<strong><span class="bbc_u">Space Marines</span></strong><br/><br/>The ground that the space marines had taken was silently for some time before any sign of the Eldar became apparent. When such a sign did appear it did not come in the form of a thunderous charge, nor did it come as a wave of armor clad warriors. Such brute force was not the way of the Eldar, their presence was instead announced by a single near silent death. One moment all was calm, and the next the sound of a shattering helmet was all that could be heard. Followed by the soft thump, thump of a space marine body first falling to it's knees then to the ground. 2rd Squad now found itself short one tactical marine. The firer of the shot stood defiantly in the open gateway. Her (http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/Nyrath/Edit1Farseer_Taldeer___Helmless_by_.jpg) ornate armor, as well as the aura of power emanating around her made it evident that she was more than a mere warrior.<em>I am Farseer Irulan and you will hear me humans!</em>she seemed to shout into the minds of every warrior present<em>You, in your ignorance have taken that which is not yours....and that is why you meed your end today!</em><br/><br/>With the xeno's 'words' still echoing still echoing in their minds the Imperial Swords were witness to the arrival of the Eldar attack force. Seeming to simply step into existence from out of nowhere, six War Walkers, each armed with two brightlances, quickly spread out into two groups of three, one moving to the right and the other the left. Each group obviously intending flank the marines, they were followed closely by A Wraithlord (http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/zz306/Syrenion/Wraithlord_skaliert.jpg) and two Wraithguards, the Wraithlord carried a menacing blade in its right hand, with a large starcannon attached over it's shoulder, both Wraithguards were armed with wraithcannons. Finally a single Falcon Grav-Tank landed in position behind the xeno-sniper.  Four Dark Reaper reaper squads and a single Eldar in blood red armor (http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs43/f/2009/070/4/5/Harlequins_wip_by_Remton.jpg) deployed from inside.<br/><br/>This entire ballet of military might happened so quickly that it could scarcely be said to have happened at all, in the space of an Astartes's double-heart beat the Eldar were fully deployed....and they were attacking!<br/><br/><hr/><br/>In an instant the Farseer vanished, only to re-appear directly in front of Captain Batiatus, her rifle replaced by a large spear. Moving with inhuman speed she drove her spear upwards towards the underside of the captain's helmet. Only his quick reflexes saved him from what would have been a fatal blow. He quickly stepped backwards to avoid her slash. Swinging his autocannon at the Farseer. She deftly dove back from the blow her spear at the ready for another strike as the captain holstered his storm bolter and reached back for his personal thunderhammer. He knew that he needn't give the order his marines would attack on their own, his entire focus set on insuring he didn't give the xeno-witch any opening to attack.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>As the Farseer and Batiatus dueled, the other elements of the space marine force were already reacting to the Eldar attack.<br/><br/>Brother-Sargent Amadeus needed no orders, he had fought the Eldar before and knew full well what the weapons of their Dark Reapers were capable of doing if allowed to fire from long range. "Assault their firing line!" he roared to his squad. Leaping forward, his jump pack propelling him into the sky as he flew in the direction of the Dark Reapers.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>From his position in cover the leader of 3rd squad, Brother Sargent Rmey leveled his bolter and began to fire "Target the Grav-Tank" he said, his voice calm and controlled as he focused on delivering accurate fire "Brother Vindicca, Brother Calhoun focus all your fire on their armored support" he said. He knew that they were both some of the few marines in their battle force who carried a heavy weapon and that their firepower would be greatly needed. "We must insure that the foe cannot escape the way they came!"<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The Wraithlord and it's accompanying Wraithguards advanced right up the center of the battle field. Obviously unmindful of the firepower that could be brought against them. They opened fire as they advanced, the Wraithlord shoulder mounted starcannon firing a stream of deadly projectiles. Each wraithguard opening up with their own weapons which tore the very fabric of reality down around their target. All three Eldar war machines focused fire on a single warrior of 1st squad. Their combined firepower proving too much for his armor as he fell to the ground, his body a smoking ruin. 1st Squad was already responding their own weapons answering in return, tearing chunks out of the Eldar walker's bodies, even as several shots struck the skull of one of the Wraithguards and the construct fell lifeless to the ground the remaining two war machines advanced towards the terminators.<br/><br/><strong><span class="bbc_u">Imperial Guard</span></strong><br/>The bulk landers entered the same way that the thunderhawks had, as soon as they entered the large dome they began to rapidly descend to the ground. Within minutes the first wave had touched down. Ramps were lowering, tanks were being unloaded, and the Commissars within the troop areas were already shouting, urging the men and women of the Imperial Guard forwards to meet what ever resistance they might come across.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><br/>Lieutenant Devri, was up and moving as soon as the ramps were opened, his command squad moving right behind him. It was hectic getting out of the lander but as soon as they were he and his squad hustled to their designated rally point. He knew his platoon would gather at the rally point and as soon as they were assembled he could radio they were ready to move out.<br/><br/>It took several minutes but they were finally ready, Devri's platoon was accounted for as were the other platoons in his company, the order had just been given to proceed to their objective.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>"Alright" Jenkins said "we're moving, keep low and keep it together" he was already walking forwards, his lasgun pressed to his shoulder as he scanned the area around his squad. He was still new to the 7th and had just been promoted to squad leader a few days ago. He wasn't a stranger to war and he knew it was going to be more trouble than it was worth. His eyes caught on the large gun emplacements that were their primary objective. They were huge, even the small ones (http://www.justinrendall.com/Images/Earthshaker/1.jpg) were easily the size of a basilisk's gun. And that wasn't even counting the big ones (http://www.3drt.com/3dm/sf-forces/artillery-gun-01_01.jpg), or the strange looking ones (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100306052806/supcom2/images/thumb/d/da/Cybran_Heavy_Artillery_Station.png/287px-Cybran_Heavy_Artillery_Station.png) that were obviously the works of Mars.  After a bit they were getting pretty close up to the artillery guns, Jenkins looked over as he was nudged by his vox operator. Picking up the receiver he listened to his orders. "Understood" was all he said "alright men" he said softly "first squad is moving up ahead of us, I just got off the horn with Lt. Devri he wants us, and 3rd and 4th squad to let 1st move up and keep our eyes peeled. If anything fires on them we need to give them cover, and try to eliminate the threat. As he said this he slowly lowered himself into the prone position. Laying down on the ground and looking forward as he scanned for any threats. He could see first squad slowly moving forwards....he didn't envy those poor bastards.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>High above 2nd Squad a single Valkyrie flew in a tight circle over the center of the artillery emplacements. Captain Alonzo was standing up at the side hatch, his hand around the handle ready to pull the hatch open "our target is a small command building in the center of the artillery guns, it controls all of the guns, we need to take and hold it until the regular forces come forward and relieve our position. We should expect some nasty resistance so no half ass'n" with that he pulled the door open and without ceremony shouted out "Go!" he then jumped clear of the Valkyrie. Trusting his Grav-Chute to keep himself from falling to his death.<br/><br/><strong><span class="bbc_u">Sisters of Battle</span></strong><br/><br/><br/>The Valkyries carrying Paltine Corley and her fellow sisters roared in to the dome, moving low on the horizon they cut past the Imperial Guard landers without even slowing their pace. Coming in range of the convent they banked hard keeping a tight wedge formation as each craft quickly landed allowing the sisters inside to jump free.<br/><br/><br/>As soon as the last sister was offloaded the Valkyries took off again, they were Imperial Guard pilots and as far as they were concerned it was not their duty to be at the beck and call of the sisterhood when there were guardsmen dying in combat.<br/><br/>Palitne Corley didn't let the loss of the Valkyries phase her. "Sisters" she said "we move to free our fellows, and should they be dead it is our sacred duty to insure that those who slew them are themselves slain. Now let us move to our task!" As soon as her short speech was done she was running to the doors of the convent, secure in the knowledge that her sisters would cover her flanks. Reaching the large ornate doors of the convent she quickly produced and identification wafer, using it to unlock the doors which swung open of their own accord. Revealing a large dark room. The front entrance of this convent, as with many others, opened into a large cathedral with an alter to The Emperor set in it's center. The lighting fixtures within had for the most part been broken, and what had once been a holy cathedral and alter looked more like the last stand of a desperate group of fighters. The pews were amassed to one side of the room, and riddled with holes, having provided no protection to what ever misguided souls had thought they would be a safe haven. "Be wary sisters" she said as she entered the cathedral "this reeks of a xeno-trap."<br/><br/><strong><span class="bbc_u">Inquisition</span></strong><br/><br/>The pilot flew the Inquisitor's craft expertly, pulling into the dome facility without being noticed by any of the combatants down below. As the craft approached the marine's landing zone, upon seeing the battle raging below,  he held station far enough above to avoid being seen or heard. "Sir" he  called back "you may want to take a look at this."<br/><br/>He waited for the Inquisitor and his retinue to arrive before calmly asking "What would you like me to do sir?"<br/><br/><hr/><br/>She was standing behind the Inquisitor, silent as she watched the battle unfolding down below "Inquisitor....approaching the device now would mean a high level of risk while outside of the mines...but with the enemy distracted with the battle outside the mines themselves may be much safer" as she spoke she allowed her form to take on its 'natural' shape, the one that she needed no effort or thought to maintain. Her voice was little more than a whisper, having been trained for years in the arts of silence and stealth even when not attempting to be she was quite and hard to detect to all but the most well trained.<br/><br/><br/>