Edit AN:Thanks to latest guest reviewer for pointing out the number issue. It's been solved now. Real number of lost in this battle would be 1261, so just over a fifth of the Regiment's current manpower, not Regiment-killing-and-then-some 12,061. Apologies!
The Deathless Nightmares slogged forth, those of them that wielded any form of Gauss weaponry. Swarms of scarabs danced around the warriors, while the Flayed Ones surged ever forward in search of their gory bounties. Lasguns, rifles and sub-machine guns met Necrodermis in a hail of gunfire that turned swathes of the land around them into glass. Rosie gasped, ducking under a beam of green lightning just as it struck a Cadian. She watched with wide eyes and a mouth agape, horrified, as the kid disintegrated, the link between his molecules disturbed enough to cause his entire body to fall apart in one of the most painful, yet horrifically non-bloody displays of death.
She looked to Alicia, who stood behind a wall that was getting pummeled by the beams, staring at the blackened ash in the shape of what had once been a boy around Isara's age, now part of the sands of Barious.
The Imperial Guard's tanks wheeled back around the moment the Necron had emerged from their First Tomb, Heavy Bolters and cannons crashing into the unstoppable tide. They slammed into the side of the advance, alongside a slew of Eastern Imperial light vehicles and Severan Dominate tanks, attempting to crush whatever they could under their treads and heavy forms.
In the midst of the troops arrayed against the unstoppable tide, Selvaria led a detachment of both Severan and her own. "We're doomed!" Bellowed a Severan trooper beside them, cowering behind the General and firing his Lasgun only twice. "These damn things! I've seen them! I've seen them on my very home world!" He whimpered, "They'll wipe us all out..."
"Steel yourself, trooper!" Selvaria growled at him, "We hold them here, whatever they may be! We cannot let them leave these sands!"
She gasped, raising her shield in defense of herself. The interior spiral design began to spin as energy formed across. A beam from a Necron Gauss weapon struck, dissipating off and around the shield. The girl gritted her teeth and roared in pain as she felt the incredible energy surge through into her own Blue Flame. She'd staved off a shot from one of their heavier cannons, she now noticed. Falling to her knees and leaning on her spear, she whispered "Truly... What are these monsters...?"
She saw two Cadian troopers appear on her right, Lasguns barking. They'd set them to the highest power-level, laying into the monstrosities with disregard. A third trooper, a Sergeant, heaved the woman to her feet and growled at her, "Fall on your knees, break your guard in any way and you're dead, Witch! Fight! Fight or we all die together here and now!" as he readied his bolt pistol to join his comrades in the charge
"Leave her be!" Johann called from beside her. The Cadian scoffed, then moved forth, heaving his Bolt Pistol and firing. Johann placed a hand on the woman's shoulder and asked "Are you well, General?"
"I'll be fine, Johann, my thanks... But they're right... We will die if we fall like this." She sighed, raising her weapons. She shoved the boy aside, before jumping out of the way herself. Three more beams struck where she'd have been, disintegrating the whimpering madman that had once been a Severan Dominate trooper. Her heart shrunk as she heard the man's dying wails, an ethereal howl borne from the man's very soul being torn asunder by the beam. The body turned to dust before it even hit the ground, more material for the bloody desert here. A black stain on orange sand.
Selvaria glared, her scarlet eyes locked onto one of the heaviest enemy units. She grew wide-eyed as she saw it hovering over the poisiton, a cannon strapped to its right side instead of an arm. A cannon that arched with malevolent energy, much like the floating machine on the anti-gravity pad. She hefted her Lance, holding her shield in front of her as she built up the energy charge necessary to strike at the monster. A swirl of blue fire whirled around the spinning spiral lance's tip and down to its midsection. She eyed the target, but saw it turn toward her. Her heart stopped.
A heavy body pushed her aside, someone clad in heavy armor. A beam of energy scoured the very land she'd been on, turning it to glass while her own beam went wide of her intended target, striking through and vivisecting a squadron of advancing Flayed Ones and their Guard. Ten of the foul automatons fell, arched back. She looked to see the person that had thrown her out of the way stand up. It was one of the young Cadians, the commander of their shock troops.
She hoisted her heavy laser weapon and her Power Sword, then charged forth. Parrying claw and strike from the enemy as best as she could, the girl took down two Flayed Ones in melee, damn near feeling the bite of the third's claws. Selvaria stood up and shouldered her lance, firing a wave of lasers into the robot with pinpoint accuracy. At this range, it would've been hard to miss even a shot. The monster hunched, stumbled and fell, face-first into the sand, deactivated.
The Kasrkin, Selvaria recalled, took a step back and readied her energy weapon again. She looked to the woman and said "Did not think I'd be saying this today, but my thanks, Witch."
"Do not thank me... Kill more of them for all of us to make it out." Selvaria said, unsure if she could fathom the girl's willingness to just charge headlong into the tide of creatures. She heard screams to their left and saw them. Johann's squad was being slaughtered, but the boy was managing to call the withdrawal. His weapon cracked the air, rounds slamming into one of the Flayed Ones and barely staggering it as it charged.
The loud crack-snap of a higher-voltage Energy weapon echoed and the monster's neck snapped like a twig, sending it collapsing to the floor. Selvaria had no time to consider following the beam of energy to its shooter. She had to focus on fighting these damn things. Swiping with her lance upward, she caught three of the Flayers, all of whom wore a sickly pale skin that still bled like a cape, then pummeled them into the ground and roared as she fired a powerful beam, rendering the creatures either dead or out of the fight. She turned to the massive enemy Tank unit, the one on the grav-pad that was moving around and finding whom to kill, then readied another shot.
Aboard the two Super-Heavy tanks, the Colonel and the Prince had focused their firepower on eliminating the enemy's advancing heavies. Canoptek Wraiths danced through the heavy fire, trying their damnedest to get into flensing range with their sharp, armor-penetrating claws. They only needed to cut through the hatches to get at the two commanders.
The heavy Bolters at the forefront of the Tank, as well as the Lascannons on the sponsons, caught some of the bastards before they got too close. Sadly, they didn't get all of them. The Colonel appeared out of the top as the first Canoptek Wraith approached the top hatch and cut its head off with the Power Sword in his hands. He then snapped off two Bolt pistol shots into the one charging Maximillian. While he could've let the pompous prick die and save himself and the Gallians the trouble... They needed each-other right now.
Beams of energy cut into the sides of the next monster and Matt traced the shots toward Colin and a squad of Guardsmen. The two nodded to each-other, before the boy turned to the Edelweiss and called out over Vox, "Isara! You and your brother stay behind us!"
"Roger..." The girl said, veering the tank behind the Baneblade. The Hammer bucked, a beam of energy glancing its right and nearly detracking it. The Colonel dove back into his tank, peering through the scopes toward a Necron Destroyer. His heart sank as he said, "I want every gun we have to fire on those things the moment we see them! EVERYTHING ON THE DESTROYERS! Fire at will!"
The Crew of the Baneblade didn't halt to answer, focusing on their jobs. Beams of energy laced the Necron tank, high-caliber Mega Battle Cannon shells struck its heavy necrodermis, bolt-rounds tore into its midsection and just about every gun under the sun, the superheavy Demolisher cannon itself included, fired on the damn thing until it fell to the floor and stopped moving.
Alicia dove into a trench just as the wall behind her exploded and melted. Freesia followed, with Juno, Susie, Vyse and Aika not far behind.
"They aren't taking any damage from our guns!" Susie cried, cowering behind the trench wall as she cradled her weapon. Alicia gritted her teeth, watching as the Cadians pounced over them and fired. Two more kids got blasted by the cannons, their bodies turning into ash, only to be blown away by the wind. A Lasgun clattered to the floor from the dead. Alicia snatched it, looked it over and shouldered it.
"There's gotta be some way we can kill these damn things! Where did they even spawn from!?" Vyse barked, firing with his SMG into the lumbering crowd.
Alicia's breathing grew ragged as she watched the monsters. A Necron Flayer surged forth, gutting through two more kids and splattering the sand scarlet with its blood-soaked claws. It charged at her and she raised the Lasgun, screaming as she saw the skin-covered face with blood running down the length of it. She squeezed the trigger, feeling the relatively light recoil of the energy weapon, even on full-auto Hotshot mode. Several shots pockmarked the chest cavity before they reached the face. The scent of charred skin reached Alicia as she heard the weapon hiss, its battery crying out after being emptied.
She retched to the side, falling onto her back and trembling as she looked at the collapsed Necron corpse in front of her, its face charred, burning, the skin on it peeling, blackened. Its eyes were empty and dead, the many marks left by the Lasgun clearly having done their job. The girl breathed rapidly, tugging at her collar. Aika crawled up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and saying "You just saved our collective bacon, Sarge... C'mon, we gotta run."
The girl was dragged up by Juno and Aika, with Vyse and Susie providing covering fire, for what little good that did. The rounds simply sparked off the Necrodermis. Their weapons were, indeed, useless. They needed to either find and huddle behind the Cadians or their god-damned tanks. They ran past some of the kids, watching them standing their ground as best as they could, the barrels of their lasguns glowing red as they focused their fire. Ten more kids fell in the span of thirty seconds, for not more than two of the monsters.
Was this truly hopeless? Was this it?
They watched the Batomys fire an arced shot over the ruins and into the massed crowd of monsters. The Ragnite explosion caught itself in the midst of the creatures, bursting through them and shattering chunks of Necrodermis in a blast. Following up, Selvaria fired her beam weapon into the crowd of monsters, vanishing a dozen of them with one fell swoop of blue fire.
The Colonel's tank grinded through and forth as the Leman Russes burst through the other side, vivisecting the marching, stumbling and charging horde of undead machines into two parts. One section of Necron forces had been isolated by the tanks in-between an army of Cadian and Severan troops, all of whom began to empty charge cell after charge cell into the monsters. This would not stop the thousand-strong tide from overwhelming them, but it bought time.
The Executioner's plasma weapon hissed and spat energy into the crowds on the left. One of the Leman Russes took a direct hit from another enemy Destroyer and shattered, bursting ablaze thanks to the ammo cooking off and cooking the crew inside alive. The troops fought on, together. Guardsmen and Eastern Imperials moved behind Selvaria, with Severan not far behind. They fought and fought, their weapons trying to stab through Necrodermis.
The Necron fell, but very slowly. For every one of the bastards they took, they lost ten more of their own. The Colonel didn't see this as any good. He switched Com Channels and said "False Prince, order your men to fall back to more defensible positions! NOW!" before switching again back to their own and saying "All allied units, fall back! Take more defensible positions along the edges of the temple! These things know no halting and I will not take unnecessary casualties to fight them! Commissar, rally our forces!"
The Edelweiss rolled away, the rest of the squad behind it. Rosie ran, her expressions seemingly eternally stuck as fearful. She'd seen a Flayed One gut a kid alive and take his god damn skin to wear like a bloody sweater. Largo himself had seen shit, but he ran, hauling his lance. He and the whole team ran, finding cover between the rocks and ruins the next line over. A shot lanced forth, striking clean through a Tallarn Leman Russ and vaporizing it from the inside out with all its crew.
"God damn, what the hell are these things!?" Largo balked, shouldering his lance.
Rosie shuddered, firing blindly as she said "I don't know..." in a whisper.
Imperial and Cadian Tanks rolled backward, firing their heavy bolters and sponson-mounted weaponry into the mass of advancing Necron tide. HE Shells detonated in the midst of the monsters and the whistle of artillery roared overhead, shells landing and doing little to halt the advancing force. Plasma scarred the sands, boiling them to glass as the Executioners overcharged their weapons.
A Destroyer Tank Hunter's Lascannon roared, the bright beam cutting a deep canal into the sand as it, too, slashed at the massing force of Undeath. Following up, Selvaria let loose another heavy blast from her lance. Machine Guns and Rifles cracked the air beside her. Once again, little to no damage done by conventional firearms. She gritted her teeth, then took a Voxcaster from one of the Severan and yelled, broadcasting across all lines, "The situation is untenable! What can we even do to kill these things!?"
"Keep firing until you die!" Matt replied over the Radio.
"We should at least let the Gallians and my forces retreat! Their firearms do little to these things!"
"I agree! Lieutenant, get your squad and the rest of the Third Regiment out of here!" He called out over com, "We will die to stem the tide if we have to, but-"
He cut off as a round from a Transuranic Arquebus slammed into the Necrons' lines, effectively gutting the forward advance of a dozen enemy units. Techpriests joined in the battle, toting battle-axes and master-crafted plasma weaponry as they, too, met the enemy. Techpriest Valon spoke through Vox "Forgive us! We are late! Soldiers of the Mechanicus! Children of the Omnissiah! Blast apart these abominations!"
The 10 Skitarii soldiers present, one of which wielded the Transuranic Arquebus, laid into the Necron with their advanced weaponry, seemingly grinding the enemy to a stalemate. Selvaria gasped as she saw a young woman with augmetics enough for a Magos appear beside her, drawing her Plasma Blast Pistol. She charged the weapon, muttering a prayer in binary before letting loose the searing bolt. She looked to Selvaria, then spoke, her voice passing through a speaker sown onto her throat, "Do not stop firing, Witch!"
What monstrosities had the Cadians spawned...?
She shook her head, then said "Johann! Get our men out of here!"
"General!?" The boy demanded
"Do it! Our firearms do little to these things! We will stave these monsters off and then beat them back, or die trying!" Frankly, the last part felt more possible than anything else. Three Chimera transports wheeled in, deploying several more Guardsmen to reinforce the line as the Gallians and East Imps took positions by the last line of defenses. Captain Varrot watched as the mysterious dangers that were the Necron lumbered ever forward, meeting the Imperial Guard in close quarters.
"Is this what they face on a daily basis in their world?" Varrot murmured to herself.
"Really puts things into perspective, don't it...?" Largo murmured from beside her, shifting his lance to meet any possible oncoming Necron stragglers. They were still a ways away from them, but nobody would want to risk it. The bright flare of sickly green beams cut through the air, countered by the burning blue and the hateful scarlet of the Valkyria and the Imperial Guard.
Alicia slid into cover beside Largo and the Captain, followed by Welkin and Isara. The Sergeant remarked "I can't believe these kids..."
"That they exist, that they charged a Valkyria or that they just swiveled about and plowed straight into what seems like actual demons...?" Largo asked.
"... Yes!" Alicia sighed.
"The Colonel did not kid when he said his people were used to war." Varrot stated, watching through binoculars as their mix of armored fighting vehicles continued to plow and ram shells into the things. The roar of the artillery position behind them drowned out the distand thumps of explosions. Still, the desert shook and shook under the detonations.
Isara trembled, watching the fight. Her mind wasn't on what was going to happen to them at the moment. Matt and his comrades were giving their lives for them. To stop something that existed below them for God knew how long. Welkin himself was worried over the kids. So easily ready to throw themselves at what amounted to the stuff of nightmares did place their world views in perspective.
At the forefront of the formation, beside the Techpriests and the Witch, sat normal human children, bearing blade and rifle from a dark future, a world where War was a constant. They'd joined them without hesitation and the Gallians didn't dare give one look into the mouth of that gift horse. As midday struck, the Imperial Guardsmen fought hard beside the very witch they had so far tried to kill.
The woman watched in horror as a kid was grabbed by a Canoptek Wraith. Its tail aimed to pierce the boy's gut, but it was met by the hellfire of multiple lasguns, staggering it just enough... Selvaria surged forth, thrusting the flame-covered lance into the creature's body with enough force to actually shatter it. She shielded the kid, more out of instinct than anything, from a Necron Soldier's weapon blast. The kid nodded to her, poking his rifle past the shield and firing it on Hotshot Full-Auto. The shots latticed the body of the Necron as the boy dragged the weapon upward, toward its head.
Colin called out from the front, extracting his blade from the spine of a Necron Flayed one, a line of blood trickling down his cheek from the cut left by the thing, "NO MATTER THE COST, HALT THESE SOULLESS ABOMINATIONS HERE!"
More and more troops, both Cadian and Severan, poured into the battle, trying to match the enemy in numbers and falling short as the Necrons killed more. Mat didn't even wanna consider the casualties they'd have after this. He focused instead on keeping as many of his people alive as he could by utilizing the guns of his tank to best effect. Maximillian did much the same in the sense of the mortar atop his tank firing into the crowd continuously, supporting the Earthshakers that aided them from afar.
A beam of energy struck the heavy tank's tracks, stopping it dead. The Colonel scoffed, rolling forward and focusing all eleven barrels of his tank onto the Destroyer once again. The hull on those damn things was so thickly armored that it required the full and undivided attention of the Baneblade's entire arsenal. Going by the look his main gunner just gave him, however, they were running low on shells in just about everything.
"-lonel! COLONEL, DO YOU READ?!"
The Sisters... He spoke, "I read you, though barely, Canoness!"
Near the ruins themselves, the Canoness and her sisters, alongside the Psyker squad, fought an unceasing tide of stragglers. She cut a Necron Flayer's head off, putting two plasma pistol shots into the crowd behind it as she advanced. Gazing back, she saw the Darcsen hurriedly building their only possible means of survival:A Ragnite bomb. She spoke "We have a plan!"
"All I needed to hear, Your Holiness! We will try to buy you time!"
"It's not that easy, Matias." She spoke solemnly, "I need you to redirect at least a squad of Guardsmen to assist us... They may not return. Nor may we."
Silence over the Vox, then a deep sigh. He understood, "A Chimera transport is taking the long way around... If you see that Necron Lord, Canoness, shove two Plasma Shots in its fucking chest cavity for me."
She smiled, then nodded "The Emperor have you in his watch, Colonel." and cut off the vox transmission. She waved her sisters forth and showed them to let loose their Boltguns. Every round fired flew with the fury of the God-Emperor behind it, denting armor, breaking the bodies of charging warriors and killing whatever tiny Scarab-like monsters got caught in the blasts.
Back with the Colonel, on the other side of the area, the young man appeared out of the top of the vehicle's turret again, firing with his bolt pistol into the crowd. The sound of clambering boots on metal had him swiveling about, only to be met by the faces of the Darcsen Auxillia. Major Ryan looked up at him and said "Colonel! We overheard through the Vox that you need a volunteer team!"
"I'm sending Guardsmen armed with las-weaponry, Major!" The boy replied.
"Sir, let us take the fight to these fuckers!" The man said, his gaze filled with determination, "It's the least a bunch of raggedy Darcen can do for you!"
"Major, I cannot ask you to throw your lives away like this!" The Colonel stated bluntly, "My men have the firepower to bring whatever plan the Canoness has to fruition! Yours are barely trained!"
"Hand us the guns! We'll take'em in! You'll need every Veteran soldier after this is done, colonel! Especially your own! Please, let us show to you and the Emperor we mean business! That your faith in our people isn't misplaced!" The man practically begged, "Please!"
The man's eyes were filled with pain. He'd mentioned the villages and the folks a while ago, before the final assault on Kloden. The Colonel's heart sank as he wondered what this man could've lost to warrant such a fervent desire for sacrifice. He gritted his teeth, then sighed and called over Vox "Chimera Three-Five, rally up! You've got a squadron of twelve Darcsen to pick up! Hand them any spare Lasguns you may have, be they Severan or our own!"
He turned to the man, then said "Fight well... Emperor be with you, Major."
He smiled, then nodded, "With you as well, Colonel... Thanks for the trust."
The Chimera transport had boosted the turbine of its engine to bring it about. It was overheating in the glaring sun as the Darcsen aboard loaded up on ammunition. Ryan looked to his men, to see each being taught how to set their newly-acquired, cheap knockoff Lasguns from the Severan Dominate to Hotshot. He followed, thumbing the button and murmuring a prayer as he readied the gun. He trembled, looking at the weapon in hand and murmuring to himself "Helluva day I picked to be a hero."
"Hey, boss." One of the youngest of theirs called. He looked to him, then nodded. The kid asked "We're goin' out with a bang, right?"
"And proving our friends over yonder that we're worth their desire to free us, yeah." The man nodded, sighting in the laser weapon before setting it aside. The light inside the tank's hold shined an eerie scarlet suddenly and the ground below them shook with the roar of explosions. They were moving around the massing horde of monsters called the Necron.
"I've seen bad combat situations before, Ryan," remarked Erwin, one of his comrades from EWI, "But this is asking us to throw ourselves into the jaws of death. You got any good words for the kids and us?"
"Well... What can I say, folks?" He shrugged, looking back at the hold full of men as they rolled ever-forward to their doom, "We've barely been around these kids for a week now. We've seen fight as the rearguard at Kloden and that's about all we've had going for us, plus the minimal re-training we got in before shit hit the fan in the worst two ways possible:First, a Valkyria... And now, whatever these fucking things are."
Sighing as he saw the looks of sadness in the youngest ones, he continued "But we're doing this for our families... For our people. If the way the Cadians looked at these things told me anything, it's that they're bad fuckin' news. These kids are sacrificing themselves out there to stall the enemy advance while some of our compatriots were ordered, hell, forced to sit back and watch... I don't care what happens to me right now. You may. Our younger brethren and sisters are fighting side-by-side with the Cadians and dying in droves with them and the East Imps of all people..."
"If this is really it... After almost all of us got out of EWI with relatively little physical injuries, then fuck me..." He shook his head, then chuckled, "What better way to go out than saving the planet and proving to every single bastard that ever called us useless Dark-Hairs wrong? The only thing I can say to make this easier for all of us is that we'll either save everyone, including our folks... Or we'll die trying."
"Neither is mutually exclusive with the other, but we're all in anyway, boss." Quipped another of Ryan's friends, garnering a few chuckles out of the bunch.
"Yeah... Well, you all remember the little sermon we've attended before the final battle in Kloden," Ryan remarked, "May the God-Emperor on Terra preserve us..."
"The Emperor Protects..." Chorused the Darcsen and the trio of Cadians aboard. The vehicle ground to a halt, its rear hatch opening to show the shimmering emerald pylon, lacking the pointed top, of course. The Canoness and her remaining sisters, as well as the Psyker Team watched the men disembark, Lasguns at the ready. She stared at them sadly, sighing.
"You do not have to-" She started, but Ryan raised his hand.
"We're all settled in and ready to go, ma'am... We'll push our way through even if it means we die going in." The man remarked, smiling. Dumbfound, both the Canoness and Yuri looked over to the freed Darcsen that had now hurriedly assembled a high-power bomb made from half a tonne of raw Ragnite and three Melta charges that the Sisters carried. It in itself was ready, they just needed the detonation devices synched. They wouldn't get far enough away to use them.
"One of my sisters will accompany you..." The Canoness said, "She wishes to do so."
"We'll welcome the Sister with open arms." The man nodded. As the battle continued near the main ruins, with beams of both Valkyrian Fire and Laser weaponry tearing into the undead nightmares, the team began their descent in rappel. Monyka's squad had taken the transport back to the side of their allies, with the Canoness, her sisters and the liberated Darcsen accompanying them.
Lasguns let loose into swarms of Scarabs that worked to repair the Pylon itself, the sister raking the squads of charging Flayed Ones with her boltgun on full-auto. She had the bomb on her back. One of the men was caught by a beam of energy and vaporized as they descended. They reached the bottom floor in night under three minutes, surging into the maw of the alien temple and firing until they dried half the magazines they had.
Another Darcsen was caught and executed by Canoptek Wraiths waiting in ambush down the main hall of the Necropolis, followed by another that was flayed alive by the deranged Necron afflicted with that dark virus. It didn't matter, they pushed on, Ryan and the Sister at the forefront, their guns burning a path into the darkness and through the hordes of enemy soldiers as they tried to clamber through from the main Tomb complex.
Entering the arching path, the team ran into swarms and swarms of Scarabs. The air was thick with the little shits. So thick they didn't have to aim, even as the things swarmed and wrapped around their brethren, slashing and rending their flesh with tiny claws and Necrodermis teeth. They bashed down the monsters, or shot them, burning through another high percentage of their ammunition.
The sister took a shot into the shoulder, the bomb dropping to the floor as her armor tried to absorb the damage, dissipating under it. She murmured a prayer as she fired, stumbling toward the bomb while yet more Darcsen were killed, their numbers reduced to a mere three, including the kid. All four had been wounded. All four could now see the Necron Lord and his Lychguards and Pariahs in escort, approaching them and parting the Sea of Scarabs.
The sister raised her Boltgun at the monster, roaring loudly "FOR THE SAINTS AND THE EMPEROR!" as she squeezed the trigger. The bolt-rounds bounced off the reflector shields of the Lychguards, while the Pariahs raised their Warscythes. Two beams cut into the sister, her armor straining, buckling, vaporizing. She gritted her teeth, then cried to the Darcsen, "MAJOR RYAN!" and slid the bomb to him. She continued to resist, even as every atom in her body was torn asunder. She resisted even until her last bolt round left the chamber of her weapon.
She collapsed and a Warscythe's sharp blade, mounted just under the Gauss blaster, severed her head. The Necron Lord turned to face the Darcsen, planting its staff into the ground. It spoke, its voice robotic, machine-like as it saw the third-to-last man torn asunder by the Sword of one of his Lychguard, "Your lives are forfeit... As are the lives of all those who tread this world."
The kid shuddered beside the Major, before standing up and crying "Fuck you!" Defiantly. The kid managed to squeeze off two hotshot-rounds from the Lasgun before he was vivisected by the next Pariah's Warscythe. They surrounded Major Ryan, who stared up at them impassively, cradling both his lasgun and something that the Necron had no idea about. The Lord hunched over, looking at the man.
"Struggle not, child... Let peace come to you..." It spoke almost remorsefully.
The man grinned, revealing the bomb and the ever-expanding, necrotizing wound he had on his belly. Pale as death, them an spoke "In the Emperor's name... You first!"
He pressed the detonators on the Melta Charges...
Outside, just as the Canoness and her escorts arrived to join the fighting, their blades clashing with Canoptek Wraiths and some of the Lychguard leading as commanders, the sands shook. A shrill, piercing roar echoed from below, as if a thousand voices cried death. The Necron halted, turned and mobilized back to the Tomb. A column of azure light shot up into the sky, a wave of energy so bright and blinding that it forced every living man and woman in that area to cover their eyes and washed the remains of the secondary dig site, the Necron Tomb.
The very ground rumbled beneath the Necron and them. As if from an ancient story of Gods and Daemons, the ground split in twain, sandfalls trapping the army of Necrontyr underneath them. Selvaria and the others ran back, planting their feet into whatever solid ground they found and the tanks rolled back, two more Cadian Lemans and two more Severan ones falling into the pit.
... As night fell over the battlefield that now lay littered with the corpses of soldiers and the ashes of their brethren, the Colonel stood watch over the kilometer-deep pit and the black crater that had once been the Necropolis of the very machines that now lay buried once more under these sands. It was one of many, the Colonel understood. One of many such locations. They would be shielded, protected, so that these monsters may not wake up ever again. Or that, if they did, they had plenty of Ragna-Melta bombs ready to throw down at the fuckers.
They'd lost too much. Two platoons' worth of battle tanks and their crews, one thousand two hundred sixty one Guardsmen, almost a thousand Gallians and well over a thousand East Imperial and Severan troops. He wouldn't weep for the lattermost of the lot, but still, they did their duty. They'd also lost Major Ryan and his staff of Darcsen volunteer Officers. His cap lay under his arm as he listened to the footsteps of the enemy General.
"Your Prince left." He stated with a mournful look.
"He has." The woman spoke, taking the Colonel's side. She seemed solemn, looking over what was now the tomb of almost three thousand souls, lacking uniforms and only unified by their blood that was shed here. She wielded neither the lance nor the shield, weapons she had left with her remaining escort of soldiers. Looking to the Colonel, she spoke "For all that it is worth to you, you and your men fought bravely. I hold honor in high regard... As do many of my fellow generals."
"I would ask if your prince does too, but not today. Today is a day of mourning... My thanks. For what it is worth to you." He replied, "You stood by our side..."
"Had we not, the world may well have died, wouldn't it?" She remarked, crossing her arms, "Petty squabbles solve nothing when faced with bigger threats. Especially something as vile as even the Legate's soldiery made these Necron seem."
Telos sighed, his heart sinking. He then remarked, "Yet tomorrow we shall return to killing each-other." and turned to look at the General, "Your people could easily surrender, leave themselves to our hand... After today, we may be merciful. We would be."
She snorted, "If even for a little, I would entertain that idea... But I'm afraid we both know that cannot happen. For us... Me, His Grace... And the Drei Stern... Gallia means proving ourselves to our Emperor, you may call him false. To us, he is our life... To His Grace, the man is his father, one he wishes to prove himself to. It is our conquest. Surrendering would be a violation of that. What of you? You lost too much for it to be any good to your forces... Why not lay down your arms?"
"Unlike your kin, we, Guardsmen, are here to protect... We are the Imperial Guard. The Gallians became our brothers and sisters because your own men opened fire on civilians and on us." He explained, "We cannot forgive that. Even with this little alliance here... We will hold the line, for them and for this world."
She sighed, "Lieutenant Gunther, correct? His home, Bruhl."
"Yes." He nodded.
"I've read the reports from there. Had those men executed myself." She replied, staring at the distant sun as it set behind the sandy mountains in the far east of the desert. The Colonel raised a brow and she said "Contrary to what you believe, we have a code of honor ourselves. One that I intend to follow in every fight. My misconceptions of your people and of the Gallians, however, were incredibly wrong... Tell me, again, Colonel... Why do you still Hold the Line?"
"The God-Emperor asks of us not more, nor less than to protect those of Mankind, be they under his light or not. He asks of us to stand in line and die fighting for these people, even if some may be arrayed against us..." He hummed, "Like you and your Army... It is what we do best... As General Sturnn, of the 412th, God-Emperor rest their souls, said... We Die Standing."
Selvaria sighed, shoulders sagging, "The next time we meet in battle, Colonel Telos..."
"Spare us no inch, For we will spare you none. Today, however, you and your force are free to leave." He smirked.
"Then... We shall cross blades again. When we meet, Die well, Colonel Telos." She nodded and gave a familiar salute of respect between soldiers, her right fist on the left of her chest and giving a half-smile. She'd been by this boy's side and by the side of his thousands-strong Army of allies and soldiers nary an hour ago, staving off nightmares. Tomorrow, he was right, they would go killing each-other. He saluted her back in the same manner and the woman departed, under watch of the Gallians, Cadians and Tallarn. Johann greeted her with a salute and the two boarded a Chimera bearing the Severan markings, before departing with a convoy.
... He stared up at the sky as it grew cloudy.
We Die Standing. He smiled, knowing major Ryan and his force was looking down upon them from Terra, by the Emperor's side.
They died like true, honor-bound Guardsmen.
... And the Darcsen Corps was already taking form in the boy's head. He turned to Isara and the Gallians, then made motions to leave.