After bidding farewell to the "epidemic control troops," Sicarius led the Second Company deeper into the defensive lines, arriving at the artillery positions in the rear.
Before they had even entered the positions, the earth's rhythmic tremors traveled through the soles of their Power Armour and up through their bodies. Then came an unending roar, scarcely pausing for a moment, as though a hundred thunderclaps were crashing at once.
Rows of large-caliber field guns greeted their eyes, roaring furiously. The flames spitting from their muzzles almost joined into a straight line of fire, while their ejection mechanisms tossed scorching shell casings into the air like fountains. The casings clattered to the ground, piling up into mountains.
That rate of fire was clearly abnormal. Insane, even.
Before Sicarius and the other Ultramarines could react, Hax, the Second Company's Techmarine who had been following along with the formation, suddenly let out a shriek that sounded like garbled binary. Then, like an old father who had just witnessed his child being abused, he charged out of the ranks.
"Brother Hax!" The nearby Tactical Squad members did not even have time to reach out and stop him before the Techmarine with the Servo-arm on his back plunged into the smoke-filled artillery position.
He rushed up to a gun emplacement where shells were being loaded at a frantic pace. As he stared at the barrel, already glowing faintly red from overheating, his Servo-arm waved angrily.
"By the Machine God! What are you doing?! This is sacrilege! Outright sacrilege!" Techmarine Hax roared, his voice filled with anguish and fury. "Stop what you're doing immediately! Cease fire at once!"
A Death Seekers gun commander, his face blackened by smoke, was directing several other players operating the gun. Hearing someone shouting beside his ear, he turned around blankly.