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===The Mastodon comes to Zhuko V===

Month Five of the Zhuko V Campaign.
High Orbit
The Battle Barge Chukotka, Flagship of Ice Shaman Issitoq.

Issitoq, High ṣālman of the Legion stood on the embarkation deck and watched as the lander slowly settled before him. Part of him was glad that the ship was here, that the occupant was here to take over from him in the prosecution of the Zhuko Campaign. But just as much of him knew that the reason he was here was because Issitoq had failed, his mission to secure the output of Zhuko V had not gone according to the Warmaster’s designs, and now there would be hell to pay.

On either side of Issitoq were three hundred of the Mastodontii Legion standing at parade on either side of the lander, at the front a row of Terminators in full regalia with weapons held at their sides. All of them bore the marks of their new fidelity, the star of the Primordial Truth and the marks of Hektor the true master of mankind. They sat ill with Issitoq. Even now, even after all this time the marks of the darker powers still made him feel ill at ease.

A figure clad in mighty armour emerged from the shuttle. Everyone, apart from Issitoq, immediately stood to attention, standing taller in the presence of their gene-sire.

Tollund Ötztal stepped slowly down the ramp. His very presence was enough to inspire total and unreserved attention from all those before him. Issitoq however saw more than just his presence. He saw the bleakness which hung around him like a shroud, his stance was a little more crabbed, and yet the aura around him had been augmented. His armour was graven all over with dark runes, and Issitoq noted the weapon he was carrying. It was not his usual spear, Tizheruk, forged anew by the hand of the Emperor. It was a black maul, an immense mace covered in blasphemous sigils.

“My worthy brother gave this to me. He said it would come in handy to destroy the warmachines of the false Emperor.” Ötztal smiled at his old friend. Even now his smile was infectious. Issitoq could not help but smile in return, though the smile did not reach his eyes.

His Primarch had spent the last few years immersing himself in the teachings of his brother Aubrey, sacrificing dozens of worlds to the Primordial Truth. His sons followed him in their worship, the worship of the ones who would save humanity from the darkness that the Emperor wouldn’t. Issitoq found it hard to believe that the path of the Warped Ones was any better than the path the Emperor had set them. Both were flawed. Both were at fault. Neither was right.

Ötztal strode beside Issitoq as they headed for the bridge. “It seems that you’ve been having some trouble with the locals. They’ve refused the boon we’ve offered them.” His expression darkened. “Well we will have to enlighten them then. And I’ve brought enough men to ensure we do so.”

The Primarch had not come alone. Aside from the troops deployed to crush the hated Silver Cataphracts on Rosskar and those few serving alongside their fellows across the burning Imperium, the entire Legion was now deployed to this cause. The Primarch’s own Flagship, the Starspear and its vast holds filled to the brim with tanks now orbited Zhuko V. A Titan Ark carried an entire additional Titan Legion, the Legio Yachê, the Snow Stalkers. And hundreds of armoured regiments loyal to the Warmaster had also come, eager to spill blood for their lord. Enough power to subjugate entire stellar empires was now poised to be unleashed upon Zhuko V. The planet would drown in a tide of iron.