Astartes from three Legions arrived at the vast basin enclosed by jagged crater walls.
Drop pods tore through the sky as Thunderhawk gunships and Stormbirds crossed the clouds, descending here in massive formations.
Both augury arrays and psychic divination showed that there was nothing in the basin's ravines below. The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet, utterly lifeless.
"Inform the troops to establish defensive positions. We must be fully prepared." Guilliman issued the order.
For this expedition, the Ultramarines had brought more than fifty thousand Astartes. Combined with the Dark Angels' twenty thousand and the Blood Angels' thirty thousand, roughly one hundred thousand Astartes had gathered in the Davin system.
It was a force sufficient to sweep across the eastern galaxy, yet throughout the Davin system, the power capable of matching it had remained unseen.
With the temple at the center of the basin as its core, a chain of fortifications rose at a visible pace. The STC templates generously sponsored by Lox demonstrated their proper capabilities, saving enormous amounts of time and effort.
Thunderhawk gunships and Stormbirds continually patrolled the skies, remaining alert. Vast swarms of drones spread across the planet to survey its precise condition.
Lox had long since become adept at this. Whenever she arrived at a battlefield, she first used these three opening moves, scattering her cards across the board to gather intelligence.
Heavy armored vehicle units poured from the transport ships. At the head were Baneblades, followed by all manner of Leman Russ tanks and Sicaran tanks, along with Chimera troop carriers carrying mortal auxiliary forces, their engines roaring to life.
These products of martial aesthetics gleamed with cold metallic luster. Fully armed mortal auxiliaries would coordinate with them in infantry-armor formations.
If the terrain here had not been too narrow for Titan war engines to deploy,