Angels of Dragqueen
Written by Chairmaster Stargate_Nerd
The skies of Guetta VI were on fire, it's rivers red with the blood of millions. It's once beatutiful forests were turned to ash and it's oceans still boiled from the heat of the orbital barrage. Arkeus, pillager of a thousand worlds, lash of the Black Legion and champion of the Chaos Gods, looked out over the blood pits as another group of Imperials were sacrificed to the glory of the Blood God. He would have made Khorne pleased on this day, for the blood of loyalists was held in high regard. Worth so much more than that of Greenskins or the Swarm. He smiled and looked over the encampment from the hill on which he stood.
There were corpses everywhere, some lying where they were slain, others moved there by his men. There were even other Astartes, their armour shattered and bodies broken. The garrison of Ultramarines had fought with all the bravery expected from the warrior-kings of Ultramar, but it made little difference. Arkeus' warband numbered three thousand Space marines, and he had another ten thousand mortal troopers in support. Not a warband to match champions like Abaddon the Dispoiler or Typhus of the Death Guard, but certainly enough to surmount any PDF companies the Imperial planets had.
He turned away from the carnage and opened a private vox channel to one of his subordinates. With his raspy voice he said "Ka'Jier, gather my forces and prepare to extract to orbit. We are leaving this rock.". There were a few seconds of static before he recieved an answer. "Yes, my lord. However, we have detected an unknown fleet of ships heading towards the planet."
"Impossible! Any Imperial reinforcements would have showed up on deep scans when they exited the Warp. Check the scanners again."
"We have, my lord. Thrice. There is a fleet heading towards us."
"Then we need to extract quickly. We cannot afford to lose men to an Imperial counter attack."
"I have begun the evacuation, my lord."
Arkeus terminated the vox channel. Just as he was about to get to his personal transport, a light in the sky caught his eye. He looked up towards the burning clouds. There was nothing, but after a few seconds he saw a line of light heading towards the surface. And then another, and then five more, and then a dozen. Hundreds of streaks of fire descended to the planet. "By the Dark Gods..." Arkeus whispered. After nearly a minute, the first drop pods struck the ground with the force of a meteorite. Even from such distance, Arkeus felt the vibrations in the ground as hundreds of the craft struck the ground. With his enhanced vision he saw the doors fall down in unison and out came something that should not be.
Standing as tall as any other of his kind, the Astartes was clad in heraldry of bright purple and blue. A pair of closed lips adorned his pauldron, the honoured emblem of their chapter no doubt. Across the warriors helmet ran a dark purple unibrow, in contrast with his blue helmet, and his red eye lenses were surrounded in what could only be described as eye shadowing. The sight would have made servants of the Dark Prince cry in ecstasy, for the image of hundreds of these blight of the eyes burned onto Arkeus retinas like he was staring into a star. The captain of the Dragqueen Marines drew his power sword and screamed a litany to his false Emperor as he charged. The hard bang of bolter fire followed as his men charged into the ragged lines of Arkeus' troopers. But the sight of the loyalists froze the men in their boots and they were cut down by the hundreds by the ferocious charge.
His own Black Legionaries, also stunned by the violation of colour that was attacking them, recovered faster than the mortals had any hope to and returned fire. A couple of the Dragqueens went down, either dead or just wounded. Arkeus knew it didn't matter, he could see this fight was already being lost. A dozen vox channels screamed for attention inside his battle-helm and he blinked them away. As a purple monstrosity on legs that could only be a Dreadnought crushed an entire squad in it's metallic fists Arkeus issued a mass-retreat order. The Astartes would crush any mortals under their boots as they ran towards the nearest transport to be evacuated to orbit and he didn't care. Humans were replaceable, Space marines required decades of genetic manipulation and training.
He started running towards his personal Storm Eagle gunship. He voxed the pilots to prepare for immediate take-off. They never got the chance. A missile slammed into the side of the cockpit and a second missile hit the fuel tanks, creating a massive explosion and showering the area in fire. Arkeus was knocked off his feet by the blast, and as the scrambled to get back on his feet, he saw a giant form clad in purple and blue. It was another of the Dragqueen Marines, this one wearing Tactical Dreadnought armour. He reached for his axe, but when the realization that he had lost it dawned upon him the massive armoured gauntlet of the Terminator slammed into his chest. His armour cracked from the massive force of the impact and he felt his ribcage shatter with it. Spitting blod into his helmet, he grinned as he felt the grip of his axe. A well-placed swing and his blade would cut the loyalist in tw- He screamed as he felt his entire right arm flare in pain. He looked to it and saw the massive boot of the Terminator as he stomped his arm flat into the hard dirt. He looked up to the hulking warrior, the pain in his arm already easing as his biology desperately tried to repair the damage. Arkeus looking into the red eyes of the Terminator. The Dragqueen looked back, and his vox speakers turned his voice into a growl of static. "YOU DIE TODAY, TRAITOR SCUM."
"Even as I die, Khorne has been satisfied with the blood of Imperial dogs today." he said, smiling inside his battered helmet even though his death was at hand. The Terminator did not answer him as he lifted his giant armoured boot of Arkeus broken arm and crushed his head beneath the sheer weight of the armour.
Epilogue:
As the Dragqueen Marine fleet, their warships as offensively painted as their troops, chased after the few surviving Black Legion vessels as they fled towards the jump point to escape into the relative safety of the Warp, captain Gunther of the second company stood on the battlefield, the corpses of traitors and renegades around him. He looked towards the horizon. As far as his enhanced vision could see, there was only ruins of once great Hive cities and devastated nature. He turned away and walked towards the extraction point as the Thunderhawks descended upon wings of fire. "Assemble the men," he said to his sergeants. "We are leaving this rock."