One had landed so close to Third Redoubt that it caused a collapse in the cliff-face and threw the redoubt sideways. The whole rockcrete edifice was now hanging precariously over the drop to the beach.

For a few long seconds there was a moment of stunned shock, then a Marauder destroyer squadron came in, low off the sea, twelve strong, each wing-mounting loaded with racks of krak missiles. The squadron fired as one, a series of whooshes as the missiles were sent off in punishing salvos.

The roar was audible over the vox-chatter in the command centre. The Marauders wheeled round as they came in to strafe the beaches with autocannon and tail-mounted assault cannons. And on the beach Yedrin and Blanchez pressed themselves into a crater and tried to shield each other from the fury of the bombardment.

Then Blanchez heard a familiar voice and, looking back, she saw the black-coated figure of Commissar Knoll pushing himself to his feet.

She dragged Yedrin up. ‘Come on!’ she hissed. ‘We’ve got to keep going!’

Nine

NINE

It was nearly midnight when Prassan leapt up with the news that Bendikt had been waiting for. ‘Void shields are down!’

Bendikt’s face showed all the long hours of stress. He spun round and clapped his hands together. ‘At last! Get onto the Navy!’ he told Mere, while to Prassan he said, ‘Get onto the spotters. I want precise bearings!’

It took long minutes for the Navy ships in orbit to bring their massive batteries to bear. When they did, a sudden lightning storm erupted as lance strikes hammered down on the ridgeline above Creed Beach.

Precision shots tore through the rockcrete fortifications. Magazines detonated, setting off a series of explosions. In the many galleries of the fortress, defenders fell stunned to the floor, their hands to their ears as ships and aircraft poured their fire into the defences.

For a brief moment the defenders got the void shields working again on a reserve power supply. The blue light crackled back to life. But seconds later a series of explosions deep within the fortress caused it to blink out once more and the next salvo threw chunks of rockcrete into the air.

As the Imperial Navy lance strikes hammered down on the Lone Redoubt, on Tyrok Beach signals officers were trying desperately to set up command and control bases close to the front. They were dealing with vox-traffic from the supply barges, Imperial Navy, high command and the ground troops. As each craft came in it was a race to get their provisions off-loaded. Logistics officers were tasked with maintaining a steady flow on and off the beach while teams of commissars herded fresh units straight towards the battle.

‘Which way?’ one sergeant asked and the commissar pointed up the beach.

‘Just keep moving forward!’ he snapped.