"I beseech the Machine Spirit, in the name of The Divine God Emperor, The Omnissiah. Please accept this blessed channel-bearing and keep the words of His servants safe from the Vox-thievery of the accursed heretic and the vile alien." Jhon had recited the blessing hundreds of times as his hands worked the same motions preparing his Voxcaster and bringing it to mission readiness. At this moment though he just hoped that the Emperor/Omnissiah would be sufficiently pleased by his words to keep their Valkyrie in the air.
When he looked up from his equipment he could see the lightning streaking across the sky through the slit in the gunner's door. Rain hammered it's way in through the gaps in the Valkyrie's frame and Jhon lifted the Vox unit into his lap to keep it out of the pooling water. In the seat to his right Alain was having the same problem, keeping his Volley Gun high up on his knees with the stock braced against his neck and barrel between his thighs. The gun's high-density power line ran up around his neck and into his high voltage backpack on the rack above him.
The wind screamed across the hull, thankfully dampened on his side by the other two Valkyries that flew in formation with them. He was fortunate that he had managed to climb into the lead craft, carrying his commanding officer Tempestus Churgeion Mesarine. It meant he had to watch his behaviour a bit more closely, but it usually meant that you got the safest craft with the best maintenance record. Mesarine was sitting in the lead jumpseat, behind the pilots and looking over the other occupants. She didn't seem phased by the weather, she had seemed to have spent the flight reading a series of dataslates. Jhon couldn't tell whether they were medical texts or mission briefings. When he'd been under her command in the past he's got the impression that she was more tactically minded than the rest of Medicae Command.
Jhon appreciated that it was unusual to have a regiment under joint Medicae command, even more unusual for it to be a regiment of the Militarum Tempestus. He thought of the brave Uhlan Cavalrymen who fought the Ork horde below them, most of them would never experience Astra Militarum medical care. He could hear their guns booming below, mixing with the thunder. He could imagine them there, in their immaculate gold and purple dress uniforms, doing everything they could to hold the line against the Garnets and Battlewagons. He hated the Greenskin of course, stupid xenos filth. But part of him wished that he was down there with the Uhlan. At least you knew where you were on the trench line and you knew the enemy was in front of you.
Instead, as his squad leader Tempestus Reburrus was getting up to explain, they had no idea what they were going up against. Reburrus stood against the hull, his knuckles white where he was gripping the handrail against the turbulence. "Troops, listen up. Make sure that you're straight on the mission parameters. We're going to be moving fast and hard from the moment this hatch opens". He pointed at the rear ramp of the Valkyrie, where one of their three Ogryns was squatting, it's head scraping the wires on the roof.
Reburrus continued "Bastian City Alpha is the capital of this world, it's got curtain walls so thick that they could have been erected by the praised Imperial Fists themselves. It's from this Bastian City that the planet's resistance to the Ork is being coordinated. Six cycles ago the fleet lost vox and astropathic contact. We're going in to identify the nature of the disruption and, if necessary, to extract the Planetary Governor". Reburrus stopped as the Valkyrie banked sharply to the right. Amazingly he stayed upright, but Jhon wasn't quite so steady and he watched the helmet he was cradling fly across the craft and hit the already incensed Ogryn on the side of the head.
The big creature roared inhumanly through its rebreather mask and looked around for someone to smash. Thankfully it didn't seem to notice him. Jhon knew that you didn't just ask an Ogryn for your things back. So instead he just watched as it's grotesquely muscled arms ripped his carapace helmet in two along the centre axis. There was nothing he could do, though thankfully his face plate, with its rebreather, vox link and night vision, was still in his pack. He was going to have to wear his beret for the mission and just hope no-one aimed for his head.
His head snapped round as the Tempestor continued his briefing as if they hadn't all been turned sideways. "Governor Maastricht or his retainers haven't been heard from for 12 Cycles now. Last reports place him at the Governor's palace in the northern quarter of the city, known locally as The Alcazar. We're going to be landing in Saint Timothy's Square, adjacent to the local Arbites Blockhouse. Making our way into the Alcazar to locate the Governor and extract him via Valkyrie, at which point Naval Lightning fighters will escort us back to the frigate."
Jhon almost snapped his weapon up as a dark, robed shape emerged from the pilot's chamber. Reburrus gestured to the passenger that Jhon didn't even realise was on board. "This is Enginseer Adept 87Quark of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Adept 87Quark will be accompanying us on this mission to assist with technical matters. Preservation of his person is a critical objective, only secondary to preservation of the Governor himself. You will obey the Adept's orders without question." Jhon wondered how the Adept had hid itself on board, he wondered how it had not been turned sideways and he wondered what in the Emperor's name the Adept was and why he could see twelve glowing eyes under the hood.
The Valkyrie was descending and Jhon got his best look outside the flyer when the door gunners opened their hatches and racked the mounted heavy bolters. The sky looked angry with lightning and smoke from the adjacent battlefield. He looked down to see the fifteen meter thick bastian walls passing beneath them, he could see Hydra emplacements all the way along the walls, but they seemed curiously unmanned. The walls gave way to the crenulated architecture of a typical Imperial city. But the wide squares and long avenues also seemed to be curiously deserted, Jhon could only see one or two sturdy-looking trucks trundling down the broken roads.
Enjoying the clearer air away from the battle zone, the three Valkyrie pilots pulled into a tight bank and Jhon heard them initiate the landing procedure. Jhon stood up along with his squad and pulled the heavy Vox unit onto his shoulders. The rest of his unit locked their helmets while he straightened his beret and pulled the goggles and face mask over the back of his head. He heard the engines whine as they switched to vector thrust, first hovered and then started to descend slowly. There was a loud clunk as the lights turned from white to deep red and everyone onboard prepared to disembark and secure the LZ. Jhon heard the pilot ``30 seconds to landing, 25, 20, 15". Jhon's hand tightened on the grip of his Mk47 Hot-Shot Lasgun, his Hellgun.
Jhon's eyes were suddenly in searing pain; through the open side door he briefly glimpsed a blinding beam of energy spear out from one of the nearby rooftops. He saw, it drew a thick white line through the air. From the shadowed point behind a Adeptus Ministorum gargoyle, down through the square and diagonally through the centre of the Valkyrie to his left. Fire bloomed into the sky as the Promethium tanks both incinerated instantly and what was left of the craft fell uselessly down what was left of its descent. Jhon could see gouts of flame coming from the inside of the transport and didn't hold out much hope for the meltagun-squad or the second of their Ogryn auxiliary, who were on board.
Alarms were blaring in the cockpit behind him but they were already committed to landing and couldn't pull out now without endangering the third craft. They touched down hard jolt and the boarding ramp slammed down into the rough gravel. The Scions charged out with Jhon taking cover behind an abandoned Barter-kiosk. He brought up his weapon's power line, braced the stock to his shoulder and kept an eye on the street ahead of him.
The street led away from the square and was already filled with blooming clouds of thick black smoke from the burning Valkyrie. Jhon could feel the intense heat behind him. As he watched, weapon braced, the shadows cast by the flames started to resolve themselves into figures, figures which seemed to be getting closer.