Father of Steel reported:
"I've lost my Garuda. The Fra'al lightning was faster than its reaction time. It had no chance to evade."
"The Garuda's power core was melted in overload. It won't be repaired after battle."
DuCaine nodded, then turned to Gabriel. "Your Golden Garuda, can it bring me intelligence the fallen one could not?"
"I will try my best," Gabriel answered carefully, watching and recording at DuCaine's side.
By now, he understood that the Storm and Hammer was a system deceptively simple on the surface but intricately complex beneath, woven from countless tactical considerations:
How long the auxiliaries could hold while drawing the enemy,
When to reinforce them with Iron Hands,
The exact timing of deploying Astartes the "Hammer,"
Command of highly mechanized assault troops,
Logistics, resupply during high-speed strikes, and positioning fire support,
Coordination of aerial gunships for air interdiction, down to Astartes and armored vehicle sweeps.
It required long training, evaluation, and the commander's willpower and precision.
DuCaine said this doctrine evolved from the war clans of Terra's Arabia. He refined it in battle, and after Ferrus Manus returned, the standard rose higher still.
Manus demanded perfect calculation: not only friendly parameters but every detail of the enemy, their troop types, numbers, weapons, and logistics. He emphasized auger devices and scouting units like the Garuda.
This first battle since renaming the doctrine Iron Hands would test those expectations. Yet Fra'al aetheric sorcery had already sabotaged the Garuda's reconnaissance.
Gabriel switched his helmet display to golden panels, linking to his Garuda. Unlike Iron Hands' direct implants, his system used a broader, less immediate interface, adaptable for mass deployment. He envisioned legionnaires, even squads, across the Shadow of Order fielding Golden Garudas.
From ten kilometers above, the golden construct gazed down. Its vision fed Gabriel a detailed hologram:
"Second vehicle: eight Fra'al Aethermancers. Robes bear lightning and flame sigils, four biomancers, four pyromancers."
'Hmm… without auto-classification optics, this must be improved.'
As Gabriel relayed intelligence, Ferreira below felt unease. Though the sky showed nothing, he sensed unseen eyes.
"Telekinetics, scan the skies!" he shouted.
Dozens of Aethermancers spread their power skyward. After seconds, one called out:
"Lord Ferreira, a mechanical eagle above, golden!"
"Drag it down!"
"We cannot. It is too high, ten thousand meters."
"Biomancers!"
"No, Lord, it's beyond our range as well."
Ferreira, frustrated, ordered full speed ahead. The drivers, feeling his fiery aura, floored the throttle.
Meanwhile, DuCaine received Gabriel's thorough reports, more detailed than auger matrices or reconnaissance craft.
"Storm General, do you require anything more?" Gabriel asked.
"No. I have all I need."
As the Fra'al advanced, Ferreira spotted a golden glint in the sky; the spy revealed itself at last.
"Provocation!" Fire flared in his eyes.
"Can we strike it now?"
"Not yet!" came the answer.
The golden eagle descended, finally within range.
"Attack! Bring it down!" Ferreira roared, casting a fireball upward.
Telekinetics wove a psychic net toward the Garuda. But its golden wings beat, darting aside.
Gabriel, seeing through its eyes, confirmed the Fra'al unleashing spell after spell. His interface flashed red as etheric lightning struck. He logged the damage and dove the Garuda lower, testing limits, draining enemy reserves.
The Fra'al pressed harder: psychic nets, fireballs, lightning. The eagle blackened under their fury. Ferreira readied the killing blow,
But before he struck, the blackened construct opened its beak. A torrent of molten flame poured down, incinerating an entire vehicle and its ether-masters.
"Cursed thing!" Ferreira bellowed, furious at losing eight of his battlefield coordinators before the real fight began. He hurled more flames skyward.
But suddenly Gabriel's link cut out, the Garuda destroyed.
'I overestimated its metal's defenses. Underestimated the Fra'al's aether mastery.
He noted the 'failures, already envisioning a new model built entirely within the Shadow of Order. It would lack the xenos "living metal," weaker but still superior to Iron Hands craft.
An hour later, Ferreira hurled his forces at the auxiliary battle line.
To rally them, Storm General Amadeus DuCaine himself took command, clad in thick Mark I Thunder armor.
Before contact, he roared across the line: "Raise the storm!"
His aim: provoke the enemy to strike first, seizing the initiative.
Ferreira brandished his staff and glass blade, shouting: "Aether!"
The Fra'al unleashed torrents of flame, consuming dozens of auxiliaries.
"Aether," DuCaine muttered.
He leveled his bolter, firing. The first shot rippled against a psychic shield. The second tore through, exploding a master's head.
"Storm!"
The auxiliaries cheered, charging the xenos.
The Fra'al retaliated with lightning, burning soldiers black, blood spilling from mouths and noses.
DuCaine's body shuddered under the surge, his armor scorched, but his superhuman resilience kept him standing. Calmly, he raised his weapon again and felled another ether-mage.
The Storm General was unshaken. The auxiliaries followed his lead, surging forward into the Fra'al ranks.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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