Of Xenos and War

by Snake Staff

Assault

++Unknown Location, Denton III++
++3.631.879.M39++

Nemesra Ehtekhra rose in a painful, stilted manner and took long, slow steps down the dais where her throne was perched. She began to pace deliberately around the circular command center she occupied. Her undying metal form was capable of much greater speed, naturally, but clinging fervently to old identity and habits helped stave off the madness that had already claimed so many of her contemporaries. She had been a female in the Time of Flesh, and so she insisted on keeping the appropriate feminine titles, such as Nemesra in place of Nemesor, in spite of being a metallic skeleton indistinguishable from any male of the same rank. She had been an old woman when the Transference was initiated by the Silent King and the C’tan, so she kept an old woman’s gait and her old pacing habits. Trivial details in the eyes of many, and perhaps they were correct, but they helped her remember who she had been.

“Attack formation Sigma 17,” she spoke out in her raspy, synthetic voice. The silent Necron Immortals seated at command consoles situated around the chamber dutifully obeyed, sending her instructions to the waiting legions. Ehtekhra didn’t need to talk to communicate with them, of course, but it was another habit she had kept up since the awakening. While all the pleasures of the flesh might be denied her, she would not give away the sound of her own voice, even if there was no one else there capable of carrying out a meaningful conversation.

“An interesting choice,” came a response in what would pass for a polite manner in the deathly mechanical monotone that was left to the Necrontyr.

Ehtekhra’s skull-like head turned to face the source of the sound. If she had been capable of frowning any longer, she would have. Her guest, and the sole other occupant of the chamber that could be considered meaningfully sapient, was a hooded Necron in a blue scaled cape, and carrying a staff in his left hand. Thantekh the Deathless he had called himself, when he had come uninvited to her battlefront.

It was an obvious alias, merely a name taken from a fabled hero in the Time of Flesh. Still, the forces he commanded were sufficient such that the only way to have stopped him from coming would have been to openly engage in battle and to do so would be to risk failing in her assigned task altogether. And that was something Nemesra Ehtekhra was not willing to do. So, reluctantly, she had accepted him as a subordinate in the campaign against the weak alien creatures of this world, and joined his forces to hers. It had been at her insistence that he stay in her command center during the fighting, the better to keep an eye on him.

“What makes you say that?” she replied after a moment’s glance.

“I merely felt that it was an unusual choice in initial engagement formation, my dear lady. I meant no offense. I am sure you have your reasons,” he offered, hands held out deferentially.

“That I do. Now, watch me and learn.”

“As you say, honored Nemesra.”

Ehtekhra turned her attention back to the Immortals and the consoles they operated as she resumed her pacing. “Status,” she demanded with just a bare hint of pique.

“Jamming fields raised,” came one reply.

“Night Scythes in position,” came another.

“Warriors ready.”

“Monoliths prepared.”

There was a brief pause, and then a final Immortal turned its head to face her. “All forces are in position.”

“Commence attack.”

---

++Hive Tersius, Denton III++
++3.631.879.M39++

“Then we need to get moving. Now.” Twilight said while rubbing her head again to clear the last of the brief but intense pain from it. Magic, or psychic power as the humans called it, carried a price for her that it hadn’t in Equestria. When the Aether, or Warp, was disturbed by the intense emotions, particularly death screams, of large numbers of sapient life-forms, magic required a good deal more effort. When all-consuming, genocidal planetary wars hadn’t been a big feature in her life, this hadn’t come up.

Titus nodded his agreement. “Right. Command needs to know ‘bout what happened down there.”

Twilight peered down over the balcony. “And there’s them,” she whispered, and pointed. Necron warriors were beginning to exit the building where the raid and ambush had just taken place, their pace no more hurried than usual. Green flashes could be seen through the open doorway as the machines began to spread out.

Titus peaked briefly before hurriedly withdrawing his head. “Let’s go. Before we’re next.”

The human and alicorn backed silently into the run-down hab unit that they’d taken over for a sniper post not ten minutes before. Inside, Titus had to stifle a gasp. Mallia’s body, torn messily in two, was still oozing a dull trickle of blood onto the corroded floor at their feet. Twilight’s frown deepened as her Stormtrooper companion muttered a brief prayer to his Emperor to watch her soul.

“Come on!” she whispered urgently. “I know she was your lover, but we have a little more urgent business right now. Mourn when we’re not about to join her!” She took off, telekinetically throwing open the door and heading urgently to the lift shaft they’d used to get down these last few dozen floors. Her remaining bolt pistol fitted itself with a new magazine and returned to its holster while she ran, an art she’d mastered a long time ago.

“Right!” he muttered, shaking his head to clear focus back on the mission. He ran after her before his brain caught up with what she’d said. “Wait, you knew?! And you didn’t say anything?! You know that’s against regs.”

Twilight snorted as they reached their shaft. As hoped, the lines the group had used to rappel down were intact. But that no longer mattered. “Please. The two of you weren’t half as subtle as you liked think. And turn you in? I’m already a xeno and a witch, you think I want “rat” added to my reputation for something like that?”

The lavender alicorn jumped into the shaft, wings flapping to hold her steady, even in her grey carapace armor. Titus began affixing his climbing gear to one of the lines, but Twilight interrupted by just yanking him into the shaft and holding him with magic.

“Whoa!” he reflexively spun his arms to try and balance on a ground he no longer touched. “You bloody well know I hate it when you do that!”

Twilight flew straight up, dragging her human companion along for the ride. “And I hate seeing good people getting vaped because they were too slow.”

“Point taken.”

Alicorn wings carried the two up dozens of stories of underhive in the space of seconds, far faster than even the best climbing gear could match. They reached its peak in good time, and Twilight unceremoniously tossed Titus back onto his feet. His training let him balance himself again rather quickly, with only a short stumble.

“Bah! Warn me next time, ya bloody witch,” he muttered irritably.

“Sure, if there is a next time.” Twilight had already started moving. The squad had a Valkyrie doing standby flights further up. It was supposed to have extracted them and their prisoner after the cult raid, but with only micro-beads left for communication, they couldn’t call on it until they had climbed a bit more.

Titus moved to follow her, but paused by a shattered window. His keen vision had evidently seen something. Frowning, he retrieved a pair of magnoculars from his belt and took another look outside. “Shit. Fugging Warp shit.”

“What?” Twilight paused and turned back to him. “What do you see?”

“The bloody ‘crons are on us!”

“Let me see!” Twilight reappeared by the window.

Titus handed her the magnoculars and pointed to the side of the hive. “There. They’re on the other side of the hive. You can just make out those creepy weapon flashes from here.”

“Damn and blast,” Twilight cursed as she saw what he was talking about. There were indeed the telltale green flashes of gauss weaponry emanating from the other side. “And they’re coming from below and over here as well. Command needs to know, now.” Pictures of another dead hive city flashed in her head. She tossed the magnoculars back to Titus, who nimbly caught them. “I need to get in range of our ride. Can you wait while I fly?”

The human nodded sourly. Waiting around for someone else to save the day wasn’t in his nature. “Fine. But be quick.”

“Of course.” Twilight spread her wings again and leapt out the window, gaining altitude rapidly.

---

Imperial Guard Lieutenant Gaius Magnus of the 138th Jorian Dragons regiment ducked back below the window he’d been shooting out of. And just in time too. Several green energy bolts passed overhead, vaping bits of the building wherever they hit. He spared a glance the lads. One hadn’t been quick enough, his headless body now slumped below the windowsill, being eaten away by whatever alien witchery went into these xenos weapons.

“Damn it all,” he swore under his breath. His platoon had been caught in the relative open when the xenos aircraft had started their attack runs and been reduced to squad-level strength in the first few minutes. Over two squads of men, good men he’d known for years now, vaped in a cowardly night attack by an enemy they could only hear. And now he was being ordered by his superiors to hold position against a surging tide of these seemingly endless xenos scum. “Alright lads, back on your feet! For the Emperor! FIRE!”

Let it not be said that Lieutenant Magnus wasn’t going to uphold the honor of his homeworld and regiment to the last.

A coordinated volley of las-bursts flew from the half-ruined building. Most pattered off the necrodermis shells of the aliens without effect, but one or two succumbed to accumulated damage or were simply hit in the wrong spot. Lieutenant Magnus himself tossed a frag grenade, his last, at a rapidly closing pack of those hideous clawed monstrosities covered in human skin. It exploded in their midst with a rather gratifying amount of sound. A pair of them dropped, but the rest pressed forward without pausing.

“Down!” he yelled. More bursts of green energy flew over Lieutenant Magnus’ head. He could see the wall next to him starting to melt away under the xenos weaponry. But at least all the lads had been quick enough this time, thank the Emperor. “On your feet! Fi-ARGH!”

A mechanical horror leapt through the window, bowling the man over with its weight and momentum. Its stench filled his nostrils, its metal feet twisted his left arm at an unnatural angle, snapping the bone like a brittle twig. Lieutenant Magnus barely had time to scream before a blade plunged through his back and out his chest, puncturing his left lung.

More Flayed Ones leapt into the ruined building, eager to slay and feast on the flesh of weak mortals. Lasguns unleashed scores of bolts on full auto against the creatures, burning holes into their necrodermis armor or scouring away some of the rotting flesh they wore. Sharpened fingers plunged into human flesh, tearing through it like so much wet paper. Blood was everywhere. And then, it was over.

Lieutenant Magnus lay flat on his stomach, coughing out blood. It was funny, really. His system was in so much shock he could barely feel his body shutting down, unable to endure that level of damage. His right arm scrabbled at a body lying next to him. He had one last plan.

Magnus felt his fingers grip what he sought. Simultaneously, a pair of bloody metal feet occupied his vision. He managed to look up. A metal skull face covering in blackened meat and reeking of rot looked back down at him. It raised its bladed hand. The Lieutenant smiled.

“For the Emperor, you son of a bitch.”

The blades descended, slicing through spine, meat, heart, sternum, and floor. Half a second later, the frag grenade exploded, and the 138th Jorian Dragons died.

Comments

[Loyalist]

By the Emperor this is some good 40k.

People dying everywhere, new characters introduced in random scenes just to kill them off a moment later, almost utter disregard for the gruesome demise of loved ones, ect.

10/10

[Arxsys]

Great chapter. Only real error I saw was describing the necron's walk. Gait, not gate.

Keep up the good work.

[Black Hoof]

Great chapter again.

[DenyTheWitch]

4668323 The microscopic scarabs can still make a head explode, but I do see your point, and besides, its still a minor gripe

[Black Hoof]

Still, Snake Staff, can you tell us if we'll know more about Twilight's ascension and rank at this point of the story? There surely aren't many xenos leading Inquisition's squads in the Imperium (and without direct supervision from a superior), and it would be interesting to see how did the alicorn manage to go so far.

[Snake Staff]

4672003
You will. I simply wanted to start this fic off with a bang, both to set the tone as contrasting it's predecessor and for other reasons that will become apparent in time.

[thefluffyone]

I see Trazyn is at it again.
Is he looking for something on the planet?

Or looking to complete his Alicorn collection?

[Rakaziel]

Wow. You have become really good establishing characters in a few short paragraphs. I really like Ethekra and your version of Trazyn.

[Bronzer]

Magic, or psychic power as the humans called it

Actually, in Warhammer 40,000 magic and psychic powers are distinct. Magic (also called Sorcery in 40K) uses rituals, incantations, movements, regeants, and deals with warp entities (daemon or otherwise) to influence the warp in order to create magical effects. Psychic powers are performed by psykers and are generally far less flexible but significantly more powerful than magic.

[One Harem Please]

4851142 Yes, but Twilight's skills require no rituals, demonic pacts or incantations, so it would be more psyker than sorceror to the Imperium. Even Eldar witches are called such because they perform rituals and use iconography in their techniques.

[DragonMaus]

He spared a glance the lads.

You're missing a word here. Rearranging the sentence a bit would work, too.

[RidiculouslyOP]

He spared a glance the lads

Should be *at* the lads