Purge of the Contqual Sub-sector - Main Assault: The spearhead of the Astra Militarum assault against Shardenus Prime would be carried out by the 32nd Harakoni Warhawks. They were honoured with the first strike of the glorious campaign against Shardenus Prime, carrying the fight to the heretical enemy.These elite troops were to drop behind the walls of the hive city from their Valkyrie assault carriers by Grav-Chute, break the walls and create a breach for the other Astra Militarum regiments to come through. Such work was extremely dangerous and many of the Warhawks would not return.But as seasoned veterans, an elite amongst Astra Militarum regiments, the Imperial command's trust was placed in the Warhawks' capable hands. Within the hives, Imperial agents and cells of insurgents loyal to the Imperium had been activated and the defence towers would be attacked from within. Galamoth artillery trains had been brought forward and would advance in the Harakoni regiment's wake.Within the spires, a small cell of Imperial operatives broke out of Melemar Secundus hive at ground level from the claustrophobic, sewage-clogged underhive tunnels. They made their way towards one of the defence towers, less than a kilometre away, but the little used ground between it and the Melamar Spire was like a maze and was strewn with half-hidden obstacles.As they made their way towards their objective, the hive cluster's defence grid opened up against the encroaching Imperial attack. In the meantime, the Harakonis' Valkyries had reached their full attack velocity. Moving in concert, the waves of gunships thundered over the pitted landscape of the Gorgas Maleon, sweeping in long, broken lines. None of them had their fuselage lights on, and in the gloom of Shardenus' perpetual industrial twilight they looked like hordes of dark-winged spectres racing in for the kill.As the gunships moved closer to their objective, the barrage of fire from the hive cluster ahead of them intensified. Streams of tracer rounds found their targets, striking Vulture gunships and Valkyries, the pieces of the destroyed Imperial aircraft ploughing long trails through the ruined buildings below. Gunships kept taking direct hits and blew apart in mid-air.The volume of fire from the hive cluster's walls kept getting thicker -- far too much to evade for long. To their credit, the Harakoni pilots boldly maintained their attack speed and pushed on with their mission, regardless of the cost in lives.Orders were frantically relayed to the 4th Galamoth Armoured Regiment's commanders to make all haste in bringing up their artillery into their designated positions, but they were hampered by the terrain. Because of the lack of artillery support, the waves of Harakoni gunships streaking towards the hive cluster were rapidly thinned out. Close to a quarter of them were destroyed before they even reached the wall, and it was clear that the volume of fire from the hive cluster's defence towers was only increasing.The main advance of Astra Militarum troops had their targets arranged along the southeastern walls of the hive complex, between the Vannon and Rovax Gates and south of the gigantic Melamar hives, but everything was proceeding too slowly, and the Harakoni gunships were dangerously exposed.In the absence of the Titans and the Iron Hands, the whole shape of the assault looked enormously fragile. Reserve wings were sent into the assault as ordered. Lord General Nethata ordered that all Astra Militarum forces be diverted to the attack zone. All that was needed to ensure that the assault was a success was a breach in the hive complex's wall, just a single opening through which the Imperial troops could pour through.Suddenly fate intervened, as if the God-Emperor Himself had answered the Astra Militarum's prayers. The night sky of Shardenus lit up with a large, neon-orange explosion. The hidden Imperial resistance cells within the hive cluster had successfully sabotaged one of the defence towers. Though the tower still reared up, a shadowy shape against the dark of the sky, it burned in a roaring inferno. Gouts of flame shot out of rents in the walls as the generators on its first level exploded. This caused a chain reaction as explosions bulged outward from where the ammunition deposits ignited.The Valkyrie pilots saw the explosion and banked towards it, racing towards the perimeter wall of the hive cluster. The parapet erupted with las-fire and bolter fire, and every second another Valkyrie went down in flames, flailing and rolling into the devastation of the Gorgas wastelands.The sabotaged defence tower collapsed in a riot of broken masonry. Its destruction opened up a narrow corridor between the curtains of incoming Heretic fire. Small-bore projectile weapons still shot through the night, but the space overlooked by the toppling tower was free of the worst of the devastating barrages.Directly below the Valkyries was the parapet level of the walls, a long, flat strip that ran along the top of an immense barrier, over 30 metres wide and studded with gun-points and elevator access hatches. Anti-aircraft fire from smaller batteries flared up at them, strafing the gunships and scarring their armour plate.The attack carriers switched to their VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) drives and dropped low over the parapet, lowering themselves above their target. As the rear ramps of their aircraft lowered, the pilots informed their passengers that they were in position.One by one, the troops in the crew-bays jumped from the open hatches. Once the last had exited, the Valkyries flew to a higher elevation. All across the breach in the defences, Imperial gunships broke in and unloaded their troops along the parapet, hovering on labouring engines and waiting for the signal to turn around and head back.The 32nd Harakoni Warhawks commander, Colonel Aikino, was the first to land amongst the enemy, his Grav-Chute giving out just before he hit the parapet. The rest of his squad came down around him, cutting out their chutes and brandishing Lasguns.The drop troops proceeded to assault the tower to the north of the breach in an attempt to widen the opening in the Heretics' defences. As the Harakoni troops closed in on the tower, grey-uniformed soldiers swarmed out to meet them, emerging from hatches in the parapet floor and hunkering down behind bulkheads and strongpoints.The entire width of the parapet was soon engulfed in a firestorm of las-beams from all directions, punctuated by the bounce and crack of hurled Frag Grenades. Without hesitation, Aikino led the charge against the enemy as the Warhawks tore into battle alongside their commander in a wave of fury.