The Archon's Revenge

"I told you I'll be back!" The Archon cackled as his Sky Splinter Corsair Raiders...thing sailed from the webway. "I've brought more firepower to take down that Knight of yours!"

They had swapped one of the Ravagers out for Scourges with dark lances, a trio of skimmers with a single heat lance, and a Kronos. Packing more long-distance firepower this time, the Drukhari surged ahead, intent on revenge.

<That can't be good,> Skitarii Marshal Rho 29-Tataki murmured as he gazed at the approaching Drukhari slash Corsair fleet. Dark lances were already stabbing out and punching holes through Sir Kanda's reeling Cerastus Knight Lancer. <Of course they're aiming for our most vital strategic asset first.>

"They really want revenge, huh?" Kanda muttered as his Knight buckled under the repeated dark lances from the Scourges, Raider and Ravager. As few had punched through his ion gauntlet shield and torn away cabling and ceramite chunks.

A Venom swooped, with a bunch of Kabalite Warriors hopping out and adding their volley of splinter rifles to the Venom's splitter cannons. A second Venom, after unloading a bunch of Kabalite Warriors that proceeded to grab hold of an unstable archeotech located under a ferrocrete bunker, joined in, reducing Skitarii Ranger squad Alpha-1 to just three guys. Meanwhile, the skimmers fired at Skitarii Ranger squad Beta-2, but failed to kill anyone, their heat lance and splinters missing the stealthy infantry.

Kanda made a last-ditch charge, but failed to do anything with his Cerastus spear, while the Venom with the Kabalite Warriors swerved away, staying out of range of his devastating weapon. The Drukhari had clearly learned to fear the destructive power of the Cerastus shock lance and keep their distance. 29-Tataki tried to direct his forces forward, with Delta Yari leading a charge toward the skimmers. The rest of the Skitarii Rangers stayed put, but their galvanic fire was ineffective against the skimmers, while the plasma caliver blew up in the bionic hands of its wielder, wreathing him in superheated gases and melting his augmetics. At least one of the skimmers went down, though, blown apart by the plasma in return.

29-Tataki personally led his Skitarii Vanguard squad to mow down the Kabalite Warriors with radium rounds, while the Skorpius Dunerider destroyed the Venom they were in. Three of his squad aimed at the Scourges instead, killing 2 of them and forcing the others to duck.

However, the Drukhari were gleefully cutting apart the poor Skitarii by now. The surviving Scourges took down Kanda's Knight with their dark lances, and the resulting explosion took out a couple of Skitarii Rangers, along with damaging the Venom and killing one Kabalite Warrior. The Ravager then took potshots at the Skorpius Dunerider, punching holes through its shuddering hull. The surviving Kabalite Warriors then erased Skitarii Ranger Alpha-1 from existence.

The Incubi disembarked from the Raider and charged the Sydonian Dragoons, cutting two down before they could fight back. Mandrakes slipped out of the shadows and massacred over half of squad Beta-2, forcing the remaining Skitarii Rangers to fall back so that a retreating Skorpius Dunerider could eliminate them with volleys from its cognis heavy stubber array. The surviving Sydonian Dragoon retaliated with his taser lance, and Yari Delta felled five Incubi with a single sweep.

However, it wasn't enough.

The Skitarii Vanguard finally wiped out the Scourges, but that was about it. They could do nothing about the Kronos or the Raider or Ravager.

Though the Archon and Incubi weren't able to hurt Yari Delta, who killed yet another couple of Incubi in return, the Drukhari had more tricks up their sleeves. The Skimmer lacerated the Skitarii Rangers with some eviscerating thingy, and dark lances from the Ravager blew up the Sydonian Dragoon, who wiped out the surviving Skitarii Rangers while also killing a couple of Incubi, leaving just two and 1 Archon. The Raider's dark lance, along with the Kabalite Warriors' special weapons, wrecked the already heavily damaged Skorpius Dunerider. The Kabalite Warriors, Raider and Kronos charged into the Skitarii Vanguard and massacred them, leaving just the Skitarii Marshal, who retaliated with his control stave and took out all the Kabalite Warriors.

Unfortunately, though the Kronos failed to best him in combat, it eventually retreated, along with the Raider, so that the Ravager could disintegrate the courageous Rho 29-Tataki with triple dark lances.

...with that, the Drukhari had exterminated the Skitarii.

"Ha ha ha ha!" The Archon roared in laughter, triumph and arrogant. "I told you I'll get my revenge!"