Breach onto the surface

Adrian ultimately obeyed Calando and dismissed the many warriors gathered there, retaining only twenty-four to form two assault teams, who boarded the standard Drop Pods nearby.

As the only veteran adjutant at Calando's side, he could not accompany Calando on the drop.

Otherwise, there was no telling what chaos these "green recruits" might cause.

Especially after their last visit to the Resolute, the two had decided that someone must always supervise these Primaris Warriors to prevent certain "reckless" acts.

The restraints securing the Drop Pods released.

Six Drop Pods, two large and four small, plummeted downward.

To guard against unforeseen dangers, the ship's Tech-Priest had thoughtfully prepared three additional Drop Pods for them. One carried extra heavy weapons, while the other two housed Autocannons.

Their purpose was to eliminate any dangerous creatures at the landing site.

Yet an orbital drop onto a Planet about which they had no information was itself an enormous risk.

The Drop Pods rapidly accelerated toward the Planet's surface under gravity.

Lateral thrusters on the pods continually adjusted their landing positions.

A violent shudder came, accompanied by a sudden, piercing noise.

The Drop Pod plunged into the Planet's atmosphere.

Almost simultaneously, all communications stopped working.

The immense interference rendered both the vox system and Auspex positioning ineffective at nearly the same instant.

"Overfrequency signal interference detected. Frequency analysis complete. Countermeasures deployed."

Sitting beside Iax, Calando seemed to feel a wave of searing heat even through his ceramite armour.

A powerful signal was released almost instantly, and tremendous noise-like interference immediately tore a hole in the Planet's electromagnetic barrier.

A yellow-brown bald patch abruptly appeared on the otherwise lush Planet's surface.

Its camouflage system had also been affected, briefly failing.

In orbit above the Planet, Adrian saw the scene clearly from the Bridge.

Although it lasted only