Editing Ravens

This story, part of the community effort on the [[Emperor's Nightmare]] chapter, centers on our favorite kleptomaniacs, the Blood Ravens, and how the acquired equipment belonging to the Nightmare.
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The fighting had been long and fierce, fought in and out of the hellish parapets of the floating city of Aespre against the heretics daring to hold it as their profane bastion, but the Blood Ravens were victorious. Instrumental to the victory was the work of an elite predator spearhead which had punctured the plasma-soaked killing grounds in front of the planetary governer's palace. Brother Ereos had to admit there was nothing quite like the thrill of linebreaking, piloting his red steel behemoth into the faithless dogs, weapons blazing, crushing hapless members of the planetary defence force beneath his treads. However, it was not his, but the predator commanded by Brother Echalades which had won the day.

Later, he had approached Echaledes while he sat brooding upon the edge of the city.

"I've known you for longer than anyone in this chapter, old friend. Since we took our initiation together, I've seen us both mature into fine pilots, instruments of the Emperor's fury made tangible...But in Kyras' name I've never seen anybody handle a predator so well. Your new charge is treating you well then?" Echalades responded to his friend's smile with a chuckle, turning to him and folding his arms.

"It is quite a machine...The Machine spirit is a willful one, very willful, I've never felt such a tug from any in our arsenal." He declared curtly, gazing into the green oceans millions of miles below. "Apparently it was originally from The Emperor's Nightmares, and you know as well as I do their tendancy for comas. Thus, I believe the machine spirit is strong enough that if one of the Nightmares falls into their comas, the predator could be controlled for long enough for someone to take over. A marvellous piece of technology."

Ereos raised an eyebrow, folding his arms across his armoured chest with an expression of obvious disbelief. Picking up this wordless derision, Echaledes removed his helmet and laid it gingerly on his lap, sighing.

"I know your question. How we ended up with an Emperor's Nightmare predator. In truth I could not tell you, I was merely told it was recovered from a catastrophic battle against the orks of Waaagh!!! Gitchop. Loathe to allow the remains of the vehicle be cannibalised by orks, we took it with us. In the ensuing confusion of the battle it was forgotten about, and by the time someone found it we were too far away to make returning it practical."

"Typical. What went so badly wrong with this campaign?" This question made the tank pilot glower, shifting away slightly.

"Some of the Nightmare's soldiers succumbed to a bizarre sleepless mania during the ambush, and hurtled forward to engage the prey. The orks were forewarned, and we were faced with the entire fury of the Waaagh!!! upon landing. A black day for us all."

[[Category:Emperor's Nightmare]]