Unnamed Tau Controlled planet, number 1187
1410 hours (Approximate planet time)
L-Day +240
255 Kilometers from the landing zone
Yasir quickly opened his eye.
He had been there. Back on the street. Back when the Sniper had shot him. He swallowed, his mouth dry, and sat up on the cot he'd been sleeping on. Sitting up, he realized his clothes were drenched in sweat. With a shaky left hand he reached up to his face and felt the wad of cloth held to his head by the medical tape tied to his head. He sighed, realizing once again that it had all been real.
He shook his head and rubbed the eye he still had. Opening up his eye again, he saw the same Tall Medic with the scar on his chin that had been coming by his cot daily for the last two weeks.
"Good, ur' up." he said in his strange accent. "Some'un important wants ta see you." Yasir tilted his head to one side.
'Who,' he thought. 'Would want to see him?' The Medic left and returned a moment latter with an older man wearing the golden oak leaves of a Major. Yasir's eye got wide and he brought his right hand up to his forehead in as sharp a salute he could muster. The Major returned the gesture and took a seat at the stool that medic had brought over.
"At ease Vardan." he said in a tone that betrayed his both his age and stress. "I trust that you've been recovering well?" Yasir nodded.
"Yes Sir." he replied, his mouth still dry.
"Good. I also understand that you worked under Corporal Gazik as his spotter. Is that correct?" Yasir became conscious of his sweat drenched state in the presence of an Officer and swallowed before he replied.
"T-That's correct Sir." he said. The Major nodded.
"Very good. Now in light of the recent Tau offensive as well as…our…being cut off from the rest of the Imperium." Yasir noticed the Major's hesitation at the second point. The fact that they were cut off and probably forgotten by the Imperium wasn't easy to accept, and harder still to say. "The result is that everyday our forces get pushed back further and further, tightening the noose around our collective heads." he accented the point by wring his hands as though he was choking someone. "So we need every advantage we have out there. And that means every sniper. Now Corporal Gazik's rifle and the rest of his gear were retrieved along with his body-"
"BODY!" Yasir interjected sitting up straight. "W-What do you mean, his body?" Yasir felt his blood run cold. He had a feeling he already knew what the Major meant, but he had to hear it for himself. The Major's eyes opened wider and his neutral expression dropped into one of surprise, but only for a second.
"I take it you didn't know." he sighed. "Corporal Gazik died almost a month ago, the same day you were shot. Most likely by the same Sniper. The Squad that brought you here said that he pulled you out of the way. Probably that's what saved your life." Yasir was stunned, unable to say anything.
"This is why," The Major continued. "I've come to see you. Given the present situation, our own depleted numbers, and your experience these past months, I am hereby promoting you to the rank of Corporal and making you a Sniper in Corporal Gazik's place." Yasir was still to stunned to say anything more than the most basic military response.
"Yes Sir." The Major nodded and stood.
"Good. Get yourself dressed and come to my office in one hour. I have an assignment for you…Corporal." With that the Major left and Yasir, for the first time since he'd been in the Guard, felt completely alone.
~/~/~
Yasir swung his legs off of the cot, feeling the cold floor beneath his feet for the first time in days. The Medics had only removed his kit, greatcoat, and boots, leaving him in the rest of his uniform. He found his boots sitting at the foot of the bed next to a metal footlocker. He slid his boots on, laced them, and opened the footlocker to see what gear had been recovered. His bandoliers were there, but only two of them, and most of the power packs in the pouches were dead. Gazik's auto pistol, the simple weapon was still in it's holster, the only magazine it had fully loaded. His bayonet was gone, but the Commissar's chainsword was there in it's place. Yasir moved the deadly weapon aside and removed the largest item from the locker. Gazik's greatcoat. The greatcoat was the basic uniform for the Vardan Guardsmen, and under normal circumstances, Gazik's would be sent back to Vardan for a proper burning. Yasir sighed as he ran his hand along the stripes sewn on the side. These were not normal circumstances he reminded himself as he slowly put his arms through the sleeves and buttoned it around him. Gazik had been roughly his same height, but slightly leaner, and the greatcoat was a little snug though still useable. Yasir put on the bandoliers, one as a belt, one across his chest. He put the Auto Pistol, holster and all, on his right side and placed the chainsword on his left where his bayonet would have gone. He almost closed the footlocker, when he spotted something that had fallen out of the greatcoat. Yasir reached down and picked up the thin blue book, recognizing it as the book that Gazik had been writing his findings about the Tau in. He slid the book into the greatcoat's inner pocket, closed the footlocker, and turned his attention to the final piece of equipment Gazik had left behind.
The longlas was heaver than the standard lasgun he was used to, but not by much. It was longer as well, but that was what gave it it's name. Yasir adjusted the sling and slung the weapon so that it rested against his back, barrel down. Looking around, he found the Tall Medic with the scar on his chin next to a cot a few feet away.
"Where's the Major's office?" he asked as he approached the medic. The Medic ignored him and continued to adjust the IV bag that was attached another Guardsman's arm. After a full minute, he finished and turned to face him.
"End a' the hall." he said, pointing over Yasir's shoulder to a hallway behind him. "But 'fore you go," The Medic reached into his pocket. "The Surgeon 'ad me make 'is for you." He held out his hand to Yasir and the newly promoted Corporal saw a grey cloth connected to a string in three places. "We can't 'ave you running around with tape on ur' 'ead, and besides, you'll need to let it air out 'en you sleep." Yasir pulled the tape off his head and the Medic put the eye patch over the empty eye socket.
"Thanks." Yasir said. The Medic nodded.
"Op'fully, I won't see you again." He said and turned around and began checking on another Guardsman. Yasir took a deep breath, exhaled, and started off towards the Major's office.
~/~/~
"Come in." The Major's voice sounded clear through the thin door of his Office. Yasir opened the door and walked in, noticing the black clad figure of a Commissar leaning against the left wall of the room, his arms crossed and his eyes following Yasir's movements across the room. Yasir made a beeline for the Officer's desk and stopped to salute when he was directly in front of him.
"At ease Corporal." The Major said, returning the salute and taking a seat behind his desk. Yasir noticed that there was no chair for him. "Let me explain our situation." He pulled a file out of a drawer on his desk. "The Tau are taking back their planet with a speed that is entirely unprecedented. All over, I have reports from every Regiment on this planet telling me how the Tau are recapturing this planet faster than we thought possible." He sighed. "Right now, we've slowed their progress significantly, perhaps because of the colder weather, but it's only a matter of time before they win this war." He shook his head, opened the folder, and placed it before Yasir. "Eight fucking months on this world, we should have conquered this entire planet by now." He grumbled.
Yasir glanced over at the Commissar, seeing that he hadn't moved except for his eyes, which darted from Yasir's face to the stripes on his shoulder and back, looking right into his eye. Yasir looked away and at the folder's contents. A typed list, scraps of paper that looked like pages torn from someone's journal, and a photocard. Yasir grabbed the picture and studied it. It was an out of focus shot of a building window. But the subject of the photo was clear. A Tau Soldier wearing a white helmet with three red lines on the side.
"In the past month, this Sniper has been destroying our forces across the Regiment, specifically he's targeting our snipers." The Major paused, glanced at the Commissar, then continued. "We believe he's the same Sniper that shot you." Yasir kept looking at the photo. "He's good. Better than any of the other Tau Snipers we've encountered here in the past." Studying the photo, he noticed a small crack on the top of the Sniper's helmet. "He has to be eliminated if we are to hold out until to rest of the Imperium reinforces us. That's your mission. You are to accompany a refurbished Chimera platoon to his last known location, there you will take any and all steps necessary to find and terminate this alien." Yasir looked up from the picture at the Major.
"Terminate, Sir?" Yasir asked, surprised by the use of the word. The Major glanced over at the Commissar, and Yasir followed his gaze with his single eye. The Commissar didn't move but made eye contact with the former spotter before speaking.
"Terminate, with extreme prejudice."