Everchosen : Chapter 25

-991.M41-

-Launcel IV, Segmentum Solar-

-Joshua Pendrarc, Everchosen-

Your expectations will be met.

He shot up from the bed with alarm, the sleepy tarot reading returning the first ‘positive’ answer since he had made it a morning habit. He reached up with his hand and rubbed at his eyes, brushing the sleep from the corners as he drew another card.

Within the hour?

Prepare for disappointment. 

Within twelve hours?

Your expectations will be met.

Within six hours?

Prepare for disappointment.

Within nine hours?

Prepare for disappointment. 

Within ten hours?

Your expectations will be met.

More than nine and less than ten hours away then. He threw off the luxurious blanket and turned to the inquisitorial servo skull that monitored his activities. “Whoever is monitoring this line- send a message to the admiral. There will be an attack a bit more than nine hours from now, but less than ten hours.”

He reached down to take a fresh pair of loose cloth pants, slipping it on. The inquisitorial servo skull gave a positive sounding ‘chirp’ of confirmation. The room was well lit, even with the lights still turned off, from the blossoming glow of golden light that started to surround him. 

He reached over to grab his deck and start shuffling it, refreshing the cards for more information to come. While he did that, he turned his gaze to the mechanicus servo-skull that acted as his communication link to his assigned tech-adept. “Tell Ukey I’m awake, and he’s to bring my armor over.”

The servo skull gave a dull buzz, floating over to a stand and reaching grasping claws out to lift a black bodysuit of myomer for him. Joshua set his deck aside and pushed up from the bed, slipping into the black bodyglove with mild assistance from the mechanicus skull. As he got dressed, he drew from the tarot again.

Who was attacking?

Decadent Xenos that feed on Torment.

Dark Eldar?

Your expectations will be met.

That was a Yes. How many ships?

You have the advantage over your enemies.

Less than them, then. 

He continued to draw and ask questions about the incoming danger, ignoring how the golden light intensified around his form for the time being. A knock came at the door.

“Yes?” He asked, still distracted from his ongoing investigation about the incoming danger. 

“Lord Vessel? Are you under any stressors?” The space marine, Aias, asked from outside the door. 

“You can open the door, I’m dressed.” He replied, reaching over to grab at the sword of Russ and lean against it, propping his chin against its hilt as he continued to draw. The door was opened immediately, a private chamber in the transport they had gone down to the planet upon used as his exclusive domain while visiting the knightworld. 

His bodyguards looked in, freezing as they took stock of the brilliant light that surrounded him. 

“I need a secure line of communication to the admiral.” He declared with a frown, still drawing, still gaining as much information as he could think of. He eventually ran out of cards again, and was forced to reach over and shuffle the deck once more. 

It took very little time for them to get moving, after he said that. 

Within fifteen or so minutes he was standing before a screen and communications device- some manner of laser-guided comms that allowed light-speed transmissions of data across straight lines and between ships. It was fast enough for ground to orbit communications, but any appreciable distance in space made it increasingly slow and inefficient. 

“Lord Vessel, you requested a meeting with me?” The half-machine admiral asked from the other side of the screen. 

“There is an attack coming in a bit more than nine but a bit less than ten hours.” Joshua got right to the point, a bonfire of light around him and a crown of gold hovering over his head. Once more he was clad in his power armor, feeling significantly more prepared for the violence to come with it on. “Dark Eldar raiders will emerge from a point opposite of the moon of this system and travel low across the exosphere to avoid local ships. They’ll then descend and start attacking settlements on the western interior continent to take slaves. Stationing the imperial fleet on the far side of the moon from them will allow us to perform an ambush and intercept them in orbit.”

“Of course, Lord Vessel. Do you know the composition of their fleet?”

“One cruiser, three escorts. They’ll deploy attack craft from each to assault the world and use their superior speed to avoid the local defense fleet.” Joshua nodded seriously. “We need to wait for them to commit to the raid before ordering a counter-offensive, it's necessary to capture as many as possible.”

“It shall be done, Lord Vessel.” The half-machine admiral saluted, before he dropped the gesture and continued with a slight frown. “There is something you should know. The navigators have come to the consensus that the warp is growing increasingly turbulent several light years away, and is in the process of brewing into a storm headed in this direction. They have not come to an agreement about how soon it will arrive, but the most cynical interpretation is within a day.”

“Another warp storm?” Joshua asked with a mild frown and furrowed brows, mostly to himself. He drew from the Tarot once more.

Was this enemy action?

It would be wise to presume.

Was this the same enemies as before.

Your fears are not unfounded.

“Its the same group as before. They’ve realized the diversion and are approaching to intercept and slow us again.” Joshua figured with a frown, leaning on the massive sword and reaching up to scratch at his chin. “Keeping us confined while their allies attack the diversion fleet and move to intercept.”

“It will take at least a day and a half before the knights you invited into your retinue to finish their preparations and loading of their ship, Lord Vessel, and roughly the same amount of time for the three-day timeframe to expire.” The admiral reminded, not sternly, but not softly either. 

Joshua hadn’t really intended to recruit a hundred knights. He had merely heard the request, thought ‘giant robots are cool’ and proposed the solution. It took all of five seconds of thinking after he had made that proposal for him to realize the problem, and six seconds for everyone to start shouting that they wanted to come along.

That clause he added about them needing their own ship was the only thing that stopped the entire planet from coming along, it seemed, because their biggest ship could only fit about a hundred knights and have enough supplies and provisions for all of them.

At least, a hundred knights and whatever crap they wanted to bring along, that was. Back to the matter at hand…

“Long enough for them to trap us again if we stay here…” Joshua nodded to show he understood. Why would the emperor want them to stay here for three days in that case? Was it something he missed, or was it…?

The Dark Eldar will emerge into the system on the opposite side of the moon. “Admiral, where is that gravitational anomaly located right now?” Joshua asked, starting to put the pieces together. 

The admiral paused, then looked over to the side. Someone said something off screen that Joshua couldn’t readily parse out. The admiral nodded, then turned back to the screen. “Below the planet’s south pole and somewhat to the side, roughly a third of a terran rule out.”

“Where will it be relative to the moon in about nine hours?”

Another pause.

“...Roughly opposite of the planet, Lord Vessel.”

The clues slotted into place. That wasn’t a gravitational anomaly, it was a Webway gate. 

Joshua huffed with a tiny smirk. “I see why it's vital we capture these Dark Eldar now.” He muttered.

“Lord Vessel?”

“Worry about ambushing and capturing the attacking ships, Lord Admiral. I’ll take the men planetside and ask them to move to defend the planned raid targets.” Joshua nodded with the most confidence he could muster. “If we’re lucky, we can get them all without a single common man being bound and shipped off for endless torments.”

“I understand. Thy will be done, Lord Vessel.”

After all, that’s exactly where the Emperor wanted him. Right there, in the middle of the ground fight, defending the common men while the big ships handled the naval battle. 

There was an electrical hum of approval in the back of his mind, confirming his suspicions in a fairly blatant manner. 

He was getting pretty good at predicting what the big guy wanted from him.

—

There was really no way he was going to remain hidden if he was glowing, which meant he needed to get all of his questions out of the way and into position long before the attackers came, which in turn necessitated a furious pace of talking to locals, looking at maps, figuring out where the attack was going to come, and then where to best station the available forces to ambush and capture them. 

The majority of Launcel IV was covered in water, with only a few small islands piercing through a drowned planet. The citizens were somewhat amphibious in lifestyle, with fishing towns built atop stone pillars and wooden beams stretching up from sunken hillsides and monolithic coral spires. This made figuring out where the attacks would come rather easy, as there was a very limited number of places an attack could even happen that would hit anything. 

Figuring out how to set up the local forces to make an effective ambush was made difficult by that same measure, because there were a limited number of places where anything could be hidden and in position to fire upon the attackers. Made more difficult because imperial knights, the giant humanoid warmachines used by many parts of the imperium, were not waterproof.

They were mostly waterproof, but that didn’t mean you could just submerge one in the ocean and it would be fine. The water would go down the exhaust pipes and then it'd be a huge mess.

In the end, the decision was made to have them hide behind the largest buildings in the town and be ready to shoot from there. The rest would be on the other side of the island, ready to start running in at full pace after the attackers arrived. That meant eight knights and their retinues ready for the battle, and two dozen more for reinforcements about three minutes after the fighting started. 

“Are you sure of this plan, Yer Diviniti?” One of the knights spoke with the local accent, a broad man with half a mustache and the other half of his face a mangle of horrific scar tissue. His helmet was in his hands, and he was wearing the kind of plate armor-skintight bodysuit that was semi-standard for knights across the Imperium. 

“I’m quite confident, Sir Knight.” Joshua smiled, fitting a massive hat made of broad, dried leaves over his head and adjusting the broad, loose cloak of straw around his shoulders. When combined with the large fishing pole in his hands, he looked very much like any ordinary man from a distance. His armor, of course, was under this costume.

His bodyguards were similarly dressed, although the Space Marine was instead hiding himself within a kind of shipping container. All over the docks, other soldiers were disguised to look like the locals. Many were fishermen for the docks, others were hidden in stalls and shops, and yet more were hiding in crates and barrels. 

The actual citizens had already been evacuated to the local keep, well away from any danger. But the raiders would just turn around and leave if they saw that no one was here, hence the need for a disguise. 

None of the disguises were perfect, but they didn’t need to be. They only needed to be convincing enough to get the dark eldar to commit to an attack.

“Aye then. Unless ye have further need of mae, I’ll be off to my suit. Let’s get them bastards dead.” The knight declared with a zealous nod and fist pounded against his chestplate. 

“Remember- all knights are to target their webway gate generator with long ranged guns first, then their actual ships. We want to capture as many of them as possible.” Joshua pointed out with a raised finger, then nodded and turned, walking down along the docks. 

It was kinda comical watching the space marine, half-hidden under a large wooden crate, walking behind him as they moved into position. 

“Capture, Lord Vessel?” The space marine sized box asked him as they went to the end of the massive stone docks. 

“Another warp storm is brewing around this system, conjured into being by the same heretics that attacked us earlier.” He muttered, just low enough for his guards to hear. “They’ll be hounding us all the way back to Terra now- a distraction won’t shake them off a second time.”

“We could simply leave right now, but that would leave the knights behind and would be cutting the Emperor’s declared three day period short.” Joshua shook his head. “Further, they could just keep following us, and if their ship is faster than the slowest ships we have, they’d catch up with us eventually anyways. We need to get away from them, but we’re not fast enough in realspace, and we’re not fast enough in the warp.”

Reaching the end of the docks, he sat down, letting his armored legs kick off the edge, and then started to bait the hook of his long fishing pole. Some type of fish-chunk was set on a barb the size of his hand. 

“So what is the solution, Your Divinity?” The sister of battle, Diana, asked, watching him bait the hook and cast the line out. 

“We need to disappear through a route they can’t follow us through.” Joshua declared firmly, shaking off the rust of years as he tried to remember how to do this correctly. “Which is where these Dark Eldar raiders come into play.”

After a few moments of no response, he asked another question in a conversational manner. “Have you ever battled against Dark Eldar before?” 

“On occasion, the foul xenos were butchering local populations around a shrine world and erecting grotesque, living statues of suffering men, grafted together.” Diana spoke with a simmering hatred, bringing her gaze up to the enormous oceans around them. “Nine of us died for every one we felled. They fled immediately after they began to take casualties, like the cowards they are.”

“I battled against Dark Eldar many times. They frequently raid merchant fleets and isolated worlds for goods and captives, usually just for the sake of doing it rather than any kind of need.” Aias spoke with the proper amounts of disdain for aliens that he’d expect from a space marine, squatting down and disappearing into the shape of a completely ordinary box with lid slightly ajar. 

There was a pause.

Joshua turned towards the stormtrooper, currently staring at his rod and bucket of bait like he had never seen either before, and raised a brow. “What about you, Heinrich? Have you ever fought against Dark Eldar?”

“Fourteen engagements, three of which were strategic victories.” The stormtrooper recited dutifully, turning his head up. His helmet was currently off and secured to his belt, which revealed a pale scarred face with equally pale blue eyes and pale blond hair. It was as if the man simply didn’t have enough color put in when he was being made. “They are fast, but their weapons are inefficient. Designed to cause pain more often than actually kill a target.”

Joshua nodded and turned back to the line, feeling how the rod jumped and kicked with bites. He started to reel in whatever it was he caught with no small strain, holding himself in place with a sturdy beam. 

That lined up with his knowledge of the Dark Eldar. Sadistic raiders who spend their lives in decadent pleasure simply because they had nothing really better to do. They were more nuanced than that, truthfully, but that nuance felt a little pointless when they were actively flaying people to feed evil gods.

Very, very evil bastards. Part of the reason the Imperium hated aliens so much. 

“The most relevant bit to our current situation is how they move around the galaxy.” Joshua explained slowly as he fought against whatever aquatic beast he was wrestling with. “They don’t use realspace, or the warp, but rather something called the Webway.”

Finally, the fish-thing had been dragged to the surface. An immense, thrashing thing covered in plates of boney armor. Joshua let a hint of boyish excitement come to his face as he continued to drag it in. 

“And this webway is what we’ll use to travel, Lord Vessel?” Aias asked from his box. 

“Pre- gosh this is a big one, huh- precisely.” Joshua confirmed, struggling with the last phase, which was pulling the fish out of the water and up onto the docks. A monstrous, three-foot thing that had more in common with dinosaurs than any fish he knew and recognized.

Then again, the only fishing that was done in Necromunda was in the irradiated sewers, and that was how you got cancer, not dinner.

He used his fingers, very glad that they were covered in plates of power armor, to hold open the horrible jaws of the beast and remove the hook. Once that was done, he pushed it back into the water, where it sat shocked for a couple seconds before rapidly swimming away. 

He noticed that the stormtrooper was still staring at the rod and bucket of bait. “Would you like to learn how to fish?” Joshua asked, bemused. 

The stormtrooper looked at him, then looked at the rod again.

“Come on, it's easy, I’ll show you how.” Joshua didn’t bother waiting for a reply, instead just starting up the explanation. 

This plan probably wasn’t the best one, but it was a good plan. It was a good plan because it meant he could go fishing as he waited out the last few hours for the attack to come.

There was a patient amusement in the back of his mind.