Victory Pointless

The looming shadow of the Tower of Murmuration was barely visible through the thick flows of smoke.  Each of Farreskh’s footfalls crushed through a thin crust of ash and threw up still-glowing embers from below.

This whole area had been extensively inferno-bombed over the last few days and the fires still raged in a few places.

The Shakhana marched forwards, a black wave pressing through the smoke plumes.

The tide was met by a hail of fire from the Tau defenders but between the obscuring smoke and the Necron’s own numerous pieces of stealth tech few shots struck home.

A trio of Ghostkeel Battlesuits engaged, protective drones deflecting return fire.  One, still trailing sheets of tarpaulin from where it had been hastily pressed into service, stomped into the mass of warriors, crushing flailing metallic limbs beneath its feet.

The tide could not be halted, however.  The Necrons pressed on into the heart of the Tau encampment.

In the clearer, higher air above the battleground the Tau had more success.  A dogfight between a Necron Doom Scythe and Tau Barracuda spiralled above but was short-lived, a spread of Seeker missiles spearing the crescent-shaped Necron fighter and sending it tumbling out of the air.

Farreskh glanced behind briefly as the burning wreckage crashed down onto a spot where she had been standing moments before.

Air superiority established, the Barracuda banked around and strafed the Necron lines, while flights of Vespids seized the opening to descend upon the battlefield, neutron blasters blazing.

However, the Necrons rose again as fast as they fell, the Tau fire too diffuse and unfocused to do much lasting damage to the immortal machines.

In desperation to hold back the Necron advance a few Tau units charged forwards into melee range, but were swiftly cut down.  A flanking charge lead by Barrakhad himself completed the collapse of the Tau gunline.

As the destroyers chased down that last of the Tau, Farreskh stooped, locked her fingers under a slab of fallen masonry and heaved it aside with mechanical strength.

Their scans had detected some kind of subterranean structure here and, while it was unlikely any surface-level access points to the labyrinth remained, it was worth checking out.

With the help of her Lychguard she cleared enough rubble to reveal a short staircase, leading down into the ground.  She descended and peered into the chamber beyond.

One hundred pairs of terrified human eyes peered back.  The space was a large basement that had been converted into an impromptu bunker.  She scanned for weaponry.  A few blunt metal knives, a smattering of concealed black-market stub-guns and laspistols, nothing to threaten a Necron.  These were refugees, not warriors.  They must have come down here to take shelter and become trapped.

Further back, corpses were piled, a few partially eaten. The living were clustered around hastily erected atmosphere scrubber units, sputtering and struggling to keep the smoke-filled air just barely breathable.

She reversed a few steps up the stairway and glanced around.  Barrakhad and his Destroyer guard were not in sight.  If they should see this, the humans’ lifespan would be measured in seconds.  It would be a massacre.

She lead the captain of her Lychguard down.  “Vargard, take these humans captive.  Keep them safe.  Keep them hidden from the Phaeron.”

“Majesty…?” For a moment confusion reigned over blind obedience, before the Lychguard remembered his place.  “Yes, Majesty.  At once.”

Suddenly, his arm shot out and for a moment Farreskh thought he meant to strike her.  But no strike was forthcoming – it was his shield arm, raised to intercept a las-bolt that flashed into nothingness on the dispersion field.

One of the human youths – perhaps only a few hundred years old, by Farreskh’s estimate – stood apart from the others, a poorly-maintained laspistol in her shaking hands.

Farreskh waved the shield away.  She had no fear of the weapon – by the look of the thing its powerpack would die long before she did and her would-be assassin was staring in horror at the pistol as if astonished by her own action.

Farreskh crossed swiftly to the young woman, snatched the gun out of her hands, and squeezed until the weapon crumbled to fragments in her metal fist.  She looked the human in the eye.

“Do not do that again.” She said.

+Nachmund Gauntlet Strike Force Crusade Battle+

Mission: Saboteurs

Forces: Necrons (Awakened Dynasty) vs Tau (Kauyon)

Result: 10:4 to the Necrons