Applejack grunted as she took a venom cannon shot to her shield, the circle of energy barely deflecting the powerful shot, calibrated as it was for melee combat. Before the creature could get off another shot she pounced, the vector thrusters dotted across the suit transforming the movement into graceful leaps and bounds, unleashing a spray of fusion shots at the beast as she ran, only stopping when the creature was so much slag. Her suit had been upgraded recently, the fusion blaster on her leg was perfect for when she was likely to face a single target in hand to hand combat, but against the swarm she needed something more. To that end, a pair of Fusion Cascades had been mounted on her shoulders, one on each. Faster firing than the fusion gun but weaker as a result, the guns could swivel and target enemies even when she was on all fours, putting her main blaster out of action, and when she stood to use her fusion blade, the Cascades slid forward, still able to spray death to any who tried to oppose her.
There were drawbacks of course, the suits power had to compensate for these new weapons and she couldn’t fire either of the new weapons for long yet. Supposedly the Earth Caste were working on something to rectify that, but for now Applejack was content with the new upgrades, even if they weren’t perfect.
Panting hard she looked around, seeing the devastation she was standing within. Hundreds of dead Tyranid organisms littered the mountain pass, many more were likely buried under the carpet of death, but she couldn’t even begin to guess at their numbers. A quintet of XV9 suits followed Applejack, occasionally firing into a corpse pile where they saw movement, tearing bodies to shreds before continuing.
High above them up the mountain pass was the rest of the Tau forces, hundreds of pulse rifles still jutting out from across the stationary Tidewalls, the rock upon which the Tyranid wave had broken. Their foe would come again, as they had done the time before and the time before that. Each time they got closer, using the bodies of the fallen as cover. Applejack and the other Tau commanders had initially tried to burn the corpses to stop that from happening, but the Hive Mind had become aware of that plan, subsequent generations becoming harder and harder to burn away, and eventually the Tau had been forced to abandon the plan for fear of depleting all their fuel reserves on the fruitless task.
“Reform the lines, take on ammo an’ water, rotate watches,” Applejack spoke into her helmet, her voice weary from the near constant fighting. “Shas ’El’s report in on current situations.”
For the next five minutes all she heard was numbers of dead and living, ammunition counts, water and food rations remaining. Truth be told she didn’t need to hear it all, she would have it all in a data packet by the end of the hour, but it had become a sort of mantra after each fight, a calming technique to wash away the battle by overwhelming her mind with mindless drudgery. It was boring, but it worked, and that was all she cared about.
The foe did come again, just as Applejack and every strategist left on the world said they would. Mawlock’s this time, tunnelling up behind the tidewalls to deliver their deadly cargo, only to be cut down by packs of Kroot unleashed for that very purpose. Applejack would never get used to seeing their way of war, but she was grateful that they didn’t set about consuming the corpses as they usually did, Tyranids being considered inedible for the Kroot, which was far more horrifying for them than it had first seemed to Applejack. Small mercy’s she supposed.
When the attack was driven back she once again demanded a status report, the numbers ever counting down to zero marks. Soon, very soon, they’d have nothing left to throw at the Tyranids. Something had to give, and luckily for her, it did.
***
Eethron smiled as his ship materialised from the webway almost on top of the Tau fleet. They were in perfect range to cut the young races belly and leave them to die if they had so chosen. The Tau commanders had clearly realised the same, the fleet beginning to scatter in an attempt to save themselves. It was futile of course, the Dark Eldar were far superior to these upstarts, and Eethron took a moment to savour the fear he could imagine rolling off all of them.
All goods things had to end however, and with a sigh he turned to one of his subordinates.
“Signal the Tau fleet, convey my warmest regards and inform them we shall be effecting a landing soon.”
His voice was smooth and silky, and if he wasn’t sending a message to a people he had tried to destroy mere months earlier, the Wrack silently obeying his command.
“When you are with that, send a message to the surface,” he continued. “Inform them I shall meet with them in their command room, I desire all of their leaders present when I arrive. Ensure the message bears the seal of the Coven, and then the Triumvirate.”
The bridge was a bustle of activity, blood red Wracks working the consoles to bring the ship into the desires position. Already dozens of fighters had been launched from the belly of this ship alone, bearing temporary webway portals to the surface. In this moment, Eethron had a moment to ponder the planet below, the fleet assailing it and those defending it. Alone even he would have failed to defeat the Hive Fleet, though he had the largest force present by far even after the barest of glances at his new ally’s disposition.
Good, he thought to himself, smiling at the thought. With size came power, with power came the ability to dictate the ebb and flow of a war. No mere defence would be undertaken now, the specimens of the Hive Mind were always valuable to his work, especially his latest project, but they were always tricky to catch, rarely found in small numbers.
Eethron’s mind ran wild as he began to formulate a tally of those beasts he required above the others, those he had already dissected and learnt from, and those the swarm might have produced to combat this new world. Only when a webway portal ripped its way into existence in front of him close to an hour later did he move, stepping through the portal and appearing within an unmistakably Tau building.
***
Applejack couldn’t hide the disgust on her face as Eethron appeared, not that she overly tried, the other Tau in the room clearly following her lead to not treat the arrival as anything more than the enemy of their enemy, never their friend.
Only Rainbow Dash looked pleased to see the Haemonculus, nodding her head to him and receiving a similar gesture in kind. For a long while nobody spoke, no one knew what to say to break the tension created by the presence of such a creature. In the end it was Eethron who took the first step, spreading his many arms wide and affecting an overly gracious bow.
“Mighty Ethereal,” his voice made it clear he saw the Ethereal as anything but mighty. “Honoured commander of the Pa’Laa sept. Rainbow Dash. It is so good to see all of you alive and well, I must admit I feared that by the time I got here you would all have been overrun by the chittering masses at your doorstep. I am glad that is not the case, on that you must believe…”
“Please, spare me the simpering, Haemonculus,” Aun’Vesa cut in, his steely gaze fixed on Eethron. “We all know that you do not come here for any reason other than the fact it benefits you.”
“And to see my favourite project,” Eethron didn’t disagree with Aun’Vesa’s words, turning to face Rainbow. “Succubus Dash, I trust you are doing well? Though looking at you you seem to have been in a recent fight. If there is anything I can do, my laboratory is open to you, as you well know.”
“I know,” Rainbow smiled, before catching sight of Applejack. Her one-time friends eyes were wide, the earth pony silently mouthing for her not to do it, pleading with her from across the room. Looking away, Rainbow continued. “But for now I would settled for a refresh on my combat drugs. I’m running on empty.”
“I will of course help to furnish you with what you need,” Eethron nodded, before turning back to face the room at large. “Now, I am sure I do not need to tell you that the Triumvirate is the largest force on this planet, other than the Tyranids themselves of course, and I intend to use those numbers not merely to defend as you have clearly been doing, but to strike out at our foe and break this invasion force. It should not be difficult now a competent force is present.”
“Maybe we would have been in a better position if y’all hadn’t helped destroy half our holdin’s,” Applejack snapped hate filling her heart as she finally spoke to the creature at the heart of so much of the darkness that Rainbow had opened herself to. “Since ya came ta us rather than just engagin’, it’s clear that ya need us if ya want ta take ya pick of the specimens.”
“My my my, not just a pretty face, are we?” Eethron smiled, fixing Applejack with his stare. “I must say it is nice to finally meet you, Applejack. I have heard so much about you and your sub-species, what I…”
“Eethron,” Rainbow cut in this time, scowling at the Haemonculus. “Leave, her, alone.”
“But of course, my Succubus,” Eethron bowed. “We should get down to planning our next move then.”
The meeting stretched on, first rolling into an hour, and then two. An attack was sounded part way through, but Eethron’s assurances of his own forces ability to handle themselves without his oversight stayed the intervention of the Fire Caste commanders, the screams of dying Tyranids proving his words correctly.
The plan was simple, and typically Eldar, calling for a hundred different cuts across the entire swarm. His ships had already identified the key points, Hive Tyrants, gestation pools, key locations in the fleet above. All of them could be struck, but only by striking them all at once could victory be snatched from the jaws of the looming defeat. Applejack hated to admit it, but as Eethron and Rainbow discussed the attack, her appreciation for their abilities as leaders increased, though not enough to stop her despising the Dark Eldar.
Their plan was complex, filled with dozens of feints to position everything just right, before the final killing thrust. It was a game to them, a contest to be won, the greatest gladiator match Rainbow would have ever faced. Applejack could see the fire returning to Rainbow’s eyes, the drugs Eethron had promised her being delivered and doing their work quickly. The innocence was gone, the Succubus was back in control.
Applejack had stepped out after that, it was clear the plan had already been formulated and she couldn’t take watching the pair any longer. As she walked she caught sight of a familiar group just as they caught sight of her, walking to meet her half way. Koghad, Goge both had the same grim expression on their faces, saluting as they stopped before Applejack.
Both of them bore the signs of battle, weary faces and rents across the armour that they wore. Even Koghad was arrayed for war, clad in a suit of ancestral exo-armour, the Earth Caste Demiurg clearly refusing to stay off the front lines for this fight.
“We saw tha new arrivals on tha frontlines,” Koghad wasted no time with preamble. “Guess that means Saim-Hann ain’t arrived yet.”
“Sadly not,” Applejack shook her head. “We’ll make do, ok?”
“Make do? Ah’m sorry lass, but make do with the people that killed half the worlds under Pa’Laa’s flag? And just how in the world do ya think that’s gonna go down?”
“Badly, but we have no choice,” Applejack sighed. “Goge, how are the Gue’vesa faring? I apologise that ah ain’t had the chance ta check up on y’all.”
“Not to worry, we’re handling ourselves fine,” Goge nodded. “It’s not the first time I’ve fought the Tyranids. I must agree with Koghad though, Shas’O. This will not go down well with…”
“What do ya want me to do?” Applejack snapped at the pair, instantly regretting losing her temper. “Look ah’m sorry, but we have precisely two options here. We fight with them, or we die and get eaten. Ah ain’t plannin’ on lettin’ Pa’Laa die on some Exodite world. Now come on, ah need to rest and drink after all this.”
“Now yer speakin’ mah language,” Koghad chuckled, leading the pony and human towards the mess hall the Demiurg had co-opted for their own kind.
***
“It is truly good to see you again,” Eethron smiled, handing Rainbow a goblet of clear liquid which she drained after a quick sniff. The pair had travelled back to his ship after the meeting, wishing to talk away from the primitives as Eethron had put it.
“And you,” Rainbow nodded, before exposing her neck. “Eethron, what is this? I heal from everything given time thanks to your ministrations, but not this. Why?”
“Curious, I did wonder why it had not faded like your other scars. I presume the scars across your face is a similarly stubborn marking?”
The Haemonculus reached out for Rainbow as he spoke, his numerous tendrils stretching her neck out so that he may better examine the wound. Rainbow had learnt long ago not to bother voicing indignation at the handling, the thin tendrils being far stronger than she was. Besides, this was the least invasive way of getting him to look at it, the next stage was to find herself in his laboratory again, and as much as she craved that, to grow stronger once more, every time she thought of it her throat and face burned white hot.
“Curious,” Eethron mused, running a scalpel along the scar tissue and watching as it knitted itself back together. “Why am I never present when you receive such interesting injuries, Succubus? This wound is more than just flesh and blood, it seems…mental? Spiritual? I am not sure just from this, but far beyond merely the physical, that much is obvious. You body sees it as you, an intrinsic part of you, at you grow it back every time, just as you would heal from any other wound done to you.”
“Do something about it,” Rainbow grimaced. “Adapt my drug cocktail or something, I don’t want it there, understand?”
“Perfectly,” Eethron nodded. “But I cannot comply. This is admittedly new to me, and unless you will allow me to study it in more detail…”
“No,” Rainbow snapped, her throat burning as she pulled away, Eethron letting her go and turning to face the void beyond his window.
“Well then I am afraid I cannot help you. You may see yourself out when you are ready, you know the way to the portal.”
Rainbow snorted in anger, before turning and heading for the door.
“Oh, Succubus,” Eethron called out just as she reached the door, Rainbow turning to find him staring straight at her. “You do have my thanks, without you I would have been forced to dispose of Ilithia and Ale’ri myself before long, those two were such a drag on the Triumvirate. You opened the way for me, and for that I thank you, but this little world is the last time I will help you. After this your rank of Succubus may hold up in the Cult of the Lightning Fang if you were ever to return to Commoragh, though I highly doubt it. The Triumvirate is mine, it is yours no longer. Do not forget that.”
“I won’t,” Rainbow growled, before turning and walking from the room.
“Besides,” Eethron murmured to himself, raising the scalpel to his eyes to inspect the blood and cell tissue that he had collected upon its blade. “You are fast becoming obsolete, little pony.”
Another tendril, this one bearing a small crystal took the scalpel from the Haemonculus, sealing its precious cargo within a tiny bubble of time. Once he was sure the specimen was preserved, he turned and headed for his laboratory.