Aboard the Scythe class Harvester ship, all was silent as was natural for a necron crew. Words were unneeded for those that could send messages via their hardware installed over 60 million years before. Aboard the silent warship, it's crews go about their duty, scarabs fix minor damages throughout the ship from travel, and the bridge crew make sure they don't run into a warp rift or the like.
All was quiet. Until it wasn't, for a ping on the psy-scanning array was picked up. Larger then anything they had seen this journey. And for better or worse, it was close enough for it to matter.
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3.7509 years from departure.
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Lord Amonoket awoke from his rest ('God I wish I could sleep') to a call from the bridge. And that ment they were on their way into the designated sector of the void, or there was a psykic blip large and close enough to make the crew awaken him.
'sigh It better not be something daft like a space hulk or a warp rift to one of the false god's domains. That would be shit.' He thought as he got up and went to the bridge via transportation. When he arived, he asked his question with no preamble.
"What and where." He asked. He honestly didn't want to be up at the moment. While resting, he found while he couldn't dream, he could replay movies. So he was watching a few series while eating imaginary popcorn. Good stuff.
"My lord, only 7 star systems away we have detected what appears to be a warp rift. What is odd is that we heard something from the arrays while the rift active. Here is a replay before we reset the array itself."
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH"
Amonoket stayed still for a moment and just knew it was going to be a shit show. With an internal sigh, he gave the orders. "Well, I suppose I crave a distraction. Head to the system in question immediately. Prepare the soldiers and the like. I've a feeling about this..." He stated.
Sometimes, it was good being a lord. Random excuses can indeed equal logical orders it seems.
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13 days later
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As the necron force entered the outer system, the cryptek bridge crew finally got a clear reading of the planets, star, and everything in between. What they found was what he expected.
"My lord, a mass of rock, destroyed ship's, primitive weapons, and engines is above one planet. They are dropping crude drop ships apon the planet, and the primary ship is leaking atmosphere in 97 separate places. It is my conclusion, that these are orks Lord." The lead voidmancer stated.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"In addition, it appears that the world is home to a primitive version of the aeldari. For what reason their primary technology base is gone? Unknown. Likely some belief or what not." The voidmancer stated with a hint of contempt.
'So, that sounds like exodites. Exodites are getting invaded by orks on a space hulk. I must say, this is unexpectedly expected. Almost textbook.' He thought. 'Well, a main eldar fleet should arive because that tends to be what they do.'
"We wait in the outer system. Make sure we can not be spotted from inbound, outbound, etc. We wait, and watch. If in 20 days the orks haven't left, we go planet side. If we see the orks leave, we go to the planet immediately." He ordered.
"Note this. When we go planetside, we will not assault aeldari settlements or the like. Note them down on the planetary map, but leave them unless I order otherwise. We go ork hunting." He stated.
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19.5997 days later
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Lord Amonoket stayed in the bridge while he waited, sitting in his seat. Just as he was waiting to give the order to advance in system to destroy the hulk, he saw a rift open. Then slowly, the hulk began to move the rift. Slowly, ever so slowly. Then, 30 minutes later, it was through, and the rift began to close.
"Begin moving to the planet. Destroy any and all of those primitive space craft spotted. They disgust me. Prepare the troops. I wish to hunt by weeks end." He stated, then walked off the bridge, his guards following. He went to the assault craft bay to board a Night Scythe. While he could teleport to the world, he wanted the long way.
Turning to the lychguard behind him he stated “There will be four units of immortals, each one 150in number. All four will have 2 ghost arks, 10 tomb blades, 2 doom scythes, 10 spyders and their accompanying locust swarms. Night scythes will be deployed for rapid unit transition. Use the reserve force only if necessary. If fighting is heavy, retreat to ghost arks for defense until reinforcements arrive. Otherwise, 1 lychguard per unit to act as commander in my stead.” He ordered.
They lychguard, as usual, complied but politely insisted that the remaining six follow him to do their duty. He agreed due to the fact that he wasn’t completely daft. In truth, if anyone placed bets on the outcome of this little expedition, he would have placed all of his money on something going wrong in the first hour.
When they finally arrived in orbit after shooting what felt like hundreds of sitting ducks, the final destination was chosen. A burned and sacked township in the forest. From there, units would spread out across a 100 mile radius from the towns center. He would hunt in the town for valuables, while the troops would scour the woods.
Before they left, he got a call from the bridge. “My lord, it seems that the aeldari world has lost its infinity circuit. It just happened my lord. From what we see, there is naught but ash and fire. Purple fire to be specific.” A cryptek stated.
Amonoket wanted to grimace. That was piss poor luck for the eldar down below. Now, the whore god would likely damn this world, and he wanted nothing to do with that in any way, shape, or form. On the matter of soul sucking gods, he asked a question. “Are there any unused soul stones aboard any of the three ships cryptek?” He waited and 3 seconds later, he got a response.
“It seems so my lord. There are two aboard the Reaper. This is due to th-“ the cryptek began, but Amonoket didn’t care. While he was not the best of people by any stretch of the imagination, getting your soul consumed was a damn poor way to go. He should know, for though he barely remembered, he recalled the agony of the bio-transference.
”Send them to me immediately. Then, we will depart. If the planet looks to be destabilizing due to anything, tell me immediately and I will re-evaluate. If not, feel free to shoot at clusters of orks large enough to pose a moderate threat with the ships batteries. Make sure to not fire in the 100 mile zone where the infantry and air units are.” He ordered.
Soon enough, they were ready to depart for ground side. He could only hope to find some eldar alive. ‘How counter intuitive. At the same time, I hate and putty them. Human and Necron instincts… How odd.’ He thought. ‘But… Dying that way is no way to go. I wish you luck, poor damned fools. I wish you luck.’
As they lifted off, he imagined what he would find. Hell, or worse…