Skitarii Marshal Sigma 44-Kariya glanced around the surrounding ruins, his occular augmetics scanning the vicinity for any sign of archeotech. According to Archmagos Theta-Rho, there were ancient relics to be found here. A rogue trader had claimed he saw signs of a STC, and the Draconian Archmagos had dispatched a Hunter Cohort to recover it. As Alpha Primus of Hunter Cohort 428-Sigma, Kariya had been left in charge.
His Skitarii Rangers marched stealthily, scouting ahead under the cover of shimmering emanatus force fields of the Onager Dunecrawlers, which provided armored support. A maniple of Sydonian Dragoons foraged ahead, their taser lances crackling with esoteric energies, while the Serberys cavalry loped ahead, the cyber-canids covering huge distances with graceful strides. At the back, a single Ironstrider Ballistarius stood, its rider tracking the area with his twin cognis lascannons.
"I can't believe we're back to one shot again...and the new twin-linked rules mean we re-roll wound rolls instead of hit rolls."
44-Kariya ignored 28-Tetsuo's remark. The Ironstrider Ballistarius pilot was grumpy because his squadron was short of 1 more rider that Archmagos Theta-Rho had promised.
"Adeptus Astartes presence detected," 72-Kishida reported from ahead. The alpha of the Serberys Raider squadron had proceeded the fastest, forging ahead of all the other forces. The Skorpius Dunerider carrying the second Alpha Primus of Hunter Cohort 428-Sigma, Skitarii Marshal Rho 29-Tataki, and his escort of Skitarii Vanguard, was just barely behind them. Already, they could see armored vehicles bearing red livery. 72-Kishida continued. "Red colorings and heraldry indicate the Blood Angels Chapter."
"What are they doing here?" 29-Tataki asked through the noosphere. "Are they here to invade Kajiya once more, like the Boreal Swords Chapter?"
44-Kariya had no idea. Kariya was a newly founded forge world in a recently explored sector, with Tech-priests and their accompanying retinues of Servitors descending upon the virgin planet to mine it of its resources and build new manufactorums. Unfortunately, the Boreal Swords had attacked them when the Tech-priests refused their demands of supplies and ammunition. In response, Archmagos Theta-Rho had requested for macroclades of Skitarii from their primary forge world of Draconis IV, while using the unfortunate Imperial Guardsmen of the Draconian Defenders regiment to buy the Mechanicus priesthood time against the Boreal Swords.
And now, the Skitarii macroclades had finally made landfall in force. Hunter Cohort 428-Sigma's first mission was to recover any archeotech that might be buried in the newly founded forge world of Kariya, and hopefully ship it back to their parent forge world of Draconis IV. They had been expecting another raid from the Boreal Swords, but why were there Blood Angels here?
"It matters not," Archmagos Theta-Rho blurted in binharic through the noosphere. "Whoever the enemy is, Astartes or not, eliminate them."
"Understood, sir." 44-Kariya had no hesitation. The Skitarii Marshal, while retaining independent thought and autonomous free will in order to carry out combat maneuvers optimally, was completely obedient to the priesthood of Draconis IV. He sent out data-streams to his accompanying Cohort, and they moved out. Towering over them loped a single Cerastus Knight Lancer from the Mechanicus-indentured House Kanda, a branch of the venerable House Yato. Sir Kanda and his fellow Knights from House Kanda normally served as escorts for the Titans of Legio Draconis, but the Dark Dragons had not been deployed upon Kariya. Yet.
"I'll go ahead," Sir Kanda said through the vox. Unlike the cyborg Skitarii soldiery under 44-Kariya's command, the noble had not undergone extensive bionics surgery. The nobles of the Knight Houses remained mostly flesh and blood.
The Blood Angels apparently had been searching for archeotech of their own, and there was a high probability of them seeking a cure for the curse that plagued those of their gene-seed. Sigma 44-Kariya had heard rumors, but he felt little sympathy for them, for emotions and other human weaknesses had been excised from his cybernetically modified brain. Instead, he issued orders.
29-Tataki and his Skitarii Vanguard disembarked from their Skorpius Dunerider, which had skidded to a stop in the center of the ruins. A single Baal Predator fired the first shot, immediately incinerating three of the Skitarii Vanguard with its hellstorm cannon. Despite their bionics protecting them, the trio fell, their bodies set ablaze by the ferocious torrent of burning promethium.
44-Kariya noted dispassionately that the Blood Angels had fired the first shot, which meant that they were confirmed to be hostile. Whatever they were looking for here, they wish to keep it a secret from the rest of the Imperium, even if it meant eliminating any weaknesses.
Despite their casualties, the Skitarii Vanguard under 29-Tataki ignored their fallen and aimed their radium carbines and plasma caliver, following calculated trajectories and adhering to pre-simulated plans. Radioactive rounds and plasma globes hammered a Devastator squad that was busily setting up atop a wrecked hab-block, and even with the protection of their power armor, they succumbed to such potent weaponry. The omnispex held by the squad had highlighted the enemy's positions through the noosphere, allowing the Vanguard to strike with impeccable accuracy.
At the back, the three Onager Dunecrawlers fired. Two neutron laser shots scorched the hull of a Repulsor that had turned and zoomed forward, while the Icarus array of the third lowered and pummeled its armored hull, crumpling the adamantium plates.
The Blood Angels fought back, with the Eradicators dropping from high above and blasting the rear of Sir Kanda's Knight Lancer. He reacted quickly, spinning around to block their devastating melta beams with his ion shield, which absorbed the thermal rays and dissipated them harmlessly. Even so, a few punched through the lanky frame of the Knight armor, leaving molten metal dripping from sputtering servos. On the opposite side, an Impulsor roared ahead, its cargo of Hellblasters firing their plasma incinerators at the Sydonian Dragoons. Fortunately, the incense produced by the striding war machines obscured the sight of even the normally unerring accuracy of the Adeptus Astartes, and the Sydonian Dragoons dodged the devastating volleys of plasma.
However, the Baal Predator ignored the muffled auspexes and confused sensor auguries, its flamers engulfing the Skitarii Vanguard and wiping them out to a man, leaving just 29-Tataki the sole survivor in a smoldering crater.
The sole surviving Devastator and the listing Repulsor fired at Sir Kanda's Knight Lancer, searing even more holes through the stumbling war engine, but somehow the Knight suit managed to withstand the blasts and continued sprinting forward. However, the Death Company descended from the skies, their jump packs leaving fiery contrails, as they crashed into 72-Kishida's Serberys Raiders and wiped them out with crackling thunder hammers and power fists. They were led by a legendary Chaplain, who bellowed litanies of hate as he swung his crozius about and laid into the routed Serberys Raiders.
Despite the severe losses, 44-Kariya continued to run combat simulations and transmit data to his faltering forces. One neutron laser Onager Dunecrawler fired at the Repulsor, but it managed to dodge the shot, taking cover behind a building, which was demolished by the esoteric energies. However, a single Skitarii Ranger took aim with his arc rifle and dealt devastating wounds to the Repulsor with arcs of electricity, finally destroying it, but three Bladeguard Veterans forced their way out of the wreck, their storm shields glimmering with protective fields. The Death Company Marines continued to charge forward, but despite their ferocity, they were hammered by anti-air fire that the third Onager Dunecraler stitched into the skies with his Icarus array, the Skitarii Ranger calmly taking aim and filling the heavens with explosive shells and missiles. The Serberys Sulfurhounds loped forward, filling the entire area with phosphor and sulfur, the flames burning the paint from the Death Company and boiling the Astartes alive within their power armor. Even so, the incredibly resilient and berserk Death Company threw themselves forward, utterly heedless of their grievous wounds, even as their flesh blackened within superheated shells and failing armor, and their organs liquefied from the sheer heat. The Ironstrider Ballistarius and the second neutron laser Onager Dunecrawler destroyed the Impulsor, forcing the Hellblasters within to jump out of the burning wreck.
The Baal Predator continued to provide them support, incinerating the scattered Serberys Sulfurhounds when they attempted to charge the remains of the Death Company, and wiping out the cavalry. On the other hand, the Sydonian Dragoons had better luck, their taser lances stabbing into a Librarian Dreadnought that was hidden behind a ruin, but its armor held thick and the venerable ancient retaliated, almost crumpling one of them. If not for their bionic enhancement, the third one would have been destroyed.
Sir Kanda crushed the Eradicators with a sweep of his cerastus shock lance, flinging the broken bodies aside. At that moment, the Sanguinor appeared out of nowhere, his flaming sword striking the towering Cerastus Knight and doing little damage. Sir Kanda swung his shock lance about, almost slaying the Sanguinor in one blow, but the winged figure managed to flee to safety despite sustaining grievous wounds.
The Hellblasters teleported, using wings of fire to launch themselves across the battlefield, and landed right behind the beleageuered Cerastus Knight Lancer, even as Sir Kanda struggled to finish off the grievously wounded Sanguinor. An Ironclad Dreadnought approached, its power talons crackling with disruption fields, while Inceptors swooped from above to bath the Knight in superheated plasma. They were aided by the flying Hellblasters, who joined in the fray with plasma torrents of their own. The ion shield flickered, but held, and though the Knight armor faltered as more damage accumulated across its overstressed frame, Sir Kanda knew he wouldn't be able to take much more, especially when the Dreadnought grabbed onto him with its power talons. With a determined bellow, he punctured its sacrophagus with the shock lance, slaying the war engine while taking grievous damage, and his back swing obliterated the Sanguinor.
There was a bright flash as a squad of First Company Terminators arrived to stem the tide, their storm bolters and assault cannon spitting a lethal stream at the Sydonian Dragoons and finally felling one of them through devastating wounds. The Baal Predator continued to do more work, killing nine more Skitarii Rangers, despite their stealthy approach. Only the Alpha was left. The Blade Guard Veterans sprinted across the battlefield from the ruined Repulsor, reaching a second squad of Skitarii Rangers and sending them reeling with a bunch of power swords...that somehow missed on the charge and only killed the front two or three, leaving the rest out of engagement range when the dust settled.
Meanwhile, the Librarian Dreadnought continued to pummel the two surviving Sydonian Dragoons, though their bionic endurance held up against the onslaught, and they finally ripped it apart with their taser lances. The Terminators were too slow and cumbersome to make the charge, and they could only watch in dismay as the second of their venerable ancients was slain right in front of them.
The Death Company continued to whittle away at the Skorpius Dunerider, now that the infantry surrounding it had been decimated, but somehow their inferno pistols failed against the protection of the Omnissiah, the tough Skorpius transport holding strong despite the superheated beams. They charged and began smashing the hull to bits with their power fists, too caught up in their black rage to heed any warnings.
44-Kariya dismissed the red noospheric warnings about mounting casualties and how a battle of attrition would see his cohort annihilated, and plotted new stratagems. Against all odds, Sir Kanda's Knight suit was still standing and wreaking havoc behind enemy lines, but he couldn't factor the noble's survival into his calculations. Too unreliable. Espescially when he was surrounded by plasma. Meanwhile, his troops were getting whittling down, and he had lost two full squads, with a single Alpha left in one of them. He instantly transmitted more combat protocols, having decided to stay in Protector Doctrina to maximize firepower.
His decision was validated later when the first Onager Dunecrawler and Ironstrider Ballistarius destroyed the Baal Predator with their neutron laser and cognis twin lascannon. The second Onager Dunecrawler managed to kill two more Hellblasters with its neutron laser, but they fired on death, splashing more plasma against Sir Kanda's ailing Knight armor. He fired back with the shock lance, killing another, but focused his attention on wiping out the Inceptors, killing two of them outright with Tank Shock mortal wounds and running through the third with his lance despite the battered war engine being slowed by the damage it had sustained. The Skorpius Dunerider continued to fire its cognis heavy stubbers pointblank into the Death Company, whittling down more of them, while the two surviving Sydonian Dragoons turned around and advanced toward the Death Company, charging them and spearing them with their taser lances, leaving just the bellowing Chaplain.
On the other side, the other Skitarii Ranger squad fired everything they had onto the Bladeguard Veterans, and through sheer luck, and also the cognis heavy stubber support from their escorting Onager Dunecrawler, they succeeded in wiping out the squad. All three Bladeguard Veterans went down, despite their stormshields, their power armor punched through by hundreds of galvanic shots or solid rounds, as well as plasma and lethal arc energies.
Meanwhile, the other Onager Dunecrawler had nothing to shoot at, with the Hellblasters taking cover and remaining out of line of sight, and the third...could only watch while the Chaplain raged and fought against the Sydonian Dragoons...who finally slew him with their relentless taser lance thrusts.
The Terminators advanced forward, and though they took heavy fire that saw their number reduced to two, they eventually reached the center of the battlefield and destroyed the two Sydonian Dragoons with their power fists. However, the Hellblasters and Devastator weren't as lucky. Though they continued to snipe away at the faltering Knight Lancer with their plasma and las-shots, Sir Kanda focused everything onto the defensive, bringing up his ion gauntlet shield to deflect the devastating volleys. He retaliated, slaying the Hellblasters, while the Skorpius Dunerider, freed from engaging the Chaplain, could finally kill the last Devastator by filling his position with hundreds of metallic slugs. Even the transhuman Astartes couldn't withstand so many rounds, and he fell, his power armor buckling under the numerous impacts.
That left the Terminators. Not only did they destroy the two Sydonian Dragoons, they were able to snipe the sole surviving Skitarii Alpha with well-placed storm bolter shots. Even so, they realized just how...dire their situation was. With only two Terminators surviving, they had to face a heavily damaged Knight Lancer, three Onager Dunecrawlers and two Skitarii Ranger squads. Even Terminator armor would not be proof against the neutron lasers.
"We...call for a truce," one of the Terminators said, raising his assault cannon. Sigma 44-Kariya signaled to his Hunter Cohort to stop. There was no reason to continue the needless bloodshed. If the Astartes wanted to leave, they would not pursue. Understanding that, the remaining two Terminators turned to depart the field, leaving the ruins to the beleaguered Skitarii.
"Holy Terra..." Sir Kanda breathed, slumping against his Throne Mechanicum. He noticed the smoldering joints, smoke rising from overstressed servos, and accumulated damage. "My Knight armor is about to fall apart. I don't know how much longer I can hang in there."
"We have a couple of Tech-priest Enginseers on standby to repair your Knight," 44-Kariya assured him. The two Tech-priest Enginseers had been ministering to the two neutron laser Onager Dunecrawlers all battle, providing them a 5+++ Feel No Pain, but...funnily enough, the Blood Angels had not taken a single shot at any of the three Onager Dunecrawlers at all.
"Great...because I see a bunch of archeotech we can recover." Sir Kanda gestured to the wrecked Repulsor. "Seems like the Blood Angels left something behind."
"A power source," said one of the Tech-priest Enginseers who was coming forward to repair his Knight armor. Magos Epsilon Muguruma, if Sir Kanda remembered correctly. "And seems like we also found a second Archeotech part, thanks to our agenda. The rogue trader's information was right on the money."
"What do you think we found?" Sir Kanda asked.
"Who knows?" Sigma 44-Kariya shrugged his augmetic shoulders. "I guess we'll have to roll for it later. The precise details will be available another day. Such is the Crusade of the Legions of the Omnissiah."
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