Herald of the Stars: Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen (Patreon)

Watching the live footage from multiple angles is harrowing. The green, molecular shearing strikes of gauss weaponry and flickering beams of particle weapons pound our armoured convoy with perfect accuracy, punching through armour with ease.

With the Necrons finally firing their guns, we’re able to pick out their emplacements but we don’t fire back as, thanks to the bombardment, we know that the Necrons’ Quantum Shields can cover up to five kilometres from their tomb’s entrance.

The Eldar scatter, but continue their advance, their swift craft, sharp movements, and holofields doing an excellent job of fooling mine and the Necron sensors. The Falcon and Fire Prism tanks are a flat, oval leaf shape with a central split and a bulbous crew cabin. Behind the cabin is a small transport space for six guardians. A delicate turret, bristling with sensors and guns, spins above it.

The Eldar tanks and Jetbikes rapidly accelerate to eight hundred kilometres per hour, a truly ludicrous speed for tanks, and in under two minutes they’re able to return fire and rapidly pick off the two Gauss Annihilator emplacements, as well as six Gauss Flux Arcs and twenty Particle Shredders.

With the most heavy weapon emplacements thoroughly slagged by incredibly powerful bursts from their Fire Prims’ main cannon, the Eldar armour retreats. I look around at my friends’ faces and they are all equally horrified, entirely aware that without the Eldar we would have likely lost most of our forces before we even got beneath the shield.

As the Eldar armour retreats, they are fired upon by the Necrons’ lighter emplacements, that quickly narrow down the real falcons and Jetbikes with hundreds of Heavy Gauss Cannon that are much more successful at tracking and hitting the Eldar. One by one, they are picked off and destroyed, with perhaps half of the tank drivers ejecting successfully.

The Jet bikes continue the assault, launching missiles from their bikes, obliterating dozens of Heavy Gauss Cannon. They near the walls of the squat tomb dominating the jagged landscape then decelerate so fast I am shocked the pilots are still conscious. Once they reach the walls, the Eldar dash back and forth chucking Melta Bombs at the Gauss Cannon, then begin their retreat, looking annoyingly awesome as they drive off with the exploding defences behind them.

Two minor gates in the North Tomb’s grand gate slide open and nine Necron Destroyers rush forth, ancient Necron Immortals who have replaced their legs with a long hover platform and an arm with a Heavy Gauss Cannon. Hundreds of Necron Warriors follow beneath the hovering Destroyers, their ancient bodies slightly jerky and ill coordinated. As the Warriors spread out, the Destroyers chase after the Eldar Jetbikes, firing relentlessly.

Tiny hatches along the North Tomb snap open and Canoptek Scarabs, palm sized robotic insects, pour from the tomb and swarm over the broken weaponry, rapidly disassembling the twisting structures and then slowly assembling them anew.

“We should send the IFVs ahead,” I say. “We can’t wait forty-five minutes for the tanks to get beneath the shield or the Necrons will repair everything. Even eighteen minutes for the IFVs is probably pushing it.”

“Agreed,” says Maeve. “Sending.”

While our Chimeras and Crassus push ahead, the Necron Destroyers are falling behind the Eldar Jetbikes, unable to keep up with their absurd speed. Their shots are still deadly, and by the time the Jetbikes are out of range of the remaining tomb and the Destroyers, only seventy Jetbikes remain.

Our own forces continue to take casualties too and we reach the five kilometre mark with approximately sixty thousand troops remaining. So far, eighty percent of our casualties have been Servitors. I am distinctly unhappy with how outclassed we are and send out an order to capture as many gauss weapons as we can. Hopefully, with enough experimentation, I can find a way to counter their weaponry, preferably without having to build absurd numbers of mobile void shields.

This is also the second time I’ve been forced to send my infantry ahead of the tanks, almost entirely negating the point of building the bloated, armoured vehicles. I make a note to check up on my development projects to see if anyone has managed to advance the design. Preferably without impacting the Leman Russ's important features, like ease of mass production, low cost, reliability, and ease of repair. I.e. A low tech-burden.

The moment we’re beneath the shields, we launch our own missiles. A Gravity Pulse, a Necron anti-air weapon, sweeps out and destabilises our salvo, sending the missiles spinning into the air or crashing to the ground. Less than five percent recover and return on target, smashing into the mostly rebuilt defences.

I curse as I realise the Necrons, as they always do, are slowly ramping up; more technology and machines are being authorised by the tomb’s controlling intelligence, the bigger and longer the threat to the tomb persists. This is why I didn’t want to give them too much time as there is a limited window within which to disable them enough before they sweep us all away in a steel, toneless tide declaring: “Surrender and Die.”

Another salvo is launched immediately, this time with more success, as the Gravity Pulse hasn’t recharged yet. Hopefully, the repairs have now been delayed long enough for the tanks to arrive as my transports have expended all their missiles. Seeing how devastating the Necron anti-air defences are makes me glad I didn’t try and air-drop my troops in.

The Destroyers abandon their chase and return to the marching Necron Warriors whose movement has gone from a staggering march to a smooth jog. It is incredibly disconcerting how quickly they are recovering their capabilities. The Warriors spread out from their thick columns into squads of ten and scatter, all while advancing in a perfectly straight, horizontal line, each Warrior adjusting its step so that no one Warrior is even a millimetre out of line across a two kilometre front.

The Warriors separate into nine battalions of three thousand troops, each battalion is led by a Destroyer. Three Destroyers combine into one regiment that, from my top down view on the holotable, have formed a wedge, assembled into three loose triangles of Warriors.

Rather than have our forces picked off inside their transports, our IFVs slow to ten kilometres per hour and our troops disembark at a fast jog and move alongside the transports. The Chimeras, who have had their turret mounted Multi-Lasers swapped out for a second Heavy Bolter, start picking off Necrons with bursts of tempest shells. The Necrons are quick to teleport away the moment they take critical damage, absorbing between two and four shells before they phase out.

Our thirty Vanguard Armours also open fire, launching arcing plasma shots from the single Plasma Cannon on their shoulders and the Super-Heavy Arc Rifles in their mechanical hands sweep back and forth, blasting triple helices of blue-white light into the Necron ranks. They also take shots at the Destroyers every time they rise above the heads of the Warriors, but five minutes into the cacophonous exchange, no Destroyer has been disabled, only damaged.

These heavier weapons are pleasingly effective, especially the plasma cannons, as their grenade-like blasts vaporise enough necrodermis that multiple warriors are removed with every strike and, if close enough to the central blast, the Warriors are permanently destroyed.

Unfortunately, the ammo is heavily limited for the plasma cannons and they can’t fire more than once every twenty seconds without risking overheating. While that isn’t catastrophic for a vanguard armour, emergency-vented heat would wash over the plasma containment vessel holding all the ammo, risking a breach. Such an explosion would be spectacularly fatal for everyone within fifty metres and the chance, no matter how small, just isn’t worth it.

Our frontline Servitors and occasional Herald unleash their Hellfire Lasguns at the enemy to moderate effect. The new designs overpenetrate the Necrons warriors, but unlike an organic enemy, their wounds slowly close even as they return fire. Squad commanders start highlighting targets and the Necrons begin taking significant casualties beneath the more focused fire.

“Should we continue the advance?” says Thorfinn, “Or build a barricade of IFVs and dig in?”

Even as their casualties mount beneath our withering fire, it feels like we’re fighting an ocean as newly woken warriors trickle from the tomb, replenishing their losses at a steady rate.

“The Necrons aren’t stopping,” says Eire. “If we don’t retreat we’ll be in melee soon enough either way. Might as well see how our troops fare and see if we can gain an advantage up close. Emperor knows we can’t beat out their ranged weaponry, nor perhaps gain the chance to break their defences a second time.”

Maeve grimaces, “There is no guarantee the Eldar will help a second time.”

“How is the Eldar’s second, simultaneous assault progressing?” says Eire.

I review the data being sent to us and our own planetary scans, “They’ve already broken in and found some way to disable the repair of the outer defences.”

Thorfinn snorts, “That would have been nice to have. We can’t delay our own decisions though.”

“We should hold,” says Maeve, “and wait for our armour. The infantry raced ahead to keep the tombs outer defences down. That has been achieved.”

“I agree, but keep enough Crassus back we can retreat all our Heralds,” I say. “The Servitors do not need to return and the Chimera are replaceable.”

The orders are sent out.

Our Heralds and Servitors spread out and go prone. The rough terrain provides adequate cover and our casualty rate rapidly drops. To my surprise and delight, I realise the MOA infantry shields are surprisingly effective. Unlike the heavy weapon emplacements, the Warriors’ Gauss Rifles can’t punch through a second layer of armour wherever the shield and Void armour are not contiguous.

The Necrons recognise their lacking armour penetration about the same time I do and start to target any limbs not covered by the shields instead. The Heavy Gauss Cannon of the Destroyers have no such trouble. However, like the Plasma Cannons on our Vanguard Armours, they are limited in number and, without an important target like a tank, are of limited effectiveness against infantry.

Our Servitors are no longer weak flesh and require at least two or three hits to take down unless the Necrons can get a central hit on the upper torso where their brains are. However, the Warriors can clearly detect the difference between Heralds and Servitors and coordinate their fire perfectly, ensuring the Servitors’ destruction either way. While it is frustrating to have my work so easily countered, the Servitors are performing their intended purpose and absorbing fire for the Heralds.

As the Necrons close, our MOA shields cannot cover every angle and our casualty rate ticks back up.

The Chimeras fare less well. Once they are in place, the crews hunker down inside their vehicles and use their MIUs to direct the machine-spirits, picking away at the Necrons. They only raise their heads to reload the heavy bolters, or drag supplies from the vehicles before the green lightning-like blasts of the Necron gauss weaponry can destroy everything.

The moment the Necrons realise we’re creating a defensive line, they break into a sprint, approaching at a daunting and steady thirty kilometres per hour. Their accuracy drops at high speed, so they focus fire on the Chimeras, targeting the hull and turret mounted heavy bolters. They also pick on the Vanguard Armours, who quickly take cover behind the Chimeras. The Vanguard Armours’ Conversion Shields hold off the worst of the fire, but we still lose five of them.

This back and forth as each side continuously seeks and counters advantages continues for another eight minutes, then the Necrons are upon us. Up close, the Destroyers can’t hide behind the infantry and our Vanguard Armours slag them immediately with a coordinated volley.

Our own infantry do less well, the three prongs of the Necron assault punch through our scattered squads and chase them down. The Vibroblades and MOA shields desperately wielded by the Heralds can only deflect the vicious axes welded onto the end of the Necron Gauss Rifles, but cannot cut through necrodermis of the Warriors in a single blow.

Before they can be overrun, the Vanguard Armours charge in with their powerblades, giving the Heralds space to rally, but like the Destroyers, this makes the Vanguard Armours easy targets and within two minutes they are all wrecked.

While rallying, several pairs of Heralds have an identical idea at the same time: one Herald defends, and the other slips between around the powerful, clumsy blows of the Warrior they’re facing and restrains them, then the other is free to saw the Warrior’s head off. This tactic is quickly copied and the Heralds begin to hold their own, though they still remain scattered, unwilling to bunch up and be scythed down.

The Servitors are somewhat useless and continue to hack at the Necrons to little effect, but the Necron Warriors can’t outperform them either, so they just keep parrying and dodging each other with set routines. It does, at least, tie up the Necron Warriors until the Heralds can take care of them.

With the Necron advance halted by the Vanguard Armours, then bogged down by the Servitors, the Necrons are slowly forced to bunch up, leaving them vulnerable. Our unengaged Heralds find it easier to coordinate their shots up close as they do not have to wait for direction from their squad leaders. Instead, they form ad hoc groups, pick a leader, and shoot at whatever Necron their leader is shooting at.

Over the next few minutes, the Heralds start to win.