The orbital bombardment lasted five days before ending.
Not because the intended effects were achieved early, but because the strikes against the xenos fortress complexes nestled among the mountains were ineffective.
To clear landing zones, each Legion deployed its air wings.
Urian Vendraig stood on the bridge of the Night Spear, gazing through the viewport at the aircraft launching from the various Legion ships.
His expression was complex, tangled thoughts swirling in his mind.
His father had not punished him for the loss of the Abomination, but of course, he had not won his father's trust either.
As his thoughts drifted, the scene aboard the Invincible Reason surfaced in his mind.
Urian recalled those scrutinizing eyes, that dizzying sensation of cold, focused attention that once again crept up his spine.
'Father must have noticed something.'
'Luther will be discovered sooner or later...'
'Perhaps from the moment I agreed to keep Lord Nareth's secret, I set foot on a different path.'
As Urian pondered, his gaze was drawn to the aircraft of various colors, black-terracotta, cobalt blue, purple,
like migrating flocks of birds, crossing the void.
He took in the magnificent sight of tens of thousands of aircraft in flight, then snapped out of his reverie.
'Shadows of Order's air force leads the Legions.'
While other Legions still relied primarily on Cutlass interceptors, an aircraft already phased out of Shadows of Order, Rosicky Czhech had led Techmarines in simplifying the Cutlass's control systems, reducing its performance, but making it suitable for Auxilia pilots.
The new generation of Lightning fighters, due to their high cost, could not yet be supplied by Forge Worlds to meet all Legion demands. The War Hounds did not have a single one in their companies.
Even the Ultramarines, with their dozens of industrial worlds, had only completed half their conversion.
The disparity in numbers was even greater.
Urian's helmet tactical display showed the ship's auspex scans.
The total number of aircraft from the other Legions combined was six thousand five hundred eighty.
Shadows of Order had deployed seven thousand six hundred ninety Lightning fighters alone, plus another fourteen hundred Auxilia craft.
Seven thousand six hundred ninety aircraft were not even the Shadows of Order's full air power.
And this situation did not arise solely from Lord Nareth's direction.
Based on his limited understanding of Shadows of Order during his time serving Lord Nareth, Urian could estimate each Chapter's aircraft strength between three hundred and five hundred.
Only the Sixth Chapter, since Flamini became Chapter Master, had heavily developed its air wings, exceeding five thousand aircraft.
When Urian first learned this number, he was greatly shocked. He couldn't imagine how Shadows of Order had achieved such large-scale conversion to new aircraft in just over a decade.
It was only after learning of the immense production capacity of Forge World Voss and an industrial world in the Koronid Expanse that he understood how it was possible.
Urian couldn't help but question his father's approach. The Dark Angels did not administer the worlds they conquered.
They would destroy the evil xenos worlds and take their technology into the reliquary.
They would reclaim lost human colonies, conscript all eligible candidates, and then offer them to the Emperor.
The Dark Angels, unlike the Ultramarines and Shadows of Order, did not administer the worlds they conquered. Their equipment depended on Forge World supply.
Shadows of Order, Iron Hand, Ultramarines, Iron Warriors, and Salamanders all possessed powerful forging capabilities.
Mars prioritized supplying Lord Ferrus. Lord Nareth had also reached agreements with numerous Forge Worlds, equipping new weapons far faster than other Legions.
Though the Dark Angels' reliquary held many forbidden weapons granted by the Emperor, their standard equipment fielding lagged significantly behind.
As Urian pondered, the aircraft dove towards Taxal, meeting the drone swarms rising from the ground.
Inside a Cutlass interceptor that had been in service for over fifty years, Ravenwing warrior Arocel watched the black-terracotta aircraft paint the stratosphere with their Legion's colors.
He performed a wide-angle scan, watching the dense runes flicker on his panel, quickly exceeding a hundred.
Arocel pulled the controls. His cannons roared.
Flames erupted. Debris scattered.
The flickering runes on his panel did not decrease. Instead, they surged, filling the display in an instant.
Arocel saw a dense wall of blinding beams rushing towards him. The threat spurred adrenaline. His hands worked the controls rapidly.
The craft shuddered violently, shaking in the air currents.
It weathered over a dozen hits. The scars made the Cutlass more savage. The broken bones made it unbreakable.
Its guns roared in fury, shredding dozens of drones.
Arocel's body trembled slightly with the adrenaline rush. His eyes swept past a few plumes of fire, then more and more.
Thunderbolt heavy fighters and Cutlass interceptors spun and plummeted.
CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!
The shockwaves of explosions buffeted his craft. A piercing alarm screamed. The ancient machine-spirit roared in fury.
A searing heat blast flashed past. Arocel struggled to keep up with the Lightning fighters, thinking enviously.
'If I could fly one of those new fighters, like the veterans, I'd achieve more.'
As Arocel pondered, his helmet received the Grand Master's order.
"HAMMER deploy!"
"RAVEN, cover!"
Arocel slammed his panel twice. A trail of smoke, the alarm ceased.
The ancient machine-spirit answered his prayer, flying towards the blinking black runes.
Hammer-shaped runes plunged earthward. Black-terracotta aircraft circled them, fending off the swarming drones.
Amidst the cascade of explosions, Arocel couldn't discern which wreckage belonged to friend or foe. His vision was filled.
He glanced at the markers for his squad's battle-brothers. Only two Lightning fighters of the veterans remained.
Arocel immediately pulled the controls. His craft swung hard. Its wing struck a drone.
The drone spun, crashing into another drone. He was about to close in on his teammates to form a combat formation.
Suddenly, the blazing wreckage of a drone slammed into his Cutlass.
Cold air rushed into the cockpit. A piercing red light flashed wildly.
Arocel felt his hands grow unbearably heavy. He abandoned his plan, now only able to keep from crashing, using himself as a shield.
Wind howled around him. He watched with sorrow as dozens of drones swarmed and destroyed a Lightning fighter, and felt a grim relief that he hadn't attempted his plan.
Arocel pierced through layer after layer of smoke. His altimeter was gone. He didn't know how much longer this death journey would last.
Ammunition exhausted. Steering systems failed.
"Raven... Hammer..."
The voice in his helmet comm roused Arocel's numb senses.
He saw Stormbirds and the brutal Sky-Mace gunships of old roar past.
Arocel breathed a sigh of relief. By some miracle, the markers showed his company had two hundred ninety-two men left. Two hundred five of them were in Lightning fighters.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Ground anti-air fire roared angrily. Its shrieks drowned out the engine noises.
A Stormbird disintegrated. The Dark Angel's black-terracotta power armor melted in the energy stream.
Black-terracotta Stormbirds burst like fireworks. A sturdy Sky-Mace gunship slammed into the ground, crushing a dozen xenos into pulp.
At the same moment the Dark Angels landed on Taxal, Flamini easily nudged his control stick.
His fighter flashed through the drone swarm. His formation rotated precisely.
Flamini leisurely checked his tactical display. His Chapter had lost four hundred seven aircraft, yet routed hundreds of thousands of drones.
He thought, brimming with confidence, 'My Chapter has built a formidable air force.'
The long-barreled autocannon under his fuselage and the laser cannons on his wingtips roared in unison.
Cannons thundered. Dense laser beams swept the drones like rain.
"Clear!"
"Storm!"
Nelson, the Primarch's personal pilot, was temporarily flying a Voss-pattern Lightning fighter on a bombing mission.
Weaving through the scattered wreckage of friendly aircraft, his craft accelerated into a dive.
The underwing missile pods were extremely heavy, pulling the wings down.
The tail fins rose high, made of rugged, practical black metal.
The "Lucky One" saw the xenos installations locked on his panel. Feeling it was his lucky day, he pushed the throttle to the max, instantly pulling ahead of the lead aircraft.
Four air-to-ground Inferno missiles slung under his wings screamed away, striking the ground like arrows.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Flames roared skyward. Metal wreckage tore through the surrounding xenos.
Released from the missiles, the Lightning fighter felt instantly lighter, soaring rapidly upward.
One after another, the black fighters rose into the void, surrounded by the smoking craft of various colors.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu