"Why was your communication signal interrupted for a second?"
"Lord of Valor?"
"Lord of Valor!"
Hera called urgently a few times before Lu Jin's reply came through the comms.
"My helmet got smashed—I just recovered."
"Kudakkar, that other Ork boss fighting Kasan—"
Lu Jin took a deep breath, then continued, "The vehicle it was riding in collided with mine. It and the vehicle were smashed to pieces, and I was swept into the air by the storm."
Hera was just about to ask whether Lu Jin needed assistance when he said, "I'm coming down. Scan for Kasan."
The Bolter wielded by Killer Tool unleashed a torrent of energy, while the thrusters on the back of Lu Jin's Power Armor helped propel him back to the ground.
It wasn't as simple as just flying back down.
The storm was so violent that it was impossible to fight it with thrust and force a descent.
But Killer Tool calculated the air currents and, using aerodynamics and other scientific principles of the physical universe, found an air stream it could exploit. Then it applied thrust with precision, pushing Lu Jin back to the ground.
This time, just like when he'd destroyed the combat satellite and returned to the ground, Killer Tool had proved it understood more than just the Warp "science" that ought to be called sorcery. It also understood real-world science—
"I can't detect any Psionic Power fluctuations."
"No—that can't be right. The storm shouldn't be able to interfere with the scan."
"It—"
Hera muttered to herself as she worked the data slate.
When the Psionic Power signal appeared again, Hera saw the results and jerked her head up, eyes wide.
Then one of her electronic eyes tilted upward, looking toward Lion.
Inside the top-level hangar of the Aerial Fortress, a green