The Legions came down on Pyrrhan. Hundreds of drop pods at a time burned through the atmosphere. They were a hail of iron, the sky falling upon the land in one storm after another.

‘Are there any humans left below?’ Kletos asked. The drop pod shook and hammered down through the thin atmosphere.

‘Doubtful,’ said Hierax. ‘There is no sun. The only heat is from the foundries.’ He shook his head once. ‘No. There is nothing to save here.’

‘I didn’t think so.’

‘Why did you ask?’

‘An idle thought, captain. I wondered what they would think, were they to look up.’

‘They would know they had not been forgotten,’ Hierax said. ‘But be assured, legionary, we have witnesses. They may not know it yet, but they are learning what their annihilation looks like.’

The drop pod’s retro-rockets fired. The grav-harness strained against Kletos’ shoulders with the sudden deceleration. He grinned fiercely, anticipating the bone-jarring jerk of the landing. It came, and the pod’s hatch doors blew open, slamming down on the basalt surface of Pyrrhan. Kletos stormed out of the pod with the rest of the squad, behind his captain, joining the mustering of the Second Destroyers.

Overhead, the contrails of drop pods and lifters clawed the sky, scarring it with silver trails. East and west and south of where Kletos stood, the lava plain trembled with the landings and the gathering forces of the Ultramarines and Dark Angels. There were far fewer pods coming down in the north. The Destroyers were in the vanguard. The fortress was still over the horizon. The march would not be a long one before it appeared. The fleets were anchored low, almost grazing the mesosphere, and they had come as far forwards as they could while still remaining shielded from the ship-killing cannons before beginning the drops.

Kletos could remember a time when Guilliman had been reluctant to unleash the Destroyers. That had begun to change after the Thoas campaign. After Calth, he had been much freer in using the brutal weapon they were. And here was a world where the concept of mercy was inconceivable. Kletos had no illusions about the kind of warrior he was. The Second Destroyers were the side of the Ultramarines that was not celebrated in chronicles or in murals. They were the warriors of hard necessity, of scorched earth and of weaponry many would prefer not to think about. They fought with no less discipline and no less a faithful application of the primarch’s precepts than any other company. But alchemy weapons and rad bombs were messy. The wars of the Destroyers were messy. There was no pretending their campaigns were anything else except the brutal extermination of the foe.

So they had proven aboard the Annunciation. So they would prove again on Pyrrhan. This was a mission of annihilation.