Umbram Ignis Chapter 25
Across the barren surface of Clom three squads of Storm Heralds advanced in a wide combat spread. Thunderhawks had dropped them off as close to the Eldar base as they dared, now they must make the rest of the way on foot. They had marched for leagues through the radiation-soaked dead lands but last they were in a position to strike and every one of them felt the keen thrill of anticipation coursing along their nerves as they commenced the final battle. Commanding the strike force was Sergeant Priyar, who was leading from the front. With him were twenty-seven brothers of the Storm Heralds and Apothecary Memnos, all ready for action and eager to avenge their dead.
Priyar glanced to the right and saw Zeax leading his devastators with heavy bolters primed and to his left was Mylos with his combi-plasma shining. The other Sergeant had thought he would be in command but Priyar had seniority and had served in First Company so authority fell to him. Ahead Priyar could see a faint shimmer, looking almost like a heat haze which should have been impossible on this airless world. It was the only indication of the Dark Eldar's location and while it was barely perceptible from the ground it had proven totally impenetrable from orbit. The Imperial's auspex had testified that there was nothing here as its machine spirit was tricked by alien techno-sorcery.
Priyar signalled the squads to deploy, knowing that if he could see the Eldar then they could see him too, and called over the company vox channel, "Brothers the enemy is in sight: gird your souls for battle."
As the squads spread out to create a kill box of overlapping crossfires Zeax said, "I still say we should just obliterate this Xeno infestation from orbit."
Priyar disagreed, "The Silent Hunter cannot even see this nest. We could fire off every Magma-bomb in the magazines and not come within a league of hitting anything important."
Zeax argued, "Then just level the whole area with an air strike, saturation bombardment of the entire zone using Thunderhawks."
Mylos broke in on the vox, "You saw the depth of the ground to air defences on the schematics. No Thunderhawk could get close enough to launch, they would be torn from the sky before they could fire a single missile. Besides you know how slippery the Eldar can be, at the first hint that they were threatened they would disappear and we would not see them again until they slipped a knife into our backs."
Priyar agreed, "You all know the plan: our three squads attack from the front to lure the Eldar out into a set piece battle while the Captain and Lorath assault the base from an unexpected direction."
"Straight out of the Codex Astartes," said Mylos approvingly, "But that is not what worries me, my concern is that this whole plan revolves around the Smoke Jaguars successfully infiltrating ahead of the assault and opening the way."
Priyar asked, "You don't think they are up to it?"
Mylos replied, "It's not a question of skill but of trust, they have already crossed us once."
"Captain Toran has chosen to trust them."
"The Captain is very young, and naive as to the realities of the galaxy. He hasn't been betrayed nearly enough times to judge such matters. He's placing all our necks in the noose; on the scant chance we won't be betrayed a second time."
Priyar shook his head, "I have seen Imix in action, his heart is true… if a little exotic. I do not doubt the Shade-Seer."
"We shall see," said Mylos with a suspicious tone.
Zeax suddenly yelled, "I hate to interrupt, but here they come!" Priyar magnified his autosenses and saw a dozen tiny dart like shapes skimming towards them from the direction of the base. As the Storm Heralds raised their weapons he voxed, "Captain Toran this is Sergeant Priyar, enemy has been sighted and we are engaging."
A voice carried back over the vox from far away, "Sergeant Priyar this is Captain Toran, engage the Xenos and draw out as many out as you can, keep their attention fixed upon you until the Smoke Jaguars have completed their objective."
Priyar shut off the vox with a click and focussed upon the approaching foe. As they grew larger he could see there were three large Eldar skimmers of the Raider designation, flanked by an assortment of smaller craft he identified as Jetbikes. The crews were clad in dark purple armour, which was sealed against the vacuum, and they were all of the warrior caste with no sign of Wyches anywhere. Priyar didn't know if that meant they had succeeded in drawing out the bulk of the enemy force or if this was just a skirmishing party, but he could only trust that it would be enough.
As he watched the Jetbikes poured on speed and leapt ahead of the Raider craft, swooping and banking around each other in a dizzying display. Such manoeuvres should have been impossible with no air present but their anti-gravitic fields seemed operate on different principles to Imperial craft. Priyar could not hear the Eldar, as all was silence outside his helm, but he could imagine them shrieking with joy and ecstasy as they lusted for combat and raced to be the first to claim a kill.
As the Jetbikes entered extreme weapons range Priyar ordered, "Zeax, the first kill is yours," and instantly the Devastator squad's Heavy Bolters erupted in streams of fire, vomiting miniature bolt-rockets at a tremendous pace. The Eldar reacted with blurring speed and dizzying skill as they swerved and jinked around lines of tracers. They moved with velocity no human could achieve but they were too accustomed to fighting conscripts or Guardsmen and did not allow for the peerless brotherhood of the Astartes. The devastators did not fire individually but worked together as a team with the precision that only of thousands of hours of practice could bring. Two of the brothers would fire around their target, bracketing it into a confined space while the other two would fill the space with hurtling bolt rounds. Trapped and boxed in one jetbike went into a fatal spin as its gravitic motor was clipped. A second plunged nose first as it was riddled with explosive holes and a third inexplicably exploded as something vital in its mechanisms was shattered.
The barrage was deadly and stunning but the Eldar recovered in moments and pressed onwards launching their own assault. It lasted for a single second as the jetbikes hurtled past at maximum velocity and the riders struck out with knives and daggers to score ceramite armour and rip power cables. Priyar ducked instinctively and only received a ringing blow to the helm but he saw his squad-brother Jered falling with his whole head decapitated.
The Eldar raced onward and were chased by random bolts but every shot missed and Priyar called, ""Hold your fire brothers, wait for my word!" Priyar knew the Eldar would not be satisfied with only one pass and sure enough the jetbikes turned about to come in again seeking the thrill of the kill. If they had expected to find a shattered and broken foe then they would be tragically disappointed for the Space Marines held formation and tracked their targets relentlessly. Priyar held back for a heartbeat, until he saw the Eldar were almost upon them, then yelled, "Now brothers!"
Instantly every weapon fired and the Eldar found themselves engulfed by bolts, plasma and melta fire. Jetbike after jetbike was blasted to bits and in a few seconds the first wave of the attack had been annihilated. Priyar saw Apothecary Memnos racing over to Jered's corpse, to harvest the sacred gene-seed, but there was no time to observe last rites for while they had been distracted the Raiders had closed. Even as the Space Marines spun to meet them the Eldar warriors were firing, unleashing their foul weapons in a torrent. Priyar felt shards pinging off his plate as he struggled to present his front to the enemy and saw one of the Raiders fire a Dark Lance fitted to its prow. The weapon erupted in a midnight corona and the beam shot forth to clip another brother of Priyar's squad, it was Brother Gorfan and the blast disintegrated his left arm in a heartbeat, leaving him staggering as he dropped his meltagun.
Priyar ducked as the Raider sped past and broke away for another pass. He heard Sergeant Mylos shouting, "Damnation where are the Smoke Jaguars, how long does this take?!"
Priyar overrode him crying, "Stand fast brothers and hold the line, we are the anvil upon which they shall be broken!"
The squads rallied at the Sergeant's cry and presented arms in determination to punish the Xeno for their arrogance. As the Raider spun about it was chased by a storm of bolts, that clipped and dented its armour but it pressed on regardless. Just as it was about to bring its Dark Lance to bear a shining ball of plasma sailed over the prow and shot past the stunned crew, the shot had come from Mylos and the marksman's incredible aim let him shoot past all the passengers and hit the driver full on in the chest. The Raider instantly lost control and went into a dive, ploughing nose first into the barren ground. Purple bodies scattered everywhere and the Space Marines cut them apart with disciplined bursts, before they could rise.
Priyar had no time to watch as he looked for fresh foes for he saw the second Raider had closed with Zeax's squad and disgorged its passengers into combat. They had expected to easily kill the heavy-weapons squad but the Sergeant's Thunder Hammer was robbing them of that delusion. He swung wide and broke foes like twigs, his thunder hammer pitiless as a scythe in a field as he reaped a fearful tally.
Priyar was about to move to assist when he saw the third Raider bearing down upon them from nowhere, closing with inexorable force to smash him with its bulk. Before he even knew what he was doing he dove hard for the ground and snatched up Gorfan's fallen meltagun. He rolled in the dust and came up on his back, holding the gun before him as his finger found the trigger. Even as he squeezed the Raider flashed past his eyes, travelling at full speed and the craft impaled itself onto the fusion blast like a ship sailing onto a jagged reef. In one second its thin hull was ripped asunder and its arcane drives were disembowelled.
Priyar sat up just in time to see the last Raider plough into the ground and carve a long furrow into the ashen dirt, its crew sought to disembark but the Space Marines were upon them and they were swiftly crushed under a tide of ceramite armour and bludgeoning weapons. Priyar gasped for air as his armour struggled to keep pace with his oxygen demand, its life support pushed to the limit by the taxing fight. He checked his squad's life signs and saw that only one brother had died, but several more severely injured, yet far more Xenos bodies littered the ground; the Eldar had underestimated their enemy and paid the price.
He was about to call for other squad's to report and prepare them for the next wave of attackers when his visual feed lit up with the light of a repeating signal. It was coming from within the Dark Eldar's base and it was the first and only sign they would get that Imix and his Smoke Jaguars had completed their part of the mission. Priyar instantly opened the vox link back into orbit and called, "Captain Toran this is Sergeant Priyar. The Smoke Jaguars have planted the teleport beacon, you are go for teleportation, I repeat you are go for teleportation!"