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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Synopsis
[[Imperial Guard Sergeant|Sergeant]] "Hardhead" [[Greiss (Sergeant)|Greiss]]'s [[Infantry Squad|squad]] is given a mission to approach the Orks' camp by stealth and take our their [[Warboss]]. [[Guardsman]] [[Lorenzo]], in particular, is eager for a chance to prove himself to his squadmates and earn his [[Catachan]] name. Much to their dismay, the Guard contingent's senior [[Commissar]], [[McKenzie]], insists on leading their squad into the jungle.
But their most dangerous foe is the planet itself. As they are making their way to the ork camp, - shadowed by the legendary Guardsman [[Marbo]] - they encounter semi-sentient poisonous plants and all manner of predatory beasts, from insects to jumping lizards to birds. Gradually they realise that Rogar III's ecology is evolving to drive them out, and developing its flora and fauna into stronger and better-armed killing machines. Some of the troopers are driven insane by plant venoms and turn on their squadmates, before they can be killed; others are led into the jungle by hypnotic "blue lights" and are never seen again, until they appear as re-animated "zombies," to attack the Jungle Fighters.
Reaching the Orks' camp, they see the greenskins tunneling aggressively into the planet's surface, apparently believing that the planet's lethality is a weapon that can be somehow harvested and removed. Lorenzo guesses that this is what caused the planet to evolve so rapidly. With only Greiss and five Jungle Fighters, including Lorenzo, left, they must enter the Orks' ramshackle mine to find the Warboss. Just as Lorenzo finds him, the planet springs its final trap: a volcanic eruption that floods the caverns with lava.
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==Related Publications==
*[[Black Library (BL Publishing)|Black Library]]
[[Category: Novels]]
