The idling Leman Russ engine rumbled the compartment, drowning out all but the worst of the battle outside. Captain Victor Saunders sat in the command seat, listening to vox chatter as the alien hulks slowly advanced into a constant barrage of human and xenos guns. His own crew, the three reluctant Eldar that lured him to this planet, grumbled at their stations as the enemy came into range. Mitch snarled in an indistinct language and fired the battle cannon, reaching out to strike a fleshy monstrosity half a kilometer away. The aim of these aliens was impeccable, but their jokes were wearing thin.

"What do you see out there?" the Captain asked, tapping the shoulder of the sponson gunner, Karl.

"Dirt, smoke, debris," Karl replied. "For the love of Cegorach, Captain, let us out of here, I'm getting claustrophobic!"

"Mind your heretical tongue," he said, "and keep your eyes peeled. I don't want to be caught flanked by any of those grav-ships."

"But this tank smells like feet!"

The driver, Moxy, turned around. Her fingers clamped the porcelain nose of her mask and she shook her head in disgust.

"You'll be happy for it if those monsters make it beyond the trench line. Besides," Saunders turned back to the sponson gunner, "This entire thing was your idea."

"Then can we at least switch positions, my legs are going numb!"

Another cannon shell jostled the tank and the Captain was thrown from his seat. "Who told you to fire!?" he demanded.

Without missing a beat, Karl sprang up and snatched the vox from the Captain, taking his place in the commander's seat, "Good going, Mitch."

The gunner leaned down to smile at his companion.

"You bloody…" Captain Saunders flailed to sit up in the cramped tank, grabbing the Eldar by the shoulder, "Get back on that gun!"

"Nope, your turn!" he said, stealing the Captain's hat. "Besides, it's time to get this ball rolling. We have a curtain call to make!" Holding the struggling Captain at bay with his hand, he pulled the microphone to his mask's sarcastic grin, "Breaker! Breaker! This is Rubber Duck! By-golly it's clean here to Taco Town! These boys came to play hardball but they ain't steppin' up to the plate, so looks like we gotta serve them up a heapin' pile-a whoop-ass! Get those balls to the wall!" He kicked the driver in the shoulders, "Hit it, Moxy!"

The clown shoved the controls forward and the tank lurched. The droning engine roared to life as the tank careened past the trenches and into the open. All around, other Leman Russ tanks lumbered forward, their crews following the advance of the command vehicle with hesitation. The trenches behind them, filled with human soldiers, watched as their armored support pressed ahead and began to follow suit.

"You bastard, give me back my command!" Saunders said, righting himself as the tank bounced around.

"Karl, we have company," Mitch shouted. Raider craft plunged towards them as the line of human armor advanced, weapons blazing from both sides. Metal hissed and sputtered from disintegrator plasma slamming into the front glacis. Mitch fired another shell out the cannon, blasting the nose off the front of the nearest grav-vehicle and sending it spiraling into the dirt.

"Great shot!" Karl replied.

"GIVE ME BACK MY—"

"GROTESQUES INCOMING ON THE LEFT!" Karl shouted back into the Captain's face.

Enraged as he was terrified, the Captain curled himself into the sponson gunner's seat and took aim. "This stunt is going to get us all killed!"

"It will get precisely none of us killed," Karl replied, adjusting the Captain's hat on his head, "Now, FIRE!"

Saunders emptied the lascannon into the first target, the discharge making an audible *THUNK* as the capacitors released. The hulk of flesh and bone and steel crumbled under the enormous energy beam but several more stepped forward to take its place.

"Keep firing, give them all we got!" Karl cried.

The tank continued to plow forwards, bouncing over artillery craters and grinding the remains of spikey Eldar underneath its treads as their foes cautiously pulled back. Captain Saunders struggled to line his shots up, the wobbling of the tank making the viewfinder all but worthless. His snap-shots plowed into the enemy lines, taking out any unlucky enough to be caught in the way. In spite of the extreme driving conditions, the battle cannon managed to find its mark more often than not in Mitch's skilled hands. Whoever these xenos were, Saunders thought, they were as lethal as they were annoying.

A loud *SLAM* jostled everyone out of their seat and the tank lurched straight up, the engine straining. Then, slowly, they slid back down. An artillery crater caught the front of the vehicle and Victor could tell from the clinking outside that they'd thrown a track.

"Full reverse!" Karl shouted. Moxy pulled the tank backwards a few feet until it settled into a more level field of view inside the crater.

"Perfect," he said, pulling the vox from his mask.

"What do you mean, 'perfect?'" the Captain grunted, "You threw a track! We're stranded in the middle of the battlefield!"

"Relax," the mask on Karl's face smiled wide, "We're tucked in this crater and surrounded by friendlies, it will be an easy escape."

"Escape!?"

"We opened up the enemy lines," he said gleefully, "They'll be reeling from this counterattack! Reeling I say, for seconds, maybe even minutes!"

"THAT is why you drove us into no-man's land!?" Captain Saunders pulled himself out of the sponson port which was now pointed directly at a pile of dirt. "We're going to die out here!"

"Captaaaiiin," Karl said, placing Victor's hat back on his head, "I already told you, no one is going to die."

Moxy turned around and squinted through pinched fingers.

Karl shooed her and shook his head, "No one here anyway."

"Especially not us," Mitch said, popping open the gunner's hatch.

Moxy nodded enthusiastically.

"It's all going according to plan!"

Saunders looked at the three Eldar, their masks showing a mix of enthusiasm and anticipation. "What will happen to the rest of the soldiers we just led out here?" he asked slowly.

"They'll… not… die?" Karl said, his mask grinning wider as Moxy pinched her fingers behind him again.

"You're lying!" he said, shoving the Eldar into the command console.

"Not lying!" he replied, throwing his hands up between himself and the Captain. "They'll be fine! Probably! I can say with absolute certainty they probably almost definitely will not die!"

"You said if I played my part we would—"

"I said if you did *not* play your part, we would all be dead!" Karl interrupted. "And that is true. Some maybe possibly dead is far better than all dead, I think we can agree."

"You said my men would be spared their lives!" he spat.

"That is true, the Druchii are known to take their victims alive."

Karl was interrupted by a surreal crack echoing over the fields as an enemy bomber vaporized a cliffside. Above, Victor could see the dark, jagged fighters swooping to and fro, dodging friendly xenos fire to lay waste to entrenched positions on the cliff.

"Stop arguing with that ignorant mon-keigh!" Mitch shouted from above, "Carlin is waiting and we need our disguises!"

Pushing the Captain away, Karl jumped up and pulled himself out of the tank. Moxy threw the driver's hatch open and sprung into the artillery crater.

"Coming, Captain?" Karl shouting from outside.

Captain Saunders looked over the battlefield from the open driving compartment. His men were out there, men he'd led to this Emperor-forsaken battleground at the behest of xenos, and now they were asking him to abandon them to their fates, defending in vain a world his men cared nothing for. He betrayed them, he failed as an officer, and worst of all, he betrayed the Emperor, all because he strayed down the path of heresy. He consorted with xenos, had he just fired upon those contemptuous villains in the tunnels of XGN-T34-85 he would never have found this place. But… he thought… he would also be dead. They all would, murdered by the droves of metallic creatures that lay beneath their quiet moon. A sick feeling rose in his stomach as he contemplated just how out of joint his loyalties were, but just how narrowly he'd avoided catastrophe in bending them.

"Captain!" the clown beckoned, waving his hand frantically.

"I am staying here," he said, closing the driver's hatch.

"Captain, remember what I said," Karl's tone darkened. "You must play your part, and this is your scene."

"My place is with my men, to hell with you," he said, his expression stern.

"That is not—"

"I led them here," he said. "I will fight by their side until we are killed or taken or whatever happens to us." He pointed at the clowns still gawking their masked faces down into the hull. "You promised my men and I would make it out alive. Well, I will go where they go. I will see it done, or Emperor take me, I will die with them."

"Admirable, Captain, but futile," Karl said, adjusting the bronze weapon on his wrist. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Carlin needs you in once piece and I—"

Moxy shoved him on the shoulder and gestured away.

"What do you mean? Carlin explicitly said he—"

She waved her hands frantically towards the city and back inside the tank, her mask shriveling into a pout.

"Oh come on, Moxy! That's not gonna work!"

She crossed her arms and Captain Saunders could hear her tapping her foot on the roof of the tank.

"Fine, fine! But you know what will happen if this goes wrong! It's your mask on the line!"

She nodded, her expression lifting.

"Alright, Captain, have it your way. We'll see you on the other side," Karl said, his mask growing dour.

"The other side of what?" he asked.

The three Eldar looked at each other with dismal expressions and Karl shook his head. Mitch grabbed the hatch door, "It is better that you don't know."

Nodding, Karl added, "Just remember Captain, you chose this!"

Captain Saunders swallowed hard as the hatch door closed, sealing him inside the tank.

Yes'ruch leaned against the blast door, her body aching from her travails. This was it. Somehow, some way, she had to convince Kaira to abandon her mission, her… her duty, and escape this planet. Regardless of what she had been told, the Druchii could not be trusted. She pressed her face against the door, the cold metal and ceramic on her bloodsoaked cheek soothed her throbbing headache. What was going to do, she thought. She could barely stand, let alone fight. She would be no match for any Commorrite invaders should they find her first. And even if she found Kaira, how could she possibly convince her to turn back? If anything, Kaira's warnings were more prescient than her own. Yes'ruch chased her own fleeting visions without following the Path of the Seer and it wrought nothing but misery, failure after failure, just as Kaira… just as they all said it would.

Tenderly, she began climbing the staircase. The doubts weighing on her mind seemed heavier than her half-starved body could carry. She paused at the last step, breathing hard, the distant sound of battle muffled from her own pulse in her ears. Turning, she noticed her frail shadow stretch all the way down the staircase. Pattering footsteps drew her attention to the hallway; the tell-tale sound of Eldar feet. Yes'ruch took a deep breath as she stepped around the corner.

Six skulking Dire Avengers stopped in their tracks, the emerald lenses in their targeting computers gleaming as she rounded the corner. This was it, she thought. She stood silent, awaiting either the caress of death or a sign that for once on this damnable quest she was right. Gradually, one of the Craftworlders lowered their catapult.

"Kaira?" she asked, her voice weak.

"Lost one," came the reply.

Yes'ruch smiled.

"Imbecile!" The warrior strode towards her. "Brutish mon-keigh-loving dog!"

Kaira ripped her helmet off and threw it at her. Yes'ruch crumpled out of the way as the helm slammed into the wall and rolled down the stairs.

Lunging forward, Kaira snatched what was left of the sniveling Eldar's clothes in her fist and drew her close, "I heard your message. I knew when you disappeared that you had done something brash. But never would I have thought you could be siding with humans again. Working against Ulthwé, against your own people!"

"Working against Ulthwé?" Yes'ruch said, "Kaira, look at yourself! Look at your so-called companions!"

"Look at yours!" she shouted, shaking her frail body in her grasp. "Fanatical priestesses, whose souls are slave to a corpse!"

"And the Commorrites!?" Yes'ruch croaked, trying to push her friend back. "Do you honestly believe they will let you leave this battlefield? That they will honor whatever disgusting bargain Palmarias has made?"

Kaira glared at her friend, her jaw locked, but slowly released her grasp. "I do."

Yes'ruch stumbled back into the wall and righted herself, "No, you do not."

"I believe in Palmarias, in his mission and in his farsight. He is a true Seer, unlike y–"

"He is a traitor!"

"Mind your tongue!" Kaira raised her shuriken catapult to her friend's chest. Turning to the other Dire Avengers, she shouted, "We have no time for this, let us move!"

The blue figures behind them moved to the staircase, but as Kaira turned to join them Yes'ruch grabbed her friend by the shoulder, "Kaira, I am begging you, leave this place! Do not return to Palmarias!"

Kaira shoved her away, "Unhand me, lost one!"

Seeing the look in her friend's eyes, Yes'ruch could feel the tears welling in her own. Her words stung with derision just as they did the last time they spoke. Kaira was the only one in this galaxy Yes'ruch cared for. She had risked everything, traveled alone to this distant world, and endured human tortures, all for her sake. Was it for nothing? What good were her horrid visions if she could not alter their outcome? Was her farsight now truly nothing but a curse to be borne?

"I know you want to serve…" Yes'ruch said, her tone wavering, "but this does not help Ulthwé. Nothing here helps our people. Please, end this madness and let me take you home!"

Kaira's dark eyes narrowed, "You dare to speak of service to me!?" Ramming the end of her shuriken catapult into her friend's stomach she growled, "Sallis knew of service, of sacrifice. Once, even you respected that."

Yes'ruch shook her head, "You fight in Sallis' memory but I watched him die. A dozen times I foresaw his death but did not prevent it. I will not make the same mistake again!"

"His death was not a mistake, it was his duty and his fate. Now leave me to mine!"

The blast door below clanked as the ceramite plates began to open, the heavy mechanisms reverberating through the walls. Kaira jumped, readying her weapon as the door revealed dozens of heavily armed and armored humans, their bolters and flamers fixed on the hallway above. In the middle of the doorway was the Retributor Laura, the Sergeant, and, carrying the half-dead Commorrite, the pilot.

The tense moment of silence that fell between them was cut short by the Retributor, "HOSTILES! OPEN FIRE!"

The Alex and the pilot hit the ground as bolterfire raked the stairway. Pieces of the stone fane were blown apart, a cloud of dust, smoke, and fire engulfing them. Kaira moved to join her squad in the fray but Yes'ruch held her fast.

Kaira turned on her, hatred burning in her eyes.

"Enough!"

Time stopped as a bolt of agony shot pierced through Yes'ruch's stomach. The shuriken catapult pressed against her belly, Kaira's finger still on the trigger. Yes'ruch stumbled to the ground as the pain overwhelmed her senses. Instinctively she pressed her hands against her abdomen, trying to stop blood from seeping between her fingers.

The crossfire ceased and the metallic thunk of the blast door sealing itself once more shook the ground. Kaira moved around the corner to join the fight but she was too late. Echoes of the battle about the structure rumbled in the otherwise gripping silence that followed. In the choking dust, she could make out five blue figures sprawled across the floor. Shrieking in panic, Kaira leapt down the stairs, digging the broken masonry off the bodies of her companions.

Yes'ruch rolled over on her side, her stomach burning as if hot steel were jabbing her insides straight through. Her hands were soaked and stained as she desperately tried to hold together what was surely a lethal wound. A coughing fit inside the dust cloud pulled her focus from her grave situation just long enough to hope there might be an Eldar survivor, but up from the stairway, covered in brick dust, trudged the Alex. Kaira had barely noticed him as she moved from one of her fallen comrades to another. Seeing Yes'ruch lying injured, the human rushed to her side.

"Damn it, you're bleeding out!" he said, looking at her wound. "The one fucking time I want you alive and you take one to the gut."

Yes'ruch could only grimace from the pain and shake her head.

The Sergeant shouldered his weapon and grabbed a pouch on his belt. Ripping it open, he began to pull out a rudimentary field dressing. He reached to move her hands out of the way but Yes'ruch swatted him.

"Just let me die," she said through gritted teeth.

"Shut up and move your hands," he said, forcing her out of the way. "I need you alive so we can get off this planet."

Yes'ruch winced as he laid the thick pad over her stomach, her breathing heavy. "Then leave… the same way you came… with your men…"

"I don't think that would be a good idea." The two of them looked over to see the Eldar pilot, the half-dead Commorrite still slung over his shoulders.

At the sound of his voice, Kaira rushed up the stairs, her face covered in dust, blood, and ash, "You… is that the wretched prize your Archon seeks?"

The pilot shook his head, "It is who Salendrid seeks, not my Archon."

The Commorrite he carried chucked at this through her cracked lips. Her bloody eyeballs rolled back and forth, settling on Yes'ruch. The creature could taste all her agonies.

Kaira glared at him, "Then return with me so we can be done with this farce and purge this planet."

In a flash the pilot drew his splinter pistol, "I have no intention of returning."

Kaira's finger twitched on the trigger of her weapon, "You would dare betray your masters too?!"

"Hah!" he scoffed. "You have been to the Dark City, you should know better." Keeping her covered with his weapon, he backed away, "My Syren's debauchery almost got me killed today, so you could call this a personal matter."

Furious, Kaira fired a snap-shot at the pilot, the shuriken taking a chunk out of his pistol's barrel. "Personal!? My squad lies dead before me, my comrades are fighting for their lives in these halls as we speak, all to entertain your barbaric Archon's childish whims!" She leveled her catapult at him as he pointed his damaged pistol in return. "If I have to kill you to bring that wretch back and save what remains of my comrades I would gladly."

The Commorrite shook his head slowly, "You and your people were dead the moment you stepped onto this battlefield. Did you honestly think Salendrid would just hand over this planet after he got what he wanted?"

"Yes," Kaira insisted. "Our Seer foresaw we would be successful. If he even suspected betrayal he would not have led us here."

The pilot chuckled, "Your warlock needs Salendrid more than you believe, it clouds his judgment." He waved his pistol at the Alex, who flinched, "If you had half the sense of that mon-keigh you'd surrender to your own people. Better to sit in a Biel-tan brig than adorn Salendrid's spire, trust me."

"Kaira…" Yes'ruch muttered.

Her friend turned to see her shivering as the human frantically tied the field dressing around her abdomen. Slowly, Kaira backed towards her, although her eyes stayed with the Commorrite.

Yes'ruch opened her mouth to speak and blood dribbled from her lips, "Listen to the pilot… Palmarias has led you astray."

"No… no I do not believe that," she said, doubt seeping into her voice.

"The Druchii will betray you, just as he spoke, I have seen it!" She coughed, sending a red splatter across the fresh white dressing. "They betray each other, now, right before you! Please, find Emerseth, save yourself…"

Yes'ruch nodded forward, her eyes rolling as she began to lose consciousness. Alex tried to prop her up but Kaira pushed him out of the way.

"Yes'ruch… Yes'ruch!" She grabbed her shoulders and shook her, her limp head rolling back and forth, but there was no replay. "By the gods… what have I done!?"