Kaida felt a cold metal surface against the side of her head; her helmet had been removed. She sat up and opened her eyes to find that she was in a small room, there was a large bed on one side and on the other side, several shelves displaying all manner of things: helmets, weapons, skulls. She could feel the light breeze of air circulating through from the ventilation; she felt herself all over to make sure she was unharmed, it seemed so. The room vibrated with the ambient sound of a massive engine, life support systems and other background noises Kaida had come to associate with space travel. She was in a cabin on a space ship; not a Tau space ship though, this was a human ship. The bed was very big and the door was closed, this was probably a space marine cabin being used to keep the prisoners in place.

Kaida couldn't believe her eyes, on the bed sat three figures one was, her grace, Aun'Esa, the other two were fire warriors that Kaida didn't personally know. Immediately Kaida bowed her head, and moved her feet round into a kneeling position.

"You don't need to kneel for me, Pathfinder," said the ethereal calmly. Aun'Esa sat on the bed with her legs crossed, she stayed calm and acted as if everything would be OK. The other two fire warriors, both male, had been sitting and looked like they had been listening intently to whatever the Ethereal had been saying.

Kaida stayed kneeling, "I must apologize for our teams' failure. We failed to stop the space marines. They massacred our position."

The fire warrior on the bed who had a big gash across the side of his face and was holding his left shoulder asked callously, "If the teams you were with were massacred, how come you are unharmed?"

Kaida didn't answer, but she knew he had a point. She was totally uninjured. She knew that this didn't look good, the fire caste is meant to fight to the end for the cause of the greater good. It looked like Kaida ran without fighting. This was not true; she did her duty until nothing could save her unit from total destruction.

Aun'Esa broke the tension, "Sit with us, Pathfinder." Kaida got up and sat next to the other members of the fire caste so she could be enlightened by the ethereal herself. "I have failed you all in battle, noble fire warriors, but the greater good will prevail, even in this, darkest of situations." Her voice was comforting, wise and authoritative, only a fool would refuse to listen to her. "I have spotted no imperial symbolism, so these marines may be renegade. This means that they might not follow the ways of the human god-emperor, and maybe their minds can be moulded. Can you imagine what an asset these marines would be to the Tau Empire?"

None of the fire caste replied; no reply is needed when an ethereal speaks reason. Aun'Esa continued, "Fighting is not the answer here. They will kill any of us if we try anything foolish, just use your words and the wisdom of the greater good will shine through; they will see the logic in our cause."

The unmistakably heavy footsteps of space marines could be heard coming to the door, all the Tau on the bed turned to see who was going to open the door and what they would do with the prisoners.

Aun'Esa added one more note of caution before they entered, "do what they say, but always remember our cause is righteous, believe in it and they will see it to be right as well."

The door unlocked with a metallic "clunk" and in walked two space marines in full armour except for their helmets, they appeared to be carrying no weapons.

One was Reptile, now Kaida could see him fully with her own eyes; he had sharp, pointy features and a fine example of a human face, except for several things; Kaida didn't notice them before. He had no external ears; just holes where the ears of a human should be and his blue eyes had slit pupils. A cunning smile crept up one side of his face when he caught Kaida looking at him. She immediately looked away.

The other marine was a brutish figure, he had a paler complexion than Reptile and his scalp was covered in an elaborate pattern of purple tattoos.

This other marine barked out the order, "On your feet!" Kaida immediately obeyed, she slipped off the bed and stood up in front of the marines. Aun'esa, while clambering off the bed repeated the order in Tau, so the other fire warriors could also obey.

"You said you found a good prize, Esskrimar?" inquired Reptile.

"I found their leader," smiled the other marine, "I assume yours is one of the grunts."

Reptile then looked at Kaida, "The young lady here came with us back to the ship."

"Young lady?" sniggered Esskrimar. "Which one is that?"

Reptile sighed, "The one with the 'Y' shape on her head."

"Is that how you tell them apart?" said Esskrimar, stooping to get a closer look at Kaida's face. "If it wasn't for that, there would be no way to tell them apart at all."

"You can't see the differences?" asked Reptile.

"No. Not with the armour anyway. It's an ugly species, don't you think?"

"I think they are a beautiful race," commented Reptile.

Esskrimar whipped round to face Reptile, "You would think that, wouldn't you!" Esskrimar snapped, as if a deep seeded hatred had suddenly been awakened, seemingly out of nowhere. "I know your what you do."

Reptile remained still and calm. "Calm down, brother." Esskrimar immediately stood back. "Remember the Banshees?" asked Reptile softly. "That would never have happened without you."

"And you made it one of the most glorious moments in my memory," smiled Esskrimar. He then looked over the Tau prisoners, inspecting them, as he walked around them. Kaida felt every footstep he took, when he walked near the whole floor seemed to bend to his weight.

To Kaida's surprise and dread, Aun'Esa took a deep breath and broke the silence. "There are no symbols of the Human Emperor on this ship."

"You dare speak?" snapped Esskrimar, as he immediately stopped pacing round the captives, and glared at the Ethereal.

"Don't be so quick to silence, brother," said Reptile. "What do you have to say, Tau?"

Aun'Esa took a deep breath and continued, "As there are no imperial symbols here, I was thinking that you are not part of the Imperium." Aun'Esa was clearly not as well practiced in Gothic as Kaida, a heavy Tau accent distorted her speech.

"You are very observant." commented Reptile.

"Good," said Aun'Esa with a heavy exhale. "May I suggest a cultural exchange? So you can see the merits of our ways and promises of the greater good."

"What makes you think we'll be interested?" asked Esskrimar.

"Because you are warriors without a cause," remarked the Ethereal, "what greater purpose could there be than fighting for the greater good of the Tau empire and the future of the whole galaxy?"

Esskrimar looked over at Reptile, "We don't need a cause," he said. Esskrimar looked around the room some more, then lunged suddenly with his fist at Kaida. She let out a scream and cowered in fear covering her face. She looked between her fingers, and the marine had stopped with his hand just short of her head. He withdrew, laughing to himself "You found a real winner with this one, Reptile! She's got all the courage of a small child." Esskrimar looked back at Reptile "I'm sick of this room, brother; it reminds me of those we have lost."

"Shall we leave?" asked Reptile.

"Yes." stated, Esskrimar. "Would you like to take their leader?"

Reptile gave another look at Kaida and gave her a smile. "No, I prefer the Warrior."

"Suit yourself," said Esskrimar. "I'll take this one then; it is my catch after all." He walked over to the ethereal and grabbed her by the arm; he nearly pulled her off her feet as he went to leave the room with her. The fire warriors were distressed by this, but Aun'Esa said to them on her way out, "I will share my wisdom and he will see the truth. Don't be worried."

Reptile waited for the other marine to leave then reached out to the pathfinder, "Take my hand, Kaida."

She looked at his hand and knew that if she took it, the fire warriors would think that she was submissive, but if she refused, who knows what these renegade marines would do. She placed her hand in his massive grasp, he didn't grip her tightly, he simply led her out of the room. Kaida made two steps for every step that Reptile made; he was so much bigger than her, so big that she felt like an infant holding his hand.