The Descent into Madness

by FenrisianBrony

Full Circle

Nobody said a word as Rainbow descended from the flight deck to the main bay. Truth be told no one had spoken much since they left the Black Library over a week ago, any conversations that did take place held in hushed tones with occasional glances in the direction of the cockpit. Nerves were balancing on a knifes edge, and no one wanted to be the one that upset the tenuous balance. Even Gilda and Kas were quiet, keeping to themselves and allowing Rainbow to follow her own plan.

Now was the first time Applejack had seen her since her fight with the Harlequin, though calling it a fight was hardly fair. It had been no more of a fight than the confrontation with the titan’s all those decades ago on Styro. Right now however, looking into the rage that was boiling within Rainbow, she would have rather lived that hell a hundred times over as opposed to being here now.

“Barank.”

A single word brought a hololith display to life, displaying the world that Applejack guessed bore the name.

“This is where we have to fight, one more mission. This Hive Fleet is old, or maybe its not by Tyranid standards, I don’t care. The last time I fought it it was at the height of its power and destroyed a world despite our best efforts. We will do better. I have contacted Eethron, we are lucky that he considers this an easy target with plenty of opportunities to take new specimens. He will be on his way, but I don’t know how long it will be before he gets here. Our one shred of light on this shit hand we’ve been dealt is we are on the galactic east, relatively near Pa’Laa. Applejack, get your forces back under your command and give them the worlds coordinates. I don’t care what it takes, they will arrive and help us destroy this tendril. Do you understand?”

Applejack kept silent, nodding once. In truth she didn’t know what she would be able to say if she could even still access the Tau’s deep space communication network, or if she’d be able to convince them to come to the aid of someone who had recently tried to destroy their planet, but she wasn’t about to tell Rainbow that. Even if she did fail, she wouldn’t be letting Rainbow know that fact, she’d take it to her grave if she had to.

“When we arrive at Barank I will take command, there will be no dissent from any of you about this fact. Command of this world will rest with me, if they don’t like it I will drag them kicking and screaming into the fight. Are there any questions?”

No one moved, Rainbow breaking into a simile, the gesture full of fury rather than joy.

“Good. We will be there within the week. Make sure you are ready when we arrive.”

With that Rainbow turned, heading back to the bridge, the door sliding shut behind her with a smooth hiss.

“Well that could have gone worse,” Lightning muttered, a murmur of agreement going around the room.

“Well, ah guess ah better try and contact the Empire,” Applejack sounded unsure as she spoke. “Ya think non-eldar signal’s will be able ta get out of the ship in ta webway?”

“They should be able to,” it was Scootaloo who spoke up now. “The Triumvirate ships were extensively modified to be able to broadcast signal’s as they approached. They bounce around a lot and are impossible to pinpoint, but they did the job of spreading fear through their enemies.”

“Sometimes I hate the fact you know so much about the upper levels of the Dark shits,” Spitfire scowled, before she realised how that could be taken, her features softening instantly. “I…didn’t mean that as an insult to you, Scoots, you know that right?”

“Yeah, I do,” Scootaloo nodded, but her gaze had fallen to the floor, her voice sounding deflated and hollow.

“A week then, lets get ta work,” Applejack cut in, trying to take the attention from Scootaloo once more, the orange pony managing a weak smile in her direction at the effort.

As the others dispersed, Applejack headed for her own room, grabbing her helmet and pulling the detachable communication from it. The earpiece was already attached to her battlesuit wirelessly, and the suits extensive communication suite was capable of reaching high orbit from a planet with ease. That being said, she had no idea if she would be able to figure out the ships communicators that Scootaloo had said existed.

Pressing on regardless, and not wanting to press the young mare for anymore details, Applejack set to work trying to decipher the Eldar technology. For a scientist this would have been an almost impossible task, and Applejack was no scientist. After an hour she had gotten nowhere, before Scootaloo had entered the room. She hadn’t spoken as she took the controls from Applejack, her hooves dancing over the runes with practiced ease, before she finally pressed the controls back into Applejack’s hooves and disappearing once more.

Again, Applejack wanted to run after the mare and wrap her in a hug, to tell her everything would be ok, but that would be lying, and right now that wasn’t what anyone needed to hear. When they got back to Equestria, Applejack would make sure she got help, but for now she focused on the communicator.

“Message is set to repeat, cycling on all Pa’Laa frequencies. This is Shas’O Pa’Laa App'ru'jak Or’es Fio’Shas, it’s Applejack. There is a weakened Tyranid Hive Fleet heading for an Exodite World just off yer boarders. Ah’m en-route to try an’ save it, along with Spitfire, Lightnin’, Scootaloo, Gilda and Rainbow. Rainbow has already called to her fleet fer aid, but ain’t gonna be quick, and maybe they won’t be enough. Ah know how much we’ve suffered because of their kind, ah know how much y’all will all hate them, and that’s fair, but ah need you. This world needs you. If it falls, that’s more biomass for the swarm, and next step’s Pa’Laa. We weren’t strong enough ta fight off the Dark Eldar, we certainly ain’t gonna be strong enough to fight off a full-strength Hive Fleet. The only choice ya have is to come and help here, the Exodites ain’t the Dark Eldar, they don’t deserve ta die. There’s been enough death in our Sept ta last a thousand life times, please, help me here, and we can keep yet more death comin’ to the Sept. Coordinates are encrypted in this message under Aun’Vesa’s key. I need y’all. Please. Applejack out.”

Applejack pulled her communicator from her head as the message began to loop, shutting off the audio feed as she placed it back within her helmet. She had no idea if that would work, or if Pa’Laa would agree with her statement of where it would be best to fight the Tyranids, but she had no more cards to play. She just prayed that the message would be received, and the answer would be a favourable one.

***

The ship touched down just in front of one of the great migratory communities that roamed this world, the huge megadon herd that they drove before them having come to a halt as the craft landed. By voidship standards it was tiny, but on the ground its true scale was revealed, dwarfing the largest tanks of the Imperial Guard.

Rainbow was the first off the ship, garbed in her standard Wych Suit, the overly wrought amour she had worn when she had met Applejack nowhere to be seen. A pair of knives were strapped to her rear legs, while a splinter pistol rested on her hip. Ravenous was conspicuous by its absence, the giant power sword still in pieces, but Rainbow still had the pommel strapped between her wings, a wickedly sharp piece of metal still jutting from the handle and intact power generator.

The others followed suit, each of them armed and armoured as well. Gilda still work her segmented war-suit, a pair of blasters on her sides, while Applejack rode in her battlesuit. Spitfire, Lightning and Scootaloo on the other hand wore cut down Tau armour, carrying Kroot warblades and pulse weapons. It was as much about making a point of their difference from Rainbow and Gilda as it was about anything practical, and Applejack wasn’t about to try and convince them to wear their arguably more advanced wargear from their time in the Dark City.

“That’s far enough!” a voice rolled across the plane, a lone rider on a megadon coming into view, his lance pointed at the group. “Who are you?”

“I am Succubus Dash,” Rainbow called back, having taken to using the name that the Harlequin had called her by in recent days. “I am here to speak to the ruler of this world. King, Emperor, Highlord, whatever you call him. You will organise that now, go.”

The rider hesitated for a moment, before turning and disappearing back over the horizon, heading for the migratory community. It took close to an hour, but finally a trio of hulking shapes swam into view. Three Eldar Knights strode towards the group, the central construct bearing four arms, each ending in a brutal fist weapon, while the two that flanked it resembled the centaurs of humanity’s ancient myth, a huge cannon taking the place of one arm, while an elegant looking spear was held in the hand of their other arm.

The knights did not rush as they approached, but ate up the distance rapidly regardless. In short order they reached the group, the two Bright Stallion centaur knights held back, while the four-armed Destroyer stepped forward, bending down to one knee and lowering its head almost to the ground, the cockpit splitting down the middle to reveal the pilot within.

“A Succubus, they told me,” the Exodite looked the group over quickly. “I believed that a Succubus disembarking from a ship of the Dark Kind meant that you would be of the Dark Kind, not a group of horses. This is a joke, correct?”

“Forget your jokes,” Rainbow snapped, flapping her wings and drawing level with the pilot. “Are you the Ruler of this world? The Knight suggests you are.”

“I am,” the Exodite nodded slowly. “And are this, Succubus Dash I was told about? What are you doing on my world.”

“A Tyranid Hive Fleet is on its way here right now, this Hive Fleet destroyed another Exodite World that I landed on decades ago, and we are here to make sure it goes no further,” Rainbow jumped straight to the point, not breaking eye contact as she spoke. “We need to organise this worlds defences so that does not happen, and so I can leave and make sure the Lost Craftworld holds up to their end of the bargain. Are you following me, Clan Leader?”

“I am not used to being spoken to in such a way,” the Exodite pointed out, a scowl spreading across his face. “I am High King Scoval,I suggest you recognise that title when you address me.”

“Get used to being spoken to that way,” Rainbow shot back. “I am not here to make friends, I have a task set by the Harlequins, I intend to fulfil that task from the top, not playing politics to the High King of a backwater world. Follow my orders and this world may just survive, do you understand, oh mighty High King Scoval?”

For a long, tense moment the pair glared at each other, neither one backing down, but in the end it was Scoval who relented, snorted as his face twisted into a thin smile.

“Very well, Succubus. If what you say is true then I suspect I will need your assistance, but you will be joint top, with me. If you are amenable to that, I will put out the call and gather the clans. I assume you have your own forces?”

“They are on their way, but they will not be here for some time,” Rainbow nodded. “Put out the call, we will put all our cards on the table and save this world. Then I can go home, and you can go back to…whatever it is you do.”

***

It took three days for the call to be heeded, and even then over half of the heads of the other clans were not present, having sent representatives ahead of them instead. When they had all arrived, High King Scoval had invited them into his great tent, taking prime position in his throne, the other Kings forming a ring around the central fire pit to listen to what was about to be said.

Finally, Rainbow entered, landing within the empty firepit and raising her voice.

“So there is no confusion, I am Succubus Dash. I have been sent here by the Harlequins of the Black Library to help you see off an invasion by a Hive Fleet tendril. I have already put the call out to my own forces, they should be here soon, but I don’t know exactly when that is. My compatriot, Applejack has likewise put a call to her forces, she is a Shas’O of the Tau empire. If her forces respond they will be coming here to help, but again, I don’t know when that will be. We currently have what is on this world, so tell what forces you can muster.”

“Clan Scoval is the largest of the clans,” Scoval began. “We can muster seventeen warrior clades, as well as four Dragon Knight clades. We also have access to seven Knight Constructs, one Destroyer class and six Bright Stallion class. They are the only ones of their kind on the world.”

One by one the other tribes gave their own strength, some willingly, while others hand to be coerced to show their full strength for all to see. Eventually however it was done, the world managing to muster sixty-three warrior clades and thirteen Dragon Knight clades. It was a force to be reckoned with, that much was obvious, but Rainbow knew what Hive Fleets were capable of, the scales still being far from balance in her mind. The only thing that even began to close those scales was the world itself. Commanded by the world spirit like the craftworlds were commanded by the infinity circuits, the world itself would rally to repel the invaders. Plants and animals would lash out at any invader, and for most it was enough to see them off, but against the Tyranids, she doubted it would be anywhere near as effective. Attrition was not an option, Tyranids didn’t need supply routes, and unless you could torch the bodies of those you killed the dead would taken back and recycled into the next wave of mindless killing machines. They had to break the swarm, they couldn’t outlast it.

“It’s not enough,” she raised her voice as the last clan representative finished speaking. “but it will have to do for now. Tell me, which Craftworld promises you protection? Can we expect aid?”

“We have already called from the world spirit,” one of the World Speakers answered. “She will sing our plight across the webway to Saim-Hann, they will respond as best they can.”

“I’ve seen their response to an Exodite World being consumed by this very swarm,” Rainbow snorted. “I don’t think we can expect them to save us completely. We will make do with what we have and hold out until either the Dark Eldar, Saim-Hann or Tau reach us. That is all we can do at the moment, hold out, survive. We do that we win. We don’t, this Hive Fleet strengthens and moves on, and we’re all too dead to care anyway.”

She breathed out, waiting to see if anyone would speak, but all eyes were on her and she had their full attention and she pressed on.

“We have no fleet, no orbital presence whatsoever, so we can forget about weakening them before they land. When they do make planetfall it will be on all fronts, but that will be the smallest creatures. We pull together, make sure no smaller clans are left to fend for themselves and feed the swarm. We need to strike at their primary landing hives though, where they begin to convert the landscape in reclamation pools. Fast movers can strike and retreat, buying us more time. We need that time, any objections?”

Nobody spoke, even High King Scoval seemed content with the plan laid out before them, nodding his approval to Rainbow.

“Let’s get to it then. Who knows when the fleet will arrive, we have to be ready!”

With those words, Rainbow headed from the tent, taking to the skies to search for any sign of the stragglers and to speed them on their way, by any means necessary.

Comments

[Aatxe360]

You're dropping these chapters pretty fast now.

Statistically, It'll be a doomed op bc usually a hybrid of forces like the ones that are planned to appear will want veto power on suicide missions, I would think most especially against a hive mind. The biggest thing going for the Tau(besides them being the target after) showing up is that AJ didn't mention they'd be under Dash's command. Was also surprised AJ didn't try and see if the Harlequin would have given her a different task/deal. Who is to say that their group won't shrink before they're done? Lightning and Spitfire would be too easy as casualties.

[the other sans]

I am High King Scoval,I suggest you recognise

1. Forgot your spacing.

[Nightingalehound]

9008886
You would think so, yet the French Expeditionary forces of WW2, which was formed by French Soldiers, and combatants from various fighting groups of former French Colonies and French Allies, managed to end the stalemate that was occurring at the defensive lines within the mountains of Central Italy via a suicidal charge against the emplacements that had kept the military forces of the US and British from advancing further, thus breaking the western line, which domino-ed into the rest of the lines eventually falling to the Allies. Despite being a rag tag group of combatants with different training, skills, and ideas on how to fight, they made use of all of their skills to pick up the slack where another could not. It all depends on the group, and if they are willing to work together to cover the others where they lack, to form thus one coherent and better fighting force than what any one of them could do on their own.

[Krozairofequestria]

9009509
I don't think this can work here. A battle against a Hive Fleet is like a battle against a natural disaster. Every battle against Nids is suicide. Some places are just filled with more company to die together with.
You need to kill of the ships or stop the creatures from forming packs after the ships shot them down on the surface. If the fleet either dies or the mind behind it thinks it is to costly to fight this war you can win. But as soon as they made a big landing zone and swarmed together you have a hard time to beat them even with numbers. And if the Tau come in late they will find a fleet between them and the planet. this will put them in a bad spot as the Nids can field a much bigger fleet with smaller crafts and living, thinking mines and worse.

[Aatxe360]

9009509

Also can't compare mortal enemies coming together for something like this. I'm sure one group would cut off its nose to spite all of them.

[Bazing]

I have a feeling some shit is gonna happen that'll trigger some PTSD from RD's first encounter with the Tyranids, possibly setting her on the path to redemption. That or lots of people die lol