Above the ruins, a new order struggled to rise from the dust and blood.
Colossal construction machines roared deafeningly as they crawled like moving mountains across the shattered shell of the Forge World Xana.
Hastily coordinated by the logistics department and dispatched by the Adeptus Mechanicus, their cold steel arms toppled scorched walls and crushed twisted metal, clearing sites and compacting foundations over the desecration left by the Rangdan Xenos so the Imperium's military machine could function again.
Prefabricated fortress modules dropped from orbit sprang up like mushrooms at key junctions. Void Shield Generators hummed once more, tracing pale blue defensive domes.
The smoke of battle had yet to clear, but the tide of destruction had receded, leaving room to breathe and rebuild.
Behind the relatively secure Defense Line, in a makeshift rest area, the soldiers of the Imperialis Militia finally found a moment of peace.
They stripped off their battered armor, caked with blood and dust, revealing faces numb with exhaustion and bodies wrapped in filthy bandages.
Steam from hot food, the smell of disinfectant, and the wounded's stifled groans mingled into the heavy atmosphere peculiar to the aftermath of battle.
Replacement troops and new equipment arrived from orbit in an unending stream, attempting to fill the breach torn open at the cost of countless lives.
Across this battlefield steeped in pain and exhaustion, one name was spoken again and again, with the relief of survival and profound respect: the 48th Army of Colchis.
This force from the Colchis system had stood like a reef against the tide of destruction during the Forge World Xana's darkest hour.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers had set foot on this world. Now, fewer than that remained standing.
There was no precise count, only regimental designations that had vanished, and call signs that