Blood Stains the Eyes of the Alicians

955.M30.

Following the Primarch's orders, the First Chapter of the Shadow of Order successfully intercepted the largest Ork asteroid fortress in the Solent System.

On the bridge of the Alicia Guardian, Toby Bandak, already over a hundred years old, had gray at his temples.

He had led forty-one regiments across the sea of stars in Arbites Lord Howard Fender's wake, arriving in the Koronus Expanse to annihilate the invading Orks.

This was not Toby's first time in the Koronus Expanse. Nearly a century ago, during the Rangdan Xenocides, he had led the First through Fifth Regiments beyond the Astronomican's light and seized the fortress Lord Nimrod would later name Steel-Break Fortress.

He stood ramrod straight, staring at the holographic image. Fourteen regiments had already made the first landings on the asteroid fortress.

The Alicians' ability to deploy rapidly across a battlefield was every bit as excellent as the Shadow of Order's.

Toby reviewed the threat vectors across the battlefield, then locked onto War Zone Thirteen, where the situation was worst.

Before the airborne regiment had even reached the ground, its battle-loss ratio had already risen as high as fifty-eight point three six percent.

Toby raised his mechanical right arm. His hand had been withered dry by the Hrud's Entropy Energy, forcing him to replace it with an augmetic.

Though he possessed a Mechanical Arm, his atrophied nerves could not recover. His reactions had slowed drastically, forcing him to withdraw from the front line of battle.

Toby jabbed his index finger hard onto the hologram, marking it.

He pressed the vox at his throat and issued orders over the Sonic Array channel.

"Bombard War Zone Thirteen. Four rounds!"

"All standby regiments, full-regiment airborne assault."

"Death from above!"

An orderly response rang out across the vox channel. "Regiment Commander, we obey your