Editing The Tales of the Emperasque: Part Sixteen (section)

==Not the Warp==

The Emperor tilted his head back and released a ravening beam of raw power into the black edifice before him, tearing the building asunder. The massive structure collapsed downward in a telescoping heap, crushing everyone inside in a heartbeat. “KEEP UP THE PRESSURE, MEN! WE’RE BLEEDING THEM OUT!” he instructed, firing lower, to crack a semi-hidden vault of Haemonculi open.

“My Emperor, all space assets have embarked and are engaged,” the Captain of the Scourge reported. “The ground units themselves, however, are encountering resistance. Substantial resistance.”

“THEN DIVERT ALL GROUND ASSETS TO THAT POINT AND REINFORCE AS BEST YOU CAN,” the Emperor said. “I DON’T THINK WE’LL NEED TO BE HERE MUCH LONGER.”

Far away, Vulkan swept the Spear laterally, cleaving a silent Incubus in half. With a flick, he tossed a flashbang into a nearby window and waited an instant. The grenade went off, and he ran in after it, hosing the room beyond with fire. After a few seconds of screaming, the room went quiet. Vulkan flicked a few bits of ash off of his armor and walked back out, glancing over the street. Columns of vehicles and troops were rumbling by, illuminating the skies overhead as they fired at the swarms of enemy fliers that swooped around, harassing the Imperial convoys.

Behind him, a Techmarine with markings he didn’t recognize was carrying a small machine with glyphs carved into its metal shell, and glancing from door to door as if looking for a place to put it down. The weird, twisted geometry of the Dark City meant that it was nigh-impossible to plot a straight line between two places for long, but the number of Imperial troops that had entered through the Webway tunnel meant that a small but solid foothold had been taken.

The air overhead turned white for an instant as a warship fired, and the sound of a hundred thousand pieces of glass shattering filled the air with sound. The Techmarine knelt in the corner of one room Vulkan had cleared, setting the machine down and tapping a small rune. As he stood, Vulkan smirked behind his helmet. So far, so good.
Outside, the Emperor sensed the approach of a wave of Dark Eldar ships from elsewhere in the Webway. “THAT’S OUR CUE, JAGHATAI,” he said.
“Understood, Father,” Jaghatai said, wiping gore off of his chainsword. “All Fast Attack units, withdraw to the transports!” he called over the vox.
The other ground units began their own retreat, falling back to the Webway Gate. The Emperor took a moment to unleash another blast at a seemingly-dormant Gate hanging in the air above the city, then glanced away as one of the warships disappeared into the Webway gate from which they had come.
Vulkan held the spear in a low guard, straining his ears for any sounds of Dark Eldar troops advancing on the Techmarine, but heard none. “Father, the package is delivered,” he said into his collar vox as the Techmarine rose, unlimbering a plasma pistol.
“EXCELLENT TIMING! RETREAT IMMEDIATELY, AND PLANT THE BOMB,” the Emperor said, watching as two more Minotaur ships vanished into the Webway.
“Aye,” Vulkan said, already underway.
At the gate they had used to launch their invasion, a small group of combat Enginseers were fiddling with a large black block of plastic, gingerly feeding wires into it and propping incense sticks against its sides. “We’ll be ready in under four minutes,” one of them said over his shoulder.
Cain, who had elected to serve in his Commissarial role by ensuring the prize team had personal oversight at the Gate complex, nodded with relief he hid well. “My Lord, the bomb will be ready by the time you get back,” he said.

“I should hope so,” Vulkan said, ducking a splinter burst. He drew his bolt pistol and drilled four shots into the torso of the Trueborn sniper crouched in the ruins of a building behind him, blasting him apart at the seams. “Prepare to extract as soon as the timer is set.”
“By your will, Lord, it will be done,” Cain said. His eyes narrowed as a small cloud of black dots emerged from the far distance, silhouetted against the dead star beyond. “Lord, be advised that several Dark Eldar ships are approaching your position, attacking from the sun…probably to blind you,” he said.
“I know, Commissar, and my order stands. Prepare for exfil, now,” Vulkan said, gesturing to the Techmarine to rejoin the rest of his retreating squad.
“Consider it done,” Cain said, cutting the link.
One of the Enginseers lurched sideways and nearly exploded as a blast from a Dark Eldar plasma gun slammed into his flank. In an instant, Cain and the other Enginseers took cover, as an autocannon on a tripod next to the Gate shredded the shooter. “Enemy squad approaching this close…probably means they’re trying to cut off the Primarch,” Jurgen commented as he handed Cain his hat back.
Cain dusted it off and planted it on his head as the sound of approaching vehicles grew louder. “Probably,” he agreed, loosening the strap on his laspistol.
“Will you be going to join him, then, Commissar?” one of the Enginseers asked.
Cain hesitated, cursing his reputation for the hundredth time. “I don’t see the need, Enginseer,” he said carefully. “A Lord Primarch would only be slowed down by a mere mortal such as myself,” he added, all modesty.

All the ships but the Scourge had vanished by now. The Emperor watched as the massive Barge lined up for extraction, surrounded by the returning transports and escort fighters. “SCOURGE, THANKS FOR THE COVER. WITHDRAW AS SOON AS YOU’RE READY,” the Emperor said.
The far-distant warship’s Captain heard the Emperor’s words over his vox and nodded, thrilled. “An honor, your Highness. We’re withdrawing as soon as Lord Primarch Khan is aboard,” he replied.
An arcing line of burning white light erupted from the tip of one of the ship’s starboard lances, coring a small raider that had just emerged from another Gate. The air was getting thick again, this time with Dark Eldar vessels.

The Emperor watched as the Scourge vanished into the Webway with a shimmering wave of black energy. “TIME TO GO, VULKAN, GET YOUR TEAM OUT,” he said.
His father’s warning echoing in his mind, Vulkan picked up the pace, running for the Gate as streams of Imperial troops poured back through it. The Dark Eldar were pursuing them, now, enraged at the Mon-keigh who had dared to strike their home. Even as Vulkan tore through the ruins of a collapsed mansion, his boots caked in dust and gore, a group of Mandrakes appeared from nowhere, their poisoned blades jutting out from their ragged forms, half in and half out of reality.
Vulkan dropped to one knee in his armor as the Mandrakes slid closer over the ruins of the structure’s façade, unleashing sound and flame from his wrists. The Mandrakes scattered as the magnitude of the threat became clear, and Vulkan was on his feet in an instant, running as fast as his legs could take him.
The last of the Predators withdrew through the Gate as the Enginseers finished their job. “Clear! Bomb is armed!” one announced.

Cain felt a weight lift from his shoulders at the news. “Then withdraw immediately,” he said.
Vulkan appeared at the edge of the stream of retreating humans, half of whom were in cover providing fire to protect the other half, who were getting through the Gate as fast as they could. The entrenched troops withdrew in small groups, their formations hardening under the Primarch’s gaze, but the area’s security was broken. Dark Eldar were streaming in, now, clustering around the shrinking Imperial cordon to harvest pain and souls.

Cain felt a barbed trident soar past him to lodge in the ground behind, and he dropped into a crouch to stabilize his aim as he fired a retaliatory shot. The lasbolt struck the shrieking xeno in the arm and sent it scurrying back, even as the last ground vehicle drove through
.
Vulkan skidded to a halt next to the Gate’s far side, gesturing for the remaining Imperials to withdraw. The ships Cain had spotted were approaching fast, their slender, almost insectoid prows glimmering with unlight from charged weapons.

“Through!” Vulkan barked, as the last of the security teams abandoned cover and charged through the Gate. Cain and the Enginseers abandoned their positions and charged for the wafer-thin sheet of energy that separated the Webway from reality, as He’Stan dropped down from his vantage in the crumbling tower overhead to join his master.

“Lord, the last of the field units is gone,” He’stan reported.

“Good. Follow,” Vulkan said, turning on his heel and charging away from the Gate.

He’Stan rose to his feet and trailed after the Primarch as the Emperor appeared behind the crumbling tower in a rush of purple mist. “PILGRIM, VULKAN, IS THE BOMB READY?” he asked.

“It is,” Vulkan confirmed, as the Dark Eldar tide broke over the Gate. The automatic weapons on their tripods were keeping the aliens back for now, but it would be just seconds before they fell under the sheer volume of enemy fire.

“THEN WE LEAVE THE VERMIN TO THEIR FATES,” the Emperor said, and all three Imperials vanished in another rush of air.

Behind them, the bomb detonated, seven hundred kilograms of enriched plastic explosives going off like a thunderclap. The Gate was destroyed in an instant, vanishing in the shockwave, and its rubble disappeared under the collapsing structure overhead. Air units were propelled from the blast, shattered like glass.

''Concluded in [[The Tales of the Emperasque: Part Seventeen]]''.

[[Category:The Tales of the Emperasque]]