I felt their gaze on me, but mine was fixed upon Kikazar. The seer-skull’s lenses twitched, its projector throwing a flickering pict onto the cell wall. What modifications the ork mechanical had made to Mizar was unclear, but the signal continued to transmit. I could see ork aircraft swarming like insects. It was hard to be sure, as the quality was so poor, but I got the impression we observed them through a viewport, or perhaps a screen of some kind.

What was apparent was their numbers.

For we beheld an unassailable force, marshalled from across the planet. Even if we were at full strength, with every fighter ace in the air, there was no way we could stop them.

Chapter thirty-one

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

I don’t know what the others thought, as we stared at that poorly rendered holo-pict. Plient’s eyes were as wide as I’d seen them. Shard, ever guarded, appeared a casual observer to the aeronautical swarm. But something was happening behind her eyes. It was as though she were plotting the path of every plane, trying to make sense out of the greenskin horde.

‘How… How would they even resupply?’ I found myself saying, as if that mattered in that moment. But I clung to it, perhaps seeking a needle of logic in the chaos unfolding. For how could they refuel? And what was the purpose of so many craft in one spot? The Green Storm, that terrible sky-fortress, could have single-handedly flattened the 2208th Expeditionary Air Wing, and the château along with it. Why draw so many planes to this one spot? They had already beaten us.

What was their target?

They must have been summoned by the lightning, for even that sky-fortress could not have created such an armada from scratch. But, if that were the case, why were they still here?

Their mission was not yet over. I could see energy coursing around the brass dome mounted beneath the sky-fortress. It was hard to be sure from the flickering pict, but it did not seem to be coalescing with quite the same urgency as when we last fought.

Either that, or it was building a bigger charge.

‘They’re migrating. Like birds.’

Shard spoke softly, entranced by the spectacle. I glanced to her, then back to the image. She had a point. I had seen both avian and insect gather in similar numbers in preparation for a long journey.

‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Where are they going?’

As I spoke an explosion lit the vid-feed, two aircraft colliding, or perhaps trading shots. The closest fighters dispersed, jostling for position before ­settling back into their continuous loop around the sky-fortress.

‘You heard the ork mechanical,’ she replied. ‘They are looking for a battle and besides me, they have no competition left. Not on this planet, anyway.’

It took a moment to take her meaning.

‘Salus…’ I murmured.