Unnamed Tau Controlled planet, number 1187
1408 hours (Approximate planet time)
L-Day + 44
83 Kilometers from the landing zone
'It's still cold.' Yasir thought to himself as the grey Leman Russ he was riding on top of passed another building and a cold breeze blowing down an alleyway collided with him. It had been over a month since Corporal Gazik and himself had been reassigned to the 4th Company. Since then the 902nd had been advancing constantly. Other units in the city were reporting similar stories of success. The Tau, it seemed, were retreating without mounting any kind of serious defense. Looking over towards the Tank's turret, he saw Corporal Gazik talking to the Tank's Commander standing in the hatch.
"So they don't give you too much trouble?" Gazik asked. The Commander shook his headset capped head.
"Nah, I mean, those big pulse cannons of theirs do some pretty serious damage, but the burst guns, they just bounce off the sides." He accented his point by banging his hand on the side of the Tank's turret. Gazik nodded. " 'sides," The Commander continued. "A few shells 'ill turn any battlesuit to scrap."
"Good to know." Gazik replied. Yasir turned his attention away from them just in time to see the lead tank in their column explode.
Yasir hadn't seen what had hit it, but he saw the effects. The Leman Russ's turret shot out and up. Red flames burst out of the hole where the turret had been and every other opening in the tank. Even as the turret was still in the air, Yasir felt Gazik's hand on his shoulder.
"DISMOUNT!" He yelled. "Everyone off the tank!" Yasir, Gazik, and the other six guardsmen jumped off the right side of the tank as the building to their left crumbled and he heard the sound of mechanical legs. Yasir hit the ground and heard the sound of the Leman Russ's turret rotating to fire on the battle suit. He looked up to see the Commander closing the hatch he'd been standing in, yelling commands into his microphone as he did.
"Let's go!" The Corporal yelled. "Get to that building across the street." He suited action to words and took off towards the building. Yasir didn't think, he followed the Corporal, sprinting for the building as fast as he could. The rest of the guardsmen hesitated for a moment, but the sound of another tank exploding set them in motion.
~/~/~
Yasir reached the building just after Corporal Gazik, jumping through the large window Gazik had just broken. The building looked like it had once been some kind of food makrt before, through it was clear that the blue skinned xenos had abandoned this building when the Imperium had landed. The rest of the Guardsmen made it into the building out of breath. Gazik looked back out across and up the street.
"Looks like they've got a pulse cannon set up ahead on the road." He said. One of the Guardsmen, another Corporal, gave him a funny look.
"How do you know?" he asked out of breath. The other Guardsmen looked at Gazik as well. He sighed.
"Because…because I've seen what pulse cannons do to armor," he motioned to the burning Leman Russ in the street. "And that's it." The other Guardsmen seemed to accept this but the new Corporal wasn't so sure.
"I don't know, I think…I think we need to break contact." He looked at the other guardsman for reassurance. "You know, fall back." Gazik nodded.
"You do that," he started moving towards the back of the building. "I didn't come halfway across the Galaxy to turn around and let the Tau get on the offensive. I came to kill them." The new Corporal was dumbfounded, watching Gazik leave out the back, then looking at Yasir. Yasir dodged his gaze and took off after Gazik. As before, the rest of the guardsmen hesitated for a moment, then followed after him. Leaving the New Corporal alone in the Markt.
~/~/~
Yasir couldn't tell if he really knew or if it was a lucky guess, but Corporal Gazik seemed to know that the back door of the building would lead to an alleyway. Regardless, he and the other five guardsmen followed him down the alleyway as quietly as they could while moving quickly. It wasn't long before he heard the sound of an energy weapon. Gazik held up his hand for the group to halt and put his ear to the wall they were next to. Then he slung his longlas and took his bayonet from it's scabbard.
"Bayonets, everyone." he said, then to a trooper who was wearing a dempack. "You got any charges?" The trooper nodded and Gazik pointed to the center of the wall. The Trooper began setting a Limpet mine onto the wall, while Gazik addressed the rest of the Guardsmen. "The trick with the Tau is to get in close, they are incredibly weak when it comes to hand to hand combat." He drew his auto pistol in his left hand and the Trooper placing the Mine backed away from the wall. He looked at Gazik who looked to make sure everyone had their bayonet out and attached, then nodded to the Trooper. Everyone took a step back as he pressed the detonator.
The wall exploded in a shower of masonry. The directional mine living up to it's name, shooting the blown out wall chucks through the hole that had been created rather than onto the guardsmen on the other side of the wall. Dust still lingered in the air as Yasir watched Corporal Gazik charge through the hole, already firing his auto pistol at unseen targets. Yasir followed behind him, but this time he wasn't alone, the rest of the Guardsmen hadn't hesitated as before and before the dust had settled all of them were through the hole in the wall.
Yasir couldn't see anything at first, the building they had entered was dark, and dust from the wall covered everything. He felt the urge to stop and wait for it to clear and for his eyes to adjust, but he checked the motion and kept running forward. He hadn't gone five meters when he ran into something solid. Solid and man shaped. Although dust still covered the room, it had cleared enough for Yasir to see what he'd hit.
It was taller than he was, but not by much. An off tan colored armor covered it's body and a pair of colored dots were on it's head. On red, one blue. The Fire Warrior looked at him in what Yasir guessed was surprise, which was when he noticed that the Xeno didn't hold a weapon, but rather an odd looking power cell. The Tau took a step backwards and Yasir acted on reflex. Just as he'd done a thousand times to a thousand different target bags, he stepped forward with his left foot and thrust his rifle forward and up with a yell he hadn't intended. The bayonet on the end of his rifle shot up and into the Xeno's helmet, stabbing through the red dot. Yasir felt the weapon slide through the thin material and hit something soft. He pulled out the bayonet and watched the armored body fall to it's knees and then slump over, the life that had once been there gone forever. Yasir looked down at the slumped form before him, and he felt something pull at the edge of his mouth. Yasir hadn't realized it, but he was smiling.
He looked away from the dead Fire Warrior and back to the fight. The dust had all but cleared, and more Fire Warriors lay dead. The Guardsmen he'd charged into the building with stood over them, but Yasir counted two less then before, and saw the lifeless form of the dempack wearing guardsman who's explosives had got them through the wall. The building they had blown their way into was much like the one they'd taken cover in down the street. This one also, had a large front window that had been smashed out. Inside the building just behind the window the Tau had set up an odd looking weapon on a tripod. Yasir heard an explosion and the sound of gunfire outside, indication there were still battlesuits continuing the ambush. Looking back inside Yasir saw that Corporal Gazik had the barrel of his pistol to the un-helmeted forehead of one of the Tau Warriors.
"Is it loaded?" he asked the Alien in a loud voice. The blue skinned warrior chirped and squawked in it's own language. Gazik narrowed his eyes, pressed the auto pistol harder against it's forehead and pointed to the large weapon. "IS IT LOADED?" The Alien chirped once and pointed to a stack of the same power cells that Yasir had seen the one he had killed holding. "Grab one." Gazik told Yasir, and he obeyed. The Alien chirped again and pointed to an opening in the weapon. "Load it there." Gazik said and Yasir slid the power cell into place. With a 'click' the cell locked into place and the weapon hummed to life. Gazik watched the weapon power up and nodded to himself before turning his attention back to the Alien he held at gunpoint. He held the pistol to it's head for a second longer, then drew it back and returned it to it's holster. The Alien released a breath it'd been holding, and Yasir watched as Gazik raised his right hand. The one still holding his bayonet. The blade traveled down and into the Alien's dark eye. And back out. And back in. And again. And again.
"Corporal?" Yasir interrupted. Gazik looked up quickly, the same smile he'd had on his face at the apartment still on his face for a few seconds. The twisted smile showed both disgust and pleasure at the same time. It faded quickly, however, and with it's disappearance came the return of his composure. He realized that all eyes were on him. He reached down to the Alien corpse and pulled his bayonet out of it's eye.
"Yasir." It was the first time Yasir had heard someone say his name in over a month. "You, and you," he pointed to another Guardsman. "Get on this weapon. Quickly now, we've got a battlesuit to destroy."
Yasir stepped behind the weapon and saw what the Corporal meant. Directly in front of the weapon in the street was the still burning Leman Russ that had been leading the column. Now, one of the tan colored Battlesuits was using the wreak for cover, but it's attention was on the other tanks.
"Aim for the suit's power source. It's that thing that looks like a backpack." Yasir pulled the optic up to his eyes, the sights were made for something slightly bigger, but it wasn't hard to make it work. Looking through it he could see the tan metal clearly, the battlesuit was already nearly in it's sights, and he only had to make a few adjustments to center the crosshairs on the backpack.
"Got it" Yasir said, his right hand reaching for the trigger as he said it.
"FIRE!" Gazik yelled. Yasir pulled the trigger.
Like before, he didn't quite see the energy leave the weapon, but he saw it's effects. The entire back of the battle suit exploded, leaving a large hole where the power source used to be. Flames shot out of the various vents on the front as well as around the battlesuit's head. The suit continued to burn and slowly stopped moving. The Guardsmen gave out a cheer, but Gazik silenced it fast enough.
"Quiet you, listen." The group fell silent and what they heard, or to be more precise, what they didn't hear, nearly caused another cheer. The only sound was the collective burning of the Imperial and Tau war machines. Gazik turned to the trooper who had been carrying a Vox caster on his back the entire time that the sniper had known him.
"Get a hold of headquarters and inform them of the situation." The Corporal walked up to the pulse cannon, unhooked a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, and dropped the explosive down it's barrel. "Everyone else, mount back up." The grenade detonated with a muffled boom, and the barrel bent completely. Without any more thought, The Corporal followed the rest of the Guardsmen out of the building through the broken window.
"4X-Ray, 4X-Ray, this is 3-18 Victor…" Yasir moved out of range of the Vox man's voice as he made to catch up to the Corporal, noticing that no less than seven tanks had been destroyed by the Tau. Gazik had already made it to the Tank, and was talking with the same commander as before.
"You were right. They really don't give you too much trouble."
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Unnamed Tau Controlled planet, number 1187
2355 hours (Approximate planet time)
L-Day +85
204 Kilometers from the landing zone
"The filthy blue skinned Xeno is in retreat! All across this planet, the brave forces of the Imperial Guard are advancing by great strides, capturing as much as four or five kilometers of this city each day. They see now the folly of their unholy ways and existence. Where was their "Greater Good" when we landed on this world? It was the same place it has always been, it exists only in the Alien's minds. And there it will stay. And with the might of your arms, the power of your lasgun, and the blade of your bayonet there it will die! Take faith Guardsmen, surely the Emperor himself is with us in this most righteous of undertakings! Trust In your officers, Commissars, and the Emperor and we shall all prevail!"
Yasir turned the dial of the Porta-Vox he'd been listening to, shutting the device off, and handed it back top the Vox man he'd borrowed it from. He thanked him and made his way through the building that his platoon was using for shelter for the night, careful not to step on or kick any of his sleeping comrades as he walked. Stepping out of the room, he found the staircase to the next floor, and at the top of the staircase, he found Corporal Gazik sitting next to a window, watching for any sign of the enemy.
"Corporal." Yasir said quietly so as not to wake those below him, but loud enough for Gazik to hear him clearly. Gazik turned quickly, his eyes adjusting to the greater darkness of the building. With two moons, even a dark night as this was still not without adequate illumination.
"Yasir?" He asked, his eyes still adjusting.
"Yes Corporal." Gazik nodded.
"Good," he motioned to the window. "No sign of the Tau, they don't like this cold anyway." He started to leave when Yasir said something.
"Corporal?" Gazik was already to the stairs, but he looked back over his shoulder. "Can I ask you something?" Gazik didn't move.
"What?" Yasir hesitated for a second, then spoke.
"I was…I was just wondering…why does your shoulder have 42 on it instead of 902?" Gazik didn't say anything for a long time, then sighed.
"That's because," he said, turning around and walking back over to the window, "I'm not Vardan." Yasir's eyes got wide and he looked over at Gazik. The Corporal had a look of regret on his face. "And the 902nd isn't my first Regiment, the Sarith 42nd Infantry was." Yasir tilted his head to one side so Gazik continued. "I joined the Guard five years ago. I left my wife and three year old son back on Saria when the 42nd was created. They sent us to the other side of the galaxy to fight the Orks." he paused and looked up at the sky. "That was when they came to Saria. The reports I read said that they sent ambassadors to the planet. Whatever they said, it was enough to turn my planet away from the Emperor. Our reward for defeating the Orks was to know that our planet had betrayed the Imperium. Of course, that wouldn't do. We didn't even wait to get re-supplied, every Sarith ship we had had made for Saria along with all other regiments from the campaign. We landed, but instead of being greeted as liberators, the people, our own people fought us." he paused again, and when he spoke his voice was higher. "And the ones who wouldn't, who didn't support the Tau. They killed them." he rubbed his eye and his voice returned to it's normal tone. "So that was it. The Imperium conquered the planet like any other rebel world. I killed a lot of Tau, but I also killed a lot of humans." he sighed. "When it was over, we became a Regiment without a planet to support us. So we were absorbed into the various regiments that had helped us conquer our own planet. And I…I ended up in the 902nd Vardan Rifles."
For several long moments neither of the two Guardsmen said anything. Yasir opened his mouth to speak once, but thought better of it and closed his mouth. After nearly five minutes of silence, Gazik started to leave.
"Anyway, keep your eyes open, the Tau hate the cold, but it's getting warmer." Yasir cleared his throat.
"Vox says that they're in retreat." he said. Gazik chuckled once and started down the stairs.
"Tau don't defend. They attack."
~/~/~
In Orbit Above Unnamed Tau Controlled planet, number 1187
1535 hours (Approximate planet time)
L-Day +135
For the third time since the Captain had received this message and then passed it down to the Navigator for him to read, Kashihan read the typed text.
TO: Commanding Officer of the Emperor-Class Battleship BLUE TIDE
FROM: The Departmento Navy, Admiral Rask's Office
Captain,
It has come to the attention of the Imperial Navy that elements of the Tyranid fleet known as Behemoth are fast approaching a cluster of Imperial mining planets near your current sector. It has also come to the Navy's attention that there have been no significant Tau activity in your sector since the initial battle upon arrival in the system. Therefore, you are hereby requested and required immediately upon receipt of these orders to take your ship as well as the majority of ships in your fleet and make all speed to rendezvous with the 195th fleet under Admiral Rask at the enclosed location.
Admiral Rask, Imperial Navy
'So that's it then.' Kashihan thought as he closed the message and opened up the attachment detailing the location of the rendezvous with Admiral Rask's Fleet. 'Tyranids.' Kashihan had never been on a ship while it had engaged the Bio-mass dependent creatures. The reports, however, were enough to make him shiver. Living ships, maggot spewing weapons. And all the creatures hive-minded to a single sentience. It was nothing like the Ork or Eldar or even Imperial technology. It wasn't technology at all. It was evolution.
He turned his attention to the star maps and charts, the familiar process of plotting a course through the Warp a pleasant diversion from his current train of thought. He finished his course, checked that it avoided known areas of danger in the Warp, and tallied up the time. The entire journey would take almost a month. No doubt the Admiral had been informed by his own Navigator of the time that the journey would take, but still the distance meant that they would have to leave that same day. Kashihan sighed, and began writing his report for the Captain.
~/~/~
"I see." The Captain said as he set the report Kashihan had handed him down on his desk and looked at the Navigator sitting across from him. "So then it would be best, in your opinion, to began this journey today?" he asked. It was a fair assessment of the report. Kashihan nodded.
"Yes Sir, given the distance and the fact that it will be an Admiral waiting for us at the rendezvous, I believe that time is of the essence." The Captain bit his lip considering the Navigators words for a moment before nodding slowly.
"You are right, Lieutenant ," The ship's First Officer waiting by the door came forward and the Captain addressed him. "Inform all nearby ships except for the cruisers ASCENSION and RETURN to prepare for a Warp Jump, I'll send them all the course and orders once they are all ready to leave. Inform the two cruisers I specified that they are to remain in orbit around the planet to provide support and protection to our ground forces until the rest of the fleet returns."
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Kashihan glanced down at the planet below, taking in the contested world for a final time before turning his attention back to the business on the bridge. The members of the bridge crew all took their places at their stations and the Captain took his seat. With a final survey that all was in order, he made eye contact with the Navigator and nodded. Kashihan turned his head so he was looking out the front window and watched the stars slowly began to blur as the ship entered the Warp. With a deep breath he reached up to his forehead and removed the bandana that covered his third eye.