Red Sand Hills, forward observation post.
Ronan crouched behind a barricade piled from gravel, holding binoculars as a slowly writhing black line appeared on the horizon through the lenses.
That was the enemy's armored vanguard.
Three hundred Leman Russ Executioners and two hundred Chimera Armored Transports stretched in a line along the dried riverbed, kicking up sand and dust that blotted out the sky like a moving sandstorm.
He lowered the binoculars, rubbed his dry eyes, and looked up.
High above, a silver-gray weather airship hovered silently, with a modified Auspex suspended beneath its long gondola.
It was civilian equipment the Governor had acquired from a Garden World, originally intended for weather monitoring but modified by Priest Kallen into a reconnaissance platform.
More than a hundred such airships covered the fan-shaped airspace between the Red Sand Hills and Alpha Hive City.
The Auspex data from every airship was transmitted in real time to the holographic tactical map at headquarters. Every battalion in Cole's army, every tank, every supply route—their movements were all laid bare.
But what good was having the whole map revealed?
On the display, the Hydra anti-aircraft tanks and infantry fighting vehicles accompanying Cole's forces stretched beyond sight.
Meanwhile, the armored vehicles they had available amounted to less than a fraction of the enemy's, not even enough to form a complete defensive line.
"Captain, when exactly will those anti-armor weapons the Governor promised arrive?"
Ronan did not answer. He merely tightened his grip on the communicator in his hand.
Inside a sealed warehouse in Texas, the thunderous crash of cargo containers hitting the ground made the floor tremble.
The red light in Priest Kallen's mechanical eye flashed wildly. He stood frozen in place, staring at the mountain of components before him.
He had considered countless possibilities, but