Zahariel was the first to notice they were being watched, his helmet display lighting up with threat runes as he looked up. Shrouded in the darkness above them were several active picters and autoturrets, massive cannon barrels trained on them and their craft. Paline noticed them a moment later, though without a helmet's auto-senses it was much harder for her to pick them all out in the gloom. There were three, each with a pair of twin-linked guns attached, but they had not yet opened fire.

Presumably because someone was actually coming to meet them. Slowly, the single bulkhead door leading to the rest of the ship ground open, and a squad of armed men filed through. They wore a variety of mismatched armour styles, only a few bearing original armsmen insignia on their breastplates. Normally they would have been armed with shotguns, but it looked as though they'd been told to raid the armoury before coming along. Two had missile launchers, and two more had brought flamers, their pilot lights flickering. One was carrying a poorly-maintained meltagun. The rest had hellguns, half of which were modified for use with standard charge packs, and the other half of which had managed to scrounge up the heavier power backpacks. Behind them came a man the three Astartes recognised from the Captain's memories; scraggly beard, wide hat, long blue coat with gold trim, and a brace of duelling pistols hung across his chest. Hector de Torvega.