WARHAMMER DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MASS EFFECT DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MY PET SQUIGGOTH AND THRESHER MAW ARE FIGHTING, GUYS. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME STOP THEM?
Something I noticed during reviews of the last chapter: Did no one realize that Shepard had just ordered a Warp jump through the Cicatrix Maledictum? That's kind of a big deal, not to mention suicidal, but Shepard's doing it anyway.
Let's see how well that goes.
Star-Bound
Chapter 7
Pathway
Shepard had been unable to get much information on the otherworldly dimension known as the Warp. Almost everything was heavily censored or outright impossible to access. All she could find out were some basic safety tips when entering the Warp. Unfortunately, those tips were either very basic, or just silly, and if Shepard hadn't had prior experience with the forces of Chaos, she might not have taken them seriously.
Some tips mentioned never looking into the Warp itself—which was why the Vehemence's blast shutters were lowered before entering the massive portal generated in front of her—or else madness would set in. Other tips suggested praying as hard as possible for the Emperor's protection from the Daemons that lived inside the Warp.
Despite the dangers, Warp-travel was the Imperium's fastest method of transportation—as long as something didn't go horribly wrong—and with the Mechanicus unable to comprehend the idea of creating something better, that was unlikely to change.
When Shepard had ordered the fleet to jump to Prospero through the Great Rift, there had been some panic among the lesser captains. Passing through such a Warp-anomaly was suicide, they argued; they had far more experience with this kind of travel than Shepard, and normally, she would have heeded their words. However, this wasn't a normal situation, and her instincts were telling her that this was the best course of action.
After explaining her vision—or perhaps conversation was the better word—Hadrian Rex had announced to the entire fleet that the Living Saint was being directly guided by the God-Emperor. That had silenced most of the protests rather quickly. Still, Shepard decided that she would have to show them all that she wasn't making a mistake, and had the Vehemence make the jump alone. If there was no sign of the battleship's destruction, the rest of the fleet would follow.
This all hinged on the Vehemence and her crew actually surviving the trip, and if Shepard was being honest with herself, she had no idea if they would.
Once again, she found herself trusting her instincts and returned to her quarters. When the doors were securely locked, she tapped into powers; while in the Warp, closer to her connection to the Emperor, she had access to even more energy, and in a place where thought became reality, she used that to protect her ship.
The ship's Navigator first thought that the Gellar field had collapsed. However, when the golden light surrounding the ship actually pushed back the forces of Chaos that tried to consume them, he knew it was something else. Later, he would go on to describe massive golden wings that materialized on the ship's flanks, and how every flap caused the Immaterium to recoil.
Without the Warp able to cause problems, the Vehemence arrived at the edge of the Prospero system after only a few days. While the crew praised the Emperor and their Living Saint for their good fortune, Shepard nearly collapsed.
"Son of… a bitch," she gasped out; even with her armor supporting her, she was trembling badly. "I didn't think that would suck so much."
Shepard gave herself another day to recover before heading to the bridge. As she walked, guarded by the Deltic Scorpions, she noticed passing crew stare at her with even more awe than before.
"Something happened, didn't it?" she asked Vils. "Beyond me keeping the ship safe, I mean."
As always, Vils was composed. "It's not my place to understand such matters, Your Holiness, but I'm sure the High Admiral will be able to explain it." His helmet was on, but Shepard swore he was smiling. "I think your legend is already growing, though."
Shepard sighed heavily. "Story of my life," she muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," Shepard grumbled. "Come on, let's pick up the pace."
The bridge was full of awed mutterings, but it had nothing to do with Shepard—at least, that's what it looked like to her. Dartan was sitting in front of the map of the galaxy, frowning thoughtfully in his chair; he nodded respectfully as soon as Shepard stepped into view.
"Your Holiness," he greeted. "It seems that you have performed another miracle."
Shepard glanced at the map, and noticed that a tech-adept had altered it slightly—there was now a thin line cutting from Vigilus, through the Cicatrix Maledictum, all the way to Prospero.
"Okay, what did I do?"
Dartan looked up at her with nothing short of amazement on his face. "We are maintaining contact with the rest of the fleet through the Great Rift. It would appear that your actions created a new pathway from one side of the galaxy to the other; it is small, but stable. The rest of the fleet will use this new corridor to reach us, and I will inform the necessary parties that we now have a new route to Vigilus."
It didn't take Shepard long to grasp how important this was. "You should probably wait a little longer before making that report, just in case this is temporary."
Dartan looked disappointed, but he reluctantly nodded. "Still, the ability to create even a temporary corridor for our fleet to travel between Imperium Sanctus and Imperium Nihilus is invaluable."
"Agreed." Shepard turned back to the map. "While we wait, can we get close enough to scan Prospero? We could get a better idea of what's waiting for us."
"It is… rather risky," Dartan admitted. "Without escort vessels, we are more vulnerable than I would like to admit."
"Whatever you think is best, High Admiral," Shepard said. "This is your ship, and I'm just a guest."
Eventually, Dartan decided to get close enough for extreme-range auspex scans. It wouldn't pick up anything too small, but large ships would certainly show up. Shepard was surprised to find out that there wasn't anything in orbit around Prospero.
"We wouldn't pick up anything smaller than a cruiser," Dartan said. "Not at this range, and especially if any foe is using comprehensive stealth systems. The Aeldari are one such example."
"All right, just keep me updated." Shepard bowed her head and turned to leave. "Getting us here took a lot out of me, and I'd like to recover more before we launch ground forces."
"As you wish, Your Holiness."
Shepard didn't let her uncertainty show on her face, but she had the same question on her mind as everyone else:
Why were they there?
…
Fortunately for the Shepard Crusade, the entire fleet managed to make it to Prospero without major incident. A few ships that had traveled too close to the edge of the new corridor had suffered minor damage that was already being repaired, a few headaches, and one rampaging psyker that was put down before he could kill anyone. Considering most Warp-related travels, that was miraculously boring.
By the time the fleet rejoined the Vehemence, Shepard had regained her strength, and was relaxing in the strategium when her war council arrived.
"A thousand blessings upon you, Saint Shepard," Hadrian said as he entered. "Truly, the God-Emperor has provided on this Crusade."
"I'm just glad I could help," Shepard said humbly. "Still, I'd like to keep Warp-jumps through the Rift to a minimum; doing that was exhausting, and I had to stay awake the entire trip to keep up that barrier."
"Of course, Your Holiness," Hadrian said with a bow. "The entire Crusade owes you the protection of their souls, regardless."
Shepard accepted the praise with a nod, then addressed the entire council, even if Xem-Beta only appeared as a hologram. "Have we learned anything new about Prospero?"
"Auspex scans still show no signs of enemy activity in the void," Xem-Beta reported. "However, we have detected unusual energy signatures on the surface. This energy registers as psychic, but it is… difficult to identify."
Shepard laced her fingers together in front of her lips. "For now, I'd like to keep our ground forces to a minimum. There's no point in landing everything we have if we're only going to be on the surface for a day."
Zandtus regarded her. "A heavy reconnaissance force, then?"
"Agreed. And I'll be leading it." Several people looked ready to protest, but Shepard fixed them with a look that had intimidated everything from common thugs to the most powerful of warlords. "I need to be on the ground. I don't know why, but I know that I need to be there."
"Then we will send forces to assist you," Blaise said firmly. "They will need to be mobile, but capable of defending themselves against heavy opposition. I can volunteer some of my Seraphim."
"And I will assign a force from my Tenth Company," Zandtus added. "You fought alongside some of them against the Patriarch on Vigilus."
"The Deltic Scorpions are yours to command," Vils said. "Take who you need, and they'll get the job done."
"I will deploy Skitarii forces to aid you." Xem-Beta didn't seem to care either way, but Shepard appreciated his support.
Helmin sighed dramatically. "Would that I had my own elite forces to assist you, Your Holiness. Sadly, while everyone else here wields scalpels and swords, I command a hammer. I fear I am of little use to you now."
"We can't always have a time to shine," Shepard said, but not unkindly. "Just make sure our forces are ready to deploy, just in case we need backup."
"As you command, Your Holiness."
"That goes for everyone else here who isn't coming with me… which I just realized is all of you, huh?" Shepard chuckled. "Well, I'll do my best to bring all of your people back alive."
"And they will do everything they can to ensure your safety," Hadrian said calmly, though there was a zealous glint in his eye. "I wish you the best of fortunes on the surface, Saint Shepard."
…
Shepard decided to add one more to her expedition; even if he didn't end up doing much, the look on Hiral's face as he was brought before Space Marines, Sororitas, Tempestus Scions, and the strange soldiers of the Mechanicus nearly made Shepard break into hysterics.
"Are y-you sure you want me to come with you, Y-Your Holiness?" Hiral asked nervously.
Shepard gave him a look. "You're the one who wanted to be on the front lines of this Crusade, kid."
Hiral swallowed. "Of c-course. Forgive me."
"Just get on the bird," Shepard said with a smirk as she joined one of the Scion squads' Valkyries.
Hiral looked uncomfortable as he sat down next to her, shifting nervously in his Militarum-green carapace armor and cradling his flamer. During his enhanced training, he had shown proficiency in a variety of weapons, but discovered a particular talent with the flamer. Though he no longer had a lasgun to attach it to, he still carried a knife on his hip, close to his extra tank of promethium.
"All right, we're here," Shepard called up to the pilot. "Get us down to the planet."
After a quick acknowledgement, the pilots of all of the landing craft took off. There was a shudder as they left the Vehemence, and there was noticeable tension inside the Valkyrie. Everyone was expecting some kind of trap—perhaps interceptors, or antiaircraft emplacements. However, their landing was completely uneventful; in fact, Shepard almost thought it was boring, but she quickly put a stop to that before she could tempt the universe.
The surface of Prospero was bleak, to say the least. Everywhere Shepard looked, she saw blasted desert, old craters, and dust kicked up by gusts of wind.
Hiral looked around and grimaced. "Is… is this it?"
"According to the scans, the ruins of the capital city are just up ahead." Shepard peered into the thick clouds of dust. "But, yeah, this place isn't much to look at."
"It is the ancient home of traitors," a Seraphim spat. "Reducing it to ruins is not enough; the entire planet should have been scorched in holy fire."
"I think it was," Shepard chided gently. During her recovery aboard the Vehemence, she had used her authority to bypass some of the censorship around information on Prospero, and though it wasn't much, it was better than nothing.
Apparently, one of the original Legiones Astartes, the Thousand Sons and their Primarch, Magnus the Red, had called Prospero their home. They were potent psykers, especially Magnus, but they had abused their power, and the Emperor had sent another Legion, the Space Wolves, to arrest them. Most of the world's surface had been destroyed from space, but when it reached the capital city of Tizca, it had turned into a fierce battle, and eventually, the entire planet was scorched of life. This had all happened almost eleven thousand years ago, but the planet was still off-limits to anyone who didn't have a very good reason to be there.
"Let's move out," Shepard ordered. "All gunships should remain at high altitude, but be ready to move in close if we need air support. Seraphim squads, fly ahead and see if anything is waiting for us between here and Tizca. Hawks, Skitarii, see if there's some good cover we can use on our approach; the rest of us will follow on foot for now."
The Seraphim took to the sky on their winged jump packs, their thrusters burning as they reached a high enough altitude. Shepard took a moment to admire the Sororitas as their jump packs cut out, and they fell gracefully back down, only stopped from fatally impacting the ground with a timely application of thrust. The fact that they could do that so well, while also carrying pistols in both hands, made it all the more impressive.
The Imperial forces could have taken their transports all the way to the ruins of Tizca, but it was agreed upon by all that it wouldn't be wise to rush into a place that could have all manner of enemies waiting for them. Instead, Shepard and all those who couldn't fly made the trek towards the ruins.
As she walked, Shepard wondered what Prospero looked like before it was scoured. According to the records she'd been able to view, it had always been a desert, but she imagined that the cities were built beautifully, if only to stand out against the sand. She still didn't know what Magnus the Red had done to warrant such a brutal attack, but he was listed among the traitors who had fought against the Emperor in the galaxy-spanning civil war known as the Horus Heresy.
Maybe I'll ask Revelation the next time I see him, she thought. I'll add it to the list of things I want to know.
…
The squad of Skitarii Rangers that had sought out the best approach for the others came back with good news and bad news. The good news was that not only had they, with coordination with the Seraphim, discovered the safest approach into Tizca, they had secured it for everyone else. The bad news was that, at first glance, the mission seemed to be a dud.
Calling Tizca ruins was a disservice to other ruins. Barely anything still stood more than a few meters tall, and if there had been anything left after the initial battle, it had been picked clean by scavengers long ago.
Despite this, everyone felt uneasy as they entered the city; it felt like eyes were watching them, judging their every movement and finding them unworthy.
"Be careful, everyone," Shepard said quietly. "This is a mass grave."
"There is not much to be careful around." Until now, this was the first thing that Lieutenant Artin had said since introducing himself on the Vehemence. He was big, even for a Primaris Marine, and carried himself like combat could occur at any moment, even when he was in friendly territory. He wore the lightweight Phobos-pattern power armor that Shepard had seen on Infiltrators and Reivers, and Artin wore the skull-helm of the latter, as well as the long knife and bolt pistol.
Unlike other Necropolis Hawks Shepard had met, Artin didn't seem to have a sense of humor, or want to throw in a cynical comment. Instead, he seemed hyper-focused on the mission at hand, to the point that he was almost surprised when Shepard had tried to talk to him when they'd been introduced.
The only ones who got along with Artin were his battle-brothers. There were two squads of them, including the same Infiltrator squad that Shepard had fought alongside on Vigilus. The other squad had the same armor, but instead of antennae on their backpacks, there was a rotating camera-like appendage. They also wore thin-slitted visors and masks that left the tops of their heads bare, carried a pair of knives each, and instead of a collection of three scopes on their bolters like the Infiltrators, there was a single rectangular scope. These were Incursors, a more close-range variant of Infiltrators.
"We're picking up movement nearby," the Incursor Sergeant reported, before Shepard could capitalize on Artin's sudden talkativeness. "It keeps disappearing and reappearing. It could be teleporting, or utilizing psyker abilities."
"Everyone hear that?" Shepard asked, and noticed that the two Seraphim squads collectively scowled at the idea of facing psychic enemies. "Okay, stay alert, and stay within sight of each other; this was a big city, and I don't want someone getting lost."
Shepard followed her own advice and kept a close eye on Hiral. The kid had been trained well, but this was his first real deployment in the Crusade, and she didn't want him running off in an attempt to prove himself.
Though the group represented some of the best seekers the Imperium had to offer, Tizca was frustratingly reluctant to give up any secrets. Then again, it had been over ten thousand years since the planet was razed, and anything obvious would have been destroyed or stolen since then.
"Let's head for the main pyramid," Shepard decided. "I doubt anything is still there, but it's at the center of the city, and it makes for a good landmark." She laughed softly. "And who knows? We might get lucky."
They carefully marched down the dusty street, wary of passing by any alley that could hide ambushers. It didn't take long for Shepard to put her helmet on and begin sharing information on a closed vox channel. Hiral wore an open-faced helmet, and thus was excluded; this meant that he was surprised and leaned closer to Shepard.
"Your Holiness, I think I saw—"
"Yeah, I know," Shepard whispered calmly. "Whatever it is, it's been following us for at least five minutes."
"Should we confront it?" Hiral asked, trying to keep quiet.
"Not yet." Shepard glanced at a Ranger, who shook his head. "We still don't know if that thing has friends. I don't want to spring a trap until we've got good cover."
Hiral nodded, but Shepard noticed that he kept his finger dangerously close to his flamer's trigger. She hoped that he didn't accidentally set anyone on fire, or himself, for that matter.
"Cover ahead," a Ranger reported. "Fifty-nine-point-three meters. Fallen stone columns, partially collapsed walls."
"Sounds good." Shepard's hand drifted towards Liberator. "On my mark, everyone runs for the cover. Seraphim, don't fly until we draw them out, just in case they've got snipers. Incursors, locate any targets hidden behind cover, keep them pinned for the Seraphim. Everyone else will lay down cover fire."
"The target is getting closer," Artin said gruffly.
"Wait… wait…" Shepard calculated how much further they had to go, and made her decision. "Move!"
Everyone burst into a sprint. Hiral stumbled when he was a few seconds away from a collapsed pillar, but an Infiltrator grabbed him by the collar of his armor and gently tossed him into cover. Shepard had barely vaulted behind a chunk of wall when the sound of gunfire ripped through the air, and bullets pinged against the cover.
"Targets in the buildings!" the Incursors' Sergeant shouted, and then raised his weapon. A moment later, a mass-reactive shot relieved an attacker of his head and much of his torso.
"That thing is in the open!" Hiral added.
Shepard spotted a twisting mass of tentacles and claws as it leaped from the roof of a building. "Light it up!"
One squad of Deltic Scorpions was focused on the attackers still taking cover in the ruined buildings, but the other shifted to the Chaos Spawn that was rapidly closing in on their position. Las-beams hissed as they punched into corrupted hide, but its momentum never slowed. When it was close enough, Hiral's flamer roared and bathed the Spawn in burning promethium. That caused it to shriek in pain and anger, and then it was a rampaging Spawn that was also on fire that reached their line.
Shepard didn't hesitate to call on her powers as she hefted Liberator in one hand. "Come on, you son of a bitch!"
As if responding to her challenge, the Spawn wheeled to face her. It hissed in pain at Shepard's anti-Chaos powers' proximity, but it didn't pause in its charge. Shepard stepped in to meet it; Liberator's hammer-side smashed into the head-sized eyeball at the center of its chest, causing it to burst in a shower of blood. Enhanced by the golden light that traveled from Shepard to her weapon, the front half of the Spawn was burned black, and it collapsed with a twitch.
Guided by the Incursors, and with their targets pinned down by the Skitarii and Scorpions, the Seraphim had no trouble rocketing up and laying waste to their would-be ambushers. After a few more minutes of battle, the last shots were fired.
"So," Shepard said casually, "any idea who just tried to kill us?"
"Mutants," a Seraphim spat as she kicked a body to ground level. "Abominations to be purged."
Shepard inspected the corpse. If it had ever been human, there was little evidence; it had back-bent legs, blue skin, and a bird-like head with curling horns. Shepard had fought the followers of Tzeentch before, back in the Empire, and recognized the mark on the creature's shoulder.
"They had to have known what they were getting into," Shepard remarked. "There were barely forty of them, and we're not exactly standard troopers."
"Perhaps a delaying attack?" Hiral suggested. "It was only for a few minutes, but maybe they just wanted our attention."
"I wouldn't be surprised," Shepard agreed. "But they should have attacked us sooner. They gave us time to get to cover; if they'd hit us while in the street, we might have taken casualties, and that would have slowed us down."
"Maybe they weren't expecting us."
"Maybe, but we've been here a while. They should have had a plan that involved more than small arms and that thing." Shepard jerked her thumb over at the dead Spawn and shook her head. "No, there's more going on here, we just don't know what."
…
Deep below the pyramid, a single figure showed signs of life, despite not being the only one in the room. A small hum from a talisman on his armor made him pause.
"Imperials," he growled, his double-toned voice coming out both soft and rough. "They've burned and pillaged this place so many times. You'd think they'd find something else to destroy." The talisman hummed again. "What were they thinking, attacking such a force? Fools."
Despite the urgency of his situation, he returned to the massive desk and sat down. With a wave of one power-armored hand, a tome with writhing letters flew into his grasp.
"The answer is here, I know it!" He rapidly flipped through the pages, but then tossed the book aside and grabbed another. "Ahriman, what were you hiding?"
…
"High Admiral, we have an incoming arrival at the Mandeville Point!"
Dartan leaned forward in his command throne. "Identify it! Is it Imperial?"
"Negative!" The auspex officer shook his head. "Multiple vessels arriving in-system, all registering as traitor!"
"Bring the fleet around in battle formation," Dartan ordered calmly. He had faced hundreds of battles in his long life, often with far worse odds—as he watched the enemy ships enter into range, he noted that there were only fifty vessels. He easily identified them as Astartes vessels, albeit of ancient design and twisted by the Warp. "Charge all lance batteries, I want to be able to fire as soon as the lead vessels come into range."
"Sir, their trajectories have been calculated," another officer said. "Their current course has them in our range in one hour, but only for six minutes. We'll be able to get off one lance volley, maybe two, and there aren't many ships in the fleet that have our range. We could alter our position to pursue, but it would leave the optimal landing area dangerously exposed."
Dartan had already suspected as much, but hearing it confirmed made him scowl. "Damn. Are they going anywhere near Saint Shepard's position?"
"They'll definitely be close enough to launch landing craft."
"Contact the Lord-Marshal and the rest of the war council," he ordered. "It looks like we'll be landing troops after all."
And that's where we'll be ending today! I know that this chapter was on the shorter side, but that's because I've been having a lot of things going on right now, and trying to stretch this out even longer would mean even more delays. About half of those things include needing my house fixed (because water damage sucks), but there is some good news. See, I've been working on something that I know many of you were waiting patiently for:
Alpha Sanction is now available in physical copies! That's right, my book can be ordered from Amazon in paperback form! Just visit Amazon, look up Alpha Sanction, and you can been one of the first to have my book actually in your hands, complete with that new-book smell! It's still available in eBook format, so that hasn't changed, if you're interested.
Now, to address the chapter itself. Shepard's ability to punch holes through the Great Rift may sound amazing, and it is, but those corridors are small, to the point that ships would have to Warp-travel in single file. Could Shepard remove the entire Rift by just traveling nonstop? In theory, yes. However, if you take the sheer enormity of space into account, this would probably take thousands of years, and just saying that Shepard was on a nonstop road trip would be boring. And yeah, Shepard is about to face the Thousand Sons, because who else would she fight on Prospero? Necrons?
Something else I want to talk about, and this is more for the tabletop game than the lore. Those Incursors I put in this chapter, and the Infiltrators from a couple chapters ago? Yeah, those exist now, I didn't make them up. They're part of the new Space Marine Codex, and let me tell you right now, that Codex is f***ing amazing. Does it make Space Marines OP? Not necessarily, but they are definitely in the top tier, and the small army of Primaris Marines that were given to me by friends and family suddenly became competitive by complete accident.
Also, the new Contrast paints that Games Workshop released make painting a breeze! For the first time in the decade-plus I've been into this game, I'm going to have a (small) painted army on the tabletop!
Also-also, because I feel bad for the short chapter, here's a thing.
Omake
New Codex Inbound
"Brother-Sergeant, the vile xenos are too well-entrenched!" The Intercessor bit back a curse as T'au plasma scorched the paint from his shoulder plate. "Our weapons cannot overcome their defenses!"
The sergeant barely dodged a shot that would have surely blown his head off. "We must fall back, brothers, or risk being overwhelmed."
"Wait!" Another Intercessor pointed up. "Something is coming down from the heavens! It's headed right for us!"
The rest of the squad followed their battle-brother's arm, and watched as a small, fiery object hurtled right towards their position. They tensed, ready to move away, but something deep in their souls told them to wait, and so they did. The object slowed as it descended, until it fell at the speed of a feather. The sergeant reached out and caught it as it came close; the flames dissipated as they touched his gauntlets, revealing a thin book. On its cover were Ultramarines, fighting against an unknown foe. At the bottom of the cover were words that filled the sergeant's hearts with anticipation, dread, and hope.
Codex: Space Marines
"Hey!" The sergeant poked his head out from cover, ignoring the shots that hissed past. "HEY! Stupid xenos! Stop firing for a second!"
The gunfire abruptly stopped, and a Fire Warrior stuck his own head above the heretical energy-wall he and his kind were using for cover.
"What do you want?"
The sergeant held the book out. "We're calling a time-out. We just got a new Codex, and we need to know if this battle is about to change."
As if his words had some magic power, the entire battlefield fell silent. Everyone knew what a new Codex meant.
"Okay, sure, we'll take a break." The Fire Warrior shrugged. "Doesn't matter, unless your entire army suddenly has a way to negate our cover advantage."
While the T'au reloaded and talked amongst themselves about how amazing their Greater Good was, the Space Marines gathered around to look at their new Codex.
"By the Throne," one muttered as he read.
"Did all that really get added?" another asked.
"Hey, did Reivers get dropped a point? We could fit them into an army, now!"
"What are these Incursors, and why are they so awesome?"
"In the Emperor's Name, did Eliminators get even better? And they have mini-lascannons!"
"Sweet Terra, they brought Chapter Tactics back! We can be unique!"
The comments continued on like this for some time, while the new Vanguard line of Primaris Marines began to materialize from the shadows. These new battle-brothers were welcomed with open arms, as were the new and improved rules to the entire lineup.
"Okay, aliens!" The Intercessor sergeant moved back to his previous spot. "We're ready, and it's our shooting phase!"
"About time!" The Fire Warrior grumbled, only to yelp when the Crisis Battlesuits next to him exploded. "What the hell was that!? He had cover, so his armor should have—"
"New rules, dumbass!" A Primaris Marine leaned out to give a one-fingered salute. "Eliminators got better, and we have our Devastator Doctrine up!"
"Devastator what-now?"
Across the battlefield, heavy weapons wielded by the Space Marines reaped a heavy toll as their additional AP stat nullified the T'au cover. Badly mauled by the more effective shooting, the T'au response couldn't stop the Space Marines' advance. By the next turn, the infantry was in range to really do some damage.
"At least their regular guns aren't scarier," the Fire Warrior muttered to himself, only for the bolter fusillade to completely punch through their cover. "Okay, what the hell was that!?"
"We switched to Tactical Doctrine!" the sergeant called out gleefully. "Now it's our Rapid Fire and Assault weapons that have an additional AP!"
"Oh, come on!" The Fire Warrior watched as dozens of his fellows were cut down. "Those bolt rifles were scary enough, now they're AP-minus-two!?"
The T'au fell back to their last defenses in a desperate bid to retreat, but the suddenly-cheaper Reivers were waiting for them with knives drawn.
"At least those knives aren't too scary," the Fire Warrior said, trying to calm himself.
"Think again," the nearest Reiver said as they began their charge. "We now get an additional attack when we charge, and we just activated Assault Doctrine. AP-minus-one knives, motherfucker!"
The T'au could only whimper as dozens of dice were rolled, and the aliens were slaughtered.
…
I realize that this was not completely accurate to what occurs on the tabletop, but I hope I conveyed the point. That point being 'Space Marines got good'.
Anyway, as I mentioned before, my book is now available in physical copies, so if you've been waiting for that, now's your chance! If you want to be even more awesome, please consider supporting me on P-atreon (link in my profile), like the following amazing people:
Serious Muffins: Serious Muffins: CrazySith87, jafr86, SpaceEmperorSpar, Nimrod009, CowardlyBravette, Anders Lyngbye, Krisjanis Jansons, Parker Maisterra, Matthias Matanovic, ChaosSpartan575, Alexis Troy, John Collins, Calleo, Casey Pak, The Big What If, MeddlingTiger
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Next Chapter: Prospero may be dead, but that doesn't mean her sons will not defend her…
All is Muffins…