The exchange of small arms intensified dramatically as the necrons reached open ground where scorched dirt and crop stubble, along with fuel particulates remaining in the air, identified a strategy of burning the ground cover. Bullets and energy beams came in a near-constant flow from along the rampart. On the walls beyond, heavier weapons hissed, roared and snarled into life, tracer ammunition and pulses of plasma flashing out towards the skimming Destroyers. More warriors fell, their torso cases broken open, limbs detached, heads pummelled by repeated hits. Emerald gauss beams flashed back into the storm, turning defenders to nothing in moments, opening holes in the line, lessening the incoming fire.

Zozar cared nothing for the fallen of either side. Battle was a means to an end, not some accomplishment in its own right. And as blunt as his attack seemed, it was part of a greater plan. Another force was approaching at an angle to his, smaller but speedier. With the enemy diverting their strength against the all-out assault, they would be helpless against the secondary attack.

It was only when he came within range of the enemy fire himself that Zozar noticed something strange. He could detect nothing of the chemically propelled mass-reactive warheads that had shattered so many Destroyers in the preceding attacks. He paused in his advance to probe forward with trans-spectral sensors, seeking the tell-tale blue armour and heat plumes of the enhanced humans.

He detected none.

Had they abandoned their lesser companions? Were they hiding in the facility, manning the most defensible walls while their more numerous chaff-vassals took the brunt of the first assault?

It did not matter. Their absence simply allowed even swifter progress to be made. At current projections, Zozar’s forces would be through the outer defences and coming upon the walls even before the secondary assault arrived. He opened fire with his disintegrators, lashing beams of jade energy through a trio of human marksmen who had positioned themselves atop the cab of an abandoned freight-mover.

+ANNIHILATE EVERYTHING.+

The fate of the star system and its inhabitants had been sealed. Whether by Simut or Tholotep, or both, Ah-hotep knew the humans would be eradicated and the resonator positioned to extend the Contra-Empyric Matrix. That would bring Szarekh’s plans closer to completion. If it was indeed Tholotep that brought the replacement fleet, his arrival indicated that the system had grown in importance, whether due to location or timing. There was little window of opportunity left to disrupt operations and Ah-hotep was running out of options.