V3 Chapter 48: Facing Mankind's Sharpest Spear
Vulcantia's sky began to tremble.
Biochemical toxic mist, refined-metal waste, and the smoke discharged by colossal excavators had formed a heavy layer of cloud high above. Now those grey-black clouds were torn open by streak after streak of engine flare, and countless "meteors" fell toward the ash plains.
This was the first wave of the large-scale landing sequence.
But not a single living soul rode within any of the drop pods, any of the decoy landing craft, or any of the cargo containers trailing heat-source beacons.
They carried heat signatures, communication traffic, and false identification codes convincing enough to pass through the atmosphere at the same tempo as a genuine landing force. To anyone reading only the orbital augury arrays, it would appear that the Imperium had already begun dropping its vanguard onto the ash plains.
The moment these "meteors" broke through the cloud layer, the xenos fighters appeared.
They surged out from deep within the clouds and from shadows beneath the surface, their hulls curved like crescent blades, moving fast enough that an ordinary Imperial pilot would struggle to track them. Close to a hundred Doom Scythes launched their attack simultaneously, green beams and energy arcs crossing high overhead.
The shriek of their engines cut through Vulcantia's toxic cloud layer.
This was no ordinary engine noise. The Necrons deliberately amplified the sound to resonate with organic brains; the shriek alone was enough to drive any mortal who heard it into catatonia, frenzy, hallucination, or a brief collapse of cognition.
Duvette sat in the theatre command seat aboard the Macragge's Honour, watching the interception feed from high altitude, his expression unchanged.
These Doom Scythes truly were formidable, enough to give any air force a headache. By one somewhat exaggerated account, a single squadron of Doom Scythes could reduce an entire hive to molten slag in under an hour.
This time, however, all they faced were unmanned decoys.
Death rays cut through the decoy landing craft, Tesla weaponry tore the heat-source containers apart, and drop pods exploded in the atmosphere in whole clusters. Burning wreckage trailing black smoke fell toward the ash plains; from a distance, it looked as though the entire sky were coming down.
"Have we located their launch nodes?"
Duvette asked.
A fleet augur officer answered immediately. "Six batches of decoy landers were destroyed by xenos fighters from three separate directions. We have already locked two of the launch nodes. Both are well clear of the equatorial foundry belt and can be struck from orbit."
He paused briefly, then brought up a third set of coordinates.
"The last node lies close to the equatorial foundry belt. According to the subsurface structural data provided by the Triplex Phall Archmagos, there are numerous power cores and primary sector conduits beneath that region. A wide-area strike risks triggering ground collapse, which could damage the power cores and set off sympathetic detonations, endangering friendly defence zones."
Duvette gave a nod.
"Notify the fleet. Priority strikes on the two distant targets."
He looked at the third set of coordinates.
"The one near the equatorial foundry belt, leave to the second wave landing force to handle."
The order went out at once.
Duvette then turned to the theatre deployment map.
"Aurora Chapter, Novamarines, the Black Shields, the Salamanders companies, and the 112th Combat Cluster, prepare for the second wave landing. House Vornhel, House Ferumore, and House Arkade will each send Knights along."
He raised a hand and tapped the region that could not be bombarded.
"The task is simple. Destroy the designated launch node quickly, confirm the underground entrance, and cut off their ability to keep deploying fighters."
Several staff officers immediately fed the order into the landing sequence.
Duvette then turned to the Triplex Phall Archmagos beside him.
"Your Titan formations and the main body of your Skitarii forces will land in the third wave, alongside the other combat elements. When the time comes, the naval air wing and the fleet in orbit will provide your cover. Your advance Tech-Priest team will go down with the second wave, tasked with identifying the underground power conduits and those xenos mineral structures you keep referring to."
The Archmagos's bionic eye flickered once.
"The order is recorded."
Duvette did not look at him again.
The orbital request was relayed to Guilliman quickly.
Approval came down almost immediately.
In the next moment, the Imperial Navy's orbital firepower began to fall.
Under absolute orbital superiority, destruction rained from the sky. Lances of light stabbed down from the fleet formation into Vulcantia's atmosphere, burning straight through the ash plains' surface. Macro-cannon barrages followed, stripping the edges of the scrap seas and the restricted mine zones away layer by layer.
The first launch node vanished in white light.
The second node's surface structure was punched through again and again, the underground passages collapsed, and green energy flame erupted from the fissures that followed. The surviving Doom Scythes attempted to break free through the smoke, only to be suppressed continuously by the Imperial fighters and orbital fire waiting above.
Even with both coordinates well clear of the equatorial foundry belt, the shockwaves from the bombardment still travelled far.
Vulcantia's major ore veins began collapsing, and surface fissures spread across the ash plains. Some abandoned excavation towers toppled, and colossal excavators that had stood idle for days were shaken half-buried into the ground.
Duvette watched the shockwave feedback on the hologram.
He knew that if the bombardment went unrestrained, the Imperial main battle fleet gathered here had more than enough firepower to scour the surface of this planet clean.
But what they wanted was a forge world.
Not a heap of glassed slag left behind by orbital bombardment.
"Second wave landing personnel are ready."
The voice of a staff officer came from behind him.
Duvette gave a nod.
He looked at the holographic star chart before him, then at the strategic map in his own field of vision. Red hostile markers flickered across the ash plains, the restricted mine zones, and the edge of the equatorial foundry belt, and the blue landing sequence had already fallen into formation.
"Prepare to land."
Duvette said.
"Let these xenos see what mankind's sharpest spear looks like."
The landing order was sent out to every vessel.
The second wave deployment sequence began breaking away from the transport ships and strike cruisers.
Formations of Lightning fighters, Thunderbolt heavy fighters, Valkyries, Thunderhawk gunships, and Stormraven gunships began covering the landing craft, armoured drop pods, and large transport pods as they cut into the atmosphere at staggered altitudes. The Astartes strike groups, the 112th's vanguard, the Knight detachments, and the advance Tech-Priest teams began their true entry into the Vulcantia battlefield.
As the Imperial fighter formations plunged into the clouds, the surviving Doom Scythes rose to meet them at once.
Death rays and Hellstrike missiles crossed in mid-air, and twin-linked Tesla destructors and lascannons tore the heavy cloud layer apart completely.
Imperial fighters detonated in the air one after another, but in the next instant more formations launched from the ships' bays. They had only one objective: to cover the landing, whatever the cost.
Yet even with an overwhelming numerical advantage, the Necrons' Doom Scythes still inflicted an almost merciless casualty ratio.
These terrifying aerial killers overwhelmed Imperial fighters almost completely in both weaponry and manoeuvrability, but regardless, these Imperial heroes who flew to their deaths did succeed in holding back the xenos assault.
Those lumbering landing craft made their way safely to the ground through smoke and death.
At the same time, the Cereris front began to move as well.
Under Duvette's orders, Evan assisted in commanding the ground landing there. The pressure on Cereris was relatively lighter, and it did not carry the same risk of dense underground power core sympathetic detonations that Vulcantia did.
The orbiting fleet had already destroyed most of the exposed xenos fighter launch points.
What remained, the water network nodes, the climate towers, and the underground transfer devices, would need to be cleared by ground forces.
Duvette watched the landing markers on both worlds light up at the same time.
The battle had formally begun.