Everchosen : Chapter 26

-991.M41-

-Launcel IV, Segmentum Solar-

-Joshua Pendrarc, Everchosen-

Nine hours and twenty six minutes after his initial prediction, the attack began. 

It began relatively slowly, with quiet alerts through vox-speakers about ships suddenly appearing in orbit over the planet, screaming through the exosphere on the opposite side of the globe to the meager self-defense fleet that knights maintained. Alien ships with sharp, brutal edges and swooping curves that menaced in the darkness of the void- the signature designs of the Dark Eldar. 

These ships then disgorged smaller ships, which screamed down across the exosphere and to the world below, warded from the incredible friction of the atmosphere by some manner of advanced shielding. The air set fire almost immediately as they passed, the general shape of the ships forcing the burning air into a shape akin to some immense, flaming bird of prey. 

With machine-eyes trained on the horizon, he could see the faint impression of these immense raptors of fire. Zoomed all the way in, they were but a tiny spec that slowly grew in size. 

One second later, they were almost doubled in size. 

Two seconds later, they were almost doubled in size again. 

Three seconds later, he had to unzoom with his eyes to keep them in sight.

Approximately fifteen seconds after the first notice of contact, the alien ships were close enough to release a payload from their underbellies- a great white spike of bone that spun elegantly through the air as it was pulled to the earth. The large ships almost immediately screamed past, leaving a deafening shockwave in their wake. They began a broad turning angle as their ships dramatically decreased in speed, clearly looking to make a second pass later on.

Twenty seconds after first contact, the shard of bone impacted the shore south of the town, an enormous boom and rumble of the earth following afterwards. It had not struck anything directly, but the impact had kicked up an immense cloud of dust and ash.

Joshua reached for his helmet, tossing aside his leafy hat and slotting the helm over his head. It hissed as it clamped down around his skull, connecting to the black bodysuit around his neck and pressurizing internally.

Next to him, his bodyguards tossed aside their own disguises and secured their own helmets. The marine practically exploded out of the box he was in, sending the fragments of wood scattering around and splashing into the water. 

The Remembrancer typed away at his mechanical keyboard.

Approximately thirty seconds after first sighting in the atmosphere, the attack on the ground began. Twenty ships screamed out of the dust cloud, each one with the same swooping plates and abundant sharp edges, each one hovering off the ground and bearing immense sailed fins depicting a flayed humanoid. They moved forwards with alarming speed, a blast of arcane light ushering forth from a mounted gun on one’s front and flashing forwards to smash against the outer walls of the town with enormous force, shattering the brick barrier inwards at once.

Each was roughly the size of a common sailboat, perhaps thirty or fifty feet long in all, and each carried a number of tall, lanky figures in armor of the same swooping, edged plate design of the ships. Some carried blades, others weapons that resembled guns, and others with devices of no immediately recognizable function. 

Roughly one minute after the ships first appeared in the system, the attack-boats were circling the town looking for captives to abduct. If they hadn’t been forewarned, the defenses probably wouldn’t have been mobilized and ready in time to save everyone. Maybe not even anyone. 

Unfortunately for these Dark Eldar, they had nine hours to prepare.

The first raider-boat passed through the shattered walls and into the open streets of the town, sharp bladed edges of the boat ripping right through wooden stands and cloth.

The raider boat was suddenly thrown off-course as one of the knight suits unloaded a salvo of shots from within a courtyard, weapons already aimed in the direction the boat was approaching. Ten meters of warmachine carrying tank-scale weaponry let out a triumphant horn blow as it began the counter-ambush. Lightly armored, the boat crumbled under the barrage, smashing inwards and sending all Dark Eldar onboard tumbling out to scatter across the streets and buildings. 

Where common men with instruments of capture awaited them- shock-batons, fishing nets, bolas, and similar implements. Some deliberately fashioned for capture, some improvised. 

The fighting on the ground began almost immediately as disoriented and dazed Dark Eldar attempted to rise and fight back against swarms of men who had surrounded them.

The other boats, seeing or hearing the sudden return-fire, immediately swiveled and began to move in more evasive patterns, screaming past alleyways and pulling up to start riding the winds over the rooftops. More knights stomped out of their hidden positions with guns screaming. No attempt was made by any of the boats to aid their grounded comrades. 

Out of the dust of the initial impact, the form of the bone spire began to reveal itself. A flickering field of nigh-invisible energy surrounded it, and its side glowed with the light of alien runes. A portal webway gate, and the means that the attack boats had used to suddenly emerge onto the world.

A few seconds after it had become visible, an enormous explosion engulfed it. Artillery fire rained down on the flickering pillar of bone until it shattered and detonated with a pulse of energy and a snap-crack of displaced air. 

Their means of retreat was now gone. They could attempt to escape over the seas with their antigravity ships- which is exactly what one boat began doing, speeding out of the town and towards the docks.

Directly in their direction, over the stone docks and out towards the open sea. Bladed edges of a ship raced towards them as fast as an arrow. If that boat reached them, they’d be torn apart and bifurcated as it struck. He resisted the urge to leap out of the way, limbs trembling to flee, and brought up a different set of instincts.

He focused his will. His new instinct burned. A bright golden glow began to shine around him.

To help focus his aim, he shifted his stance and pointed at the ship. A golden centipede tightened around his brainstem.

Stop.

A pair of massive golden hands formed on the dockway, right before the alien transport. The boat crumpled as it crashed directly into the wall of golden force. The riders of the transport were alternatively smashed against the barrier of gold with sprays of blood or tossed out of the ship and into the shallow waters around them.

He would’ve flinched harder at the sudden vehicular manslaughter but he had lived on Necromunda for a few years- sudden vehicular manslaughter happened every few hours.

“Shoot anyone who tries to flee, attempt crippling shots.” Joshua stated, lowering his finger and drawing on the Tarot. Was there anything he needed to worry about elsewhere on the battle?

Focus on self-development.

No. A bright flash of light surrounded him as a hail of microscopic crystals smashed into his rosarius-barrier, a handful bouncing off the plates of his armor. Dazed Dark Eldar rising up from their sudden crash to begin firing upon them with their long, bladed guns. He restrained a flinch and focused on the telekinetic part of his brain.

A golden figure formed around him, emerging from the ambient glow and solidifying into a solid barrier of telekinetic force. The ongoing hail of tiny crystalline splinters was pushed back, well away from his conversion-field.

The reach of his arms would be limited while maintaining the torso around him, so he needed to approach if he wanted to use it. He raised his arm and flexed, sending the super-lasgun mounted on his arm sliding forwards and locking his hand in place, preventing him from shooting himself with it. 

He took aim at a firing Dark Eldar, ignored the ongoing hail of crystal shards, steadied his breathing, and fired. A hot, almost-white blast of reddish light flashed out of the barrel of his lasgun, speeding forwards at lightspeed to-

-miss, as the Dark Eldar had started moving immediately when he started aiming and Joshua’s tracking with something on his arm was pretty underdeveloped. Whoops. He probably should’ve spent more time practicing that, huh?

Howls and battlecries sang out from the Dark Eldar as they picked themselves up off the ground, speaking in an alien tongue and giving out unknown insults. 

A salvo of bolter-fire from the marine next to him barked out from his bolter- a full sized bolter meant for two hands wielded in one. The dodging Dark Eldar continued to roll, even as the explosive rounds hounded his arms and legs, eventually leaping over the edge of the docks and into the water to get away.

A burning ray of lasgun fire flashed the moment the Dark Eldar was in the air, smashing into the elbow of the arm that braced the bladed gun and ripping it off with a snap-crack of flash-boiled flesh and blood. 

A second ray, immediately after the first, took off one of the legs at the knee.

The Dark Eldar fell into the water, missing two limbs.

Joshua glanced over to see Heinrich reposition his aim at another, different Dark Eldar that was attempting to fire upon them. He turned his head back to the front in time to see a long hook on a wire race forwards. The Dark Eldar it was aimed at flowed out of the way, maintaining fire upon them the whole time.

The hook latched onto one of the many posts around the docks and began reeling in, suddenly, Diana was pulled forwards by a mechanized winch on the end of her gauntleted forearm. 

“BE SMOTE!” The sister of battle cried out, accelerating her crackling powerfist into the post she was latched onto and obliterating it, freeing her apparent grapple-hook and allowing it to fully retract. She raised her meltagun, now in the middle of the group of xenos, and began to fire lances of burning heat. 

That unfortunately left her very exposed to return-fire. 

Joshua began to dash forwards, chasing the sister who had just brazenly charged into melee against a small horde of Dark Eldar, all of whom were currently flowing and weaving around her lances of incinerating heat in unnaturally smooth dodges. 

They were blisteringly fast on the ground, faster than anyone Joshua had seen except Hercule when he was serious, and their reflexes made them almost impossible to hit accurately. 

One Dark Eldar jumped to avoid a blast of fire, raising his bladed long-gun to fire upon the charging sister.

That one was interrupted by an exceedingly accurate shot, as Heinrich’s lasgun crack-boomed another limb off. The aiming-arm of the Dark Eldar was torn off, again at the elbow, and the gun slumped to the side of the sister, payload unleashed into the stone foundations of the dock.

Joshua fired his own lasgun again, still closing distance, missing another time as the target swiveled on their heel and flipped away, unleashing a hail of crystal bullets as they moved. Joshua restrained another flinch, as the crystals bounced off the ground at a precise angle and up towards his knees, once more impacting his conversion field-generator in a flash of light. 

Right underneath the telekinetic barrier he was maintaining- they were adapting uncomfortably fast to the circumstances of the battlefield. 

Just before the Dark Eldar landed, a flash of lasfire smashed into their knee, blowing it off with another crack-boom. How the hell was Heinrich so consistent with these shots?

The Dark Eldar were in the process of falling back, sliding across the ground, flipping over the rubble of their transport, swerving and weaving around shots fired by all of them except Heinrich. 

He was close enough. He focused on one of the Dark Eldar.

A pulse of gold followed. The centipede flexed along his spine.

Stop.

In a flash, a golden hand had manifested around the Target, binding them in place with an unshakeable grip. That hand was attached to an arm, which was attached to the shoulder of the torso that was manifested around him.

One grabbed.

He turned his attention to another- he flinched as sparks flew from his side. Aias had moved forwards in one quick motion with his shield raised, parrying a sweep of the bladed gun from a Dark Eldar dripping with water. A sweep that likely would’ve been stopped by the golden torso, but it was the thought that mattered.

A quick flurry of melee fighting followed between the veteran marine and the Dark Eldar. A similar melee had emerged around the sister of battle, who was being hounded by the non-crippled Dark Eldar, none of which she could hit with her powerfist for their speed.

Joshua focused his will again.

Stop.

A second Dark Eldar had been snatched, pinning limbs to their sides in one giant golden hand and lifting them off the ground, floating next to the other captive.

Another Dark Eldar leapt, towards the water in an evasion fashion. Another flash-crack of lasfire removed a limb before he hit the water.

“Heinrich- how are you so accurate? It’s incredible!” Joshua remarked, eyes roaming to keep track of the ongoing battle and trying to harass with his arm-mounted lasgun. 

“They have no leverage in the air. They can’t dodge if you shoot them after they leap.” Heinrich explained in an emotionless tone.

Their leaps were barely lasting a second at their longest. The stormtrooper’s snap-fire accuracy was unreal. 

More than half of them had been crippled or captured outright by this point, with every attempt to flee to the water punished by Heinrich’s unerringly accurate shots and the ongoing melee crumbling from the need to continually dodge Joshua’s own shots and the sister of battle.

Diana stepped into a blow, a blade along the edge of the alien gun cutting deep into her side as her arm locked down on top of it. The Dark Eldar was delayed just long enough for her power-fist to crash into his side, a sharp crackle of thunder echoing as he exploded backwards and crashed into the side of the next dock over. 

Diana raised her arm and let the gun fall, dripping with her fresh, red blood. A hail of crystals smashed into her own conversion-field and bounced along her plates of armor. She staggered then collapsed to one knee, clutching at her side. 

One of the crystals must have finally gotten through. From what he remembered, they were dipped in some kind of toxin.

He drew from the Tarot. Will she die?

Prepare for disappointment.

He glanced at the warriors clutched in his hands. He couldn’t grab anything with both hands full…

He brought the hands together harshly, rattling both of the imprisoned Dark Eldar long enough that they couldn’t escape as he pulled one hand away. The golden fist closed around both of them, trapping them in place.

One hand freed, he immediately focused.

The Dark Eldar who had been locked in a furious melee with Aias was seized suddenly, forced to drop its weapon and limbs locked at its sides as a golden hand closed around it. They could dodge him without how slow he was compared to them, but his telekinesis moved at the speed of thought. There was little they could do to dodge it.

Three captives now. 

Now freed from the melee, Aias charged forwards to support the wounded sister of battle, bolter firing until it clicked out of ammo, a cascade of small explosions engulfing that end of the docks.

The Dark Eldar, having learned by this point, refused to leap to avoid any of the blows.

They were outnumbered two to one, however. 

It wasn’t long before the combined shots had cornered them enough for another shot to land- Aias managing to shove one against a section of crumbled ship long enough to daze and for Heinrich to land a shot on their ankle. The last Dark Eldar, seeing all of their allies fall and the battle not going in their favor, leapt forwards in a suicidal blow. 

They were quickly restrained, as the injured Diana fired her grapple from an unexpected angle and wrapped both Aias and the Dark Eldar together in some kind of wire made from a steel-adjacent material.

Aias grunted in extreme annoyance as the flailing xeno was strapped against his arm and chest, using his helmet to bash against the Dark Eldar’s own until it stopped moving. 

The large Dark Eldar ships began to pass overhead again, slowing briefly like they were going to drop and retrieve the webway beacon before noticing the battle going on and attempting to change course.

A salvo of a dozen anti-air guns managed to clip their wings and engines, stuttering their escape and making the bladed ships limp through the air in a wide, collapsing spiral. Two birds of flaming death descended to the ground and left a long scar across the beach as they landed. 

The battle was forgone at this point, even if it wasn’t actually over. Knights stomped through buildings in chasing their prey, using their mass and guns to hound fleeing xenos into crowds of soldiers where most were captured, and some were killed. 

Most of the present remainders were crippled and kept disarmed by Heinrich’s well-aimed lasgun barking whenever they tried to reach for a weapon or crawl away.

He pulled from the Tarot. How goes the battle in orbit?

Progress requires patience.

Not done yet then. Joshua sighed, trying to dispel the shakes that the sudden violence had brought to him. “Heinrich, see to Diana’s wounds. Aias, help me tie up the Eldar I have grabbed, I need my hands free to grab the others.”

“Forgive me, Lord Vessel, but I am currently bound to a filthy xenos and cannot move my left arm.”

Joshua almost snorted with humor.