Marcus, in his newly repaired armor, was deep in thought. He sat in his personal chambers, waiting for the call to redeploy to the planet. Apparently Vandred—or the Exalted, as it wanted to be called—had more plans for them.
Unfortunately, Varik couldn't focus on anything but the key fact of his squad's fate. Not a grand last stand. Not even a death in battle. Blown up in a boarding action before they even reached the ship. That was it. That was how it ended.
Varik couldn't help but feel angry at just how pointless his future death was. So Marcus spent the whole time thinking about how to avoid that death, but nothing came to mind except getting another squad to take their place and having Fifth Claw on defensive duty instead. A coward's solution. One that would save his life and doom others.
The thought sat heavy in his gut.
Until then, he needed to focus on something—anything else. Eventually, Varik had an idea. He retrieved parchment and began to write. He wrote names, ranks, and how they died. The first was the Crimson Fist he'd killed, then the rest of that squad. Each one recorded with careful precision, as if committing them to paper might give their deaths meaning.
Soon the call came to gather in the hangar and board the Thunderhawk. Their objective was to aid the Red Corsairs in attacking the supply depots of the planet's defenders—take what they could and destroy the rest.
As Decarion explained the plan, he lacked the sarcasm usually found in his voice when discussing one of the Exalted's plans. Varik, and most likely the rest of the claw, knew this plan wasn't made by the Exalted.
The first step of the plan went through Marcus's mind as he and the squad boarded the Thunderhawk and secured their war gear. The claw sounded off.
"Malith, aye."
"Solm, aye."
"Kael, aye."
"Vosk, aye."
"Varik, aye."
"Decarion, aye."
With that, Solm started the claw's Thunderhawk and began the flight toward the planet and the combat zone.
As the Thunderhawk entered the atmosphere, Varik felt it shake from reentry. Decarion used the squad's vox to reiterate the first step of the plan.
The Red Corsairs would most likely already be launching an assault on the facility by the time Fifth Claw arrived. With that in mind, they would infiltrate the facility and begin disrupting the defenses from within. The facility was suspected to have standard Imperial Guard forces as well as Sisters of Battle, and at least one Crimson Fist squad ranging from eight to ten Astartes. The Red Corsairs would be fielding mostly mortals and would send in two squads once Fifth Claw took control of the eastern entrance controls and opened the way.
Varik thought about the plan and appreciated having an actual objective instead of just doing whatever they wanted. Marcus, however, was concerned about the Red Corsairs, remembering what Tenth Company would do to them in the future.
The Thunderhawk shook as Solm piloted the ship to avoid being shot down. Varik did final once-overs on his weapons—his bolter and chainblade. Basic war gear, but nonetheless important.
"Arriving at the target site in one minute." The vox-distorted sound of Solm rang out as Decarion stood up, followed by the rest of the claw.
Malith was equipped similarly to Marcus but with a notably higher number of grenades, since his brother wasn't allowed to bring his rocket launcher. Varik then looked at Kael, who instead of a bolter held a flamer, charred trophies rattling from chains. The smell was still as repulsive as usual. Getting Kael to give up his flamer was a near-impossible task, so Decarion had given up trying.
Speaking of his brother-sergeant, Varik looked at Decarion, who wielded a chain axe instead of a chainblade. The fact that it was here meant Decarion expected extensive melee combat.
Then, with the opening of the bay door and Solm's announcement that they were thirty seconds away, Vosk stood at the opening, stalker bolter in hand. The quiet brother had only a bolt pistol to serve as an alternative to his stalker bolter, but Marcus could feel that despite the lack of melee weapons, Vosk would be fine. A half-joking thought followed—that Vosk would outlive them all.
The irony of how foolish that thought was hit him hard.
The Thunderhawk soared over the battlefield. Solm located a landing zone and let loose the Thunderhawk's weapons, killing or forcing the various mortals into cover.
Varik and Kael were the first out, followed shortly by Malith. Between his grenades and Kael's flamer, they forced the mortals out of cover. Some tried to fire back, but the disunified fire and the fact they lacked the needed firepower made their attempts at resistance useless in Varik's eyes.
Marcus, wanting to save ammunition, used his chainblade to cut down any mortal unfortunate enough to get caught in their attempt to escape the flames. The splatter of blood painted his armor, and yet he felt nothing. No, that wasn't right—Marcus felt a sense of satisfaction, whether at the killing or something else, he didn't know.
Decarion and Vosk were the last to exit the Thunderhawk. Decarion looked back to the hovering gunship and communicated over the vox. "Solm, take the Thunderhawk and provide air support where you can. Aside from that, be ready to pick us up."
With that, Decarion and Vosk walked to the nearest entrance, followed shortly by the rest of the claw who had finished the slaughter of the mortals.
However, before Marcus could take position with the rest of the claw, Decarion had his attention shifted toward a breach in the wall on the upper level, leading inside. Vosk had spotted it.
"Kael, Vosk—take the breach and try to reach some of the shrines inside. Cause a panic. Malith, Varik, with me. We'll head to the refugees, then the vox tower. We'll meet back up before hitting the void shield generator. It's already being pushed to its limits, so we need to cause chaos to get the defenders to spread out."
Plan set, Fifth Claw entered the facility, weapons drawn, ready to continue the work of their father.
Decarion voxed the squad a single phrase: "Ave Dominus Nox."