The coordinates of the evacuation point were in a dried-up riverbed. It was well concealed, about two hundred meters wide, with steep rock walls on both sides that effectively blocked distant observation.
At that moment, Ultramarines Sergeant David stood in the middle of the riverbed, Bolter in hand. Behind him was the vehicle carrying a pile of loot covered by tarpaulins, while dozens of Astra Militarum soldiers stood around it.
They had already been waiting there for several minutes. At his urging, they had arrived earlier than Captain Timon's requested time, so the Thunderhawk gunship had not yet arrived.
But David was not anxious about it at all!
A Thunderhawk was never late, nor did it ever fall behind schedule. And if a Thunderhawk truly ran into trouble, then what David needed to worry about was not whether it would come, but what exactly could have made it late.
Sure enough!
A few minutes later, a deep, distinctive engine roar came from the sky.
Hearing that familiar sound, David relaxed almost instantly. He looked up and, sure enough, saw the iron-gray Thunderhawk gunship descending slowly from the clouds, its swept-back wings and fuselage covered in weapon hardpoints and gun emplacements.
Even at night, as an Astartes, David could clearly make out the Imperial Aquila insignia on its fuselage, which put him even more at ease.
Very soon!
The Thunderhawk began hovering above the dried riverbed. Then its landing gear lowered, the engine roar sharpened from a low rumble, and the powerful air currents blasted gravel and sand in every direction.
David paid it no mind. Only when he saw the hatch open did he turn around and wave coldly at the Astra Militarum soldiers behind him.
"Move!"
"Load the loot aboard!"
"Then everyone boards the ship!"
"Prepare