//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: The Blood Ravens Last Flight // by Nobodyslament //------------------------------//         I woke up to a hail on my radio. Checking on Scootaloo, I found she was in her room. I walked away, hoping I could get all my business done before she woke up. I walked to my radio and took the receiver in my hands. “Hello, this is Crucius Marx, please respond.”         “Yes, this is Blood Raven rescue team, here to verify reported alpha-alpha-omega.” I knew what that meant. It meant they wanted to make sure I was on a world they approved of. I hoped a brief check would placate them.         “Confirming, if you wish to talk, their is a sigil near my current location, I’m en route their now.”         I put down the receiver and walked away. I hoped they would say no. “This is rescue team, we are en route as well. ETA ten minutes.” I sighed and grabbed a piece of paper. I left a note explaining very clearly to Scootaloo that I shouldn’t be followed. I wrote for her to go to Twilight and get the whole town to stay away from the abandoned field. I prayed she would listen.         I jogged to the field, making sure that I reached it within ten minutes. I was only waiting for two. The ship descended slowly, allowing me full time to see how armed it was. The answer was heavily. Heavy bolters surged along its sides, with lascannons and even heavier weapons to complement it. It landed with a barely noticeable hiss. The ramp opened up to a captain saluting me. I returned the salute. He slowly moved to an at ease position as marines slowly filed out to make a pathway. “This is captain Narwan reporting to check on your situation. You seem to have picked a nice planet Champion.”’         A voice cu in on our conversation. “Uh-oh. Looks like some friends just showed up.” I really began to loathe the chaotic little cur.         I looked over all the marines and nodded to the captain. “I like this planet a fair deal, enough to live here anyways.”         The captain smiled at me. “Forgive me for not sharing your sentiments/ I’d prefer a battlefield to a planet any day.” All the marines chuckled at their captain.         A robed figure walked out of the ship. I gulped, the rose on his lapel told me all I needed. The inquisitor was here. He looked over me, and then to a small palm pad. His knuckles were white. He cleared his throat. “Greetings, champion. Though I hold you in the utmost respect, I must assuage my fears. I assume you’re here to combat the massive warp influence?”         I had feared this, but honesty was a flaw in this scenario. “No inquisitor. The inhabitant appear to have controlled the warp rather well. I chose this world to study the effects.”         The inquisitor dropped his pad. “That is unacceptable. I demand a purge. At once.” He turned to the captain. “Make it so.”  I was at the Inquisitor throat before he knew what happened. I held my pistol as close to his head as I dared. I heard a few marines point their bolters in my general area, but most kept out of it. They were wise. I unshielded my visor so the inquisitor could see my eyes. “Do you know what an alpha-alpha-omega is? I own this world now. The inhabitants have MY protection. Understand? You have broken my only rule.” I did what I thought would be best. A small distances later and the bolter trigger clicked. The mechanisms sprang to life, and the Inquisitor lay dead in my hands.         I threw the body aside and looked at the captain. “Sir, the good inquisitor broke my only law on this planet. No indigenous life is to be harmed, or even threatened, by outsiders. I am still happy to welcome you, if you want to stay a while.”         The marines all pointed their bolters at me. Not in a threatening way, more to calm any nerves that may be frayed by my actions. The captain, for his part,didn’t flinch.  :You know what this means, don’t you?”         I nodded. “Yes, you’ll respect my law, and challenge my decision to live here. I expect you’ll leave afterwards, and wipe all pertinent info. As per regulations.”         The captain nodded, and turned to face the marines. “Marx is being officially challenged for a right to stay, brother-scribe, step forward.” A marine stepped forward. His armor was the same as everyone else’s, minus a few details. His armor had Imperium scripts written throughout it. He carried a bolter of almost ceremonious design, and finally, he had a large book on his arm. He brought out a pen and looked back to the captain. The captain looked over his marines. “A champion is being challenged, who volunteers to battle?”         I re-shielded my visor, and looked across the line. Most of who I was fighting were half-century veterans. One looked to be a century or two old, but still pretty young. I started planning. I had thirty seconds before we were cleared to move, then a buzzer would sound. I could possibly remove two from the action then. I would roll to the side and duck into a trench. If all went according to plan, it would mean I would be facing eighteen combatants in combat as opposed to twenty. The odds would be more in my favor.         The buzzer rang, and I sprang to life. I dropped to one knee and braced my bolter, the sharp kick woke my senses. I had aimed for a high ranking soldier in the middle. I saw the blood erupt from the newly acquired hole in his leg. I rolled almost to the ditch and reacquired my aim. I felt wind as one of the marines fired at me. I zeroed in on him and let loose a five round volley. His arm was ripped out by the force. I fell into the trench as fire hit the ground all around where I stood previously.         A new faced recruit jumped into my trench. I saw him clear as day, and readied my bolter. My training kicked in and I aimed for the head. His helmet stayed on through the ventilation of his skull. I peeked over my ditch. The two marines I hit were now stationed with an apothecary tending their wounds. I heard a flutter of wings and gritted my teeth. Someone had shown up. I looked over the battlefield, and had to hide my shock. Scootaloo was looking at the ship, and throughout the battlefield. I had no real options to get her to leave besides the obvious. I filled all three lungs to their bursting point. “SCOOTALOO, GO HOME NOW!!!”         She looked at me, and did the opposite of what I wanted, she ran into the ship. I had no time to deal with that, as much as I wanted to. I brought my bolter to bear and put forth the last of my mag, I grabbed a few from the dead marine at my side. I had five full mags and a good shot at winning. I peeked up and looked at my foes, they were in cover keeping me pinned. I kept low and followed the ditch. I stopped once I reached a small piece of cover. I looked around it, the view was good. I saw all the marines mounting an offensive. They moved like mobile art. They did everything perfectly, except for purging the hostile. When eight had gone to the trench I moved as if a god of battle. I spun out of the corner and popped three of the marines, unsure of where I hit, I spun back around my useless cover. I looked at my surroundings. My trench was useless, but there was a useful one about ten strides from my cover. I didn’t think of my actions. I ran.         The bolter fire tore the ground around my legs to shreds. One grazed the side of my armour, but deflected the round away from me. I dived into the trenches, guessing my luck to be divine. I looked at the chaos I had wrecked. One of my rounds had been lucky and taken out two marines. That left fourteen in the fray. I smirked, the odds had gone to my favor. I ducked down, and headed towards the right flank of the enemy.         The right flank was considered the worst way to flank an enemy, which is why I chose it. They had a guard on the left side, but the right was considered safe. They had even place an impromptu leadership element beside it. I took a moment to check casualties. The ship had four marines watching the proceedings, even the one missing a leg. I guessed that the other two were dead. There was no time to mourn, for Scootaloo was now seated beside a marine. I didn’t worry too badly though, since none of them were trying to shoot her. There was time to complain at her later. I brought the bolter to bear, and aimed for the leader directing the others. I propelled a round clearly through his arm. Before they could respond, I creeped towards their lines. I took a knee and waited. Sure enough, they passed by me, trying to take cover against my flanking, they even posted guards at each flank. I smiled and thought, I had a plan that was stupid enough to work.         I double checked, there were thirteen left, with ten in front. I guessed one was on the opposite side of the cover I was hiding behind. I vaulted over the cover and kicked the marine there, and boy, was he there. I picked him up in front of me and punched him square in the jaw. he was out before he could tell his group what was going on. I I grabbed the knife from a sheath on his leg, and moved to the rear guards. They both were focusing on the rear trenches, keeping an ear out for clearance to go in there themselves. I brought my bolt pistol up and fired a round into the first ones leg, as he went down, I stabbed the other one in the arm. It was clean, but it was also loud. They started to limp back to the ship without a second word as I rolled into cover. Now instead of fourteen, there were only eleven.         I peeked around cover and instantly took off running. They were playing it safe now, and bolter fire ravaged the pitiful wood structure I had been using as cover. I dove across a solid line of cover and stood still. I anticipated right, and the area I would be if I kept moving exploded in a rain of solid bolts. A marine came to inspect the wreckage. I had no time to gauge for an arm shot. I fired from my pistol and the round went cleanly through his chest. I cleanly switched my weapons and checked my surroundings. The nearest trench was right behind me, I rolled into it, and made as much of an escape as possible.         Ten left, now they were scared, and that meant they were more dangerous. It also meant they were more paranoid. I threw the knife over cover and heard the satisfying thunk as it embedded itself in the ground. “He’s over there!” I looked over my cover, they had all forgotten to assign guards. I grabbed my bolter and aimed, there was a good sight line on them all. I opened up on all of them. After the horrendous burst of twelve rounds I heard my bolter click empty. I cursed and moved to reload. There were four left, and I liked those odds.         The first three seemed at ease with their fates, and started to try and aim a shot while I clicked in a new mag. I cleanly broke my arms into a shooting position and fired a burst at the ones aiming at me. They all went down with leg shots, and I turned to face the last marine. Unfortunately, I noticed two facts then. First, he had his rank on his head, a private. Two, he was two inches from me. I Punched him in the helmet and backed up. He was stunned enough for me to get off a clean shot. I popped a round clean through his leg and sighed. It was over, and I had won.         These thoughts left a minute later as I was knocked to the ground. I looked up to see the lowly private looming above me. “You should have killed me. I won’t leave without granting you the Emperor's peace.”         I was astounded, this broke most codes of our race, and they were paramount. I heard bolters click, but I knew they would be too late. I at least had my bit to throw in. “You must be new, there is no God-Emperor, only a very powerful man.”         He screamed in rage. “YOU KNOW NOTHING, AND FOR YOUR INSOLENCE, YOU. WILL. DIE.” He brought his bolter square onto my face.         Then, the unthinkable happened. “GET AWAY FROM MY DAD!!!” At that, an orange blur took across my sight and knocked down the marine on top of me. I rolled over and coincidence was with me, the knife was right beside me. I grabbed it and stood p, the marine was still on the ground. I walked over when scootaloo flew up to me. “Leave Scootaloo, this isn’t a place for you.” She was about to respond, when a bolter round sounded through the arena. Scootaloo’s leg crumbled out and she dropped. Training overtook goodwill and I went for vengeance. His bolter clicked empty as I advanced upon him. “You broke our terms.” I grabbed him and stabbed him in the arm. He screamed. “You shot a child.” I stabbed him in the other arm. “And now, you will die for your treachery.” I stabbed him straight through to the progenitor gland. Nothing in his body should ever be used again. I threw him aside, and ran towards Scootaloo.         She lay unconscious in the middle of her own blood. I ran towards the ground where she lay, screaming all the way. “APOTHECARY, I NEED YOU HERE NOW!!!” I looked her over with as much restraint as I could. The round had went clean through her leg. Though I didn’t think it at the time, she was lucky  that she didn't set off the explosive charge. As it was, she only lost a small bit of her leg with a bone fracture If it had ignited, her entire leg would be gone. The apothecary arrived shortly, and looked at her, then back to me. “If you won’t treat her, then give me the supplies. I will heal her.” I stared at her leg, I noticed a few things out of the ordinary, but they were unimportant at the time.         The apothecary allowed both counts. Bowing to face her injuries while handing me bandages and other various instruments of healing. He worked with speed, bringing down needles and salves with great speed. I was minorly trained and acted as an assistant of sorts. Passing bandages, applying pressure, and uttering phrases to Scootaloo under my breath. The marines around me simply watched in a kind of utter fascination/ never had they seen such skill in the healing of a xeno before, I doubt they will ever see such a feat again. The apothecary brought forth a long needle, and my hearts skipped a beat. He jammed it into Scootaloo’s chest and hit the plunger. Her breathing shuddered, then stabilized.         The apothecary looked her over. He carefully picked up her injured hoof, and looked it over for any signs of poisoning from a bolter round. I wanted to stop him, but knew he had probably just saved her life. I restrained myself as he finished looking her over. Finding everything satisfying, he looked to me. “She’ll live to see another day, but she’ll need to take it easy until she’s fully healed.” With that curt response he left, allowing me to hold Scootaloo in my arms.         The captain approached almost soundlessly. It didn’t help that I was singing a lullaby to Scootaloo and was rather focused on the task. The captain looked down with the ghost of a smile on his lips. “I see why you love this world so much. We will honor the agreement, as you honored your word. I can never apologize enough for what that marine did to her, but I can say you’re dead. The records state this as a system of unfit planets. You are safe for the millennia to come. I won’t ruin this with a good bye. I’ll go to my ship, and pilot us out of here, may you live as you wish, and die for those you love.” With that he left, the roar of engines soon followed. I slowly stood up, and carried Scootaloo to the Ponyville hospital.         Discord was in an amazing mood. Not only had his prison been weakened to an easy breakout, but the very person responsible had just saved his world, without Discord having to raise a claw. The stone in the garden chipped as the limits of the barrier were tested. A laugh invaded all those nearest the statue. “Ohoho, I think I have the perfect little game planned out.” Authors note Hello everypony, how y'all doing. I normally am sucktacular at writing action scenes, so if you would scroll down and tell me how to write it better, I'd be in your debt. Thanks for reading either way.