Series I - Von Guyen
Episode IV - Midnight
After arriving at the spaceport to find thirty Astartes ready and waiting for them, the Tau vanguard force has turned back on itself and made for the basilica on the second level where the Second and Third Companies of the White Knights are defending their Chapter Master. With midnight approaching, they are fighting tooth and nail to defend their position. Third Captain Jarfur is keen to explain his decision to abandon the men at the spaceport, and he will have his chance. His fellow Captain Harlus, leader of the Second Company, is waiting to question him.
Third Company Captain Jarfur roared aloud as he emptied the bolter's entire magazine across the square, ignoring the blizzard of plasma bolts that answered him. He swore beneath his breath when the smoking gun ran dry and reached down for a refill.
Sitting on the firing step below him, Corporal Verrel held the new magazine up.
Jarfur's armoured fingers fumbled for it, found it and rammed it home into the bolter. Within a second he had cocked the gun and resumed his broadside, sending a stream of rounds into the windows of the administrative quarter. Beautiful stone cornicing and elegant statues exploded in a shower of fine stone dust until the weapon was drained for a second time. With a snarl, he threw it down.
"Pick it up," he snapped.
Verrel reached for it. It was hot and almost too heavy for him.
"Now!" Jarfur ordered.
In his panic, Verrel dropped it.
Jarfur raised a hand to strike him. A slap from a Space Marine could break a human neck. But before he could bring his palm down, another hand closed around his wrist.
It was Harlus, a fellow Captain of the Second Company.
"Breathe easy, brother," he said, calmly.
Jarfur jabbed at Verrel.
"This wretch thinks he can defy me," he growled.
Harlus shook his helmeted head.
"The Guard may be but tools for the Astartes," he acknowledged, "But that does not give us license to damage them. There is more than one way to mete out discipline." He turned to Verrel. "Get up on the firing step."
"Yes sir," Verrel said, and obediently climbed onto it. He aimed out into the square.
"Now," Harlus said, gently correcting his posture as he did so, "Stand upright and keep the stock of your las-rifle firmly in your shoulder. And whatever you do, remember that you are a Guardsman among Space Marines. No alien will spare you a second thought, let alone target you."
Verrel glanced down at his boots.
"Harsh words, I know," Harlus agreed. "But think like a true soldier and use that fact to your advantage. It gives you the opportunity you need. See anyone?"
"I do," Verrel said, looking through the rifle's sights.
"In your own time," Harlus said, kindly.
Verrel closed one eye and took a deep breath. He fired a single shot.
The orange-armoured figure dropped heavily to the ground.
"He's down," Verrel said, proudly.
"You see?" Harlus said. "You have power like we do, albeit in a different way. Where we can take the punishment of our enemies' guns, you can evade it and strike back. Lesson learned?"
Verrel nodded breathlessly.
"Lesson learned," he repeated.
Harlus nodded to Jarfur.
"We are needed," he explained.
A combined force of Knights and Guardsmen of the Ulian 21st Infantry had been defending the basilica for the better part of an hour now, fending off endless waves of Tau tanks. There was no sign of von Guyen or the aliens' leader. The Chapter's vaunted promise to end the battle for Fastunhive by sunrise was slipping further and further out of reach.
Jarfur and Harlus wound their way through the piles of crates and supplies that had been laid out along the nave.
"You are too soft on the humans, brother," Jarfur said. "They fight weakly and break easily."
"And you hold them to too high a standard," Harlus retorted. "This is their city. They are doing their utmost to retake it. It just so happens that their utmost is not the same as ours."
A Tau Hammerhead tank hovered into position in the square outside. Its turret traversed and the railgun sent a shot through the basilica's front wall. The statue of the Emperor at the far end was beheaded by the bolt of shimmering blue.
"Damn it!" snarled General Bannur, who was standing by its feet. "Get some fire on that thing!"
"What did he think we were doing?" Jarfur muttered, as he and Harlus approached the General.
Harlus chuckled inside his helmet.
The two of them didn't see eye to eye on most issues, but there was one thing they could definitely agree upon: both of them hated Bannur. They hated him, they hated the contempt he showed for them and they hated having anything to do with him. Unfortunately the mission they were undertaking made avoiding him difficult.
"You two!" he barked at them, completely disregarding the usual reverential attitude used when addressing Space Marines. "What took you so long? I summoned you here five minutes ago!"
"You did not summon us," Harlus said, calmly. He was trying to keep Jarfur from being the one to reply. The Third Captain would solve his problems with violence, and while killing an Imperial Guard General wasn't a crime for an Astartes it would probably hurt the humans' morale.
"Well, you can just keep saying that to yourself," Bannur told him. "But I know the truth. And you still haven't answered my question. I summoned you . . ."
"We do not answer to you," Jarfur said, indignantly.
"No," Bannur said, with a smug grin. "You answer to your beloved Chapter Master, and he's off getting his chest put back together while we dig ourselves into this hole defending him."
Jarfur stepped forward.
Harlus held him back, as usual.
"What did you need?" he asked, politely.
"A report on your force levels," Bannur said. "My men are going to make a push to break the siege and much as I'd like to do it without your help, you'd make it a whole lot easier."
"Most of the Second Company is here," Harlus said. "I've been in contact with the stragglers and told them to stay in position so they can mop up the fleeing Tau once they break."
Jarfur took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
"Five squads of the Third Company are here too," he said. "We are pulling back to this location. I had thirty men at the spaceport, but the damned xenos are jamming our signals and now I cannot reach them. We are working on finding the jammer."
"Fine," Bannur said. "You can go."
"Thirty men?" Harlus asked Jarfur, partly out of genuine curiosity and partly to distract him from Bannur. "That is a potent force, brother."
"There was a Tau vanguard moving towards them," Jarfur explained. "This vanguard, I would imagine. I don't know if they have held position or if they are en route to our location."
"And have you suffered any casualties?" Harlus said.
Jarfur nodded.
"Two tonight," he said. "There may be a few more before sunrise."
Harlus glanced at the chronometer on his heads-up display.
"It is just past midnight," he said. "We are looking at a few more hours of this."
"Did any of the Second Company come into contact with the Tau leader?" Jarfur said.
"None," Harlus lamented. "It must be in the city somewhere."
Jarfur reached up and removed his helmet. He had a thick neck and deep-set eyes. His hair was brown and unruly, coming down to his chin and arranged in loose curls. When he talked, his four golden teeth caught the light, as did the studs in his forehead and his ears.
"Maybe von Guyen's grand claims were right," he suggested. "Maybe he really does lead the aliens. We used to believe as much."
"The Tau would never give command to an agent of the Imperium, even a rogue one," Harlus replied. "He is being manipulated into thinking he has the power."
Jarfur shook his head.
"You know von Guyen, brother," he said. "How can you be so sure? He is a crafty man. I understand that these xenos are highly motivated, but given time, perhaps he could have worked his way into their minds. We cannot discount the possibility."
"Is that why you brought your men here instead of reinforcing your garrison at the spaceport?" Harlus asked, provocatively. "For a theory?"
Jarfur put his helmet down heavily on a supply crate.
The noise caught the attention of the nearby Guardsmen. They turned to watch.
"If we kill von Guyen," Jarfur insisted, "The Tau will wither and die."
"You cannot seriously believe they're that stupid," Harlus scoffed, from behind the implacable grille that covered his mouth.
"I do not believe they're stupid at all," Jarfur retorted. "I . . ."
He noticed the Guardsmen and glanced at them.
"Do you not have a war to win?" he shouted.
They hurriedly dispersed.
Jarfur lowered his voice.
"Von Guyen has always been cunning," he said, "But I fear there may be some deeper power at work here. He could be using technology to influence them . . . or worse still, the malicious guidance of the Dark Gods."
"Chaos?" Harlus said, dubiously.
"In all our fighting," Jarfur said, "We have seen no sign of a Tau commander in the field. My men even raided their headquarters at the precinct house. There was nothing to suggest they were led by anyone other than the Inquisitor."
Harlus did not reply. He was thinking to himself.
"Now, if that is true," Jarfur went on, quietly, "We have to ask ourselves how he took control of their ranks. I can see no other way."
"There are no documented examples of Tau falling to Chaos," Harlus pointed out.
"That is not to say it is impossible," Jarfur said.
Harlus looked at him, surprised by his insightfulness. He tended to discount Jarfur as being motivated only by his anger and pride. This time, however, his theory seemed to hold up.
"We can take it to the Chapter Master," he decided, ambivalently.
"Take what to the Chapter Master?" came a voice they both recognised.
Sanctus Grimfist emerged from the anteroom where the Apothecaries had been treating him. He was back to full strength, his face flushed and his limbs suffused with energy by their stimulants. A bolt pistol hung at his belt alongside a power sword to replace his broken thunder hammer. He'd chosen to keep his old chestplate, even with its shattered chalice. With no helmet on, he looked exactly like the history books depicted him: battle-worn and bloodied but victorious nonetheless. He was a figure of myth and legend even among the Marines he led, which made him practically a living god to the Imperial Guard.
"My brothers," he said, and wrapped his arms around Jarfur and Harlus both.
They looked up at him; he was easily a head taller than they were.
"Master," Harlus said, once they all broke apart. "The Third Captain and I were just discussing von Guyen and his leadership of the Tau."
"Was it important?" Grimfist asked.
"No," Jarfur said, before Harlus could speak. "At least, it can wait until we break their attack."
"That's the kind of spirit I like to see," Grimfist told him, and turned to Bannur. "General, I want you to prepare your men to make a push out of this place. If we are to find Samovar by sunrise, we'll need to get moving."
"I had that idea ten minutes ago," Bannur snapped, resentfully.
"Well, I am having it now," Grimfist said, silencing him. "Do we have the numbers to do it?"
"Not without some losses," Bannur said. "It'd be easier if we had a proper force of troops outside the basilica to flank the Tau."
Jarfur's radio crackled. He took the call.
"Who is this?" he asked.
"Captain Jarfur," came the reply, "This is Gyrus."
"I do not know that name," Grimfist said.
"He is a Marine in my Company," Jarfur explained. "I ordered him back here with us but he disobeyed me and made for the spaceport to contact the garrison there."
Grimfist patched in to the call.
"Is that true?" he said, levelly.
There was a tense pause.
"Yes sir, it is," Gyrus sent. "When the Tau saw we were ready for them, they turned and headed back towards your position. We have been following them ever since."
"Did you make contact with them?" Grimfist asked.
"We just knocked out their jammer," Gyrus replied. "I took a hit during the battle and I am not sure I am good to fight, but there are three squads of the Third Company awaiting your orders."
Grimfist smiled broadly.
"Thank you, Marine," he said, and ended the call.
"If not for him," Jarfur said, "We wouldn't be surrounded by Tau right now."
"I know," Grimfist nodded. "Take command of the squads he brought and order them to outflank the enemy when we make our push."
"What about Gyrus, sir?" Jarfur asked.
"Send him to me," Grimfist ordered. "And I don't care if he needs medical attention; make sure he sees me as soon as he gets here."
