Chapter 6: Arcadia
When the Hunters came down on the Gray Knights and Salamanders, the two Space Marine chapters unleashed every grenade they had on them at the first few of the alien behemoths. The combined explosion was blinding and deafening in equal measure but the Space Marines pushed past it. Unfortunately so did the Hunters, for though their armor was damaged and blackened they still lived and unleashed blasts of eldritch flames from their cannons. The fires incinerated all they touched, with even the fine armor of the Gray Knights and Salamanders providing inadequate protection. Drawing their heaviest weapons, both Space Marine chapters opened fire on the Hunters, using rockets, shotguns, and anything else they could just to further damage the Hunter's incredibly tough armor. Finally, said armor gave way, exposing more and more of the Hunter's orange, worm-like flesh. Once this happened, the Gray Knights drew their blue swords and plunged them into the Hunter's exposed flesh, twisting their blades for extra damage. Not to be outdone, the Salamanders ducked under the Hunter's swinging shield arms and fired at them point-blank with their shotguns.
But every time a Hunter was slain, it only served to make all of the others madder, and they began to swing around even more wildly, also swatting aside Grunts and Pink Horrors that were unfortunate enough to be near them. Nevertheless, the Gray Knights and Salamanders held their ground, and managed to keep last against the Hunters long enough for the Grizzly Tanks to show up. The tanks unleashed a hailstorm of fire that cut the remaining Hunters down as the large vehicles drove up to the beleaguered Space Marines. Then they drove past them, continuing to open fire on the Hunters and other Covenant and Daemons that were still in their way.
"Support the tanks!" Shouted the Gray Knight and Salamander squad leaders. "Clear a path for them!"
The squad leaders men did as instructed, and the two Space Marine chapters unloaded a torrent of ammunition at the Grunts, Elites, and Pink Horrors that stood in the Grizzly Tanks path.
-X-
Inside the relic the fighting had intensified, as somehow more Elites and Grunts had managed to get inside and open fire on the handful of Eldar and humans within. Macha and her fellow Farseers continued to devastate the Covenant's ranks with powerful bolts of lightning and other Eldar magics, while Donald and Alexander provided support fire.
"Really hoping those tanks show up soon..." Donald muttered. "We're running low on ammunition..."
"I don't know, I think we're holding out pretty well here..."
Then a few more Elites decloaked, and they were different from the others. They were a bit bigger for one thing, and when they appeared the other Elites and Grunts looked up at them with awe. In contrast to other Elite's sky blue armor decorated with random pink stripes, these Elites armor was ebony black with a golden trim. Many of them also had long horns on their heads, as well as hands that were in the form of either large talons or pincers. Some of them even had medium to large sized bat-wings on their backs.
"What the hell are those things?" Alexander gasped.
"Elite Zealots, the children of Chaos Undivided. They are the most deadly Covenant of all..."
Ellen Anders turned to Alexander: "You ever hear of "tempting fate"?"
"KILL THEM!" shouted one of the Elite Zealots and the other Covenant let out a terrifying bellow of acknowledgement. Given a massive boost in morale by the arrival of the Zealots, the other Elites and Grunts surged forward with greater determination, with some Elites even managing to power through the Eldar's crippling lightning for a little longer than usual. The Plasma fire of the Covenant's weapons eas unleashed at a much more fearsome rate, and Grunts began to hurl Plasma Grenades in what soon became a hailstorm of the glowing blue balls of explosive energy. As explosions of blue fire rang around their ears nonstop, the humans and Eldar continued to unleash lightning, bullets, grenades, and shuriken at their enemies as they waited for the promised reinforcements to arrive...
-X-
"SINDRI!" Lord Bale roared. "The humans tanks are destroying our Hunters! We can't keep them back for much longer! Soon they will be at the ruins! Your plan is a disaster!"
"Calm yourself Lord Bale" Sindri said in his usual unfazed and coldly civil tone. "I told you that I had contingency plans in place should something like this occur. Do not worry. I have sent additional Elites to seize the relic while the humans and Eldar are distracted by the main force. They will read the relic's contents and then report back to us. For you see we do not truly need the relic itself, only the information it contains. My Zealots will acquire that information"
Lord Bale scoffed and snarled in response to this. "For your sake I hope your right!"
-X-
After blasting apart the last of the Hunters and the Pink Horrors, the Grizzly Tanks parked themselves up to the front of the ruins. Without anymore resistance to keep them from reaching the relics, the Gray Knights and Salamanders were all set to move in and retrieve their commanders and Doctor Anders, but the next thing they knew Covenant ships were flying in and raining plasma fire down on them. Taking cover quickly, the Gray Knights and Salamanders only made a dash for the ruins after the Grizzly tanks opened fire on the Banshees, which provided enough of a distraction for the Space Marines to move in. But the Banshees expertly avoided the Grizzly tanks gunfire and replied with withering plasma fire that steadily chipped away at the tanks armor. Then one got hit with a blast of green energy from another Banshee and burst into flames, pieces of blackened scrap metal flying everywhere. As this happened, the Gray Knights and Salamanders navigated the ruins hallways until at last they came to the site of the relic, now a warzone littered with the bodies of dead Covenant soldiers. Joining the fray, the Gray Knights and Salamanders opened fire with shots from Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, and DMRs. Caught off-guard by the unexpected attack from the rear, the remaining Covenant forces were quickly routed, with even the Zealots finally managing to go down, save for two that fled once they saw the tide of the battle turn against them.
"That's right, run you bastards!" one of the Salamanders hollered at the Zealots as they activated their stealth fields and disappeared.
"Well that was a little touch and go..." Donald observed. "Its a good thing you all showed up when you did. We were all starting to run low on ammo. Of course with these Eldar Farseers and their powers, who knows how much longer we could have lasted..."
"Our power was waning too human" Mahca said before turning to the Salamanders and Gray Knights. "Thank you. We appreciate your coming to our aid"
Macha then turned back to Donald, Alexander, and Ellen Anders. "Come, we need to leave this place now. As long as we are here this planet is not safe from the Covenant. Besides, that relic told us where we need to go next"
"What are you talking about?" Donald asked.
"The relic pointed in the direction of a place called a "Shield-World". It is one of the installations left behind by the Forerunners and it is not something we want the forces of Chaos getting their wretched claws on. So we must go to that Shield World with all speed. I believe it was called "Eden" in the data I accessed.
"Eden? You mean like the Garden of Eden?"
"I do not know what that is"
Alexander rolled his eyes underneath his helmet. "Of course you don't..."
"What is it about the Shield Worlds that makes them so dangerous?" Donald asked.
"They were the places our ancestors made their final stand. There could be all sorts of Forerunner technology there that we cannot allow the Four Powers and the Covenant to acquire. That and just the thought of them desecrating our ancestors homes with their unholy footsteps sickens me to the core. So we must get to Eden as fast as we can."
-X-
"There, you see Lord Bale?" Sindri said as he proudly showed off the stolen information on Eden and its location. "I told you my plans would succeed. The Zealots retrieved the necessary information and now that we have it there's no need to waste time and resources seizing the relic itself. We may now send our fleet to this "Eden" and claim it for the Four Powers"
Lord Bale snarled. "All right Sindri, you have been fortunate in this scenario. But I am still not fully convinced. Set a course for Eden and I will decide how we proceed from there. Time will tell if you're fortunes continue or not"
"Of course Lord Bale. But I am quite confident that in time you'll see that I am right as always"
The Arbiter growled. "You presume too much human"
Sindri turned to him. "I am sorry Arbiter, did I offend you in some manner? My most sincere apologies. I was simply stating fact is all"
The Arbiter growled again. How he desperately wanted to punt Sindri into the nearest sun. But so long as the Chaos Sorcerer remained even partially in Lord Bale's good graces the Arbiter would have to stay his killing hand, which was something he always hated doing. Patience, temperance, or any form of subtlety for that matter were never his strong suits, and it was part of the reason he was now the Arbiter. But it didn't matter. He knew Sindri would only be able to keep Lord Bale's infamous temper and fury at bay for so long going about things as he did, and when he inevitably screwed up in some way or another, the Arbiter would be there, to cut him to ribbons with his dual energy swords and mount his helmeted head on his wall.
Ripa 'Moramee smiled at the very thought.
-X-
"Leaving so soon?" Sergeant Forge asked Alexander.
"Maybe" the Salamander Captain replied. "Commander Donald and Colonel Dawson are talking to the Admiralty Board right now. Since the Covenant seem to have gotten what they came here for there's no reason to stand guard over the ruins anymore, and that it would be a better use of Spirit of Fire's resources to go after the Covenant fleet and keep them from seizing whatever weapons and technology there is on the Shield-World."
"Do you think the Admiralty Board will agree?"
"I think so, yes" Alexander said. "At least enough of them to win the vote anyway. And honestly I agree with Donald and Dawson's rationale. Not to mention that I'd much rather be off taking the fight to those Covenant bastards then just doing guard duty"
"I can definitely empathize with that brother" Sergeant Forge said. "I hate just standing around doing nothing when I know those xenos are out there killing people. Makes my blood boil"
As Sergeant Forge said this, Commander Donald came over to Alexander and Sergeant Forge.
"Any news on the verdict?" Alexander asked.
Donald nodded. "Yes. The Admiralty Board has agreed with Colonel Dawson and given us the green light"
"Excellent. Time to hunt some Covenant!"
"Congratulations" Sergeant Forge said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go talk to my captain…"
-X-
As The Spirit of Fire was getting ready to take off, it received an unexpected arrival in the form of Doctor Ellen Anders, who upon getting on the ship made clear her intentions: "I'm coming with you. If you're going to more structures like this one you could use a scientist on your ship, and I'm the best one you're going to find who's not a part of ONI"
"…can't argue with that logic. Alright Doctor Anders, you're on board. Welcome to The Spirit of Fire."
And mere moments after Doctor Anders made clear her intentions to be a part of The Spirit of Fire's adventure, the crew got yet more visitors, this time in the form of Captain Darnath Lysander, Sergeant John Forge, and several other Imperial Fists.
"Sergeant Forge has requested that he and the Imperial Fists under his command come with you on your little adventure. I've decided to humor him, since I know how much the boy wants to be out fighting the Covenant. He's a good soldier, as are his men. Use them well, and please bring at least a few of them back alive"
Donald nodded. "I'll do my best Captain"
"That's all I ask"
"Well, between the Doctor and now a whole squad of Imperial Fists I'd say The Spirit of Fire is getting quite a bit of attention" Serina observed in her usual snarky manner before adding: "Wouldn't you agree colonel?"
Colonel Dawson nodded. "Yeah, but we can use the extra help. I think as you and I both know by this point, when going up against the Covenant, the more the merrier"
"Cliched but true." Serina said with a nod. "I just hope we can hold them all"
Colonel Dawson shook his head at the Smart AI's sarcasm before giving the order to follow the Eldar ships on their path to the Shield-World. So began the race to get to Eden before the Covenant, or failing that, to drive them off the Shield World. Little did any of the players in this story know that they'd all be getting a lot more than they bargained for.
Author's Note: I know, I know, its a short chapter. Don't worry, the next one should be at least a little bit longer.