• Published 30th Mar 2013
  • 3,458 Views, 570 Comments

I Blame You, Too - Whitestrake



The 41st Millenium is about to open a serious can of whoop-ass on Equestria.

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Harvard is Trying to Make Robotic Honey Bees

Xenos. Three of them were inside the windowed tree. Their eyes were bulbous perversions of our own, bright with emotion and thought. Such things were best destroyed, yet Skully seemed fine with them. One of the aliens, a small, black quadruped with a crooked horn and insectoid wings, jumped at the armored heretic. I had expected the rogue psyker to swat it away, perhaps even shoot it, but not catch it. While he held the black thing, it squeaked in the same language Skully and Pyro spoke; it sounded very close to an overjoyed human female.

He kissed the little thing on the forehead and set it down. The cretin's green eyes looked into mine and I felt only disgust for it and its existence. It was an ugly thing, covered in chitin with holes riddling its legs; the larger one was the same, though had very predominant fangs and spoke to Skully like they were equals. The third xenos was purple, hooved, and had a straight horn and a pair of feathered wings. It was, perhaps, a different species than the first two, and spoke about as quickly as Alexander rambling off a new discovery or connection he'd made. If ever an alien windpipe begged for forced collapse, it was the purple thing's.

In succession, and with oddly correct pronunciation, Skully waved his hands between the boss, Oleg, and myself, introducing us. Inquisitor Dahl nodded curtly; he likely had a plan to work things in our advantage. Oleg grunted, which caused Skully and the large, black xenos to share a look. It seemed to me something akin to mirth played across the thing's strange features. Introductions came to me last, and I gave a small, meaningless wave. The armored heretic had likely gleaned information on our language from touching our minds, so nothing was quite unusual. Then, something quite unusual happened, and I only say this because it stuck out to me.

A large, bipedal lizard walked into the room, well, library, I should say. It was purple with green details, of course being its crest and the pair of fins on the sides of its skull. It stood perhaps two heads shorter than the black xenos, making it the second-tallest we encountered so far. It accepted a scroll, which had previously been encased in a purplish aura that seemed to emanate from the feathered one. With a puff of flames that originated within its body, the reptile burned the document. The least-ugly alien looked somewhat pleased by this, and went back to rapidly asking questions of Skully.

It seemed it was a psyker as well, and with its horn glowing, that meant the other horned xenos might be psykers as well. If that was the case, if indeed every sentient quadruped on this planet could touch the Warp, then their indifference was a blessing in disguise. All seemed to be going well, up until my earpiece crackled to life. It was Inquisitor Dahl, speaking on all our private channels, and using his best ventriloquist act to hide this from us.

++Sandtrap to Angel, shipwrecked at high tides, raft needs rope.++ That was our code for extraction, meaning our comrades would need to rent one of Shipmaster Delray's atmospheric craft. They would land next to the strider and follow the signals from our tracking devices. It was a very simple and elegant plan and why the hell was I thinking this around the language-crossing mind-reader that captured us?

Relax, Amos; I made that same mistake once. Skully was an asshole like that. Just as quickly as he said such in my head, he said something to the purple xenos. Fuck.

$%$%$%$%$%$%

“They've got a ship in orbit.” Taylor was to the point as always, a trait that had served the kingdom well over the years. He wasn't particularly scared by this development; he could always get Luna or Celestia to slam her respective celestial body into it. The plaent's sun and moon may not have been very large, but that were most certainly bigger than this Skyward Valkyrie. “And they've called in reinforcements. At most, four more should make planetfall before the night's out.”

“I'll let the princess know immediately.” Twilight's wings were a bit ruffled from all this. Already, she was writing her second letter of the day, detailing the various aspects of what could be the worst crisis in years. The alicorn looked u from her parchment after completing a single sentence, a blank look on her face. “There's more, isn’t there?”

“They're after, and this is from the inquisitor's own mind, a heretic whose name I can't say without implicating this world and ruining our chances of cooperation with these three. Suffice to say they may bring the sort of Chaos that laughs at the Elements of Harmony.”

“Dad, what's a heretic?” Scipia tilted her head to the side; she'd never heard that word before, but she certainly didn't like it. Her, Taylor, paled when he said it, something the larva had never seen him do. Chrysalis nudged her daughter's side.

“It’s nothing to worry about, sweetie.” The older queen gave her husband a nod as she spoke, silently telling him she was taking their daughter home immediately. It was understood between them that Leviathan was going to be brought back into service for this. “Come one, let's get home before dark.”

The two changelings walked out the other door, keeping their distance form the three Imperials. Twilight again turned to her very unlikely ally for more information.

“This heretic, how long do we have until he brings this chaos you mentioned?”

“Not chaos, Twilight, Chaos, proper noun. Ever seen a man explode into a cloud of gore, and watch the flesh and organs and blood melt together and float into the air, then explode again to reveal a demon from hell?”

“And these three can stop it?” She asked, fully understanding why this was something the man didn't want to say around his family. The three captives and their allies coming to ground later didn't speak Equish, or English as Taylor and Jay knew it.

“Maybe not, but every little bit helps, especially if he gets a cult going in the local populace.”

$%$%$%$%$%$%

This Ophidia, which of the Ruinous Powers does he serve? A question, that was something new for Skully. I did not bother replying, sure he would probe into my mind for the answer he sought. The icy finger of psychic energy did not touch my brain, however, which surprised me immensely. Nurgle? Khorne? Tzeentch? Slaanesh? Or does he serve them all?

“Ophidia travels around from cult to cult.” The boss actually cooperated with the heretic. That was, after all, a sign Skully and his allies weren't aligned with Chaos. He was still a friend to aliens, and captured an inquisitor and his retinue, but he was no traitor to mankind. “He was last seen with a motley sect.”

Odd term, but okay. Listen, I know we've had our differences, to put it mildly, but I only want what's best for this world. Ophidia, and Chaos as well, poses a threat we can agree on, correct? Skully offered his armored hand to the boss, expecting him to shake it. After a moment of it just hanging in the air, he sheepishly retracted it. The man's mental voice was almost apologetic, a quality I never really expected of him. Then again, I didn't quite know what to think of him. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy, nothing more. I'm not saying we need to be friends, or that I even enjoy the fact you're alive, but we have a mutual enemy right now.

“The Emperor demands human domination of the galaxy, nothing less. This world should burn alongisde the heretics and traitors that cower on it.” Dahl was a very serious man, very passionate about his work. He also knew enough about aliens and how to deal with them that he'd been mistakenly identified as a member of the Ordo Xenos on more than one occasion. If any of us knew how best to handle things, it was him.

Then I guess its a good thing you aren't in the Milky Way anymore. What the hell did that mean? Alexander and Shipmaster Delray said we weren't in Imperial space, but extragalactic travel was unheard of. Skully must have been blowing smoke out his ass or something. Now, I can easily have your ship destroyed and pry all the information from you little minds if I want, so I'm going to do the polite thing and give you the choice of cooperation or death.

Psychic interrogation was a painful thing; I'd undergone it once before, and it wasn't even the worst level they could do. I shuddered to think what Skully was capable of, what twisted things he could do with the mind if he wished. The only thing keeping us from the headsman's ax was our cooperation, something Dahl might not give. Sure, he was a loyal, very dedicated inquisitor, but we've had Kroot mercenaries with us before, so this shouldn't have been too different. It was a weird time; don't look into it. A race of psykers, a race sensitive to the Warp, would make hunting out Ophidia that much easier. What happened next was the boss's decision.

Your escort to the palace should arrive soon, I expect an answer by then. With that, Skully took the purple xenos to another room. We hadn't even noticed Pyro leaving earlier, taking our weapons with him. Have I mentioned Oleg is actually a very smart guy? Because he is, and he can say some of the most profound things.

“He's taking refuge in sheer audacity.”

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