Impetus of the Tau
In the year M41.969 the Imperium has launched yet another Holy Crusade to combat the Tau Empire's "3rd Sphere". Fighting on worlds both held by the Imperium and the Tau Empire. Bloody battles and campaigns have ensured that once again the Tau must face the wrath of not only the Imperial Guard, but the Adaptus Astarts and now more than ever the press of Mankind is felt on the Fire Cast. It is a war of utter brutality, both sides completely opposite. The Tau, with pinpoint accuracy, stealth and speed, and the Imperium with their super-heavy tanks, massive orbital bombardments and an unlimited number of Imperial Guardsmen devoted to the God Emporor for which all Humankind fights for.
Temperature: 61°, Humidity: 9, Time 1100 Hours' standard Imperial Time
Location: Kora system; Morovo 3; East Continent, Moreana City
Chapter 1
Advance
"For the Emporor, Onwards you worthless, retched scum, I've seen better fighting from! -"
Commissar Orrick's berating was cut short by a Leman Russ being annihilated in an explosion of that spurted black and orange flames several feet in every direction, metal fragments bursting outward and the munitions inside setting off a chain reaction of smaller more pungent explosions, throwing up dirt and Guardsmen in every direction close to the tank. Kamren could vaguely hear another Guardsmen yell "incoming!" a split second after a brilliant white and blue light shot down the alley they were in and obliterated the salamander that a –now presumably dead- NCO was riding in, pretending to courageously lead his men into battle. Shortly following the explosion a hail of smaller blue pulses peppered the area Kamren and his squad was in, he could hear Dano swearing as he rushed over to patch up another trooper who had been hit square on by a pulse rifle shot. Farther down the alley through the light grey smoke and debris shadows of loping Fire Warriors could be seen moving towards the Imperial position. The bright glow of the pulse rifles and rail guns throwing stark contrast shadows against the walls and street. Several Guardsmen recovered from the shellshock and started to return fire with their Mk III lasguns. Soon all the Guardsmen who didn't want to be shot by Commissar Orrick were returning fire. After felling the majority of the Tau squad the rest were forced to take cover behind buttress of a bombed out Imperial Minutorium complex. Kamren stopped to pop another las cartridge in when the retort of one of the two remaining Leman Russ' shook Kamren to the bone. Kamren saw Tanok scurry over behind the ruined street of the crater they were in. Splashing mud and blood soaked water up to his waist he fell against the crater wall to catch his breath as several Guardsmen and two more Leman Russ reinforcements advanced towards the Tau.
"I just got word that there gonna' start using the basilisks" Tanok yelled holding up a presumably stolen vox set. "We should probably get the hell outa here"
"M'kay, get the rest of the squad and lets get near the tanks" replied Kamren trying to sound as calm as he could while still yelling to be heard above the din of battle.
Tanok nodded curtly and crouch-ran under the cracked pavement to the right to find Jeb and Dano. Karmen looked to the left and saw Haller taking potshots' at one of the buttresses. He noticed Kamren staring at him and looked his way giving Kamren a small grin that showed his missing teeth. Kamren nodded with his head that they should head back to the tanks. Haller, the second youngest of the squad needed no further heeding and proceeded to back up towards the tank. Avoiding the small arms fire and Commissar Orrick, assuming he was still alive. Overhead Imperial Lightings and Tau attack craft were dueling for air supremacy. The occasional massive explosion meaning that a craft had been shot or that another high-munitions vehicle had been destroyed. Thick acrid smoke filled the air, the battle for the city of Moreana had been going on for 4 days, and now finally, the Imperium was on the advance.
Several Guardsmen also started to realize that they were about to get shelled for the sake of dislodging the Tau from their iron grasp on the northern half of Moreana City. Almost all of the Leman Russ' and Salamanders had stopped blurry exhaust and plumes of purple and grey smoke pouring out from the heated engines.
"Hold the line!" One of the surviving NCOs' called; trying to keep is men in check. Kamren could see fear in his eyes, and realized that this officer had probably never seen an Earthshaker bombardment.
Well, he's in for one hell of a time. Kamren chuckled silently to himself. By now all of the Guardsmen who didn't want to die, or were smart enough to not want to, had stopped and taken shelter in one of the many craters, cracks, crevices and depressions of the ruined Imperial buildings. The Hammerhead had stopped firing its rail gun, and except for the occasional small arms fire ringing across the alleys, the fighting had stopped. Still the noise was deafening, aircraft attacking thousands of feet above the ground, a Reaver class titan strolling through the city to the west, causing untold mayhem and destruction, and the sound of fighting elsewhere muffled by the layers of buildings but still loud enough to be heard hundreds of meters away. But much like the calm before the storm, things were about the turn into a hellish nightmare of explosions, bodies and screams. A Leman Russ, apparently getting a transmission for his built in vox, started to move to the left. Avoiding debris and other hazardous objects, the Leman Russ got into position so it had a long line of sight into the alley while still avoiding direct confrontation with the waiting Hammerhead. Suddenly it erupted as it fired a shell covered in red dust that sped down the alley way punching through an apartment complex, red smoke wafted up towards the sky from the final resting place of the shot, giving the signal for the Basilisks to commence firing.
Kamren saw Dano hurrying over towards a soldier that had been hit in the hand by some form of solid round ammunition. The blood had turned a deep sickly purple and had cauterized around the would, his index and pointer finger were missing, bloody stumps replacing what he had used to fire his lasguns. Kamren cursed, Dano was a veteran of over 3 years of fighting and should have known to stick with his group in the event of artillery bombardment. Just as he was about to yell at Dano to get back with the squad a shrill whine that grew in volume filled their hearing. All of them knew what that meant; the basilisks were firing their Earth shaker rounds. Not a moment before the shells fell all of them plugged their ears and screamed as loud as possible.
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Shas'vre Cev'ra brought his trinoculars down from his eyes, the intense aftermath glow making it hard to see even from his view point. More and more of these "Earth Shaker" rounds kept falling Fire Warriors, Broadsides, Kroot and Battlesuits. He needed to do something, and fast.
"Calling fire support" requested Cev'ra
"Fire support available, what is the ordinance and where we shall strike" came back a mechanical Tau voice caused by the static of other transmission of both Human and Tau origin.
"Requesting Sunspot and triplicate Toag'arae missiles" quickly replied Cev'ra.
"Fire support accepted and acknowledged; Manta will be in position in approximately 1.7 minutes, hold position and give vocal confirmation when in range" relayed the Fire Support technician.
Typical of the Humans, though Cev'ra, they want to destroy something they blow it up with a ridiculous amount of fire power, and at the expense of their own troop's safety.
"Is everything alright Shas'vre Cev'ra?" questioned his main gunner Shas'la Mino'kor, noticing the glazed look on his face as he was in deep thought. "You should for your own safety get in the vehicle" suggested Mino'kor.
Cev'ra nodded, realizing that he had been standing out in the open for some time which had caused his crew to stop firing.
"Keep firing Shas'la Mino'kor!" commanded Cev'ra, slowly climbed back down the blue lit interior of his Hammerhead Gunship.
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