Lann Calisi was a one of the crewmen for the Scatter Laser of the second unit of Guardians from the Saim-Hann Craftworld. Like the rest of his unit he was no warrior, he had not chosen to follow the path of a warrior into one of the aspects, but in times of need all Eldar had been trained to fight and this was one of those times. Their task was simple they needed to hold their ground from an army that would almost certainly bring the fight to them. They did not know the relevance of this objective and did not question it, all they new was that the powerful Farseers of their craftworld understood its importance and that was enough. In defending this objective they were not alone, as he stood on top of a large derelict structure Lann could see the fiery glow from the molten iron flowing through the Avatars body. He sensed the presence of the ancient god, and faced the battle with confidence the he and his brothers and sisters would do great acts of valour today! A unit of Dark Reapers was also keen to take up position to add some extra firepower to try an cut down the Blood Angles as they approached , but they were still several meters away from a good position. In front of the defencive unit were two wave serpents and a Vyper this one of the attack groups with units from the Dire Avenger and Fire Dragon Aspects, it was identical to another group positioned on the other side of the battlefield, Lann did not know their mission but knew once their engines ignited the battle would commence and the Eldar would try and outflank their enemy! The only other group on the battlefield other than the initial units of the enemy which could just be seen on the horizon was the wraithlord Y'Ragon who stood beside brightly coloured Falcon of the Farseer Y'Lil and unit of Harlequins who would fight along side the Saim-Hann for the Laughing God!
The battlefield suddenly erupted with motion as the two outflanking groups quickly sped down either side of the battlefield. Lann saw the command Falcon move forward and the slower Wraithlord move gracefully towards the enemy, he could barley make out the silhouettes of the enemy before there was a command to fire and all Eldar units did as commanded. For his part Lann fired his scatter laser into one of the buildings seeing the outline of heavily armoured marines taking up positions to fire upon the wave serpents. The sound of the fire power was deafening but he could see no obvious signs of damage to the enemy tanks, it soon became obvious that the damage had indeed been minimal as the Blood Angles unleashed heavy fire of their own. Lann saw the turret of one the serpents explode, but the transport vehicle itself looked intact. Within seconds a tank had sped from the enemy lines and was almost upon Lann's unit and marines with jump pack came out of the shadows. Lann's instinct was to fire upon the tank but knew that they had orders to take out the devastators before they could destroy the Eldars tanks and take away any advantage that they may have. In the distance Lann could just make out the hazy image of a the harlequin unit as they left the Falcon, but only for an instant as their holo suits made them almost impossible to see! He had seen them perform their acrobatic skills only days before acting out Eldar mythology in dance and song and now they would dance through the enemy ranks leaving nothing but corpses. Lann's shooting proved more accurate and he could see one of the Marines fall from the rubble, the Bloody Handed God would be pleased! The distinctive sound of the reaper launchers had not been heard today and Lann began to wonder if they had managed to get into a good position before the battle had started.
The communication system reported that they had lost contact with the Warp Spiders that had tried to land deep inside enemy lines and that the Blood Angles were beginning to advance.
Below him the Avatar strode forward to meet the enemy and join the unit of fire dragons! The tank that had been a danger below had been stopped although Lann could not tell where the final shot had come from!
Everything was happening at once, news came that the Eldar advance has going well and that the enemy leader the legendary Gabriel Seth had fallen to a shot for the wraithlord Y'Ragon, it seemed that Y'Lil a powerful farseer had used the energy of the warp to guide the shot and seal the champter masters fate. Lann however had other things to concentrate on, a storm raven had thundered onto the battlefield an within seconds a heavily armoured unit of Terminators descended within meters of the Eldar god incarnate! At last he heard the Reaper launchers as they fired at the terminators but their armour was to strong! The Avatar was soon in combat with this new enemy and although he manage to defeat two there just seemed to be two many of them, and before his very eyes Lann saw his god fall!
The avatar had filled him mind with blood thirst and whilst he had been alive the Guardains had the confidence of hero's. This all changed in a second and suddenly the horrific reality of battle hit Lann and for the first time that day he felt fear!
The storm raven opened fire on the Reapers and destroyed them with leaving only the Exarch! The terminators marched onward to the objective, below Lann saw the first unit of Guardians crushed by the power fists and thunder hammers. His unit open fire desperately hoping to find a small fault in the armour of this terrifying enemy! The fire dragons and the Reaper Exarch also fired and although more successful still a few remained. With the storm raven closing in Lann felt that their time had come and that they had failed their craftworld. He hoped that his psychic energy would be captured by his spirit stone an not lost to the warp.
Just as Lann and the rest of his unit were about to face their enemy face on in combat a shot from a bright lance hit the storm raven and riped though the crafts engines blowing it to pieces in front of there eyes, blinding them for what seemed forever.
When Lann regained his sight the battle was over, the Blood Angels had suffered heavy casualties and been forced to conceed the objectives, Lann and his colleague had survived against the odds!
In days that followed stories of the battle were told, and most relived the moment when Y'Ragon had destroyed the Storm Raven or the shot that had taken the Chapter Master from the battlefield. Others told of the furious dance of death inflicted by the Harlequins as they quickly advance through the enemy ranks. Some even told of a brave or maybe foolish lone Blood Angel who had tried to defeat the advancing Eldar units. The true hero's of the day may however be these brave guardians who stood their ground in defence of something they would never know the true identity.
Gary of Team Gambit
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