Compared with warriors bearing other gene-seed, the Salamanders reacted a little more slowly.
That did nothing to stop their flamers from burning the enemy. Promethium surged from high-pressure valves, and the experienced First Company veterans built vast walls of flame, trapping the invading Alpha Assassins.
The walls separated the enemy from the Astra Militarum, and Hiber led the First Company inside.
Most of the First Company veterans-the Fire Dragons-following close behind him wore heavy armour. Since acquiring the technology, their master artificers had painstakingly forged armour that surpassed Cawl's mass-produced stock, allowing Primaris Warriors to stride easily through zones of lethal flame.
What? You wanted to know what the remaining few wore?
Adamantium Armor, of course.
Of the two warriors beside Hiber, one had been promoted from the Second Company and the other from the Third Company. There were subtle differences between them.
The warrior promoted from the Second Company treated the people with a pragmatism tempered by foresight. He would often choose to protect a factory's workers, from senior foremen to the lowest slaves performing menial labor.
This effectively preserved the entire production chain, slightly increasing a war zone's logistical output.
The Third Company warrior was rather colder. To him, people who did nothing and people who failed to fulfill their duties were equally despicable. Killing them was no different from killing traitors.
Even after promotion to the First Company, where they were regarded as inheritors of the Salamanders' spirit, the most patient and tactically astute among them, subtle differences remained in how they fought.
The Sisters of Battle and Solar Auxilia accompanied them.
The Solar Auxilia of the present were nowhere near as elite as they had once been. At their peak, they could achieve a three-to-one exchange ratio against Astartes.
The force on this battlefield was an