Warzone: Borhelia - a mini-campaign on the planet Boreliah in the Esenie system!
Yrathea stooped in her tracks and sniffed in the air. The pale-things structures were not far away and she could smell the vile aliens as she came closer. Why had they come? Why invade these peaceful lands? Why kill them without mercy? And the pale-things were strange, not only by behavior, but also in their appearance. All pale-fleshed, all clad in strange scales. And those fire-sticks. That killed. Without mercy. When the Kh’aani killed, it was for survival. To eat. To live. Those pale-things… they killed for… conquering. In hate. In self-proclaimed righteousness. Even for entertainment… The pale-things were so different, so violent… so without honour… And yet… She could feel a connection with some of them. Her people had felt it too. The thin ones. In coulourful clothes. No Kh’aani had met them. Yet… It was like something… connected with them. Yrathea wondered if they would palaver… talk… even be friendly… She would suggest this to the High-mistress.Later. She would know what to do. For now, Yrathea would approach the pale-thing tower and destroy it. She gestured to her braves to advance silently.
Yrathea spotted the stone-circle and sighed with relief. It was not desecrated. When they arrived she would mark one stone with her sign. To show respect and honour. Her small clan was seen as insignificant and reaching a circle and mark it would be a great sign of achievement. It would mean more respect among the Kh’aani. She was just about to advance when she saw movement in the distance. Her keen eye-sight told her that the pale-things in thick scales were approaching. Coloured like the sea, they were. Fire-sticks raised and roaring machinations. One machination resembled a sea-coloured giant pale-thing. Yrathea swallowed hard and felt rage build up inside her. They were approaching the stone-circle! Her rage erupted and she sent a thought to her warband to prepare to attack. Kill without mercy! Kill!!
Yrathea told Gh’haara to take his warriors towards the giant pale-thing and tell the Hiirrs to join him. Gh’haara nodded and telled at the winged floaters to join him. They moved fast towards a small, wooded area to intercept the oncoming machine. Yrathea watched them go and said a quick prayer for them. They would probably meet Ghor and embrace the after-life in just seconds, but hopefully they could at least halt that sea-coloured monster for a while.
As the Gh’haara’s warband advanced into the small forest, the giant pale-thing opened fire. It was a storm of fire, bullets and death and the Kh’aani warriors stood no chance! The Hiirrs burned and the warriors were shoot to a bloody mess in a few seconds, killing them all!
As the Kh’aani warriors and the Hiirs were butchered in the forest, Yrathea nodded to her trusted Sl’eekh and moved with them to clash with the pale-thing that were moving towards the stone-circle. With raised claws and a roar, they rapidly moved to catch the pale-things before they desecrated the circle. Then she saw another monster bearing down on them! A giganting thing with lots of wheels, connected to a worm-like thing that made it move extremely fast. The thing had several fuming fire-sticks pointing forward and it looked like her warband was in deep trouble! She steered her and her groups of Sl’eekh clear of the fire-sticks and pressed on towards the pale-things that were approaching the stone-circle. The big machine then turned its attention towards a small warband that acted as a rear-guard and fired…
Her blood-lust was almost choking her as she and the Sl’eekh attacked the pale-things. Three of them fell in a few seconds and the rest tried to retaliate, but with a minor success. Two Sl’eekh fell, but the rest renewed the attacks and downed all the pale-things in spray of blood. The last one to have his body cut to pieces was a snow-coloured pale-thing and he, somehow, managed to inspire his dying squad to a last attack, killing all the Sl’eekh! The snow-coloured pale-thing then turned to Yrathea with a defiant roar and thrusted his sword through her chest. As Yrathea died, she prayed to Ghor to make peace with the thin ones and ask them for help.
As the Yrathea’s warband felt their leaders’ death, they stopped, laid down their weapons and waited for their deaths. It was the honour-bound thing to do when a leader of a warband was killed in battle. And the Ultramarines showed them no mercy. It was a massacre and not one Ka’haani was left alive…
***
Highborn To’Kaah was abruptly awakened from her meditation and felt a pain surging through her body and mind. Ka’haani had died! A lot of her people had lost their lives. She let herself slip back into meditation and searched for an answer. After the blurry vision had cleared she saw Yrathea, covered in blood, creatures in sea-colored plates with large fire-stick poking the dead warriors and firing at close range at their heads, executing the few who still lived. She reached into Yrathea’s mind and saw her memories play out what had happened. Yrathea died a hero’s death. She will be remembered and she will sit by Ghor’s side and watch over her people. Oh, Yrathea… you and your warband will be avenged! That is my promise!