As the Warp Route opened, several Transport Ships belonging to the Transport Guild arrived at a planet called Tark Three.
This was a world whose reconstruction had already been completed by a Men of Iron Titan Ship.
Originally, the planet had possessed a Hive City that primarily produced basic industrial goods, along with a great many mineral refineries. Most of its surface consisted of desert and mineral deposits.
But the Planetary Governor had been executed for unpaid taxes and acts of rebellion.
Ninety percent of the planet's population had been purchased by another Industrial World belonging to the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The Adeptus Mechanicus would pay the planet's overdue imperial tithe.
As for the remaining ten percent of the population, they had all been evicted after the planet was selected as part of the defensive line.
The Department of the Interior would provide them with some compensation, and the Transport Guild had allowed them to take as many belongings as possible. But apart from the nobles and wealthy merchants, the others would probably face bleak prospects.
There was no helping it, though. The planet's Hive City had already been blasted into raw materials by a single shot from a Men of Iron Titan Ship.
Thanks to relatively abundant supplies, the planet's reconstruction had been completed ahead of the others.
Swarms of Orbital Landers and Transport Aircraft passed through the thick atmosphere, laden with industrial dust.
Inside one cabin, soldiers of the 113th "Sand Rats" Regiment from the desert world of Tallarn gripped their crude, roughly made Lasguns, their white knuckles betraying their anxiety.
Shrill alarms and the groan of grinding metal were the only accompaniment to their plunging descent.
Corporal Stanislaus licked his cracked lips and tried to make something out through the observation window, but outside there were only rolling