"Enemy incoming! Enemy incoming!"
Alarms shrill enough to tear through metal howled like the death cries of a monstrous beast, erupting in every passage, every turret, and every Sensors array chamber of the Orbit defense ring that stretched for thousands of kilometers.
Rotating red warning lights washed the cold, smooth alloy bulkheads and the red robes of the bustling Tech-Priests and Skitarii in an ominous, bloody glow.
"Massive mass shadows detected! Bearings: α-7, γ-12. Range: zero point three light-minutes! Numbers... Emperor above... unable to determine exact numbers! Identification code: Rangdan Xenos! Enemy attack! Highest-level enemy attack!"
The heavily synthesized, emotionless voice of an Adeptus Mechanicus Sage rang out over the all-frequency broadcast system, but beneath that calm electronic tone, crimson dots multiplied exponentially across the Sensors screens, swarming like locusts from fractures in the Warp.
They "seeped" out of the cold depths of space, following unnaturally warped trajectories as they hurtled toward the Forge World of Shina.
“All combat units, assume maximum Combat Readiness! Void Shields to maximum power! Charge weapon systems! For the Omnissiah, for Mars, for the Emperor! Purge the heretical constructs!”
At the command, the cold steel behemoth began to awaken.
The battered surviving main forces of three Imperial Navy expeditionary Fleets, anchored outside the defense ring with their formidable guns still intact, were the first to respond.
Dozens of Emperor-class and Retribution-class Battleships slowly turned their mountainous hulls like enraged leviathans.
The densely packed gunports along their broadsides slid open one after another like the scales of monsters, exposing dark muzzles already beginning to glow with destructive energy.
Enormous Lance Batteries rotated and aligned along their spines and prows. Even in the vacuum, the hum of charging weapons traveled through the ships' structures to reach every crew member's taut nerves.
On the defense ring itself, the