The Great Revolution
Chapter 1: Prologue
Gue'vesa'ui Roland Anderson sat in his chamber, looking at his combat knife with hatred, then stabbed the combat knife into the wall, then guided the knife, carving a clean mark in the wall, as he does every day. The chamber was lit by light connected to the ceiling. The room looked high-tech. The door was automatic and there was a long bench, with a large table connected to the floor, sitting in front of him.
Roland emitted an angry groan and jammed the knife into the table, leaving it there before he walked out of the room. Perhaps a target practice will clear his mind, he thought. He walked back into the room to pick up his lasgun he crafted himself, which was leaning by the wall.
He walked through the corridors while looking at the ground, refusing to acknowledge any of his surroundings. The corridor's floor was painted grey, and it stretched with various branching paths to other places. Roland walked past a branching path, and took a left. Ahead of him was the target practice zone, with two fire warriors standing with their pulse rifles pointing up in a formal way. Roland walked past them and entered a room with a shelf.
He picked up a power pack on the shelf, and connected it to his lasgun. Gue'vesa were not allowed to carry loaded firearms outside the target practice room. There were few other people in the room, and ahead of them were the targets. What the targets were made of, Roland was not sure, but they were resistant against las-fire as lasguns only causes burn marks on them.
Roland stood in a firing position. His lasgun was up, he was a left hander, so he grabbed the trigger part of his lasgun with his left hand, and his right hand grabbed the part near the lasgun's barrel near where the power pack is, like a rifleman stance. He pulled the trigger, and the las beam hit the middle of the target, causing a small black burn.
He fired again and again; each shot not far from the previous one and all the shots hit near the middle of the target. He fired until the power pack ran out of power. Without looking, he swiftly pulled the power pack off his gun, placed it on the shelf and reached for another one with his right hand. He pressed the stock against his shoulder to carry the gun one handed. His right hand came up in a quick, but smooth motion, and the power pack slid in place. The reload speed was far faster than a typical guardsman's. He quickly went into his previous stance again and fired. His performance has not dropped, and the las beams hit the target in the middle again.
"Colonel Roland!" said somebody from behind.
Roland fired his last round without concentration, and the las beam hit the wall beside the target. Roland pulled out the power pack and carefully put it on the shelf.
"What is it, Morton? One more thing, I am not a colonel anymore." Roland replied.
"Let's go eat something? I'm getting hungry." Gue'vesa'la Morton Neil offered.
"Hmm… fine by me. Let me put the lasgun back in my room first."
"Alright. Take your time!" Morton said as he ran off.
Roland walked out of the door, as a fire warrior checked him for hidden power packs. After they finished checking, they made a hand gesture that means "You can pass". Roland took a left, and walked down the corridor. He looked up as a Shas'UI walked pass him. Roland stared at the Tau with surprise. He wondered why would a Shas'UI would be here. If a Gue'vesa rioted, a Shas'LA would be more than enough to deal with it, considering that the Gue'vesa wouldn't have a firearm.
The Shas'UI turned to look at him, but Roland turned away to avoid its gaze. Roland stood in front of his room door, and it opened. He walked inside and tossed his gun onto the table. Outside, he heard shouting. With curiosity, he stepped outside and turned to the source of the noise. His eyes widened as he saw a Shas'SAAL being dragged on the floor by another fire warrior. The Shas'SAAL was dead, with a knife jammed into the helmet.
Across the corridor, he saw a dead Gue'vesa being dragged on the floor by another fire warrior. At first, he did not recognize who the Gue'vesa was because of the burns on his face caused by a pulse rifle. A few seconds, Roland noticed who the Gue'vesa was. It was Morton, and Roland presumed that Morton stuck a knife into the Shas'SAAL's helmet, and he was shot dead. Roland ran across the corridor to Morton. Suddenly, the fire warrior carrying Morton dropped him and raised his pulse rifle and aimed at Roland. Roland halted as the barrel of the barrel of the pulse rifle turns towards him.
He could feel the anger of the fire warrior upon its comrade's death. The fire warrior's finger, at the trigger, moved slightly backwards. Roland's heart sank, but the Shas'UI moved to the fire warrior and grabbed the pulse rifle and gently pushed the barrel downwards. The Shas'UI said something to the fire warrior. The fire warrior gazed at Roland, and lowered his pulse rifle and picked Morton's corpse up and started carrying it again. The Shas'UI walked up to Roland.
"Armory eleven, 2200." It whispered in Roland's ear in Imperial Gothic.
Roland looked at the Shas'UI face in surprise. No Tau here could speak Imperial Gothic here, save the Ethereal and the Shas'O. This Shas'UI must've been a spy. The servant of the Emperor has come to save them. Roland changed his surprised look into a serious one and nodded. The Shas'UI walked away.
Roland went back into his room, and set an alarm clock he made himself to 2145 and slept on the bench.
His alarm clock rang quietly, in the level enough to wake him up. He put his combat knife, sheathed inside his pants. Roland moved out of his room. The corridor was dark, and no lights were lit. Roland walked in a half-crouched position stealthily. He took a right, and then he walked into the armory area. The armory is usually locked, but he believed it's not locked anymore. There were Tau signs on the walls, in the xeno's language. He couldn't speak Tau, but he was sure that the armories were arranged in order. He counted the signs.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.... eleven." He whispered to himself. He stood in front of a wide door, and the light above the door is green. Roland walked towards the door and it opened. He continued on into the armory. There were metal boxes on everywhere, and there, in the middle of the room, stood a Vindicare Assassin.