Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Raven's claw. Enjoy the 2200-word chapter. I don't own Warhammer and Mass Effect, Bioware, Games Workshop, and a few others do.

In the Raven Guard's beliefs? Honor did not come before duty Honor was a concept outside of all of the logic. They had no reason to want it nor did it aid them. It simply didn't do to them anything, no strategic value, no reason to employ it.

One of the machines that had opened fire on them fell with clangs as its shattered remnants collapsed into a building. The Raven watched as more of them challenged the squad. His brothers all vanished into the shadows as he raised his bolter.

Another thrum as the strummer of his bolter dampened the shot into almost perfect silence. The round slammed into the LOKI android which crashed to the ground in a heap.

"The security here appears to still be online." The Raven stated while he frowned to himself. "Brother, orders? There is no sign of any sentient life here. The security appears to be online and hostile." The Raven stated before another noise came.

A crimson android with a weapon mounted to its shoulder appeared around the corner. The sheer size of the monster seemed to throw him off more than anything and it appeared as if the robot was rough as 8 feet tall. It was a simple design.

"YMIR…" The Raven stated as he and his brothers seemed to melt into the shadows once more. "They deployed YMIR?" The Raven questioned before he sighed.

They weren't to defeat the metal monsters directly. They had been deployed for an investigation and off-the-books work. There was a way to do this, but they had to get in closer to disable the machine.

"Brother Vard." He heard from one of his brothers as they melted into the shadows of the moment. "Can you lure it out of the doorway towards the center of the courtyard?" He heard to which he nodded.

"I will try, Brother Kasz." He stated while he frowned to himself. "There's a lot to do if we are to destroy its armor. Do we possess a grenade?" He questioned as he raised his bolter.

There was the finely tuned thump of a single bolter round as the machine was rocked on its heels. There were far more soldiers in this area. They were all to prepare for combat and asymmetric warfare was honestly something they excelled at compared to their brothers.

Another shot forced the machine to rotate towards him before it fired at him. He was well aware of what to do next to handle it. They did indeed carry a weapon that was able to smash into the machine's circuits…. Their claws. They slowly started to understand how to destroy this machine.

The machine seemed to fire at him as he vanished into the shadows. They were capable of slaying it in traditional combat, yet they didn't wish to show that they had been here for fear of losing any possible intel that was here. It wasn't at all something he wished to retain when it came down to it.

He drew his grenade and tossed it in the direction of the machine. He was aware even though the mech was too easily powered through the grenade even though it wasn't at all as powerful as it seemed. This machine was something that didn't function on logic yet. It was a far more interesting beast as he didn't seem to understand what it was.

The grenade exploded and dispelled the shields of the machine… And it was at that moment the YMIR had lost.

One of his brothers struck and stabbed forward with his lightning claws. The machine screeched as the weapon easily sliced into armor and metal. The machine collapsed before the other raven rolled away and the machine fell into nothing and it exploded into scrap, dying with a hellish noise.

"Damn it." The Raven stated with annoyance as he rolled his eyes at the rest of his brothers. "We must move, the others will be alerted." The soldier stated while he frowned in annoyance at this.

The far more annoying realm of anger was something he had been acquainted with. Their mission was of importance and a failure here was one that placed citizens in danger. They weren't ones to let the people of the Imperium suffer needlessly at the end of the day. It simply did not do.

He motioned for the squad to advance. There was more work to be done, and more interested in what was capable of being done at the moment than anything else.

They moved with a precision that was matched only by more Astartes. The first building was breached in hushed footsteps as each soldier swept their bolters over the room. One of them moved to access the computer and see if any data or clues were left.

"Brother Kanne? We have received reports of activity ahead. Hostiles and moving something. We have sent a squad to sweep for anything in the colony's center." Kanne heard as he moved ahead.

There was motion. A bug-like creature that seemed to be only somewhat similar to the Tyranids. It chittered to its comrades and moved a pod filled with something in its grasp. It was clear beyond anything that whoever had raided this place wished to harness something from it.

Kanne nodded to his brothers who took up position around the window. One of the ebony-clad soldiers raised their bolters only for Kanne to lower it and shake his head at the soldier. There was no intelligent reason to engage them at this moment when they didn't know the scope of their enemy, their objective, their strength, or any real intelligent reason.

"We are shadows, brother. We will slay them in the dark when we find what they want." Kanne stated before he sighed and turned to look over his shoulder. "Brother? Has the computer yielded any information?" Kanne questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

"No, they did not say anything other than a survey of how many people live on this planet. 25 million." Kanne heard which was given a nod.

"Information like that still aids us, brother. This planet has fallen dark. We are here to find what was left in the ashes." Kanne stated before he sighed to himself.

Not an untrue statement. There was no information and to send dozens of Astartes upon the planet would alert them as to what had happened. They needed to know, then they could act upon their information.

"Brother? There seem to be more machines coming this way. An entire wave." He heard as he turned to look around.

Indeed, another wave of soldiers clad in metal. It had been a harder thing to fathom. Someone who hacked Imperial technology brought a few ideas to his mind and it seemed to show. Kanne motioned for his squad to stack up on the door at the moment, preparing for their operation. The sooner this was cleared up? The sooner this would end.

"We must find who those warriors are, then we can engage them, not a second before." It seemed to be a more peaceful measure at the time." Kanne stated before he brushed himself off with some annoyance present in his words

A harder pill to swallow… But still swallowed nonetheless. They had to be here, they had to protect those who could not shelter themselves.

Still? If there was Xenos behind this? Then they must have been swift and decisive. They hadn't been here before on scans. That was troubling to him more than anything else. Yes, more troubling than anything he had been familiar with as he seemed to think to himself.

He had been curious as to what was to come, very curious as to what these monsters held for him and his men. He questioned what would happen if we get through these monsters and to the people, were they trapped in some sort of flesh tearing barrier? Perhaps an automated explosive? He knew there was probably some sort of failsafe in place to stop this from consuming the pods and those within them. There were only so many ways they could be protecting these people. That was what made sense in his mind at the end of the day.

Still? He had a mission to do, an objective to accomplish. The only way to do that was to go through these Xenos and whoever had hired them to be here. That was what needed to be done sooner or later without remorse.

He ushered his men forward, driving them toward their objective. It'd be a lot more interesting when it came down to it. The fact of the matter was honestly a very simple and well threw out job that was going to be hopeful. He was going to be far more amused if this mission was done and dusted.

There was so much on the line when it came down to it. They had to move fast and hit the second before he was going to hit when it came down to it. The soldier raised his weapon before he sighed and looked at the enemy, nodding to his squad.

If they struck now? They'd hit the enemy harder, faster, and stronger. It'd be like a truck and then shatter them into pieces. The more they waited, the more they had to hit the enemy.

Still? There was a lot more on the line which urged caution, he was going to be interested in what they'd do. He was going to be hard at work facing the enemy and fighting them tooth and nail like this wasn't easy, nor would it be worth it to them to handle the second.

He raised his bolter towards the enemy, interested in doing any amount of actual damage to them and their operations. This was going to be insane and hard to handle either way. The more times he handled this, the more he'd feel at peace with the idea either way.

There would be much more to do either way when it comes down to it. He had always seen more types of soldiers when it came down to it. there was a lot more he had yet to question when it came down to it. there was a lot more that couldn't or wouldn't be explained at the time. Too much to bother with and so little to do anything with.

Still? the idea was there and they had to deal with the enemy sooner or later…. Even if it killed them before now or later for the time.

They had to crush them all. There was no other option, no other attempt to back down as of now. It'd be a lot worse if not for the fact that these beings were a problem at the moment. What came next was worse, a problem that could not be handled properly. It had been a lot more of a problem when it seemed to be oh so done and dusted for now.

Still? He had been prepared for anything and he knew it. This little problem had been dealt with, it had been a lot more interesting as of now when said and done.

He had to act first or else these people would be slaughtered and there would be nothing that could be done to stop them. Whatever came next was something that he hadn't trained for, hadn't planned for. No, just a small part of their plan.

He had been oh so interested in what to say and do next. Whatever came next when it was all said and done. The idea had been planted in his mind shortly and steadily as of the time being.

What came next was going to be a lot rough on them for now. A lot rough on them all.

Yep. This line of work? Well, it was a chaotic mess, something that had drowned them down to the end of the line. There was so much more to the problem, there was just so much more that hadn't yet gotten.

They had to be ready, they had to strike hard and fast, and they had to seem to have been for now. A lot worse things were coming, there was so much more that seemed to have questioned what it was for now. There was a lot worse thing, all it'd have been for now was terrible, and all it'd have been in the future was terrible… He didn't know what was to have gone down the drain sooner or later. There were a lot more problems on his mind. So much more than it seemed to have been when it came down

He questioned what it was all to have been prepared for now. This plan seemed to have been done for it all to have ended.

He seemed to have been over the edge. This was going to have come down to the wire. This chaotic nightmare wasn't going to have been over for now… As would it always be at the moment for the moment.

Author notes

Phew. Another chapter is done! I want to point out that the next chapter will be 900-6500 words and will show more of the Raven Guard. The next chapter will be 900-6500 words and such. Until the 2-10 months, Lighting Wolf is out!