Hello everyone, I am still here. I must apologise for my absence but life got in the way with exams and I also wasn't quite sure how to continue. Luckily I've had some inspiration and I've decided to put more effort into the plot and introduce some (hopefully) decent characters.
The Tyranids were relentless in their assault, wave upon wave of monstrosities threw themselves into the breach of the wall, only to be repulsed again and again by concentrated plasma and las fire. Jeakim lurched awake to the sound of distant artillery, his once red armor now caked in mud. He was still watching the breach among a large group of exhausted fire warriors and Gue'vesa. At first there had been tension between the humans and the Tau race, but now they were comrades, racial differences put aside. He looked up to the roar of Kir'la class gunships racing overhead, strafing distant targets with their rail and ion cannon batteries. Noticing how unusually quiet it was, Jeakim peeked over the watter of blood-splattered sandbags and saw for once the breach was actually clear and Fire warriors were tentatively approaching and looking out past the walls. Jeakim stood up, overcome with relief and looked around the camp, too elated to realise the huge cost defending the outpost had inflicted on the Tau and their allies. After a few minutes of relief there was a soft beep from the communications and he approached it, activating it with by touching a combination of glyphs.
For a few seconds there was only static and then an ethereal started to speak in a loud commanding voice, the survivors joining him and clustering around the array, Jeakim's spirits soared even further when he heard the Ethereal commend them for their defence of the outpost and now the Tau were counterattacking, using massed artillery and mechanised forces to push deep into Tyranid territory in an attempt to destroy the source of the invasion, the Tyranid hive. The next few hours passed like a blur for Jeakim, Orca transports arrived with fresh reinforcements and the survivors were taken back to the Capital where they enjoyed a day of rest followed by a day of medical examinations and healing. Surprisingly he wasn't too badly hurt and on the third day he once again boarded an Orca heading straight back to the now distant front lines. After a few good hours, Jeakim was woken by a worried human voice speaking through the loudspeaker "All soldiers on this transport, brace for impact and evasive maneuvers, we have a moderately sized Harpy swarm approaching our position. I repeat brace for evasive maneuvers"
After a few moments of silence, suddenly the whole Orca shook as something landed on top of the transport, using a Camera screen in the centre of the transport, Jeakim could see several moderately large creatures land on the Orca, starting to tear through the roof and the lights flickered. Preparing for the worst, Jeakim flicked the safety off his lasgun before he was thrown back in his seat as the Orca rapidly climbed, throwing off the Harpies and sending them spiraling off, struggling to regain their balance. Once the Orca was above the Tyranids, the lower self-defence turret deployed, a pair of twin-linked long burst cannons warming up for a second before spraying the sky below with plasma blasts, several of the Harpies being caught in the blasts, their wings being torn off or being shot out of the sky, falling down into the clouds. After a few seconds the Orca speeds up, rapidly increasing distance between where they encountered the Harpies.
After a few minutes, Jeakim had just started thinking they were past the worst of it when there was a loud screech and a loud bang, a large dent forming in the bay doors. Even at full speed, several more dents were formed in the door before the pilot opened them, throwing off several Harpies. As they were strapped in, Jeakim and his comrades weren't sucked out and the single Crisis Battlesuit stood up, it's magnetic feet planting it firmly to the floor as it unloaded its burst cannon into the Harpies, literally cutting them to pieces. Once it was finished, the bay doors closed and several Tau gunships flew past them, scattering the Harpies. Jeakim sat back in his chair, his heart racing and it continued to for the next three hours until the bay doors slid open and the Orca landed on a landing pad in the Tau forward command base. Jeakim and his comrades wearily hopped out of the Orca and were formed up into rows and sent down into the base and assigned a room he would share with two fellow humans. Deciding introductions with his new roommates could wait, he stripped of his carapace armour and flopped down on a lower bunk bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
-Next morning, 8.30 am-
The next morning Jeakim awoke to a soft beeping coming from the wall next to him, not knowing quite what to do he slammed his fist against it, the beeping cut out. Satisfied at the outcome, he sat up and dressed in his carapace armour. Just as he was preparing to leave a tired voice called out to him from behind him "So you're Jeakim huh?" He looked behind him to see a tall human with short messy brown hair and a short trimmed goatee, the markings on his sleeves distinguishing him as a specialist, a veteran Gue'vesa. Jeakim nodded, not sure what to say but the other man continued "I'm Adrian, Adrian Stevenson, a pleasure" He extended his hand which Jeakim reluctantly shook. After a few second Adrian withdrew his hand and put his helmet on "Seems our other comrade is yet to arrive, we should go out and get some breakfast quickly before reporting in. Keep up" He smiled warmly before opening the door from their room and walking out, the door swishing closed behind him. After a few seconds of hesitation, Jeakim jogged out after Adrian towards the prefab Gue'vesa mess hall.
Inside there was hundreds of humans all sitting on rows of tables in groups. Adrian and Jeakim joined the que and they were served by a rather jolly human cook who served them large amounts of high energy cereal and gave them their ration packs for the day. After collecting their cereal they found an empty table and sat down opposite each other, eating silently for a moment before Jeakim decided to break the ice "So, Adrian..How did you end up on this side?" After a moment of thought he replied "Well I joined up like you I suppose, but I wasn't originally a deserter, I joined up willingly on Taros" He said proudly. Jeakim smiled slightly at this "Ah I have heard many stories about your planet" Taros was famous among the Tau for trading with the Tau and then when the Tau annexed the planet, they fought side-by-side with the Tau against the Imperial forces sent to reclaim the planet.
Adrian nodded "Yes we have a proud history, what about you Jeakim?"
After a few moments Jeakim replied "Well… not much to it really. I was born on Brimlock and at 16 I decided to do my duty to the Emperor and joined the guard. I was a proud little guardsman, killing the Xenos across the galaxy before being sent against the Tau. There I learned the true nature of the Imperium and seeing my regiment surrendering I gladly accepted the offer of peace given by the Tau. I was housed by them for a few months before I made up my mind and joined the Gue'vesa, and here I am" Adrian smiled slightly "Like so many others. I heard about that outpost you were involved in defending, bad business that.. bad business… Oh well at least you're here" They fell silent and finished their Cereal and put their rations in the small bag they all carried before walking out of the mess hall upon hearing the mustering siren. 500 or so Gue'vesa all lined up in ranks in the centre of the base and were addressed by a smart, ex-imperial officer. He explained that they were going to be fighting at the spearhead of the thrust into Tyranid territory alongside the Tau, and if they were successful, maybe just maybe they could end the Tyranid infestation of the planet and maybe even the whole sector.
I hope you enjoyed, once again I am sorry for the delay :)