Feel the Emperor's wrath

"Bzzzt... Commander Calando? We heard clear gunfire and are moving toward the firefight."

Nelson's voice suddenly came over the vox, startling Calando. They had lost long-range communications after leaving Iax, and during the infiltration that followed, he had failed to notice that the interference had vanished completely once the sky went dark.

Busy leading his squad through the darkness, Calando kept running as he activated his vox and contacted the Cruiser in orbit.

"Adrian! Put everyone on combat readiness. Deploy all armed Thunderhawks and tell the Captain to carry out an initial orbital bombardment at the coordinates I'm transmitting. Have the Tech-Priests get ready. We need to collect the materials quickly and withdraw."

Calando cut the connection almost immediately after sending the message, without waiting for Adrian's reply. A large-caliber bullet engraved with Gork's grinning face skimmed past his helmet. He could even glimpse the ugly Ork-head emblem on it.

Meanwhile, among the squad moving to rendezvous with them, Iax raised his alert level—a rare occurrence.

Although he had no idea why the three warriors called Grey Knights behind him kept staring at him so strangely, they were not what he needed to watch out for.

There was an Illusory Projection unit on this planet, which meant there had to be a Federation base here. Whether it was a research institute or an experimental facility, its importance was beyond question.

Otherwise, equipment like this would never have appeared here.

Yet this device, which should have been in the base's Control Room, was outside. Clearly, these Orks had already discovered and looted the base.

No one knew what a highly secretive Federation research facility might contain. It could hold experimental military equipment, or any number of other dangerous items.

If the Orks could activate an Illusory Projection unit, might they have