The sleek vessel sliced through the fabric of reality, entering the webway rift like a power sword cutting through flesh. Its dark black hull was momentarily illuminated by the bright colours of the portal, before it snapped closed, and the ship vanished from the astral plane, speeding across the galaxy at speeds that could only be dreamed be the younger races.
***
The main gallery of the warship was an immense hall, supported with narrow, rib-like structures that split into tall, narrow doorways leading to the side chambers. Small flashes of energy occasionally crackled along the ribs, dancing from the doorways, right up to the wraithbone core near the front of the ship, merging with the hidden wraithbone circuit that ran along the skin of the ship, merging with the propulsion systems and the weapon batteries that stuck out like spines on a hedgehog.
The ships chambers rang with booted feet, the keen sound of exarch blades cutting through the air, and now and then, an explosion or blaze of laser fire as weapons were tested, and retested, before being tested again. Nothing was left to chance.
Warriors from dozens of shrines from all over Saim-Hann practiced, sparring with each other, and on occasion, the members of the wind rider clans, each one occupying a different hall within the ship, which branched out from the main arterial passage, the mantras and instructions of warlocks and exarchs ringing around the room, bouncing off the high ceilings in a cacophonous symphony of war.
Rainbow stood in line with the other members of the Floating Assault, not hearing the other sounds of the warship, concentrating only on the sound of Kaliden’s voice, and the beating of her own heart.
Rainbow swept her hooves up, adopting the pose of the falling falcon, in perfect tandem with the others, before adopting the position of the high hawk, hovering just off the ground and tensing the muscles in her leg, being greeted by the clicks as the grenade dispensers signalled that they were empty. Every movement she performed quickened her pulse and filled every motion that she performed with greater purpose, fixing her mind on one, single, unwavering goal. The slaughter that awaited her upon the planes and in the skies of Unotipa IV.
The thought of battle once again overwhelmed her mind, and filled her with excitement. For all the rituals and positions she had learnt in the temple to conquer her inner daemons, she somehow knew that in this coming battle, she would truly find the release she wanted. The prospect of bloodshed, once a horrific thought, now dominated her every waking moment, the rune on her forehead burning brighter as she dwelled on the violence to come.
The exercise that they were focusing upon came to an abrupt end, and Kaliden dismissed the warriors, before turning and entering one of the vein-like corridors that flowed throughout the ship. Rainbow Dash followed the rest of the shrine as they walked off, only to halt a few steps later, as one by one, the aspect warriors removed their helms, before turning to look at Rainbow.
Rainbows eyes instantly darted to their foreheads, where the dried blood was still in the shape of the rune of the Swooping Hawks. Her eyes were then drawn to the other Eldars faces, and she saw the detached stare that she now realised was the sign of the war-mask being drawn across the mind.
Nervously, she reached up to her own helmet, undoing the clasps, and slowly drawing the helmet over her head, momentarily fearful that this act would remove her war-mask, but upon taking the helmet off, she found she felt no different, the war-mask staying firmly attached to her mind, as the rune bound her, body and soul, to the anchor of anger deep within her body.
The seven swooping hawks left the main chamber of the ship, following the central spine of the ship, moving towards the bow of the mighty vessel. Now and then, a flash would illuminate the semi-translucent walls, as a spark flew along the wraithbone circuit of the ship.
As they walked through the ship, other Eldar joined with them, and soon, a whole host of warriors, both from aspect shrines and wind rider clans, flocked towards the bow of the ship.
“Four cycles.” Makhutar grumbled. “Four bloody cycles until our work can begin.”
Rainbow was crestfallen at this, it seemed like such a long time to wait before the bloodletting could begin in earnest, but from what Rainbow gathered, this was a tiny voyage, especially considering human standards. She knew that human vessels could sometimes spend months or even years in the warp before getting to their destination. She smiled as she remembered that there had been times when the forces sent to intercept an Eldar taskforce arrived decades after the attack had been and gone.
“Don’t worry Rainbow.” Juhani smiled, scratching Rainbows head as they walked. “I know the look of blood in a warriors eyes when I see it. The hunger will be satiated soon enough.”
Rainbow said nothing, and continued to follow the Eldar, until they entered a longer, but narrower hall than the previous one. This hall was dominated by three long tables, each heavy with food placed upon them.
“I didn’t realise how hungry I was.” Rainbow said, licking her lips as she saw the food.
“Battle plays odd tricks on the stomach.” Tar’nek warned. “You can feel famished one moment, and in others, your stomach may feel as if it is tying itself into an endless knot, and you will not be able to eat a single morsel. I advise you to eats as much as you can now you are hungry. The presence of the war-mask causes the body to burn through its energy stores at an accelerated rate.”
Rainbow nodded, before sitting down at a table, and grabbing a plate of food, digging into the various fruits and vegetables piled upon it. The rest of the shrines warriors sat down next to Rainbow, and grabbed their own plates.
Rainbow looked up as she ate, looking through the force dome directly above her, but not truly seeing it. The curving tunnel of energy that made up the webway encompassed the ship with a sea of rippling colours, streaked through with the occasional flash of the star-lit void beyond.
Now and then, Rainbow caught sight of a passageway, veering off from the main route that they were taking. Some were massive, easily able to take a ship three times the one she was on now. Others on the other hoof were tiny, barely big enough to see, or for a single Eldar warrior to squeeze through.
Occasionally, Rainbow saw other, tiny ships fly past, and she recognised the shapes of the Darkstar fighters and Eagle bombers, as they streaked past, making sure that no other ship would venture close to the warship. When rainbow had asked if anyone using the webway would really attack the ship, Jolee had simply nodded, and uttered a few words.
“Our dark kin sometimes see us as sport.”
Rainbow pushed that thought from her mind, as a warrior, garbed in the armour of a Swooping Hawk, but a different colouration that that of the Floating Assault. Looking over at the warrior, Rainbow was shocked to see that the warrior had the armour of an Exarch on.
“Exarch Aranha, of the falling strike.” Tar’nek said, bowing deeply. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”
“I came to see the new recruit of yours.” She said simply, turning to Rainbow.
“I am honoured Aranha.” Rainbow said. “I am Rainbow Dash.”
“Curious.” She mused, placing her elbows on the table and steepleing her fingers. “What made you choose the Floating Assault?”
“I…” She stammered, but Aranha cut her off.
“Relax. I am not disrespecting a shrine that is older and more prominent than my own. I was merely wondering how you chose.”
“I showed her the way.” Tar’nek spoke up. “My kin of Nar’bok and I found Rainbow, fearful and setting down a path of self-destruction. I brought her to the temple we believed would match her own personal talents.”
“Yes, I can see.” Aranha said, reaching a hand out a touching one of Rainbows feathers delicately. “Tell me, how does it feel to fly unassisted by technology? To soar through the air, the wind against your bare flesh?”
“Amazing.” Rainbow smiled, flaring her wings slowly, to show them off better.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash.” Aranha said, smiling and getting up, fixing her odd gaze upon her, before bowing deeply. “May you fly fast and straight, and may you shoot straighter.”
Aranha left, and Rainbow returned to her food, finishing off the plate, before reaching for a metal cup of water.
“No Re’ka?” Faren asked with a smile.
“The taste of it is sweet.” Rainbow agreed smiling, “But I wouldn’t want to sully the sweeter taste of battle yet to come. If the food here is so good, then the greater banquet is yet to come!” She declared, smacking her lips and getting up from the table, her lips curling back into a silent snarl.
***
The ship punched itself free of the webway, shuddering ever so slightly as it returned to real-space, its engine being pushed to the max by the steersmen on the bridge. Directing the nose towards the planet, the ship sliced through the empty space like a knife.
The ship had emerged on the dark side of the planet, using its black hull to help disguise its approach. A single Ork gunship was all that stood between the Celestial Ideal and the planet.
The vessel was an ugly slab of metal, armour plates bolted roughly over a skeletal structure. Nether the less, the ship was still a dangerous foe. Luckily for the Eldar, it was facing the wrong way.
The Celestial Ideal slipped through space, moving directly behind the Ork ship, all without so much as a signal from the Orks.
Then lance fire lit up the dark void, lasers ripping through the entire length of the ship, gutting it from one end to another.
In a matter of moments, the ship was transformed into a flaming hulk, drifting lifelessly away from the planet.
All the while, the Eldar ship drew ever closer to the planet.
***
The wayseer stood in front of an oval, steel rimmed webway gate, one of several gates that stood around the hall, although this was one of only four portals to be activated.
The wayseer was swathed in a voluminous robe of flowing, ever changing colours. His hair was a bright red colour, and was parted into three separate braids, two snaking down his back, and the other looping across his face, under his left eye, before tucked behind his left ear.
His hands were splayed outwards, lifted with palms upwards, as ten separate runes danced around them, rushing up and down the air just above his arm with a life of their own. Slowly, and with great care, he aligned them with the portals structure, before pushing them into the metal of the gate.
Instantly, a mirror-like sheen of energy appeared in the gap between the top and the bottom, shimmering slightly, and causing the runes to dance with more agitation for a moment, before settling back into their rightful place.
“It is almost time for our forces to descend.” Kaliden said, raising his voice. “The wind host and slower warriors shall descend to the planet’s surface via the webway.”
“And us?” Goroic asked, donning his helmet.
“The ship will enter low orbit.” Kaliden smiled, before his helmet obscured his face. “We’re going in with the hunters.”
As he said this, the roar of engines filled the hanger, and Rainbow looked around to see a wing of Nightshade Interceptors prep for take-off.
Turning back around, she donned her helmet, and her gaze took on a green tinted hue, the counter in the corner of the lens becoming tantalisingly close to zero. She was full of energy now, not nervous, like she had been on Hannibal, but eager. This was the culmination of so much time and practice, and as the first warrior stepped through the portal, Rainbow felt a new doorway open in her life. She longed to race through and grasp whatever opportunities lay beyond.
Fighting the urge to fidget, she forced herself to stand still and wait patiently as the other forces entered the webway. She nervously checked her wargear for what felt like the millionth time, allowing her mind and the spirit within to merge, deeper than usual.
She raised her lasblaster, and activated her anti-grav generators briefly, feeling herself become weightless for a second, before deactivating it as the last aspect warrior disappeared through the portal. Looking over, she saw the last of the wind host enter, their jetbikes glistening as they entered the shimmering portal.
Looking around once more, she saw that only to groups were left on the deck. The aspect warriors of the Swooping Hawks, resplendent in their completely sealed armour, and three wings of Crimson Hunters remained on deck.
“Now Khaine’s bloody work begins!” Kaliden shouted, unsheathing his massive sword and raising it above his head, and a roar erupted from the assembled aspect warriors.
Instantly, the Crimson Hunters roared as well, but this was not the roar of the flesh, but one of steel and wraithbone. The engines on their fighters bellowed, as they screamed out into the atmosphere of the planet, streaking through the holo-shields that had kept the voids icy grip at bay.
“Floating Assault! With me!” Kaliden screamed, sprinting forward.
Rainbow watched in awe, as the Exarch reached the edge of the hanger, not breaking stride as he pitched himself from the ship, disappearing as he fell.
She smiled gleefully, as she took off at a gallop, reaching the edge in no time, and pitching herself off after the Exarch, and for the first time, Rainbow got a good look at the planet.
It was dark, the planet being shrouded in night as the force dropped silently from the ship. Turning her head, Rainbow watched as the ship, dark as the night itself, disappeared back into high atmosphere, its deployment complete. It would wait there until the mission was complete, and it was recalled to pick up the Hunters and the Hawks. Turning back around, Rainbow watched as the cloud layer rose up to meet her, before she passed through it, and caught sight of the sea for the first time.
The sea was churning as she plummeted downwards, waves rising up high into the sky, easily able to swallow the Nightshade Interceptors in to its murky depths. Rainbow shuddered as she watched the first Swooping Hawks reach its surface, flaring their mechanical wings, and pulling an almost impossible right turn, flying parallel to the waves, and speeding towards the shore line.
The wind whipped past her helmet, screaming as she fell towards the churning sea below. Looking to either side of her, she could see hundreds of other warriors, falling towards the earth as she was. Her helmet identified each warrior, showing the rune of the individual temples in a bright green colour, indicating their status as friends.
Moving closer to Kaliden, Rainbow activated her anti-gravs, and flared her wings, forming up in a rough arrow head with the rest of the shrine.
The Swooping Hawks slashed through the sky, flying just above the churning sea, keeping so low that if Rainbow had put her hoof down even an inch, she would have been able to touch the water, rising and falling in tandem with the waves, never getting further away than the water, or getting any closer.
Ahead and above of the Swooping Hawk strike force, the Crimson Hunters flew in perfect formation, their engines no longer roaring, and instead only emitting a tiny whine, which was lost over the claps of thunder, and the screech of the waves.
In short order, the Swooping Hawks met the cliff, changing to a vertical flight and soaring upwards, cresting the cliffs and ascending further, concealing themselves above the cloud cover.
Far in the distance, Rainbow caught sight of flashes of weapon fire, and even from this distance, could feel the warp disturbance of the Warp Spiders teleportation rattling her skull, and setting her teeth on edge.
The hawks did not break pace though, and were soon over the battle field, looking down over the carnage, and finally, Rainbow saw an Ork in the flesh.
They were ugly brutes, wielding vile weapons, ranging from crude axes to weapons that Rainbow did not even see as functional, let alone deadly. Occasionally, she caught sight of a Warp Spider, appearing in the midst of the Ork force and firing its death spinners, before disappearing again before the enemy could react.
Rainbow snarled with glee as she saw Orks dying by the hundreds, great piles of them lying where they had been pitched from one of their ramshackle wagons, or fallen from the crude barricades that surrounded the Orks camp.
The Eldar had caught the Orks unaware, and now, they were reaping the benefits. The camp was already a flame, but Orks were tenacious creatures. Already, cries were going out, calling Orks from far and wide to arms. Ork crews ran to smoke belching tanks and halftracks, while over the horizon, Rainbow could make out the rough outlines of a wing of ramshackle fighters.
“This is it!” Screamed Kaliden over the helmet communicator.
A light that had previously been a steady red colour flashed green, pulsing quickly, and signalling exact what rainbow wanted.
The signal for their part of the attack.
Pointing her nose downwards, Rainbow plunged towards the ground, catching up with Kaliden, before slowly, inch by inch, over taking him, until she was leading the attack, her rifle up, and her legs tensed, preparing to release the deadly cargo within the armour that she wore there.
Letting out a screech that would put a Howling Banshee to shame, Rainbow flared her wings and let the muscles in her legs tense perfectly to hit the rune inside her armour. At the exact same time, the other Swooping Hawks followed suit, and hundreds of disks flew out from the host, speeding towards the ground even faster than the Hawks.
A moment later, the disks exploded.
A moment later, the Hawks landed, stepping on the blood and carcasses of the dead that had been caused by the grenades. Bringing her rifle up, Rainbow fixed her sights on the first Ork she saw.
With a snarl, she pulled the trigger.