Alert Star Orbit.
In the distance, the Milky Way sparkled, stars scattered across the void, boundless like a vast ocean.
However, this once magnificent universe now had a rift, glowing with an eerie light, abruptly cutting the star sea in half.
The eerie light radiated, and even passing ships had to cover all their plates to prevent this ominous light from shining into the vessel.
Currently, on the orbit behind Alert Star, scattered support troops were descending into the spaceport from here.
Unlike the troops that went directly to the ground, a battle barge of the Astartes Chapter was docked in space.
Inside the barge, there was a hall specifically for Astartes to prepare before deployment.
Three burly men, over two meters tall, knelt on one knee, devoutly praying before the majestic statue of the Emperor.
The two men on either side were bare-chested, while only the man in front wore a black monk's robe, concealing his body and face entirely in shadow.
They bowed their heads in silence, the entire hall filled with tranquility, with only a group of Servitors in pairs, carrying trays of armor, helmets, and weapons, silently waiting in the darkness behind them.
Time passed minute by minute until the four-hour prayer concluded.
The Astartes rose, and the Servitors reverently approached, respectfully offering the trays.
Then the Astartes picked up an incense burner, and amidst the rising white smoke, soothed the machine spirit of their power armor and Bolter.
At the same time, on a nearby information device, accompanied by a message from the Departmento Munitorum, the Astartes completed the ritual.
"Brother, a Mortal force has been prepared for us on the ground."
Glancing at the device, the Astartes on the right stretched out his hand, allowing the Servitor to carefully equip him with various gear, while respectfully reporting to the white-bearded man with three golden studs on his forehead directly in front.
The burly man remained silent, merely accepting the Servitor's service.
Meanwhile, the younger Astartes on the left, who only had one golden stud, put on his helmet, and a mechanical rasp came from behind his red goggles:
"Not the Astra Militarum, and without armor, they've actually given us an infantry regiment from the Planetary Defense Force!"
With a tone of reproach, the Astartes on the right spoke coldly:
"Mortals are weak; we only need them to attract the Greenskin's attention."
"Once we enter the target area, they will no longer be valuable."
The Deathwatch operates under secrecy. Although not as strict as the Grey Knights, where merely hearing their name means annihilation, they generally try to avoid leaks as efficiently as possible.
The most common and efficient method is annihilation, or, if they're feeling kind, letting you fend for yourself.
After all, if you're executing a mission with the Deathwatch, you won't live long if they don't bother with you.
The white-bearded man ignored the conversation between his two battle-brothers behind him. He simply put on his helmet, looked at the information transmitted through it about the 101st Regiment and Colonel Sith, and silently recorded this young colonel in the upcoming mission.
Fully equipped, the Servitors respectfully retreated, and the three fully armed Astartes exited the hall.
The battle barge remained in orbit, but from beneath the barge, a drop pod with a long contrail plummeted towards Sith's location!
...
"Don't conserve ammunition; unleash all your firepower!"
"Fire, fire! Concentrate Bolter fire on their vehicles!"
"No retreating! By the Colonel's order, everyone must hold until the last moment!"
Bruno's booming voice continuously echoed across the position. On the abandoned position, human laser fire and Greenskin bullets wove a dazzling ribbon of light.
The Greenskin horde seemed to crash against a wall of light, with slain Greenskins piling up and falling to the ground.
These corpses then became obstacles, either crushed by vehicles or used as leverage for charging Bikes.
With a hoarse roar of an engine, a Greenskin bike surged up a ramp formed by fallen Greenskin corpses, charging towards the human position.
However, just as the bike appeared in mid-air, a single Bolter fire shot directly at it, blowing the bike to pieces in the sky.
It wasn't even Sith himself operating it; anyone who had survived with Sith until now, even a random heavy Bolter gunner, possessed terrifyingly exaggerated accuracy.
This was also why the laser guns, despite their weaker power, could still instantly kill Greenskin Boyz.
Because every laser shot precisely hit the Boyz' unprotected eyes.
At this moment, the soldiers, relying on their positions, formed a tight formation, pouring out firepower like a hedgehog.
They efficiently slaughtered any Greenskin daring to approach, just as they had done when fighting through the entire desert.
However, what seemed like a habitual action to the soldiers, in the eyes of countless routed troops on the other side, caused their eyes to widen gradually.
Now, in countless damaged fortifications, no matter how far away, they were drawn by the intense firefight here.
But in their memories, the scenes of being overrun by these terrifying xenos, with comrades being hacked to pieces or torn apart by brute force one after another, did not appear.
Instead, what they saw was the Greenskins falling like a rolling green tide under the barrage, one after another.
In some fortifications, routed soldiers even watched the Greenskins charge closer, their eyes wide and mouths unconsciously agape.
"They… actually held them back?"
The human position, which should have collapsed instantly, not only didn't in the eyes of the routed soldiers, but the human soldiers within it even jumped out of the trenches, picking up entrenching tools, bayonets, military knives, and other weapons to engage the Greenskins in close combat.
Although these humans achieved a better-than-one-to-one exchange ratio even in melee, they would eventually be overwhelmed by the green tide.
However, the imagined scenario of humans contracting their lines or outright collapsing did not occur. Instead, behind these fallen soldiers, a human wearing a colonel's uniform led more humans in a counter-push.
There was no one-sided slaughter; what was presented to the routed soldiers now was a desperate battle between bloodthirsty factions, with one falling and another filling its place at every position on the defensive line.
The battle lasted for an unknown duration; no routed soldier cared about time. Everyone simply watched the corpses piling up one after another on the position, and at the very center and front, a mountain of Greenskin corpses.
Upon it, the young colonel was constantly building himself higher with countless Greenskins.
In the distance behind Sith, the evening sun, a giant red orb, was slowly sinking into the sand sea.
And it was at this moment that a drop pod, trailing a long contrail, pierced the red sun from the sky.
With a violent impact, yellow sand billowed, and nearby Greenskins who were already retreating were knocked down in a swath.
The surrounding Greenskins roared in anger at the sight, but as soon as they opened their mouths, their huge, ugly heads were turned into pulverized mud by Bolter fire.
Raise hand, fire.
Three tall Astartes emerged from the hatch. They skillfully pulled their triggers, killing the fleeing Greenskins around them one by one.
The Imperial Guardsmen pursuing them watched the 'Emperor's Angels' who had truly appeared before them, quickly stopped, crossed their hands over their chests, and performed the Aquila salute as a sign of respect.
In the surrounding abandoned fortifications, the routed soldiers who had been watching the outside world, upon seeing the 'Angels' descend, had their eyes widen to the extreme.
The Mortals were excitedly gathered around the Deathwatch, but while the Mortals reacted intensely, the Deathwatch, who had just exited the drop pod and hadn't even expended a single magazine, also reacted intensely after a brief pause.
There was no battle requiring their intervention as imagined. Around them were Imperial Guardsmen dressed in black, just like themselves, while in the distance were countless fleeing Greenskins, their faces filled with terror.
And in the opposite direction of the Greenskins' retreat, the Deathwatch saw only corpses covering the desert, and at the end of the corpses, a towering mountain of Greenskin bodies.
The red sun happened to set at this moment, and under its crimson light, distorted heat waves rose from the sand sea.
And before the red sun, atop the mountain of corpses, a young human, stepping on a Greenskin Boss encased in steel, cast his gaze towards them!