Soshiyan felt a powerful force tearing at his genetically modified superhuman body, a feeling that was quite uncomfortable after the gentle zero-gravity environment of space.
As the drop pod screamed, roared, and thundered through the swirling laser beams, leaving a trail of destruction, the Machine Spirit also protested, its red alarm lights flashing at a high frequency.
It was undergoing intense impacts, continuous changes in direction, and violent deceleration.
The landing pod's inertial dampeners and their power armor's hydraulic systems were put to the ultimate test; every warrior possessed a demigod-like physique, with tough, thick muscles, highly adaptable black carapaces, and bones that absorbed the immense force that would tear a normal person apart.
But this was far from enough; if they landed incorrectly, they would still be smashed into a pulp.
"Activate landing thrusters."
Through the cracked screen, Soshiyan issued the final command to the Machine Spirit.
He could still see the long trail of Mars sparks frictioned around the landing pod as it plunged like a comet into the hard Blackstone shell, the crew compartment now filled with grating metallic friction and collision sounds.
Despite its dissatisfaction, the Machine Spirit still obeyed Soshiyan's will, and the deceleration rockets activated, but only half of them worked properly, meaning their impact angle would not be ideal.
Bang!
The tremendous impact caused Soshiyan's helmet to violently strike the bulkhead behind him; the restraints groaned as they were pulled to their limit, and inertia made everyone's chest feel as if a The Rock was pressing down on it.
Finally, after a good while of intimate friction with the rocky surface, the landing pod came to a halt like a slowly spinning egg.
Afterward, the still-working cameras showed Soshiyan what he needed to know about the wreckage outside.
As planned, the desolate surface of the world engine was littered with the wreckage and debris of landing pods bearing the Astral Knights' emblem; the formerly flat black ground now truly resembled an asteroid, covered in impact craters.
However, no Space Marine was seen, nor any enemy.
Soshiyan could feel the explosion of the damaged lander resonating through the deck below the hull; through the surviving cameras, he saw liquid leaking from the crashed promethium fuel containers had caught fire, and black smoke enveloped the surrounding wreckage.
"Prepare to open the hatch."
Soshiyan spoke to the others through his helmet's communicator; at his urging, with a heavy thud, the pressure valves opened.
At the same time, the braces unlocked, allowing the warriors to exit quickly.
For a drop pod, lying on its side on the ground was not an ideal position for quick egress; as Soshiyan knelt on one knee amidst the shattered instrument panels, the other squad members used the braces to climb out of their seats and gathered around him.
The warriors knelt, each of them battle-hardened, their well-maintained weapons clutched tightly in their hands.
"Everyone here?"
"Hasdrubal, present."
Hasdrubal, the squad's Heavy Bolter, was responsible for operating a Heavy Bolter, serving as the tactical squad's core fire support, and was a New Recruits from an earlier batch than Soshiyan.
"Razeno, present."
"Carisinus, present."
Razeno and Carisinus were on either side of Soshiyan, awaiting the order to disperse; they carried the standard weaponry of the squad members.
"Velinius, present."
"Fix, present."
Velinius's voice came from behind Razeno; this young Legion warrior tightly gripped his MK IV C Bolter, while the equally young Fix knelt behind him.
"Arkan, present."
The flamethrower-wielding warrior moved beside Soshiyan, his grenades and extra promethium canisters clinking and clanking.
"Occam, present."
He was the oldest squad member, but also the most supportive of Soshiyan as captain; it was rumored that he was once considered for the captaincy but declined the appointment.
"Aksai, present."
"Nader, present."
Next were Soshiyan's two close friends; the squad was fortunate to have no casualties.
"For the Emperor."
Soshiyan issued the signal in a steady voice.
"To your positions."
With a nod from him, Aksai pressed the "Manual Open" button on the hatch.
Immediately, the hatch, composed of several plasti-steel plates, began to open like a gaping maw filled with fangs, and the sight of the world engine gradually revealed itself before the squad members.
Soshiyan's helmet's tactical display immediately began to mark all moving targets outside the drop pod; as the screen constantly flashed with glimmers, the auspex began to display the spectrograms from various sensors—infrared receivers, ultraviolet receivers, and motion sensors.
"The welcoming ceremony is about to begin."
Aksai still maintained his joking mood, but after a Gauss disintegration beam grazed his helmet through the open hatch, he could no longer smile.
"Why don't you give them a grand introduction?"
Nader couldn't help but mock him, but Soshiyan interrupted this ill-timed banter.
"Prepare for action, centroid formation."
With that, Soshiyan was the first to leap out of the hatch, and with a roar from his Bolter, he fired his first shot of the day.
Propelled by the propellant, the bolt flew across the black rock deck, leaving a scorching trail.
Its impact was devastating; a staggering alien was hit squarely, its metal skeletal body, blasphemous to human form, instantly exploded from the middle, and the Gauss Flayer in its hand dropped to the ground.
But it did not die immediately; within its silvery skull, the nauseating green glow had not yet dissipated, and its lower half was ten meters away, while its upper half crawled towards the weapon on the ground.
Necrons, the accursed undead, were such pathetic existences.
They had no Soul-less, most of them not even consciousness, just the echoes of an ancient empire, pathetic remnants, yet they stubbornly refused to leave the galactic stage.
Filled with hatred, Soshiyan fired another shot at its head, ending its movements.
"First Blood is yours again."
Aksai let out an annoying grumble over the comms channel; the squad members followed closely, ducking their heads and leaping out of the hatch.
As soon as these Space Marines landed, they plunged into the battle to push back the enemy's offensive; Bolters rapidly fired bolt after bolt, flying across the deck, accurately hitting targets, disassembling the slowly advancing metal skeletons into parts, which didn't take long.
"Captain, Captain, can you hear me?"
As the members dealt with the approaching Necrons minions, Soshiyan tried to contact their company, but communications seemed to be jammed, with only static on the channel.
"Find...main...core..."
Amidst the static, Soshiyan recognized a fragmented voice, whose he couldn't tell, but it was definitely human.
...11 o'clock...direction...gather..."
Soshiyan glanced at the auspex, which showed no friendly forces nearby, meaning they were some distance from the main force.
"Advance towards 11 o'clock."
The Soul-less numbers were endless, approaching them from all directions; the squad fought with their backs to the landing pod, but they certainly wouldn't last long; Soshiyan quickly found a gap on the battlefield.
"Follow me!"
It was a damaged Gauss turret; Soshiyan ran and fired, the Gauss gun's disintegration beams closely following his footsteps, but he was still faster.
The squad members followed closely, weaving through the hail of bullets, trying to get closer to the damaged turret.
Click!
A strange three-legged Necrons leaped out, wielding a large, glowing war scythe, rushing towards Soshiyan at an incredible speed.
Bang bang!
Soshiyan fired two shots; one bolt was dodged, and another hit the opponent's shoulder, but only tore off a few pieces of metal.
The two were already at close quarters; he decisively drew the chainsword from his waist, his thumb brushing over the activation rune.
With the hungry hum of the saw teeth, it viciously bit into the pale green war scythe; Soshiyan, with guilt towards the Machine Spirit, struck the opponent's head with the butt of his Bolter.
The pale metal skull immediately cracked; Soshiyan pressed forward, wrapped his left arm around, and backhanded the opponent's neck, then twisted to the right.
Splat!
A Gauss ray precisely hit the Necrons warrior, whom Soshiyan had locked from behind; this weapon was extremely powerful against most armor, but ironically had little effect on their own living metal.
The Necrons warrior's chest was corroded with a large hole; it began to struggle violently, but Soshiyan's strength was famously great throughout the Legion, and he simply pulled up with his elbow.
Along with its metal spine, Soshiyan directly pulled off the pale skull.
"Conserve ammunition!"
He issued the command to the members covering him through the squad channel, then tucked the skull with the spine attached behind his waist.
"Advance!"
The squad successfully hid behind the turret; Soshiyan glanced at the auspex and found several bright spots appearing on the edge of the screen.
"Found them! We need to rendezvous with the others."