"Boom! Boom! Boom! ..."
Ten heavy crashes rang out almost simultaneously.
Sergeant Maximian and his squad landed precisely on the platform atop the command tower. The force of their landing shook the entire skull-shaped tower.
As the dust cleared, ten silver-armored giants stood in a perfect semicircular tactical formation, surrounding the tiny Gretchin in a ridiculous trench coat at the center of the platform.
Every Boltgun muzzle and Power Sword blade pointed at the seemingly helpless target.
A cold, murderous tension settled over the platform.
The surrounding Gretchin guards were terrified out of their wits. They had never seen such imposing, terrifying tin cans. They aimed their Gauss Guns at the intruders, but Sharpfang's strict orders suppressed their instincts. Though they trembled all over, not one dared fire.
Maximian looked at the utterly composed Gretchin before him, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
According to their intelligence, this was supposed to be a cunning, cruel Xenos who was still, at his core, an Ork. Yet now, Maximian sensed none of the chaos or madness he expected from an Ork. Instead, there was... an unfathomable calm, and even... the sense that he was being appraised from above?
Was he imagining it?
Maximian put the thought aside. The mission came before everything.
"Xenos." His voice was like an icy wind in the depths of winter. "Your existence is a threat to the sacred Imperium of Man. In the Emperor's name, I sentence you to death."
Just as Maximian was about to give the order to kill, the tiny Gretchin suddenly spoke.
He spoke neither the crude language of the Orks nor the shrill chatter of the Gretchin.
He spoke flawless High Gothic, even with a trace of an ancient Terran aristocratic accent.
Those words brought Maximian's mind-and those of every member