//------------------------------//
// Skirmish (II) 
// Story: Of Xenos and War 
// by Snake Staff 
//------------------------------//


++Facility 2W6379BJ, Denton III++
++3.637.879.M39++


Green beams of light tore from the long synaptic disintegrator rifles wielded by the cyclopean agents of assassination. Each individual shot was too focused, too weak to hope to seriously damage the sturdy Imperial flyer, but two dozen such attacks were a different matter altogether. The Deathmarks were as chillingly accurate as they had always been, and the Necron weaponry tore great holes into the aircraft’s twin engines. The metal components shrieked as the arcane xenos weaponry began to break down what remained of the machine’s lift.
The Valkyrie had been grounded.
Trazyn gave the next order without ceremony. “Deathmarks, cease fire,” he said without the need for words. “Immortals, lay down cover fire and advance to point blank range. Do not let my prize escape.”
The night black elite of the Necrons appeared in predetermined coordinates in a green-hued short range teleport. Their double-barreled gauss blasters opened fire, tearing into the wings and sides of the trapped aircraft. The Imperials within fought back to the best of their ability, the forward-facing multi-laser laying down what fire it could from its immobile position. Two men opened up with both of the craft’s door-mounted heavy bolters, the powerful ammunition tearing through even the necrodermis armor of Immortals and shredding a trio of them, before counter fire from the xenos disintegrated both humans without ceremony.
To their credit, the Imperials did not cease their efforts to fight even for a second as the murderous mechanicals closed in. Primitive laser shots and crude but effective explosives emerged from the Valkyrie to rain down on the Necron elite, damaging more and even managing to bring down some of the xenos, however temporarily. But the undead legions pressed forward relentlessly, closing the distance to the battered aircraft slowly but surely, picking off any human that dared stick itself outside of the protective cover with precisely-aimed gauss shots. They used their alien weaponry to disintegrate great chunks of metal from its walls at point blank range, in order to force their way inside.
Glimmers of green light could be seen from within the Imperial vehicle for a handful of seconds. Simultaneously came the sounds of muffled explosions and the crack of las weaponry. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, all was still. Smoke wafted lightly from the slain machine while all but one of the Necrons damaged in their attack pulled themselves back onto their feet, their self-repair programs shrugging off what should have been mortal wounds. The final soldier, badly torn apart by the vehicle’s heavy bolters, vanished back to base to undergo more specialized repair.
“Report,” Trazyn demanded of his men, eager to collect his bounty and be done with this tiresome and uninspiring place.
“My lord, all hostiles have been terminated,” replied Tyrentekh over their communications system. 
The Overlord had to resist a sudden urge to hit himself in the face. “And the exotic alien? It is intact, I trust?”
“All living entities aboard this craft were of the species designated human. There were no biological life forms fitting the descriptions given of target for capture,” came the emotionless reply. 
“What?!”




++Valkyrie-class Airborne Assault Carrier Warbird++


“We’re approaching our destination. ETA forty-five seconds to drop point,” came the voice of the aircraft’s pilot through the intercom system.
“Acknowledged,” Twilight Sparkle replied through the same, for formality’s sake. “Alright people, lock and load! We’re going in nearly blind, so be ready for anything.”
“Great,” muttered a certain former PDF sergeant under his breath.
“What was that?” Twilight glared at him.
“Nothing, sir!” he snapped a hurried salute.
The little equine kept her eyes locked on Aisen for a few moments more before turning her attention back to a final check of her own gear. Around her, the assembled men of the Inquisition were doing the same with varying degrees of professionalism and composure; Durrane looked as though he might be getting ready for a relaxing walk in the park, while Aisen took hasty swallows of alcohol from a concealed flask whenever he thought she wasn’t looking.
“It’s just as well, really,” Twilight considered. “We’re probably all about to die anyway. One squad and three flyers to extract a prisoner from a base under siege? May as well just let him have it if it makes him feel any better. And perhaps better somewhat inebriated than terrified.”
The Valkyrie continued to hurl through the polluted skies of the hive world, on course for Adeptus Mechanicus Facility X1938YP5. There, the team was to retrieve an imprisoned psyker by the name of Marius Quinn, for reasons that Twilight had not been authorized to know. What she did know was that contact with the facility had been lost with a full team of Deathwatch Space Marines on the premises, reporting a massive force of attacking Necrons. Again, for reasons she hadn’t been permitted to know, simply calling in an army had been ruled out.
“Probably because of all the other Necron assaults taking place across the planet,” she thought sourly. It was a full-scale war and resources were not exactly abundant, but she wished that she had more to work with. Even under the optimistic assumption that the base hadn’t been totally overrun, there weren’t likely to be men to spare.
Still, she had a job to do, and there was no way Twilight would rather die than fighting to her last breath against the metal monsters.
“Approaching drop point. ETA fifteen seconds to drop.”
Twilight began building magic around her horn. “Everyone, gather around me. Close as you can while maintaining combat formation. This won’t be an easy insertion, and I really don’t need it to be any harder than already is.”
The six troopers of Twilight’s improvised squad did as the Acolyte asked, clustering around her in a circle facing outwards, guns in hand.
“Five seconds,” came the pilot’s voice.
Twilight’s horn was encased in a purple aura, lighting up the Valkyrie’s compartment around the team. She drew upon the power the Warp slowly, trying not to attract its predators while absorbing enough strength to do what she was attempting.
“Four.”
The glow began to extend itself around the alicorn’s body proper, bright enough now to cause pain in unshielded human eyes.
“Three.”
It reached around each of the humans in turn. More than one shifted nervously in response, muttering prayers to their God-Emperor through closed eyes and clenched teeth.
“Two.”
Twilight focused intently on their destination, on the blueprints of the complex that she had committed to memory. She could see it in her mind’s eye, more than a mile below the aircraft, currently swarming with enemies determined to finish off whatever resistance remained.
“One.”
There was a blazing spark of violet light inside the Warbird, and the squad vanished into the depths of the Warp.