They had been kept at bay with relative ease, the ornate battle suit dancing between them. The pulse rifle and burst cannon struggled to damage their sturdy terminator armour, but they were just too slow and had been swinging wildly but had failed to score any kind of hit on the enemy. One of his brothers had been taken down, the pulse rifle finding a weak point in the collar of his armour, Maddox unable to do anything to help him. The priest knew he had to try and shift this fight to favour himself or they would be picked off one by one. The suit landed again and sent a shot at the man opposite Maddox, he took this as his cue and charged, pushing the relic armour to move him as fast as he could, the pistons whining at the mistreatment. With great effort he threw his power sword, the blade tearing into the shoulder guard as the agile opponent took off once more showering the ground with sparks and Maddox watched the suit of terminator armour tumble to the floor, and blackened hole left where the helmet once was.
The chief sanguinary priest was left utterly weapon less, but saw that his gamble had damaged the battle suit its flight now juddered and uneven. It landed heavily and the gold helmeted sergeant lunged forward seeing his opportunity, slashing violently with his lightning claws, but the Tau commander levelled both weapons and fired a desperate barrage at his would be killer. The shots splashed against his armour, one shot finding the soft joint of his knee, the plasma blasting his lower leg away and the bulk of the warrior slammed to the ground.
Blood gushed from the wound, the larramen cells unable to clot such a large wound, Maddox rush over to administer aid. The xeno sent another burst of plasma at the squad, the last survivor dived to protect them, his storm shield weathering the fire. Blood poured over his red and white gauntlets, the liquid quickly drying a rich crimson, he put pressure on the wound to try and stem the flow and help clotting occur, making the veteran sergeant grunt in pain.
'The treacherous xeno is escaping my lord!' the uninjured man advised.
'Let him go, brother, we are not equipped to bring him down. We must focus on the sergeant, our brothers will deal with him on our behalf.' Maddox didn't look up from his work, but could tell figure towering over him was not enamoured with his words, but saw the wisdom and agreed.
The wound had begun to clot, his gauntlet sticking gruesomely to it, he pulled his had away and rolled the dial on his insanginator. He took aim, administering a synth flesh coating now it would adhere properly as the bleeding had begun to subside. He had a dislike of field medicine, it was sloppy even with his talent and knowledge. Once they were back aboard the cruiser he could properly treat the wound, and prepare it for a bionic replacement, but currently is was still a mess despite the care he had taken. He frowned for a moment, but decided that it was a satisfactory procedure in the circumstances.
'We need to move you to some cover, Cilox. I will support you.' He looked to the sergeant, the pain evidently subsiding now his suit had pumped drugs into his system.
'A one legged marine is still a marine!'
'Indeed, but I doubt you will get your claws into anything now.' He well understood the desire to keep fighting. When his own leg had been destroyed by a missile he had struggled against his brothers as he was evacuated, determined to earn vengeance. But he was far wiser now, and understood that such an injury required treatment. The wounded man conceded reluctantly and they began their retreat, their land raider though ruined would still provide adequate protection from enemy fire.
Cha'riss swept into the room to the surprise of his new guest, who visibly leapt, knocking a bowl of fruit across the room. The Ethereal stopped and watched with amusement as the woman scrambled after the escaping edibles.
'Relax my dear.' He said warmly, opening his arms wide in a comforting gesture. 'You are safe now, please be at peace.'
'Yes, your honour.' She replied, 'Thank you, your honour!' La'keel remained on her knees, bowed before her ethereal leader.
'Rise my dear. I wish to ask you some things regarding our new guest and your journey here?' La'keel looked up, staring at the man before her as she rose. He stepped closer, resting a hand on her shoulder.
'I would like to know exactly how you came to be captured? My Shas'Vre informs me that according to records you were stationed with the fleet, not due on planet until it was secured?'
'I was with the fleet, but I was forced to take an escape pod with some others. A number of warriors on board helped us escape. I think the flagship got rammed and we barely got to the pod as the ship was destroyed.'
'I don't understand? Your escape pod should have directed you to the nearest friendly vessel? Or failing that this planet as close to the drop site as possible?' Cha'riss was obviously concerned that his new arrival may be a security risk. La'keel was very aware of his security team now, all spread around the deck covering her exits.
'I don't really know, Ethereal. We crashed and we were in one of the enemy ships.' She was trying to show she was telling the truth, looking to her spiritual leader with wide eyes.
'So how did you make it here?' The Ethereal began pacing around her, surveying her as he did so. She began to feel light headed as he spoke. 'And how did you persuade the Gua'la to help you?'
'I didn't, I was captured after a fire fight. They began questioning me, then Craft just freed me.' Her voice was becoming flat and monotone, she wasn't really thinking about what she was saying. 'He killed my guards and hid me away. Brought me here in secret, defected from imperium.'
'Excellent, then we have nothing to worry about.' The Ethereal said happily, La'keel shook her head clear, and looked around slightly lost. 'You are welcome to remain here for the time being. I understand that you have had a stressful experience. We will look at getting you into a productive position tomorrow.'
'Urr, yes, Thank you Ethereal' Cha'riss turned and disappeared out into the sunlight again. His guards followed him. Two breaking off and guarding the doorway he disappeared through. La'keel was left stood alone in the empty room, unsure what had just happened.
With an explosion of energy, ruined plates of crystalline armour flew into the air and crashed amongst the surrounding combatants. A blackened, armoured figure rose from the wreckage of the recently crashed war machine, arcs of warp energy further damaging the ruined riptide. The cockpit opened on one side, the hatch too broken on the other to operate, the figure climbed up over the opening, staring down at the wounded pilot. With a gentle sidestep he dodged the shot from the Tau pulse pistol, and returned fire with a quick burst from his storm bolter finally finishing the hard fought battle.
Collus took in the scene before him, the battle still raged, he was now pretty central, smoke obscuring the edges of the plains making the warzone seem endless. He could just make out the form of a battle suit drifting towards him, evidently drawn to the wreckage he had just crashed into the ground. He suit came down, one of its thrusters stuttering as it came down. It landed heavily, waiting a moment before standing upright again, its weapons held low but ready. The librarian stood unmoving atop the mechanical carcass, his tattered cape blowing in the breeze, lenses glowing with warp energy within the stained dragons head.
The battle suit opposite him appeared as battered as his armour, pockmarked with impact craters from bolt shells and stained with the dirt kicked up by explosions. The two opponents observed each other for a moment, time crawling between them as the sounds of battle fell away around them, becoming unimportant.
Together they struck out, a missile popping from the shoulder of Nen'sho's battle suit, the librarian sending a rich red spear of energy crackling at his enemy. The marine leapt forward ducking beneath the projectile, as the Shas'O blasted side ways to safety, the marine rolled and came up running, the large battle suit peppered his armour with burst cannon fire as he charged. Collus replied with a volley from his storm bolter, the shells creating little bursts of fire breaking upon the armoured foe, nothing getting into the tough exo-skeleton. Nen'sho jumped away again, his flight straight backwards as plasma streamed from his guns, breaking all around the stampeding marine. Collus finished his charge with a leap as the Tau Commander landed, his spear swung over head as he roared with battle lust.
Sparks flew as the blow struck home, the Auto senses in his visor darkened at the bright burst of energy, he saw the blade of his spear had cut deep into the crystalline armour of the commanders pulse rifle, held aloft to protect from the blow. The pair struggled against each other, the librarian put all his weight into pushing back against the servos of his foes armour until the burst cannon span again, forcing him to spin away as more fire came at him, a single shot finding a weak point and searing his flesh as it burst through the power armour. Collus winced in pain, but soon pushed the pain from his mind, focussing again on his target. Liquid plasma poured from the damage done to the pulse rifle, steaming as it cooked the ground where it fell. Collus flicked excess plasma from his blade as he prepared for the next move. Nen'sho leant forward and fired his thrusters, the mass of his suit propelled straight at the marine psyker at terrifying speed, the marine dived to the side, but was too slow and was caught as he fell and his arm twisted, smashing his gun from his hand. He felt the muscles burn as they were twisted and pulled, two of his fingers crunched as they shattered but he was now utterly focussed, not registering any pain from the damage. He lay prone and looked up quickly, Nen'sho was slowly recovering from his reckless charge, his storm bolter lay in pieces beside him. Without thought he was standing again, preparing his mind for another attack, the bulky suit came up from the ground, supporting its weight on its ruined weapon, the multi barrelled cannon on the other arm spat again, Collus now prepared waved a hand and the plasma dissipated on the psychic shield as he continued to approach.
Collus watched passively as the battle suit rose to its full height again, but now it stumbled, its battle damage now taking its toll. Nen'sho breathed heavily within, the librarian pushing him to his limits. The Tau warrior knew he could not attempt to flee, the mutants magic would blow him from the sky, but his own weaponry was weakened and he could not hope to carry the day with some good fortune. Collus cast another violent crimson lance at his foe, easily hitting the enemy in its damaged state, the chaotic energy tearing through the armour and flanking the Tau commander within who screamed with agony, the life support of his suit unable to administer pain relief fast enough to numb the increasing pain. The Librarian came closer, the Tau warrior waiting till the last moment he swung the ruined pulse rifle suddenly, catching the marine off guard. A loud thump rang out as the blow struck, the strength of the attack augmented massively, the blow causing the marine to be smashed aside, crashing to the ground violently. The librarian's head swam, the surprise blow hit hard, he stumbled around trying to stand once more, unable to coordinate his movements in the after math of the attack.
Nen'sho fired his thrusters again, this time a quick burst and drifted over the form of the marine, landing across him, placing a weighty three toed foot onto his chest. The ceramite plating groaned under the weight, Collus squirmed to try and get free, but it was to no avail as the burst cannon, slowly moved to meet the dragon visage upon his helm as he continued to fight. His vision went clear and sharp as his suit filled him with adrenaline, he felt power build within him as the drugs pushed his brain into over drive, he sent a warp fuelled burst of power upwards, his oppressor blasted skyward as he opened fire with his weapon, the shots flying wildly in all directions. With preternatural speed the empowered warrior rolled up right and swept up his force spear, immediately filling the antique blade with his power as he pulled it back to strike. His eyes tracked the tumbling form before him, white hot fire still spewing in all directions.
The blow struck explosively as the battle suit came near, the powerful blast decimating Nen'sho as he was filled with pain. The mystical power of the immaterium atomised both the battle suit and pilot in moments, the shockwave bursting out across the plains, knocking both armies to the floor with its power. The ash settled as Collus stood in the crater of his own creating, everything fell silent as the battle died at the sight of such tremendous power.
Geart had taken a small detachment to pursue Major Craft, his advisors pressing that the main force should continue to reinforce the marines. He had taken a pair of Vanquishers and 3 squads of guardsmen along with himself and his command squad. He didn't know how well supported the drop site would be, but he was counting on them being relatively preoccupied with the marines assault and he wouldn't have much to contend with.
They were now reduced to a crawl, wading through the shallows of the river in an attempt to stay out of sight of the enemy, hoping the water and river banks would interfere with any sensors pointed at them. Poiller had calculated a route along the river that whilst longer, was also slower, they hoped they would get them much closer to the drop site before they are detected and potentially killed before they can make their move. The General was counting on this gambit, he could silence the traitor and take down the precious xeno leader while he was at it.
Poiller ducked in from the cupola, his face was flushed red and the boy was clearly nervous.
'Turn off point is just ahead, we should have at least 2 minutes before the drop site is alerted to our approached, which is when we should power towards them.' He sounded out of breath, exhausting himself with anticipation.
'Good work, keep it up!' Geart nodded to the young tactician before moving toward the cab and banging his fist against the partition. The metal hatch slid open and a pair of weary brown eyes peered through. 'Prepare for the turn, the Tanks should take the lead.'
The eyes nodded confirmation and the hatch closed again. Geart flexed his fingers in his power fist, the motion slow and heavy without the weapon activated. He braced himself as the APC lurched to the side, the turn from the river being taken. They were on the last stretch now, within minutes they would be in the thick of it and Geart prepared himself. He knew there was still every chance they could be blown up on approach and it would all be for nothing, but he had to risk it. He couldn't let this campaign go on any longer. It was causing too much trouble he needed a quick fix and this just might be it.
His entire command squad was silent, each man listening for the first sounds of combat. Some had their eyes pressed against firing slots, other preferring to sit peacefully and wait. Geart himself was restless, he was fidgeting constantly, whilst tapping his armoured fingers against the bench. The approach from leaving the turn was supposed to take 6 minutes, 2 of which should be without detection, but time seemed to slow drastically, each moment lasting an age to the guardsmen involved. Poiller dropped into the vehicle and pulled a fob watch from his pocket, and looked at it intently, but gave nothing away as to how much time had passed. The General just watched him, waiting for a sign and still time ached past. Eventually the team's medic cracked and had to ask.
'How long 'till we should be found? Come on man don't keep us waiting!' He said desperately. Poiller didn't even look up.
'30 seconds ago!' came the flat reply.
The medic gulped at hearing this before replying 'Right… Excellent.'
The journey continued in silence until the chimera shook violently, Geart leapt up and pushed Poiller aside, poking his head out of the cupola. He remained there for a moment before ducking back inside whilst cursing, the vehicle rocking violently again.
'Yeah, they found us!' He said as he sealed the hatch. He moved to the Vox and called into the microphone. 'Okay boys lets charge them!'
The transport lurched forward as the driver powered it onward. The sound of enemy fire bouncing off the hull increasing as they approached, the boom of the vanquisher cannons returning fire muffled by the armoured chimera hull. The ride became increasingly bumpy, the occupants thrown around with in. Soon they reached the Tau defences, the sound of enemy fire rising to a terrible crescendo. A sudden thump from an explosion cut the enemy fire drastically, as the APC came to a halt. A grating buzzer sounded as the ramp slammed into ground, General Geart led the charge out of the vehicle with his power fist raised high in the air. He ran around to the front of the vehicle, sheltered between his and one of the other chimeras, he could see the tanks were engaged with enemy defence turrets, the smoking remains of one not far from his position. The supporting squads deployed around him, each sergeant giving him a nod to confirm their readiness. He has selected the squads carefully, each with a squad leader he knew he could count on. He couldn't see much in the way of enemy numbers, the automated defences seemed to be the only resistance. A small number of service personnel were fleeing the scene, but no infantry had yet appeared to push them back.
They spread forward, the Vanquishers still leading the way, one taking a long range shot at another gun turret still attempting shots. The high velocity shell tore through the main body of the turret and the weapons it carried fell silent. Both tanks flanked the advancing squads, Chimera transports hanging back to cover them from an ambush. Geart signalled for one squad to break off between two rounded structures and cover their advance. It was then that the sponson weapon of one Leman Russ detonated, a bright spear of energy striking it from atop a nearby building. Every man dived back for cover behind their transports, Poiller panicked and ran forward, hiding alone behind a small rounded box beside a strange tower. Geart cursed, he forgot that the young soldier was still fresh and had actually been sub-par when it came to real combat. He risked a look out, just catching a glimpse of a battle suit as it jumped again to avoid the vanquishers return fire.
The squad that had broken away were suddenly pinned by rifle fire, small burst of plasma showering their position. The battle suit punched through the soft rear armour of a chimera with its fusion blaster. The men sheltering by the vehicle ran in fear to the relative safety of the tanks, those men too slow to react were showered with shrapnel and left to die. The battle suit scanned the scene for new targets as its fusion blaster prepared to fire again, it burst cannon spinning slowly in preparation for its use. Geart was surprised they had been pinned down so quickly, he ordered the tanks to continue the advance, the battle suit was the only real threat here, and if they could keep moving they could spread out and take it by surprise, but if they stayed put that Tau wouldn't hesitate in taking them all out.
The vanquishers pass through a gap in the Tau structures into a large open area, evidently were they had prepared for their advance across the planet. Two squads of fire warriors opposed them, the first was scattered by a vanquisher shell and the other took shelter by a parked transport vehicle. The general held his command squad back. Watching the advance, the transport behind him shook violently as the fusion blaster fired again, the vehicle managed to weather the hit this time. He looked to Poiller again, the boy curled foetal against his cover, lasgun dropped a few feet from him. The veteran dashed from the cover of the chimera, burst cannon fire suddenly chasing him as he ran to his adjutant and he dived the last two metres, sweeping the fallen lasgun up as he reached cover again.
'Snap the frak out of it, Boy!' He bellowed, shoving the lasgun into his arms. More fired splashed over their cover, Geart sent a plasma blast back at his aggressor during a break in fire. The shot flew wide, scorching the white walls of a building black.
'Frak sake!' He grabbed the slim framed boy and shook him. 'Snap out of it, or you are going to die!' He yelled, staring straight into the boys tear streaked eyes.
'I can't do it Sir!' Poiller whimpered 'I can't face something like that!'
'You can and you will! Or so help me I will shoot you myself!'
The young man gave a scared look to his general, Geart lifted his pistol so it the boy could see it. Still terrified he tightened his grip on his gun, and sprinted back to the main group of men, leaving the General stranded alone against the battle suit. Geart watched the boy dive to cover, seeing the irony of his current situation.
'Better than nothing I suppose.' He sighed as he checked over the cover, the battle suit obviously unwilling to focus it's fire on one threat had a barrel pointed at him and the transports. Thankfully, Geart had the fusion blaster aimed his way, so he only had to avoid one shot and if he didn't at least it would be quick. He took quick aim at the battle suit, his plasma pistol probably wouldn't do much here but it was worth a try, unleashing his shot at the xeno and starting to run without seeing if his shot had hit home. A white hot beam of energy scarred the wall above him as he ran, the heat scorching his short cropped hair, chancing a look across he saw his shot had hit high, doing little damage but stumbling the bulky suit so its return fire went high. Diving behind the transport once more, he looked at Poiller who was still shaking, clutching his gun to him, Geart didn't have time to try and snap him out of it, he would just have to drag him along and sort him out afterwards.
'Were the warp are those grenade launchers?' he bellowed, he took a look past the tanks to see a small number of enemy squads had taken cover and returned fire, a new turret had been rapidly deployed and managed to take a track off one tank, the other hanging back to keep as cover for the men behind it.
'Grenade launchers are here, sir!' 4 men approached with their launchers. The general pointed behind him to the dangerous warrior who had begun trying to blast through the protective APCs once more.
'Deal with that!' he said calmly, as the men split and disappeared either side of the transports, the hollow whump of their launchers being heard just before several detonations threw smoke and debris over the transports. The sounds of burst cannon fire and screams followed, then nothing. The guardsmen waited tensely, ducking under rogue fire from the fire warriors in the square. After what seemed like hours there was a hiss of pressure, and small white pod hurled into the sky, disappearing over the buildings away from them.
It had taken nearly an hour to get moving again, Mal had put a hole in the venetors cooling grille and severed a suspension rod. Wyn had a spare suspension rod, and replaced it with little trouble, but the cooling grille was more difficult, requiring a complicated patch up to keep them running and even now the ride was jerky and the recently conscious driver had to be careful not to cause more damage. They had changed their approach, Josla and Grant had taken the lead scouting a clearer path for the much larger vehicle taking them to the woodland edge as quickly as possible, emerging with the Tau encampment just in view.
'Okay, Get ready.' Jadden said standing up, 'This is going to have to be quick.'
There was already smoke rising from the far side of the alien camp, he strained to try a pick out details. Explosions flashes regularly, but it was all very localised, Jadden judged that there had been a small attack made presumably circumventing the main battle attempting to strike at the xeno support. Jadden just hoped that the ethereal wasn't killed in the process.
'Jos scout ahead, find us a way into the camp, I don't want us getting blown to pieces by sentry guns' His vox bead gave a slight beep as she sent a wordless confirmation back to him.
'Mal take Belle and stay hidden, Bannerman, you take the gun.' He gave the guardsmen a nod before continuing 'We will proceed on foot, stay in cover and sneak into the target zone in two teams.'
'Batty, you will take the commissar and the corporal, make sure they get in undetected and then identify any high risk targets that we may need to deal with. If you find the target alert us and proceed with the catch if possible.'
'No problem' Bartos replied.
'Wyn, you will join up with Josla and Grimes and you will head towards the contact zone, find out what that attack is, and if it's going to be a problem slow it down. Don't get seen, but if you need to take some of our own out then so be it.'
'Affirmative' Wyn began flexing his mechandrites, whispering hymns to prepare them for the task ahead.
'I will scout through and cover you all as best I can. Hopefully between us we can nail this guy and get out without our 'allies' knowing we were here.' Jadden took a deep breath, taking a further look to the rising smoke coming from the Tau drop site. 'If you are surrounded or in trouble, just get out and track down Mal. We don't want to attract further attention by getting in a protracted fight with anyone. We need to take the ethereal by surprise. Don't give anyone a reason to alert him to our presence.'
Everyone confirmed they were ready and Mal drove closer to the encampment. Josla and Grimes Trakart could just be seen scouting around the perimeter, just outside of the sentry guns detection range. Occasionally, Josla took a sudden charge at a gun if there was terrain cover or something else to distract the sensors, pulling back to a safe distance once the gun started tracking. After a few moments, she found a gap in the defences, an area of boulders trailing from the perimeter, a turret stood tall above it, which gave it a good view of the surrounding area, but it failed to cover the rocky out crop, she charged in and the turret immediately began tracking her, but as she approached she fell beneath it sensor field and it began sweeping the area again.
Mal pulled up well away from the gun's active range, Josla and Grimes leaving the Trakarts and taking cover, waiting for the team to catch up. The group gathered together as Mal sped away again, Josla came in over group vox.
'You're gonna have to run it, but once you reach the rocks you're clear.'
'Just gotta brave a pair of pulse rifles on the way yeah?' Batty replied whimsically. 'Looks like we need someone agile to distract it just in case.' The portly man turned to Jadden, knowing he was the best chance of keeping the turret busy long enough to let them through.
'Great.' The tall man said dryly, his great coat billowed out behind him. 'I'll keep it busy you guys get running. And please take your time.' He said walking through the group and into the effective range of the weapon. He waited for the gun to twitch as it picked him up, before running across its fire arc, giving it the maximum time to lock onto him, after a moment it swung toward him, the whine of charging weapons could just be heard, the sensor unit atop swept in increasingly narrow arcs on him. The rifles fired on him, striking the ground where he once stood, warp energy discharging around the location, he reappeared further back, still within the sensors current arc so it wouldn't begin a further sweep and find his team. Alishia led the charge, sprinting at Josla and Grimes position, she was aware of pounding footsteps behind her as everyone else followed her, Wyn glided past her on his mechandrites, the mechanical limbs affording him great speed. Another volley of fire found warp charged ground as another blink carried the elusive target again, now very close, running straight at the automated defender. Again the low slung pulse rifles fired, Jadden leapt up, his warp filled muscles lifting him high over the shots and above the turret. The sensor array span to track its speeding prey but it never found it again, electrical warp fire danced above it for a moment before dying away.
The whoosh of displaced air beside the group signalled Jadden's return. They had all made it to the cover of the rocky outcrop, the turret still spinning wildly in search of its target. He was still slightly out of breath from his exertion, but Jad signalled them all to move out, pacing behind the turret and into the encampment.