On the surface, armed Thunderhawks and Transport Shuttles picked up the Space Wolves and Cadian Shock Troopers from the ground-based Starport facilities.
More surprisingly, a surviving Space Wolves Apothecary returned from the Thunderhawk that had crashed earlier, walking openly through the mass of machines and back to their former position.
Besides bringing back six Gene-seeds from his Battle-Brothers, he brought everyone some unexpected news.
"My brother. Are you saying they called themselves allies of the Imperium?"
The Wolf Lord stared in shock at the Battle-Brother, whose body bore numerous wounds and even several broken bones.
"Yes, Wolf Lord. These machines can be communicated with. After the Thunderhawk crashed, only nine of the twelve of us remained. We tried to advance through those low buildings, but there were too many Votann."
"Then, as you saw, those machines suddenly descended from the sky and killed every Votann who resisted. I didn't know what they wanted, so I fired my Bolter at them, but they easily dodged my shots and warned me that I was attacking forces allied with the Imperium. Since there were no clear orders for cooperation, they would not retaliate against this accidental attack. Once I put away my weapon, they completely ignored my movements."
"That was how I managed to retrieve the Gene-seeds from every brother whose remains were intact and return."
Upon hearing the Apothecary's account, the Wolf Lord fell silent. The Cadian commander beside him said nothing either.
"I've never heard of the Imperium having allies like these. Perhaps we should ask those Tech-Priests."
Soon, a visibly reluctant Tech-Priest was "invited" to the command room at their lines.
The Tech-Priest loudly berated the two Space Wolves who had dragged him away from his paradise of wrecked Votann weapons and strange machines from space.
"&%@#! Under the laws