In accordance with Perturabo's command, the "meteor shower" witnessed by the Imperial troops on the walls was in fact a rain of drop pods pouring down from the void—vessels laden with the Emperor's Angels of Death.
Ironically, because the Imperial forces had been driven into a desperate defense within the city, the Fourth Legion's drop pods could be deployed directly into the Norscan positions without any risk of friendly fire.
The drop pods screamed through the atmosphere at high velocity. When they slammed into the earth where the Norscan barbarians were gathered, the immense force of the impact crushed scores of tribesmen into a red pulp instantly.
The surviving Norscan warriors, having narrowly escaped death, struggled to regroup. They sought to understand what these "fallen stars" were—objects that had plummeted into their camps and slaughtered so many of their kin.
They soon realized that the carnage was only beginning. The moment the pods touched down, the Astartes of the Fourth Legion kicked open the hatches and stormed out, their bolters spitting death into the surrounding Norscan ranks.
This was the signature tactic of the Astartes: "Death from Above." Falling from the heavens in steel cocoons to bring extinction and terror to the enemies of the Emperor.
Caught completely off guard, many Norscans fell in the opening seconds of the assault. Those who remained were paralyzed with fear; many cast aside their weapons and fled toward the safety of the forests. In their primitive worldview, these Astartes were nothing less than the armies of their gods, summoned from the stars to aid the "Sky-Strangers."
However, a few bolder Norscan warriors did not lose their nerve. These warriors charged the Fourth Legion Astartes with their crude, modified weapons, believing that slaying these "divine soldiers" would grant them eternal glory.
Their hope was short-lived. Their primitive armaments failed to even scratch the ceramite plates of the Astartes' armor. One by one, they were cut down by mass-reactive bolts.
Within less than two hours of this sudden strike, the Norscan tribal alliance—which had besieged Norskajek for nearly a year—collapsed under the dual weight of catastrophic losses and shattered morale. The once-united tribes fractured, every man fleeing for his own life.
Under Perturabo's orders, the Fourth Legion showed no mercy to the elderly, the weak, or the sick remaining in the camps. The Astartes slaughtered the Norscan women and children who were too slow to escape with the same cold efficiency they had used against the warriors, putting the entire encampment to the torch.
Perturabo was determined to exterminate the local barbarians of Norsca as a grim warning: the Imperium was not to be defied. For these tribes, there would be only one end—total annihilation.
With the year-long siege of Norskajek broken, Perturabo, the Primarch and Supreme Commander of the Fourth Legion, arrived on the surface aboard a Stormbird. Landing alongside him were the remaining elements of the Fourth Legion and the Kislev Streltsi, the newly integrated mortal Auxilia now serving within the Legion's order of battle.
Perturabo intended to establish a command center and a forward base on the surface of Norsca. He was resolved to begin his journey in the Great Crusade atop the corpses of the Norscan barbarians.
A Landing Zone in Norskajek.
Governor Vassa stood solemnly near the landing site with his retinue of officials, alongside Forrix and several other Astartes officers. Perturabo had designated this specific area for his arrival on Norsca. Thus, the Governor and the First Captain waited together for the Primarch.
As a retired high-ranking officer of the Imperial Army and the current Planetary Governor, Karl Vassa understood the weight of a Primarch's presence. This was one of the Emperor's twenty genetic sons, the supreme commander of an Astartes Legion.
Perturabo's arrival was an unprecedented honor and a stroke of fortune for this young colony—especially following the Fourth Legion's devastating orbital strike that had shattered the siege. The significance was not lost on anyone.
"Perhaps the Fourth Legion will establish a recruitment tithe here, taking our youth as their neophytes. If that happens, we might be exempt from the standard tithes," Vassa mused as he waited.
As a former military man, he had heard rumors that worlds chosen as recruitment grounds for the Astartes were often relieved of their tithing obligations to the Administratum on Terra.
"Mortal, ensure your conduct is impeccable. Do not provoke Lord Perturabo," Forrix said, his voice low as he cautioned the Governor. The words were soft, yet their implications were chilling.
"Lord Perturabo is one of the twenty Primarchs. Even as the ruler of this world, you are nothing in his presence. If he finds you displeasing, he can strip you of your rank or execute you without hesitation."
"I suggest you think carefully about how you intend to explain why you allowed things to become this disastrous."
Governor Vassa's brow furrowed. It seemed this Primarch would be far more difficult to handle than he had imagined.
However, observing the Primarchs who had already returned to the Imperium, none seemed excessively tyrannical. Perhaps, with a proper explanation and a logical defense of his actions, he could resolve this peacefully with Lord Perturabo.
"Lord Perturabo's Thunderhawks!" an officer of the Fourth Legion shouted, looking toward the sky.
Everyone present looked up. Escorted by several Thunderhawks, a Stormbird painted in the unadorned iron-grey of the Fourth Legion appeared, descending slowly toward the surface under the collective gaze of the onlookers.
The Stormbird's ramp lowered. Several Fourth Legion Astartes and mortal soldiers of the Kislev Streltsi disembarked first, forming an honor guard along the path.
Finally, a giant—towering over every warrior of the Fourth Legion present—stepped out. The moment the Astartes saw him, they dropped to one knee.
Governor Vassa was no fool. Realizing this was the Primarch himself, he quickly knelt in salute, followed by the local officials of Norsca.
The Fourth Primarch, High Tsar and Autocrat of Kislev, Genetic Father of the Fourth Legion, Perturabo Rurik Kislevsky, had arrived on the desolate world of Norsca.