The Greater Ideal
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Warhammer 40,000. They are the intellectual properties of Rooster Teeth and Games Workshop respectively.
The constant thundering of the Basilisks rattled Ruby's bones from her overwatch position. That's not to say she found it annoying, quite the opposite in fact. If there was one thing she respected about the Imperial Guard, it was their tendency towards giant cannons and gross overkill. It made her blood sing with approval. It must be a human thing, she supposed.
One of her squadmates was covering the door behind her, ensuring that no one would sneak up on her. Down below, the rest of her squad was moving swiftly towards the battery. They would have to quickly overwhelm the Guardsmen and plant their charges onto critical parts of the artillery pieces before making their escape. The Devilfish was waiting a distance away, safely cloaked and ready to extract them. Her comm quietly clicked.
"Shas'la Rose, there is an Imperial Commissar near the third cannon. We are marking him now."
There was a quiet ping from her helmet's targeting optic as it picked up a markerlight being planted. She shifted slightly and let the lit up form of the Commissar come into her sight. The advanced targeting suite accessed the markerlight's data and provided information for optimum accuracy.
"We will begin the assault when you have neutralized him. On your mark, Shas'la."
Ruby took a deep breath to quell her nervousness and carefully lined up her shot, pointless though it may been. The slug - propelled at unbelievable speeds - would kill him even if it just passed by. She was just a perfectionist when it came to this sort of thing.
The weapon jolted against her shoulder and a sharp crack split the air as she squeezed the trigger. The Commissar was dead before the rifle had even finished recoiling, his torso obliterated by the hypersonic projectile. An unfortunate Guardsman who had been running by had also been severed at the waist. The other Guardsmen who had taken notice were in a clear state of shock and the Pathfinders used it to their advantage. They advanced quickly, their pulse carbines perforating the stunned soldiers before turning on the rest.
Lasfire suddenly filled the air as other Guardsmen noticed the enemy in their midst. Ruby watched carefully as the Tau team moved tactically from Basilisk to Basilisk, suppressing the enemy and planting charges. Photon grenades kept the enemy from closing into close combat range. As they moved from one to the next they detonated the controlled explosives, crippling the vehicle's weapon.
Throughout all of this, Ruby maintained a careful overwatch, occasionally dropping Guardsmen who were trying to bring heavier weapons to bear. She felt confidence bloom in her chest as she watched the artillery pieces go down one by one.
Then everything went to Warp in a handbasket.
From her vantage point, Ruby could make out movement in further from the site of the battle. It looks like reinforcements were on the way. Focusing in on the movement, a lead weight appeared at exactly what the reinforcements were composed of. Clad in the Imperium's vaunted powered armor and bearing menacing weapons, a squad of human females were rushing towards the Pathfinders. They weren't Space Marines, but they were far more than mere Guardswomen, that was certain.
She quickly toggled her comm piece, "Shas'ui, hostile reinforcements are approaching from the East. Heavy infantry."
"Acknowledged, Shas'la. We are nearly finished here."
Ruby returned her sight towards the power armored women. Near the front of the squad was a woman with long white hair pulled into an offset ponytail. Her armor was noticeably different from those of her comrades, meaning she was likely the leader. Or at least someone of distinction. Which meant she was a prime target.
A foot slammed into Ruby's side, throwing her away from her spot and separating her from the rail rifle.
"It seems I've found a mouse cowering in the shadows."
The Gue'vesa leapt into a standing position - desperately trying to ignore the pain that was blossoming in her side - and found herself staring down the suppressor of an autopistol. She moved her gaze up and met the amber eyes of her assailant. They were sharp, but entirely unconcerned. She had long, raven hair topped off with a bow. Her armor was pitch black and lined with a dull gray, neither colors reflecting anything. What made Ruby's situation turn from from desperate to hopeless was the stylized, golden 'I' emblazoned on her armor's left breast.
An Inquisitor. The most dangerous agents the Imperium had to offer.
Her eyes flicked towards the doorway that her watcher was supposed to be covering. His body was sprawled out on the ground with a massive hole through his helmet. Cyan blood pooled on the floor, leaving no doubts as to his condition.
A smokey voice suddenly pulled her from her observations.
"Gue'vesa, is it?" she asked. "I believe that is the Tau term for your kind. We simply call you traitors."
Ruby remained silent, wary of provoking a violent response.
"Tell me, little traitor, what drives you to turn your back on your own people."
A long moment passed before it became clear that the Inquisitor was actually expecting an answer.
"The Imperium doesn't care about us," Ruby said. "We're all tools there. Worthless pawns to be sacrificed. Not like the Tau Empire. In the Empire, everyone is valued. No one is expendable."
The other woman chuckled, "Is that so? Well, I'd rather not waste time disabusing you of such delusions. I think putting you out of your misery would be a far more merciful decision."
Ruby threw herself to the side, just in time as the Inquisitor depressed the trigger. Without wasting precious seconds, she ran out of the room, ducking and swerving to avoid the pistol's whispers of death.
Blake wasn't fussed that the traitorous whelp had gotten away, and rather than chase after her, only casually refreshed her Ripper pistol's magazine. The Xenos squad assaulting the battery now lacked heavy weapons support, making them easy pickings for Weiss and her squad. She turned her gaze to the abandoned rail rifle on the ground with a pleased smile. Her Mechanicus companion would be delighted to have more alien technology to pick at. Heresy, yes. But Blake did not care for Ecclesiarchal approval as much as she cared for victory.
The Tau weapon was scooped up and cradled under arm, the other reaching up to toggle her vox-bead.
"Sister Weiss, I've eliminated their overwatch. The rest are ripe for purgation."
The voice that came through was laced with thinly-veiled anticipation, "Thank you, Inquisitor. They will be purged with haste."
'But with much relish' went unsaid. It didn't matter to Blake; it was rare that her Battle Sisters were able to indulge in combat, so she let them have their fun when they could.
Subtlety was not in Weiss' repertoire, but neither was recklessness. So she and her squad rushed in, but they did it with a plan.
Sister Coco ran out first, hefting her heavy bolter with little effort and spraying bolts with minimum discretion. Against what she knew to be the elite of these particular xenos, it was useless as anything more than suppression. It wouldn't keep their heads down forever, though, and so Sister Velvet darted past Coco with flamer in hand. The first xeno to raise its wretched head was met with a jet of cleansing flame. A jolt of satisfaction shot down Weiss' spine as the xenos jerked and fell onto its back, the remainder of its head was an immolated lump.
Velvet swept her flamer from side to side, forcing a few of the aliens to reposition further from their comrades and keeping the rest pinned down. The rest of the Battle Sisters moved in shortly after and used the shock and awe their comrades instilled to take position and fire at the saboteurs. Weiss' could hardly suppress a savage smirk as plasma from her pistol found its mark on a Pathfinder's shoulder. The vile alien, clearly in agony from her holy plasma, fell back into cover. Another alien attempted to move towards its injured comrade while two more provided covering fire. It only made it halfway before a bolt blew its leg off from the calf. Unfortunately, it only endured its well-deserved pain for a moment before it was blown in half by Sister Nebula's Condemnor-pattern bolter.
The surviving Guardsmen took advantage of sudden reinforcements and began to surround the xenos. Lasfire and bolts lanced through the air, keeping the Tau from trying to prevent the encirclement. They had no where left to run.
'Excellent,' Weiss thought to herself. She thumbed the activation rune on her prized power rapier, Myrtenaster. The long, slender weapon hummed as lightning arced up its length before settling into a thin blue field.
"Hear me, xenos!" she called out above the din of combat. "I am Sister Superior Weiss Schnee! Humble servant of The God-Emperor, right hand of Inquisitor Belladonna, and your executioner!"
She casually stepped to the side to avoid a burst of pulse plasma fire. The offending xenos received three lasers and two bolter rounds for its trouble. The ivory-haired Sister continued as though her life wasn't almost snuffed out.
"You intend to stop His children from accomplishing their Manifest Destiny, unaware that you are less than vermin! Stand, you cur, and be met with the only fate that you deserve!"
Aided by the ancient technology of her power armor, she shot forward with a furious zeal towards the injured xenos. The Guardsmen and her squad wisely shifted their fire to avoid hitting her. The alien popped up from behind its cover and had nearly lifted its weapon all the way up before her rapier took its head from its shoulders. She didn't even slow down as she whipped it off of her sword and charged the next one.
This one was more prepared and let off a controlled burst of fire in her direction, which was joined by another burst from one of its allies. Weiss threw herself into a roll to narrowly avoid the fire and came back up at running speed. She double tapped her plasma pistol to force the alien's ally to duck while she continued her charge. The xeno was able to loose another two shots but they only killed off a fraction of her momentum before she ran it through with her sword. The molecular-tearing field nearly bisected it as she tore it up and through the foe, leaving only one more xeno.
Before her and her squad could move in for the kill, it briefly lifted its weapon above cover to launch something from the underslung chamber of its weapon. There was a deafening burst of noise and a binding flash of light. Weiss blindly threw herself behind nearby plasteel creates, clipping her hip as she did so. She trusted her sisters to be equally competent. The Guardsmen on the other hand...well, she wouldn't be particularly surprised to see more human corpses when her vision cleared.
As the ringing in her ears began to die down, an increasingly loud humming sound made itself known. Having studied the foes of the Imperium extensively, she knew the Tau favored grav-tanks. Extrapolating from the information of known Pathfinder deployments, it was almost definitely a Devilfish. They were attempting to extract the last alien.
When her vision returned to her, she only had time to recognize a shimmer in the air before pulse plasma filled the air in a furious barrage. She rolled over onto the other side of her cover to avoid the storm. Fortunately, it seemed more concerned with saving the Pathfinder than it did in causing damage. The alien armor uncloaked and flew as close as it could to its lone ally before opening the hatch and spraying plasma fire at the Imperials.
"Sister Dew," she vocalized into her vox-bead, "Purge the vehicle. Everyone else, lay down covering fire."
"At once, Sister," came Sister Dew Gayl's response.
As Weiss and the rest of the squad raised themselves from their cover to fire at the vehicle and the rapidly retreating Pathfinder, Dew ran forward to bring her meltagun in firing range. She came within range just as the xenos threw itself into the open hatch of the Devilfish and the transport started to pull back. As it pulled away, Dew hit it with her meltagun, creating a line of slag along the side of the vehicle. It wasn't enough to stop it, however, and it flew out of range and began to recloak.
Weiss, however, was unwilling to let them escape.
Holstering her plasma pistol and tightening her grip on her sword, she vaulted over her cover and sprinted at an intercept angle. Reaching it just before it could gain top speed, Weiss leapt up and landed on the hood of the transport just as it finished cloaking. The grav-lifts shrieked as they went into overdrive to compensate for the sudden weight, which killed its momentum and routed power from the stealth system. Armor plating warped as she knifed her fingers into a seam and gripped tightly. She cocked her right arm back and aimed Myrtenaster where she knew the pilot was located. Before she could drive her weapon into the cockpit, the hatch flew open and a figure popped out.
Weiss lifted her face towards the new arrival and was taken aback. The face staring back at her wasn't the blue of the Tau. It was a soft peach tone, instead, and it had a pointed nose as opposed to the Tau's vertical slit. The face staring back at her was a human's. A human who was pointing a pulse carbine right at her.
Indescribable fury filled Weiss all at once and she immediately changed her target.
"TRAITOR!"
She leapt forward in an attempt to reach the young woman and skewer her. However, the moment she released her grip on the Devilfish it jerked to the side and threw her off. It also threw off the traitor's aim and her burst flew off in a wide arc. By the time Weiss pushed herself back onto her feet, the Devilfish recloaked and disappeared into the city streets.
For a long moment, she stared in the direction the transport had fled with a furious snarl on her face. The image of the human female clad in alien armor was burned into her eyeballs and only fed her anger. Finally, she took in a deep breath and her snarl lowered into a frown. She turned around and took a quick headcount of her squad before speaking into her vox-bead.
"Inquisitor, we drove off the xenos. No casualties on our end. The Tau suffered heavy casualties but the survivors got away. We...I have failed you."
There was a moment of silence before the Inquisitor answered, "Success is not determined by the amount of blood spilt, it is determined by the objectives accomplished. You've accomplished in disrupting their sabotage operations and you slew irreplaceable enemy assets. You have won today, Sister Weiss. Take pride in that."
Such praise from an agent of the God-Emperor himself did indeed fill her chest with pride. The Inquisitor was not one for senseless compliments.
"Thank you, ma'am. We await your orders."
"Render aid where possible to the Guardsmen. Give the hopeless their last rites. Regroup at my Valkyrie when you're done."
Weiss nodded firmly, "It will be done, ma'am."
She turned towards her squad and motioned her head towards the Guardsmen. They all displayed understanding and spread out among the injured, giving aid to those who could be helped and delivering the Emperor's Mercy to those who couldn't. As lowly as she viewed the Imperial Guard, they were still humans. Loyal servants of the Immortal Emperor and the instruments of His will. Unlike that vile snake in human skin, she thought venomously.
This suffering wouldn't end until every last xeno and traitor lay dead at the Imperium's feet. It was her cherished duty to hasten that promised hour.
A/N: Heyo, I managed to make another chapter in the same month. Please point out any spelling or relevant canonical errors so I can improve.
