Chapter 10: Tonight, we dine in hell
=ATBS=
Part 6
=ATBS=
outskirts of Victory Bay
Kronus
Rohan looked morosely at the crude Mon-Keigh, no human, sore excuse for architecture, and wanted to scream in frustration. Call them humans! He had to remind himself again. His kind's usual superior attitude, no matter how justified, or well-earned it might be, wouldn't serve him well today. He saw first hand the fruits of that sort of thinking. Even now, those fools who failed to consider the debacle might have been primary their fault. No matter how much he pondered Taldeer's choices, he came to the same conclusion. They were born of unthinking arrogance and blind following of the visions his little sister saw in the Sea of Souls. Even he knew that such divination while useful were never to be taken at face value.
Unfortunately, that was a lesson often lost upon the Farseers. It didn't help that most of the time their visions did pan out. It was just that when they didn't…
Smoothly, the Grav Tank Rohan drove up a hill, and he could finally see the human settlement in the distance. It was ugly, crude, and dirty – like almost all human settlements he had the misfortune to visit in person. There were no comforting gentle curves, no wraithbone pillars resonating with energy… and the Psychic presence of the humans, it simply grated. He could swear there was an aura of hatred and single-mindedness permeating the whole region. Or perhaps he was projecting his own opinion on the average… human he had seen.
As expected, there was a greeting party on a trampled field outside the city. A couple of the red boxy tanks preferred by the Space Marines, several primitive scout walkers, and a couple of dozen dug in heavy weapon teams formed an honor guard for the delegation waiting for him.
Rohan focused his attention on the small group of humans waiting to meet him. One of their armored giants towered above the rest holding a power hammer. A dangerous foe at close range, one the Ranger would never engage in close quarters if he had a choice. Next, it was one of the human political officers needed to keep the rabble making the bulk of their forces in line. Under most circumstances, the Commissar would be a priority target to take out, which usually had devastating consequences for the morale of the humans nearby.
Finally, a step ahead of the others stood an Inquisitor. From what Rohan could gather, it was that human's fault that the Biel-Tan contingent failed spectacularly. He didn't bother hiding a sneer at that thought. Even now, those fools failed to consider the debacle might have been primary their fault. Of course, not! It was the despicable Mon-Keigh to blame! To make their failure complete, many of the survivors swore an eternal vendetta against the humans they held responsible for what happened. It was pathetic really, and almost physically painful to see how far his people had fallen.
Well, not precisely his people because he did have the good sense to leave Biel-Tan behind when the opportunity presented itself.
The Grav Tank gently came to a stop a respectful distance from the humans and Rohan nimbly jumped from his perch next to the main cannon. He landed lightly on his feet and walked towards the people waiting for him projecting confidence.
"That's far enough, Eldar." The Space Marine barked.
Rohan halted and gave a closer look to the trio. He couldn't sense them with his Psychic gift, which granted wasn't particularly strong. There was a ravenous void where those three stood, almost like a black-hole hungrily devouring the Sea of Souls itself.
What did the humans or the Necrons for that manner do this time? Was this even more than a disaster than he knew?
At that point, a tiny human figure poked its head from behind the knees of the giant in red and stared at him with huge curious eyes. It was all Rohan could do not to recoil at the sight of the human child. Laying his eyes on her provoked a profound sense of revulsion and not a little fear.
"Humans, what did you do?!" The Ranger hissed, all his hasty plans for the meeting forgotten.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" The Inquisitor rudely demanded.
Rohan shook himself at those words. He was an experience, Aeldari Ranger! Whatever that child-like abomination was, its presence was no excuse for such a lapse in judgment or manners for that matter!
"I'm Ranger Rohan, representing Craftworld Ulthwé." He declared proudly. It wasn't like the humans didn't know his allegiance! Both his armor and the tank proudly wore the emblem of their chosen home.
"Inquisitor Veil, Ordo Xenos. It's most certainly not a pleasure to make your acquaintance. What mischief are you up to, Eldar?" The relatively short rude human introduced himself.
"I'm here to offer an apology on behalf of Farseer Eldrad, Craftworld Ulthwé's Farseer Council, and every sane Eldar in the galaxy." Rohan bit out. His words didn't come out as smoothly as they should have. However, the presence of the little abomination had him on edge. Rohan nearly ground his teeth to dust in order not to do something particularly foolish.
"We should believe you why exactly?" The human had the gall to sound amused. He even cracked a smile that stretched his fresh facial scars in a grotesque parody.
Rohan opened his mouth to snap at the Mon-Keigh, then closed it with a snap thankfully muffled by his helmet. This was actually a good question, especially because of Biel-Tan's recent mishandling of the local situation.
"I'm ready to pledge the Ulthwé forces I brought with me for the battle against the Primordial Annihilator. I also have intelligence about one of its objectives on this world – a powerful demon is imprisoned below the desert no too far from here." Rohan struggled to speak with the gravitas required of an Aeldari of his station. He was representing his people not only in front of the humans but the Necrons who undoubtedly observed and waited for an excuse to pounce at them.
"A demon. Of course, there is going to be a demon here…" The Inquisitor grumbled.
The human didn't sound surprised, mind you, merely resigned. How curious.
"Besides those pouring through that Warp gate?" The giant added.
"Or those the Heretics are busy summoning." The Commissar spoke for the first time too.
"Yes. Besides those." The Inquisitor's dry voice made Rohan look at the humans more closely.
Unsurprisingly, the Space Marine was a towering, armored statue that betrayed nothing even with an abomination hiding behind him. The Commissar did a good job of not glancing nervously at the little human-shaped monster. However, his unease at the situation was clear to see. The Inquisitor, on the other hand? It was obvious that the only things the human was wary of were Rohan, the Grav Tank, and potential treachery from the Aeldari. He showed no visible sign that the little abomination affected him at all. Yet, according to the Biel-Tan survivors, he was a Psyker.
Rohan clamped down on the burning desire to demand an explanation from the humans. What have they done to themselves?!
"We will hear more about this demon." The Inquisitor's words shifted back Rohan's attention to the task at hand. "If you're willing to pledge forces for the battle with the Heretics, they'll have to lead the way. None of us will trust Eldar at our backs, especially after they used their so-called Tau allies as little more than cannon fodder."
Rohan grit his teeth even harder. This wasn't the time and place to declare every single Aeldari life was beyond precious and more valuable than hordes of lesser beings. Even hinting he agreed with that accepted fact wouldn't go down well with the humans, he knew that much.
Chapter 10: Tonight, we dine in hell
=ATBS=
Part 7
=ATBS=
outskirts of Victory Bay
Kronus
My rage grew further and further until it was a boiling maelstrom of barely controlled fury. It was fortunate that thanks to the munchkin hiding behind Anteas' knees, I couldn't touch the Warp even if my life depended on it. In this state, I would be vulnerable to the various daemons clawing at the walls of reality.
The reason for my rage? Our new Eldar acquaintance and the news he brought.
"To my best knowledge, that entity had been imprisoned for the past ten thousand years or so. It is beneath the desert region known as the Eres Badlands. Properly releasing it requires a long ritual with willing sacrifices being a key ingredient."
"This explains the enemy's actions." A Necron drone decloaked above my right shoulder and spoke with the voice of that poor bastard Macabee.
I was pretty sure that the Eldar stiffened at the device's appearance, however, it was hard to say for sure. He did look like he had swallowed a pole-arm and so far did nothing to dissuade that notion. The drone projected a short skirmish between a familiar huge green beast and the traitors.
"That thing simply refuses to die," I concluded after watching the recording. Gorgutz was very much alive. I wasn't going to assume that the Warboss would be lost for good in the Warp again. "We might have to deal with an Ork resurgence sooner rather than later."
"The beasts will still need time to replenish their numbers and build a sufficient number of their scrap weaponry to become a credible threat." Anteas reasonably pointed out. "We should be able to deal with the Heretics before the Greenskin become a credible threat again."
"Because of this new intelligence, my Lord believes that one of the vehicles destroyed in that engagement carried the willing sacrifices for the ritual."
"At least the Orks were useful this one time," I concluded. "I need to consult my people before making a decision on your suggestion about an alliance against the Chaos forces, Ranger Rohan. If we find it agreeable, we'll require your available units to operate where we can see them. Further, it would be unacceptable to let them operate in our rear areas."
"After the last few days, we're trusting your kind even less than usual if that is even possible," Anteas spoke for all of us.
"That might be agreeable." The Eldar said flatly.
That one wasn't a happy camper.
"On a related topic… Can we get to the demon without a ritual?" I looked at the munchkin. She needed a name. Then I glanced at the drone. "Between our little friend here and your technology, would it be possible to lock it out from the Warp and end it once and for all?"
The drone bobbed up and down but didn't immediately answer.
"Such a thing should be impossible even with the aid of a powerful Pariah." Anteas rumbled thoughtfully. "However, the Necron Pylons have a curious effect upon the Immaterium. It might be theoretically possible."
"You humans are insane." The Eldar declared with conviction.
"That's rich coming from you." I bit the inside of my cheek to keep going on a rant. "Your kind has more experience with the Immaterium, and it's inhabitants than most of us. Is it possible to kill the demon for good?"
The Ranger twitched and turned his helmet to stare at Anteas' knees. Our little resident Blank poked her head around the Librarian's bulk and stared back at the Eldar.
"As far as I know, it should be impossible." His voice faltered. "Yet, an abomination with such a powerful effect upon the Sea of Souls shouldn't exist either." He shuddered, and it was plain to see.
"That's not a nice thing to say." I turned to look at the kid. "Sweetie, the rude knife-eared… man," I bit off a curse, "didn't mean it."
The munchkin glared at the Eldar, which was an improvement, I was sure of it, then hid behind Anteas.
"You'd think they would teach you manners back on your Craftworld." I chided.
"That's rich coming from a barbarian human who had the gall to ally with the Necrons of all things!"
"I see that despite all you've wrought, the Aeldari's arrogance is still running strong." The Necron's mouthpiece shot back.
"I think that a brief recess to calm down and discuss the situation would be for the best." I declared, trying to be diplomatic.
"I concur." The Ranger stated coldly, turned around, and marched to the waiting Grav Tank.
We pilled up in a Chimera that waited for us nearby and headed for the city, where General Alexander and company waited for us. Soon we were at a heavy defended forward command post surrounded by patrolling Servo-Skulls and Necron Drones.
The General was inside along with a large part of his retinue. Scipio-Ro-11 joined us before we could begin discussing the situation looking worse to wear. Half his Mechadendrites were missing, and while he wore a pristine brand-new robe, it did little to hide the stench of melted metal, burned oil, and scorched flesh.
"The doctrinal differences between the Mechanicus contingent on Kronus have been resolved. We're permanently down thirty-eight percent of our Tech-Priests, with fifteen more percent needing extensive maintenance. I regret to inform you of the loss of twenty percent of maintenance equipment and spare parts."
That could have gone better, or much worse for that matter.
General Alexander glared at me.
"Inquisitor, what were you thinking?" He demanded.
"That we couldn't afford fanatics among our Mechanicus contingent sabotaging us at the worst possible moment. Giving, leave to loyal Mechanicus elements to resolve their doctrinal issues themselves were the best option in my opinion."
"If necessary, our Scarab Drones can offer field maintenance and repair." The Necron Drone pipped up.
If I didn't know better which I didn't, in this case, I could swear that the modulated voice held more than a hint of amusement.
"Carrying on," Captain Thule cleared his throat aloud. The sound had more in common with a displeased large predator than anything that should leave human lungs. "What are we going to do about the Eldar?"
"An alliance of convenience has some merit. If nothing else, every single one of the bastards we can see and is out in the front, is one less Eldar causing havoc in our rear areas. At any rate, we'll have to leave even more security forces to cover Victory Bay than anticipated." I summarized.
"I concur." General Alexander grimaced. "Besides, every Eldar the traitors shoot at might mean they aren't shooting at one of my soldiers. That said, I'm not trusting them to uphold their part of the bargain."
"Then we should be ready to stab them in the back before they can do the same to us." Captain Thule calmly concluded.
"That's the standard operating procedure when dealing with Eldar, even the few friendly ones," I added. "Thoughts about the demon below the Eres Badlands?"
The Blood Raven's commander grimaced at that.
"The Chapter Master dispatched us here to recover various archeotech and Chapter Relics. A number of them are supposed to be somewhere in that region at the buried remains of Heresy Era battlefields."
"This information isn't filling me with confidence, Captain," Honestly, the Inquisition has begun investigations over much less.
"Is that the real reason why your Astartes shot at my people repeatedly?!" Alexander demanded.
He didn't roar his question, not quite. However, an Ork Warboss would have been proud to bellow like him.
Captain Thule stoically stared at us but refused to say anything more on that particular topic.
"We'll discuss that later." I interrupted the hostile staring match. "Demons, Necron Pylons, and our resident Blank." Said blank currently waited for us just outside munching on an MRE.
"Your suggestion sounds insane, Inquisitor." Alexander's chief Psyker said in a tired voice. "However, to the best of my knowledge, no one has had access to both a powerful Blank, and this kind of technology. Not at the same time and place anyway. It might work, or at least allow us to banish Daemons much easier than we have any right to."
"We should be able to test it," Macabee suggested.
"There's that. I'm sure the Heretics will be throwing all the demons they can at us. Can you get us at least a few mobile Pylons to play with?" I looked at the Drone.
"Multiple units are under construction and will be ready for deployment within eighteen standard hours. We'll need to protect them."
"We will. How do recent developments change our strategy?" I inquired.
The plans to assault the Deimos Peninsula would require some tweaks to incorporate the Eldar's "help", and account for the possibility of a massive Daemon incursion in the Eres Badlands.
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