enduring the ever-grinding attrition and prodding at the enemy ’ s defences , they ’ d begun to build momentum ; Garl and his recon unit had managed to slip behind the enemy ’ s defences , overrunning a particularly irksome mortar position and earning space for an assault to finally batter the enemy ’ s forward positions . The foe had been retreating , pulling back with such speed that ( despite the 57th ’ s now almost paranoid caution about such things ) they didn ’ t seem to have even had a chance to trap the land they conceded behind them . What remained of the 57th , given a second wind by this stroke of fortune , had advanced further in the last two days than in their entire deployment upon Montulax .
And now , they were ordered to pull back to secure old positions and await further instruction . Without explanation . Even by the standards of the Imperial Guard at its most backwards , it seemed an insane order . Had her regiment not been so devastated , she ’ d have considered disobeying the command and pushing on anyway .
She only hoped they had something special planned .
***
Like streaks of burning fury , the drop pods fell upon the besieged city . Their meteoric approach was masked by a barrage of orbital bombardment , focused not on further devastating the world below , but on filling the sky with coruscating bursts of heat and lights , blinding the servitor-eyes of the defender ’ s flak guns , allowing the small craft to hurtle towards the world ’ s surface while taking only minimal fire . That sparse artillery that did find its mark and target the drop pods failed to do more than scratch the ceramite armour plating , found wanting against vessels designed to fall from the heavens and endure the worst of planetary reentry .
Eventually , the swift-moving dots ignited in flame ; retrograde thrusters had awoken with great gouts of fire as the pods began to slow their descent now that they had passed below the effective range of any weaponry that could have damaged them . Powerful rocket-engines burned hard , immense force set against the terminal momentum of the plummeting pods , battling the gravitational pull of Montulax itself .
The pods slowed , to an extent . But even with the full force of their engines firing , it seemed hardly enough to the baffled eyes witnessing such an event from below , unaware of the rare sight they were privy to ; the tiny vessels were still hurtling downwards with enough momentum that any passengers surely could not survive the strain . Such pessimistic calculations were supported by the final touchdown of the pods , which impacted into the city below with great clouds of obliterated masonry and disturbed dirt , with the loud crashes echoing out even among the constant cacophony of a city at war .
Within the encampments of the Astra Militarum , Imperial Guardsmen cursed the fleet above ; whatever they had tried to ferry down to the surface was lost behind enemy lines now , with the only saving grace is that most anything of use to the foe would have been destroyed in such a violent landing . Countless prayers rang out for the Emperor to have mercy on any personnel that had been sent down , for all that any man aboard one of those pods could have hoped for would be an instant and painless death .
Even as the Imperial forces moved on from the momentary distraction that had set the sky ablaze , the great plumes of smoke and dust from the landed pods began to clear ; a half-dozen had touched down in all , scattered across the areas
HARI WILLIAMS
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