Skitarii Marshal Sigma 44-Kariya watched the horizon darken with sleek, spiky shapes of hovercraft and skimmers. The Drukhari had returned to Kuroishi in force, and this time, they had brought reinforcements.
"Ha ha ha!" The Archon cackled, riding atop his Raider. "You brought those clumsy mechanical walkers of yours - whether it's the ugly bipedal ones or the cumbersome four-legged crustacean ones? Well, we brought fourteen dark lances this time! No, even more! If we include the random special weapons dispersed throughout the Kabalite squads! You're going down, you filthy monkeigh!"
<Holy Omnissiah, they just keep coming, don't they?> 44-Kariya blurted in irritation. <428-Sigma Cohort, get in positions. Protector Doctrina. Brace!>
After securing a beachhead in Kuroishi and repelling the Drukhari from the miasma-filled excavation site, 428-Sigma Cohort had landed more reinforcements, bringing down more walkers and infantry. 28-Tetsuo's Ironstrider Ballistarii squadron was joined by 33-Tetsuya, forming twin squadrons of paired Ironstriders. A third Onager Dunecrawler, Delta-1, had clambered alongside his Skitarii Ranger squad escort, also designated Delta-1. Accompanying the other two Onager Dunecrawlers, Alpha-1 and Beta-2, along with their own Skitarii Ranger squad escorts, were Tech-priest Enginseers - Magos Epsilon Muguruma and Magos Sigma Sensha had joined the battle along with their charges.
Kuroishi was a forge world of the Adeptus Mechanicus, after all, one of the few remaining Imperial bastions in the Vertigus system, and the Imperium wasn't going to surrender it to xenos and heretics alike without a fight. Archmagos Theta Rho, especially, was determined to secure it - though 44-Kariya suspected his motivations had more to do with the rich blackstone deposits scattered across the ruined forge world, rather than it being a fiefdom of Mars.
A formidable array of weapons, all set up alongside ceramite bunkers and fortifications hastily fabricated by construction servitors. Even as the Skitarii Hunter Cohort took up their positions behind trenches and barricades, the servitors continued laboring in the background, excavating more noctilith from the blackstone deposits found all over Kuroishi. To further their chances, 44-Kariya had fed the Drukhari false intel, luring them to launch a suicidal attack upon the Mechanicus's heavily fortified position, so that their assault would break like waves upon a dam.
The Dark Eldar cared not for the Human's agendas, eager to visit destruction upon those who had humiliated them so recently. The Archon, in particular, directed his dark lances to the fore.
"Destroy them!" He screamed, jabbing a clawed finger toward the central Onager Dunecrawler - Alpha-1. "Leave no trace of this filthy monkeigh on this blasted planet!"
The two Ravagers glided forward, their dark lances opening fire. The Scourges too hopped out, their dark lances spitting. The black beams converged upon Alpha-1, and despite the formidable emanatus force field that protected him, the Onager Dunecrawler was blasted apart. Skitarii Ranger squad Alpha-1 was forced to scatter, even as splinter rounds and poisoned needles bombarded their position, but 44-Kariya transmitted neural impulses through the noosphere to hold the line.
<Stand your ground!> He commanded sternly. The surviving Skitarii Rangers around him straightened their augmetic spines, clutching their plasma caliver, transuranic arquebus and arc rifle. Most of the galvanic riflemen had been gunned down by the toxins, but the special weapons remained on point.
The Reavers stayed back for now, while Venoms surged forward to empty out more Kabalite Warrior squads. A Raider jinked through the hab blocks, its occupants disembarking to join a squad of Kabalite Warriors - an Incubi team, hacking their way toward Skitarii Ranger squad Beta-2. Both the Incubi and Kabalite Warriors piled in, but the Skitarii held their ground, Protector Doctrina kicking in and allowing them to evade the Incubi's flashing blades. In response, they smacked the Kabalite Warriors with gun-butts and rifle stocks, knocking them to the ground and using their prosthetics to stomp the lives out of the fragile Dark Eldar. Even so, at least half their squad were eviscerated.
Even with the destruction of Onager Dunecrawler Alpha-1 and the decimation of his retinue, 44-Kariya continued to stream instructions through the noosphere. 28-Tetsuo and 33-Tetsuya lined up shots with their cognis twin lascannons, scything one Ravager apart and almost destroying the other. Sato added to the firepower, his thermal spear gouging out a chunk from the listing Ravager, but the sole gunship somehow managed to remain afloat.
"Damn it! Out of melta range!" Sato cursed. His carapace meltagun rotated, but did nothing to the Raider, which zoomed away.
Onager Dunecrawler Beta-2 fired, destroying a Venom, while Kaji's Armiger Moirax stalked forward, incinerating Kabalite Warriors with volkite and rad-cleanser alike before performing a Heroic Intervention. Skitarii Ranger squad Delta-1, along with their Onager Dunecrawler, on the other hand, caught the Mandrakes out in the open before they could sneak away, and wiped them out with a precise volley. Squad Beta-2 continued their desperate melee against the Incubi and Kabalite Warriors, and while a couple more of them fell, they hammered more of the black-armored warriors to a bloody paste, further reducing their numbers and selling their lives as best as they could.
"You won't win this time!" The Archon shrieked, sending his Scourges forward to take out huge chunks from Sato's Armiger Warglaive with their dark lances. The Kabalite Warriors with their dark lance and splinter rifles continued to fire at both Kaji's Armiger Moirax and squad Alpha-1, before charging and finishing them off, but Kaji continued to hold the center, his rad-cleanser and volkite taking out a couple of Kabalite Warriors when they jumped out of the Venom. The Raider charged Sato in an attempt to divert his attention, while the Ravager continued to bombard him with dark lances. Unfortunately, 44-Kariya fell in combat, unable to withstand the combined assaults from Venoms and Kabalite Warriors. Their numbers were too great, and they flooded the center. Fortunately, Kaji held his ground, his Armiger Moirax a solitary pillar of resilience as he fought off the waves of Kabalite Warriors that threatened the Mechanicus's position.
However, the Incubi and Kabalite Warriors finally finished off the stubborn remnants of Beta-2. Reavers joined their assault, but their melta lance missed and failed to do anything to Onager Dunecrawler Beta-2, who proceeded to wipe them out with a salvo from his Icarus array.
Sato managed to cut apart the Raider with his reaper chain-cleaver before finishing it off with a pointblank meltagun shot. Meanwhile, Kaji seized a couple of screaming Kabalite Warriors in his siege claw before crushing them. Volkite and rad-cleanser finished them off, the Knight scion finishing them off with pointblank shooting.
<I have you now!>
28-Tetsuo lined up his cognis lascannon shots and destroyed the last Ravager, while 33-Tetsuya's squadron cored glowing holes through the second Raider, sinking it. With the first Raider blown apart by pointblank melta, Sato was free to charge the Scourges, and he did so, hacking them apart with his reaper-chain cleaver and leaving none alive to fire their dark lances.
A second squad continued to flit about, the Scourges destroying Kaji's Armiger Moirax with their dark lances. Meanwhile, the Incubi that had dropped out of the destroyed Raider hurled grenades at Sato's Armiger Warglaive, dealing mortal wounds that laid his armor low.
"Emperor damn it!" Sato groaned, slumping against his Helm Mechanicum when his Armiger was taken out of the fight. "If only I could do more..."
However, the Knights of House Kanda had contributed colossally to the fight. Despite taking heavy losses, the Skitarii Hunter Cohort, 428-Sigma, had calculated optimal firing solutions. First, though, Onager Dunecrawler Beta-2 had to deal with the Kabalite Warriors and Incubi charging him. They shot and then cut apart poor Magos Sigma Sensha, only for a couple of the warriors to be kicked and trampled upon by the Onager Dunecrawler's armored legs.
With Alpha-1 - both Onager Dunecrawler and the Skitarii Ranger squad - as well as Kaji being out of commission, 28-Tetsuo had no choice but to direct his Ironstrider Ballistarii upward. His squadron slew the Cronos that was floating next to the Incubi, and even the Haemonculi created genetic monstrosity was no match for the four lascannons that lanced into it. The cognis lascannons of 33-Tetsuya's squadron speared and took out most of the Incubi, sustained hits allowing the deadly beams to somehow proliferate and kill more of them than the estimated average. Meanwhile, Onager Dunecrawler Beta-2 fired his Icarus array pointblank into the Incubi and then kicked the surviving Kabalite Warriors into submission, wiping them out before they could even put a dent in his armor.
The last squad of Scourges had fired and faded...only to find themselves in line of sight of Skitarii Ranger squad Delta-1, who proceeded to rinse their position with galvanic rounds, arc lightning, plasma and transuranic rounds. Onager Dunecrawler Delta-1 didn't even need to fire. The Scourges were dead even before he could track them with his cognis heavy stubbers.
That left a single Venom with the Archon and his Kabalite Warriors in the center, their numbers already decimated. Magos Epsilon Muguruma, keeping up with 28-Tetsuo, had fired his arc pistol into their midst, scattering the survivors, and was readying for a charge.
"You've got to be kidding me!" The Archon screamed, realizing that he had just been routed. With only a handful of Incubi, Kabalite Warriors - each remnants of a single squad - and himself left, there was nothing more he could achieve by lingering. Except death. He had pretty much thrown away the lives of his Corsair and Drukhari followers and obtained absolutely nothing. Worse, the Humans still had a significant portion of their forces left. "Even with that number of dark lances and firepower, we were only barely able to kill half of their army?! What in Ynnead's name is this nonsense?! Who thought it was a good idea to buff the Adeptus Mechanicus in the last balance dataslate?!"
He jabbed a spiky finger at the four Ironstrider Ballistarii, foaming at the mouth.
"And what is this frakking bullshit!? 8 lascannon shots from those four walkers?! With Sustained Hits because they're Cognis?! How is my glass cannon army supposed to fight this?!"
<That's pretty rich, coming from a commander who brought almost 20 dark lances,> 28-Tetsuo retorted, training his cognis twin lascannons on him.
"F this!" The Archon snarled and wrapped his 2++ invulnerable save cloak around himself before disappearing into the darkness. The abandoned Kabalite Warriors and Incubi glanced at each other before staring at the eight lascannon barrels, two Onager Dunecrawlers, a single Tech-priest Enginseeer and a full squad of Skitarii Rangers.
"...we need to get out of here."
And thus, Kuroishi was secured by the Mechanicus for just a bit longer, even as the Drukhari beat a hasty retreat with their tails between their legs.
<...at least we survived,> 44-Kariya muttered, winded from his wounds. <And won. Archmagos Theta Rho should be pleased. Kuroishi remains in Mechanicus hands.>
<Dude...> 28-Tetsuo sighed and shook his head, watching his commander from atop his Ironstrider engine. <You need a break.>
