"Kill them all, plunder everything, burn it all..."
Abdullah stood before the observation window, gazing at the planet drawing ever closer in his field of vision, its blues and greens brimming with life—Absolution.
His fingers unconsciously traced a deep, never fully healed scar across the armor on his chest, a memento of a battle so long ago that he could no longer remember whom he had fought.
His eyes held no appreciation for creation, only a hunger for plunder and a thirst for destruction.
"Kill." He uttered the first word quietly, yet the temperature on the bridge seemed to drop several degrees.
"Kill." Adjutant Tagum's voice sounded beside him, cold and certain.
"Kill! Kill! KILL!!"
More voices joined in across the bridge. Scattered growls quickly swelled into a frenzied, chaotic roar steeped in the desire for destruction, like a chorus rising from the depths of hell, crashing against the steel walls and echoing between them.
And below them, on the surface of the planet about to suffer catastrophe, an entirely different battle cry erupted, driven by another unshakable conviction.
"Kill all the traitors!"
Large numbers of mortal militia soldiers had just been urgently called up from the training grounds. Most still had a trace of youthful immaturity in their voices, but the fingers gripping their Lasguns were steady as stone.
They watched the increasingly distinct shadows of Drop Pods falling from the sky like the tears of death, pure fury burning in their eyes.
"Kill all the traitors! Kill all the traitors!!"
More voices joined in.
Dark gray figures moved swiftly and in orderly formation across the garrison square, behind defensive walls, and beside hastily built shelters.
Despite the shrill alarms, despite the enemy shadows blotting out the sky, despite everyone knowing that the disparity in strength was enough