Gdolkin considered the two tactical squads under his command for this mission. He railed at the thought of this being a mercy mission; there was no place for mercy in war. Veteran-Sergeant Erastus had fought at the Iron-Father's side longer than any of those present within the expeditionary force. Miel Erastus and Anatolus Gdolkin had fought side by side at the Diocletian Gate on the warp-threatened hive-world of Manastus VII, as the heretic forces had tried to storm the last operational spaceport there. It had been during that four-day long battle that Erastus had lost his left hand for a second time.

In Erastus's squad were Battle-Brothers Oved, Fundare, Taudis, Naltech and Zorian.

On the opposite side of the Thunderhawk's passenger hold sat Squad Vincien. Sergeant Vincien was a veteran of the Grailsword Campaign, fought by the Iron Hands and their successor Chapters the Red Talons and the Brazen Claws, one hundred and eleven standard Imperial years previously. Amongst his squad there was Brother Sefalus. He had fought with Gdolkin on Sparme against the sheed infestation there. It was Brother Sefalus who would act as the newly initiated Yergen's mentor on the battlefield.

The rest of the second tactical squad were Brothers Momech, Shion, Betorin and Naskin.

Mighty warriors all. Noble warriors. Iron Hands.

Then there were the battle-servitors. In the Iron-Father's personal slave-machine bodyguard at present, following the Inohver Incident, were combat cyber-drones Gibeon XII, Joab XIII, Gigal 674 and Ishmael 192.

The servitors swung from restraining clamps attached to their heads as the Thunderhawk bucked and yawed to avoid flashes of anti-aircraft fire. They rattled around in the back of the main hold on the tracked runs of their deployment assembly, connected to nutrient feeds, oil-pressure regulators and tactician cogitator download units, feeding their unprogrammed minds with the information they would need to fulfil their function protecting the Iron-Father as he fought to purge the forge world of its invaders.

Gdolkin turned his head to survey the battlefield passing beneath them through an armacrys porthole and considered the enemy they were about to face.

The thick black smoke rolling into the skies from the burning promethium refineries - kilometres of petrochemical production plants all washed with flames - obscured the view through the porthole momentarily. Then the black blankets of cloud parted.

The ordinatus engine rose up before them, a colossal construction of Mechanicus might, all monstrous tracked traction units, defence cannons, augur arrays and command spires.

The ancient war machine was dominated by an enormous barrel, larger even than one of the giant warrior-gods of the Titan Legions, that rose from the centre of the largest of three traction units. It was a leviathan creation of a gun dating from even before the birth of the glorious lmperium. Surrounding the monstrous cannon were all manner of archeotech devices, such as building-wide tesla coils to help focus and maintain the devastating, mountain levelling beam the gargantuan gun produced.

The mouth of the barrel opened like the top of a volcanic crater. At least half of the city-sized war machine was made up of the generarium units needed to produce the incredible amount of power needed to fire the apocalypse cannon.