A dark fate

Kha'esh looked upon the system with hunger. So many different foes, so many different tastes of pain awaited them, laid out like a platter before him. He could hardly contain his excitement at the prospect. The pulsing mechanicum planet in the center was of no import or nuisance to him, having far transcended such technology even in something taken for granted as his blast pistol by his side. Each foe had settled on their own planet, surrounding the mechanicum world that was according to vox chatter being nicknamed "The Maw", and each was warring with other factions whilst trying to gain a foothold on The Maw below for its bounty of technology. Kha'esh thought he had been alone among the eldar race until a communication breached through his ships comms systems and revealed that his cousin were here too. It was no matter, he opperated outside of both kin as evident by his rather unusual kabal, containing elements of both species of the eldar. He even had the audacity and courage to keep a dreaded psyker in his midst, and kept her as his courtesan and most trusted adviser. It was because of her that he had been kicked out of Commoragh but he had set up in his own sub dimension and as of yet had remained undetected. He had fled with his kabal and a few loyal rebels including a hellion cult and a ingenious, albeit insane, haemonculus. Kha'esh snapped his attention back to the monitors as he felt the chill over his mind when Abeya walked on to the bridge.
"What is our target then?" her voice slipped into his head without her even moving her lips.
He gave a slight shiver, as he always did when his mind was invaded like that. Love her or not, and as often as she did it, it always felt unpleasant.
"I think them" Kha'esh said, pointing on his display to a large fortified area patrolled by blue-grey enhanced mon-keigh.
"Them it is" Abeya spoke softly. "Do we try out our new tactics?"
"I think we can have some fun, yes"


Krom stood there, unmoving as a statue. His detachment had been sent to guard the entrance to a great ravine where the space wolves lay encamped. It was a menial job, one of eight packs that lay around the central reserve, where an abandoned dark angel fortress had been occupied by Bjorn and the rest of the wolves. The moon was full, an omen of good luck for the wolves. He knew no attack would come to them this early, each was still reeling from the onslaught of the renegade mechanicum, but it still paid to be vigilant.
"Krom!" came through his vox, followed by a blurt of static.
He stiffened, suddenly aleart, his enhanced senses searching the surroundings, but to no avail.
"This is Krom, what is happening?"
His reply was met with stuttered vox splutter for a few minutes until one line finally made it through.
"The Terra Templars! They are attacking us!"
Krom was aghast, brothers attacking him again? Why would they do something like that? A tinge of fear that all brothers felt when heresy was mentioned caused bile to rise in his mouth. He barely had time to register the thought of heresy when something caught his eye, or rather, the absence did. There was no moon, it had disappeared, and it was cloudless. He scanned the skies, searching for a sign, but there was none, it had simply vanished. His acute eyesight scanned the skies above until he noticed that the stars were still out, but a now distinct circle was the cause of an absence of all light. He stared deeper, and he could swear he saw slight flickers in the dark, like the glint of dark steel. The next thing he knew, an explosion detonated in the heart of the encampment. He had seen no shot, heard no sound but the purple fire erupted from the ground. Krom turned just in time to see a group of bloodclaws get peppered by thousands of sharps of virulent poison shards. They clawed at their suits desperately trying to escape as they inflated inside there suits to the point of bursting before dying an agonizing death, their own armour their tombs. A pair of sleek black hulls descended from above, one smaller than the other, but each spraying death. Some astartes died on the spot, the virulent toxins overworking even their advanced systems as they fell to the ground, some fell to the ground clawing at their skin until there was nothing left and some simply collapsed, foaming at the mouth and unable to move as every vital system shut down. They were the lucky ones. Great nets scooped up victims and were hung from below the sleek hulled craft, ready to carry his brothers to whatever hell hole they came from.
Krom found himself pinned down in a narrow crevice between a few rocks along with a group of grey hunters. The rest of the encampment had regained their composure from the attack and were fighting back, forcing the dark eldar to retreat in their ships to a safer distance whilst still taking shots from above. The astartes regrouped and calculated the losses. The initial group guarding the camp numbered a full 51 astartes. Mostly comprised of three full units of blood claws and two full units of grey hunters alongside krom. Now, few more than twenty were still standing. They scanned the heavens above for signs of their foe, but the next wave came from nowhere. Their was a distinct sound of laughter and howling and the brief shriek of jets before they arrived. A hail of shards assailed them from every direction in a crossfire, instantly felling four astartes, followed by the ravening madmen themselves, shouting out the names of limbs as they swept by with razor sharp hooks, maiming and decapitating as they went. In the midst of the madness, Krom stood strong and with lethal precision shot a pair of the dark eldar from the sky in rapid succession. The astartes took point and with concentrated fire finally drove them off, but the astartes were beginning to run low. Only thirteen were left, and the dark eldar weren't done. A bestial roar echoed around them and suddenly they were beset by hulking monstrosities of flesh and metal. They charged in a frenzied state, ignoring the peppering of explosions on their bodies as they threw themselves at the remaining astartes. Krom launched himself at the nearest and with a swipe of his axe took off its arm. The beast roared and lunged for his head, narrowly missing it. He ducked below the creatures swing and buried his axe hard into the creatures side, but if the creature felt anything it was only more rage. It lashed out again, this time making contact with Krom, sending him flailing through the sky before crashing down a short distance later. He felt splintered ribs and a cracked pauldron but he had no time to examine his wounds as the beast was thundering towards him. He dragged himself to his feet and raised his pistol, firing rapidly at the creatures faceplate. A shot hit home and its head violently snapped upright as it missed its stride and came crashing down in a mess of muscle. Quickly, Krom retrieved his axe from the creatures side and in a fell swoop decapitated it. He looked around expecting the usual cheering of his men, to find only two remained, standing among a pile of dead astartes and a trio of lifeless abominations. His muscles burned, and his hatred flared in his mind. First heresy, now this slaughter. He wanted more, to take the fight to the beings responsible for either atrocity. And all of a sudden, that gift was granted to him. From above, a trio of shapes descended. Great metal constructs with great claws and tentacles hummed as they slowly fell to the ground. A single lithe figure dropped down from one and stood facing Krom. With barely a thought he drew a pistol and in quick succession killed the remaining two astartes. Kroms hatred reached boiling point at the utterly casual killing of his final brothers.
"Ah, mon-keigh. You have fought well... very well in fact. You will make a great addition to our haemonculus labs, I think you will find yourself very much at home there".
None of it made any sense to Krom, but the mocking tone in the xenos filths voice tipped him over the edge. With a bestial roar he ran at the alien, swinging his great axe with two hands in a death blow. But the strike never hit. The alien simply stepped to the side and with a simple motion drew his own slender blade and plunged it deep into Kroms back, shattering his spine. He fell to the ground, paralyzed, as the alien loomed over him.
"Such a shame... I had hoped you would be more. Oh well, maybe once he is done with you, you may be of some use".
And with that, Krom drifted into unconsciousness.


"Did the mon-keigh believe the false recordings?"
"Yes my lord, the mon-keigh will be at war with their brothers in no time"
"Good, all is according to plan".