I do not own Warhammer. I only own my OC
"Hey guys it's been a while. Don't got much to say as we are still waiting on those ship upgrades I bought but they should be here anytime soon. Someone, not naming any names here, broke the coffee machine in a fit of rage. Again not naming any names here."
"Not my fault it was so fragile."
Guest reviews:
Guest 1: You are now just finding this story Heretical? What was the first sign?
Guest 2: I'm happy you are enjoying it ;)
Random Tiger: Sorry its been taken so long I run off of feedback and the people over at Son of Fire keep it coming. Yeah talk about going from barely getting away from a few eldar to god killer is quite the jump.
Now the story.
"Reach my home, as deadly as it is I would give my life for it." - Joseph Rose Grade Two Preserver
"There are some things you should know about Reach before we get there." Wolfgang said to his two passengers who were sitting across from in the mess hall.
The two passengers looked up from their food, Omael was having field rations and the eldar soup.
"By Imperial standers Reach would be classified as a death/civilized world with it leaning more towards a death world. Outside the walls of Reach's cities is a world full of large and dangerous creature, the only "safe" areas outside of a city would be the plains but even then they can be dangerous. So while you are there I would advise staying within the cities."
"What creatures dwell on Reach's surface?" Omael asked most likely for the possibility they could end outside the cities.
"The large wolf-like creatures I talked about would be the most common threat." Wolfgang replied taking a bite out of his sandwich. "Large birds of prey are also common however they tend to stay away from our patrols. There are also some large four legged carnivores that have a simpler look to trees, while they are not very common they are very dangerous. My people call these things Treewalkers."
"Then there are some two legged creatures that are heavily armored and as large as our knights but they are not seen often as they hunt at night." Rosa added her hologram appearing on the table. "However all of those pale in comparison to Reach's apex predator, we call it the stalker."
"That doesn't sound very deadly." The eldar remarked.
"It's not what this things can take on that makes them dangerous." Wolfgang stated darkly. "It's what they can and will do that makes them dangerous. Not even our cities' defenses can keep them out."
"What kind of creature can get into the walls of one of your cities?" Omael said not believing Wolfgang's claim. "From what I have seen your people have a technological advantage that is only second to the Imperium during the Great Crusade."
"Stalkers do not get into our cities through brute force. They sneak in." Rosa clarified. "A lot of our stealth technologies are based off their abilities."
"What makes these creatures so evasive?" The eldar ask sounding interested in the stalkers. "I would assume you humans have technology to detect them, or at least some psyker that can sense their presence."
"We do but they don't always work." Wolfgang answered. "And stalkers are invisible to the warp."
"Then how do you combat these creatures!" Omael demanded starting to get annoyed.
"We don't." Wolfgang stated grimly. "All we can really do it pray that they don't find us interesting or that they are caught while trying to take someone."
"How many do they kill in a one of your years?" The eldar asked.
"Oh stalkers don't take people to eat them." Rosa jumped in. "They take people as mates."
The room went dead quiet before the Omael spoke sounding shocked.
"I believe i misheard you?"
"Stalkers only sneak into our cities to find mates." Rosa explained evenly. "You see from what we have been documenting the entire population of stalkers are female. Not one male stalker has been recorded as of late."
Rosa than planted her sword into the table then waved her and in front of her. In-between the two passengers and Wolfgang appeared an image of an adult stalker. The creature had a slight feminine look to her body, and even what looked to be two scaly breasts. The stalker had tentacle-like legs, and an extra set of scythe-like arms above a pair of arms with long sharp claws.
The stalker's head was smooth with no visible eyes. The head also had a reptilian-like look to it, muscle visible on the neck and shoulders. Its jaw was spilt allowing it to open it wider if need be. The stalker's skin had an eerie resemblance to human skin being a smooth grayish cooler while other parts of her body was scaly.
When the two passages first saw the stalker they thought they were looking at a new type of Tyranid. However their thoughts were dismissed when they were informed that the Tyranid had not come close to the area where Reach was located.
"As you can see the stalker as a feminine appearance to them, as well as a reptilian-like. Stalkers also possess the ability to "Fly", I say this loosely as they do not fly like a bird would… it's more of a hover. They have shown to have almost a human level of intelligence as they have been seen to be able to operate computers or open doors with keypads." Rosa stated.
"The first encounter with the stalker species happened a few years after the Third Slaanesh war. A Patrol of five plus one knight discovered a young stalker. The stalker found the group curious and decided to approach them-"
"Rosa it might be better to show the recording." Wolfgang interrupted.
"Yes of course." Rosa replied before snapping her fingers.
The image of the stalker changed to a screen with a video from the head camera of a Trooper. The trooper was in the back of the five man squad with the knight walker behind them. The ground shook as the heavy walker followed the five man squad all of them being in a single file line. The squad was moving through a dance forest with the only real area to walk was a dirt path, most likely made by other patrols.
The sound of a bush rustling drew the attention of the squad as they all brought their weapons to bear on the bush. The squad commander, who was in the front of the line, signed for them to move up. The trooper, who had the camera, moved up first getting close the bush weapon raised. Using his left hand the trooper pulled back the bush only to come face to face with a young stalker.
The trooper surprised stumbled back while trying to keep his weapon trained on the stalker. However as the trooper stumbled back he tripped and fell on his rear. Shaking his head and looking up he found the stalker looking at him with its head tilted slightly as if it was confused.
"Don't make any sudden moment's private." The commander whispered to the trooper.
"What is it Sarge?" The private asked fear in his voice as the stalker came closer.
"I don't know but it doesn't look like it wants to hurt you so just be cool." The sergeant told the scared private.
Once the stalker was close enough it sniffed the private for a few moments before it slowly started to circle him as it was inspecting him. Once the stalker came around it moved its head close to the private and started to rub its head against him while making a cooing like nose.
"Eh, guess you made a friend." One of the other troopers said humorously.
However the happy moment was short lived as the stalker grabbed the private with its clawed hands and took off into the forest. The cries of alarm went up as the stalker fled with the private all the while the poor trooper crying out for help.
The screen switched to one of the other troopers, who were running after the sound of their comrade calling for help. However his voice was quickly fading as the stalker put got further and further away. Suddenly the trooper was knocked over hitting the ground with a grunt. When the trooper looked up to see what had hit him to find another stalker looking down at him.
The trooper scrambled for a weapon but the stalker used her bladed arm to cut his firearm in two. Salvation came when one of the other troopers started to shoot at them stalker, causing the monster let out a loud hiss before it darted from the trooper she was on top of. The stalker disappeared from sight as it took off, its body turning transparent in a matter of seconds.
The second trooper held the first to his feet; however a third stalker decloaked from behind the second Trooper grabbing him from behind before taking off with him in the opposite direction. Though it did not get away without being grazed by the knight walker's heavy stubber.
The Sergeant came ran up to the trooper handing him his sidearm. While the knight moved to protect the three remaining troopers. The troopers scanned their surroundings while the knight stood over them scanning for enemies for itself. All of a sudden a loud screech echoed thought-out the forest causing the two of the troopers to panic. The Sergeant shook the two troopers tying to get them to snap out of it but it did little to help them.
"This is patrol Zulu five-seven-one we are under attack from an unknown species of wild life!" The Sergeant yelled into a comm. unit. "We have lost two already, damn things grabbed them and ran off."
"Roger that Zulu five-seven-one reinforcements are on the way." A voice cracked over the radio.
The sound of cracking wood drew the attention of the trooper with the camera. Before them was an adult stalker pushing apart two thick threes like they were small twigs. It did not take long for the knight to turn to face the stalker and opening up with its avenger gatling cannon. The creature quickly dashed out of the way of the deadly projectiles. The knight turned to track the creature unintentionally exposing the troopers flanks.
This small open window allowed a stalker to grab one of the troopers before flying off with him. The Sergeant got off a few shots, scoring only a few hits. The next thing the camera caught was another stalker grabbing the sergeant before the screen went static.
"As you can see Stalkers are capable of taking on humans without problems." Wolfgang said after the screen closed. "When the reinforcements arrived the only thing left behind was the broken remains of the knight paladin. The following search only turned up the troopers helmets."
"So why are you telling us?" Omael asked scowling.
"Stalkers have been known to take things and even people in an attempt to make their mate happy." Wolfgang replied. "One time when a teenager was taken from his home, a few days later almost all of the possession he had in his room disappeared, then a few rifles from a store were taken, after that a marine was attacked by a younger stalker trying to take his helmet and weapon."
"What I'm getting at is you could find yourself the target of one of these stalkers." Wolfgang added finishing the last of his sandwich. "And not to underestimate them."
"Consider us warned then." The chaplain replied.
The ship started to shake causing the three to look around.
"We have just dropped out of the Warp." Rosa reported. "We will be hitting the Sling in a few minutes."
"The Sling?" The eldar asked eyebrow raised.
"Since Reach is hidden from the Warp, ships can't exit the Warp near the planet." Wolfgang explained. "The only place safe for a ship to exit is outside the system so we built a space station that "grabs" incoming ships and throws them to the receiver station in system."
The ship started to shake again as the station outside prepared to throw the battle barge system.
"This will get bumpy so you might want to hold onto something." Wolfgang advised grabbing onto the table.
The other two passengers did the same as the ship began to shake violently. There was a sudden increase shaking as the battle barge was thrown. The shaking lasted a few minutes before it came to a sudden stop. Wolfgang stood up and started for the exit while beckoning the two to follow him. The group made their way to the Drop ship's bridge, Wolfgang sitting in the command seat while the other two stood around him.
Rosa's avatar appeared on the command char's arm rest. The AI waved her hand and a control panel appeared in front of her. She began to type on the holoboard, a few moments later the sound of the engines powering up echoed thought-out the ship.
"This is Specter dropship DI: 947562 requesting permission to launch." Rosa spoke out loud.
A male voice returned moments later. "Dropship 947562 permission granted, safe flying."
"Thanks traffic control over and out." Rosa said as the ship started to shake.
The dropship soon lifted off from the hanger floor before it turned towards the hanger doors which were opening to allow the ship to leave. The dropship shortly exited the hanger before speeding off towards the only habitable planet in the system. As the dropship passed the systems gas giant the planet known as Reach came into view causing the marine and eldar to go wide eye.
"Is that-" The eldar asked her words dying before she could finish.
"My home." Wolfgang said standing up from his seat. "Reach."
"How big is that planet?" The black dragon asked amazed by the size of the planet.
"39,931 miles long to be precise." Rosa answered smugly. "Only 5% of the planet is populated by humans. That's with twenty-nine cities mind you."
"The rest is all untamed wilderness." Wolfgang added sitting back down.
It didn't take long of the dropship to reach Reach's defending fleet. Many of the warships were space marine class ships, a few were Aeldari in nature while the remaining had more of a sleek triangle design to them.
"This is Specter dropship 947562 to The Iron Mountain requesting permission to dock." Wolfgang said as the dropship neared one of the three massive space stations.
"Permission granted 562 welcome back, docking bay 132 is clear. Do you have cargo to unload?" A female voice replied seconds later.
"Affirmative."
"I will inform the quartermaster he will meet you once you land." The voice finished.
Wolfgang's dropship started to slow down as the ship approached the hanger, red blinking lights appeared to help him line up with the hanger. The dropship soon passed through the blue force field separating the vacuum of space from the pressurized hanger. The landing gear extended allowing the ship to land, moments later the back of the ship opened revealing the cargo hold.
Workers began to enter the cargo hold picking up crates and moving them out of the dropship, either lifting the boxes themselves or using machines to help them. While that was going on Wolfgang exited his dropship and walked over to the quartermaster who was going over the items in Wolfgang's cargo hold.
The two shared a short conversation mostly about how Wolfgang got most of his haul and how much credits he would be receiving. Once the exchange was complete Wolfgang returned to his ship and took off. Now that Wolfgang's cargo was offloaded he set a course for the planet's surface.
The dropship descended into the atmosphere slowly as to avoid necessarily burning the outer hull. As the clouds came closer the dropship started to speed up, flying towards a large walled city. The walls of the city had large turrets built into different points; the turrets themselves were triple barreled turrets that looked like they should be on a warship rather than a wall. The dropship flew over the walls towards a large walled off area with a palace and other large buildings.
"Wolfgang." Rosa said drawing the preserver's attention. "The Keep's Guard has cleared us for docking… they also wanted to warn you that your mother is waiting for you."
Wolfgang sat back in his chair and interlocked his fingers together in front of his mouth. If there was one thing he was not looking forward upon his return was getting an ear full from his mother. She probably heard about his run in with the eldar and was none too pleased about it.
"Time to face the music as they say." Wolfgang murmured to himself as the dropship touched down in the hanger.
The three made their way to the vehicles bay by the time they arrived Rosa had already got her knight out of the ship. As Rosa had said Wolfgang's mother was waiting for him in front of the ramp flanked by two house honor guards. Alama's eyes feel on the space marine first before darting over to the elder scanning both of them seconds. Her eye then fell back on her son.
"Welcome home son." Lady Alama said arms crossed and looking rather vexed.
"Mom." Wolfgang replied with a slight bow before turning to his passengers. "This is my mother Lady Alama Rose."
"Lady Alama." Omael said respectfully bowing with his head.
"Sir marine." Alama replied before she moved her head over slightly to get a better look at his chapter crest. "You will have to forgive me I am not familiar with that chapter insignia."
"I used to belong to the Black Dragon's first company madam."
"I see." Lady Rose said before turning to the eldar. "And you my dear from which craftworld do you hail from?"
"Ulthwe." The eldar replied.
"I see you wish to keep your name a secret. Very well."
"Mom I just want to say-" Wolfgang started but stopped when his mother raised her hand.
"I am done worrying about every bad thing that happens to you while you're on duty." She paused for a moment. "However even I have my limits Wolfgang… The next time you leave the system you better have more than Rosa with you."
"Yes mother." Wolfgang said backing down.
"Good. Now you father is waiting for us in dining hall." She then spared a quick look at the other two. "I will have the guards prepare rooms for your two… guests."
Wolfgang nodded to the two before he left with his mother, leaving the eldar and marine with the two honor guards. Wolfgang and his mother made their way out of the hanger and into the long hallway that connected the hanger to the main keep. Along the walls were paintings of knights in House Rose colors fighting other knight, demons, or taking part in a parade.
The two made their way through the massive keep until they came to a large set of wooden double doors. Wolfgang opened the doors and stepped aside allowing his mother to walk in before following behind her. Before them was a very long table capable of seating over thirty people, all but three seats were unoccupied.
At the head of the table was Wolfgang's father, Malkus, with Albern to his left. Alama took her place next to her husband and Wolfgang one seat away from Albern as the seat in-between them belonged to his late brother.
"Welcome back my son." Malkus said acknowledging his son while he was taking a seat.
"Father." Wolfgang replied nodding to him.
A slight smile appeared on Lord Rose's face before he looked back to the rest of the people seated. "Now that everyone is here we can begin. As you all know I have decided that our cold war with the Steiner needs to end."
There were a few murmurs once those words were uttered, but no one voiced their disagreement.
"Most of you are wondering how we are going to do so without them walking all over us. The answer is quite simple, Lord Steiner has a daughter who just turned twenty and he has proposed that she marry my son Wolfgang."
Wolfgang's heart failed to beat for a few seconds. He was to marry a Steiner, and in an arranged marriage of all things! The young preserver was about to voice his objection when one of his sisters, his oldest sister Tabitha, beat him to it.
"An arranged marriage father?" She said clearly shocked. "Their must be some other way then giving Wolfgang away to those-"
"I would ask that the next word out of your mouth not be offensive." Lord Rose cut in. "It is time we bury the hatchet. I do not want to waste any more resources and time on fighting a childish war, when we should be using them to improve ourselves for the time when Reach is no longer hidden from the rest of the galaxy."
"From now on their will be no more offensive words spoken in public towards the Steiners. I am not asking any of you to get in bed with any of them-"
'Expect for me.' Wolfgang thought to himself. He could have sworn he felt someone squeezing his hand but when he looked there was nothing there.
"-but I am asking to you not to display distain for them in public." Lord Rose then turn to look at his youngest son. "I would like to speak to you in my study once this is over."
Wolfgang only nodded his reply.
"Good, now as for the rest of you I want all operations in Steiner territory to end." Malkus declared. "Dismissed."
Everyone in the room stood from their chairs and waited for Malkus to leave before leaving themselves. Wolfgang followed his father to his office soon after neither one saying a word to each other. When the two reach the set of doors, which led to Malkus' office, Malkus opened the door for his son before following in after him.
"Now I know this is sudden." Malkus said sitting at his desk.
"That's putting it mildly." Wolfgang commented.
"I'm sorry that I did this to you… if it help it was not my idea to give you off to some woman you don't know. But we have been at war with the Steiners ever since the split-."
"We may have a problem though." Wolfgang cut in.
"And what would that be?" Malkus questioned seriously.
"During my run I came across an eldar-"
You mean the one you brought home?" Malkus asked to which Wolfgang nodded. "What about her."
"Turns out she is an emerging psyker who accidently bonded her soul to mine, when she was fleeing from a demon."
Malkus let go of a long sigh as he leaned back in his chair. "Let my guess this bond inspires feelings of love between you."
Wolfgang nodded.
"Well I guess we could still go along with the marriage and you can go your separate ways but I have a feeling that won't sit well with you."
"If I am married to someone I will not be seeing anyone else romantically, even if it is a political marriage." Wolfgang declared.
"I thought as much, I raised you after all." Malkus became quiet for a few moments. "The rest of the house will not fight the Steiners as long as you are in a relationship with Lord Steiner's daughter. As soon as they hear you two are not seeing each other anymore hostilities will begin again."
"We could stall for time." Wolfgang suggested. "Say we are getting to know each other before the wedding, perhaps we could get away with being close friends rather than marrying one another."
"You would have to be pretty damn close to get away with that." Malkus commented.
"I doubt the eldar will be willing to share." Wolfgang added getting a feeling of confirmation come over him.
"Alright I will pitch the idea to Lord Steiner." Malkus said standing up. "Oh and Wolfgang check out the market the techs finished research on some new knight class weapons, lot of good stuff in those weapons."
Wolfgang nodded before he turned to leave. He had a few things to do before he could relax anyway.
And done, little short this time around. Leave comment tell me how you liked it or hated it I really don't care which just give me some feedback.
Special thanks to my Editor: ZoDiAcKiLlEr315
God bless and watch out for those Stalkers now. You never know where they could be hiding.