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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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→The Final Assault: Spelling fix on request
The attack was heralded by waves of orbital bombardment and hurled debris from orbit sent to sow havoc below as weapon fire split the heavens above Badab Primaris. The sable form of the ''Memento Mori'' led the attack and was rocked with explosions as it breached the upper atmosphere, its own cannons roaring in answer and vortex missiles screaming out from its weapon deck to rip great wounds in the planet's crust. Behind the dauntless battle barge, dozens of other warships swept low to unleash their deadly cargo. Blazing bright lances of energy pierced upwards and the skies darkened as wave after wave of drop pods painted in midnight black and cold grey rained down in precisely executed assaults. Brighter yet, from the halo edge of space, the Carcharodons' relic-flagship ''[[Nicor]]'' unleashed the vent plasma-destructor weapon concealed in its belly and burned a great trench in Badab's surface, sundering the bastion wall of Primaris's main city, [[Hive Dominar]], and soon after [[Thunderhawk]]s and [[Caestus Assault Ram|Assault Ram]]s spiralled down to exploit the breach. Such was the burning pall of smoke, swirling cinder ash and choking dust that came up, that night fell over Badab's northern continent as the siege assault raged, the darkness riven with meteoric streaks of flame as wreckage fell from high above.{{Fn|1}}
A full hour had passed since the first shots were fired and still the defense batteries had not yet been fully silenced, but many were now choked off or destroyed. Troop ships and Thunderhawks continued to descend perilously through the storm of smoke and fire, ferrying their reinforcements and heavy armour down to the tumult of battlerbattle. Deeming the approach now safe, like a hammer of the gods, the colossal landing craft of the [[Legio Crucius]] fell to earth outside Hive Dominar, their impact sending a powerful tremor-shock through the ground, bringing yet more of the breached bastion tumbling down. Vast armored doors openned and buildings slammed flat as [[Titan]]s walked on Badab, their bellowing sirens echoing like the clarion call of doom come for the beleaguered world.{{Fn|1}}
The assault moved into its second and then third hour without any sign of relenting and soon Hive Dominar had become a city of death. Within its hundred of kilometers of multi-tiered roadways and vast, arched habitation towers, the Tyrant's Legion fought an insane and desperate battle against the grey giants that had come among them. Transit junctions were soon clogged with burning vehicles and shattered rubble, and for the wretched civilians trapped within the doomed hive, there was nothing for them but terror and death. Offered no chance of surrender or survival, the soldiers of the [[Auxilia]] bitterly fought on as best they could as the Carcharodons fell on them with nightmarish fury, savagely hacking through their defense lines and leaving nothing but torn bodies and shattered war machines in their wake. In the face of the unstoppable grey-red tide that had come upon them, all pretense of command and control within the Tyrant's Legion rapidly broke down as [[vox]]-sets uttered nothing but screams and unanswered peals for mercy. Fires began to spread out of control and the carnage was only worsened as those isolated Legion redoubts and tank squadrons that still survived began to shell indiscriminately into the shadows of buildings. Their desperate and chaotic attacks were in the vain hope of fighting an enemy that came at them with terrifying speed only to fade away and strike again, each time leaving fewer and fewer alive.{{Fn|1}}
