Warhammer 40K Fan Fiction ❯ Wed to Faith ❯ Chapter 6: Planetfall ( Chapter 6 )

For the first time in many months, Kezia slept peacefully. She was not plagued by nightmares, the visions and shrieking noises that usually tortured her mind as she tried to rest. The curse of many a Psyker, daemons always tried to access her mind from the warp. However, she would never give in. And when she could share her feelings with others, be embraced by other living humans, she was free. Her own human emotions and inner strength proved too much for the warp.

She opened her eyes as soon as Sister Melanie awoke. Her senses were so finely tuned that it only took the slightest change in another's consciousness to alert her. She turned and smiled at the Seraphim, who smiled in return. Soon, everyone was awake, all rousing in short succession thanks to the movements. They eventually found their way out of bed, making the sheets up after themselves as they prepared for the day ahead. Clothes were donned - although in the case of both Kezia and Somnifera, they had to gather them from the ship and her room, respectively.

 

But it didn't take too long for everyone to be fully dressed and ready for the day ahead - the prayers, breakfast, the beginning of the training schedule. Kezia joined in the prayers, but at first she merely sat back and watched the daily training. She wasn't entirely sure if it was appropriate she join. Besides, although they used training servitors for their firearms (and she preferred to use her psykic powers against foes at a distance, something she would not lightly use outside battle), close combat was sister against sister for the most part. Would it be appropriate for her to join that? She felt capable of slashing at servitors and servants of Chaos with her power sword, slaying them freely, but could not even raise a prop sword against a Battle Sister. Possibly she could bring herself to fight in their boxing-wrestling combat training, but she was not too skilled in that art, and the Sisters would probably not want to risk hurting her anyway.

 

Still, she didn't mind watching. She could still keep her body fit and in shape, and would not risk injury before the upcoming invasion. After all: they would soon be dropping to the world the Dark Eldar located, and beginning a bloody assault that would stamp their foe from the system, and afterwards? Afterwards they would root out the heretics who dared to ally with them and invite the serpents in, and the price to pay would be steep.

 

Indeed, all that was needed was to get the witch - or the Archon - to talk. If the witch was confident, she would still lead them right there, but xenos were liars by nature, so she was almost certain there would be a trap. And for that reason, she wanted Sluralis kept under close watch.

 

 

“So, witch, are you ready to lead us to your people? To see who is mightier?”

 

Sluralis smirked. She had been listening, trying to reach out with her mind. She was certain that the Battle Sisters lacked the forces needed - especially if she were to guide them to a location where they would be trapped and at the mercy of her legions.

 

“Certainly. Let us get packed. I admire your work on lovely Lespirau. You do know that we'll be getting revenge for this one hundredfold, right?”

 

“We'll just see. I expect you'll find yourself in her position soon enough, and hers was just a taste of what we shall give to you.”

 

Lespirau laughed to herself, almost manic at the thought of getting her revenge.

 

“You can just remain there. People will come in to feed you, and perhaps to help make your welts burn with agony. Maybe someone will even come in to give you a hard fucking with a wooden stake. You'd like that, wouldn't you, you servant of Slaanesh?”

 

“I hope there's some skin left on you when Sluralis drags you back, so I can peel it away, layer by layer, and sew it into a cloak to wear. Then you can be pickled completely before I really have fun…”

 

Kasanja sighed, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she left to make arrangements.

 

 

By the end of the day, everything was ready: the large space vessel had everything loaded on. Several vehicles, many drop pods, even an Aquila lander had been fuelled, lying in wait. One hundred and thirty four Sisters, not including vehicle crew and the Sisters Hospitaler that would remain on the ship, were ready. Six vehicles, six drop pods, one flyer and an Iron Maiden Penitent Engine. As well as the special steed that Prioress Nyvanna would ride into battle: a giant war-hound, a deadly creature taken from a death world and very nearly tamed. With these forces, they felt comfortable in their beliefs that they would lay waste to the Dark Eldar. All that remained was for Sluralis to be transported - restrained - and for them to take off.

 

Engines roared, flames spraying from the thrusters, and when everyone was in place, all strapped in, the mighty vehicle began to move. Slowly it levitated, swaying in the air as it rocked and fought gravity, before suddenly rushing through the atmosphere, ploughing through the clouds on its way to space.

 

 

The flight itself was almost boring. There was little to do except to look forward to the upcoming events, and to stay focused on every single defence. They couldn't risk Warp travel, so the journey was slow, but at least the void shields were up, and the only attackers would be regular xenos, not warp beasts and daemons. With the weapons the ship had, no-one would think of attacking - at least, no-one who was small enough to go under the radar and be unknown in the system.

 

Eventually Sluralis led them to the destination, a small planet with seven moons. It seemed the best path of attack would be to land on one of the moons and launch from there.

 

“Are any of these trapped or guarded?”

 

“I see no reason to tell you. You wouldn't be sure you could believe me anyway, and I don't want to see you down safely, after all.”

 

“She's right. We'll have to take our chances but run a careful search. Once we feel we have a safe location we'll stop there, then co-ordinate a two-pronged strike.”

 

“Agreed. Let's try that one there, it seems smooth and barren. We'll run a search with the scanners, then to be on the safe side, deploy chemical weapons to clear it before landing. Then we can set up our base and observe the planet itself.”

 

The floating rock appeared to be devoid of life, and the landing went without a problem. From there, it was a simple matter of observing, for some time - despite the captive protesting her boredom and impatience to begin. They would not let her coax them into a hasty assault, they needed to know where to strike.

 

It was a few hours before everything was mapped out. There were two bases, not far from one another. One was a military settlement, the other an inhabited fortress, a castle even. The two were connected via a road through the mountains, and they agreed: set the vehicles down to the side, attack and try to force both forces into the mountain path to warn the others, then unleash a bombardment into the path to kill them all. The fortress would be attacked first, led by Kezia and Kasanja and mostly consisting of a rapid deployment drop force. The space vessel would then sweep over to the military base and unload everyone else - with Papavera, Somnifera and Nyvanna leading the charge, before heading to the centre.

 

And it would have gone according to plan, too, were it not for the missile silos. Even as the pods began to drop, hatches slid open in the giant gothic castle, and flames burst from holes as missiles emerged, propelled into the atmosphere. They locked on, shooting past the drop pods and slamming into the underside of the ship, rocking it with mighty explosions.

 

“Damnation! As soon as I teleport, move out, head to phase 2 before returning with reinforcements!”

 

The teleportation device flickered, crackled then activated, a stream of energy hurling Kezia's armoured body through the warp, slamming into the open ground. She had landed off-target, but was still close enough - she could see the fortifications, and the pods crashing to the ground, throwing clouds of dirt into the air. One of the Dominica Deathwind pods opened, hurling a salvo of missiles of its own at everything in sight. Between that and the missiles fired by the ship itself, parts of the colossal structure began to explode and cave in. Rockets were even shot out of the air on-way to the sky, and she watched as her transport left her field of vision.

 

“Time for action.”

 

Even as a unit of trained warriors clambered from the ruins, some bleeding copiously, the doors of Kasanja's golden drop pod slammed open, and she stepped out with her retinue of Cherubim - clad in robes and ancient artificer armour - and veteran Celestians. The Dark Eldar raised their weapons, getting a few shots off, but the Cherubim fired their auxiliary grenade launchers, Kasanja fired the flame-ejector of her armoured fist, and the Celestians fired their flamer and heavy flamer, backed up by the deathwind missile launcher built into her pod. The explosions and fires were deafening, shattering rubble into dust and melting it down into a thick sludge. Smoke poured out, surely toxic, and all that remained of the warriors was a charred mess of bones.

 

At the same time, Celestians burst forth from another drop pod, turning their weapons towards the tower they had landed right in front of. They stepped out, pointed their flame weapons ahead, and sent searing jets of flame into the hatches, starting a raging inferno. Kasanja herself had spent some time refining the promethium used, and it seemed to be paying off. Smoke poured out of the firing slots and the top hatch, and the screams of pain died out quickly. Another location was secured in the name of the Emperor. However it almost seemed too easy - the Dark Eldar were not a race for sitting and cowering, they were violent and proactive.

 

Just as Kezia thought that, foes began to emerge. It seemed as though the Talos, and the Archon on her jetbike, swooped in out of nowhere from the side, firing blindly. Shards from the stinger gun flew wildly, but the Archon was a little better, skewering Sister Turquoise through the upper body. Just as fast as they arrived, they dived into combat.

 

Raiders then fell screaming and wailing from the skies, launched from the uppermost tower. It seemed they had been ready all along, waiting to launch an ambush against the invading Sisters. As they nearly crashed into the ground, their dark lances fired, carving neat lines through one of the drop pods until the whole structure collapsed into a wreck. It would provide no more cover for the Celestians, and would no longer fire its explosives.

 

Worse still, Kasanja's crew seemed to be getting trapped between two sides - in front of them, a Talos hovered into view amidst the wreckage, behind them a deadly Ravager made an appearance. Stinger fire perforated the armour of one Veteran Celestian, causing her to drop to the ground even as they prepared to fire, and to accept its charge. But keeping their attention on it, they were unprepared for the Ravager, which fired three arcing green orbs of fierce energy. They crackled and sizzled, and when the flash of light finished, not one of the Cherubim remained standing. The Talos crashed into the now-weakened Sisters, cutting one down almost as a side-thought as it swung about. Kasanja parried an attack with her bionic arm, feeling part of the metal buckle and bend even as it turned the claws away. She then thrust her spear in, gouging at the fleshy membrane of the strange vehicle-creature.

 

 

Meanwhile, at the other side, balls of burning rock bounced around the battlefield, smashing the ground into craters and collapsing half of their largest military building. Even as it caved in, the wyches inside tried to clamber out, and that's when the forces made their appearance - dropped off earlier, they ran in, bolters at the ready, Immolators zooming along beside them, and Somnifera swooped in ahead, along with the Seraphim.

 

With little safety, the wyches who had been lying in wait to ambush invaders (who they thought would be dropping straight in) were caught by surprise. They turned to face the Sisters and began to charge, but nearly thirty bolters rang out in reply, sweeping the landscape with their explosive ammunition, chipping away at the walls of the ruins and blasting foot-wide holes in the fleshy wyches. They didn't stand a chance, they were massacred by the fire-lines of the Battle Sisters. Blood bathed the battlefield where they once stood, covering everything with the scent of death and smoke.

 

One of the interceptor-quad guns rotated to fire upon the Seraphim sweeping down from the heavens, but they seemed to always be just ahead of it long enough for other Sisters to fire upon the weapon, hitting the ammunition canisters and causing it to explode in a shower of shrapnel. The Seraphim, almost landing, fired their weapons, twin hand-flamers sending tongues of fire sweeping into the firing slots and murder holes. The inside of the building lit up with orange light and the acrid smell of burnt flesh wafted out.

 

Then it was a simple matter of flying ahead and attaching melta bombs to the outer walls. If anyone was alive inside, they would be too occupied trying not to burn. They clicked the bombs into place, backed off and watched as the small bombs emitted searing heat. Steam shot out, the air wavered from the heat as the wall itself buckled and bent, soon melting. Finally, the bombs themselves overheated and blew out, erupting like fusion reactions. The wall was gone, and the building collapsed in on itself, the one survivor surviving no more when a fuel line exploded, killing him instantly.

 

Bound and dragged along on a chain, Sluralis gasped as she saw the destruction. She wasn't expecting that. The Celestians holding onto her wouldn't let her escape easily so she turned her attention to the giant Land Raider Cross-Bearer, focusing…

 

Her eyes clouded with blood, the rear of the vehicle started to shimmer as she gained focus… but then a tug on her chain pulled her to the ground.

 

“We're paying attention, you know. Every time you try that, we'll remember that for your penance afterwards.”

 

The Immolators turned their turrets, hurling flame into the bastions at the sides and causing untold deaths for the inhabitants.

 

 

In her cell in the larger castle, Sister Sylvana noticed that the walls were shaking, even caving in. With less attention paid to her, and the doors crumbing, she knew it was her chance. Outside the small, barred window a drop pod with the Dominica Deathwind pattern was being attacked and chewed on by the Talos, so she knew she had allies nearby. With a little effort, she tore her chain free and held it like a weapon, before shouldering the door open - only possible due to the structural damage the building had taken.

 

 

Meanwhile, the Archon and Talos assaulted the lone Celestian squad. There was little they could do but fight back as defensively as possible. Sister-Hospitaler Sequia used her needle pistol to fire healing Narthecium into her fellow Sisters, but still casualties were suffered as they tried to fight back. Sister Tempura stood atop the Talos, jamming her Sarissa into its “head” and pulling the trigger to fire bolt rounds inside. Others swung weapons at the flying Archon, mounted on her bike and high on combat drugs. But it looked hopeless.

 

Still, they could see a Repressor and an Immolator zooming in, each torching a different bunker. Screams of agony could be briefly heard above the roar of the flame, and thick black smoke was pouring out, filling the skies. Another pair of drop pods then slammed into the ground. The furious Iron Maiden Penitent engine stepped out of one, screeching with eternal torment. It fired the pair of missiles atop its shoulders, as well as letting out two jets of flame at the Talos. Explosions and fire seemed not to faze it, however, so it charged ahead into combat.

 

The other opened up… and ten heavy bolters fired. The noise was deafening, and though they only rattled one Raider, they took out a weapon on the Ravager, at least lowering its capacity for damage. More Celestians arrived and took that as their signal, firing upon the Raider until it exploded, their faith granting them the fury to propel their rounds straight into the core. When the flames settled, it was apparent a few of the inhabitants were dead.

 

Backing away a little, Kasanja fired her flame-ejector once more, causing organs inside the Talos to burst. How many more of these torturous creatures were there? Her remaining allies fired until they had nearly spent all their ammunition, and it finally dropped dead, oozing a foul substance.

 

 

Wyches clambered out of the crumbling fortress, bearing deep wounds even as Somnifera continued to attack the building itself. Her eviscerator chewed through the thick stone, causing the entire building to rumble. It wouldn't take more for it to come crashing down, trapping them inside.

 

Another Ravager then fell from the skies, firing all weapons. The brilliant green beams of light hit the Sisters at full force, and no less than eight of them dropped to the ground, their armour warped from the energy that had been fed into them. On the other hand, the wyches fired and failed to hurt a single one of them. Shards of metal rebounded from their armour, too thick for the splinter pistols, and their reply - in the form of bolter fire - silenced their foes. They then stayed back, trying to revive the fallen as they held the position.

 

Again, Immolators fired their streams of burning promethium into bastions, this time with the aid of Celestians and more Seraphim. One was soon silent, the other still echoed with screams and shouts. It sounded as though the door had welded itself shut.

 

The Land Raider variant, a giant church sitting atop its roof with sparkling stained glass windows and ringing churchbell, unleashed a blast of fire before letting its inhabitants run wild. Ten Repentias, led by Mistress Despoena, charged over the burning rubble and straight towards the Ravager. It would be theirs to destroy, it symbolised their anger and hatred on a personal level.

 

Both Heroines, Papavera and Somnifera, then glanced at each other across the battlefield, nodding as they raised their Inferno pistols. They fired, point blank into the bastion and fortress respectively. The heat was enough, and both collapsed, electrical equipment sparking and exploding in the process. Gigantic clouds of dust were hurled into the air from the impact, and Sluralis began to think that perhaps all was lost.

 

 

Just as Sister Sylvana strangled the warrior, breaking his neck with her chain, she glanced out. The Iron Maiden and the Talos were locked in combat. The giant machine of hatred an rage was pulverising its foe, slamming jagged weapons and drills into it with sprays of blood and ichor following. However it did manage to get one good hit in, finally tearing an arm loose in the process. But that was little deterrent to the Iron Maiden.

 

Another Ravager dropped down, firing all its weapons at the Immolator, but to no avail. All the beams of dark energy did was bounce off the intricate armour and rattle the frame, causing the fire turret to spin to the side. The driver replied simply by calling out to the Emperor and driving at full speed into the front of it, colliding heavily and bumping it into the barracks.

 

Even as this was going on, the Archon and Talos continued to murder the Celestians one at a time. Soon, their eyes were blinded by their own blood but they continued to fight anyway, carried on by pure eternal hatred. They never noticed as the Haemonculi started to silently approach.

 

But Sister Sylvana did. As one was passing, she leapt, landing on the board with it. Naked, she was in little condition to fight, but she caught the torturer by surprise and the Emperor granted her a furious boost of strength, allowing her to cave his skull in with nothing but the chain she still wielded. It was then a matter of not crashing the Hellion Skyboard as she tried to get safely to the ground. And then she saw her. She saw Inquisitor Kezia. And as Kezia hacked through another wych, she looked up and saw Sylvana too. Her eyes lit up, she glanced about and fired her storm bolter, keeping foes pinned down as she rushed forwards, trampling corpses beneath her armoured feet, and pulled short so as not to crush her lover and companion.

 

“You're alive… I thought you would be, I hoped I would find you here.”

 

“I serve you as always, my lady.”

 

“When this is over, let me embrace you. I will find every award I can possibly bestow on you as well, for completing that last assignment, surviving and still aiding us now.”

 

“But for now, let us fight them.”

 

It was then that the Aquila Lander flew in, auto-cannon barking loudly and punching holes in the armour of the Ravagers. If there was ever any doubt as to who would be the victors, that was over in a flash. They even had air superiority over their foes at that turning point, and with their spirits uplifted, the Battle Sisters fought on…

 

 

Things were just as good on the other side. Not a single building stood standing after the assault, and even Wych Queen Lelith Hesperax had fallen in battle. The Repentia had hacked the Ravager apart until it exploded, killing some of their own but still they moved on. Canonesses Papavera, Somnifera and Nyvanna all joined their forces together to lay waste to the army of wyches that surrounded them, Nyvanna's mount biting them apart like so many rubber chewtoys, holy weapons and eviscerator hacking into enemy bodies…

 

Soon, it was all over. Not even the supernatural agility and specialist combat weapons of the Dark Eldar could save them, and they all lay dead. The battlefield was a bloody mess, one that would stand testament to why it is folly to attack the Imperium. Both sides made contact over the comms system, and started to search the wreckage. It was obvious that the fortress was the main base of operations, as well as a place where they kept their slaves and torture victims. Sylvana was lucky: they didn't have her for long, so although she had suffered a great deal of pain, no real harm had been done. She simply had an impressive set of scars where they burned and cut her, a pattern of thin lines covering her entire body.

 

It was perhaps fortunate for the other captives that they died when the building collapsed. They had not fared so well, some being dipped in acid, others eaten from the inside out by insects, yet more simply melted. Their pain was finally at an end. Investigating left little of use - the Dark Eldar did not have a set of tomes lying around, and the communicators were of no use for tracing back to the last contact - especially after wyches sabotaged them to make sure none would use it after them. Still, a locator beacon was left: to alert the Ordo Xenos of its location, so that they could go through it and handle the matter as they saw fit. There was no harm, after all, in getting on the good side of a fellow Inquisitor.

 

The dead were counted before they left: Seraphim Sister Scarlet died as the result of a through-and-through shot of a dark lance, Command Celestian Sister Kyra was torn in half by the Talos, Repentia Estelle and Aquaria both found peace when the Ravager exploded, Sisters Lara and Papillion-Rose were killed by the disintegrator, Celestian Sister Yumi turned out to be the only one actually killed by the Archon and Talos (though most of the others were seriously wounded before the last two emerged victorious through Faith alone), and Sister Jasmine was also killed in battle. Eight deaths - amongst a greater many injuries - was a low number, and for that they were thankful. But it would be some time before they were in fighting shape again. Still, even though they suffered casualties and Lelith the Wych Queen had escaped, it didn't matter! They had captured another Archon, stamped out the Dark Eldar presence, and rescued a Sister-turned-Inquisitorial-bodyguard! The Order of the Sacred Lilac would go down in the history books as having achieved greatness.