Part 2

Tanath waved from his perch atop an old ammo crate as his friend Kurran approached, calling out to him across the main square of the new barracks of the Dandross auxiliaries. 'Didn't think I'd see you this early.'

'What do you mean, what's so special about today' replied Kurran cautiously.

'You know, you carrying that Tau girl back to her dorm, after she swooned into your arms last night, her with her fatigues all ripped.'

Kurran responded quickly. 'I don't get you man, one day your complaining that the commissars lied about the xenos being so debauched, the next your saying we should be careful about being corrupted & now this.' Kurran stopped his rant when he noticed the grin on Tanaths face, matching it with his own as he explained. 'Look I just carried her back, she was tired after all that excitement, I think it was the first real fight she'd seen. I just put her in her bunk and left it at that.'

'Did you undress her first?'

'What? No!'

'Because you seem a bit defensive about this, you know we're gonna be trapped here for a while and most of the human girls left are either taken already or look like they got hit in the face by an entrenching tool.'

'Kaesis looks alright and what about the girl in the administration building over there, and that mechanicum chick, I mean except for that weird thing on her back….there's lots of girls.'

'Kaesis is too much like a little sister, a really huge little sister, but still, it'd be wrong. The girl in admin is a flighty floozy so concerned with how good she looks its borderline heretical.. And the mechanicum chick, seriously, have you seen that thing on her back, its just too freaky.'

As Kurran listened to Tanath list the various reasons why most of the females on Dandross IV were utterly unsuitable for anything even as involved as enjoying a meal together he found it difficult to refute most of them, though he couldn't help smiling as the reasons became ever more outlandish once Tanath got into his stride. Though he occasionally interjected with comments about how he distinctly remembered Tanath trying to get it on with them anyway.

Before Kurran could say anything else to this, he noticed the lieutenant walking across the square, a worried look on his face, the LT called out to them saying 'Boys, grab your gear and the team, we're needed.'

Kurran & Tanath exchanged glances, as auxiliaries for the Tau they knew the only thing they would be needed for was going to be something violent & dangerous.

The cramped interior of the devilfish troop carrier served as a makeshift briefing room for Kurrans squad as it skimmed across the surface of Dandross IV towards some unknown fate. The lieutenant and second squads leader were squeezed in on the ends of the two bench seats which ran either side of the craft. The lieutenant addressed the two squad leaders as he said 'OK guys listen close, we have some very specific instructions for this op. These directives must be followed to the letter.' He paused before adding 'No matter how odd some of them may seem.'

Sergeant Spence of second squad interjected 'Sir, if this missions so complex how come we only find out five minutes before we have to be in the air?'

The other passengers smiled at this, Spence was well known for asking a lot of questions and often being far too direct. The Tau occupation was probably a good thing for him, enquiring minds weren't exactly well regarded in the imperium and it had probably only been a matter of time before his natural curiosity had come to the attention of the wrong party, which would probably have meant his death. That is until the Tau came. Whilst there were still questions that wouldn't get an answer, they were much less intolerant of those asking the questions.

Whilst the others smiled Lieutenant Graid just shrugged, 'I only found out about this myself a few minutes before you did. The higher ups obtained some intel about a raid which will be taking place on the town of Halm 30 kliks away from the capital.'

Tanath cut in 'Halm, I know that place, you can hardly call it a town, a couple of dozen houses is all, it's a farming community. Why would anyone risk a raid on something like that, you'd have to be pretty desperate or stupid to mount a raid for a bunch of grain and shit. I mean the place itself doesn't have any defences but its not too far from places that can mount a strike against any raiding force.'

Kurran and Spence grinned at Tanaths outburst but Graid looked grim as he said 'Its not food they're after, its people and you can be pretty sure that for anyone they get things are going to be…' Graid didn't finish the sentence, everyone had heard stories about raiders and pirates, that those who died in the attack were luckier than those that were taken. No one said it but everybody knew that the kind of raiders that went after human targets, the kind that took slaves, were the worst. If a raider was just going after food or loot they could sell then people didn't always put up that big of a fight. Often better to let the raiders take some of your stuff and get away with your life, but if people knew that they're lives and freedom were at stake then they would fight to the finish. These raiders would be tough, smart and very dangerous. The mood within the confines of the transport suddenly became a lot more serious.

After Graid had finished going through the details of the operation both squad leaders looked puzzled as Spence asked 'Which idiot planned this op? And does he have any military training beyond reading the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer - Pop Up Edition?'

Kurran pointed to locations on the map laid out in front of them as he said 'Sir, I know its good to concentrate firepower but we're leaving ourselves completely open here and here. And how can we be so sure that this is the area they're going to land?'

Graid shook his head 'Gentleman I know this is difficult but these orders are from the very top, we have special intelligence. This is how things must be done.' In spite of the incredulous looks he got Graid continued 'Also intel says they wont be landing there, they have some kind of long distance teleporter, I don't have details beyond that. We'll only have a few minutes to get in position before they arrive so make it quick'

The men within the transport readied their gear after the final details of the plan were laid out as the Tau crew chief yelled out 'Touching down in three minutes, get ready!'

The two devilfish troop carriers each carrying a squad of human auxiliaries touched down on the outskirts of Halm village, crops blasted flat beneath the wash of their engines. As Kurran jogged down the rear ramp of the first 'fish' he could see more transports bringing in Tau troops as well. The plan Spence laid out had detailed two squads of Tau infantry with attached drones and a sniper drone team set up in the hills a mile to the east. They were hoping for heavy support from some Crisis battle suits as well but it looked like they weren't going to be there in time.

Tanath nudged Kurran as he walked past down the fish's ramp saying 'Not too bad huh, four squads, drones in the hills. We'll back on base in time for dinner with tales of valour to wow the ladies.'

Kurran was grim as he replied 'You know this isn't going to be like those guys we took apart on Coris, I have a feeling that this fight is gonna be a bit tougher.'

Tanaths smile didn't fade as he shot back 'Yeah I know that, but you really do need to be a bit more cheerful. Though I do have to admit the fact that the Tau with us aren't what you'd call veterans does have me a bit concerned. Though between their training and our expert mentoring I'm sure they'll be fine, right?'

Kurran nodded 'For an op that's been organised on about a minutes notice from a base that isn't on alert I think we aint looking too shabby to be honest. One good thing is I hear its Vral up in the hills with the sniper drones and nobody knows drones better than that guy.'

The look on Tanath's face was one of incredulity as he pointed towards one of the squads of Tau Firewarriors which had an extra man today 'Do you mean that guy?'

As the squads of auxiliaries got into position Kurran ran over towards Vral who looked slightly uncomfortable standing with the fire warriors rather than the drones with which he was more familiar. Whilst Vral was the most experienced Tau soldier at Halm he was much more used to hanging well back with his drones to provide sniper support.

Vral looked up as Kurran called out 'Vral, what are you doing over here? Why aren't you up in the hills with your drones?' Kurran looked about, where were Vral's drones anyway.

The presence of the more experienced human auxiliaries seemed to reassure Vral somewhat as he explained 'I was told to accompany the Firewarriors and assist them directly.' He made a gesture of lifting his pulse rifle to indicate exactly what kind of assistance he was giving. 'My drones are in the hills operating on independent AI.'

'Isn't that a lot less effective than having a controller for sniper drones?'

'Yes, but I've been ordered to not interact with them at all, complete independence.'

Kurran was confused as he ran to his ready position. An operation to intercept an enemy raiding party organised at incredibly short notice with bizarrely specific details of when and where the enemy would attack and specific orders to set up defences that either seemed overly optimistic as to how well you could predict what the enemy would do or just completely bizarre.

As he took cover behind a low wall Kurran looked out towards the Fire warriors on the opposite side of the town square, as he'd been moving back after his talk with Vral he'd noticed that the second squad was Savon's unit. They'd been setting up looking purposeful and confident, they were well trained and Kurran knew that they could do this. Still, Kurran was surprised that the nervous knot he felt before a battle was a lot worse than he'd felt it in a long time. He hoped she'd be ok.