The Army of Death

"Several months have passed since Claymores helped Black Templars and Imperial Guard at Gracia Prime. Now, as they received the full authority from Imperial Inquisition and freedom to go wherever they want until summoned by Lord Inquisitor Nero the Claymores were checking on corrupt Governors and workers of Administratinum. But now, they are about to receive a distress call that will probably introduce them with one of the biggest terrors in known universe…"

It is quiet in the mess hall, normally the mess hall on Retribution Class Battleship would be filled with hundreds of soldiers, workers, engineers and officers. But now only three persons were in it, and they were not eating at all. In a hall with more than a dozen tables and hundreds of chairs three Claymores were sitting, two were talking and one was cleaning her sword. The two who talk to one another are Cynthia and Uma, they are discussing about their newest result on weapon's range. It was decided after their assignment on Gracia Prime that Claymores will take advanced course in range weapons because with their new duties comes new enemies, an enemy that prefer mostly ranged than melee combat. Enemy that will be perhaps quite dangerous in close combat or to well aware for Claymores to get close enough and finish him. By now Claymores have learned to shoot quite well, Lieutenant Victor taught them every trick in the book when it comes too ranged combat. The Claymores didn't stop at bolter, they were also trained to use heavy weapons like missile launchers or lascannons or close combat weapons like shotguns or melta guns.

They also undertook trainings with Imperial melee weapons like chainsword and power sword. And now after few months they have trained to use most of Imperial weapons that were available to them, and their chances for survival have risen up. While Cynthia and Uma were discussing their latest results few chairs from them, at the edge of the table, was Clare. She is cleaning her sword in silence. Even after all this time she spent in space Clare was still thinking about home, about her revenge and about the little boy she left out there. Deep inside her she knew that she must do everything she can to survive while they are on this 'crusade of the righteous' and return one day to Rabona to ease the burden on her soul and continue her quest. Unknown to all three of them the fourth figure entered the room, he get close to them and asks: "May I sit here sisters?" and point to one of the chairs that was between Cynthia, Uma and Clare. All three of them raise their heads and smiled as it was Lieutenant Victor that was asking them to sit down.

"Of course Lieutenant." Cynthia raises her hand to give Victor a sing to sit down. "Thank you sister Cynthia." Victor thanked her and sits down. "So what brings you here Lieutenant? You are quite in a mood today." Clare asks him, Victor turns toward Clare and answers: "You are right sister Clare, I am in a good mood. Because after all this time we are finally going on a real mission or so I heard from Captain Miria"

"Real mission?" Uma asks him with confusion in her eyes, Victor turns toward her and answers: "Yes sister Uma, a real mission. Not some checkout of Imperial Governors or inspection of Imperial Guard outposts, but a real mission with real enemies."

"Always a man of action, eh Lieutenant?" Clare asked Victor while faintly smiling. "Of course sister Clare, after all we are Inquisitorial Stormtroopers. It is our duty to fight and destroy the enemies of the Emperor, not to do desk jobs and watch over some forsaken base. Anyway, you can details about the mission tomorrow on the main bridge. Sister Miria said to me that we have at least half of day before we get to our next objective and that we should rest for now." Clare put her sword away and get more serious while asking: "So no details yet, do we at least know who our enemies are?"

"Sister Miria said nothing else to me, all I know is that we are heading to some off shot colony that lies at the edge of the Imperial territory." Clare asked again: "Why are you so sure that we will have to fight against someone when the only thing we know is that we are heading toward some unknown border world?" Victor replies: "Because I could tell that by Sister Miria's reaction to reading the data, obliviously she is worried about something. That gave me some clue that we are probably going to face something difficult." Victor answered Clare in official manner. "She was worried?" Clare asked in confusion.

"I was able to notice that much, but don't worry sister. I am sure that whatever we face on that planet we will be able to eventually resolve the matter." Victor turned toward Uma and Cynthia now "Speaking of witch how does your target practice going?" Uma answers: "Very good for now, our instructors are amazed at our accuracy. They said that they didn't expect such results from primitive people." Clare adds: "But to tell you the truth Victor it's all because our 'unique abilities'."

"Don't tell me that you are using that thing called 'Yoki'? You agreed to never use it again." Victor was little annoyed, but Cynthia added: "It's not the same thing as using our powers Victor. Once we became Claymores our yoki is ever present with us, the difference is only in usage. We can use it quite a lot without ever releasing it for simple things like sensing other creatures, speed, agility in combat, regeneration, precision and so on. To simplify it it's like using our 'sixth sense', nothing out of the ordinary except when we want to use some special power that requires a lot of it." And after Cynthia explained to Victor he calmed a bit as he finally understands what they were trying to say. He smiled a little and adds: "You girls never fail to surprise me. Too bad we didn't recruit you sooner." Clare answers to this:

"You do now that we will eventually return to our world, we have many scores to settle with our Organization." And then she took her sword again can continue to clean it. "I know that Clare, and when the time comes you can count on me and my man to assist you."

"You would go with us on our world and help us defeat the Organization?" Uma asks. "Of course, we would be dead on Dantius if you haven't saved us. We owe you a favor for that and that is one favor I intend to repay." Cynthia added to this: "I really doubt that Miria or anyone of us will allow you to do that, you have your own tasks to do. But don't worry about that, I am sure you will eventually return it before we go back home." Victor didn't answer that, he just took a swing from his mug and returned to Clare: "May I ask you something sister Clare?" Care answered without even looking at the Lieutenant: "You may Victor and please stop calling us "sisters", we are close friends now so you can call us by our names."

"Please excuse me, it's a habit for being decades in Imperial service. I wanted to ask you about Ilena, how is she?" Clare is now interested in what Victor want's to ask her regarding Ilena so once again she put her sword to side and look Victor in his eyes: "Last time I checked she was fine, why you ask?"

-"I just noticed that from the last few weeks she is spending a lot of time in Dragan's personal quarters, reading his books." Uma asks: "Why is that so strange, it seems that Ilena loves to read. There is nothing strange about that."
-"I know that, it must be simply her wish to learn as much as she can about this new world that she was introduced in. But I am sure there is more to it than simple reading."

"Even if there is something other than reading that doesn't concern you Victor, and that goes for the rest of us. If Ilena is doing something else and wants' our help she will ask us, until then we will leave her alone." Clare is now talking seriously with Victor, she too knew about long hours that Ilena is spending at Dragan's quarters. She too is unfamiliar at what exactly is Ilena doing In there, so she asked her once but Ilena just made her promise that she will not look into it until Ilena fully understands how it's working. After all, she still have her right hand that she must return when the time comes, and more importantly she is still alive thank to her saving her from Ophelia, so at the very least Clare can trust Ilena when she tells her that in time she will tell you what she was doing in there. Victor looks at Clare with surprise, so does Uma and Cynthia. "Clare…" Cynthia looks at Clare who just realized that she is looking far too serious to all of them, which is making others very nervous. Victor bowed his head and says: "Please forgive me my Lord for being far to curious, I will no longer investigate things that doesn't concern me."

"No Victor, I was over the line there. It's just….that Ilena is doing a lot of research by reading Dragan's books and she doesn't want to be disturbed or questioned about that." Victor raised his head and his face showed signs of relief: "I understand, thank you Clare." And in that moment signal for general alert has been given. "What's that?" Confused Uma asks while looking all around herself, the entire cantina was flashing in red. Victor stands up and says: "That's the general alert signal; it means that we must arm ourselves because we might encounter enemy soon. That probably means that we will be at our objective much sooner than you think." All three Claymores stand up, with Clare addressing to Victor:

"Victor go and get your men ready. Us three will go directly to the bridge." Victor makes military salute, says: "Yes, my Lord." And go running toward the doors, all three Claymores follow in his footsteps and soon the main cantina was empty again.

On the bridge Miria was looking at the empty ahead of her, than as ship exited warp jump a planet appeared in front of her. It was like every ordinary planet in golden lock zone, about 60 to 70 percent of the planet was covered by water and the rest was composed of solid land. This particular planet has 3 continents and several major mountain chains. According to information Miria received via holographic projector this planet have small population, not more than eight thousand humans and three major cities. The planet was also marked as agri world, meaning that this planet was providing food to all nearby major populated worlds. While Miria was reading the data at the image her sister Claymores arrived at the bridge in full combat readiness. All eight of them were In their Adepta Sororitas power armor and in addition to their claymore swords they were now carrying bolter guns with them. The first one to speak was Ilena who immediately get to the point: "What is the situation Captain Miria? Victor said that you are nervous about something?" It was really strange to see Miria nervous, that would happen only if some dangerous mission was ahead of them so Claymores didn't want to risk anything and took what they could with them. Miria turned off holographic projector and turn to face her sisters head on.

"What you see behind me is a planet called Octarus." Miria was referring to the planet that could be clearly seen through bridge main window. "And our next mission is to establish contact with Inquisition ally on the surface and gather intel about our next destination." "Rather odd for the Inquisition to tell us to gather information from someone else, the man would think that organization with such reputation would know all things beforehand" Deneve expressed her opinion.

"I know Deneve, it sounded strange to me. Then they told me that these allies are not Humans at all, and that is why I am acting nervous today." Miria answered in her usual manner. "Not Human? You mean like xenos?" Tabitha asks. "Yes, apparently rather than committing Imperial Guard forces to defend this planet Inquisition paid to some alien mercenaries to guard this planet instead. The Inquisition said that these xenos can be trusted, but nevertheless we should be cautious. Thelos said that all aliens are dangerous and even if these are allies of the Inquisition we can't say how will they act for sure, and that is why I am having Victor's Stormtroopers on standby."

"Good choice Miria, I would do the same thing if I was in your place." Ilena praised Miria's cautious nature. "I agree Ilena, if these aliens are like the ones we faced on Gracia we will need Victor's men to help us." Helen expressed her opinion, Clare than stepped forward and asks: "Miria, what do you know about the aliens we are going to face?"

"I only know that they are race called Tau and that they are minor threat in these parts. The ones we are going to face broke apart from their main force a long time ago and establish themselves as mercenaries who will work for anyone who pays them. They have been protecting this colony for several years now and no incident occurred in meantime, Nero said that they have information about our next target." Clare answers:

"If what are you saying is true than we have nothing to worry about, if Inquisitor Nero is vouching for them and if they are present here for several years than nothing bad can possibly happen." Miria sighed and says: "I to believe that Clare, but judging how our encounters with other races happened so far I am not leaving anything to case, only Victor and two Stormtroopers will come with us. The rest of the Regiment will be here on standby just in case something happened." Suddenly Uma shared her opinion: "I to would like if everything will go fine on this encounter; I want to finally meet some alien who is not going to kill me on sight." Then she bowed her head and smiled "I really think that not all aliens are bad as they are saying us."Ilena answered to her:

"I to agree with that Uma, not all aliens are bad but I have read some parts of Imperium history and so far only bad things happened when they encountered alien species. And if you add ten thousand years of active warfare and it's not surprising that Humans are very xenophobic in nature." After Ilena finished her talk a lonely officer approach Uma and advised her in calm and worrying voice: "I have to advice you my Lord that no matter if you are from the ranks of Inquisition that statement you just made can brand you as a heretic and mark you for execution." Uma just listen and shivered in fear, the officer continued "I know that you are new around here and didn't see much, but the Inquisition have eyes and ears everywhere and sometimes it is better to keep those kind of thoughts for yourself."

"Uhhh…Thank you, I guess." Officer just smiled and says: "It was my pleasure to help you my Lord." He then turned around turned around and continued his work on a nearby panel. Uma was scared from his advice, but she quickly get over herself as she understood that his warning was for her wellbeing. She now knew that she even must watch what she is swaying because the Imperium is very suspicious of persons who have very different thoughts about some things. While officer was advising Uma the rest of Claymores continued their conversation, Clare added right after Ilena finished her explaining to Uma: "I agree with that but we must see things for ourselves before we make our own conclusions. Remember that strange being back on Gracia? After we returned that artifact to her she helped us by giving us information that we use to defeat the Orks."

"While that is true Clare remember what brother Thelos said us afterwards: 'their species are dangerous manipulators and they despise Humans'. Anyway, we will leave that for later. Right now we have to get to the surface and meet our contact, Nero said in his message sent to me that this alien can be trusted and that he will give us valuable information for free." And with that Miria finished her briefing with her Claymore sisters and get off the bridge. All Claymores in full battle gear left the bridge and head toward hangar bay. The road to hangar bay was not long, by using elevator to get to level 30 and after that use several corridors you could get from the bridge to the hangar bay in less than five minutes.

The ships hangar bay was huge, stretched over several levels it can hold up to more than one hundred fighter jets and about fifty dropships. In addition to that the ship can hold over 200.000 solders ready to deploy on the battlefield – such is the magnificence of Retribution class Battleship. When Claymores entered hangar bay they could see Victor's Stormtroopers regiment all prepped up and ready to go. The pilots were already preparing dropships for combat deployment, even if that wasn't necessary for this mission Miria and Ilena didn't want to risk anything so they told Victor to be on standby in case they need him. Claymores walked some fifty meters in the hangar bay before they meet with Victor and his officers. "Ma'am!" Victor salutes them in military manner as well as his men.

"Is everything ready?" Miria asks him. "Yes ma'am, aldo I fell little uneasy for not going with you. What if you need backup?" Ilena smiled to Victor's comment and answers: "Don't worry Victor, we will be fine. As soon as we detect first sign of trouble we will notify you, and you better be ready to deploy when we send you the signal."

"Yes sir!" Victor made stance and greet them once again. "All right if that's it than we can board the drop…" but before Miria could finish her sentence Helen interrupted: "Yeah, there is one thing I wanted to discuss before we go on a planet." Everyone looked at her surprised, what is so important that it can't wait for after the mission? Miria asks her: "All right, what is it Helen?" Helen pointed her left hand to one of the dropship pilots:

"I have problem with one of your men Victor," she turned toward Victor "he won't give me to drive dropship." Victor and his men looked at her dumbfounded while other Claymores sighed at her problem.

"What?" Helen asks in confusion as everyone is seeing her as she is crazy. The pilot noticed that she is pointing toward him and complains while coming to them: "Holy Terra, not you again! How many times do I have to tell you – I don't care if you are Inquisitor or even an Inquisitor Lord. You are from primitive society and have no knowledge on how to pilot an aircraft so I can't give you a dropship to drive." Helen argument back: "The way I saw it isn't something that difficult, you are doing it rather easy yourself."

"It's because I am pilot for my entire life, I flew in more than sixty combat deployments and over one hundred planet falls. If you want I can show you and teach you how to do it but I can't give you to drive it." You could see that pilot was swathing, he was after all augmenting back to Inquisitor – something that was punishable by death in the Imperium. Deneve looked closely at him, he wore leather boots, black trousers and standard uniform with pilot mask attack to his belt. He is also veering pilot helmet with risen visors, Deneve took just a moment when she addressed to Helen: "Helen." Helen turned and protests: "But Deneve, since I first saw them I always wanted to try to one of these fly machines."

"Helen, you can do that after we finished this mission. I am sure that this pilot will show you everything you need to fly it." Helen felt little anger and responded: "You are no fun at all." And then she turned and left to the dropship designed to take them to planet surface. "Thank you my Lord, by sure that I will show her everything once your mission is complete." The pilot thanked Deneve for getting him out of that awkward situation. Deneve smiled and responds:"It's all right pilot, thank you for having patience with her and even after all that offering your services. Return to your duties." The pilot greeted her and returns to his duties. Victor comments: "God Emperor, she is like a child. I guess not all Claymores act like serious daemonhunting warriors."

"Do not worry Lieutenant, not all of Claymores act like Helen now. She is good warrior but little childish in nature, I am afraid that you will just have to get accustomed to her." Clare addressed to Victor, he just smiled and answeres: "I know, I already am. Now go down there and stay safe, may the Emperor watch over you on your way down sisters."

Claymores entered their designated dropship and in few minutes they were on their way to the planet's surface. Descending into the planet's atmosphere is rough because of the big G force affecting the dropship. Even if pilot was going to reduce the effect of G force to minimum the entire dropship was still shaking. But Claymores get used to this as a result of their many flights to other worlds as agents of the Inquisition. Their gear was now becoming standard; Sisters of Battle "Angelic" power armor, several krak and frag grenades and their trusted Claymore swords on their backs. But this time they were carrying one more thing – all famous Bolter gun. Legendary weapon of the Adeptus Astartes and Adepta Sororitas, the gun said to unleash the Emperor's wrath. After training for some time now Miria and Ilena agreed to take these weapons with them in battle as this was new age for them and they needed to use appropriate weapons to defend themselves.

The weapon itself is massive, it has no stock and it fires self-propelled bullets that explode few moments after impact, truly a terrifying weapon. But Claymores could only acquire Sisters of Battle Godwyn-De'az patter bolter as other types were reserved for Space Marines and as such unavailable for them, but even if this bolters they acquire were weaker than the ones used by Astartes they were nonetheless still powerful weapons when compared to other weapons that their enemies might use. The flight itself lasted for 25 minutes before dropship finally landed in the main settlement. The main settlement was in fact small village of barely over thousand souls. But all over the planet were settlements just like this, only with smaller population. Dropship landed, and from it came eight heavily armored warriors. There was none to greet them; all the streets and even local market were empty. "Why is no one here?" Tabitha asked in confusion.

"They must be scared of us, we are warriors of the Inquisition after all. And where warriors of the Inquisition are headed there can be only trouble." Ilena explained things to Tabitha and made a few steps forward. Then suddenly a mere figure appeared on the open and head toward them, when he got closer Claymores recognized him as Imperial missionary. He bowed before Claymores and says: "Greetings sisters, how can I serve you." Miria asks him:

"Are you the local priest?" Missionary raised and said: "You are right sister, even if aliens are guarding our home we must never lose our faith in the Emperor. Now tell me what brings the most zealous of Emperor's servants to our humble colony? "We are representatives of Imperial Inquisition; under orders from Lord Inquisitor Nero we are to establish contact with Tau and have a word with them. They said that they have some vital information for us." Ilena quickly explained the nature of their business. Missionary smiled and says: "Of course sister, please follow me." Missionary turned and start walking, Claymores followed him. The settlement was small as no building has more than one or two floors. All doors and windowed were closed, Claymores are very uneasy because of this – it reminds them on how people were scared from them back at their homeworld.

"Why are they so afraid of us?" Uma asked, confused by overall reaction of the local population. "Because they think that we are here to punish them, working with aliens no matter the reason is punishable by death in the Imperium." Ilena answer her in cold attitude.

"Uh?... but what about Lord Nero? Isn't he in league with this Tau?" Uma asks even more confused, Ilena answer her in same manner as before: "Even if official rules say that there are many unofficial methods on how agents of the Inquisition do their work. And one of them is making alliances with aliens, even if that kind of action declares them heretics by their colleagues from other branches of the Inquisition. That is why we must be careful and never speak about this meeting today if we want to stay in good relationship with the rest of the Imperial organizations."

After several minutes of walking Claymores reached end of the village and there, standing by last house, was men they came to see. It was alien, the one called Tau, he held some kind of weapon and was armored from top to bottom. His armor was all in shades of green, even his helmet witch was strange shape and had a single red visor on it. He wore no shoes as Tau doesn't have legs but heels. The missionary stopped some fifteen meters from Tau and said to Claymores: "This is as far as I go sisters, this is Eoro'Anuk and he will take you to his leader." He turned to face them "Go now, and may the Emperor protect you on your way sisters." And then he left them, returning back to the village. Probably to calm down people who were scared to death the moment they saw Inquisitorial dropship landing in their village. Miria got closer to Tau and start talking: "Greetings Tau, are you the one who will take us to your leader?"

"Yes Gue'La, I was instructed to take us to Kais'Tol. He has some interesting information to share with you." Tau answered to Miria in polite manner while holding his gun at steady. "I understand, show us the way than and we will follow you."

"As you wish." He then turned and starts walking, Claymores followed him. He was taking them out of the village and into the forest; their ship was probably deep inside forest as to avoid being detected by any kind of satellites from orbit. It was rather quiet in the group, until Cynthia asks: "So your name is Eoro right?" Tau just stooped, all Claymores stooped to behind him. He turned and faces Cynthia who continued to ask him "Um…can you tell us something about yourself…"

"It is so strange to see one of your kind actually interested to talk with us. Usually you immediately starting to kill us, especially you battle sisters." Tau was confused at Claymore's reaction. "As you can see we are not regular sisters, nor do we have reason to attack you as you didn't do anything to us. As long as you stay friendly with us we will be friendly with you." Deneve explains him in simple matter. Tau looked at her for several moments than he started laughing. Claymores were confused and were looking at tau that was dying of laughter. "What's with this guy now? Why is he laughing so hard?" Helen asks in public, Tau was able to put some laughter under control and answer to her: "I am sorry, I just never thought that I will see one of your kind who use logic and reason before anger and brutality." The Tau took off his helmet and reveals his face. He was indeed not Human, as his skin was grey and he had no hair. His eyes were like Human's, with blue eyes, but he had no nose but rather some hole instead. "My name is Eoro'Anuk and it is a pleasure to meet you Gue'Vesha." Eoro honorary bowed before them:

"What does Gue'La means?" Tabitha asks. 'That's how my people spell 'Human', I see that you are rather new here and have much to learn about galaxy."

"Yeah, you could say that. Now can we please continue with this mission, we have more work afterwards?" Helen scratched her hear and argued. Eoro answers her: "Of course, please follow me sisters." And he continued to walk towards the camp. "You are natural born troublemaker." Deneve protested to Helen's behavior. "What? I have flying lessons afterward and I can't wait to start them. The sooner we get this done the better." Deneve just sighed and continued to follow Eoro, all other Claymores were already following him. As they were going toward the main camp Eoro was telling them history of Tau Empire and how they became to be mercenaries. "So when your Ethereal died you break of any connections with your people and start working as mercenaries?" Miria asks him.
"You could put it that way, when our Ethereal died we were finally free from the clutches of the Greater Good and start building our own lives the way we like it. We have a council of four to lead us and we respond to any distress call we can pick up."

"And then you help them if they are in trouble, for certain price of course." Ilena expressed her opinion on their methods. "Well it's not like it sounds, sure we have to earn to survive and we demand something back for our services but it's not like we are forcing them to give us everything they have. We take what they give us and that's it." Eoro is little irritated but manages to defend their position. "Our motto is: 'A client is a client'. By it you can figure that once when we made contract with someone we will never break it, and your Inquisition have offered us really nice deal."

"What was that deal about, and what they offered you exactly?" Tabitha asks. "The deal was that we defend this sector that consists of five planets including this one. As payment for our services we were allowed to live on this world as long as we keep a low profile. And since we are outcasts from our own people trapped in a galaxy full of hostile species we felt like this contract was sent from the havens."

As they were getting near to the main site Uma noticed a scar on Eoro's helmet. "Excuse me, but how you got this on your helmet?" She point toward the scar. Eoro looked at it and says: "This? I got this scar in battle against Orks. And now I am blind as a bat. But the army thought that I was avoiding my duties so they made me a scout. And that's military intelligence."

"They put you to gather information for them even though you are blind? No wonder you guys part your ways with them." Helen added to Eoro's comment. "You could say it came as blessings to us."

And finally, after more than half an hour of walking, Claymores and Tau finally reached the main camp. It was a spaceship that landed in a middle of forest. Even if its size is enormous the forest is thick and big so Tau was able to hide it with several sensor blockers and lot of trees. Claymores were fascinated for this was something totally different from Imperial technology. As ship created some ten meters space between ground and hull of the ship beneath it were many stands with goods and permanent housing for Tau warriors. As Claymores passed by settlement they noticed that many Humans were with the Tau, trading and living. To Claymores it seemed that all that talking about how all aliens are dangerous is little far stretched, but then again of all alien races Mankind meet across the stars only Tau showed friendly attentions toward them. Everyone else tried to exterminate Humans, even Tau are not exception as they are trying to put Humans under their control and rule over them.

Ilena read many of Dragan's books, and one of them talked about Tau. Their method is to establish contact with a planet and then slowly integrate it into their empire. If the planet refuse to join their empire the Tau deal with them in quick and brutal campaign before they know what hit them. It's no wonder these Tau escaped when they got the chance, after all why conquer and bring more misery to this war thorn galaxy when you could actually do something to make it better? At least that's what Ilena was thinking when Claymores walked through the settlement beneath the ship. After several minutes of walk through the settlement Claymores arrived at the main entrance to the ship, it is basically big cargo bay door that stretch from the ship to the ground. The entrance is guarded by two big machines, one from each side of the doors. Claymores are amazed at the size of the machines and Uma asks Eoro: "What is that thing over there?"

"Hm? Oh, that's our XV8 Battlesuits. They are tasked with guarding the entrance to the ship from unauthorized personnel." Ilena asks: "Will they let us past?"

"Don't worry, just follow me and everything will be fine." After saying this Eoro walked to the cargo bay doors with Claymores following close behind him. As soon as he came to the doors one XV8 asks him: "Greetings Eoro'Anuk? Are these Humans the ones sent from Imperial Inquisition?"

"Yes they are, are we free to proceed?" Battlesuit pilot replies: "Yes you are, Shas'ElKais'Tol is expecting you. You there Gue'La, please stick to the Eoro, it's easy to get lost on our ship and we really don't want to search for you."

"Don't worry, we will." Miria answers him in cold fashion and as soon as Eoro started moving again Claymores followed him and entered the ship. They entered one giant elevator, similar to one they have on their own ship. Few moments later elevator doors closed and all eight of its passengers were now heading toward the bridge. "Oi Deneve, did you see that?"

"To what are you referring Helen?" Helen continues: "To those two contraptions at the entrance, they were huge and awesome." Eoro replies: "Those are our most elite peace of armor, wore only by our most hardened veterans. They can fight almost anything, from ordinary solders to the most armored war machines." Eoro is proudly explaining the nature of Tau battle suit. "Really interesting, what else can that machine do?" Tabitha asks for more information. "Well I shouldn't really tell you this but you seem rather nice than the rest of your kind… It can fly, it has flamethrower and burst cannon on one side and missile launcher on other, its power source can last for half a day without any problem and its pilots are the most elite of the Tai Fire Cast. We take great pride in them as they are fast, deadly and reliable."

"Wait you said pilots, so there are actual solders driving those machines?" Cynthia asks. "Well yes, I thought that you know this. After all, you have similar piece of equipment. And I dare to say that yours are more deadly than ours."

"Why do you think that?" Deneve asks. "Because we fought against them before we were employed by Inquisition. It was our ten Battlesuits against four of your battlesuits. We lose all ten of ours while all four of your battlesuits survived with little to no damage at all. I think they called them 'Terminators', and by the Greater Good I hope we will never face them again."Eoro changed to more serious state now, it seems that to him it's rather painful to remember that certain battle. Helen pats him on his shoulder and says: "Don't worry, even if you lost that one time those suits are something. So what do you think guys, could we use those suits against Awakened Beings?"

"I think that you are getting over yourself a little, even with those suits it would be quite hard to fight against them." Deneve answers her. "Not to mention that Awakened Beings can change shape and are quite cunning and fast, and machines need to be repaired and that makes them vulnerable as they cannot regenerate as we can." Clare adds to Deneve's explanation. Helen is already bored with their answers, meanwhile Eoro is asking: "What are those Awakened Beings?"

"Trust me, some things you just don't want to know." Ilena answer him while making serious face. Eoro is stunned, 'maybe I really don't need to know everything' he thought in himself. Meanwhile, the elevator stopped and doors and the main doors opened. Tau bridge was somewhat similar to the Imperial, the only difference was in technology. Tau technology is more sophisticated than Imperial one, to Claymores it looks more complicated and hard to understand. Eoro took them across the bridge and he took them into commander's personal quarters. Inside a lone Tau was standing near the window and looking into some datapads. "Commander Shas'ElKais'Tol, here are the Inquisitorial representatives." Eoro reported to his commander. Kais turned and looked closely at Claymores. "Hm…I hope there was no problem on your journey here?" He addressed to Miria.

"Except those frightened townsfolk everything was fine. Me and my sisters are quite impressed how you organized things on this world." Kais looked at Miria with surprise in his eyes, he was about ot ask her something when Eoro interrupted him:"They are little special commander, they said that they are in Inquisition for about a year now and that they are being recruited from feral world with no previous knowledge of Human Imperium."

"So, you are not xenophobic and ignorant as the rest of your kind?" Kais asks Miria. "Well so far we only encountered Orks as far as alien races go, and we didn't have any positive opinion about them. But your kind is different, you talk and negotiate and live in peace with Humans here."

"Well I can't blame you for Orks, they are indeed a menace. But as far as your kind is concerned all aliens are threat to Human survival. But I can't blame them after countless centuries fighting them, we are not perfect to but we try our best. You can live us now Eoro, I think that there will be no problem here."
Eoro confirmed Kais order and exit the room; Kais put his datapad on his table and sat in his chair. Then he continued conversation: "But tell me one thing, if you are really from feral world that have no connection with everything happening outside than why you leaved? You could stay there and avoid all misery and conflict that roam through this galaxy."

"We could live, we certainly had that option. But situation on our world is not great either; in addition to that we were saved by Inquisition when we were on verge of death." Ilena explained to Kais in short manner. "I see, so you own him for saving your lives and you decided to return him favor by becoming Inquisitors?"

"Something like that, but there is more to that." Miria adds. "Hm…I see. Then I will not investigate any further as you have more important business here. I am sorry for not having any chair for you to sit…"

"It's ok, we don't mind standing." Clare said to Kais. "Fine than, let's get to business than… Some sixty light years from here there is one of planets where we fought Orks in the past. Local population paid us for our services and as we were living it we left behind one very sensitive sensor to monitor that sector in case of further invasion. You don't need to worry about it, we are also transmitting data from there to Lord Inquisitor Nero's ship. And about a week ago we caught something that may interest you – a signal of unknown origin from planet your kind refers to as Cerea Secundus."

"And were you successful in identifying that signal?" Ilena asks. "We were and it is bad news indeed, the unknown signal is in fact awakening signal for Necron Tombworld." All Claymores looked confused, yet another alien race they will probably have to fight. All were confused except Ilena who was terrified at this news. She put her hand to the table and asks in increased tone: "What!? Are you sure of your findings?" Everybody was surprised by her behavior, and now everyone was worried because if Ilena is concerned about that it must be really bad. Kais was rather calm in comparison to them and he answers: "I am afraid there is no mistake here, we fought Necrons before and this was the signal they use to start awakening from their slumber. I'm afraid that your world will soon become battleground to fight off those metallic nightmares."

"But why Nero didn't tell us immediately but he sent us to you?" Ilena asks again. "Because the moment he saw it he send me a massage to inform you while he go to the some world called Bakka and gather fleet to oppose them. Now I think that you should hurry and go to that world and help anyway you can."

"What about you than, won't you help us?" Deneve asks. "First we don't have any ships and second we are already tasked in protecting this star system, if we redeploy our forces who will defend Humans living here?"

"No matter, Miria and others we must go now time is off the essence." Ilena turns around and start going toward doors, Kais stands up and tells her: "Just a moment sister, I wish to say you something before you all leave. Now I might be an alien and you have no reason to trust me but hear me, be careful with the Inquisition. They are very unpredicted and would always sacrifice as much as they can to achieve their goals, so watch your backs Humans."

"Why are you telling us this? What is your gain?" Clare asks. "Nothing, my reason is a simple is this: Nero told me about you and then I saw you myself. You are not bad people at all but you swore to serve with very bad people, people who will even betray their own allies for their own agenda. Just be careful in the future, surround yourself with allies that in case something does happened you can always count on someone helping you."

"Thank you very much; your words are true and sincere. Now we must hurry, our duty calls." Ilena thanked Kais and exit the room, other Claymores followed her. Fifteen minutes later Kais received report that Claymores left the planet in their dropship. He is watching sky from his office window, suddenly doors opened and Eoro comes in.

"Gue'La have just left the settlement in their dropship." Kais replies: "I know, I just received the report from our scouts." Eoro comments: "May I say Kais that I never saw Gue'La like them before, their kind usually first shoot at us and then they ask question." Kais replies: "That's because they are not xenophobic like the Imperials, and I do hope that this service in the Inquisition will not change them in that direction." Eoro stand near his commander and he to look toward the stars. "So they are going to fight Necrons?"

"Yes they are." Eoro lowers his head. "I wish them luck, they have no idea what monstrosities they are going to face." Kais smiled and replies: "I don't know, I have a feeling they will be ok. But the future is clouded and uncertain, who knows what may happened tomorrow. But as you say Eoro, I really hope that they will be all right. They are good people and they surely don't deserve to live in this nightmarish universe." "None of us is."As they were finishing their conversation they watched as the local sun sets on the horizon and how stars and space replace quiet blue sky.

"The journey from Octarus to Cerea Secundus will last at least one more hour, others are ready to deploy and Victor told me that his men are almost ready for deployment." Miria answeres: "Good, we already lost three days even if we move immediately into Warp the moment we break off Octaru's orbit. Every second counts now for all those people who are in danger of being eradicated."

Miria and Clare are talking while walking down the long corridor on one of ship's deck. They are discussing about their meeting with Tau and the information they required from them. And information about one of deadliest enemies Mankind faced since the days it left Terra and spread across the stars. They are in their standard off-duty Claymore uniform and they are slowly walking toward certain room, suddenly Clare is asking Miria: "So tell me Miria, why are we going to see Ilena?"

"Because I want to know more about these new enemies we are going to face. And to tell you the truth I am very nervous now because of her sudden behavior the moment she heard their name. Among eight of us she is the calmest one and with highest experience, not to mention the most powerful." Clare replies: "I know that Miria, if she is so worried about this new enemy than it can be anything but good for us."Miria answers: "Precisely, and not only that. I am also intending to find out just what she is doing in there all this time." Clare is surprisingly looking toward Miria.

"As far as I am familiar she is reading Dragan's books, thanks to that knowledge we adapted more easily to this new surroundings. But you think that there is more to it than that?"Miria loudly sighted than she continues: "I don't know Clare, but she is spending too much time in there. And I very much doubt that she would forbid us to enter her room unless she is doing something else than reading."

"It's not like her to hide things from us, I spent with her quite a while back at Rabona and I am telling you that there is no way that Ilena is doing something else." In Clare's response Miria just closed her eyes, bowed her head and says:"You are probably right Clare, but I can't shake off that felling that she is indeed doing something else. Maybe it's just me; no matter we are almost there."

Meanwhile at the same time inside Ilena's room Ilena is standing still near the bookshelf. Her eyes are closed and she is calm as she is meditating. Her right arm is raised and her hand is put into vertical position. This is her usual routine since Dragan's death, Ilena is trying to unlock secrets of Dragan's powers and knowing how her Claymore sisters would criticize her she didn't told them at all what she is doing. She is talking something very quietly and trying to do something with her hand, but suddenly she is interrupted. All her calmness was gone and her eyes are now open she quickly grab one of the books from bookshelf. She turns several pages of the book and start reading. Moments later the door bell was ringing. "Come in." Ilena said, the doors to her quarters opened and Miria and Clare entered her room. "Greetings Ilena" both of them greet her.

"It's rare for you to come into my quarters." Miria slowly explained to Ilena: "I know that and sorry for the inconvenience but I need to know what do you know about this new threat we are going to face.." followed by Clare: "Your reaction in that camp was strange and sudden, all of us are feeling uneasy because of it. If you do know something please share it with us."Ilena just sighted, closed her eyes for a moment and returned the book she was holding in its place on shelf. "You are right, if my actions caused any disturbance in you than I am sorry. But these enemies we are going to face…"

"The Necrons?"Miria interrupted. "Yes, the Necrons, they are probably the worst and deadliest enemy we could ever face." Clare asks: "They are more deadly than daemons?"

"I don't know about that, but according to Dragan's books on them they possess the technology to counter the warp realm sealing it completely from this realm as long as their machine works, so even daemons can do little against them."Miria and Clare are surprised by Ilena's comment. "That sounds more like magic than technology to me." Clare noted while Ilena start walking beside bookshelf looking for something. "Well there is very little about Necrons, the truth is that they are relatively new race in the galaxy. But even that little we have about them is scary and unbelievable in the same time. Ah, here it is…" Ilena grabs one of the books from the shelf and opens it. "This book contains all that Lord Dragan was able to gather about Necrons." She started to flip pages, in meantime Miria asks: "So what can you tell me about them?"

"Nothing good, and the more I tell you about them the more stranger it gets. Listen to this: Necron warriors are made from what seems to be a living metal that cover entirety of their bodies and carry weapons which is able to break down atoms."Clare and Miria nervously listen what Ilena is reading them, there is already doubt in their minds about verification of this claims. Ilena continues to read them: "Furthermore they have shown to be tough opponent on the battlefield, thanks to their metal bodies they are very tough and hard to bring down as they can take large amount of punishment. Some reports from Astartes Chapters and Guard Regiments that have encountered them speak about random Necron warriors repairing themselves after being torn apart and return to battle. Although this is only possible if their leader is carrying unique artifact known as resurrection orb…"

"This is ridiculous, are you telling me that they can return back to life even if we kill them?" Miria interrupts Ilena who stops reading and calmly answers her: "Well they are an army of machines and broken machines can be fixed to work again. But as you might have noticed this only happens if their leader is near to support them." Ilena closes the book and returns it to bookshelf.

"What is their usual tactics when attacking?" Clare asks. "Similar to Orks, they overwhelm their enemies with sheer number of warriors at their disposal. But add their strange technology and even stranger vehicles to that and you get the picture.""So what can we do to assist Cerea Secundus?" Miria asks and Ilena answers: "The only thing we can do in this situation: help the local population evacuate as fast as possible." Clare asks: "We will let them to claim entire world for them?"

"We have no other choice Clare, if they were attacking Imperial planet from orbit it would be much simpler and maybe even possible to beat them. But seeing how the first report indicates that they have risen from the ground it can only mean that planet Cerea Secundus is in fact a Tomb World. In that case we might have millions if not billions of Necrons sleeping just beneath the surface. If we just noticed their awakening it would be possible to beat them by blowing up their Tombs and sealing them in for eternity, but this information is over a month old so who knows how many of them are already awakened and against such force we simply don't have enough troops. We can only try to buy as much time as we need to evacuate as many citizens as possible."Miria answers to Ilena: "All right, if you believe that this is best course of action than we will go with your plan. The other are already in hangar bay together with Victor and his Stormtroopers, we will return to our quarters and get ready for deployment. Let us meet in hanger bay in some twenty minutes."

"Of course, I will be there." And with that Miria and Clare left the room, Ilena opens nearby cabinet and from it take her Angel armor and start putting it. But now she wonders will this armor be enough to protect them from this menace. Meanwhile Miria and Clare are walking toward their quarters when Clare suddenly says: "See, I told you that she is just reading her books." Miria answers: "I know Clare, I just…have a feeling that there is more to it than simple reading. But that's just me, let us forget it and concentrate on the mission."

Twenty minutes later all three Claymores in full battle readiness arrive at hangar bay, inside is like in some kind of factory as solders are running and crewmen are preparing gunships for takeoff. They have finally arrived at their destination - Cerea Secundus, and now they are preparing to deploy. Everyone was busy In the hangar, Techpriests were checking for mistakes one final time before departure while servicemen and servitors were loading rockets and bullets into the dropship guns. Inquisitorial Stormtroopers from 1367'th Stormtrooper Regiment were doing last check of their gear and equipment before they would take their positions at their designated dropships.

Ilena, Miria and Clare were quietly passing through the masses; they were in their full battle gear which consisted of angelic power armor, Claymore, several grenades and now at their side one Godwyn-De'az patter bolter. Three Claymores were walking toward the other end of the hangar where the rest of their sisters were waiting for them. Deneve was talking to one of the officers while Uma, Cynthia and Tabitha were waiting for signal to get aboard. Helen was nowhere to be seen but the three of them suspected that she is probably checking something and will be back soon, as three of them approach Deneve finished talking with the officer and was now facing toward the incoming three Claymores. "Are the preparations complete Deneve?"

"Yes Miria, the officer now told me that all of the dropships will be ready to take off in some twenty minutes." Miria answers: "Good. And where is Helen?" Miria asks while looking around them. Deneve smiled and says: "You won't believe me if I told you…" then Ilena asks her:

"Why do you say that? Did she done something?" But rather from Deneve the answer came from Tabitha who is standing some few meters from them: "She is inside of the dropship already, but she is in the cockpit rather than in passenger part." Miria and Ilena are shocked while Clare just smiled at her respond, Ilena then asks: "Please, don't tell me that she is going to drive it?"

"Of course not, but giving how much she is exited to learn how to fly the pilot allowed her to help him during the flight." Deneve answers. "Good, at least we are all here. Get ready; we are going to departure in five minutes. So let us go and prepare for it. As soon as Miria gave the other all of Claymores start walking toward dropship, in front of their dropship Lieutenant Victor is standing with his hand behind his back. "Yes Lieutenant? Is there something that you need?"

"Only one thing sister Miria and that is that you reconsider your decision and take a squad of Stormtroopers with you." Miria answers:"Thank you for your recommendation Lieutenant but that won't be necessary. We can take care of ourselves, beside to take more men with us means that there will be one less dropship to help in evacuation of civilians in the capital city." Victor replies: "I know that ma'am but by the Emperor this is Necrons we are talking about here, and I fell a little uncomfortable knowing that you will go In small town ahead to try to halt Necron invasion force while our entire Regiment will be In the capital city helping the citizens to evacuate."

"Don't worry Victor we will be fine, you just make sure that all of the citizens are evacuated then come and get us as soon as you can." Victor replies:"Of course my lord, Emperor be with you on your mission." Victor saluted them and head toward his own dropship. "Ilena, are you sure that we don't need them to support us?" Miria asks Ilena who is standing behind her. "I double checked the information the main Necron advance is going to be toward the capital city. Their forces are already at some two hundred kilometers from it, but judging by that how slow they are they will need at least three more days to reach it. Now they will send some recon forces to detect and destroy any defense that may oppose their invasion force, if we destroy their advance forces in that small town than their main force will go first there to secure it before they attack the capital city. That way we should but the capital city at least one more day for evacuation."

"And what if the Necron don't take the bait?" Ilena answers: "I am pretty sure they will, as we represent one of the most elite military force they will first concentrate on us because they don't want to keep their flanks expose for counterattack. They will first concentrate to eliminate any threats to their army before heading toward the main target. Or that's at least what Dragan books are saying, but so far they didn't fail us."

"I agree with Ilena, if she thinks that this is the best course of action than let us do it that way. So far everything she suggested has saved us from certain death." Clare openly supports Ilena's opinion, Miria just smile and says: "I know that Clare, but I think that we should be extra careful this time. I have a bad felling about these Necrons. But we shall see how will situation develop and we will act accordingly to it." And with that they embarked their dropship. Inside every warrior took its designated seat, every warrior except Helen who addressed her sisters via vox channel: "Great, you are all here guys. Now sit down and fasten your seat bells for this is going to be one hell of a ride!" She is speaking from pilot's cabin. Deneve immediately reacted to her announcement while preparing herself for the drop: "Please don't tell me that you will be driving us."

"Don't worry my Lord, she is here with me and I must say that she learns fast. I will show her now several more important things regarding the drop and actual flight. After that I dare to say that she may fly a dropshp by herself." After hearing this all Claymores in cabin fall silent, except Clare who comments: "Dear God, I hope we will never have to find that out…" witch made all other Claymores laugh for a moment. Suddenly and announcement was made via vox channel: "All ship prepare for launch, ETA 1 minute."

All Claymores were seat belted and ready when that announcement was heard. Dropship doors closed and the ship start to slowly going lower, beneath the hangar floor. After ship got low enough the hangar doors above them closed and launch tube start pressurizing. After pressure was equal to that of vacuum the outer door beneath them opened and pilot and Helen could see the planet beneath them. "Stand by in 10 seconds." Dropship pilot announced and start counting down. "I wonder how is this going to feel?" Tabitha asks.

"Well Tabitha, we will soon find out. But I guarantee you that it probably won't be nice." Ilena answered. And following her answer the pilot says: "2….1….launching!" and he pressed the button that releases the clams holding the dropship. As they started going toward the planet surface they felt really uncomfortable as great G forces made the whole dropship shake like crazy. With them all other dropships launched and soon were on their way to their objectives.

"Entering upper atmosphere, ETA 2 minutes to the objective." As they entered the upper atmosphere the outer layers of dropship formed a flaming wall. But this ship saw the worst than this and all of them were slowly continuing their journey. When the ships reached standard atmosphere Claymore dropship broke off the main force and headed toward nearest town to the planet's capital. The planet was beautiful, with distant green forests covering its surface and various animals living in them.

Too bad that will be over as soon as Necrons arrive, it was now Claymore's mission to stop them and to give people of this world enough time to evacuate and save themselves. "My lords, we are near our objective. Prepare yourselves for departure." The pilot gave the order and Claymores acted accordingly by getting up in column. Helen joined them to from the pilot's cabin and she left open door so that pilot can communicate with them without the vox channel. "As soon as you leave us down here go to the capital city and help with the evacuation." Miria ordered. "What about you my Lord? You too will need evacuation craft if the Necrons overwhelmed you."

"Don't worry about us pilot, just be ready when we call you to get here as fast as you can and pick us up." Pilot replies:"Yes my lord." The dropship arrived at its destination; it landed smoothly and opened its hatch. From it came eight powered armored warriors and as soon as they made some distance between themselves and the dropship the pilot lift it up and vanished. Claymores were in a center of small town, it consisted of around 250 houses, with large majority of them having as much as two stories. "Is this it Ilena?" Miria asks. "This is is, this is where the main Necron force will be heading – or at least part of it. If we managed to attract them here the rest of them will sure follow and that will buy some time for defenders to evacuate as many as they can."

"I see, so what would you suggest in this kind of situation?" Ilena looks around for a moment. "Uma could get to the last floor of that tall building over there and set up a sniper position." She points toward what is probably the tallest building in this town, with six stories. "The rest of us should find some cover around here and engage Necron forces as soon as they arrive." "I agree, let us make that happen. Move!"

As soon as Miria issued orders all Claymores dispersed to find best position from which they could easily bring down Necrons. The town was completely empty following the order Ilena gave to the planet Governor several hours before Claymore's ship "The spirit of Vengeance" exited the Warp above the planet itself. Now the entire planet's population was driven from various neighboring towns to the planet's capital, at the capital itself the space port was full of civilians. Millions of people were concentrated on single and small building which could barely hold couple of hundred civilians. At the city's walls Victor's Stormtroopers Regiment worked closely with Cerea PDF (Planetary Defense Force) Regiments.

They are preparing for incoming Necron forces, Necron scouts could be already seen approaching the city walls. Their only hope was that Necrons would think that Claymores were bigger threat and concentrate their main forces there first. In the town all Claymores were in their positions, on the terrace of main administration building were Miria and Tabitha, on the opposite side in what appears to be a hotel were Clare and Cynthia. Deneve and Helen found their covers behind wall not far from administration building, and finally at the top of highest building some several hundred meters from administration building was Uma with her sniper rifle. They are all concentrating on town square, which was consisted of big statue in the middle and big roundabout and market around it. It was a perfect killing ground and best chance to ambush and quickly destroy incoming Necron forces. The only one missing was Ilena who decided to go to the edge of town and report if she notices incoming Necron force. In the administration building Tabitha and Miria were slowly preparing their bolters, checking ammo and reserve clips one last time. Then suddenly Tabitha asks Miria: "Captain Miria, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Tabitha, what is it?" Tabitha asks: "Well, I don't want to sound like coward but why are we doing this?" Miria looks at her surprised. "Doing what Tabitha?"

"This, being on some unknown world and fighting the foe that is much scarier and more powerful than any of the Awakened Beings on our own world, we should be grateful that we survived the last encounter on Gracia. But here we are again going into yet another battle where we can easily end up dead. So we are we doing this captain?" Tabitha's question is hard and Miria could notice anger in her voice. Miria just bows her head, close her eyes and answers: "Do you remember what Dragan did for us Tabitha?" As Miria raised her head, now more serious than ever, Tabitha suddenly got confused. "Uh….I remember captain."

"He saved our lives, even if he was not obliged to. Then he saved us once again by giving his life so that we may defeat Daemon Prince on Dantius. That is a debt we can never repay to him, the only thing we can do in a meantime is to try to offer our assistance as much as we can to the organization that Dragan belonged to so that at least we can repay part of our debt. Furthermore, you saw how things are out here, it's not Rabona where we have to look after sever hundred Humans. On this planet there are still several million of Humans in the space port trying to get away, are you saying that we should leave them to their fate?" Tabitha replies: 'Of course not captain!"

"I know Tabitha, I don't like this as much as you but things are now as they are. If we stayed on Rabona we might have died or lived, I don't know. But I know that we would probably spend great amount of time in the north doing nothing, here we may at least be of some use." Miria pats Tabitha's shoulder. "But don't worry, we will be fine and as soon as all of us agree that we have done enough we will return to our homeworld. Until then we must give our best."

"All right captain, I believe in your words." And with that Tabitha made a smile on her face than returned to adjusting her sights. Below then, behind the concrete wall that was some meter high were Deneve and Helen. "Man this is boring."

"You should be careful for what you wish for Helen, it might bite you in the face." Helen answers: "Oh? Hehehe… I would really like to see that." Helen laughed while Deneve sigh. "You really didn't take anything that happened on Gracia to heart?"

"What? Of course I did, we barely made out of there alive, But this time we have these." Helen raised her bolter. "I never saw one of this in fight; they said that they are quite deadly." Denece continues: "Of course they are, our Claymores may cut a person to peaces but these weapons will completely obliterate their targets. No matter if we hit them in arm or leg." Helen notices: "You know Deneve, it will be a little strange to take down our enemies from distance."

"You would rather fight with all of them in close combat." Helen replies: "Of course not if I have a chance to kill them before they get to me. It's just shame we didn't have those at Pieta." Deneve continues: "I am sure we will have one day, but even if that time comes I will stick with my Claymores. No matter how powerful weapon they produce this Claymores will always be part of us."

"Can' agree more sis." Deneve then asks: "So tell me Helen, did you learn how to fly that thing?" Helen answers: "Sure, the pilot said that I might even try it next time." Deneve asks: "Hm, I can't say that I am thrilled to hear that but I m glad that you learned something new in meantime." Suddenly someone message them over their vox: "To all Claymores this is Ilena, Necron forces are arriving and will be here shortly. I will go to my position and get ready. Remember to attack them only at my command."

"Understood sister." All Claymores acknowledged and prepared themselves. Uma prepared her sniper rifle while all others readied their bolters. Ilena herself arrived in just few seconds and took her position in the same building as Uma, only three stories below her. Suddenly all was quiet; nothing could be heard except wind. Town was as empty as when Claymores arrived, and that made Helen quite irritated. "Can someone tell me when are those Necrons arriving; it's getting quite dull here." She asked quietly over her vox unit. "Be quiet Helen and don't move a muscle, they will be here soon."

"Urgh…. Can they be a little faster, stupid Necrons…" and then utter silence was broken. And instead of tit strange electric like noise was heard as four glowing green orbs were present at the town center." "Wha…..?" Helen asks. "Don't move a muscle, here they are." Ilena gave order and watched in unease as Necrons were arriving. All proves was finished in few seconds and from each glowing green ball came five Necron warriors. Claymores were stunned; they never saw anything like it. "Uh Clare, what are those things?" Cynthia asks quietly. "It must be the Necrons Cynthia, and I must admit that they do look scary."

"What should we do?" Clare answers: "Let's wait on Miria or Ilena to give us order to fire. Until then stay calm and be prepared for battle." From other side Helen to was astonished: "What…the…hell…are…those?"

"Probably Necrons, they do have metallic bodies. I guess this one will be tougher than Orks on Gracia." Suddenly, over the vox Miria was issuing orders. "To all Claymores, listen closely. According to Ilena these are basic Necron warriors, they were probably teleported to investigate if there is someone left In this village. Keep calm and be ready to fire at my command, aim at the head if you can because this is the most efficient way to kill them. And Uma, you will engage only if you see Necron Lord appearing."

"Understood captain." Uma acknowledged and readied her sniper rifle to fire. All Claymores readied their bolters and waiting the orders to engage their targets. The Necrons were really scare sight to look upon. Their entire body was made of metal, except for the eyes that had some kind of green light glowing from them. They could see that some of the original paint from their bodies was missing indicating that they are probably very old. On their chests they could see some kind of signature, probably a sing indicating from what world they are originating, or maybe a symbol of their army or house. Their weapons were rather unusual, they resembled somewhat to some kind of rifle.

The only difference being that there wasn't any kind of tube for projectile bullet but empty space that was filled with strange green light - similar to the one they have in their eyes. Claymores also noticed that they are bigger than ordinary Humans for at least half a meter. All In all they were truly scary sight for any normal person. After few seconds since their teleportation the Necron warriors just stood still at their positions, moving only their heads to look around them. Then they start walking in groups quite slowly, they were probably starting to investigate the village for any kind of life in it. Ilena voxed the rest of the group: "Listen closely, those weapons of there are called Gauss weapons and they work by disintegrating atoms with every shot. So even if they fire on us we would be maybe able to suffer one hit, but not two so be very careful when engaging them. One more thing, they are very weak in close combat but their bodies are quite strong for ordinary swords. So when you are fighting them in close combat turn on power fields on your Claymores before moving to engage them."

"All right, it's almost time, get ready to fire." At Miria's order everybody sighted their targets. But before Miria gave the order something hit one of the Necron warriors and as a result of that hit the upper part of his body exploded and he fell down to the ground. "What the? Who opened fire!" Miria was shocked and she asked for immediate respond. But all Claymores gave the same answer: I didn't fire. "Then who could possibly…" Only now did Miria understood that it wasn't Claymores firing at Necrons as projectiles were still hitting Necrons while she asked for report. In a few second one Necron squad was down and fire stopped for a moment. Other Necron warriors turned to face the attacked, but it seemed that attacked was far away as they were not firing but were instead slowly walking toward the place where the shots came. "What do we do captain Miria?" Helen asks. "Ugh….damn… Can anybody see the attacker?"

"Negative, the shots are coming from the end of that street to your left. And we cannot see it because of the buildings out there." Clare reported back just in time when the shooting started again, the Necron warriors entered the street and were now in line of sight of the mysterious attacker. But this tiem they were hit by more than one weapon. "It seems that there are more of them firing at Necrons, your orders captain?" Uma reported, and after few moments Miria says: "All Claymores open fire, take this Necrons down." With her order given all Claymores opened fire from their hidden position, Necron warriors were now trapped in crossfire and were quickly brought down. "Captain Miria!" Uma asks for Miria via her vox unit. "Yes Uma?"

"I am not sure, but I think that Necrons are attacked from bolt weapons." Miria surprisingly asks: "Bolt weapons? Are you sure?" Uma answers:"I think so, because I just witnessed a minor explosion form the place where Necron was hit. The only weapons that do this kind of damage are bolt weapons."

"So it is our own troops who are attacking them? I thought that you guys said to them to evacuate everything before we arrived." Helen argued. "I don't know Helen maybe it's the Space Marines, but we didn't get report of any of their ships nearby. We will just have to wait and see who it is." Ilena answered her, after they finished Necrons Miria voxed again: "All right, we got them for now. Hold your positions until…"

"Too late, here they go again." Tabitha draw attention to the newly teleported Necron solders, but this time some were different than the ones before. These ones didn't have any kind of gun but instead they had long and shard claws, indicating that they are probably some kind of melee specialists. "All Claymores open fire, take them down!" Miria gave the order and then she herself opened fire. Necrons were disoriented as they were attacked from all sides now, this group also fell down quickly. The third group arrived, and this one had someone that could be identified as a leader. A lone Necron teleported, holding a staff in one of his hands that was longer than him. As soon as he showed up he took several bolt hits but with little effect. "Damn this one is tough!" Helen grudged as she was pouring hit after hit in that Necron character that survived all of them. He just stood out there in the open, taking hits and observing where were the hits coming from. Miria noticed that and voxed: "Watch out everyone, he is looking for our positions." But fortune was on Claymores side today as the mysterious attacked finally appeared from the street after taking down several squads of Necron solders. "Uh, captain Miria, you might have a look at the street. Our mysterious attacked has revealed themselves." Uma voxed Miria and told her about the developing situation.

"All right Uma." After looking at the street Miria was shocked. "What the…. This cannot be good for us." Suddenly Ilena was calling her: "Miria, I cannot see from this angle. Tell me who do you see?" Miria replies to Ilena's request: "Sisters of Battle." Ilena once again asks: "Say that again, I didn't understand you."

"I see Sisters of Battle, a squad of them and a leader. Canoness I think." Ilena just said in herself: "Adepta Sororitas? Damn, I hope they will not make too much problems for us."

The battle was already pretty much when Sisters of Battle decided to show themselves, only few Necron warriors and Necron Lord were left. But the Necron Lord was totally different story than the rest of his warriors. When the sisters appeared with their leader Necron Lord took notice of them, and he indentified the leader quickly. Before his last few warriors fell to the ground he decided to teleport behind Sisters of Battle. The Sisters were caught by surprise and before they turned to retaliate Necron lord used his long staff to kick two sisters on his right side, both of them flew for several meters and fell on the ground. Then he concentrates all his might on Sisters leader who attacked him with her full force. Her Power Sword clashed with Necron Lord's staff, but to no avail. Necron Lord simply used his staff to counter her sword and then he used opening he made by his previous move to grab Sister's leader by her throat and start choking her. "CANONESS!" The two remaining sisters at her left side tried to charge at him to free their leader, but Necron Lord simply toss them like he tossed other two Sisters. Then he lifted Canoness while slowly putting more pressure into his grip.

"You are fools to oppose us." He said in deep machine voice "This planet has been ours for countless millennia and it will remain that way. Now die Human, like the rest of your primitive race." But before Necron Lord could broke Canoness neck something came at crushing speed to his right side and cut down his arm and freed the Canoness. It all happened so fast that even the Necron Lord was surprised. "What is this?" he turned to his right and before him stood Clare with her Claymore at the ready. "Another Human, but I didn't sense you at all. No matter, I see that you are quite amusing. I will have such a good time taking you down." And he swings his staff to try to hit Clare. But Clare avoids that attack easily and retreat to the city's center.

"Fool." Necron lord chanted as he used teleportation to get right behind Clare. Two Sisters that got tossed when Necron Lord first teleported rushed to help their Canoness who saw Clare in her present situation and commented: "That fool, what in the Emperor's name is she doing?" Necron Lord was right behind Clare and he was preparing to deliver the final blow, in front of him Clare just stood silently. "I am disappointed human, this could have been very exciting. Now all that remains is for you to die" He raised his staff and prepared to cut Clare in half but Clare suddenly told him. "I got you right where I want you."

"What." Necron Lord stood there amazed, but it didn't last long. Several moments' later quick slashes of sword could be heard behind him and Necron Lord was cut into pieces. Clare used herself as a bait to get Necron Lord In exposed position and in that moment Ilena run behind him and used her quick sword to cut him into pieces. What remained of Necron Lord fell to the ground; Clare turned around and talked to Ilena who stood there with Claymore in her hand. "I see that you got a little sloppy Ilena."

"Hm…it seems so Clare. I haven't been in action for moths. And a word of advice let me do all the talking with the Sisters of Battle. I already told Miria the same thing." Clare turned to see five Sisters of Battle concentrated around their leader. "You don't trust them?"

"They are highly negative to psykers and mutants and we fall into both those categories. If we do something wrong we may face their guns to, and we won't need that now." Clare answers: "I understand." And then holster her Claymore to hole in her power armor and both her and Ilena head to meet other Claymores who just started appearing in the street. On the other side Sisters of Battle notice them too. "What the… I didn't know that there are more Sisters on this planet. But these are not from our Order."

"It seems so Sister Michele, could it be possible that the liberation fleet is already here?" Two sisters argued about Claymores while their Canoness finally stood up with the help of two of her sisters. "I don't think so Sisters, Necron were also attacked when we start firing on them. These Sisters were here before Necrons arrived, and they were waiting them in ambush." Michele replies: "Huh, what are you implying Canoness?"

"I don't know Sister Michele, but I think we will get our answers shortly. Here they come." Claymores regrouped at the town square and head forward to meet Sisters of Battle. Upon meeting them Miria and Ilena stepped forward to greet them. "Greetings Sisters, my name is Ilena and this is Captain Miria." She points to Miria to the left of her. "We are Sisters from Order of Claymores of the Pure Heart."

"My name is Canoness Valeria, Order of the Martyrs of Cerea. Tell me one thing Ilena, were you here before Necrons arrived because I can swear that I saw a dropship living this area little before Necrons arrived?" Ilena replies: "Yes, the dropship was deploying us here so that we can oppose the Necrons and hopefully drive their interest back from the capital city." Sister Lara then asks: "I see, then tell me Sisters did liberation fleet arrive to help us defeat these menace?"

"I am sorry but we are here to evacuate the population. We lack forces to successfully defend this world so that was the best course of action for this situation." Canoness Valeria comments: "So the rumors were true about the evacuation?"

"They are very true; in fact it was I who ordered it in the first place." Canoness and her sisters look at Ilena with surprise in their eyes; they couldn't say anything for a few moments. Behind Ilena and Miria Helen asks Deneve quietly: "I think that she said something she shouldn't."

"You ordered the evacuation of the planet?" Canoness asks Ilena. "Yes." Canoness is surprised, and she asks: "How could you do this, we are not authorized to evacuate entire world." Ilena replied completely calmly: "They listen to us because we are also Inquisitors." Canoness looked even more surprised than before. She looked at every Claymore that was before her. "All of you?" Ilena replies: "Yes, all of us."

"That….is ridiculous. Sure you are joking?" Sister Michele asks Ilena. "We are not joking; we are just eight female inquisitors who decided to form our own Battle Sister Order. To masses of the Imperium it's much easier to open and talk to the likes of Sisterhood than Inquisition; surely you would agree that this is more efficient than going around in Inquisitor's outfit?" Canoness Valeria address: "Sounds reasonable and it's smart too. But aren't you giving up your privileges to use rare Inquisitorial weapons by taking Sisterhood armor and weapons?". Ilena answers: "Not really, being that our main chose of weapons are our swords we have no problem with using Sisterhood battle armor." Meanwhile, behind Canoness, Sisters under her command are quietly debating. "It is sure strange to see Sisters using such huge swords; those look like that they could be used by Astartes, not us."

"It seems so Sister Lara, but did you saw how easily and quickly they deal with that xeno? Those swords are something." Nadia comments: "Yeah, I am just wondering how was she able to evade that attack and be there, in the town's center so quickly. I didn't see her running at all, she just appeared there." Michele answers: "Nadia, you are imagining things. There is no way that you could see her running, none of us were. We were all lying on the ground and when we finally stood up the battle was pretty much over." Nadia replies: "Sigh….you are probably right Michele. But I don't know, something is not right here…" In the meantime Ilena and Valeria were discussing about what to do next: "So what is the plan Sisters?"

"My initial plan was for us to engage Necrons here so that they will send majority of their forces here so that we could buy more time for civilians to evacuate." Valeria is surprised by Ilena's answer. "What the… are you saying that you actually care about civilian population?" ilena surprisingly asks: "Huh? And why wouldn't I care? These are the Emperor's people, and we as his servants have duty to protect them from harm." Canoness answers: "It's nothing Sister Ilena, just… There is so little Inquisitors that thinks like that. Many of them would rather sacrifice millions for their own agenda." Ilena replies: "We are not like that, in our service we will see to save as many as we can."

"Hm, that sure is noble of you. But I do hope that you will stay that way in the future, for many talked like that and in the end they to sacrificed million when the time came to do that. Do not look at me surprised Sisters, sometimes is better to sacrifice million people so that other billion could live. Majority over minority, that is how it's been for millennial and how it will be for untold more millennia to come." Uma then suddenly asks: "Than tell me Sister Valeria… how those men live with themselves when they know that they murdered millions?"

"They must Sister if they think to continue their work. That is why the Emperor chosen finest of its servants on such high positions. Because he knew that when the hard choice is to be made that these men will made it, and continue with their duties after that as efficiently as before. It is upon the Emperor's servants to carry the sins of Mankind upon ourselves so that our race could live and prosper, that is the burden of the righteous." Meanwhile, behind Ilena, Deneve commented on Canoness comment. "Makes sense, they didn't want for ordinary people to face the burden so they take it all on themselves. This explains Inquisition and other Imperial organizations quite well." Helen comments: "Wow, do you think they will expect the same thing from us?"

"They probably will Helen, but bear in mind that even if we agreed to serve the Emperor for now I do not plan to give my life just yet. I have too much unfinished business back on Rabona." Tabitha comments:" I could not agree more sister Deneve. But it seems that every next major mission we are sent on is more dangerous and harder to accomplish."

"I agree with Tabitha, the last clash with Orks on Gracia was quite serious. We barely managed to get out of there alive." Cynthia expressed her opinion, in the meantime Clare and Miria noticed that the rest of her sisters were arguing about something. "Cynthia, Tabitha, what's the matter?" Miria asks. "Nothing captain." Both of them answered in the same time. "They are just a little concerned Miria." Helen steps up into the conversation. "Huh? Concerned about what Helen?"

"About the fact will we survive yet another suicide mission." Miria turned toward Helen. "Not this again, I thought that we deal with this thing on Gracia."

"I must say that they are right Miria." Clare words came like cold shower to Miria. "Yes, we agreed to help; yes, we agreed to service in the Inquisition but every larger mission that comes gives us even less chances to survive. If we are to survive and return to Rabona one day we must choose our assignments carefully." Deneve also express her opinion on the matter: "Miria, we are not saying that we don't want to help. But us seven going against entire army will not bring us closer to home. We believe in you and we will follow you no matter what, we are just saying that we must be extra careful in choosing our future assignments. Miria looked uneasy at both of them and agreed. "I see. Thank you for your insights, I will carefully consider every assignment we are to undertake in the future and avoid the most hazardous ones."

In the meantime Ilena and Valeria were discussing about what to do next, when suddenly one of Battle Sisters raise her bolter and yelled: "XENO WITCH!"

They all turned toward the administration building, in front of it a mysterious figure was standing still. Ilena and Clare recognize it immediately; it was the same person who helped them back on Gracia. The one who told them about the Orks and the bridge, and the one to whom they gave that strange artifact. It was the one to whom Thelos and Velerius regarded as Eldar, and they have been told to keep a good distance from them. The Eldar was standing still and looking at both Claymores and Sisters of Battle that were across the street.

From the shape of the armor it could be easily concluded Eldar was female, her armor was white with the exception of red hairs coming from the top of hr helmet. She was holding some sort of ranged weapon that look like pistol in her right hand and a long sword in her left hand; sword was cracking in light blue light meaning it was a power weapon. Sister Michele was aiming at the Eldar and she was ready to open fire, but she was stopped by Ilena's voice. "Don't do it!" Sister Michele was surprised at Ilena's action, she immediately protested. "But Lord Ilena, these are xenos as dangerous as the undying ones. Why did you ordered me to back down?"

"Because this one is an old friend." Ilena's answer shocked Canoness Valeria. "Excuse me my Lord… but old friend?" Ilena explains: "She helped us a while back on Forge World Gracia, it was only with her help that we were able to save that world and countless billions living in it." Clare stepped up to explain things. "And she may be here to help us again". "I think we should go and see what she wants here." Ilena declares so and start walking toward Eldar, other Claymores and Sisters followed her. "I understand my Lord but be careful, these Eldar are race of master manipulators. They cannot be trusted, even if they helped you before it was only because they wanted something too."

"Is it really matter what they want as long as they help us Canoness Valeria? But do not worry, we will be careful." Valeria replies: "I understand my Lord, and do not worry I am watching your back." As Claymores and sisters got closer to Eldar she holstered her weapons before them and greets them with open arms. "Nice to see you again Humans, I am glad that you were able to defeat the Orks. But this time the enemy you are facing is simply out of your league." She said so in deep computer like voice, probably the effect of filtering her voice trough her helmet. "So, are they the main reason why you came here?" Miria asks her. "You are right; these Necrons have been our mortal enemies since the War in Haven. I can see that you ordered evacuation of the planet, which was very wise thing to do. And I see that you are trying to buy time by provoking main Necron force to attack you, which is pure suicide Humans."

"Do you have better idea on what to do?" Miria replies back but she is countered by Eldar answer: "You realize by now that this world is lost to you? Beneath the ground millions of Necron are laying dormant and they are waiting to wake up, and when they wake up they will kill every living thing in this sector and beyond."

"What? You got to be joking, millions of these things? How on earth are you planning to defeat them?" Helen is asking while being quite nervous, others are nervous too but they choose to try to hide it as best as they can for now. "I assume you have some kind of plan to deal with them?" Ilena asks Eldar. "We do, and we require your assistance for that."

"Our assistance?" Claymores and Sisters look surprisingly at Eldar "What can we possibly do to help you?" Eldar looked at five Sisters of Battle and says: "We need the artifact you have acquired few months ago that you are keeping inside your basilica." Canoness Valeria is silent. Miria addresses to her: "What kind of artifact did you find Canoness?" Canoness answers: "A very powerful crystal, the readings were of the charts so we decided to keep it until the Mechanicus arrives here to study it."

"That crystal is called Soul Stone, and it can be used to instantly kill every Necron on this planet. The rest of our forces have already established a perimeter and assemble the Soul Circuit, wit hit we will be able to save this planet. But we don't have much time." Valeria protests: "And why should we trust you xeno…" Valeria started to talk but she was cut by Ilena who stretched her arm to note her to stop talking. Ilena then asks Eldar: "What's in it for us?"

"Necrons already know what we are doing and they will throw everything they have against us. They have already moved their main force at our base and left your capital city alone. You will be able to evacuate everyone while we hold our own against Necrons. And after we finish here this world will be free of them and you could easily reclaim it, is not that what you want?" The Eldar offer sounds fair, they will deal with Necrons and after they finish with them they will leave and this planet will again be under Imperial rule. Ilena turns toward Canoness: "Canoness…"

"You are not serous my Lord!? How can you trust this xeno witch!? She is Eldar, their kind is known as manipulative and backstabbing. How can you be sure they will not betray us when they got what they want!?" Canoness Valeria is shouting at Ilena, who is just calmly observing her. "There is no need to get nervous Human, I already told you that our task is to destroy all Necrons on this world. And until we do that we will not leave, so there is no need for you to worry." Eldar are answering to Valeria, followed by Ilena. "Besides, we have no choice here because we lack numbers. Eldar forces are diverting Necron forces from planet's capital; I think that is enough to show us their credibility." Valeria is looking suspiciously at Eldar, than she turned toward Ilena again: "How can you be sure that Necrons are not attacking the capital city anymore? That could be just one more of her lies."

"That much is not a problem Sister, Tabitha!" Tabitah answers: "Yes Ilena?" Ilena then issue her order: "Contact Victor, ask him about the current situation in the city." Tabitha is adjusting her vox unit to match frequency of Victor's vox unit. They are parted some twenty kilometers away, but Imperial vox units are very powerful communication devices. In some cases it was possible for solders to communicate even if they are on opposite sides of that planet. It's all thank to satellites orbiting around the planet, who's technology is so sophisticated it allows millions of solder to communicate on the ground without interference. "This is Tabitha, Lieutenant Victor please responds." Everything is now looking at Tabitha who looks like she is indeed receiving something via her vox unit. After several seconds she happily reported: "Victor just told me that evacuation is almost complete, he is also saying that the main Necron force stopped advancing toward the capital and it's turning toward north. He is asking for his next orders."

"Tell him to see to the end of evacuation and then to leave as well." Ilena issued orders and then she returned to Valeria. Valeria is thinking now what to do, she is doubtful because of the Eldar. "Sister, listen to me. The Eldar are buying time for Emperor's people to evacuate, and they agreed to give us our world back once they finish off with the Necrons here. And giving our current situation I think that working with them for now is not so bad decision." After slight hesitation: "All right Sister Ilena, we will give the Eldar artifact we found and we will help them to destroy the Necron threat. But regardless of everything they done I will still watch my back, I advise you to do the same thing."

"I don't think that will be necessary, but we will also keep a close watch on them." After they agreed to work together with Eldar, Claymores and Sisters of Battle go their way. Claymores choose to follow Edar to their main base while Sisters of Battle will go to their basilica to retrieve the artifact they found a few months ago. From the little town just several kilometers from the main capital Claymores with Eldar have gone north toward main Eldar base while Sisters went northeast toward their basilica, which was located some few kilometers inside the deep forest that covers that entire region. After a few hours of walking Claymores and Eldar reached main base, it was essentially an open hill with energy shields and heavy weapons all over it.

And on top of the hill a giant machine called Soul Circuit stayed dormant, surrounded by several Eldar who constantly monitor over it. The Eldar led Claymores to what seems to be their leader, judging by how other Eldar addressed and respected him. He wore black armor (unlike everyone else who wore white) and white helmet that is black except from the front where it is white. On his chest he have a large like red stone adjunct into his uniform and on his belt he is carrying a sword and something that looks at gun. He was talking to some Eldar Guardians, but when Claymores arrived he send the Guardians off to their positions and addressed the Eldar hat brought Claymores to him: "Tandriel, you have return. Are these Humans the one that returned the soul stone to you on Gracia?"

"Yes Warlock, they have agreed to help us to stop the undying ones." The Warlock approached the Claymores and presented himself: "Greetings Humans, my name is Ronan and I am a Warlock of Biel-Tan Craftworld." Ilena step forward: "Inquisitor Ilena, Canoness of Order of Claymores of the Pure Heart." Valerian commented: "Good to see that you are reasonable unlike the rest of your kind, you helped us on planet Gracia and now we will help you by stopping the undying ones." Miria asks: "Are you sure that you can defeat them?"

"In war nothing is certain Human, but we Eldar have combating the Necrons and defeating them time and time again since before your kind came out of Terra's oceans. With our Soul Circuit activated we will bring swift demise to the undying ones." Ilena assures the Warlock of Claymore's intentions: "The Sisters will arrive soon with the artifact we promised. We will also help you in defense of this position until you are ready to use it."

"I see, very well then. We will fight for our own honor and you can fight for your world." Ilena replies: "Understood." so, and the Warlock leaves their company to attend to more pressing matters. Tandriel approach to them: "Well I can say that you have surprised him quite a lot, he never expected that much respect from Humans."

"The Imperials do not trust your kind at all; they have given us countless warnings against your kind. But so far you didn't do anything to comprise our trust. And now you are even helping us to save this world, so for us at least there is no need to not trust you thus far." Miria expressed her opinion. "I should warn you, not all of our kind wants to work with you, most of our kind don't care if you Humans all die out. To the most of us you are primitives, not even worth our attention." Deneve asks "Do you think so as well?".

"Yes as most of your kind is just like that: oppressive, arrogant and racist that kills everything non Human in their sight. But I also think that not all Humans are bad, the truth is that most of you are just scared which is understandable giving your history. You help me to retrieve my brother's sousl stone and I am very grateful for that." Clare jumps in and asks "You mean that artifact was…"

"Yes, it was my brother's soul captured inside that stone after he fallen in battle on very distant world. He was gathered by your Mechanicus and transferred to Gracia to be investigated. I did everything in my power to evade you and Orks to retrieve it, and I was very happy when you retuned him to me. That is why I convinced Ronan to allow you to assist us once I heard you came here as well." Miria then addressed her: "I see, we are glad you were able to be rejoined with your brother. Where is he now?"

"He is on our Craftworld, in infinity circuit. A place where all Eldar souls end up when their bodies died, and I hope that someday he will return in battle to help us against the undying ones. I also wanted to tell you something Claymores." All Claymores looked at her wanting to hear what she will say. "Be careful, this universe is very dangerous – especially for someone like you who are half daemons. Be especially careful around the Inquisition, they may seem like you allies but deep down inside they are just as rotten as other Humans are. Giving your unique nature they might try something in the future, os be prepared for anything."

"Thank you, we will take that consideration in mind. Oh I see that Sisters have arrived." Ilena noticed that Valeria with her four Sisters have come back from their basilica and she have brought the Eldar artifact with her. The Eldar took artifact and start working on Soul Circuit, the machine begins to transform in front of Claymores and she also started to illuminate strange lightning when the Eldar put artifact in it. Sister Valeria then joined Claymores and all of them moved into position just several meters from the machine. In front of them were numerous Eldar, hiding behind force shields. They also had many heavy weapons like Shuriken and D Cannons; in addition to that they had several walkers and two grav tanks.

Claymores and sisters readied as well, Sister Nadia with her Heavy Bolter and Uma with her sniper rifle took their position near the machine to provide heavy cover fire once Necrons get to close. In front of them remaining Sisters and Claymores formed three fire teams consisted of three warriors, and in front of those three teams stood Valeria and Ilena who would take down any Necron that get to close to them. In one fire team were Nadia, Michele and Laura, the other consisted of Clare, Tabitha and Cyntha and the last one consisted of Miria, Deneve and Helen. Each team was behind force shield and each team covered the Eldar weapons teams In case that Necrons came to close to them. "Ugh, how much longer is this going to take?"

"Patience Helen, Eldar said that this machine is fragile and that they will need some time to finish it." Helen replies:"I know Deneve, but this is making me very uneasy. Standing here, waiting for those horrors to just march and overwhelm us."

"If you are felling uneasy Helen just remembered all those civilians that we were able to save by buying them time to evacuate. And bear in mind that this is not over yet, when that machine is activated it will kill all of Necrons on this planet. So we just have to hold out until then, and giving all the preparations Eldar made it will not be that much hard." Helen answers: "I see, thank you sister Miria."

"Hm, a machine that can instantly kill every Necron on one world, it would be very nice if we had one such machine that could kill every yoma back on Rabona." Miria replies: "Sigh, I know Deneve, our goal is still very far away. But I am confident that one day we will return to Rabona and triumph against the Organization." Deneve answers: "I too think so sister Miria." Some several meters from them Clare was also having a conversation with Tabitha and Cynthia.

"Listen carefully; we will fire at them as long as we can. Once some of them get close to use leave me the close combat and continue to take them out from distance." Cynthia asks: "You will go alone against them Clare-chan?" Clare answers: "Yes Cynthia, I will engage them in close combat when the time comes to allow you to pick them off from distance while they are concentrated on me." Tabitha comments: "That is quite dangerous Clare, we cannot leave you to go alone and face them!" Cynthia also joined: "I agree with Tabitha, it's quite dangerous. Not to mention foolish considering their numbers and their strength. It would be probably for the best if we were to join you."

"You are not as skilled with the sword on close ranged combat as I am, and I am not as skilled at ranged combat as you two. And do not worry Cynthia, Tabitha, I don't plan to die here as well. This is just the precaution if they get to close." Cynthia answers: "All right Clare, in that case we got your back. But if to many of them attack you we will join as well."

"Thanks guys." Clare answered back and took her position behind energy shield. The field in front of them is quiet as nothing but endless green landscape with occasionally some tree or rock formations. Then suddenly the Eldar got ready, they have received the news that Necrons are coming. Several minutes there was nothing but silence in Eldar and Claymore lines, all of them are waiting for the undying ones to arrive. Soon their waiting was over as Eldar announced that the Necrons are just over the hill. Ronan took his power sword and made a stance among his troops.

"May our ancestors watch over us today as we fight the great enemy!" But his cheering turned to despair when the Necrons finally showed themselves over the horizon. From left to right the horizon was filled with black and green colors of Necron army, the vast green valley in front of them was slowly disappearing beneath the advance of Necron warriors. Claymores were shocked to see such force, to them it seems that outnumber even the Orks with their numbers. In first it seemed that Necrons number several hundred warriors with dozen of vehicles, but they just keep coming and coming from the horizon.

"Kaela Mensha Khaine…. All Guardians prepare for battle. Show this Necrons the power of Eldar." At his command the Eldar Guardians fire away their heavy weapons. Shuriken cannons send a volley of plasti-crystal diamond strong material cut through the Necron lines with ease. Necron warriors were powerful and quite thought, being made out of living metal, but they were slow and that was the only advantage Eldar and Claymores have against them. As long Necrons were far away and in range of Eldar and Claymore weapons they could be hold until the Soul Circuit was completed. Shuriken fire was hitting Necron lines with high accuracy, cutting Necron warriors line by line. But even that firepower was not enough as Necrons were just emerging from the horizon. "Oi you got to be kidding me. Just how many of these guys are out there?" terrified Helen asks out loud.

"It seems to many for us to handle, if this Eldar machine don't work we are done for!" Deneve answeres. Beside her Miria turns toward Tandriel:"How much longer Tandriel? "

"The Bonesingers reported that they need more time to finish it." Deneve replied: "If they do not hurry we will be overwhelmed soon!" Tandriel answers: "I know, but we must trust them. They say it will not be long now…. WATCH OUT!" Tandriel screamed to alert Claymores and Sisters of Battle to a new danger. Between them and Eldar weapon teams small glowing green light appeared and from them several Necron warriors appeared. It was just like in the city; they appeared from the thin air and threaten the Eldar weapon teams who were busy with the Necron army in front of them. Claymores and Sisters of Battle quickly got into action and as soon as Necrons were fully materialized they opened fire on them. Bolter fire struck Necrons with devastating blows as each shot penetrated their armor and then exploded inside them, creating hundreds of small parts from one unfortunate Necron warrior.

In the meantime Tandriel charged with her power sword and engage several Necrons in close combat. Her power sword was cutting trough Necron warriors with ease, and thanks to her advanced reflexes she was able to cut down as much as several Necrons in a blink of an eye. Such was the way of the Banshees, the Eldar harbingers of death who used their power swords and superior reflexes and agility to quickly close to the enemy and cut them to pieces. But even with all her effort the Necrons were still incoming, phasing in between first and second defense line in much larger numbers. That forced Ilena and Valeria to join the battle with Tandriel, cutting down Necron warriors as they were phasing in. Two of them also didn't show any mercy, Valeria's power sword and Ilena's power Claymore are cutting down dozen of Necron warriors at the same time. But even with all their effort the Necrons just keep coming, it soon began even worse as they were starting to repair themselves.

"What the… ILENA, VALERIA WATCH OUT! THESE THIGS ARE STARTING TO REPAIR THEMSELVES!" Clare shouted to warn them about new emerging threat. 'What? Don't tell me…' Ilena couldn't believe it, even with her own eyes watching. The Necron warrior that she cut into several pieces just a while ago was already fully connected again and he was starting to rise up when Ilena cut his head in half and finally destroyed him. 'Damn, I thought that they won't start doing that at all. This is very bad." Now there was a threat that they would be overwhelmed as more Necrons were coming while the ones they brought down were self-repairing. Clare and Miria joined the fight; they draw their Claymores and hit the fist Necrons that were close to reassembling themselves.

They didn't even use their special powers as Necrons were to slow for them, and with power upgrade o n their Claymores it was as easy to cut through their living metal just like it was nothing more than ordinary yoma. Behind them the remaining Sisters and Claymores were continuing to fire upon the newly phased Necron warriors and bringing them down. But even with all that power on their hands it was still not enough, some reassembled Necrons were already up and they immediately started to attack Eldar heavy weapons teams. Clare and Miria noticed that and they hurried up as fast as they could to deal with them. As usual they would dispatch them very quickly, but it was too late as the damage has been done, two heavy weapon crews were killed, swapped away by gauss fire. And as a result the Necron army that was still far away started getting closer and closer. "This is bad Miria, they are not so far away now."

"Tch, I know Clare. Let us try to hold them as long as we can, if we concentrate on this one's here than maybe…" "Miria watch out!" Clare warned her and Miria turned around as quickly as her could with word already in defensive stance. Behind her was Necron Wrath, unit with torso and a very long tail instead of legs. Her hands were made of very long fingers; each was as sharp as the finest blade and hard as diamond. Wrath strike at Miria but she was able to block it, Clare appeared next to it and cut it in two. "Thanks Clare."

"It's ok, just watch out there are more of them coming." In front of them in place were the slain Eldar heavy weapon crews were several dozen of Necron Wraths were appearing and starting to attack remaining Eldar heavy weapons teams. Miria and Clare rushed to oppose them as Valeria, Tandriel and Ilena were still busy dealing with phased in Necron warriors. It was much harder to dispatch Necron Wraths as they were close combat specialists, so Clare and Miria had to put in extra effort to dispatch them. One Wrath tried to dispatch Miria's head, Miria pulled her upper part of the body back and she was able to avoid Wrath's deadly strike. In next moment when Wrath finished its attack Miria used the open space and cut the Necron Wrath in two, from bottom to top in one precise strike. On her right Clare was fighting with three Wrath in the same time, holding them off with her windcutter, and when Clare found an opening she would draw her Claymore as fast as she could land deal one swift and devastating blow to Wrath.

She would then return her Claymore to its sheets and concentrate on the next one. But tiem was running out as Necron Wraths were able to overwhelm several heavy weapon teams and as a result the main Necron army was almost at the first line of defense. From there Eldar Guardians and Dark Reapers started firing on Necrons, but even for them it was only a matter of time before they would get overwhelmed. Ilena get a moment of pause after dealing with several Necrons who were just starting to reassemble themselves, she took one look at the battlefield and she was worried. Several meters in front of her Miria and Clare were battling the horde of Necron Wraths and left and right from them Eldar forces were throwing everything they had on slowly approaching Necrons, but it was all in vain since their numbers were not drooping and to make matters worse every next second they were closer to them. She turned toward Tandriel: "Tandriel! How much longer?"

"Any second now…" and as she finished her sentence very loud noise could be heard behind them. Sisters and Claymores stop firing and turned around only to be amazed but the sheer size of the Soul Circuit. On its full power it was like a giant arc that have glowing stone in its middle. The stone was glowing in blinding while light that was getting brighter and brighter. Ronan noticed that too: "Khaine be praised, the Soul Circuit is complete. Activate it!"

He gave signal to bone singers and they started working on it. The stone in the middle started to rotate around his axis in great speed, concentrating all his light around itself. And after few moments it suddenly stooped and released all its light in one powerful shockwave. The shockwave was so powerful that it knocked down everybody, in several seconds it was already over the horizon. Every Necron that was cut in it had his entire body shocked with electricity and after short struggling all of them shut down. The loud battlefield was now turned into quiet scrap yard; with Necron remain all over it. "WOOHOOO! Take that you annoying robots!" Helen cherished their victory, the rest of Claymores and Sisters smiled. They were all glad this was all finally over. They exit their cover and rejoined it was then that they heard: "Oh no…" it was Tandriel, saying so in deep worried voice.

"Huh? What is it Tandriel?" Miria asks, but before she could get an answer she could hear Uma besides her trembling: "No way, how is this possible?" Miria also noticed that all others were shocked and scarred. She turned around only to see the entire Necron army rising again. "What that…." She tried to say something, but she was cut by Tandriel: "The Soul Circuit didn't work." She said that in silent hopeless voice as the Necron army was once again standing and on the horizon, behind them, the first Necron Monoliths were appearing.

Everyone was shocked by what happened; instead of ending the Necron threat the Soul Circuit seem to have worsened the things. Even the Eldar were shocked, they were certain their machine will do the job. "Ronan, what happened? Why didn't the Soul Circuit work?" Tandriel desperately asks Ronan. "I don't know Tandriel, I also thought this will work."

"WATCH OUT, BEHIND YOU!" But before Ronan could acknowledge her warning he was pierced trough his chest by what seems to be a long spear. He was lifted up and turned around, behind him was Necron Lord. The rest of the Eldar were too busy to help their Warlock, and Tandriel could only watch in horror. "You monster…" Ronan addressed to Necron Lord. "Foolish mortals, you think you have it all planned didn't you? We knew what this machine could do so we tempered with your artifact. And now instead of sending the signal to shut us all down it sent a signal to wake us all up."

"No…." Necron Lord continues: "And now thanks to your machine our entire Tomb World is alive and we will conquer not just this world but this entire sector. And it was all thanks to you." Necron Lord said that to Ronan's face as he was finally dying out, before pulling him off from his spear. "NOOOOO!" Tandriel screamed and charged at Necron Lord. "Tandriel!" Miria wanted to head to her but she was stopped by Valeria: "We must go now sister if we are to survive."

"We cannot just leave her here." Valeria answers: "Their plan has failed and now we have entire Tomb World against us, if we don't go now we are as good as dead." While Valeria and Miria were arguing Tandriel engaged the Necron Lord. She strike him time and time again but he was able to counter her every attack, but Tandriel didn't gave up as her every attack became stronger than the last one. In the end she was just and organic being fighting super advanced machine, Necron Lord was able not only do counter almost every attack but to regenerate every wound Tandriel made in lightning speed. Finally Tandriel made an opening and Necron Lord use it, he stretched his left arm and grab Tandriel. He raises her over himself and then he hit her at ground with all his strength. Tandriel almost lost conciseness and was badly hurt, she struggled to move when Necron Lord appeared before her: "That was very brave from you Eldar, unfortunately I was pointless. You will end up just the rest of your miserable species." He raised his spear, ready to finish her of, in his glowing green eyes were as emotionless as the cold heart. Tandriel make peace with her destiny.

"I am sorry brother…" Necron Lord strikes and his attack was repelled. Tandriel raised her head only to see Clare barely holding against Necron Lords attack. The Necron Lord immediately came after her, but with her speed and agility Clare was able to dodge the attack and to prepare to defend against new one. "Annoying human, you will die." Necron Lord said as he strike blow after blow at Clare. But Clare was not alone, all Claymores and Sisters started to fire upon Necron Lord, he backed up to protect himself against incoming fire. As he was defending himself Clare prepared to do quick sword on him, but she was stopped by Ilena who flew beside her. "Let me Clare." Ilena prepared her sword as Necron Lord raised his spear.

"Silly human, that was way too predictable attack." But he was mistaken as Ilena released her quick sword. "Wha…" Necron Lord didn't finish his sentence; he was now in several hundred peaces which flew all around. Ilena's quick sword strikes at incredible speed, so fast that all Necron Lord's regenerating abilities were completely useless. He soon turned into a pile of living metal that was spread all around; it was cut into such small pieces that regeneration was not possible. "Ilena?" Confused Clare just stood there silently and watched at Ilena who just finished her killing move. "I am alright, how is Tandriel." Clare turned to see that Tandriel was already taken by an Eldar Guardian.

"Don't worry human, she will be all right. I suggest that you retreat as well, this world is lost to both of us." Clare asks: "What about you then?" Guardian answers: "We will start retreating in few moments, as soon as we get our forces together. Go now and don't look back." The Guardian said as he took barely awake Tandriel with him and disappears amongst his own kind who was still firing at incoming Necrons. "Clare, Ilena! Come over here, we are living." Miria is issuing an order for retreat.

-"And just where are we suppose to retreat to Miria?" Clare asks, and she was answered moment later by Valeria.
-"We will retreat to our basilica, it's not far from here and there is a transport ship inside. Now come on, I doubt that these Eldar will last long."

Claymores and Sisters of Battle left the battlefield and entered forest, from there they had some ten minutes running until they reach Sister's basilica. For Claymores this was annoying as they were used to run at high speed in this situation, but they couldn't leave Sisters behind nor they could just show their true powers to them. They were the fighting arm of Ecclesiarchy and helping hand of Ordo Hereticus, to them things like Claymores who are half daemons are abomination to holy human form and good only for extermination. Ilena was well aware of that, and during the entire time she was trying to make them as less suspicious as possible. But right now, both Sisters and Claymores were too busy figuring out how they will survive the Necron onslaught. Sister Nadia had to throw her heavy bolter and with that their entire range of heavy weapons. The only armament they had now were their bolters with the exception of Claymores and Canoness swords. There was still nothing around them, even if all sounds from battlefield behind them disappeared about minute ago. They didn't know the Eldar fate, but they knew one thing – the Eldar bought them some time and they were now using it to survive. "Valeria, how much longer until we reach basilica?"

"Only about five more minutes of running Miria." Miria and Valeria are discussing while running. "Good, tell me about the aircraft. Is it operational?" Valeria answers: "It is, everything is prepared. We make sure of it when we were retrieving the artifact. There is just one problem". "And that is?" Ilena asks and Valeria is answering very depressively. "We have no pilot."

"WHAT?" Uma screamed from the bottom of her lungs' "But if we have no pilot then how will we be able to escape?" She was then comforted by Cynthia: "Don't worry Uma, are you forgetting something? We have a pilot with us." Clare uses her head to point to Helen who is running in front of her. "But Clare she was only flying once with the pilot, and was watching the whole time. How sure are you that she will get us out of here?"

"Even if I just watched Uma I had several courses with that pilot before we left our ship. I am sure that I can get us out of here." Helen annoyingly answers Uma's question. "I really hope you can Helen, you are our only hope of getting out of here in one piece. But for now let us increase our pace, the basilica shouldn't be much further from here." Ilena orders her sisters to increase their speed as they were closing to basilica itself. And after few minutes later they have finally arrived, they exited the woods and in front of them there was some sixty meters of open terrain and after that the Sister's basilica. The basilica itself was magnificent building, with a single large done covering it. Behind it there was much smaller building behind witch you could clearly see landing pad and one Valkyrie landed there. Claymores and Sisters stand for a moment to rest, and all of them were astounded by what they saw.

"Praise the Emperor, finally we can go now from this xeno infested world." Sister Nadia is full of rejoice and she is now showing it. But her rejoice suddenly came to an end when full battalion of Necron troops teleported between them and basilica, they were located about twenty meters from basilica itself. "TO COVER!" Canoness Valeria screamed and at her command everyone were running to several rock formations that were located all around the valley. Almost all got to safety except Michele who was hit by gauss heavy blaster just moment before she got to cover, she was alive but badly hurt as gauss heavy fire torn her power armor and made a small flesh wound. "Damn it."

"Are you alright?" Tabita asks Michele who is checking her wound. "I am alright sister, but I can't say the same for my armor. Damn xenos punched trough it in one shot." From distance they could see the Necron army is slowly advancing toward their position, they are lead by another Necron Lord, supported by several Immortals armed with Gauss Blasters. Their heavy weapons were fired around rock formations were Claymores and Battle Sisters were hiding to block any chance of their escape, for Claymores this was nothing as they could use their advanced speed to run away.

But they couldn't leave Sisters of Battle to their faith, and they couldn't also help them with using their powers as they would be targeted by certain elements of the Inquisition later. They were also short on ammunition, about one clip for Bolter was remaining for each Claymore, and Uma had only three more bullets for her sniper. The situation was getting desperate as Necrons were now only about fifteen meters from them, five more meters and they will be in range of standard Necron warriors. But Necrons suddenly stopped, and Necron Lord stepped in front of his army and said:

"There is no escape Humans, we now control this entire world. Don't fight back, join us in an endless tranquility of death. Your resistance is futile, you are outnumbered and outgunned. See the real truth and surrender yourself, I promise that your journey to the afterlife will be as painless as it can possible be." Helen asks:"Damn this guy, what are we suppose to do Miria?"

"I agree with Helen, we cannot just wait here for them to kill us. We must act now." Deneve suggests, but Miria replies: "Tch, I know Deneve. But this guy is not making it any easy. If we could only… what are you doing Valeria?" Miria looks at Valeria who kneel down, cross her hands, place them on her chest and was looking at haven with her eyes close. The rest of Battle Sisters were doing the same thing, they were silently saying something. Miria got closer to her her words:

…for you are the Master of Mankind and master of galaxy by might of your inexhaustible armies. Please father, do not give us to temptation but release us from evil and protect us from the same. For we are Adepta Sororitas, your servants until death…" Valeria and the others were praying to the Emperor, to save them from this difficult situation.

'Such devotion, I wish that we also have some divine being to ask for help in this time of crisis." Miria though in herself 'But we have no time for this, right now…" Miria didn't finish the sentence when something happened. Behind Claymores and Battle Sisters blinding light appeared, it flashed for several moments and then it disappeared. When Claymores look again, after their eyes had recovered from temporal blindness, they were stunned. In the place of those flashes giants in black were standing, they looked like Space Marines but they were much bigger and bulkier, on their left shoulder they could see the chapters sign – white bird that resemble raven.

They are at least nine feet tall and two times more bulky than normal marines; their helmet is white with big red glowing eyes. The moment they appeared they raised their weapons; it resembled a normal bolter with difference of being twice as big and having two barrels instead of one. They hold it in their right hand while their left hand has power fist attached to it, a close combat weapon with power field that is capable of doing serious damage even to heavy vehicles and tanks. The Marines raised their weapons and yelled: "VICTORIUS AUT MORTIS!" after which they unleashed their wrath. Fire from their weapons hit Necron lines and cut to pieces a lot of Necron units. Just one hit from their big weapons blast a single Necron warrior into thousands of pieces, and several of them are wearing very big heavy weapon that was capable to fire as much as six heavy bolter rounds in second.

Those with that kind of heavy weapon concentrated their fire in endless volley of heavy bolts that were fired at incredible speeds, hitting the main body of Necron force and slowly cutting them to pieces. Necron Lord was shocked with what happened, he too was targeted but thanks to his out of the ordinary armor he was able to even withstand that kind of heavy fire. His soldiers were not so lucky, even his Immortals were cut to pieces all except one that was close to him. He took his chance and fire his heavy gauss blaster on one of the heavy armored marines, but his heavy gauss blaster fire bounced off marine's heavy armor and in next moment that marine took notice of that single Immortal that was left and after raising his weapon he blast it to pieces. Claymores were stunned, never before did they see that kind of power. These warriors were even able to fight back the army of the dead, so far without even being scratched.

"What the hell are those guys?" Stunned Helen asks in midst of confusion. "Those must be the Terminators that Tau mentioned to us, I never believed we would actually see one." Ilena answered, even she was surprised at what she is seeing now. So far she only read Dragan's stories and heard legends about Terminators, the finest solders of Chapter taking the most sacred armor and the most destructive guns imaginable. They seemed to be there to help suppress Necrons and take the world back, but no one asked anything since Sisters were still praying and Claymores were still shocked. Then one of them break his formation and got closer to them: "Are you Claymores of the Pure Heart?"

"Uh….y…yes. Yes we are!" Tabitha answered; lumbering giant stands right in front of her. "I am veteran sergeant Vicious from Raven Guard, and we are here on request from Lord Inquisitor Nero. We saw that you have already finished the evacuation but you were unable to evacuate yourself. We will cleanse this alien threat here, and in the meantime we want you to make to that aircraft and make a run for it."

"What about yourself?" Deneve who is near Tabitha asks. "We will do our duty to the Emperor and bring swift retribution to these undying Necrons, Lord Inquisitor Nero said that you are vital part of the Inquisition and you are not to be lost at any cost. Now go, we will make a path for you…Sister?" Vicious turned toward Sister Valeria who was still praying, Tabitha suddenly felt something and start to shiver. "What is this? It can't be?"

"What is it Tabitha?" Deneve asks but she receives no answer, a little further away Clare to was sensing something. "What is this right now? I sense strong energy coming from Sisters of Battle, but that should not be possible. How can I feel yoki from someone who never had yoma flesh and blood put into them?" But it was not long before Sisters of Battle started to shine. They shined in bright gold and their light was so strong that Claymores were blinded with it. Suddenly they all rise, and their eyes were not normal at all – they too are filled with light. 'What the hell is this?' Miria thought in herself while looking at Sister of Battle. But the answer came itself from Valeria: "Claymores, listen to me. My Sister will concentrate their fire to bring down heavier Necron units while we will engage the min close combat and cut ourselves path to our salvation. Do not fear, do not falter, Emperor will saw us victorious this day." All other Sisters of Battle rallied behind their Canoness and raised their bolters, but instead of bolt round from their guns came blinding beams of light. Those beams were literally melting Necron units they hit, each beam was going through several Necrons at once and Sisters were releasing new beam with every push of the trigger.

"Brother Sergeant, concentrate your fire on the center and right, we will take the left and fight our way to the Valkyrie." Veleria talked to Vicious. "All right sister, take care. The Emperor protects!" and with that veteran sergeant and his Terminators were focusing all their fire on center and right Necron flanks. Thanks to concentrated ranged fire a while ago many Necron warriors were killed and with them all of their Immortals, so the only Necrons now remaining were ordinary warriors. But even they were still dangerous if they get too close, but if they manage to get to them in close combat they will crumble and that will be their ticket out of there. Valeria turned toward Claymores who were still shocked by what they saw just moments ago. "Claymore sisters…"

"Just what the hell are you?" Uma asked while trembling, fear could be sensed in her voice. "It matters not who we are now, but who are you." Claymores look confused. "Is there something you want to tell us Canoness?" Ilena asks. "We know who you are, we can see it now. You are half-daemons daemon-hunters." Ilena is worried now, 'How the hell could she know that? Now we are definitively over after this battle is done.' "How do you know that?" Miria asks.

"Our Emperor told us when he answered our prayers." Now everyone was looking at her like she is insane "He also told us that you are pure of heart and that no harm should be brought upon you." Valeria is getting closer to Claymores until she is standing some meter if front of them. "So I ask you now sisters, will you follow me into battle? Fight by my side?" Deneve state reasonable point of view: "What are you saying? You can't possible thinking to go and face all those Necrons alone."

"I am not alone sister, my Emperor is with me. And now I have you, so let us swing our sword and bring holy retribution to these horrors." Claymores were now looking at Miria and Ilena, waiting for orders. Both of them took second to think what to do and both of them draw their claymore swords. "Led the way Canoness, we will definitively follow you." The rest of Claymores follow their example.

Valeria expose herself from rock that was so far covering both her Sisters and Claymores from Necron fire, in front of her stood large Necron force that was slowly advancing toward them. "IN THE EMPEROR'S NAME!" Valeria shouted and charged toward Necron lines, she was immediately followed by her sisters that fired volleys of beaming light that melted down Necron warriors. Necron warriors that were still intact noticed Valeria as she was charging toward them and slowly raise their rifle to bring her down as she was getting in range of their fire. Just as they were ready to fire in front of them unknown figure appeared and cut them to pieces, then the warriors behind them, then the warriors behind them and so on.

Claymores were now free to use their unique abilities, phantom, quicksword and windcutter worked together in perfect harmony and cut lines of Necron warriors at once. Following them were Deneve's two Claymores and Helen's stretched arm, in support from three younger Claymores who didn't have as special abilities like their older sisters but who was also very deadly when they get close enough to their enemy. Necrons were confused as they were attacked blindly fast, they were able to see them but weren't able to respond as their bodies were to slow for Claymores. And when Canoness Valeria joined them it was practically all over for them as she used another special ability that blinded every single Necron warrior around her and Claymores, making them even easier to kill.

In several minutes of bloody and pretty one-sided battle Claymores and Sisters of Battle killed every last Necron warrior that was left on the left flank, once the battle ended on their side Sisters of Battle returned to normal. They lost their shyness and their eyes stopped glowing and returned to normal, but they all collapsed on the ground the moment they returned to normal. Their bodies were exhausted from the strange power they used in order to defeat their enemies. Claymores tried to help them to get up but they were all unconscious, so everyone except Miria, Ilena and Clare who just stood there and watched the rest of the battle that was fought on the central and right Necron lines. The Necrons lead by their Lord tried to get closer to Terminators to get in range to attack them, but just as they started to make progress Sergeant Vicious teleported at the front of Necron lines with several more Terminators that wore close combat weapons and start engaging them in close combat.

Necron warrior's posses powerful ranged attack but they were quite weak in close combat, that was seen moments after Assault Terminators engaged them in close combat. The only one in their army who could do some damage was Necron Lord and he was tied in combat against Vicious, two of them exchanged powerful blows but neither gain the upper hand. Necron Lord strike at Veteran Sergeant, but Vicious used his right Power Claw to deflect Necron Lord attack and then he immediately launched a counter-attack with his left Power Claw, targeting Necron Lord's head. But Necron Lord counters that by using the other end of his staff and the situation again returns to draw as neither of them gained the upper hand. "Should we go and help him? He looks like he has a hard time beating that guy." Helen asks while holding Sister Nadia. "No."

"Ilena…" Clare starts to complain, but she is cut by Ilena: "He told us to get out of here and that is exactly what we will do. They are buying us time to escape and I for one am not the one who will let their effort go in vain." Clare thinks for a minute then silently agrees: "All right, everyone let's go. The way to the landing pad is clear now." But just as they were starting to go toward landing pad a major development happened in battle that draws their attention to Necron Lord and Sergeant Vicious. Sergeant made an opening that Necron Lord used and stabs the Sergeant in stomach, Claymores were stunned. They looked in horror as they couldn't do anything from that range, and in addition nto range they had to cut trough Necron that stood against them and Necron Lord. As Veteran Sergeant was struggling with pain Necron Lord got closer to him and says: "Pitiful creature of bone and flesh, did you really think that you can outmatch me?" In that moment Vicious used his left hand to grab Necron Lord, Necron Lord is confused but he then noticed that Vicious's right hand is ready to strike.

"You used brute strength to outmatch me?" and with one powerful swing of his lightning claws the Necron Lord head was cut into several pieces and the Necron Lord fell. Sergeant Vicious to fell on his back after Necron Lord grip was no more, he suffered devastating blow to his stomach and was dying. Fro mafar, Claymores watched in agony, they couldn't believe what just happened. "He used himself as a bait and actually suffered damage so that he may kill him? That's pretty risky." Deneve commented on situation. She and four other Ghosts were still carrying unconscious Sisters of Battle. "Miria, should we…" Tabitha asks, but before she could finish Miria interrupts her.

"There is no need for that; two of his brothers are already near him. It seems he will be fine." She looked as the two Assault terminators took their wounded Sergeant and drag him to their lines. "We should go while we still have this opening; we will thank them once we are out of harm's way." Claymores run toward the droppad and there they found intact Valkyrie Airborne Assault Carrier, after they opened the doors they went inside and quickly closed the doors behind them. Once inside they put unconscious Sisters of Battle in seats and secured them for the flight. Helen immediately head to the pilot's cabin and took a seat, from there she checked the aircraft operational status. After checking out that Sisters are secured and that the rest of her Sisters are doing the same as well Miria head to pilot's cabin to see what is the status of aircraft. "So Helen, can this thing fly?"

"It can Miria, its reservoirs are full and I am now starting the take off preparations." Miria asks: "Are you sure you can do this?" Helen replies: "I was very well instructed on what to do and I saw how that pilot flew, besides there is no one else who can do this so I am going to do my best. I know my sisters are counting on me."

"Hm, I know you can do this, just take your time." Miria smiled and took a seat right behind Helen, she secured herself and asks Ilena who is sitting in the cargo area: "Is everyone secured?"

"We are all good; we can go whenever we are ready." After gaining confirmation from Ilena, Miria returned to Helen: "We can go now Helen." Helen answers: "Just a second, this thing won't fly until engines reach operational status." Miria asks: "And when will that be?"

"Almost there… Finally, ok here we go." And with a simple push of the button the aircraft vertical engines spring to life. They were slowly lifting aircraft up in preparation for main engines start, the rest o Claymores In back rejoiced when they feel that the aircraft was lifting. They can now finally get out of this nightmare, and Helen was giving her best that they do. "VTOL was successful land still in progress, twenty seconds until main engines starts."

"Good now we can finally get out of this hell." Miria said with a smile, Helen turned to see her and smiled too. But she then heard something strange, a strange and loud metallic sound coming just in front of them. And suddenly, digging from the ground, came huge worm like constructs. They have large and long metallic bodies that are shaped like worms, in addition to that they also have pair of circular like green objects on top of their heads. And on each side of those strange objects they had a pair of Gauss weapons, and that is the first thing Miria and Helen noticed. "You got to be kidding me!?" Helen is nervously shouting while Miria is trying to get some sense into her:

"Get us out of here Helen." Helen replies: "I can't, the engines need more time to start. Argh…" Necron constructs took notice of their Valkyrie trying to take off and started shooting on it, but luckily their first few shots missed. Resulting only in slight shaking due to sheer power of their weapons, everyone was now worried about what will happened next. " Helen, if you do not go now there won't be any aircraft left." Helen tried to respond but she is looking for something, and after few moments of search she found it. The one button that airborne pilot told her not to touch at any circumstance, the description of the button said 'weapons safety on". Helen switched that button and put her hands on controls, leaning her palms to two red buttons on the controller. And just as Necron constructs were again ready to shoot, this time taking clear aim on Valkyrie Helen shouted:

"GO TO HELL!" and pressed the buttons. On Valkyrie's wings the missile pod opened, showing their deadly payload. And when Helen pressed the buttons on Valkyrie's yoke she unlashed full barrage on Necron constructs. The rockets flew with incredible speed and strike with incredible force, only one was enough to severely damaged one of Necron constructs. A volley of dozen of ordinary missiles and two special anti-tank missiles completely destroyed three Necron constructs that were ready to blast Claymores out of sky. Helen herself is stunned by what she did; she was calmly watching the field where once large Necron constructs threaten to bring them down. Now only large blast marks and wrecked metallic parts were left there, meanwhile the aircraft was signaling that the main engines are ready for takeoff. Miria noticed that and called for Helen. "Helen? I think that the main engines are ready.

"Huh?" Helen turned to see what Miria wants. "I think that we are ready to leave." Helen pulls herself together and answers: "Oh, yeah..right… Hold on." And as Helen pulled yoke Valkyrie main engines spring to life and aircraft start flying, they are finally out of danger and going home. "It will take us some time to reach stratosphere, I can already see that our ship is waiting to pick us up." She is saying while looking at several monitors in front of her that feed her with tactical data. "Strange, I don't remember contacting them at all."

"Maybe those Terminators told them that we are coming? Anyway this is great news; this aircraft is not built to operate in space. We should be there in several minutes Miria, at long last we are out of harm's way." Miria adds: "Hm, I agree Helen and I am glad too. And I promise that we will consider what task to take in the future."

"What's with that sister Miria?" Niria answers: "Nothing special really, I just realized that we don't have to take every mission like this. If we want to return to Rabona one day we must do our best to survive here, and taking those kinds of dangerous assignments will not return us home."

"Still, we were able to save all those people. We should also be proud for that even if it was that dangerous. But let me tell you something Miria, even if we all died on that mission I wouldn't regret it. We saved a lot of lives back there and I am proud because for that." Miria answers: "Thank you Helen that means a lot to me. But still, I promise to bring us all back to Rabona. Even if this work is more honorable then working for Organization and indeed pretty much real then the one we had back then – we still have a commitment for our fallen sisters. And also to all claymores that were left on Rabona."

"Don't worry, sister Miria. We will go back one day, and we will set everyone free from Organization." Miria smiled at Helen's respond. 'Thank god for that, we will indeed get back one day and exact revenge for everyone at Pieta. I promise that I will personally bring down their downfall' she thinks in herself while resting on copilot's seat. Meanwhile, at the back the rest of Claymores are rejoicing for finally going home, as they were rejoicing the Sisters of Battle were slowly gaining their consciousness. "Uh…where am I?"

"You are in Valkyrie sister Valeria, we are now going to our ship." Clare is calmly talking to Valeria. "I see, thank you Clare. I am happy to see that everyone was safe." Clare asks: "Tell me something Valeria, back there you looked very strange. What was that power that you received?" Valeria answers: "Haha… What you saw back there was the blessing of the Emperor. He gave us his blessings to see the end of that battle. He also told us what you really are."

"He did?" Clare looks at Valeria, surprised by her respond. "I know now what you really are, half-Human, half-Yoma warriors. You were took as children and had daemon flesh inserted into you to counter daemons. A very sad and terrible faith, but our father told us that you are kind of heart and that you are sacrificing for the safety of others while constantly fighting your inner daemons from overwhelming you. I really envy you because of that, you are martyrs just like us." Clare is stunned; she doesn't know what to reply to that. Valeria is patting her on her shoulder "Don't worry, I will not tell your secret to anyone. You can also be sure for the rest of my Sisters. We will keep silent about everything." Valeria is falling asleep again; she is too tired to stay awake. "I hope you will return to your home one day, to liberate the rest of your sisters…" and then she has fallen asleep again. Clare just smiled and returns her hand to her place, she is glad that everyone survived and there is still a chance that they will return to Rabona one day.

Their ship "The spirit of Vengeance" was waiting them in stratosphere, and one he picked their Valkyrie it start to break from planetary orbit and to join the rest of the refuge fleet. Once aboard their ship the first people they meet when they exited the Valkyrie was Lieutenant Victor, he and his men were waiting for them to return. And by the look on their faces they were more than happy to see them well and alive again: "Welcome back sister, glad to see that you are alive." Victor greets them with military salute and then he raised his hand to Miria and shake with her. "Thank you Victor, we are also glad to see that you are alive and well. Did the evacuation proceed as planned?"

"Yes ma'am, I am happy to report that we evacuated 100% of planet's population with minor casualties to Planetary Defense Force and our own troops." Miria replies: "That's good to hear." All around them, on landing pads and even weapon holders were civilians they have saved. Even if Retribution class ship is big it doesn't; have enough rooms to hold this many people. So they improvise and put people wherever they could, on engineering deck, in mess hall, around the bridge and now even in hangar bay. Claymores were happy while they were walking toward hangar exit, all around them they could see the people they helped to save, and there are millions of them. Even if they saw nothing, they were now happy that they were able to go and save them. Even if they lost their loves, to see this many people saved was the most important thing to them. "Tell me Victor, how are the Raven Guard Terminators?"

"They are fine Lord Ilena, from what I have heard they suffered minor casualties." Miria asks: "Minor casualties? Do they include Veteran Sergeant a well?" Vctor replies: "No, he was hurt pretty badly but I think that he will survive. In addition to him they have lost seven Terminators and have at least ten wounded. But don't be pity them my lords, they did one hell of a job. Saving you and eliminating entire Necron battle force, they also halted the main Necron army with the rest of their company. They are really the emperor's angels of death."

"I see, can you them at least show me to their ship? I want to thank them personally." Victor replies: "I wish I could Lord Ilena, but they left just few minutes before we picked your Valkyrie. But they send us a message before they left. They told us to tell you to take care and that you have greetings from Castellan Thelos of Black Templars." Miria is surprised and she asks for more details: "Thelos? But how…?".

"It seems that Lord Castellan has quite few friends' among Astartes. Even if Lord Inquisitor Nero requested their support the Raven Guard could refused. But it seems that Thelos heard about that and that you are involved and asked them to intervene. It seems that you have got quite a few powerful friends sisters." Victor halted and raised his head; they were now standing in front of hangar exit. The massive opening in hull is big enough for entire cathedral to pass trough, a very powerful void shields is the only thing that stands between them and vacuum of space. Aircraft were still coming and going trough hangar doors, picking up civilians and transporting them to civilian fleet that was just behind their ship. Trough hangar doors they could clearly see the planet Cerea Secundus, now entirely in Necron hands.

"Victor, what will now happened? Will our army arrive to liberate this world?" Deneve asks Victor, who answers her very sadly: "Sister Deneve, there will be no army at all. We will need quite large force to get back our planet from these xenos, and I am afraid that will not be possible at all giving the current situation." Deneve comments: "Are you saying that we will just leave the planet to them?"

"We have no other choice, the people are saved and that's all that matter." Suddenly, on the top tight, the Claymores could notice a giant red disc. It appeared suddenly, and after few moments just existing there from it came the mighty Emperor Class battleship. Following this several more red disks appeared and from each one a ship emerged. "Woah, that's a lot of ships coming here. Wait, isn't that Nero's ship? The one if front of us?" Helen pointed toward the grand Emperor's class battleship. "It is, could this mean that he brought some help and that we will start reclaiming the planet soon?" Uma asks, Victor answers her in very cold voice: "I am afraid not, he has come here to end the Necron threat."

"What do you mean by that?" Uma asks again but receives no reply. While she is looking at Victor with minor confession Tabitha noticed that something was left the ship: "Look there, something just came out of the ship." She pointed to single burning object that left the Emperor's class battleship just moments ago and it was heading toward the planet surface in incredible speed. "Could it be that he decided to go alone down there?"

"I don't think so Tabitha, that thing is going way too fast for either droppod or dropship. My bet is that's some kind of projectile." Helen once again shows her expertise in Imperial aviation. "Are you sure? He cannot do very much damage with a single missile fired at them." Cynthia asks, but receives no reply as everyone now focuses on Ilena who is standing frozen in fear. "Don't tell me that this is…" Clare, who is near her asks: "What is it Ilena? What is that thing that Nero just released on the planet?"

"You will find out soon sister Clare, I am just sad that you had to witness this." Clare replied: "Witness what Victor?" But she received no reply as the answer came just few seconds later. The missile was reaching the surface and when it finally hit it everyone was blinded for a second by huge and blinding yellowish light coming from the place where missile hit. What followed next left Claymores in fear and terror, they hopelessly watched from the surface how planet below them was dying.

From impact site a giant wall of fire was unleashed onto the planet's surface; it burned put forests, glassed the deserts, boiled out oceans and even burned out the atmosphere. Entire world disappeared in several seconds, what remains after was surface still burning as hot magma was released from the depts. Even the planetary crust was affected as giant cracks started to appear everywhere and change the planetary image. Cerea Secundus was gone forever; even the Necrons with all their might were utterly destroyed in the process. This kind of devastation left Claymores trembling in fear, they could still not believe what they just witnessed. "What the hell happened? The entire world….is gone." Helen asks in confession and fear, Victor who is still standing rather calmly is answering:

"Exterminatus. The ability to destroy entire world if he had gone too far from redemption, our very last recource and ultimate weapon against Mankind enemies." Miria asks, still shocked by what she witnessed: "You can destroy entire worlds so easily?".

"Quite true sister Miria, in the Imperium there are lot of things that can bring ultimate destruction to its enemies: the mighty Imperial Guard army groups, the great Titan Legions, the unstoppable Adeptus Astartes and so on. Bu they all pale in comparison to the unmatched exterminates, a weapon so devastating that we only use it in our most dire situations." Victor and Valeria saw how exterminates have impacted on Claymores, they were still hocked by all what has happened. "I suggest that you go to your rooms and rest sisters; we will take it from here. "That's right; I and my sisters will give Lord Inquisitor Nero report on what happened down there. You should go and rest now, you have certainly deserved it." The Claymores didn't say a word; they just silently listen to their suggestion and head toward the hangar exit.

For hours the Claymores were in their quarters, they didn't sleep or rest at all. They were just sitting there, still affected by what happened earlier. Everybody was in its own bed, just lying around and thinking. The silence was interrupted by doorbell, since no one was asking who that was the door opened itself and Lord Inquisitor Nero entered the room. He was not surprised by their reaction, they were after all from primitive world and this kind of destruction was too much for them.

"I just came here to congratulate you on a job well done, even if we lost the planet we saved the population and that's all that matters. The Emperor's work was carried out perfectly and you have even received commendations for Sisters of Battle that fought with you." He still didn't receive any reply, even a hint that they were listening to him at all. But still he continued: "The Sisters gave me a complete report and I must say that I am surprised that Eldar were actually working with you. Normally they wouldn't even consider working with the likes of us, and I also heard that their plan backfired and created even more trouble. Nevertheless thanks to you working with Eldar you bought enough time for our people to escape the xeno clutches.

Anyway, you also got recommendations from Veteran Sergeant Vicious, he survived the mission; barely I might add. He also that he never saw a warriors like you, that you really brought the battle to the enemy and took care of your sisters afterwards. With all things considered this was a great success, even if you are members of Inquisition you will receive commendations very soon." He was still not getting any response from any of them "If that is all, then I shall be going now." He turned around and started to exit the room when Ilena suddenly asks him: "Tell me one thing Nero, was it an easy decision? To destroy an entire world just like that?" He slowly turned around and answers her: "Ordering an exterminatus in ever an easy task, it represents greatest responsibility and greatest burden that falls to us – the members of Inquisition."

"Will that happen to our world some day if the same thing happens to it?" Nero replies: "We will first try to retake it, if the enemy invasion is not too big. But if the world is beyond saving, just like Cerea Secundus was now, we would have no choice but to stop the threat right there before it spreads to other worlds."

"I see, thank you for your answer. I am sorry but we are not felling very well right now, we will give our reports and accept all those recommendations once we rest a little." Nero answers: "Off course sisters, rest your body and souls well. We will talk about future assignments once you get a good rest from this last campaign." And after saying that the Lord Inquisitor Nero left the room, behind him stayed eight very silent Claymores. They were thinking about all that happened so far, on the planet now destroyed and even the missions before. Only now they were starting to realize how dark and terrible everything around them is, and how they are now part of it. But deep down in themselves they knew that they must endure it and give their best if they think to return to their homewolrd one day and end yoma threat for good.