The landing zones of these bunkers were carefully chosen, effectively plugging the gaps created during the initial Zerg assault. This gave the Hands of Judgment a temporary tactical advantage on the field—though in truth, it made little difference; they were still destined to die here.
The 5th and 6th Companies searched the base's interior, but they arrived too late. Whether it was the corpses of Space Marines or PDF soldiers, the Swarm had already carried them all away. Some choice specimens had already been delivered to Abathur. When the companies arrived, they found only bloodstained floors and scattered fragments of power armor; not a single brother's body remained.
"Captain, we've found no sign of our fallen brothers!"
"Same here. By the Emperor... where are they?"
"Those bugs... they've desecrated the remains of our kin!!!"
If Ares had held out for just one more day, a link-up might have been possible. Now? Most of those corpses had likely already been processed into biomass.
"What? No bodies..."
The Chapter Master struck the base wall with his fist, the reinforced steel buckling into a deep crater that nearly punched through. "Dammit, we were too late! Our brothers have been taken by these vermin!"
"Chapter Master, give the order! We will storm the enemy hives and bring them back!" The Marines' fury was near-boiling; the desecration of a brother's corpse was one of the ultimate insults.
"No. Everyone, prepare for extraction. We return to the ships and then... we shatter this desecrated world and every bug on it!!!"
The Chapter Master's tactical judgment was sound. There was no point in grinding down his forces on a world that now belonged to the Swarm. To avenge their brothers and protect other worlds, the only way forward was Exterminatus. This was a "premium treatment" not every world received.
But as the Overmind watched the Thunderhawks preparing to lift off, he sneered internally.
†Now that you've come down, don't even think about leaving.†
Just as the first Thunderhawk began its ascent, hundreds of caustic bile shells converged on it from several kilometers away.
"High-speed objects approaching! High-speed... Oh, Emperor!!!" The pilot stared through the viewport at an terrifying number of incoming shells before his craft was thoroughly drenched in acid.
The surplus bile rained down across the base. While most Marines dove for cover, a few were too slow; the acid splashed onto their power armor, corroding the ceramite plates before their very eyes.
†Sorry, I forgot to mention: this is now a no-fly zone.†
The Overmind was quite pleased with himself. By keeping the Spore Crawlers silent earlier, he had tricked the enemy into thinking the only aerial threats were Mutalisks and Scourges. Now, the hidden Spore Crawlers were enough to swat anything out of the sky.
"It was a trap?!"
"Setting a trap before even making contact? This is definitely not the Tyranid way."
The Chapter Master remained calm. The enemy had only sealed the airspace, meaning they feared the Marines returning to the fleet. The four companies of the Hands of Judgment had two choices: One, eliminate the anti-air threats and then return to the fleet; Two, initiate Exterminatus immediately, regardless of the loss of the ground troops.
The second option was off the table. The Chapter Master and over 50% of the Chapter's active strength were currently on the surface. No commander would order Exterminatus on their own position. That left only the first option.
"5th and 6th Companies, I am assigning the bulk of our armor to you. Begin a search-and-destroy sweep for those anti-air hostiles."
"Chapter Master, I believe this is a trap. They sealed the air because they want us to leave the base so they can pick us off in the open."
"I know. But we have no choice."
The Chapter Master understood they were cornered. It was either rot here or fight their way out. Both paths offered slim odds, especially the latter, as the enemy was clearly prepared. "If we stay on the defensive, we can last a long time, but the enemy won't ignore our fleet. If the fleet is lost, our survival means nothing. Since this enemy displays high intelligence, their threat level is extreme!"
The Overmind's strategic play had significantly raised his threat profile in the eyes of the Imperium.
"Now, we must show them that the Hands of Judgment never yield. If we cannot break through, I will order the fleet to ignore us and commence Exterminatus on this planet immediately!"
"Understood, milord."
The plan was set. The 5th and 6th Companies, supported by Land Raiders and Dreadnoughts, began their sweep. They quickly found the first Spore Crawler.
"Is this tube-like organism the thing spitting acid at us?"
"Blow it to hell!"
But killing a Spore Crawler wouldn't be easy. Zerg units began erupting from the ground, and several Nydus Worm tunnels opened up before the Marines. However, the Hands of Judgment were no weaklings; clustered together, they were like an iron fist that the Swarm struggled to bite into.
"Face me, vermin!!!"
A Dreadnought charged into the Zerg ranks. This six-meter-tall "iron can" was a massive steel construct housing a mortally wounded veteran Marine saved from a previous battlefield. To allow him to continue serving the Imperium, he had been entombed within the Dreadnought to fight on.
†Oh, the Imperial version of a Dragoon is here?†
The Protoss also had a similar machine called the Dragoon—or the Stalker and Immortal in later iterations. All of them housed the broken bodies of fallen warriors to return them to the glory of battle.
This was an Ironclad Dreadnought. Armed with a massive seismic hammer and a hurricane bolter, it smashed through a Roach's armor with one swing. Its mechanical claw plunged into the creature's body and twisted, pulping its internals. Even in its death throes, the Roach managed to rake its claws across the Dreadnought's frontal plating.
The Dreadnought ignored the damage. He spun, tossing the Roach aside, and opened up with his ranged weapons. A dense hail of fire shredded the surrounding Zerglings and Hydralisks.
"I am the shield of the Imperium! My faith shall never be shaken!!!" The Dreadnought roared. Even the Captains of the 5th and 6th Companies marveled at the power of this veteran who had served far longer than they had. And they had three more like him. "So reliable."
Then, a second later, a glob of yellow plasma fire fell from the sky. The moment it hit, the Dreadnought's conversion field (shield) flared to life. The splashing plasma fire hit the surrounding ground, causing several violent explosions.
†I HATE SHIELDS!!!†
The Overmind wanted to curse. These Imperial plasma shields were infuriating. Without that shield, that plasma bombardment would have melted straight through the top of the hull and incinerated the pilot. The "unlucky" shield had thwarted the Overmind's intent.
†Plasma bombardment didn't work? Then eat this!†
As the Dreadnought took another step forward, a massive, three-meter-long spike suddenly erupted from the ground, skewering the machine from below.
"!!!"
It happened too fast. Neither the Dreadnought nor the other Marines had time to react.
†Meet the specialized variant of our Lurker family—the Impaler, an anti-heavy armor specialist! Dreadnoughts? Tanks? You heavy-armored bastards are exactly what I'm looking for!†