The night was cold but the darkness was not from lack of light, according to the chronos, it was midday. Mikael felt a shiver go down his spine and shuddered. The cold was only adding to the already gloomy darkness. The veteran sergeant had lost count of time a couple hours earlier. Him and his squad, Beta, had lost contact with the ships in orbit two nights ago and the last thing he'd heard over the vox caster was the order to fall back and out of orbital defenses' range from his commander, Altset. He sighed and stood up. His squad followed suit, coming up one by one to a total of six. They all wore the same midnight blue uniform which clung tightly over their carapace armour, black stripes criss crossed the legs and chest, leaving the arms a dark blue hue, each wearing a rebreather with a red vision slit and holding hellguns. Instead of using a compact backpack for ammo feeds, they each carried a fair amount of the stronger Fury pattern power cells.
Judging by the way they moved, Beta was in bad shape. He gestured and they moved out. The odd Tau city they were in was the most disturbing aspect of the whole situation. Instead of the usual square blocky Imperial constructions Mikael was used to, the surrounding buildings were round and smooth. He couldn't even tell if they were homes or businesses. Some had odd symbols on them, but none of them had any obvious sign of either.
He looked around at his squad and could tell Beta was having trouble concentrating. Their morale was getting lower and lower with every passing day but it didn't surprise him they had lasted this long with their heads straight. His squad was one of the best trained and armed the 82nd Selvian Skyborne had to offer, with a tally of over five hundred confirmed kills and over twenty seven completed assignments. They were even mentioned in the Great Hall back at the Selvian Academy where they had trained. Their squad, along with their individual names, was written in one of the many honor scrolls hanging from the The Great Bastion.
The center of the Academy, it was both a temple and a place of honor for the Selvians. A great statue of The Emperor himself stood upon a raised dais. His outstretched hand holding a long sword from which the honor scrolls hung. Mikael remembered the day he had been granted his promotion to Sky Captain and had watched as his squad was added to the scrolls. He remembered his feeling of both pride and anxiety. He had been granted an ornate saber that had belonged to a great Selvian captain in the past as both a badge of office and a tool for bringing death to the enemies of the Imperium. His hand moved to the hilt from where it now hung, his fingers closing around the handle. For a second he thought it was from the power of his memories but then his instinct hit him.
I'm being watched
He froze, his squad instantly knew something was wrong and brought up their hellguns to a combat position. Mikael scanned the buildings around him with a wary eye and spotted something odd, a sort of reflection on top of the tallest one. It was like staring through a misty glass. There was a moments pause then the reflection opened fire. Mikael instantly ducked for cover and his squad did likewise.
"Take cover! They're using their facking infiltration, keep your eyes keen and watch your ammo"
he yelled. His squad dived for whatever cover they could find. The plasma bolts seared the air as they struck a little too close for comfort. Mikael risked a glance over the statue he'd ducked behind only to be pushed back down by inhumanely accurate fire. He switched his hellgun to single shot and leaned over again, firing at the general direction of the enemy. The return fire was fierce, forcing him down again.
"Captain, we need to move before the bastards flank us" Palas came up behind him, his second in command breathing hard, "If we stay here any longer, they'll get around and our mission will be scrubbed."
"Facking hell, Fel!" The Skyborne scout Fel was the squads greatest marksman. He was also the oldest of them all. A small man, able to fit in spaces most commanders wouldn't believe possible. He acknowledged,
"Yes, Captain?" his voice was was soft, a sign of his old age. He was wearing an older version of the Skyborne armor from previous assignments. The only constant that had remained throughout the changes was a small metallic rose he wore on his chest, next to his badge.
"I need some covering fire, keep them down for a minute or two. Free fire" Mikael said. The scout nodded and placed a scope on his hellgun, which was also an older model. He murmured the Marksmen's Litany and put his eye to the scope. One shot, two, three and the enemy fire slowed. Mikael jumped from cover and sprinted to the tall building the Tau were using. He armed a baby tick and placed it on what he guessed was a weak spot. He timed it and ran back to cover. The rest of Beta had spread out and were adding the power of their own guns to Fel's.
The tick exploded, gauging a huge tear in the building and bringing it down. Mikael risked a glance and saw the previously stealthed Tau moving through the site. He could make out at least four, and the bottom part of a fifth buried under fallen debris. Seizing the moment, Beta took aim and fired single shots at the retreating Tau. Two more went down. The last pair disappeared into thin air before Beta could do anything about it.
Mikael sighed. He turned and signaled for Beta to form up. His squad moved, Palas speaking first
"Sir, I suggest we get the fack out of here. Auspex readings report enemy contacts moving in from the South." Mikael nodded,
"How many?" he asked, hoping for a low number.
"Too many sir, we'd be overrun with an entire regiment" Palas said. Mikael swore, this situation was just getting worse and worse.
"Alright, we move out. Spread formation and keep your eyes open." They nodded and he turned to lead the way. The fallen debris from the blast had blocked half the street they were moving through. Mikael walked by the dead Tau, pausing for a moment to stare at it. It was slightly smaller than he was, wearing what looked like a full body flak vest painted black with stripes of white and red. Other than the strange armor and weapons, the Tau wasn't so different from Mikael. He could probably pass off as a human.
"You alright captain?" Mikael snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine Ami." He said. She nodded and kept moving, her perfectly curved hips swinging with every step. Ami, short for Amelia, was the squad's demo specialist. Although not built like one, she could probably take on an Ork warboss with nothing but her knife and succeed. Another Beta was moving with Ami. Wino, the vixen. Wino was one of the scariest women Mikael had ever known, and he was not an easy man to scare. With features reminiscent of Selvias' native hunters, the Fenix, she was generally thought of as someone to make nice with. It was often the company joke to spread rumors to the FNG's that Wino was in fact single and looking for a mate. Her body wasn't to die for, but her attitude coupled with her wit was somewhat appealing and some even found it out right attractive. The short black hair and fiery red eyes, she had a face to match her reputation as a tough fighter.
As the squad moved through the ruins of the Tau city, Mikael thought of the recent days and how strong the Tau actually were. The invasion had come to a dead halt and the units that had dropped ahead of the main force had found themselves stranded with no word of reinforcements or resupply. The Tau had hidden their main force in secret bunkers deep under the city's which the Imperialist forces had thought to be hiding holes where the civilian populace was taking shelter but they were dead wrong.
As the first exploratory ships landed, they were met by a Tau envoy. The xenos had demanded the Imperials leave their planet or suffer the consequences. They had offered them two days to retreat all orbiting ships and a third to depart from the system. The Imperials had answered in typical Army fashion, drawing lasgun and boltgun that were brought upon the unsuspecting Tau.
It was the biggest mistake they could've done. Before the first Tau fell, advanced battle suits had flown out of their cover and annihilated the attackers. Their armor was no match for the high tech plasma weapons of the Tau. Dozens were slaughtered in the first seconds, a tally that was doubled as they fell back to their ships. The few that survived thought themselves safe but that was nothing but a fool's hope. Heavy Tau armor with broadside weaponry riddle the vessel's underside and they were brought down.
War was declared.