Well, my apologies for the hiatus, but with things coming at me one after another, I had very little time to write. Well, here is a one shot for your enjoyment. Remember to review!


"May Sanguinius and the Emperor watch over your soul, as you proceed into the next life." With a hideous crack, the Exsanguinator pulled the only remaining gene-seed free from Brother Virgil's body.

Sanguinary Priest Thaddeus placed the sole surviving Progenoid Gland into an air-tight container, to be absolutely certain there would be no contamination of the final gift of the brave warrior he fought beside for the better part of a century.

He rose from his ministrations and let his gaze fall upon the ruined war-zone that was left in their wake. The Blood Angels landed three hours ago, into a hot deployment zone. The endless swarm of the Tyranids and the ancient Eldar were locked in battle to fight over a planet they both believed was theirs.

Both were mistaken. This world was, indisputably, one of the Emperor's. None would dare challenge that without paying a toll in blood.

It was a scene of carnage, as noble Blood Angels fought and felled the vile xeno. Brother Mauricio, second in command of squad Angelica, sold his life dearly as he cut down a Wailing Banshee with his combat knife in his last act of service. He could recall Sergeant Kristofer pushing him out of the trajectory a bolt of bio-plasma that was meant for him.

Of the two undermanned Assault squads that landed, only he survived the ensuing massacre, and just barely at that. Now it was his solemn duty to retrieve the Progenoid Glands and retell the deeds so that their legacy would carry on in both blood and soul.

He dare not tarry long. He knew that in his veins ran the blood of the Primogenitor, but even more so than most Brothers did. If his body was lost, great shame would fall upon the Chapter as they would lose much. Thaddeus had retrieved all of the Progenoid Glands and needed to return to forward command where they would be secured.

As he turned to leave, his enhanced hearing detected a faint noise. Not just the sound of his armor or the windswept plains, but movement.

He spun to direct his attention to a figure, crouched down amongst the dead. It was far too slender to be a fellow Battle Brother, and the red gems it held confirmed the race. His helmet drew targeting solutions and variables on the figure as he withdrew his bolt pistol and flicked the activation stud on his power axe. "You! Eldar scum!"

The black-armored Eldar looked up to glance at Thaddeus, the glowing gems in his hands gathering more of his attention the the scion of Baal. "Do not trifle with me, Angel. My duty here is far too important for one such as you to molest it. Leave now or else I will end your already short existence."

Thaddeus would not even consider the offer for even a single moment. He had sworn binding oaths to exterminate the alien in whatever form it took. "The blood of my brethren is on your hands. They will be avenged!"

Despite his massive bulk, the Sanguinary Priest made good speed across the distance between him and the Warlock. Using his momentum, he brought his axe to bear and swung it in a great arc in front of him, seeking to decapitate the xeno in one fell swoop.

However, the Eldar had already mentally summoned his witch blade into his hands and blocked the power weapon with his own force sword.

Pushing back against the Space Marine, the Warlock summoned forth his psyker abilities and a thick cloud of fog concealed him and engulfed Thaddeus. His helmet's auto-senses quickly adjusted to the obscuring plumes. He managed to see the Eldar leap back into the fog. Thaddeus knew the ambush was next. "Your next leap shall be to the grave."

"I think not, mon-keigh!" The Warlock leapt through the unnatural mist, witch blade in hand. Thaddeus spun around and brought the relic of the 37th millennium up to defend himself. Despite the fact the power axe was a poor choice of tactical weaponry, Thaddeus had trained with it since his ascension to Priesthood. He could parry with this weapon as if it were an elongated power sword. Slower than a chainsword, but twice as powerful.

In a shower of sparks, the two combatants strained against each other. Thaddeus' armor and enhanced physiology gave him overwhelming amount of strength. The Warlock used his psyker ability to augment his strength to match the Marine's. "Enough of this, human! Here we quarrel on fate's edge while a much larger threat looms on damnation's horizon!"

"Your riddles will not cloud my head, Xeno!" Thaddeus snarled and pushed back against the Eldar, permitting some breathing room between the two. He raised his bolt pistol and, following the cursors on the helmet's eyepiece, squeezed off three shots. The mass-reactive shells found their mark, but the force field created by the Warlock's armor negated the damage Thaddeus aimed to inflict.

Just as he was to fire again, a new noise permeated the air. The shrill cry of an enraged, wounded animal rang out. It was not of the native life of this planet - or of this galaxy.

Spinning his head, Thaddeus's gaze fell upon a massive Tyranid. He at first thought it was a Carnifex, but soon saw the massive plates of chitin. "Harlequin's sanity..." the Warlock next to him swore under his breath. "A Tyrant Guard."

Thaddeus's blood rushed through his veins. A Tyrant Guard! A worthy foe indeed for his Brothers. Had he a squad of Tactical Marines, this would be a prime encounter. But he was alone, with an alien witch at his side, no less. The beast was wounded, but it was far from finished. Because it lost the synapse link to its dominant beasts, it was now on a single-track mindset of basic instinct - to kill.

The Eldar Warlock looked to Thaddeus, and the Blood Angel met his gaze. Thaddeus had seen the facial expressions of the aliens before, and they were often as complex as their manner of speech. On this face, however, he saw an almost human emotion on the unclean flesh. Anger. "Our bout is pointless against each other, scion of the Blood Angel. A greater threat has emerged from the fog of war. Better it be we fight united against this adversary than succumb individually."

Thaddeus react if he had been struck. An alliance? What Xeno blasphemy was this? It defied all he stood for as an Adeptus Astartes, a Blood Angel, and above all else, a member of humanity! How could he even consider such a deal? An enemy of my enemy is a fool's friend. Was that not what the history of human-alien interaction showed? Betrayal and death was the only outcome of such a pact. "You are an alien, not my ally!"

The Guard trampled forward, causing the two to instinctively roll to opposite directions, lest they be hit head-on by the beast. "I know your mindset and training teaches you to be distrustful of non-humans. What good are you to your Chapter if you are dead, Sanguinary Priest?"

Damnable Xenos. How could they possess the knowledge of the Chapter's secrets? Thaddeus knew that he would not last long against the Tyrant Guard. To die in the service of the Emperor was praise-worthy, but not if it would deplete the chapter in the battles to come. "Sanguinius, forgive me," Thaddeus whispered under his breath and looked over to the Xeno. "It is for the sake of my Chapter and gene-seed that I shall spare you for the moment, witch. Let us bring down this monstrosity together."

The Eldar laughed a bitter laugh, as if taunting death in the face. "Let us begin, then. Though the beast is wounded, it is still far from death. We will not be able to fell it with the instruments we have on hand." The Guard circled around, bellowing yet another wounded cry, and Thaddeus's mind searched for a solution. The fragmentation grenades he had on hand were next to useless, his axe had only the potential of penetrating the massive, dense chitin, and his bolt pistol couldn't break the armor.

His mind reeled as he looked around for the means to defeat the enemy. A Devastator or Tactical squad would be far better suited for dealing with such a foe, but they didn't need massed fire to bring such a beast down. A single blow could do the work of a thousand bolter rounds.

His attention fell upon the broken corpse of Brother Thalamus, melta bomb strapped to his belt. The perfect weapon to use against such a brute . He took off in a loping run, sprinting the three hundred-meter distance between him and his fallen brother. The Guard caught his scent and pounded after him, roaring with a bestial rage. "Your mindless rampage ends here, behemoth!" The Eldar charged forward, tendrils of eldritch energy flickering from his fingertips.

The Warlock unleashed his warp-touched gifts, burning both chitin and the air around the two. The Guard roared in agony at the assault, but soon recovered and turned its attention to the psyker. Striking out with its Scything Talons, the Guard cut through the air in an attempt to land a killing blow. The Eldar evaded the eviscerating strikes, but only just.

Thaddeus reached his fallen brother, and took a brief instant to give some reverence to the corpse. He pulled free a cylindrical object from his fallen Brother's belt. He turned back to the Guard, and saw the Eldar holding off both of the Scything Talons with great effort on his psychic abilities' part. If he didn't intervene, the Eldar's head would fall unto the blood-soaked soil of Arkhona.

There was still time to leave, a voice, the vengeful warrior side of his mind, whispered in the back of Thaddeus' head. Indeed there was. He could leave the aliens to kill each other, weakening the enemy one way or another. There was no dishonor in that, was there?

But the Eldar did not kill him when he had the chance, while he ran for the melta charge. He had thrown his caution to the wind and the Xeno could have cut him down with ease. The Tyrant Guard would also eventually reconnect with the Hive Mind. It would lead the swarm to his fallen Brothers, where they would be used as genetic fuel for the endless swarm.

Both voices yelled in his mind: to do what was right for himself, or do what was right for the sake of mankind. He gripped the melta charge tighter, and he made his decision.

"Extinction is your only destiny, Tyranid!" Thaddeus snarled and charged with renewed vigor, the melta charge set to explode in only two score of seconds. He rushed forward, holstering his bolt pistol and drawing his axe for what may be the last time. Just as the Eldar faltered, Thaddeus intercepted the blow, cleaving one of the Talons off at the stump - but not before suffering the brunt of the Guard's attack.

The two toppled to the blackened earth, instantly recovering a mere second after landing. Thaddeus glanced down to his midsection, as the fresh pain stung at him. The wound was painful and potentially lethal, even for a Space Marine. But it was lacerating, he could still fight.

The Eldar slashed out at a Bonesword that came sweeping down, casting it aside with a grunt. "Son of Baal, plant the charge and bring low the great beast!" Desperation was hinted at in the voice of the wounded Eldar who, despite his best efforts of hiding it, was suffering from a shattered left arm due to the impact.

Thaddeus charged forward, melta bomb in hand. "Death stalks me today, but I shall not be afraid," he whispered as he sidestepped one of the thunderous feet of the Tyrant Guard.

"Though the shadow of the swarm grows, I will not falter!" He was close now to the head of the beast. No eye sockets in its cranium to exploit as a weak spot. A Lash Whip struck out, and the Eldar sliced it in twain.

"By the Emperor and the blood of Sanguinius, you will fall!" Thaddeus slammed the melta charge onto the head of the beast, and the screws that could penetrate solid marble made quick work of the chitin. With only a blood-red "three" left on the timer, the Sanguinary Priest and the Warlock made their way out of the blast radius.

With an ear-shattering explosion, the unstable particles of the melta bomb exploded. The explosion burned the very air around the Tyrant Guard, who died before its back legs buckled into the earth.

Thaddeus breathed out a sigh of relief, and gazed towards the warlock. Their armor was covered in blood, both theirs and their enemy's. Even a Marine's physiology couldn't fight forever, and from his previous fights, Thaddeus was not at his peak state.

The Warlock fared little better. A shattered arm and strained mental state from the protection wards he summoned during his engagements would cost him if they so chose to engage.

The Eldar rose to his full height, and produced a small rune from his pocket. As blue energy flickered around him, the alien looked into the unblinking eye-slits of Thaddeus' helmet. With a small smile on his lips and a nod, the Eldar soon dissipated into thin air. The only sign he had been there was his footprints and the wisps of energy.

Why did the Eldar not abandon me earlier, if he had such power available to him? Was this a trial, or some sick amusement for the fickle creature? Thaddeus wondered as he strode away from where he was standing. Could the Eldar be in need of such allies to combat such foes that beset the planets in the forms of Chaos, Tyranids, and Orks? Could this be the desperate cries of salvation from a race on the brink of extinction?

Thaddeus heard a Land Speeder in the distance, coming towards him. It didn't matter to him. The Emperor's justice was given to the Xenos. He would ponder more in-depth questions of today later.

For today, tomorrow, and the days after that on Arkhona, there was only war.