On the broad main road leading to the upper hive, a storm of steel was gathering and advancing.
The Death Seekers' heavy armored units, like prehistoric steel behemoths, crushed across the crystal-paved road that had once been reserved for luxurious hovercars. Leman Russ tank engines let out muffled roars, their heavy tracks leaving clear marks on the ground. Chimera armored personnel carriers followed close behind, the muzzles of their Heavy Bolters and heavy Autoguns gleaming with cold metallic light. At the rear of the column, self-propelled artillery vehicles slowly adjusted their massive barrels.
The crisp, rhythmic loading sounds of autocannons intertwined with the clicks of soldiers checking their weapons, forming a symphony of war. This torrent of steel had only one target—the upper hive's center of power, the Governor's Mansion.
"What an exciting sight," Assassin said as he stood by the roadside, watching these machines of ultimate violence roll past one after another. He could feel his blood heating up, an instinctive surge of fervor rising in his heart.
"Mm." Yet Robert, the force's highest-ranking commander, merely responded calmly, without the slightest hint of excitement on his face.
"Commander, aren't you excited? Such an awesome scene, and you're the one commanding all of it!" Assassin leaned closer, his tone brimming with excitement.
"What I'm mainly considering right now is whether the troops we have can block every entrance and exit of the Governor's Mansion." Robert watched the convoy rumble forward and sighed softly. "I just hope that damned place has fewer entrances and exits."
Robert did not even dare hope that the Governor's Mansion might be smaller, because he knew that was impossible. Hoping a Planetary Governor's mansion would be compact and delicate was less realistic than hoping a full-strength Space Marine Chapter would suddenly descend from the heavens, pull