Shadow of a Doubt

by Vityaz

Veteran Legionnaires fight the long war in the 42 Millenia.. but for the Emperor and Terra. There are those who still live from the Great Crusade, and they walk in the shadow where the Emperors Light directs them. First story on here, so any thoughts on the story are greatly appreciated. Ratings changed to M for a bit of graphic violence.

29. Chapter 29

Shadow of a Doubt

Chapter 29

The Eldar warship entered the atmosphere, almost in disdain of the life forms that populated the planet. The cruiser hovered in the stratosphere; it's presence for the entire planet to see almost as if the Eldar were daring the Imperials to do anything about it. Galamon looked out the view ports with the practiced eye of a seasoned Corsair Prince and gestured to one of the crew members. We have air supremacy. Deploy our transports.

The air docks would open, revealing a single Vampire Raider but two transport vessels that would quickly launch out from the docks, filled with Lasblaster squads. The Voidstorm veterans awaited the Corsair Prince who bowed in a grandiose gesture towards Lilithfeon. After you, Lady Farseer. She nodded curtly as the remaining Aspect Warriors surrounded her in an escort and headed on board the Vampire Raider along with Galamon and his bodyguard squad. Once inside, with a soft purr the raider would deploy and follow the transport vessels down. The spirit signatures, they come from that city. However we cannot strike it directly, not yet. We must draw them out. The Corsair prince nodded at her assessment. The Pathfinders will deploy then, and we shall turn the forests around them into odes of their funeral rites. Wrafenblyde stated as he clutched the sniper rifle in his hands tightly for a moment. The death of one of his pupils was still fresh even after the past few years since they had started their journey together. Lilithfeon nodded as she placed a hand delicately on the cloaked shoulder of the veteran Pathfinder. You have my blessing old friend, the skeins have predicted great feats for you today. The Pathfinder nodded and the Vampire Raider would lower itself and hover just slightly off the ground before Wrafenblyde and his remaining pupil jumped off and activated their grav thrusters, landing with a gentle ease on the ground before they made for the forests. At the same time, the two transport vessels landed and disgorged their cargo as multiple squads of Lasblasters exited and took up positions. A third vessel that took off after the Vampire Raider would land as well and dismounted large quantities of cameoline cloaked Rangers that made their way to the battle line and inserted themselves at the flanks and probed forward slowly and cautiously.

The Vampire Raider landed with a grace that belied its size, the ramp lowering before Yiliea and her Dire Avengers dismounted first, their shuriken catapults aimed around them, forming a crescent around the gunship before Constafrenin and Iosifine dismounted as well, the Aeldari heavy weapons being readied with soft hums that were a stark contrast to the devastation that could be caused by them. Galamon was the last to exit, surrounded by his Voidstorm veterans armed with power sabers and fusion blasters, and a large assortment of melta bombs. The Corsair Prince himself was armed with a long mirror sword and a fusion pistol, an exotic combination of weapons from two different Aeldari Aspects. Let us engage the enemy from afar, and funnel them into our true kill zones. The Farseer ordered, Constafrenin and Iosifine both nodding and readying their individual Aspect Warriors forward, further through the clearing and closer to the battle lines. Once there, they readied their weapons as Reaper missile launchers were fine tuned and Hololights were activated, with each aspect warrior acknowledging the joint targeting system.

With an oddly calm pause, the Dark Reapers and Shadow Spectres opened fire. In the first few seconds, hundreds of Reaper missiles were fired while high powered blasts of energy seared through various fortifications that had been roughly set up in the mean time. Sandbags were turned into half melted glass and half destroyed burlap and sand while infantry positions were hit from multiple projectiles that detonated with loud crumps. An occasional high pitched whine could be heard as a hyper sonic projectile was fired by Wrafenblyde or his pupil that pulped a human soldier behind a cannon or a heavy weapon.

Contact reports came from all side of the city walls as multiple Eldar strike teams hit the dug in positions hard, and fast. An occasional skilled marksman was able to pick off an attacking Eldar warrior, but it was rare and the marksman was often killed quickly by blasts of las beams fired by the strike teams. The only places that were able to hold out more effectively were those centered around the infantry field guns, that loaded up canister rounds and fired a devastating blast into any attacks by the Eldar, but those were fed on bodies as Eldar marksmen picked off any who got behind one of the guns, the gun crews being able to fire off a single shot at most before they were picked off. The light artillery that had the solid metal gun shield around them fared better, until blue blasts of high heat energy seared through them after a few hits and compromised the protection offered by the gun shields. From the city walls itself, light mortar teams began to return fire, their positions at least hidden away from the Eldar attacks for now, each mortar smoking as round after round was fired, the high explosive shells landing into the treeline and sending shrapnel everywhere.

"We need a shock assault to dislodge them!" One of the officers called out and various men were quickly grouped together. Armed with their las rifles and with bayonets fixed, multiple platoons were quickly organized and readied. As some of the heavier field guns were brought into firing positions, a massive barrage was fired into the treelines, even though the Aeldari had retreated far behind them already and the assault platoons were sent out charging into the tree lines. The ambush was only realised after the first platoon was cut down by more than one hundred weapon discharges that cut through limbs and flak jackets and rendered the first platoon into nothing more than bloodied pieces of flak armour and limbs on the forest floor. A quick thinking officer quickly ordered his platoon to hunker down and set their las rifles on maximum discharge, searing off bursts of las fire through the tree lines even as he quickly got on the radio to the mortars and field guns to fire five hundred meters in front of their position. The rounds landed quickly, and the shells discouraged any Eldar advance, although the Eldar were in truth further away but the temporary reprieve allowed the various units to at least hold on to their positions, with heavy stub guns set up that began to send bursts raking through the tree lines.

Keep pulling back. Keep luring them forward, we need to lure them into the bulk strength of our forces. Galamon ordered, and the Lasblaster squads would fire off short bursts of las fire and pulled back bit by bit, just outside of the range of the mon'keigh artillery.

More platoons were brought out to reinforce the bridgeheads established by the assault platoons, many of the platoons carrying the bolt action rifles instead of the las rifles of the assault platoons, the assault platoons were the better equipped units that were directly trained by the Astartes while the bolt action rifle platoons were conscripts who had been trained quickly and sent to restore order amongst the city. However, heavy weapons were still plenty, with many soldiers carrying stub guns as well as some carrying auto rifles.

Kunitz had rushed off to the tactical room, with Kyreg following him. They were met there by General Aldorf who wore a set of dark mustard fatigues, the same ones that were worn by the Assault Platoons. "Lord. The Eldar has struck at us hard, most of the defenses that we had built up over the short time have been destroyed. The outer walls have held for now, the assault platoons have advanced in and established a bridgehead and we are currently reinforcing them. The Eldar are being pushed back, and we are waiting for sufficient reinforcement as well as for heavier artillery to move up into position so that we can advance." Kunitz looked at the map read out, and nodded. Kyreg studied the map and tilted his head slightly at the Memlock line, spread out in a wide angled arrowhead.

"How long until the artillery is able to fire?" Kunitz asked even as he read over the various contact reports that had mapped out a rough idea of where the enemy could be. "At least thirty minutes. They had fired at the maximum range without endangering our own units so they need to be moved almost to the city walls this time to reach out further towards where our units are marking as enemy positions." A few red squares were on the map to show where friendly units were reporting hostile units, or at least where they think they were attacking from and so multiple staff officers were quickly plotting artillery distances as well as effective fire and setting up new positions on the map for the artillery to move to. Kyreg looked over at the Astarte Captain who seemed to be deeply absorbed by the various information that were presented on the tactical screen.

"You know it's a trap?" Kyreg said out loud, the room almost freezing as the mortals all stared at him while Kunitz looked at him and almost glared it seemed. "Why would the Eldar pull back if they had enough fire power to destroy all the fortifications that had been set up? How many heavy guns have they destroyed already from the start? They're pulling back to lure your guns out and then they can target them with their heavy units. If the Eldar had enough fire power to wipe out fortifications, then a few companies advancing through dense foliage will last a few minutes against a massive ambush."

The XX Legion Captain paused for a moment and swore underneath his breath. "Have the assault platoons hold the bridgehead. Wait until the artillery gets into position and open fire. Withdrawal the units under artillery cover back to the city walls, and fortify." The orders were quickly conveyed to the units. Exactly half an hour later, the guns began firing. A storm of shells rained down on the positions that contained some Eldar, while others landed in empty grass and bush covered ground.

The Mon'keigh are wise to our tricks. It seems that we must do more than bait them. I want the Rangers to move forward and snipe them, keep at them until they are too terrified to even look over their walls. The Corsair Prince gritted his teeth slightly, before looking over at the Aspect Warriors. I require your heavy weapons to sweep their walls, look for any weak points. I am afraid that our journey must take us into the city itself. The order was acknowledged promptly, the Farseer following the Aspect Warriors forward. The Dire Avengers had their weapons raised, but they stood around the Farseer as her bodyguard in this battle instead of advancing forward.

The assault platoons began to pull back bit by bit as the artillery fire sped up, even the lighter guns joining in the cascade of explosions ripping through the various contact coordinates fed to the headquarters. More reserve reinforcements were brought up, including the members of the 21st who armed with their heavier weapons would distribute themselves amongst the defenders at the walls.

Kyreg looked towards the Captain who cursed again at having almost fallen into the deception set by the Eldar. "How did you know, Commander?" Kyreg took off his helmet and clamped it around his waist before sighing softly. "Because, Captain. That is how I would have attacked your garrison. The only difference would be that I would have teleported the Learnaean into your artillery positions and sent Shroud teams to infiltrate the walls before I launched this attack." The Captain sighed softly and looked at the map again. "Then what do you suggest?" Kyreg looked at the Captain and smiled with venom. "I have brought them here for a reason." He would reach down to a small storage container and took out a pouch filled with red soul stones. "Are those what I think they are?" Kyreg smiled again. "Spirit stones filled with the souls of some of their greatest champions. Before the Heresy, a Word Bearer battle barge had stumbled onto a fleeing Eldar vessel over a planet that had been brought into compliance previously by a few different Legions. The battle was fought, and the Word Bearers rammed themselves into the Eldar craft and what remained of their two bridges seemed to have clashed together and fallen down onto the planet. I presume that was what had brought arch traitors to the planet when I was there to investigation something related to the Legion. They had fought a massive battle there, and I could only see the aftermath but an entire chest of spirit stones remained. And a separate chest with fewer but seemingly more potent ones remained. I wished to know what the arch traitors wanted to do with the spirit stones so I took the potent ones, and it seemed to have brought them here."

The Captain looked at Kyreg and sighed lightly with creeping amounts of admiration. "You used this planet as bait?" The Commander chuckled and stored the pouch back into his armour. "Not intentionally. Had we crash landed on another planet, then they would have followed us there." Kunitz looked back down towards the map and gestured towards it. "So what is your plan now that they are here?"

"It's quite simple. We go to the wall, and we bait them now." He would gesture for Catriona to follow him, the other Sisters having been patched up sufficiently to join them again. He lead them to the wall, where he would stand in the open, almost tauntingly and held out the pouch to the forest before placing it back into his armour and walking off the ramparts. "The Eldar are creatures of arrogance. They cannot deny a challenge such as that, especially one given by a human."

The sudden flood of emotions caused the Farseer to place her hands on her forehead, almost staggering as the Dire Avengers around her would catch her and steadied her. I can sense them. For a moment, I could sense them clear as the stars themselves. One of the Rangers would jog towards the gathered Aspect Warriors and the Corsairs and gestured towards the wall, barely visible through the dense forestry. Farseer, one of the Mon'Keigh came out and showed a small pouch over the walls, and he walked back. The Farseer grimaced slightly. The spirit stones. The spirit stones of the Elders, that must have been what was in those pouches. They cried out for that brief moment. We must go through that wall Corsair. Corsair Prince Galamon looked over the wall with an appraising eye, before shaking his head. I am not a Craftworld War Prince. I do not command entire warhosts. To take this, will take many casualties. At the end of the battle, there will be many more spirit stones inhabited. I may not have enough of a crew left to get off the planet, so think carefully Farseer.

Liliithfeon took a deep breath in and closed her eyes, meditating on what could be and what might be, and carefully considered her options. I'm afraid we do not have a choice, Corsair Prince. If we back down now, when will we be able to recover the elder spirit stones again? Galamon nodded slowly. Very well then. All heavy weapons will sweep the walls while the Dire Avengers will move up with Lasblaster squads and create a breach. Then we can force our way into their stronghold. Lilithfeon nodded in appreciation, before heading off with the Dire Avengers. Fusion bombs were prepped and checked, the Dire Avengers more than capable of a simple commando action while the Shadow Spectres and the Dark Reapers began to re-position their units. A few moments later, both heavy weapon elements opened fire, the wall being peppered by multiple blasts of concentrated lasers while the Dark Reapers swept their anti-personnel missiles over the top of the wall, landing strikes behind it, scattering groups of human defenders who had been hunkered down in hastily built fortifications. A few moments later, Lilithfeon lead the Dire Avengers towards a section of the wall that had already been hit multiple times by the laser cannons of the Shadow Spectres and fusion bombs were quickly placed. Four of them were stacked around one section, in a box pattern about five feet wide and ten feet tall, the Eldar retreating back for a moment before detonation. As soon as the blast sounded, the Dire Avengers were already on the attack, swooping in through the detonation point but one of the XX legionnaires were already waiting for them. Reotoni held his Umbra-Ferrox pattern bolter with both hands and fired a twenty round burst that cut through the first three Eldar that tried to breach through. Corsair Lasblasters began firing blind through the hole in the wall, their las beams ineffectual while the XX Legionnaire fired another burst to discourage any immediate intruders.

Beside him stood Julius who held his stalker bolter to his eye and punched a kraken round through one of the xeno who tried to peek around the hole, blowing out the Eldar's brain through their eye socket. Kyreg stood further back with the four Sisters of Silence behind him, while Kunitz gave orders rapidly over his helmet vox.

"I require Prapytis." The heavy weapon trooper jogged over with the rare plasma blaster held in his hands, as his Captain quickly pointed out the entry point the enemy has made. With a quick nod, he fired two charged blasts through the door way, the plasma blasts exploding in a splash of blue as it hit the ground while screams could be heard from the other side.

Lilithfeon stepped back in horror as she watched two of the Corsairs almost get melted by the blast of primitive plasma energy the mon'keigh had fired back. Galamon had advanced with the rest of his troops and gestured to create another breach on the other side. More fusion bombs were planted, and another doorway was created and he would charge through with his Voidstorm veterans. The burst of bolter rounds were shoved aside harmlessly by the energy field generated around the Corsair Prince, as his Voidstorm troops carried their energy shields that seemed to deflect the majority of fire.

A dazzling volley of las bolts were fired at the Eldar who had managed to breach the wall but most were deflected, the first wave of charging assault troops cut apart by the power sword of the Corsair Prince, while the Voidstorm veterans beside him drew their fusion guns as well as power blades and cut through the defenders easily. Drawing his power dagger, Julius as well as Captain Kunitz who drew his power sword both attacked. The force of their charge barreled over several of the Voidstorm bodyguards while Prapytis fired a few more balls of super molten plasma through the first breach point.

The large armoured mon'keigh snarled at him but he ignored the lowly human, even if he was an armoured giant and parried right past him, slicing his blade and severing the arm holding the dagger before stabbing the blade through his chest, pulling back his blade and rolling past him, the mon'keigh clutching at the wound for a moment before looking down and collapsing onto the ground.

Kunitz snarled as he watched Julius get cut down and grabbed the Eldar he was fighting before lifting it up by the throat and gutting it with his power sword. He flung the corpse aside and swung his blade while advancing, cutting through the shoulder of another Eldar who swore at him in its inhuman tongue before he punched it in the face, crushing its skull with the force of the impact. The one that had taken down Julius quickly charged towards him and the two locked blades. Their two different power swords flickered as they blocked and parried each other, the Eldar quickly thrusting forward but Kunitz side stepped it and slammed blade down in a sweep towards its skull. But the Eldar was far too agile to fall for that and instead rolled to the side, avoiding the sweep and bringing the blade up like a fencer, hoping to skewer the Astarte in the side. Kunitz quickly flicked his blade upwards and deflected the thrust, although the xenos blade was swing only inches away from his helmet. Without losing steam, he charged again and this time, he could feel the Eldar's blade pierce his left leg before it rolled forward, underneath his strike even as he brought his blade down towards it. He clenched his jaws at the sudden burning sensation even as his improved Astarte biology began pumping coagulants towards the stab wound while his armour administered pain killers. He quickly swung around, parrying a strike from the back the xeno was trying to do, his movement a bit slower while behind him, Sergeant Larhu had plowed his power axe through another Voidstorm Eldar, splitting the xenos spine in half as the axe blade bit right through the paper thin armour and severed the entire torso.

The alien seemed to taunt him with its alien language but it swung forward and stabbed the blade towards his helmet. He quickly tilted his head back, the blade missing close enough for the power field to scrape some of the paint off of his helmet but as he was about to return the favour, the alien had scrambled back and stabbed his blade through his right leg, his knee collapsing as he fell to the ground off kilter. He raised his blade up just in time however to block a decapitating swing by the Eldar with his own blade, the flickering of the two power fields sending sparks over his helmet. With a defiant roar, the Astarte reached up and would grab the Eldar and throw him behind him. The Eldar landed on his feet and was about to strike when Kyreg stepped in and cut the alien in half, the ancient phase blade slicing through the Eldar sword as well as the Eldar body. Their leader was cut in half but it seemed to only spur the remaining Eldar more.

Lilithfeon watched as one of the mon'keigh seemed to materialise out of thin air and struck the Corsair Prince down. She reached out, almost as if she could have stopped it but she could do nothing but watch. She howled in anger, as she could sense that the mon'keigh was the one who carried the eldar spirit stones. But before she could scream anything, she was grabbed by one of the Dire Avengers and shoved to the ground as more of the unaugmented mon'keigh begin to pour towards them, each firing their primitive las beam weapons and solid slug weapons at them. She stood up quickly and with a loud scream that pierced the ear drum of all the unaugmented humans nearby, and unleashed her powers. A massive crack could be heard as a series of blue psyker lightning strikes struck all around the mon'keigh defenses. One of the blasts struck the armoured mon'keigh that had dueled with Galamon earlier, more lightning strikes following the first blast as the armoured form rocked back for a moment before collapsing, multiple holes can be seen through the torso for a moment before it collapsed on the ground with a thud.

As the Eldar witch began blasting the area with the storms, Kyreg held for cover for a moment before looking over at the Sisters and made a signal. They would nod before reaching down and deactivating their null collars. For a brief moment, there was a bright flash and then nothingness. The witch fell down with a loud scream as her body convulsed at the sudden complete banishment of her link to the warp while all the other Eldar warriors around her seemed to quake, some clutching their heads as searing pain shot through them.

Kyreg gave a quick gesture to the other legionnaires still standing and they quickly moved up, and at his direction, grabbed the witch, and dragging her convulsing form to the Commander. One of the Sisters would place a psyker annulment collar around the xenos neck, before they re-activated their null collars. The witch convulsed again before passing out, her form lying limp on the ground now. The Eldar warriors recovered, although they found themselves staring at the barrels of multiple las rifles and bolt action rifles. A few of them thought about fighting back but Kyreg would gesture for Catriona to lead her Sisters forward. At the source of the psychic annulment in armoured form walking towards them, the Eldar as one surrendered. Kyreg would go over to the Eldar corpses and one by one, collected their spirit stones. One of the Eldar seemed to hiss at this gesture but then seemed surprise when he placed them all in a large pouch and handed it back to another Eldar.

He was under no illusion as to just how important these were to the Eldar, and truth be told he had no desire to send their souls to empower one of the Chaos powers. The witch however, he had other plans for the witch. He quickly checked on the Captain, there were multiple holes blasted through his torso, his geneseeds somehow intact. He shook his head and took off the dead Astartes helmet and locked it on his side. Sergeant Larhu stood beside him, the veteran Sergeant looking at him questioningly. He nodded once. The geneseeds, the precious XX Legion geneseeds were still untouched. The neck was completely undamaged and the lightning strikes had missed the geneseeds in his chest cavity. That was two sets of geneseeds that could be used to raise future legionnaires. Once upon a time, it was standard protocol for a XX Legion Astarte to carry two geneseed receptors, each containing a miniature stasis field inside in case of death without an Apothecary nearby. Kyreg drew his dagger and cut through the holes created by the witches lightning as well as cutting underneath the chin of the dead Astarte and extracted the two geneseeds, placing each into its own tube and handed both to the Sergeant. The Sergeant without a word locked them inside his armour. Kyreg took the former Captains weapons and ammunition, and handed it to the Sergeant. Sergeant Larhu looked at his former Captain with a hint of sadness. Julius would live, his stab wound only damaged one of the hearts. He would need a new arm and surgery, but he would survive. In order to prevent further damage, the Astarte had already been put into the sus membrane sleep in order to preserve what was left of his body.

The Eldar prisoners were marshalled by the human soldiers into an unused barrack near by the palace, while the witch was taken and placed into the custody of the Sisters of Silence. Catriona accepted her task with a dutiful nod, and the witch was taken to a large holding cell where the Sisters took turns standing watch over her along with at least two of the Astartes and more mortal troops. The battle it seemed, was over for now. The death of the Corsair Prince had been transmitted apparently to the crew of the warship in atmosphere, and it seemed to simply float, without any threatening gestures. It went unsaid that the lives of the witch and the other Eldar would be forfeit if it fired.

Two days later

The wall was being repaired slowly by the citizens, while Sergeant Larhu had begun to take over for the deceased Captain. The armour was taken off slowly and carefully, as they could still be patched and used. The breast plate could be repaired but they lacked the ability to do so, but the Captains body was burned as was the protocol for all Alpha Legion dead. The power sword had been wordlessly handed to the Sergeant, the Sergeant now carrying it as his badge of office while the power axe was given to the new second in command, Reotoni.

Albert walked around the city with his escort of Grenadiers and looked at the destruction wrought upon this planet. They would need a decade to fully recover, he believed. In the meantime however, he had wasted no time in setting up a domicile and hired a small staff to take care of it, as he knew that he would be back on the planet again. In many ways, he still thought of a way to get off this planet but he knew that he would have to rely on the Astartes Commander for a solution.

Onboard the Unholy Curse

The body of Etanes the Ashfanged was still crucified on board the bridge. It was a reminder from the Dark Council that ruled Sicarus in the name of Lorgar that failure will not be tolerated. After the massive explosion that had buried them for days, the Ashwarped had clawed their way out one by one, to find the sorcerer Ashakhet waiting for them outside. The battle had been long over, but they had made their way back to Sicarius on board the Unholy Curse cruiser. There, the judgement of the Dark Council had been rendered. Etanes was crucified and his soul was ripped out of his body and fed to the warp, and Nusku the former Iconoclast champion had been named the new leader. The Ashwarped were no more, that band died when its leader failed in the task given to them by the Dark Council. Now, they were reborn as the Sovereignclast, and Viprus had joined them once again. The former Blood Angel sat there in his now gold and purple armour and swirled the drink in his crystal glass with amusement even as the new Champion stared out at the bridge.

"Tell me Sorcerer. What is so important about this artifact? You have it now, so what did Etanes wish with it?" Ashakhet paused for a moment before answering. "Well you see, imagine. We sacrifice a billion on a planet to Chaos, but so what? It brings us the Gods favour but it grants us no true boon. No boon that we can control. What about one hundred billion souls? That is something that will make the Gods truly examine us and grant us perhaps a planet of our own. Or knowledge. Or perhaps, the amount of souls will rip open a new Eye around the planet of our choice, rendering the planet another gateway for the forces of the Long War. Now look at Huron Blackheart. He maybe fearsome but what would he do if even the planet he rules on gets ripped in half? With one hundred billion souls being sacrificed at once, what would happen to the planet that the sacrifice takes place on?"

Nusku nodded for a moment. "Etanes had illusions of becoming the ruler of a planet. Or a planet killer weapon." The Sorcerer nodded. "This artifact, the Crows Gem, it is a planet killer. You can collect souls, and use them as you wish. It is not even just human souls. Imagine the effect if you were to sacrifice the souls of a million Eldar? What would happen on a planet where you can use the collected souls of a million Eldar to sacrifice at once?"

The new Chaos warlord chuckled and nodded. "Truly, this is a goal worthy of seeing coming to fruition. Now, I believe that you wanted something in return as well." The Sorcerer smiled thinly and nodded. "Yes. There is something that I must collect on a planet before we can carry this out. It is a small asteroid moon, and it is not far from here."