Hi, everybody! Sorry for the delay, my computer broke (it's fixed now) and I had to use the laptop which was really uncomfortable.
Mikers I think: Thanks, I guess. Yeah, I know my space battles lack a bit but that's mostly because of my lack of ability to describe things. Yeah, I remember the split personality thing, but to avoid describing it I'll try to portray the battles from the perspective of others, but yeah there will few conflicts among the eldar. Chaos will be an enemy that will bother us for a long time.
Neodammarung the Destroyer: Brilliant questions! Well, the fate of necrons and their C'tan gods is pretty much the same as in the original version of this story. The tau, though... Ahh, let's just say that they won't make an appearance, simply because they won't really fit and I hate them for no fully explainable reason - I think it's mostly because of their Greater Good bullshit and all that other shit.
WaxWings: Thanks.
Lunatic Pandora1: Who said there were no Howling Banshees on Delmak? They weren't shown in the last chapter but in this one you'll definitely see them.
starspawn07: Well, the Tau'ri will definitely be shocked by the eldar's victory over the Beast and jaffa. At least eldar are not as bloodthirsty as orks.
Trife: Thank you! Yes, Ro'nak will organize his forces and fleet after this; would be foolish to just sit there wait for someone else to attack, wouldn't it?
Okay, first off I'd like to ask: Should I make a chapter where Ro'nak and SG-1 travel to his homeworld in a time of some sort of crisis? This would reveal more about Ro'nak's past and his psychic powers, and would pit them all against a daemonic enemy, although I'd have to first decide what kind of. Also, I think I'm going to replace Daniel with Jonas like in the series, because I like him more (I'll find a way). All ideas welcome.
Well, anyways! Enjoy!
The Beast Of The Past
For a thousand years it had been imprisoned within these gates by the civilization that inhabited the planet before the goa'uld and their master came from the stars.
The Beast's bloodshot eyes snapped open as faint noise reached its ears. It scanned its surrounding with its three eyes, adjusting to the environment it still had grown to hate with fiery passion. It remembered those pathetic humans who had managed to trick and seal it inside this prison.
The Beast stretched its arms, testing the limbs after being motionless for centuries to preserve energy. It clenched the blades of its crab-like, half-mechanical claws tightly together, feeling the power it had almost forgotten return to them. Then, it shifted its weight from one leg to another of its six half-mechanical and crab like legs; they resembled its arms, but didn't have the smaller, hook-tipped blade that went between other two blades.
A wicked smile formed on The Beast's face as it realized its gambit had paid off at last.
When that winged creature, Sokar, found its prison underneath his newly conquered planet a hundred years ago, The Beast whispered to him, promising to give him whatever he wished for in return for its release. Sokar had promised to help with his associate, Heru'ur. Sokar was an excellent pawn to use because of his ambition to rule the galaxy with his army of monsters and mutants. He had met his demise not so long ago, but his efforts had been enough to awaken The Beast from its hibernation.
The fool had served his purpose well.
The Beast slammed its claw into the gate, causing a small crack to form. It realized that the gates were still intact enough to withstand it for a while, but not long anymore. Maybe if The Beast had tried to break out a thousand years ago right after it was sealed, the gates and seals on the other side would have prevented it from doing that, but now...
All three of its eyes narrowed. It slammed into the gates again with more force than before but the gates refused to give in so easily. Slamming its claws to the gates again, The Beast was able force a small opening between the gates through which it could see dim light.
The Beast let out an evil chuckle as it gathered all of its strength into the next strike. Its time of freedom had finally come, and no one was going to stop it. Not now, not ever!
The gates blew open from the force of the strike - chains snapped, machinery inside the gates broke, and metal crushed and twisted. Chunks of metal and stone flew everywhere, slamming into the walls, ceiling and floor; some sending a group of pathetic humans who had gathered into the room flying off their feet.
Slowly the ceiling began to open up, revealing it to be a giant hatch - the hatch The Beast had been tricked to fall through all those centuries ago. Whoever was opening it now was saving The Beast the hard work of forcing it open.
It walked to a wall and slowly began striking its claws into the rock to climb up. It started to ascend slowly but surely.
The Beast was finally free.
Void Weaver Salahkae knew the battle was going to be over soon.
He gazed over the defeated enemies in the large entrance hall of the fortress, noting that his comrades seemed displeased by the small victory they had gained. Salahkae knew what made them act like that: the easiness of these opponents.
A Warp Spider kicked a corpse of an enemy warrior near Salahkae, who stood in the very center of the hall. "Pathetic," he growled, earning a sideways glance from the Void Weaver. "These fools are not even worthy opponents!"
Salahkae didn't know who this Warp Spider was, because he was not from his squad but from Alartyl's squad. Salahkae didn't bother learning the names of the members of other squads; this made remembering the names of the members of his own squad easier. Seeing no point in thinking of the Warp Spider's fit of anger, Salahkae turned back to the bodies littered all over the place.
"Warp Spiders!" Salahkae called out, and in a flash every eldar in the room had formed a semicircle around him. "We may have defeated the enemy here, but more yet await us. I say we hunt them down like the pitiful vermin they are." He crossed his power blades in front of his chest. "In the name of War God Khaine, let none survive our wrath!"
In a bright flash of teleportation, every single Warp Spider disappeared to chase after the large group of jaffa that had escaped the hall before the eldar had sprung their trap.
The Earth team and the jaffa were staring out of the small window at the back of the throne room. The window was quite cleverly placed to allow whoever sat in the throne to see outside.
They had been observing the rather one-sided battle between the jaffa army of Heru'ur and their mysterious opponents for some time now, staring in awe as a strange lightning storm, sleek, hovering vehicles and strangely armored foot soldiers decimated the jaffa easily and effectively.
"Colonel Sawyer, can I have a word with you?" asked Webb, disengaging himself from the crowd of eager observers. "In private, sir?"
Sawyer left the window to move a bit farther from the crowd to talk to Webb. When he was sure they were out of earshot, he stopped and asked, "What do want to talk about, Captain?"
"What about the others of our team, sir? Weren't they supposed to be here?"
Realizing that he hadn't seen anyone in the room when they arrived, Sawyer looked around alarmed. "Now that you mentioned it, Captain, there was no one here. Which leaves a question: where are they?"
"Sir, where do you think they went? I'm sure they didn't leave to join the battle, because we would have seen them."
Sawyer rubbed his chin in thought; it was true they hadn't seen anyone on their way here, so where could they be. He turned silently to look at opening in the wall, raising an eyebrow. Could they have gone down there? But why? For what reason? He took a step closer to the opening, while still thinking.
"Sir?" Webb asked taking a step forward as well. "Do you think they-" He was cut off as something exploded against his back and he fell over, his face twisted with pain and his back smoking from the hit.
"Webb!" Sawyer caught his friend before he fell to floor and looked for the attacker with his sidearm drawn. He didn't have to look for long: a jaffa with his staff weapon drawn and primed was standing in the doorway, and it was clear he wasn't alone. Knowing everyone in the room had heard the commotion and were taking action, Sawyer quickly felled the jaffa with a quick shot to the head.
More jaffa began to arrive, taking the place of the fallen jaffa in an instant, priming their weapons to fire at the helpless defenders who were still trying take positions behind the debris; while Sawyer dragged wounded Webb to cover whilst firing a bullet after a bullet into the approaching enemy. Bullets and staff blasts flew as the defenders opened fire before the enemy could do it themselves. A dozen or so jaffa fell before they opened fire themselves, only a mere moment after Sawyer was able hide himself and Webb behind a large fallen pillar.
"Colonel Sawyer! Are you alright?" asked Parker as he slid into cover next to them, firing blindly at the enemy.
"Yes, but Webb's been hit! Help me drag him back so we can kill these bastards!" Sawyer fired once over the pillar and then began to drag Webb back with Parker, keeping their heads down to avoid getting hit. Luckily Webb was well enough to open fire with his own sidearm and provide covering fire on his own.
"Webb, can you stand on your own?" asked Sawyer as they finally got further back towards the huge throne. They now sat behind a large concrete piece that seemed to have once been a part of the upper wall; flanking them, the friendly jaffa had taken positions behind similar pieces of concrete, the throne or pillars that stood at the sides of the room.
Webb groaned for a second before nodding. He would be like nothing happened in a day or two. The staff weapons' surprisingly low killing power was confusing as hell, but Sawyer didn't complain as long as his team lived through the battle.
The firefight went on for a long time, both sides exchanging fire from their covered positions while taking limited casualties. The jaffa of Heru'ur had the numbers on their side, though, and would soon overwhelm the defenders.
But then something happened, something truly surprising and shocking.
An armored figure appeared in the center of the two battle lines in a flash of light, standing defiantly in the no man's land like a statue with his arms crossed. His armor was red with white shoulders and knees, and azure lines on his legs that went all the way from his waist to his black, metallic boots; his helmet black as the void with piercing green eyes; two weird blade-like protrusions extended upward from between his shoulders and his broad, black backpack; long, sharp blades extended from his forearms; and two strange weapons were hanging under his arms from tubes of some sort that were attached the side of the backpack.
Who was he? Where did he come from?
The firing came to a complete halt as more and more of similar figures appeared all around the room. They all wore the same red armor and black, broad backpack, but only three of them had the same blades, weapons and the strange upward pointing things as the first one; the others had large, bulky guns they carried two-handed. Sawyer also noted that their helmets were white instead of black like the first one's; he appeared to be the leader of these warriors.
Sawyer counted at least thirty-six of these guys - not including the first one - spread all over the room; most standing between the two battle lines, the others atop broken pillars and small alcoves near the ceiling.
Then, every newcomer in the room disappeared in synchronized flashes of light, only to reappear a good ten meters above Heru'ur's jaffa with their strange weapons pointed at downward. As one, they opened fire at their terror-stricken foes, unleashing a cloud of strange white matter that fell upon the jaffa. At first it didn't seem that dangerous, until the mass struck the jaffa, forcing them all to the ground like a net, screaming in pain and horror before they all fell silent.
Their killers disappeared again, reappearing near Sawyer and his forces like ghosts.
Everyone was immediately on guard, aiming their weapons at the strangers in case they decided to kill them, too. The strangers didn't react, though, as if the jaffa and the human team didn't exist at all.
An unnerving silence fell upon the throne room, neither side saying or doing anything.
Suddenly, one of the strangers, who was standing closest to the opening in the wall, started flinching and pressed his hand against the side of his head like he was suffering from a sudden headache. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone, even with over thirty similar warriors around him, and the strangers seemed to grow worried as more and more began flinching, some even kneeling in pain. All this seemed to centered around the opening in the wall.
The jaffa lowered their weapons in confusion, wondering the same as every human here: what was going on?
Slowly, they began to vanish again in a flash of light, although this time it seemed like the normal light blue color was distorted somewhat, with a tint of purple in it.
As the last one, the black helmeted leader, disappeared from the view, Captain Carter and her group came running out of the opening in the wall. They didn't pay any heed to the dead jaffa and ran straight to Sawyer and his group with grim expressions on their faces. Something had happened down there, but what?
Carter took a deep breath before speaking. "The monster is free!" she practically cried out. "It broke out just a moment ago! We gotta hurry!"
"Whoa whoa who-ho-hoa! Calm down, Captain Carter. What happened?" asked Sawyer, holding up his hand to stop her from going on without an explanation. It was a good thing he outranked her.
"We saw the monster Ro'nak was talking about after you left to... um, 'kick snake butts'. It was as big as a giant, and..."
Sawyer interrupted Doctor Jackson's description of the monster with an agitated frown, which the doctor picked up on quickly and shut up. He really didn't need to know something as trivial as that in a situation like this.
"What happened down there, Captain Carter? What monster are you talking about?" he asked, getting irritated with the lack of answers. "No, wait... Never mind. You can tell me when we get back to Earth after this mess is cleaned up."
"Sir, shouldn't we head outside already?" asked Bannon, and Sawyer knew he was right. Everyone knew it was pointless to stay here: they knew that if a monster of some kind was on a rampage outside, it had to be stopped immediately, no matter what.
Sawyer nodded his head, giving Bannon a look before focusing on Captain Carter and her group. They seemed a bit winded and roughed up but nothing that wouldn't go away in a few hours or so.
"Agreed," said Ro'nak with a nod. He seemed to be the most exhausted of them all, but seemed like he would be alright in a moment.
"What happened here?" asked Carter, finally noticing the dead bodies while taking a look around.
Sawyer sighed. He had hoped they wouldn't ask of them yet. He was not going to explain this here when there was a monster to stop, and these details would be told in the debriefing back on Earth anyway. "Later! Let's get going."
Without further ado he was already moving with his part of the group, leaving SG-1 and their group to stare at them in confusion.
Goa'uld System Lord Apophis watched with fascination as a large hatch opened right in front of him after pulling a switch he had found in an abandoned part of Sokar's fortress where he had been hiding since his escape after defeating the insolent Tau'ri in combat.
Apophis carefully peeked down the long pit that had revealed itself, listening to the distant sound of metal hitting stone. It was like something was climbing up from the bottom. But what? Would it be another monster like the one in the courtyard?
Deciding to get a little more distance between himself and whatever was coming up, Apophis turned around and went for the door he had used to get into the room. Grabbing a doorknob, he found it to be stuck and the door locked, trapping him inside. Apophis felt fear stiffen his body as he slowly turned to look back towards his possible doom.
A grotesque, half-organic, half-mechanical hand pushed upwards from the pit and slammed into the floor with metallic claws clinging into the dusty stone. Then another hand did the same, gouging deep marks to the floor as it tried to get a better grip. Whatever the creature was, it was a moment away from reaching the top, and Apophis was starting to panic.
He tried the door once again, trying to force it to open. He didn't even pay attention to the monster as it finally pulled itself to the surface, its feet clanking as it took a step towards the panicking goa'uld. Only when the beast knelt to get closer to Apophis did he stop trying to open the door and turn to face the monstrosity behind him with wide eyes, his body stiff from fear.
The monster had six half-mechanical spider-like legs that dug into the floor. Its torso was fat and grey skinned, but looked more like it had no skin at all. Its arms were like its legs, half-mechanical abominations, and had claws instead of hands. Its head was tilted to the side, as if it was considering Apophis for something, its salivating, sharp toothed maw twisted into a parody of a grin, its three bloodshot eyes staring at him like a predator at its prey. Even when crouched, the monster was at least five meters tall, towering over Apophis.
Then the abomination spoke, its voice deep and menacing.
"Are you... Heru'ur, the creature Sokar spoke of?" It leaned closer, slamming its claws to the floor.
Knowing this monster could kill him in a blink of an eye if he said no, Apophis nodded his head, hoping the creature was not angry at him. Even if claiming to be his oldest enemy disgusted him, he knew it might just spare his life.
The monstrosity seemed to smile as it stood upright, standing almost six meters tall if not more. "Ah, this spares me the trouble of having to find you." It let out a dark chuckle that echoed in the abandoned hall like thunder. "So you are to thank for helping me get out of that miserable pit. Name your price, Heru'ur, and I shall see that you are rewarded for your assistance."
Apophis smirked; this creature clearly thought he had pulled the switch on purpose to free it. And now it was ready to reward him for this coincidence. Things couldn't have gone better for him at the moment.
"I want power. Power to crush my opponents and conquer the galaxy," he stated with a power hungry glint in his eyes. "In your glorious name, of course, my lord!" he added as an after thought, knowing he had to choose his words carefully in the presence of this creature. One wrong word and his life would have been at its end.
"Ah, you will truly be a great help for me, just like Sokar said you would be," mused the monster. Then, it turned its gaze to the locked door behind Apophis, its bloodshot eyes narrowing.
The monster walked past a confused Apophis, the floor cracking with every step it took, and smashed its claws through the heavy metal door like it was paper, tearing it off its hinges. It crouched low and squeezed through the doorway, tearing the door frame and cracking the walls. When it had gotten outside, the creature seemed to be disgusted by the surrounding ruined part of the citadel, its maw twisted into a sneer.
"So this is what those pitiful ants have built after entrapping me," it spoke, walking towards the edge of the ancient platform the hall had been built on, in the face of the mountain that overlooked the citadel and the land around it. "Quite a pitiful sight, is it not, Heru'ur?"
Apophis said nothing as he walked through the rubble to the side of the creature, keeping at least a few meters between them.
"Tell me, Little One, who are these insects who assail this construction?" the creature asked, gesturing at the strange multicolored warriors who made short work of Heru'ur's jaffa. Granted, Heru'ur's army was not large by his standards, but it still numbered in at least a few hundred fully armed jaffa warriors. A force capable of utterly destroying the jaffa was a truly fascinating thing. Apophis needed to find out more of them.
"I do not know, my lord," he answered. A smirk spread across his face. "But they want to prevent your return at any cost. My lord, please, lend me power and I shall deal with these pests for you." This was of course just a trick to possibly gain more power and the trust of this being.
"No, I shall deal with them myself, but worry not, Little One." The beast turned to face Apophis, its face twisted into a smile. "I shall tell you where to find power beyond your wildest dreams, young one, if you so grave it."
Apophis perked his ears, listening carefully.
"Go to the lands around this place and search for a small pit near a hill. There you will find what you seek. I left an artifact there before I was sealed away. You could use it against your enemies. I will come there as well, after I take care of these insects."
Yes! This was exactly what Apophis had hoped for. This monster had no idea how fateful a mistake it had done, giving Apophis an opportunity to gain something powerful he could use against it.
Without a word, the monster leapt over the edge and left Apophis behind, not that he minded, of course.
Staring after the beast for a moment more, he decided to leave. He smiled, knowing that if the monster fell against these mysterious assailants, he could always have this artifact.
This was going to be quite interesting.
A bright explosion of energy rippled across the battlefield, throwing dead and dying jaffa all around, while the battle went on around it without a pause.
The eldar warhost was relentless and merciless against the opposing jaffa warriors, never giving any quarter or pausing its well coordinated slaughter. The honed skills and tactics of the eldar were used to their full extends: making tactical withdraws when the enemy thought it could mount a counter attack; striking fast as lightning when the jaffa thought they could have a breather; flanking from where they least suspected; picking off vulnerable targets with pinpoint accuracy.
Near the front lines, Corsair Prince Aluhrial Juriane stood atop a downed carcass of an enemy fighter, keeping track of the situation. Next to him stood Warlock Quirath, of the Craftworld Saim-Hann, clad in red robes of his craftworld with a witchblade and shuriken pistol in his hands. With his assistance, Aluhrial had come up with this great strategy.
"Do you think it is time to go for the killing blow, Lord Juriane?" asked the warlock.
Aluhrial stayed silent for a moment and then nodded.
With a curt bow, Quirath sped away at high speeds granted by his psychic powers to spread news of Aluhrial's decision and to join the assault. The banished prince of Zahr-Tann hoped the warlock didn't exhaust himself before he even got into battle. The key drawback of Quirath's powers was the sheer strain put on his body: moving at such speeds took much out of him and he risked ripping his muscles every time he used his powers.
"There is something dark here," muttered Aluhrial, turning his gaze towards the fortress a hundred meters away from the battlefield. Even without great psychic powers, like those of Farseer Aldreth, he - no, every eldar on the planet - could feel emanating darkness coming from the citadel. He hoped that none of the Warp Spiders or rangers inside had faced anything Chaos related. Their mission was to clear out the enemy forces that had gotten inside when the eldar had begun their assault.
"Hmph, I should get ready," he said as he jumped down from the wreck and left for the front lines. "I hope my instinct is wrong for once."
The jaffa were on the run, abandoning their ill-defended position the moment their enemies retreated again to make another lightning fast raid on them, leaving behind their dead and wounded comrades. While an outsider would think this was cowardice or a self preservation act, this was actually done according to orders given by Heru'ur via a communication ball. Unknowingly, this act had saved their lives.
Heru'ur had understood the hopelessness of the situation and had ordered a full retreat from the planet. The mysterious alien vessel that floated in the void with the Ha'taks of his fleet had made it clear that any action against it would end in an instant annihilation of the attacking ship, hence the reason why the Ha'tak were situated thousands of kilometers away from it.
Heru'ur had decided to forget about the whole deal he had made with Sokar and just leave the system behind. There was no reason for him to throw away his men and ships for something that wasn't probably even true.
There was no monster here; only lies.
With that in mind, the goa'uld System Lord sent down dropships to retrieve his men and prepared his fleet to leave as soon as they were on board.
Sitting on his throne and clenching his hands into fists, Heru'ur cursed this useless journey, this waste of time. To hell with this planet! There was no point in trying to conquer it if this alien ship kept interfering, not that it would matter any more. Of course, he could come back with his full fleet, but that would be stupid and would leave his worlds unprotected.
The fact that news of Sokar's death was indeed real was a relief, a small one, too small to compensate for this embarrassment.
"So, the enemy fled before we could finish them off," mused Aluhrial as he met up with the other squads of the warhost. They had assembled in front of the damaged gates of the citadel, disappointed.
"Yes, Lord Juriane," confirmed Quirath. He looked rather tense, glancing around every now and then.
"The Sword of Vaul reports that the enemy fleet is beginning to retreat. Some ships have already left, leaving only a few to wait for the dropships to get back." The speaker was Dire Avenger Exarch Rachen, a veteran of hundreds of battles. Like all exarchs, he, too, was lost on his path, unable to get back and try another. Such a shame; his tactical sense and fighting prowess would be of great use were he an autarch.
"So, they have given up?" asked Aluhrial.
"So it seems."
Suddenly the vox came to life - a transmission from the Sword of Vaul. What could they want now?
"Go ahead."
"Aluhrial, this is Autarch Fetalque." Fetalque's voice was stern and serious, with a hint of worry. "We have detected a new threat moving towards you from the direction of the fortress."
"The daemonic presence the farseer sensed? Already?"
"So it would seem. Be on your guard!"
"We will," Aluhrial said and cut the connection. He knew reinforcements would on their way, but he was confident they would not be needed.
"Lord?" inquired one of his corsairs, awaiting orders.
Aluhrial raised his voice to make sure every eldar heard him. "Autarch Fetalque says a daemon is headed our way. Prepare yourselves for battle!"
"But, Lord Juriane," asked Rachen, "since you already sent most of our forces either back to the Sword of Vaul or to scout the area for stragglers, how can we defeat such a creature?"
"We'll have to rely on ourselves, Rachen," answered Aluhrial as drew his chainsword from its sheath. He had known it was a bad idea to send them away, but he hadn't expected the daemonic creature to appear so soon. "Make yourselves ready."
Everyone drew their weapons and took defensive positions around the corpse ridden ground, aiming their weapons at the gates. Dire Avengers formed a firing line with Aluhrial's corsairs farther away from the others, intending to strike down the daemon with their shuriken catapults. Striking Scorpions and Howling Banshees took position next to Aluhrial and Quirath near a crater caused by a Fire Prism's cannon. Aluhrial's visor also picked up rangers taking positions atop the gates, aiming their rifles down in anticipation.
Where are the Warp Spiders? Aluhrial thought, noticing that they were the only ones missing at the moment. The rangers are here, but they aren't. Could the daemon have - no, they wouldn't be that easy to kill.
His musings were interrupted by the appearance of the Warp Spiders ten meters to the left. They immediately aimed their death spinners at the gates before Aluhrial could ask them anything. A moment later a blood chilling and menacing roar that surely belonged to the daemon was heard.
"Here it comes!" shouted Aluhrial, taking aim with his reaper launcher. "Bring it down!"
A large shape came charging through the damaged gates like a berserker of Khorne. It was met by a hail of razor sharp discs, micro missiles and clouds of monofilament wires.
The Beast recoiled in shock as the first of his enemies' shots hit him.
It hadn't expected to face weapons capable of hurting it nor the disciplined firing line that had been formed to meet it.
A salvo of micro missiles sailed past its head just as it resumed charging, hoping to take out their source. The razor sharp discs and wire clouds were not a threat to The Beast's tough hide, but the missiles were powerful enough to cause damage.
Suddenly, a sword sliced at The Beast's leg, followed by seven more before a rocket salvo struck its torso. It grabbed the nearest attacker, a warrior dressed in a bone white suit of armor and a helmet with a red mane, and threw her away while kicking three others away and punching a fifth warrior to the ground. The three others leapt back while unleashing a high-pitched scream that might have hurt it if it was a pitiful human insect.
The Beast roared in pain as a blade slashed its back several times very quickly, causing deep wounds that bled black blood. It turned around quickly, intending to crush the attacker when he landed, but found no one in sight.
Its moment of confusion was rewarded with a trio of shots to the chest, cracking its hide a bit. Then one of its legs broke apart in a shower of blood and sparks, throwing it off balance.
Seven green armored warriors, wielding strange, rectangular weapons with moving teeth decided to take advantage of the situation and charged at it from behind, firing small lasers from their helmets as they did. They rolled under its swings and kicks and struck their weapons into its tough hide with little effect.
A nuisance, these vermin.
A new hail of razor sharp discs struck The Beast's already wounded back, causing it to recoil in pain. In retaliation, it slammed warriors out of its way indiscriminately. One of them, a warrior with a large claw in his right hand and one of those rectangular weapons in his left, casually dodged its swings while his comrades went flying. He ducked under its punch, rolled between its legs and, as soon as he stood up again behind it, leapt onto its back, digging the claw into the wounds.
The Beast rocked around, trying to throw the man off its back, while reaching for him with its claws. Its right claw caught the desperately hanging warrior, and it brought him to the face level, roaring right at his face.
A blue flash of light blinded it, before the claw holding the warrior was sliced in two, the smaller blade falling uselessly to the ground. The warrior fell to the ground and fell back, joining his teammates while another batch of warriors took their place against The Beast.
The one who sliced of the claw was dressed in a red armor and black boots, helmet, gauntlets and a broad metal device on his back. Two curved blades were attached to his forearms, and two strange weapons under his arms, connected to his shoulders by a tube. Two blade-like things extended upwards from between his backpack and shoulders. He stood in front of The Beast defiantly, weapons trained on it.
The Beast roared in rage, lusting for vengeance for the loss of its claw and leg. It lunged at the attacker only for him to disappear in another blue flash of light.
The Beast swung around, smashing another attacker off his feet. This one was brown armored and had a black cape hanging from his shoulders. He wielded the same weapon as the green armored ones and carried the large ranged weapon that fired all those missiles at it. Flipping in midair, the attacker landed on his feet and managed to jump back before the next strike hit him. A hail of sharp discs prevented The Beast from going on with its attack, allowing the brown armored warrior to fire another salvo of micro missiles that hit The Beast right to the chest, causing it howl in pain and rage.
A series of flashes of light drew The Beast's attention above where over thirty red armored warriors appeared a few meters above it, firing their weapons as one, unleashing a cloud of sharp webs that fell upon The Beast. It sliced its hide, but did not penetrated it. As it raged and roared, more shots hit its already wounded back from above, and sharp discs struck its torso from the side. It felt swords and bladed teeth hit it, causing more and more wounds that bled black.
As The Beast ripped itself free from the web, it kicked, punched and slammed warriors away from it. It grabbed a bone armored warrior and threw her with all its might at the group of blue armored warriors who kept firing their stinging weapons at it. The woman crashed into them, knocking over two warriors who tried to soften her fall. The Beast didn't bother trying swat the annoying red armored warriors, for it knew they had teleported again, away from its reach.
Feeling a sword slash at another leg, this one the right front leg as opposed to the missing left middle leg. Immediately The Beast knew that this was the same attacker as before, the insect who dared take its leg. He would pay for that in blood!
The attacker stopped moving and stood like statue a dozen meters from The Beast. He wore a red robe with strange armor worn over it, a white helmet with a black faceplate. A glowing sword was in his hands, its tip pointed at The Beast. He was good at hiding it, but The Beast could see he was exhausted. Yes, excellent; weakened prey.
The Beast charged, roaring, at its target, intent on crushing him like a bug.
Quirath saw the abomination coming, charging at him despite its missing leg and wounds. It had finally caught on that he was the one who caused all that damage.
He was exhausted from using his speed so much in one day; he was regretting that he had used it so much against the aliens. He could feel his feet and arms aching from moving at such speeds. The sword felt heavy in his hand, and his legs were ready to give up under him, but he couldn't allow himself a moment of rest.
The monster was almost upon him; it was time to act!
Using his enhanced speed to dodge a blow, he sped around the creature to strike at its wounded back. Unfortunately, the monster was seemingly expecting this, turning around just in time to force Quirath to dodge again. He quickly jumped away to avoid another claw from crashing into him, sighing in relief when a hail of shuriken fire hit the monster - a diversion, a small one, but a diversion nonetheless.
He charged in, slammed his sword against the monster's torso and rolled under it, slicing it from underneath as he did.
Corsair Prince Aluhrial took this as his cue, firing his weapon at the monstrous abomination, causing more and more pain and bleeding wounds. The Dire Avengers and corsairs also joined the fray, unleashing a continuous hail of shuriken ammunition.
Quirath rolled from under the monster and jumped to his feet. Howling Banshees charged past him, intent on avenging their fallen sister, unleashing their banshee cries upon the monstrosity as they did. Quirath sped after them, leaping over them to land on the monster's back while it was distracted by the corsair prince. His sword slammed into the monster, earning a loud howl of pain and burst of black blood.
Quirath jumped off as he sensed the rangers were about to fire again. Twisting in midair, he landed just as a trio of shots struck the beast to the back of its head. It swung all around, swatting Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions out of its way like flies while trying to reach the sword still stuck in its back. It was bleeding heavily from numerous wounds that didn't seem to stall it at all and took all that fire from the eldar like it was nothing, narrowly managing avoid being hit by Aluhrial's reaper launcher, seemingly the only weapon capable of hurting it.
Panting from the strain put on his body, Quirath forced himself to super speed one more time, intending to finish the fight quickly. He ran past his fellow eldar, ducking low as the monster swung around again, crushing a striking scorpion to ground with the force of the blow. Quirath jumped high, aided by his enhanced speed and momentum, leapt from the top of creature's leg to its back, grabbing his sword in the process. He carved another long wound inon monster's back as he wrenched it free from its flesh.
Just as he landed back on the ground, the monster turned around and grabbed him between its claws, crushing him its formidable strength. It was angry, hatred burning in its bloodshot eyes as it roared at him. It ignored everyone else around it, bent on eliminating the one that had caused most of the damage done to it.
Quirath felt his bones break and blood flow from ruptured veins as he struggled to escape the death grip.
He had all but given up when the creature saw fit to throw him away in its rage, sending him sailing through the air. He closed his eyes in anticipation, waiting for the hard impact against the ground.
Right before falling unconscious, he felt a pair of arms catch him midair.
Autarch Fetalque Swiftblade, of the Craftworld Alaitoc, brother of deceased Autarch Elarique, slowly descended to the ground with mortally wounded Quirath in his arms. He gently lowered the wounded warlock to the ground, resting his head against a fallen enemy warrior. The warlock would need immediate medical attention, but first this creature had to be stopped for good.
He had left the Sword of Vaul immediately after contacting Aluhrial, sending Warlock Ylurail and Colnir to rendezvous with the other eldar elements on the planet and head for his current location as fast as possible. He had jumped from his Falcon when it was about a kilometer from the ground level after ordering it to take the two seers to their destination and used his wings to fly down just in time to save Quirath from a certain death. His timing was excellent, but he felt he could have arrived a moment earlier.
Spreading out his wings. Fetalque leapt high into the air, his wings carrying him over battlefield to land next to Aluhrial, who was blasting away at the monster as it fought against Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions while rangers, Dire Avengers, Warp Spiders and Aluhrial's corsair's gave them covering fire.
"Autarch Swiftblade," greeted Aluhrial calmly, nodding, as he dodged a flying Striking Scorpion thrown by the abomination.
Fetalque gave him a nod of his own and helped the thrown Aspect Warrior back to his feet, glad that he was not too injured to fight.
Absently, Fetalque touched his sister's spirit stone on the right side of his chest, feeling strange warmness radiate from it, as if Elarique was trying to speak to him.
He let go of the spirit stone, gripped his fusion gun even harder and drew his power sword from its sheath. He spread his wings and took a giant leap across the air, his fusion gun blasting pure heat at his target, his sword glinting in the low sunlight. He soared high, before he reached the apex of his jump and started descending towards his target, the fusion gun attached back to its place on his side. His sword was poised for a strike, and he gripped it with both hands as he plunged down.
The monster screamed in pain as Fetalque slammed down on its already heavily wounded back, which, Fetalque noted, seemed to be its weakest point.
Other Aspect Warriors of Khaine took this as their cue and unleashed all they had against the abomination, their swords piercing it from every side while shuriken and clouds of monofilament wire continued to batter it. It threw eldar away like annoying little bugs in its rage. Fetalque hung on to the hilt of his sword before being flung from the monster's back and onto the ground where Aluhrial quickly helped him up.
As the autarch was trying get back to his feet, he felt something happen, something... strange.
His sister's spirit stone, Elarique's spirit stone, began to glow fiercely and emit heat. The light blinded him, even as his helmet tried to dim the glow; the heat was getting through his armor, like it wasn't even there. He was blown backwards a few feet by an invisible force.
When the light finally stopped, Fetalque saw a transparent figure that emitted bright light. Fetalque felt his heart skip a beat as the figure turned around to face him, revealing the face of a person he had never thought to see again.
"Elarique?"
She looked like she had before charging headlong into Ygethmor's Chaos army, only as a ghost. Her body was covered in white particles of what looked to be smoke, small bits breaking off at irregular intervals, floating away in the wind and vanishing. Only her head was visible, her sadly smiling face looking at him in sorrow, her features blurry in the glow, her short hair dancing in a nonexistent wind.
"Fetalque, brother," Elarique said sadly, taking a step towards him. Her outline was clearer now, but still a bit blurry. "I never thought I'd never speak to you again. I could have never imagined you'd find a way to let my soul free from the stone."
"But, I didn't do anything, sister. Y-your stone started to act on its own."
Elarique smiled again, this time more happily. "I know that, Fetalque. I know you'd never release my soul. But still, I am here now to help you as my last deed."
Fetalque's eyes widened in horror as her words finally registered in his mind. "No, please, don't! Elarique, sister... I can't lose you again!" He tried to reach for her, his hand trembling.
His sister only stepped away, looking down. "I cannot stay here, brother. I can feel myself slipping away. I'm going to end this abomination for you..." She turned her gaze past Fetalque to look at dumbfounded Aluhrial. "Take care of him for me. He may be an autarch, but he can't take care of himself without me."
The corsair prince of Zahr-Tann gave a curt nod and grabbed Fetalque's shoulder as Elarique started to walk away to face the monster.
"No, Elarique! Please, don't..."
"I'm sorry, brother," was all the elder autarch said before she began to break apart and ran at the creature.
The battle had halted for the duration of the event, the eldar and the monster staring stunned at the soul of Elarique even as it charged the monster. The eldar, sensing something was about to happen, quickly got away from the immediate vicinity of the monster, which swung its arms around in a vain attempt to keep the charging spirit away.
With a battle cry, Elarique hit the creature right in chest and vanished in a swirl of smoke-like particles that in turn vanished when they made contact with the monster.
For a moment there was nothing, then light exploded from the abomination.
An intense and bright light burst from The Beast's mouth, eyes and wounds.
It howled in excruciating pain. The daemonic energies that kept its machinery working and its organic body alive began to evaporate, banished from the mortal plane and destroyed for good. It slumped to the ground, its claws fell off one by one and its dark blood coagulated and burst into flames in its veins almost instantly.
The Beast stopped its howling as the light finally died, and smoke, physical and not, poured from its open mouth, eyes and wounds in its blackened and already decaying hide.
And that's it!
By the way The Beast is basically a Soul Grinder without a ranged weapon, and Webb getting shot in the back is a reference to what happened to him in World in Conflict's last mission (not that big a spoiler really).
The last part of the fight was a bit rushed because I wanted to upload immediately after finishing this, seriously this was supposed to up by the start September and it's almost December. How did you like Elarique's appearance from behind the grave? I had this planned out for a long time now. This serves as an example how different this reality is from the canon ones, and as an important moment for Fetalque.
I want you, my reviewers, to answer the following questions: In what chapter should Ro'nak's homeworld be visited? When should Jack start to edge towards total corruption? Should I make a character list for all the different eldar I have? When should Anubis visit the SGC (remember he's a good guy)? Should other goa'uld (I'm thinking of Ba'al) be good guys? Should Jones Quinn replace Daniel or become an extra member for the team? Should I have a 'previously on Stargate SG-1' thing with my story? What do you think of the direction this story is heading into?
Well, that's all for now. See you in the future!
Bye!