35 Chapter 5 Part 1

Chapter 5: The Battle of Victory Bay

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Part 1

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The battle of Victory Bay saw two unconventional, some say heretical, alliances come into play. First to form was the one clearly disfavoured by Him on Holly Terra – the treacherous and despicable Eldar made common cause with the subversive and opportunistic Tau. Against them stood an amalgamation of the Emperor's own Astartes, the valiant Imperial Guard led by General-Militant Lucas Alexander, surviving PDF regiments and various Adeptus Mechanicus assets, who received aid from an unexpected corner – a xeno species that had called Kronus its home for countless centuries and slumbered for eons below the surface.

I'm speaking about no other but the enigmatic and dangerous Necrons, who were little more than rumours to the Imperium at large during those days. The details around the formation of the tenuous alliance remain obscured to this day, however one thing is clear – it formed shortly after the Tau and Eldar struck their own compact, perhaps as a direct answer to the changed strategic situation on the surface.

While there was no doubt in the valour, faith and discipline of the Imperial defenders, there simply weren't enough of them to fight and win against five different armies, especially when they were cut off from the Imperium at large and thus a source of reinforcements and resupply. The Imperial Guard and Space Marines already met an Ork horde in open combat and vanquished it, suffering moderate casualties in the process, only for the despicable Tau to strike at their weakened lines in the Guard's moment of triumph. While that treacherous attack was repulsed with heavy Xeno casualties, it served as a stark reminder that the war for Kronus was far from over and in fact it would only grow harder from then on. This led the Imperial defenders to craft even more extensive defensive positions in and around Victory Bay and its surrounding areas. When the Xeno assault came, it smashed straight into the Imperial defenses…

A Century of War: Biography of General-Militant Lucas Alexander

Tenth Edition, published 995M40, Cadia

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Victory Bay

Kronus

How a species so crude and primitive like the Mon-Keigh managed to claw its way to be the currently dominant one in the galaxy, Farseer Taldeer would never know. Those beasts were not only foolish, and ugly, they were blind and deaf as well. While in this instance those traits worked to her benefit, she couldn't get over the fact that these things were an actual credible threat to the Eldar as a whole! That simply undderscored how far her people had fallen and how important it was that they retake their rightful place as the undisputed rulers of the galaxy!

Through sorcery, high technology and naturally superior skill, the Eldar under Taldeer's command managed to slip multiple strike teams through the crude and porous Mon-Keigh defensive lines. The worshipers of the corpse-god had dug in deep, deep enough that a headlong charge in their guns would have been folly even for superior Eldar warriors. However, that was really of no consequence! Why face them head on, when slipping behind their backs and slamming a poisoned blade in their heart was trivial, especially when the Tau were around to act as a distraction?

The only unanticipated development so far was the presence of cloaked Yungir drones, which weren't up to the task of properly evading the Eldar's senses. It was obvious that the old enemy would be keeping a close eye on the slaughter upon to unfold and alter its tactics accordingly. Ideally, Taldeer would have struck at the Necrons earlier, however with Chaos presence on the planet in increasing strength, the crippled soulless machines had to wait before falling under the blades of the Eldar.

A litany of psychic messages bombarded the Farseer. Stealth specialists were in place or ready to teleport in and strike, with other forces that were less adept at sneaking around keeping to ground before charging at the sound of the guns. Rangers had picked up enemy officers to assassinate, Warp Spiders were ready to deploy and shred infantry, so they could clear the way for other Aspect Warriors to butcher the Mon-Keigh artillery. Tanks, weapon platforms and air assets attached as escorts waited to dash in just beyond detection range from the human defenses and they would do so the moment the Tau offered themselves as distraction.

Taldeer herself led a party of Banshees and various hand-picked warriors through what passed for human architecture, relying on her own gifts and those of her comrades to keep them out of sight as they advanced towards the Mon-Keigh command center. She would see to it herself that Lucas Alexander would never again attempt to meddle into the affairs of his betters!

It was as she foresaw it – the Tau took longer than originally anticipated to muster for this all out assault, which honestly was to be expected. No one in the whole galaxy could move with the speed and grace of the Eldar, which was one of her people's defining traits. They were without a peer not only at small tactical scale but army wide as well, something unfortunately Taldeer lacked the assets to properly demonstrate on Kronus, otherwise she wouldn't have needed to use such blunt instruments like Orks and Tau.

Primitive railguns cracked in the distance, followed by missiles, both Eldar and Tau alike. Just like in her visions, those weapons bathed the Mon-Keigh in cleansing flames, removing the stain of their existence from the face of this world. Armoured spearheads converged on previously identified weak points in the Imperial defenses and it all happened just in time – Taldeer turned around the corner of a particularly ugly Mon-Keigh dwelling and laid her eyes upon the enemy command center.

"Strike them down!" The Farseer sang, her psychically enchanted voice carrying all over Victory Bay.

At that point, reality decided it was time to do its own thing and go off the rails set up by Taldeer's visions. Squads of Necron warriors materialized all over the region among localized lighting storms. Larger units tore their way from the ground or drove through buildings where they were concealed. Despite the danger of the Warp Storm pressing upon Kronus, Astartes Terminators teleported from their ships in orbit, while others came from the sky riding rocket-packs.

Taldeer herself had no time to rage at the impossibility of the Yungir allying with anyone, much less the humans, when the truth stared her in the face. Two of the Mon-Keigh dreadnoughts walked through the walls of the command center, while a Necron Lord strode through the entrance and levered its staff in her direction.

There would be time for recriminations and trying to figure out how her visions misled her so badly later. Now it was time to fight and kill. They were Eldar, no one could stand against them!

"You think you have us trapped?!" Taldeer sneered. "Think again!" With those words, she unleashed her psychic might upon the Yungir leader and the Mon-Keigh in his vicinity. The Eldar warriors wasted no time and scattered, slamming into their would be ambushers with predictably bloody results.

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Eldar were never to be underestimated, that was one of the first thing they taught us in the Schola. We had them where we wanted them – spread thin, at a time and place of our own choosing. We had the numbers, we had the firepower and we had the element of surprise even if none of the sneaky bastards was obliging enough to walk into the kill-zone when the assault began. It didn't help that the two Astartes dreadnoughts painstakingly smuggled into the command center jumped the gun before we could open fire. That short delay proved fatal for all too many Guardsmen. In a blink of an eye, the Eldar scattered, some teleporting, others moving so fast they were hard to follow blur. The Banshees unleashed their screams and even with ear-protections, the psychic component clawed at everyone's minds.

"Fire! For the Emperor! Kill the Eldar!" I screamed at the top of my lungs while calling on the powers of the Warp to enhance my body.

The Space Marines were first to recover and open fire, followed by Karskins and veteran guardsmen. Devastator squads laid down murderous suppressive fire while Tactical Marines focused their fire upon the nimble enemy to bring them down faster.

A Warp Spider materialized upon a gargoyle learning at the street below us, aiming two pistols my way. Before it could shred me, Anteas blasted it away along with the ugly statue with a concentrated stream of Warp-delivered lighting.

"The Emperor Protects!" The Librarian roared, hefting his thunder-hammer.

It was pure bloody madness from then on.