Chronicles of Faer'un
Chapter One
(Edited and almost completely rewritten by TheLoneHunter)
A single Fire Warrior glanced down the hill, his eyes surveying the advancing Chaos hordes with distaste. To think that these foul creatures could ever hope to destroy what he stood for, nay, what his entire race stood for. The Tau'va. The Greater Good.
His armor was black; black as the midnight sky, with dozens of white Tau symbols painted onto its surface. Each marked a separate victory, reminding all who looked upon him of his prowess in battle. Two customized pulse pistols hung from his belt, bearing the words Wrath and Fury upon one of each. On his back was strapped a standard pulse carbine, slightly less accurate than its counterpart the pulse rifle, but able to fire much faster in close-quarter situations.
Smiling to himself from within the confines of his helmet, the Tau soldier drew his carbine, shrugging off the leather strap that bound the weapon to his chest. A quick movement of his hand, and the pulse carbine hummed into life, its advanced rangefinder scope displaying a glowing indigo stream of symbols. Translated into Tau language, they specified that the weapon was loaded, the inhibitor deactivated, the scope set to magnify and lock approaching targets.
All was ready. The Fire Warrior raised his pulse carbine to the heavens, unleashing a single battle cry from his throat.
00000000
"FOR THE GREATER GOOD! ATTACK!"
Almost as soon as the words had left his mouth, they were echoed back by the thousands of Fire Warriors, battlesuits, and Kroot Carnivores standing at the ready behind the hill. A wave of battle fury seemed to spread its way through their ranks, and one by one, dozens by dozens, hundreds by hundreds, the warriors advanced, sweeping toward the army of the Night Lords.
Shas'ui Faer'un watched his forces charge forward, pride in his heart. He had been specifically chosen to lead the forces into battle because of his many years of combat experience. Already, the rank of Shas'vre had been offered to him more than once, but he had always declined.
He just didn't favor the idea of hiding in the belly of an armored walker. Even though his words were inspiring and his skill in combat was nearly unmatched, the Fire Warrior felt that he was not of the type to lead soldiers into battle. Let the warriors wage war, and let the commanders command.
Faer'un pressed a hand against the side of his helmet, activating the touch-sensitive comm unit.
"Shas'o, the main battle has begun. You may commence your attack immediately."
"Very good, Faer'un," replied the voice of the Tau commander. "Battlesuit teams are inbound to secure the temple."
A rushing of air sounded over Faer'un's head as said Crisis teams rocketed through the sky, their plasma jets carrying them over the clashing troops on the battlefield below. Their mission was to secure a gue'la temple, containing a powerful artifact inside. The Ethereals were interested in the possibilities for this artifact and so had sent Shas'O Sheo and his army of Tau and Kroot to this desolate world.
As the battlesuits disappeared into a towering column of smoke, Faer'un grimly strode forth into battle, pulling his carbine out and pressing his finger onto the weapon's trigger. The gun crackled in his hands, spitting shot after shot of blue pulse energy into the fray. The level of accuracy that he possessed was undisputed among his soldiers.
An explosion beside him disintegrated several unfortunate Fire Warriors where they stood, sending droplets of blue blood splattering against his armor. The Shas'ui grimaced and kept firing his carbine, taking down four cultists with a stream of shots, one at a time. A line of Hammerhead gunships hummed past him, unleashing their deadly arsenal of railgun particles and ion blasts into the Chaos army.
Further away, a shot from one of the mighty railguns struck a Defiler, blowing a gaping hole straight through the middle of its chassis and destroying the Chaos walker. A Kroot collapsed next to him, his life spilling from his destroyed neck in a gush of hot blood. A barrage of bolter shells shredded another Carnivore, each one blasting through its body and spraying red mist into the air. One of the Hammerheads was sent spinning into a Broadside battlesuit, crushing it beneath the bulk of the tank. The cockpit had been hit by a shell from one of the Chaos Predators, and now lay in pieces, smoking and useless, its pilots instantly killed in the explosion.
Three more of the enemy tanks rolled into view, their battlecannons unleashing a storm of deadly shells toward the entrenched Fire Warriors. Faer'un yelled into his communicator, switching his frequency to that of the Pathfinder team Sundered Vision.
"This is Shas'ui Faer'un! Mark order on central approach, enemy armor closing fast! Get those tanks lit up!""Understood, Shas'ui. We have a team marking the targets now. Standby for Seeker barrage."
Soon enough, a wave of missiles roared overhead, impacting against the armor of the tanks and sending pieces of shrapnel hurtling into the air.
While Faer'un was concentrating his attention on a pack of fleeing cultists, a horrifying Khorne Berserker emerged from the smoke, advancing straight toward him. The Shas'ui noticed his new opponent not a moment too soon, leaping backward as the Chaos warrior swung his weapon with a roar, nearly slicing the Fire Warrior in half from head to foot. Unfortunately his carbine was not nearly so lucky, as it was sliced in half by the roaring teeth of the chainaxe.
Faer'un felt a rush of excitement as he tightened his grip around his arm control, extending the short holdout blade from his mechanized arm gauntlet. A graceful and unconventional weapon, the Earth caste weaponsmiths had designed it specifically for his use, slightly borrowing the concept from the Cadre Elite warriors of Shas'o K'yos's renowned army, the Saum'ka Uash'o.
The Khorne Berserker charged again, bringing the axe slashing at Faer'un's head. What the enemy possessed in strength, it lacked in speed, allowing the quicker Tau to avoid the shattering blows being rained upon him by the monstrous Chaos warrior.
Finally, the veteran Shas'ui managed, miraculously, to land a blow on the Berserker's leg, driving his razor-sharp arm blade into a patch of flesh that had been exposed by the decay of the warrior's rust-covered greaves. Black blood squirted out as the creature howled in pain and brought its axe straight down on him, aiming to crush his head. Faer'un gracefully sidestepped the attack and tore the blade loose, severing his foe's hamstring in one single movement.
The warrior fell to its knees, its axe slipping from its fingers as the bloodlust drained from its tormented body. Through hate-laden eyes, it watched its alien enemy regain its footing, striding toward the Berserker and raising the strange blade on its arm.
The custom-forged weapon plunged through the vital gap between helm and chest armor, sinking into the flesh of the Khorne warrior's neck and spraying its blood onto Faer'un's visor. Retracting his blade into his gauntlet, he drew his precious pistols Wrath and Fury as his enemy fell dead, black liquid pooling on the grass.
Panting with exhaustion, Faer'un caught his breath, dizzy with fatigue. He had been fortunate, unbelievably fortunate, to have slain the Berserker, let alone survive its brutal assault. In all of his years as a Fire Warrior, he had never faced down one of their kind at close range, seeing as how a single one could rip its way through an entire squad of Shas'la. To kill one in a duel…that was certainly a rare and taxing accomplishment.
He had had the twin pistols crafted to his exact specifications by the Earth caste weaponsmiths on his homeworld. They were beautiful and ornate weapons that launched a single razor-edged disk, which was charged with plasma, much like the exotic shuriken catapults of the Eldar warriors. In fact, the workers had practically reverse-engineered a captured weapon from an Eldar prisoner, redesigning the new pistols to accommodate the grip of a Tau and infusing the new discs with tiny seeker drones.
Basically, Faer'un could now hit any target that he could see. The electronic sensors in each bladed disk would home in on their designated targets, slicing through all but the most sturdy of armor. Though the weapons were still in their experimental phase, they had proved to be a valuable asset to the Shas'ui, and the Tau army as a whole.
Raising the pistol, he squeezed off a single disk, watching as the whining blade tore through a cultist's chest, nearly decapitating him with a single pass. Two more rounds embedded themselves in the helm of a Chaos Space Marine, like miniature sawblades. Blinded and injured, the warrior stumbled to his knees, until a flurry of burstcannon fire ended his life forever.
A few yards away, a few Fire Teams had been set upon by the Defiler walkers, desperately firing their pulse rifles at the towering machines in an attempt to stop the massacre. One by one, the Tau were ripped apart by the metal claws of the Chaos vehicles, their armor proving next to useless against the Defilers' crushing grip.
In less than thirty seconds, four Fire Teams had been reduced to a handful of survivors, surrounded by pieces of their fallen comrades. Faer'un holstered his pistols, hurtling toward the slaughter without a second thought. He had no idea how he would possibly manage to destroy or even slow the walkers' progress…
…until he spotted the body of a slain Krootox, its mighty back-mounted gun undamaged and still operational. Faer'un leaped onto the corpse's hide, his hooves sinking into the creature's dead flesh as he swiveled the turret towards the Defilers, forcing his hand through the complex Kroot firing mechanism and squeezing the trigger.
With a noise like a cannon blast, a two-foot-long shell exploded from the gun's barrel, traveling across the field and embedding itself in the Defiler's body. An explosion tore through the walker as one of its engines was ruptured, sending the machine crashing to the ground, its still-operational legs thrashing as it tried to right itself.
Faer'un's action had the desired effect on the other two walkers. Swiveling towards this new threat, they abandoned their current prey, allowing the surviving Fire Warriors to dash to safety.
Before the Defilers could open fire, a torrent of missiles ripped through them, annihilating the pair of walkers in a storm of fiery explosions. Barracuda fighters screamed overhead, so fast that the plumes of black smoke rising over the battlefield actually distorted before Faer'un's eyes. Chattering shots from the burstcannons of the aircraft sowed through the ranks of the Chaos infantry, causing destruction and panic among the cultists.
A battlesuit landed behind the Shas'ui with a crash, followed by four more of its kind. Clad in the armor of a Shas'o commander, Sheo was magnificent to all onlookers, a true leader of the Tau forces.
Removing his helmet, Faer'un leaped off of the Krootox and saluted the Shas'o, clapping his fist against his chest armor.
"Ah, Faer'un," Sheo remarked, looking over the veteran Shas'ui. "It is good to see your skills have not yet waned."
"I am glad of it as well, but I wish to know, when do we plan to advance on the temple?"
O'Sheo sighed. "I am afraid we lack the sufficient force to challenge the Chaos army at the temple. We are to remain here and establish a temporary command post."
"Why do we not simply bombard the enemy?"
"Some unknown energy interferes with the sensors of our drone scanners. We cannot pinpoint their exact location."
"I see." Faer'un nodded. "If you wish it so, I will volunteer to go alone and provide reconnaissance on the energy source."
Shas'O Sheo chuckled, his voice distorted by the battlesuit's audio projectors. "Shas'ui, you never fail to impress me. First you are nearly slain in battle thrice, then you wish to risk your life once more? Very well, but stay cautious."
Faer'un smiled and buckled his helmet back on. "I look forward to our next meeting, old friend."
"As do I, Ui'Faer'un."
With those last words, Faer'un strode off across the battlefield, toward the edge of the dark forest.
Three hours later…There was no doubt about it, Faer'un was lost. Two hours had passed since he had entered the forest, and he had found nothing so far. The energy source had suddenly disappeared, vanishing as if the source had just ceased to exist.
With no way to tell where he was or what he was doing, Faer'un reached for his helmet's comm unit, ready to call in for retrieval. There was nothing here, nothing apart from miles upon miles of endless forest. The source must have just been an anomaly.
A rustling sound, from the bushes behind him. As the Shas'ui turned, he caught a glimpse of a curved blade, arcing through the air towards his head.
To be continued…A note from TheLoneHunter: Yeah, I'm everywhere these days. Get used to it. I have a life apart from Battlegrounds, you know. Writer by day, beta-reader by night, you know the drill.
Now, this little piece of work by Phantom 4 Life was extremely tough to edit. Given that I practically rewrote the whole thing, I think I managed to make it at least partially readable. Seriously though, it was a lot of fun to do. I even managed to make a Tau killing a Khorne Berserker plausible, even though in reality, the Berserker would just outright step on Faer'un, leaving nothing but a blue smear on his ceramite boot.
Again, I didn't really add anything new to the original storyline, I just edited and rewrote it half to death. So if you have any problems with the story, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF THE EMPEROR, DON'T BLAME ME!
-TLH
From Phantom 4 Life: I gotta say TheLoneHunter helped me turn this from a piece of crap into a beautiful art piece. I bow to his almightiness. He deserves more credit on this than me. I am extremely honored that he made this not suck.