"Everything beneath the heavens belongs to the Three Saints' Domain." (Necrontyr language)
Evan received their reply, which astonished him, especially the think tank of Deathwatch xenos experts he had summoned.
"What does this message mean?"
"It will take some time to decipher."
Evan really did not want to fight them. Being able to communicate was the best news he could have hoped for.
As messages passed back and forth, the Necron escort ships had already deployed. Their side had only one conspicuous, enormous warship, and the enemy used wolf-pack tactics to surround the Light of the People.
As always, the old general Zahadrek took his opponents for other Necrontyr. Needless to say, the enormous warship before him had to be their flagship, and its commander had to be a Necrontyr noble.
The Necrontyr followed two sets of rules in warfare. In internal conflicts, such as competition over an important resource, the participating nobles would each command their designated armies according to established conventions and fight within those rules.
The nobles had no need to rush to the front and lead the charge themselves. In their system, the strength of a commoner army directly reflected the loyalty, population, and fighting strength under a noble's rule, while its weapons and equipment demonstrated the overall industrial capacity of his worlds.
If you lost within the rules, you probably could not win by breaking them either.
Against xenos, however, the Necrontyr would unleash every weapon they had without hesitation.
The Necrons' conventional technology was not particularly powerful. Early on, much like the T'au, they traveled slowly through realspace in great flying tombs to establish colonies. Their engines improved later, but never made the leap to the Inertialess Drive. During the War in Heaven, the Old Ones battered them into losing most of their territory.