Skarreth dynasty hunts the Nexus Arrangement

Neferkara The Collector gazed in disdain at the vermin swarming amidst the once proud ruins of his people. They belonged to one of the many opportunistic young species that had risen up to lay claim to the galaxy in the Necrontyrs absence, but these had chosen to replace much of their biological flesh with machine components. Neferkara mused that such an inadequate attempt at imitation of his own race could be considered a form of flattery, as if this species recognised the superiority of the Necrons and hoped that in aping them they might attain some small measure of their purity and greatness. It did not matter. They arrogantly presumed to take what was not theirs. They would be destroyed and their deaths would serve as a lesson to the rest of their kind.

The Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus had been cautious at first in probing the outer chambers of the massive tomb complex, wary of awakening the slumbering legions of Necrons that undoubtedly lay within. As they pushed ever further into the ruins they began to realise that the stasis fields and canoptek workers that would have maintained the buried city had failed many millennia past leaving the sleeping Necrons helpless to the ravages of time and neglect. Eagerly they began looting the sealed chambers and pawing over the bounty of xenos artefacts and knowledge that was now theirs for the taking.

When their doom finally appeared it came not from within the complex as they had initially expected, but from its outskirts. Phalanxes of Necron warriors marched in from the south, but their movements were erratic and disjointed. They appeared to flicker in and out of reality as if somehow out of phase with the material universe, sometimes walking through solid objects or appearing suddenly closer if the onlooker glanced away or blinked for but an instant.

The Skitarii wasted no time and immediately launched an attack, recognising that their sacrifice was necessary to enable the senior magos to escape with their trove of relics and data. They struck hard and the first ranks of Necrons fell, only to claw their way back up moments later as severed limbs and heads squirmed across the ground and reattached themselves. At the head of the alien attackers rode a mighty lord upon a bizarre chariot composed of black marble inlaid with gold and gemstones. Each time he raised his scythe another Skitarii was cut down. Suddenly the massed ranks of Necrons vanished as if they had never been there, leaving the Skitarii momentarily alone. The reprieve was short lived as the horde of xenos blinked into existence again behind them and unleashed a fusillade of gauss fire that disintegrated armoured warriors and ripped the heart of the Skitarii ranks.

Confusion reigned but the xenos seemed more interested in pursuing their own agenda than finishing off their foe. Warriors began retrieving the artefacts that had been taken, ignoring incoming fire and attempts to dismember them with power axes, heedless of their losses and in seem cases literally walking through the Skitarii as if they weren't there. With a thrum of power the ancient gateway in the centre of the complex reignited, responding to the orders of its true masters and massed ranks of xenos began the march through the activated doleman gate.

Only one task remained. Neferkara charged his command barge into the heart of the remaining human warriors and cut down their leader in single combat. Once he returned to the Forbidden Archives with the priceless relics and artefacts he had liberated he would have his slaves engrave a fantastic mural depicting this triumph and exalting his name so that all might gaze upon it and know of his glory.