The coordinates provided by the Aeldari led to an unremarkable, desolate world. It possessed no Imperial designation on any star chart, nor was there any record of Imperial presence. Its surface was a jagged expanse of lavender-hued, misshapen rock, pockmarked and scarred by countless craters.
Violent, screaming gales tore across the planet, carving cyclopean canyons into the stony crust.
As seasoned wanderers of the galaxy, the Blood Ravens had beheld countless worlds, but the one beneath them was undeniably aberrant. The planet possessed an atmosphere, yet showed no trace of liquid matter capable of evaporation. Furthermore, the surface temperature remained unnaturally stable, lacking the thermal gradients necessary for such atmospheric convection.
And yet, the winds never ceased their howling vigil.
There were no Imperial outposts here, nor any vox-beacons from the Adeptus Mechanicus. Nevertheless, Cawl had provided precise coordinates. While prophetic visions had revealed ruins, and even artifacts suspected to be of Necron origin, orbital scans yielded nothing. The target lay deep within a canyon network, inaccessible to direct orbital insertion. The expedition was forced to establish a temporary landing zone on a desolate wasteland outside the gorge.
Prioritizing security, Cohn ordered the accompanying Battle Barge to first deploy the entirety of the Mechanicus' automated forces.
The Combat Servitors and Automata, refitted by Axion, had been integrated into a swarm-intelligence network similar to the WK-3 protocols. Individually, their cogitators were infinitesimally weak, but in the sheer numbers of a full legion, they possessed enough collective processing power to function as a singular, cohesive mind.
Transport craft disgorged waves of Servitors and Automata onto the surface, where they immediately began forming rigid, interlocking phalanxes.
Scouting data fed back by the Servitors quickly validated the Librarians' divinations: the Aeldari had arrived. However, sightings were sparse, barely a few dozen contacts.
Sensing the window of opportunity, Cohn hesitated no longer. He signaled his brothers to board the Thunderhawks for descent. The remaining Skitarii cohorts aboard the Strike Cruiser were deployed alongside them.
Axion descended with the column, his own units trailing the Blood Ravens.
The Astartes of the Blood Ravens watched the machine-entity with undisguised curiosity, though they maintained a disciplined distance out of deference to the Mechanicus and its ties to Belisarius Cawl. Internally, however, the sons of Azariah Vidya were already calculating how many "combat losses" they might report, hoping to sequester a few of these massive iron hulks for "study." If fortune favored them, they might even coerce some technical schematics from Cawl himself.
Cohn was well aware of his brothers' acquisitive tendencies. This time, however, the Librarians issued a stern warning to all battle-brothers: stay clear of Cawl's specialized machines. A nameless, inexplicable dread hung over them, perhaps the sharpest premonition the psykers had ever experienced.
In the past, the Blood Ravens had "liberated" Mechanicus cruisers without much reprisal from the Magi. Occasionally "acquiring" relics, wargear, power armor, or even ancient Dreadnoughts left behind by other Chapters rarely resulted in true conflict. They were brothers of the Adeptus Astartes, after all; even if they shared no common Primarch, the bonds of the brotherhood usually smoothed over such minor... indiscretions.
But Axion was a different matter entirely. To him, an unverified entity was at best a temporary collaborator. Should complications arise, he would not hesitate to designate these "allies" as hostile targets. Axion possessed ample data on Astartes combat capabilities, having analyzed the Ultramarines extensively. To an intelligence housed in a reinforced alloy frame, these so-called demigods appeared remarkably fragile.
To Axion, Ceramite was hardly a superior material. While sturdier than common industrial alloys, it could still be crushed and deformed under sufficient pressure. It lacked the self-repairing sophistication of Necron Living Metal. Against two companies, two hundred Space Marines, Axion viewed victory as merely a matter of time, especially with a legion of Cawl's Servitors and Automata at his command.
As the Blood Ravens dressed their ranks and performed final rites on their wargear, preparing to trek from the LZ toward the coordinates, a small Aeldari warband began a cautious approach.
Axion detected them almost instantly.
Leading the group was a female Aeldari. Cawl had extracted visual data of Yvraine from his memory banks and transmitted it to Axion to prevent a fratricidal incident during the initial contact. Utilizing an omni-directional monitoring system far more precise than any standard Imperial Auspex, Axion could resolve her features clearly from kilometers away.
The Blood Ravens were not surprised by the xenos' presence. Their Librarians had foreseen the Aeldari and even glimpsed fragmented visions of them fighting side-by-side against the Necrons. It was clear that, for the moment, they would be uneasy allies. Even so, the Blood Ravens remained wary. Had the prophecy not been so clouded regarding the mission's end, the Librarians might have already begun plotting the xenos' eventual liquidation.
Following the designs of Cawl and Guilliman, Axion had to deliver the Aeldari Soulstone to Yvraine before she made contact with the Blood Ravens. Any delay risked compromising the entire operation.
While the Skitarii, practically shanghaied into service by the Blood Ravens, were still unloading supplies, Axion unilaterally led his units away from the landing site, taking the entire mechanical legion with him.
This sudden movement set Cohn and his officers on edge. Though they had a history of pragmatism regarding xenos cooperation, a legion of "iron-heads" acting independently could easily ignite a powder keg.
The brutal environment soon gave Axion a renewed appreciation for the shortcomings of Imperial-grade hardware. The howling winds occasionally sheered chunks of rock from the cliffs, sending debris screaming through the air like high-velocity rounds. Most of the Combat Servitors were not fully mechanical; though their limbs were replaced with weapons and their torsos reinforced with plating, they still relied on biological legs for locomotion.
The flying scree caused minor damage to several units before they had even engaged an enemy. Axion watched with cold frustration as his Combat Servitors began to limp.
Had it not been for the fact that Nurgle's rot typically affects metal as well, the Aeldari Rangers watching from the shadows might have mistaken this shambling, flesh-and-steel procession for a horde of Plague Zombies.
However, having been forewarned by Yvraine of the pact with the humans, the Rangers held their fire upon seeing the Imperial Aquila and the sigils of the Adeptus Mechanicus. They slipped past the bizarre mechanical column, moving toward the rear in search of the Ultima Segmentum markings of the Ultramarines.
But beyond the thundering, relentless advance of the machine legion, they found nothing at all.