Ecthelion's Encounter

“The ship was, of course, a weapon of war but at that time I did not know of the true and secret purpose of the craft and its crew. Since then my understanding has grown a little as over the years I have been able to piece together a few fragments of evidence from others.

Her name was Idrythiss; “The Firebrand”, and I thought her exquisitely beautiful. She seemed to me to have been formed out of the very fabric of the air itself; wonderful long sinewy lines that seemed to fit together seamlessly as though she had been literally poured from the mind of her creator. Like the rest of the crew, my admittance to the ship had been based solely on the position my family held within our Craftworld society. To be a part of The Firebrand meant something to the crew, even if we were completely forbidden to discuss what it was we were doing. I didn't truly understand that at the time, especially since it appeared to me as though we were not doing anything different to any other crew. But I had been well drilled by our teachers not to discuss matters in case even the lesser known titbit of information held some importance that our people wanted kept safe, and so I did my duty, even if I didn't yet understand what it was.

Eventually of course that would change. I was a member of the crew for general duties, but my primary role on board was to act as a member of The Hands of Kurnous. There were ten of us in total and I was the youngest by far. The Five of the Right Hand (that was my team) were the kill team; marksmen who were expected to remove sentries, guards or persons of specific interest. The Five of the Left Hand were the intrusion team. It was they who crawled into the bowels of Imperial compounds or would fly into the wreck of a crashed Dark Eldar vessel. You might assume that the Left Hand had the harder task but in reality our work was just as risky. It was as essential for us to secure an area first, and to remain unnoticed, and we had to use all the means at our disposal to lure and entice security to positions where we could clinically butcher them. Together The Left Hand and The Right Hand worked tirelessly and without outside recognition. It was careful work, but essential to the success of our wider mission. Our hunt.

It was on my last mission for The Firebrand that some of what this hidden purpose entailed became clear to me. It seemed like any normal day aboard ship until the vessel came to an abrupt stop. After protracted moments of silence a slight commotion appeared to be spreading through the ship. We were no longer sailing alone. We were now part of a host. A great host at that. I had never seen so many Aeldari craft assembled together. Something extraordinary was about to happen.

The battle was fierce. I had never witnessed anything like it in all my young years. It was unforgiving and lethal work, but our people were set to it and seemed committed to the kill. As a smaller and lighter vessel The Firebrand was kept back from the main vanguard, left to focus on the periphery of the action. Suddenly, and without explanation we became aware that we were travelling again; only this time away from the conflict.

None dared to speak. Our Captain remained intensely focussed and the main crew clearly had a plan in mind. We sensed that our removal from the battle was deliberate, but we had no idea why that might be. After an hour the Captain gave instructions that we were to set to silent running.

We brushed through space like shadow across a dark pool. No living soul witnessed The Firebrand easing itself gently to a position just above an innocuous looking moon. The crew all held their breath, waiting for instructions. When the call for The Hands came, I was not entirely sure whether to be pleased or not. I felt the excitement, for sure; but there was a degree of anticipation in the air that I did not like.

When our Wave Serpent finally touched down the landing doors were opened, and the orders were given, “Right Hand determine a safe location for us to receive visitors, Left Hand secure the inner perimeter.” As we jumped out the grav engines screamed, lifting the vehicle back up off the moon surface as it headed back towards The Firebrand. All was silent.

The moon was mostly rock but did contain a thin atmosphere. After some time surveying the scene I found the ideal location myself; a plateau of rock that was only overlooked by a section of cliff that I felt we could hold ourselves. I passed back my findings and the team leaders agreed.

An hour later I was squatting down on the rock floor overlooking the plateau. Around me I could just about make out the shape of my fellow team mates, sat in their own positions, perfectly hidden against the rockface by their chameleoline cloaks. After sometime a call came in from The Firebrand that three vessels were approaching, two of them were Mon-Keigh ships. We were told to hold position whilst a Wave Serpent brought another group from The Firebrand. This time when they landed someone stepped out of the craft that I was not expecting. In fact I had had no idea they were ever on our ship at all. It was a Farseer, accompanied on either side by some of our finest warriors. Immediately I could hear the raised voices of my comrades in my mind, calling out questions about what we were doing. Having one of the great out in the open like this was terrifying. He stepped out on to the plateau as the Mon-Keigh ships we were expecting landed nearby. “Watch them closely” came an unnecessary reminder.

The nearest Mon-Keigh craft to my position had the sigils of one of their military factions, one of the giant malformed Mon-Keigh. I gripped my rifle closely and watched as the landing doors of the craft were thrown open. Out strode two of those hideous creatures, centred by one who seemed adorned with special paraphernalia. I looked at him carefully, the splendour of his armaments and the signs upon his armour and I shared this with my team. “Inquisitor...” came back the hushed response; “A Mon-Keigh witch”

The other Mon-Keigh ship opened its landing doors at the same time and a metallic shape scuttled its way across the platform and down out on to the moon’s surface. It was similarly followed by other such loathsome creatures. I called out to my team as to what I was witnessing and one of my brothers informed me that this was yet another abomination of the Mon-Keigh, one of those who cut the flesh from their bodies and sang to machines. How these Mon-Keigh misshaped themselves reminded me only too strongly of the terrors of our ancient and more terrifying enemy. It seemed to me that they were closely aligned.

Our Farseer met with these two leaders and I watched intently, awestruck by what was happening when suddenly I became aware of several shapes moving boldly into the meeting place. They were wheeling, springing from place to place and I could hear bold laughter in the corners of my mind. Harlequin...

What devilry had brought these factions together to so desolate a place, when not so far away Aeldari and Mon-Keigh were slaughtering each other in a brutal combat.

I was told to refocus my attention away from the congregation and instead to keep my gaze outwards. Being an obedient servant, that is what I did. For an hour those leaders sat in debate over matters I would never learn of. For one hour my team sat in our position whilst all I could think of was the wonder and the fear of what terrible force had driven such sides together to face one another like this.

When the attack came we were prepared. A long-range projectile was struck down before it met the moon, and several others were likewise rebutted by Mon-Keigh ships. It seemed perhaps that our old enemy was actively hunting for us all along They were great in number and as the weapons of our foes rained down upon us we broke cover and ran to protect our leaders. Suddenly, the ground around me exploded upwards and I was thrown into the air and then down hard upon the ground and remembered nothing more.

When I finally awoke, all was silent. My body ached but I was not injured, and more importantly I was no longer on that moon. I appeared to be an a narrow webway route, roughly the size of two of my people abreast. I was laying on the ground, carefully placed with my weapons just by my side. I managed to catch sight of one more thing before I blacked out again. Just where the webway turned several hundred paces ahead stood one lone Harlequin. The mask of that brother grinned back at me. I tried to sit up and ask for help but that was when my sense failed me again. I was now completely alone.