Then more display platforms activated.
"For Vostroya! For the Emperor!"
A formation of Astra Militarum soldiers in heavy red coats and tall bearskin hats emerged from their frozen firing stances. The lasguns in their hands immediately laid down an impenetrable web of fire.
The Vostroyan First Regiment, 9th Company. Elite veterans renowned for their discipline and utter fearlessness in the face of death.
"Xenos! This is a xenos structure!" The company commissar, a middle-aged man with a distinctive thick mustache, roared the moment he saw the Necron architecture around them. "Soldiers! Prepare for battle! Give your lives for the Emperor's glory!"
"AAAAAAAH!!!"
A savage, furious battle cry rang out from another exhibit.
Hundreds of bare-chested brutes with knotted muscles and camouflage-painted faces came to life against a frozen "jungle" backdrop.
"Boss! Where are we?! It smells... nothing like Catachan!" A burly man carrying a heavy bolter sniffed the air hard, then curled his lip in disappointment.
"Who gives a fuck where we are!" Their leader, a one-eyed "colonel" covered in scars with a cigar clenched between his teeth, drew the plasma pistol at his waist. "Anywhere with something for us to hack apart is a good place!"
The Catachan 18th "Jungle Devils" Regiment. Men tough enough to thrive on the deadliest death world in the Milky Way Galaxy.
But the most striking figures were the four who stood at the very center of all the displays, like statues of gold.
They towered even over Space Marines. Their golden power armour was ornate and intricate, shining with sacred radiance. Even in silence, the Guardian Spears in their hands exuded a majesty that made others afraid to look directly at them.
The Adeptus Custodes.
The Emperor's Adeptus Custodes. The pinnacle of human creation, the guardians of Terra.
As the stasis fields dissipated