Verbatim VIII
Rainbow followed the Spiritseer closely, ascending back up to the surface of the craftworld, the two massive wraith constructs slowly advancing behind them, before they finally reached the door to the Seer council. Pushing it open, the Spiritseer walked inside, leading the others inside, and moving towards the centre of the chamber to address the council.
“Honoured council members,” the Spiritseer bowed deeply, “the two unreceptive wraith-kind have been awoken by the aspect warrior you sent. They now stand ready to provide council.”
The two wraith constructs bowed at this, and Rainbow quickly bowed as well.
“You have done well Rainbow Dash.” One of the Seer’s nodded. “But now, I must ask you to leave once more. Return to your aspect temple, and await for orders. Soon, the Craftworld will be prepared to mobilise.”
Nodding in agreement, Rainbow turned on her heels and trotted out of the room, making her way out of the council tower and taking flight, heading back towards the temple of the Floating Assault. Quickly eating up the distance, she watched in awe as a jetbike sped past her, her eyes only barely managing to pick out some of the details on it. She thought she was fast when she was in Equestria, then she came here and learnt that she had hardly been moving before, the Swooping Hawk training really paying off. Honestly, if she wanted to she could do Sonic Rainboom’s all day long, but unless she was fighting Tyranids again, she’d keep the extremely unsubtle power in check, no point in giving away her position for no gain after all.
Shaking her head, she grinned as she saw the Khaine province of the craftworld, and quickly dipped to soar just over the other aspect temple complexes. They weren’t all as large as the temples of the Swooping Hawks, the flying Eldar needing more space than their earthbound cousins, but they were still huge, stretching off into the distance as Rainbow sped past.
Finally, she caught sight of her own temple, and quickly dropped her altitude once again, slowing down just as she touched the floor and setting off at a run into the temple, the doors sliding open at her approach. Quickly moving through the temple, she came upon the room where the others had been when she left the temple, and skidded to a halt.
“She returns.” Jolee smiled. “What did Kaliden want?”
“The Seer council wanted to see me.” Rainbow replied.
“And what did they want?” Tar’nek asked.
“Two wraith-kind wouldn’t wake up.” She said simply.
“Anyone we would know?” Faren asked.
“Elarique and Talvan.” Rainbow smiled. Looking around the room, she saw that none of the others were smiling anymore.
“Elarique and Talvan?” Juhani checked. “They needed both of them awake?”
“Umm…yes.” Rainbow nodded uncertainly. “Why is that bad thing?”
“Did they say who we were preparing for war against?” Tar’nek asked.
“No.” Rainbow shook her head. “They just said that the call would go out soon.”
“Mon-keigh.” Tar’nek muttered, before raising his voice. “We must inform Kaliden. He will want us to be well prepared for this attack.”
“Why is this it that this seems like it is a much bigger deal than the other deployments?” Rainbow asked, following the others down the corridor.
“If they are waking up even a single ghost warrior, that means we will be deploying in force alongside the Craftworld’s guardians. Everything you’ve seen has been nothing but a skirmish compared to this.” Tar’nek said solemnly.
Suitably cowed by this response, Rainbow followed the others towards where Kaliden was meditating. She knew that the next few weeks would be harder than anything else she had done with the temple, and if Tar’nek and the others were right in their hunches, she was beginning to have her first serious doubts about success.
***
Two weeks of some of the most intense training Rainbow had ever experienced ended abruptly when the call finally went out. It wasn’t a physical call, not like Rainbow had expected anyway, no member of the seer council came knocking on their shrine door, and no signal was sent to their communicators.
Rainbow and the others had been going through yet more flight training, Kaliden making sure that they understood human aerial defence techniques and how to effectively combat them, when they all suddenly heard something.
It was not a traditional sound, but instead, was a feral, primal howl that echoed within Rainbows head, driving all the pent up rage and aggression that she kept locked away when not in the trance like state of the war mask.
Faltering in her dive, Rainbow smashed into the soft grass of the training field, carving a deep gouge into the ground. Quickly getting up, Rainbow watched as the others had similar, if slightly less extreme. Tar’nek collided mid-air with Kaliden, both managing to stop just before hitting the floor, while the others recovered quickly, landing just next to Rainbow as she crawled out of the crater.
“What…is that?” Rainbow panted, trying to push the feelings back into the recesses of her mind, yet finding herself unable.
“He comes.” Juhani smiled, her eyes fazing in and out of focus.
“The young king is no more.” Goroic laughed, nervously fidgeting his hands.
“Khaine lives on, and his bloody handed avatar now walks amongst his children, calling us to his side in the everlasting war.” Kaliden growled, his lips curling back over his teeth.
“Excuse me, what’s going on?” Rainbow asked again.
“The young king has been consumed, and the avatar has awoken once more. The craftworld has just been called to war.” Faren growled, clenching his fists so tightly that if he hadn’t been wearing his armoured gloves, Rainbow was sure that they would have started bleeding.
“So that’s it? How do we know where to go?” Rainbow asked.
“Kaliden knows.” Jolee said, seemingly handling the avatar’s influence better than the others. “The exarchs of the temples always know.”
“Where to?” Tar’nek asked, turning to face the exarch, who had his eyes rolled back in his head, exposing the whites of his eyes fully.
“The Celestial Ideal is waiting for us at the Gea port. We are expected there in one hour.” Kaliden replied, his eyes swivelling back to normal.
With a silent nod, every member of the temple turned and headed back towards the arming chambers.
***
Kaliden stood naked in front of the rest of the shrine, the only thing on him being his soul stone. Beside him stood his armour, locked onto the stand beneath. The others faced him, their own armour beside them, prepared for the exarch to begin the final part of their transformation. He had already informed Rainbow that this time would be different.
The avatar would exacerbate the war-mask within her, making it stick harder and be all together more powerful. If she was not careful, this would be the time she lost herself to it. Kaliden had initially expressed his desire for her to sit the mission out, but Rainbow would not have something as trivial as losing her mind to the eternal war being fought by a super-advanced alien civilisation, stop her from sticking with her new found friends.
Finally, Kaliden began talking.
“The peace is broken, the harmony falls to discord, only war remains. Now we clothe ourselves, with bloody Khaine’s own raiment, as a warrior. In Khaine’s iron skin, we clad ourselves for battle, which fire burns within. The spirit of Khaine from which we draw our resolve strengthens within us. War comes upon us, we must bear its dark burden, upon our shoulders. We stand before Khaine, unyielding in our calling, free of doubt, free of restraint, free of fear. We do not fear death, rather, we walk in its shadow, daring Khaine to reach out and snatch us for himself, proud and unafraid. We strike from the skies, as swift as the hawk, with a deadly purpose to our talons. We give of our blood, as Khaine’s call roars around us, calling us to war. The spirit of Khaine, from which we draw our resolve, strengthens us from within. War comes upon us, we must bear its dark burden, upon our shoulders. We stand before Khaine, truly unyielding in our calling, now free from the notion of doubt, and the lie of peace. See not with your eyes, but allow anger to flow, lets Khaine’s gift guide you, and let his anger fuel your actions.”
Now, as with all the times before, the war-mask burst forth from Rainbows mind, taking over her psyche. This time however, Rainbow could feel something at the back of her mind, a voice urging her to give into her baser instincts.
Growling, the Pegasus followed the other Swooping Hawks towards the dock, fully prepared for total war.
***
Rainbow was so much more aware than ever before, the avatar boosting her senses. She could feel the ship moving through the webway, she could hear the engines of the pathfinder ships that where just outside the hull. If she listened closely, she swore that she could hear wails from somewhere beyond the webway, and they seemed to be getting louder.
Dismissing the thought, Rainbow turned back to face Kaliden, who was about to begin the briefing for the coming war.
“Verbatim VIII.” He said simply, an image of a lush green planet. As Rainbow watched, the greenery shrunk away, until almost none remained, being replaced by ugly cities, and fire. The planet was on fire, and entire continents were burning, while the rest was encased in snow.
“Until recently, this planet was a small unassuming world in the Imperium of Man, a hive world by their definition, the world was utterly unimportant to the Eldar. Ten years ago however, this changed. A small event caused a rebellion on the planet, something that is still going on, but has only recently become a threat to us.”
The image being shown suddenly changed, and Rainbow shuddered as she looked upon a vicious human.
“This human has been identified by our seers as enforcer Hakon. He was once a soldier in the Vraksian militia on Vraks, but was unaccounted for after the planet was brought back to the humans hands.” Kaliden started. “Now it appears that he has come back, once again with his Gods favour, and at the head of an army. This rebellion has now grown to such a scale however, that soon darker forces will be drawn to the planets. We cannot allow them to manifest on this planet, for if they are allowed to break through here, it could spell doom for Saim-Hann and countless Exodite worlds in the vicinity.”
“So are we killing every human on the planet?” Juhani asked.
“Unfortunately no.” Kaliden said, and once again changed the image to another human, this one in a much higher class of uniform, and standing in front of an army,
“This is Lord General Sturnn of the Cadian 453rd, formerly General Sturnn of the Cadian 412th. He is considered a hero by many, and if he is killed, the humans will froth at the mouth, belching forth fire and death on whomever killed him. If we do it, that wrath will be on us, so we are simply here to covertly assist him, again.”
“Why does this guy always need our help?” Jolee asked, looking at the wizened face of Sturnn.
“Because he’s an incompetent human.” Rainbow said with a smirk, exposing her teeth.
“Sturnn is many things, but he is not incompetent.” Kaliden said sternly. “He defeated a resurrected necron tomb world without the assistance that we believed he would need, and would not have needed our help if he had not been rushing to complete his mission. He is to be considered an enemy that is not to be engaged or interacted with except under the strict orders of the Autarch. Now, any questions?”
“When do we get there?” Rainbow snarled.
“Soon.” Kaliden replied with a smile.
***
The Eldar fleet slipped into the system, slicing back into realspace as the webway portals closed behind them. There were ten ships in total, ranging from small pathfinder ship that had lead them to the planet to the large battleship that would take the lead in any active assaults on the planet, as well as holding the guardian segment of the Eldars force, all blending in with the empty void behind them as their holo-shields flared into life.
Moving towards the planet, a single ship took the lead, cutting towards two other ships, both exchanging fire as they spiralled around each other. They were ugly things, gigantic, slab-sided brutes that spat out solid munitions, and vented their crude plasma drives in a feeble attempt at real speed. How little the humans knew of true space travel, and how fitting it would be that the Eldar would show them ultimate power.
As a signal jumped around the Eldar fleet, the ships began to spread out, stealthily encircling the duelling ships, before another signal went out, this one a single word.
“Engage.”
A single lance erupted from each ship in the fleet, hitting pinpoint locations on each ship, and popping the already stretched void-shields. Now exposed to the fire of the other ships, huge gouts of flame shot out into space, before being extinguished, even as oxygen vented into space, taking with it countless lifeless bodies.
Another volley shot out from the Eldar fleet, taking out individual targets on both ships, the communication arrays, the gunnery control centre, the bridge and the main engine feed.
Hamstrung, defenceless, without any commanders and unable to call for help, the two ships began to drift, until a final, massive volley ripped into the engines of both ships, breeching the crude plasma containments drives that were nestled at the heart of the ship.
Quickly moving away from the ship, the Eldar sped towards the planet, using the cover of the dark side of the planet to stay undetected, even as the two ship lit up like two miniature stars. By the time any ships responded to the flash, the Eldar were already long gone, their deception completed, leaving only a pair of near destroyed hulks to be found.
***
Rainbow and the other Swooping Hawks stood in the hanger bays as the doors that protected them slid open, revealing the snow covered continent that would serve as their landing zone, and leaving only a thin shield between them and the freezing expanse of the void.
Glancing to her side, Rainbow caught sight of Aranha, giving the warriors of the Falling Strike one final check.
The other, more earthbound, members of the assault force would already be making their way down to the planet via numerous webway portals set up by the pathfinders of Saim-Hann, but not the Swooping Hawks.
Looking back to Kaliden, Rainbow watched as the exarch nodded once, before setting off at a run towards the still active shield. Following his lead, Rainbow and the rest of the warriors of the Floating assault, followed closely by the other Swooping Hawks ran with him.
Drawing level with the exarch, Rainbow overtook him, once again proving that four legs were better than two, and pitched herself into the air, flying out of the hanger the instant the shield dropped.
Behind her, hundreds of other Eldar followed her, as she once again dropped towards a planet as a member of the Floating Assault.
For a blissful moment, Rainbow was completely at peace with herself, the voice of the Avatar receding from her mind, and she briefly wandered if the war-mask had lifted itself somehow. This was who she was, what she was meant to do, and what she was born to do. Now, she was truly a Swooping Pegasus.
Then everything sped up again, the wind whipped past her helmet as she streaked down through the planets cloud layer, the roar of avatar renewed its battle to take control of her mind, and Rainbow Dash was gone again.
Only the Hawk remained.
Only war stretched out in front of her.
Letting out a primal scream reminiscent of the very birds the aspect was named after, Rainbow beat her wings harder, and propelled herself downwards.
Stats
Page generated in 0.023 seconds
Total duration
701 users online
787,410 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Necrons were mentioned. I am happy now.
This is going to get really dark now... I hate the Imperium...
3743828 Tau.
3744269
If it makes you happy, I've got a sequel already planned out featuring everyone's favorite weeboos. 96 chapters too.
God ive been waiting for this to update
Good Chaper, a good look into both the aspects of Khaine and in Rainbow being herself despite all that.
An imperial commander with power claws? Is Sturnn a special character?
3744426
He's from Dawn of War: Winter Assault. It seems in the Dawn of War series, all imperial commanders have Lightning claws or power fists.
omg I've waited so long for this!
3744290
3744269
Tau worst race. They can't mêlée.
3744949 We don't need to, we can shoot you before you get close enough to do your silly "Melee"
3744949
warhammer40kdaw.at.ua/_ph/77/330681033.jpg
Time to fight some CHAOS!!! Also, nice to see Strun is still around, this is going to be a "happy" reunion.
Its sad that two Imperial cruisers had to die so the Eldar could make planetfall but hey this is war and their souls are with the Emperor now.
3744949
40kings.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/1341054777657.jpg
'nuff said.
Now we shall see how humanitys' finest fare against the power of Equestria!
3745079
Well if it makes you feel better, one was a heretic ship, so they deserved to die.
3745131 AH YES. Now that you say it I remember reading those two to be in an engagement when the Eldar came knocking.
Which version of Necron fluff do you prefer? The first codex or the second? I personally don't like the second codex. I much preferred the Necron's first codex.
3745529
I prefer the old fluff, but the second one came close to making them awesome. Most of my headcannon is a hybrid between both of them, with the warriors being 1st version, but having Overlords.
CHAOS!
3745545
New fluff feels like the nerfed the whole bloody race to me. I like them having some individuality, but that's about it.
Well, at least the Chaos Lord isn't one of the Daemon Primarchs.
Will any show up though?
I want blood.
3747938
No Primarchs of any kind, but there will be blood, and it will flow it large amounts across this planet.
3744956
3745006
3745079
GG
3748085
We don't really need Primarchs for bloodshed anyway.
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
echoed within Rainbows head
burst forth from Rainbows mind
that where just outside the hull
ranging from small pathfinder ship that had lead them
of the Eldars force
the roar of avatar renewed its battle
1. Rainbow's.
2. Rainbow's.
3. Were.
4. Ranging from the small pathfinder ship that had led them.
5. Eldar's.
6. The roar of the Avatar renewed its battle.