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Here is a short story about first contact with a strange new race who maybe older than they appear.

Some consumed by Darkness
Some simply Consumed
Some gave into Sadness
Some simply Subsumed
Those tainted by madness
forever bear the Mark
Some are simply Hopeless
Shame, regret and pain borne Stark

From Ancient writings unearthed on the shores of Leng


First Contact.


'All weapon systems are completely unresponsive my lord',
'Impossible! Re-prime the mass drivers, nothing can shut them down!'
The sound of truncated spooling vibrated the command deck, then a whimper.
'I'm sorry my Lord, please don't blame me'
'Don't worry officer, if it were your fault I would have executed you....'
The weapons officer lost sight of the inquisitor in a flash of light, his console warning of remote activation of the teleporter.

'minutes ago..'
The inquisitor spun round in disbelief, where once had been the Gothic steel of his bridge now lay a verdant jungle, not unlike the ones the world they were attempting to land on reputedly had. Being one of the bravest and measured of his Ordo Xenos contemporaries Inquisitor Thufir Pensck started out for some form of clearing from which to activate his locater. It was not long, however, before he stumbled into the grounds of a gorgeous villa. It was built of white stone with a slight metallic shimmer under the sun. The mansion was an unusual shape, angular and curved in different sectors, the roof canopy was bent, folded and coiled almost at random though somehow it seemed to have a purpose. The garden was again both beautiful and beguilingly complicated, a symphony of fragrance and colour but not planted in any recognisable pattern. Rather than understandable marvel Pensck was filled with contempt, so many times he had pulped the bones (be it an endo or exo-skeleton!) of similarly effete, foppish, Aliens who spent far too much time pampering their senses. He stepped forward gladly crushing the delicate flowers under his Power Shod feet. Then something cut through the 'White noise' of wonderful scents and triggered his more attuned Olfactory senses. It was the smell of damp, the slight distasteful odour of Fungus, he always remembered it as being FAR more pungent and unpleasant in past encounters with it. He reached down for his bolt pistol.
'Uh.. Hello..' Came a slow dim witted voice from the trees.
'Show yourself!' Pensck replied.
'All right.. All right.. But you.. Are warned... Your gun Won't work..'
It walked out from the trees, around eight foot and slightly more muscled than a man, the slow dim witted creature sauntered towards him. It had a simpletons face with a snout nose and heavy shallow brow. What struck him was that although it shared the Green skin of what the inquisitor had guessed it to be, it did not share it's brutish disposition or hideous proportions. The human also spied a tool belt with numerous incredibly complex implements, it seems he had met the Architect, Mason and Gardener.
'Your language... Is very difficult.... So many... Words..'
'Enough with the pleasantries, did you attack my ship?' He held up his bolt pistol, even if it didn't work it would at least encourage a prompt reply.
'No.. That would have been... My master.. I mean friend.. Follow me...'
Although Pensck was loathe to take orders from a beast he followed all the same. He was led down a verandah-arcaded path by the oaf, any normal human would have been amazed by the opulent delight of the garden but not the Staunch Inquisitor.

He was eventually led to the entrance of the decadent château, even Pensck could not help but admire the fine Horse that was hitched in a paddock a few yards away it was indeed an excellent specimen.
'Ahh, the Hwwynnae are one of our proudest achievements'
Pensck deemed it acceptable to reply to this voice, as it at least seemed to have an air of intelligence.
'Indeed, I'm sure breaking such a proud stallion was a difficult task!' at this he turned to face the speaker. It was a head taller than the human but not much more, it had pearly white skin with the slightest magenta hint to it, though it outwardly resembled one of the Eldar it had none of their anodyne symmetry and soulless perfection. What was most notable about the creature was it's incredibly long pointed ears, possibly extending a full foot from root
'I suppose it is prudent to ask your name alien'
It replied, this time looking the man in the eye.
'Ahh, my name, very well, look closely', the Alien gestured to its eyes. Thufir's mind was then filled with a strange scene. It was a grey, mist laden, forest, that familiar smell that followed rainfall hung in the air.
'How quaint' said the human full of scorn. 'Now onto more pertinent matters, explain your attack on my vessel'.
'I am sorry what I did was deemed by you as an attack, as Satraps of this world we will defend ourselves when threatened'. While holding gaze with the xenos Pensck saw something in it's eyes, he was somehow reminded of his training by them.

Then it came back to him: “The Eldar being natural cowards have near endless, prolonged, lives. It is not immediately obvious from their puny adolescent appearance, So instead the thorough Inquisitor must make other inroads of investigation. Look instead to the weakling's eyes, through these windows into the soul you will see his weariness and obsessive nature. Notice how the pupils stay rock steady and in fixed dilation. For the coward has had plenty of idle time to practise using them! Notice the dullness of their colour, centuries lounging in sunlight have leached the pigment! And finally notice there unnatural depth, and be wary for he is surely attempting to glamour you!'

At this the two beings merely stared at each other in silence for a few long seconds. Then Pensck's psychic receptors tingled at the base of his skull, before he had time to defend his mind had been compromised. His paltry training was no match for the alien and he felt his brain being searched thoroughly and speedily. Sweat beaded on his brow as he was relieved of his motor function by the invading mind, he was left paralysed and furiously trying to recall the relevant training. He had it! He had remembered the one repost to being psychically dominated.

'Though there is some great shame in being psychically invaded by a superior force, remember that Psykerism is a deviant art and being too accomplished is itself a crime. There is however one act even one of little Psychic potential can attempt when being invaded, it is of course the counter attack. When fencing it is near impossible to ably parry a more skilled opponents thrust, but, it is near effortless to instead make a blind undisciplined attack in the hope it catches them off guard. This is unfortunately your only option, their defences will be lessened during your subjugation, pray the Emperor guides your foil!'

Expending all his psychic power Thufir Lensck amazingly penetrated the mind of the alien, a flash of searing light blinded his mind's eye and then a strange vision pervaded his psyche.

A silver tear drop afloat on a sea of stars. Just ahead of the shape, at the sharp end, a nimbus of warp light. It intermittently pulsed an envelope around the silver tear. Then a great and terrible ship burst into view, though not from any warp skene. It was composed of great crescents and pyramids exerting not a hint of aesthetic poetry. It bathed the dwarfed tear drop starship in green corpse light and the twinkling prow warp fire was extinguished. A green fluxing whip of energy slivered out of the tomb ship and sliced the defenceless tear drop in half, it's pieces hung in the void utterly shattered and unquestionably destroyed. The link was then broken between the two beings. The winded human saw anger flash in the alien's eyes instantly replaced with sorrow. It made to talk but Thufir was long gone before the alien could utter any words.

Thufir collapsed onto the taciturn steel of the teleporter bay, grateful for it's uncaring, functional, embrace.
'Thank the emperor we found you, we surpassed their defences using Phase Space telemetry',
'Weapons?!' asked the Inquisitor.
The officer smiled,
'Yes sir! Seemingly as long as we encode the priming keys in phase space they can't disable them'
'Excellent.....'
+++

'Whats wrong master?'
'Apart from your insistence on calling me Master, Isn't it obvious? The human, he was taken before I could explain'
'Oh well, will I need to build weapons?'
'Yes I'm afraid you will, we will not give up this Satrapy without a fight'.

Great start, your a very talented story teller. Your use of language is far from prosaic. I look forward to hearing more about these two characters.

Cheers Neil101, wasnt planning on follow up, i might do now though. Can't wait to see more of your comic btw.

The story continues, We rejoin Inquisitor Thufir Pensck as he prepares his ship for an attack when suddenly, an unforseen complication.....

The Navigator was slumped, comatose, freshly pumped blood mingled with the dried streams flowing form his ears and nose. Pensck stared at the wretch in disbelief, as if trying to will him back in to the realm of the living. The rest of the crew on deck were uniformly crystallised with terror, only Pensck had kept his head after the Navigator spontaneously decided to activate the warp drive. The inquisitor had wisely sent his Marines to fetch the Astropaths, though weaker willed and prone to fatal convulsions they would suffice for rudimentary navigation. As to be becalmed in the churn of warp space is to be lost for sure.
Then it started, the dull thumps, something colliding with the outer hull. Some travellers claimed it was the sound of the ship hitting great rocks on the banks of and below the rivers of warp space. Inquisitor Thufir Pensck knew better however, these collisions were not accidental, something was trying to get in. Hungry unspeakable nothings were dashing themselves against the hull hoping to reap the rewards upon rupture. To gorge on an entire soul was a rare delicacy for these hungry things, and they would ruin themselves against the fortified bulkheads to taste it.
'Sir we have the astropaths' came the voice of the storm trooper marine sergeant over the comms. A few moments later a huddle of terrified blind chattel were herded onto the bridge by heavily armed Marines. They only had a few minutes, Pensck had heard the tales; soon the thumps would echo all around the ship as more and more things tried to gain entry, as soon as one nano width breach was rent they would pour in and greedily consume a fiery meal of human souls.

'The core is flaring my lord! Prepare for resurgence into real space!' came the voice of the warp drive officer.
'Damnable! This accursed machine spirit has made it's last malfunction!' replied Pensck, hoping that was all it was. The dials on the navigation console were whirring psychotically unable to gain a fix on the possible co ordinates. Pensck gulped down his apprehension, at the worst it would be a quick death in the centre of a star. A massive convulsion of movement and light engulfed the bridge. The view ports opened, they had survived, atmospheric light streamed into the ship and the roar of re-entry resounded through the decks.
'We appear to have entered the inner atmosphere of the planet, at 20,000 metres, brace for impact!'. With a thought impulse Pensck locked the fibre bundles of his Power Armour.
'Emperor protect those without my armoured privilege' he thought, in a rare moment of compassion .

The cabin wobbled drunkenly, Pensck had been concussed; his only marginally enhanced brain had dashed itself against his strengthened skull in the crash, he now regretted not having the organo-fibrous anchor membrane installed. On rare occasions such as this he was reminded of the fragile human body he had ensconced within the Astartian ceramite. Unsurprisingly the rest of the command staff had perished, pulped bone fragment and viscera painted the posts at which they once sat. Even the crippled bones of his bodyguards hung limply in their carapaces, regrettable, some of them had been fine soldiers, unquestionably loyal of course. He staggered towards the transit lift, if he had survived doubtless those on the garrison deck had persevered also. Thufir Pensck was determined to get to the bottom of what was slowly revealing itself to be another attack on his vessel. Those wretched manor born Aliens would now suffer the wrath of a full compliment of ordo xenos warriors.