Countless drop pods trailed crimson exhaust like spears, piercing the filthy clouds that perpetually shrouded the Industrial World and screaming down toward Planet's surface.
Their landing sites were concentrated, their target clear: the colossal Hive City on Vienna's main continent, towering like a metal mountain range and belching eternal columns of smoke.
"Boom!!!"
"Rumble!!!"
The impacts came without pause, shaking the earth. The massive drop pods drove deep into the wastelands, ruins, and industrial dumps surrounding the Hive City like grotesque iron spikes.
Amid the clouds of dust raised by their impact, the hatches blasted open. Giants in sand-yellow Power Armour stepped out, followed by a tide of Imperialis Militia soldiers bearing a motley assortment of equipment. The Second Legion—Saladin's traitors—had arrived.
The assault was swift and deadly.
Orbital bombardment had already cleared most of the fixed outer defenses. The airborne Space Marines and elite Rebel Forces formed squad-sized spearheads and drove straight toward Defense Nodes on every side of the Hive City.
Before the overwhelming combat prowess of the Astartes, the hastily assembled Planet defense forces' Defense Line melted like snow beneath a blazing sun.
The roar of Bolts, the howl of Chainsword weapons, the shriek of Las-beams, and human screams and wails instantly replaced the Industrial World's monotonous background noise.
The Rebel Forces advanced relentlessly, destroying outposts, gun emplacements, and communications nodes along their path, mercilessly crushing anyone who resisted. Their momentum seemed unstoppable.
At last, their assault slammed into the Hive City's cloud-piercing walls, built from reinforced concrete, plasteel, and ancient stone.
Then it stopped.
The Hive City's walls were dozens of meters thick, studded with firing ports, Turrets, Laser arrays, and Missile silos.
At their foot lay minefields stretching dozens of kilometers deep, anti-armor trenches, tangled barbed wire, and complexes of permanent fortifications.
More importantly, the