Craft had been in the room since he got here, he hadn't seen La'keel and he had only had a fleeting visit from a pompous dignitary who took his details and had got him some food. He had been told he was being held as a precaution and he would be free to join the greater good once he had been cleared. The food had been a selection of fruits and some kind of sea creature, Craft had enjoyed the fruits but the fish was too bitter for his palate.

The entire room shook violently, the door swung openly slightly as something heavy crashed into it, light pouring through the crack. He cautiously waited a moment before peering outside, the bright light painted everything he saw white, he couldn't see anything. As his eyes became adjusted to the change in brightness, he could see the body of his guard slumped against the door, his pulse carbine dropped in the corridor. The soldiers body had been crushed by falling debris, a large hole had been blown into the corridor, chunks of crystalline wall killing his instantly. Craft reached out and grabbed the weapon, sliding it into the room with him, he looked over the weapon, identifying the trigger and clip. He held the weapon to his shoulder, testing the sights and feel. It was light, about half the weight of a lasgun, and the handle felt off, his fingers didn't fit the grip well, but otherwise it felt solid enough.

The sound of fighting could be heard from outside, the hiss of lasgun fire and heavy shells countered the high-pitched whine of alien pulse rounds. Craft ducked through the doorway and took cover by the rubble of the buildings outer wall, he took in the scene before him noting the massive forms of Leman Russ battle tanks across the open space, they were engaging two groups of fire warriors and it had been one of their vanquisher shells that had struck his shelter. He could see a number of squads behind them, using the war machines as cover, a number of guardsmen bodies lay dead by the side of the armoured hulls, the precise Tau fire taking its toll. There was a whip-crack sound and one of the tanks imploded, collapsing suddenly into itself, Craft searched for the source of the firepower, seeing a recently repositioned turret with a large rail gun mounted on it, the supersonic shell piercing the metal of the tanks hull easily, the rapid pressure change nearly turning the vehicle inside out. The remaining tank was already immobilised, and the turret slowly took aim. The commander of the immobile vehicle had obviously identified the threat as the large vanquisher cannon swung lazily to meet the turret.

The cannon fired first, but the shot went wide and detonated beside its target, blasting a large crater into the ground. The turret shook and leant over, the ground shifting under it and tipped it onto its side. The gun fired mid fall, the solid slug hit the rear of the massive tank leaving a small hole. Moments later the promethium fuel the tanks was using gushed out and covered the guard squad nearby, and in the frantic shooting of the firefight, the petroleum caught light easily. The guardsmen were scattered as they ran flaming into the enemy guns. Through the fire and the smoke, Craft just caught sight of the dour face of General Geart looking on from behind.

The sight of his old commander was enough for Craft, he would give the Tau reason to trust him and take his place amongst them, away from the oppression of the Imperium and he would do it by stopping this attack, killing Geart in the process. A quick look convinced him he was clear and he ran from his cover into a gap between buildings, pressing himself close against the building in case he had been spotted. He stalked behind the building, hoping to sneak behind the guard forces and do some damage. He heard voices from the end of the narrow alley, pausing to listen in. They were speaking low Gothic, Humans, he need to be careful. He checked his gun once more.

'The general needs us to flank the enemy forces, take care of any heavy support they have.'

'Hey, you guys!' Craft said cheerily as he rounded the corner, the squad sergeant turned at the sound of his voice.

'Craft?' He blurted out before the ex-Major sprayed the squad with fully automatic fire, the close range and sudden nature of his attack gave him time to take them all out before they could return fire.

'Nice to see you.' He smiled to himself, before searching the bodies. He took a lasgun and spare packs, he also kitted himself out with grenades, He thought he might need them. Craft continued to stalk around the quieter back alleys of the encampment, trying to remain hidden. He had obviously encountered a break off unit, and he couldn't be sure the General didn't have any others. He caught glimpses of the battle as he moved around, the General was still pinned down, but there was no sign of any Tau reinforcements, they must have had the entire army deployed fighting the marines and the rest of the guard.

It was then he felt a solid object rest against the back of his head and the whine of an energy weapon being readied. Sweat poured down his face and neck suddenly, he closed his eyes and waited for the gun to fire. The seconds ached by, the quiet hum of the weapon behind him filled his senses, the sound becoming a violent growl in his ears. He felt a hand on his shoulder, it slowly turned him to face the barrel of the gun. At first only the very end of the white barrel was in focus, gradually his eye moved along the square shape of the gun, a blue skinned alien hand held the grip, a tight synthetic material covered the arm, bright green lines running down the white fabric. Eventually he saw the face of his executioner, wide Grey eyes stared back at him when suddenly a second face appeared from behind it.

This other face was familiar, still alien but he had seen the face before. The face spoke to the creature pointing the gun. There was a brief exchange that he could not understand, finally the gun dropped away from his head, he collapsed against the wall beside him, his fear slowly evaporating.

'Gue'Craft, you are good still?' came a familiar voice

'La'keel?' He said mystified.

'Meet Shas'Vre Ja'Ley. Commanders bodyguard.' She said slowly to him. 'Great Warrior for Empire.'

Craft couldn't speak, just giving a thumbs up to his alien friend. He slowly stood, calming himself down after convincing himself he was about to be killed.

'What are you doing here?' he finally asked. Looking only at La'Keel, the other woman still hostile towards him.

'Ja'Ley suit damage. Escape ship land beside my quarters. We escape with Aun'El.' She replied. He broken speech was difficult to understand in his agitated state.

'We need to get General Geart.' He told her 'I need to stop him so I can still join you.'

'Who?'

He gesture to the ruined tanks and then ran his finger across his throat. Ja'Ley stepped forward, said something to him in a harsh tone. He looked at her blankly for a moment, the two aliens exchanged words again. He looked at them both for a while, thinking to himself how much he really needed to learn the language.

'Ja'Ley says we help you. Change Gue'la yes?'

'Change?' he questioned, La'Keel looked frustrated, tapping her head as she thought

'End?' She finally said.

'Close enough.' He said under his breath before giving another thumbs up and giving them both a few large nods of his head. The Tau soldier pushed past him and proceeded to head to the Imperial Guard position, Craft and La'Keel looked at each other before following.

Cha'riss had remained hidden from view in one of the service buildings surrounding the square. His bodyguards had stayed with him, their blood oaths to protect him prevented them from departing to attack the invaders, and he was glad of it. The Gue'la strike had come from the river, which the fool Nen'sho had assured him, would be the most difficult approach for any attackers. The gun turrets fire had alerted them to the attack, but they only had the basic contingent of soldiers defending the base, and the tanks had made short work of their defences. He was now pinned down, and could be under direct attack any moment. His Shas'El had advised they should make for the Manta as soon as possible, but no safe opportunity had presented itself as of yet. It was then that one of the body guards appeared, an Earth caste worker pushed roughly before him.

'Tell him.' The guard grunted to the terrified worker, who fell to his knees at the sight of Cha'riss and began babbling.

'Oh my honoured Aun'El, there is a hatch way at the back of the building. It is used to move materials. I was hiding from the aliens, if I had known you were here I would have helped you sooner.'

'Enough my friend' He put a hand softly onto the man shoulder. You can help us now.' He smiled. This put the man at ease and he led them through the service building, looked like they were making armour plating ready to be cut and fitted to various buildings and vehicles. They soon came to the hatch described, a mechanised panel in the wall, which was designed to link with an approaching transport and feed cargo through without any intervention. The man pulled a heavy lever which over rid the controls. The panel swung open, the bright sunlight flooded the factory. The guards immediately, took cover sweeping him along to cover. The attack had made them jumpy, they were cautious of attack.

'Damn Fool!' said one guard, jabbing the worker in the stomach with the butt of his rifle. 'There could have been anything out there. Damn near got the Aun'El killed'

The man buckled and fell to the floor following the guards violent blow. Cha'riss looked on impassively, he found more and more he had very little concern for the lower echelons of his society.

'Shall we go then Shas'El?' He asked

'What about this one, he could share information if he is captured?'

'Then kill him, now hurry up.' Cha'riss turned and started walking, the guards ran to catch up and he heard the man started to scream before pulse rifle fire silenced him. The Ethereal calmly brushed himself down as he walked away.

Jadden had left the other as soon as they were in the shadow of the tau base. A quick blink put him atop the buildings and he could travel quickly and unhindered up there, which suited him just fine. Alishia had tried to come with him, saying it was too dangerous on his own, but he had brushed her off saying not to miss him too much. He didn't need the distraction of looking after another person, and he knew she would be able to hold her own with Batty and Grant if they got into trouble taking out facilities, but where he was going, she may not fare so well.

He took a look around from atop a tall tower, which appears to be a comms relay of some kind. He could see over the entire camp, he could make out two wrecked tanks in the central square, the focus of the fire fight, and a group of tau civilians had gathered by what he assumed was a garrison, but no soldiers were around to protect them. He could just make out Wyn, Josla and Grimes moving toward the square. If they were lucky they wouldn't need to do anything, but he was happy to have them covering the activity. He couldn't see the other group, but he knew Bartos would be being cautious with two unknowns backing him up. He was probably in cover planning their movement toward the first point of interest, which was an ammo store. Jadden didn't want to be caught without ammo when the Tau had piles of it lying around, at least if everyone ran out, he still held the advantage.

His vision fell upon a large aircraft at the far end of the camp, its massive sweeping wings sheltering supply buildings and vehicles. It was quite a distance away, and it seemed to be deserted at the moment, so he continued surveying the scene. It was then that he saw it, the cluster of bodies moving away from the fight, ornate armoured bodies surrounding a lone robed figure. There he was, he finally had him. Jadden disappear in a flash of lightning once more, taking a new position ahead of the group. He watched them approach as he contacted Bartos.

'Batty, where are you?'

'Getting ready to cut off a generator, North-west part of encampment.' came the reply. 'What do you need?'

'I've got the target sighted, headed north. Get over here and prepare for the grab'.

'Okay, where are we headed?'

'You see the large comms tower? Pretty central, you can't miss it.'

'Yeah I see it, there is an open roadway about 25 metres to the west of it, heading straight north. The target is currently on that roadway on foot, I will apprehend approximately 350 metres north of comms tower.

'Okay, estimate our arrival in 80 seconds.'

Jadden didn't reply, he watched the group approaching him. They were jogging lightly, evidently looking to keep the Ethereal out of harm's way. Most were armed with carbines, one had a curved blade and a side arm, a pair of hovering drones completed the group. He began a slow count in his head, anticipating Batty, Alishia and Grant's arrival. Should only be a minute now, the group was still 300 metres away, he drew his long sword from its back mounted holster. They continued straight toward him, his count slowly coming down as he prepared his bolt pistol in his spare hand. He waited for them to reach about 100 metres, closer as he began charging his body with energy, he could feel it warm within his muscles. Twenty seconds left as he leapt up, sailing through the air the keen edge of his blade whistled slightly, he turned mid-air as he prepared to land.

He touched down and crouched to absorb the impact, he rose again and lifting his bolt pistol to aim at the group. They came to a halt, the guards moving to protect the ethereal in a disciplined manner, one of the drones, whined as its shield generator came to life, a shimmering energy field was just visible around the huddled aliens, the other drone shone a laser pointer onto the new threat, the information sent back to the whole squads weaponry to ensure they took the target down. Jadden swung his sword up onto his shoulder and took a couple paces forward.

He paused as every weapon clicked and the sound of 7 pulse carbines charging was easily audible. There was a tense few seconds as he looked at the Tau warriors. They were unmoving, weapons pointed at him ready to kill. At an unseen signal every weapon fired as one, the massed shots flew straight at him in a huge volley, each man unleashing several bursts of fire. Jadden leapt to the side, rolling as he landed, he came up his pistol still level and his sword resting on his shoulder as before. The bolt pistol barked and the marker drone dropped to the floor in a shower of sparks. The hiss could be heard of the pulse shots hitting a distant wall. The group swung their weapons to aim at him again as Batty, Alishia and Grant appeared from between two buildings just down from the standoff.

Half of the Tau guards span at their arrival, they raised their own weapons in response. The tense silence returned, no one spoke a word, just watching for any sign of an attack. The Ethereal was being kept crouched in the middle of the guards, his honour blade held at the ready. Jadden stood silently, waiting for his chance when without warning Corporal Grant charged, his chain sword growling into life as he squeezed on the throttle. The Tau gunman unleashed their shots as the man charged, they were erratic and undisciplined in the shock of being charged, but they still flanked their attacker, the force of his charge carried him through to unleash a swing of his weapon before falling to his knees, his blow easily knocked aside with the butt of a rifle.

Grants action was enough though, Alishia charged a second later with Batty sending a shotgun blast at the group before pulling a long combat knife from his belt and wading into the combat himself. Jadden dived forward under the volley of fire sent his way, rising with a broad swing of his sword, taking the legs out from under one aggressor before blocking a return strike from a poorly aimed rifle swing with his forearm.

A follow up attack came from the curved alien blade carried by what he presumed was the units commander. He rapidly blocked with his blade, he shoved the first attacker away with his other arm and attempted to get a shot off but the long staff of the Cha'riss's honour blade came down on the weapon, the shot thudding into the dirt. Pain flared through his hand from the impact, the bolt pistol falling from his grasp. He glared at the alien leader and threw swift jab, catching the elegant creature on the jaw. He sensed the weight on his blade release telling him the squad leader was making a follow up strike against him. He ducked beneath the wild punch, letting the man's momentum carry him over his shoulder before throwing him to the ground behind him. He looked for the ethereal once more, but saw another attack coming from the guard who had struck out at him before.

Batty used his weight to his advantage, barrelling into two warriors, who attempted to strike him. One had taken the brunt of the shotgun blast, but his high quality armour had absorbed most of the impact, only a small number of blue dribbles of blood had appeared on his torso, and he battled on despite this. They fell to the floor and the bulky human drove the combat knife into the softer neck armour of one whilst keeping the injured warrior at bay with a spare hand. The two continued to struggle.

Alishia let off a close range shot into the visor of a guard as he charge back at her, sidestepping his falling body as she swung the power sword at another. The power field met the body of a carbine, it sliced slowly through the weapon before being brushed aside at the gun was dropped. A third attacker piled in, striking high then violently kicking her in the ribs as she ducked the first attack. Another attack hit her in the lower back, sending pain burning through her. She focussed enough to put another bolt into the foot of one xeno before rolling away from any further attacks.

Jadden rapidly charged his body with warp energy, letting him move with preternatural speed and strike with colossal strength. He jumped over a clumsy strike, his left fist decimating the helmet of the xeno as he came down to land. Spinning away from another broad swing of the commanders blade, he grabbed the guard with the ruined helmet by the neck mid spin and threw him head first into a wall some metres away, the crystalline material cracking on impact. Finishing his spin he brought his blade around, taking the arm from the commander who released a scream of agony, the deadly blade dropping to the floor, still gripped tightly by the lifeless arm. He reversed his grip on his own sword and cut the injured man in half. He saw Batty with a warrior in a hold on the floor, choking the flailing creature, his face filled with rage as he killed.

Alishia was holding off two attackers, though she was clearly injured. Jadden stepped forward and ran his blade through the nearest attacker. The commissar took her chance and took the head off the other with her own weapon. He panicked suddenly, the Ethereal was nowhere to be found. He finally saw the figure running from the fight, a single guard still with him.

Geart sent another ball of plasma out into the square. The grip was getting warm now, he was worried the gun would over heat and blow up in his hand, but he couldn't close in to use his power fist, and any spare lasguns were now burning in the tanks promethium fuel. Thirteen men had died screaming, including a lieutenant from his command squad, add that to the existing losses, he was down to 10 men, which included Poiller who was barely holding it together and two wounded men who would probably bleed out if they didn't get out of this dead end. They were boxed in, all the APC's had been destroyed or immobilised behind them, and they were under fire from the square. They had nowhere to go and no worthwhile weapons remaining to do anything about it. He could barely see through the fire and the smoke to make any meaningful effort to take out the Tau, and the sheer heat was draining him and his men.

It was then he realised they hadn't been shot at for at least 2 minutes. What was going on? He didn't like to think what the xenos were up to now. Probably arranging for some heavy weapons to take care of them, he needed an escape plan. He called his men to him.

'We need to get moving, we are too few now to make any difference sat here.' He growled. The irritation clear in his voice. He jumped up and ran to the ruined Chimeras, checking the size of the gap between one and the wall.

'Come on!' he waved the men over and began squeezing himself through the small space, his wide midsection making it difficult for him. Eventually, it became clear he would need a push but once he was through the rest of the men got through with less difficulty.

They made their way around to the back of the chimeras, the ruined shell of the crisis combat armour still smoking, broken bodies of the launcher operators scattered around them.

'Take a couple of those launchers, we will probably need them. Poiller, how you feeling now?' He said without looking at the boy.

'Better now, Sir!' The slim soldier was less pale now, but still obviously shaken.

'Then check out the square for me, see if you can find out why the Bastards stopped trying to kill us.' The boy hesitated, Geart turned to give him a stern look.

'Yes Sir!' and he turned and ran to get a better view of the square. The General took a deep breath, surveying the smoke blackened faces of the men before him. They looked exhausted, but now they had some cool air they were ready to get some vengeance. Poiller came running back over.

'They have gathered at the far end of the square Sir? Defensive formation by the looks of it.' The boy was panting from the brief run, his body already tired out from the stress he had been under.

'It makes no sense? They had us cornered? Why back away now?' He wondered aloud before addressing the group as a whole.

'Okay let's get moving. We have been given a chance here, so let's use it. We will try and get around the square and get the jump on them from behind.'

It was then the group was showered by fire once again. Two men dropped by carefully aimed shots to the head. Geart dived for cover, turning to find to source of the attack. The smoke from fire obscured his vision, he could make out the outline of a few figures who continued to fire on his men. He watched as two more men went down, bloody mist bursting from their bodies as they died.

He sent a shot back, unsure if he had hit anything. He ducked behind his cover again as a flurry of shots came his way, bright red snaps of light flew overhead as the general realised who his attacker was. That was lasgun fire, and he knew of one person who was definitely in this camp with an imperial lasgun. Major Craft.

'Looks like we got the jump on you, General.' Came a patronising voice through the smoke. More gun fire struck guardsmen in limited cover. Geart could just see Poiller, he had crawled under a raised walkway between two buildings, raised maybe a foot from the floor, the shaking barrel of his lasgun protruding from beneath it.

'You're making a habit of sneaking around behind my back Craft.' He jeered into the smoke, following it up with another bolt of plasma at one of the shadows. Another white bolt shattered the skull of a guardsmen, his helmet providing no protection. Geart darted for the wreckage of the Battle suit, the smoke hiding his movements. He snuck around to see past the smoke. Craft was hidden behind a crate, he had two aliens with him, one in robes was taking shots with a pistol with poor results. The other however was lithe and muscled, its pulse carbine fired in disciplined bursts, taking maximum advantage of the weapons accurate fire.

'Don't worry, I'll make sure when I kill you, you know it was me who took the shot.' Craft answered with a laugh. He sent another spray through the smoke, as return fire finally began to come back at Craft and his Xeno allies. Geart remained silent, continuing to move to flank his attackers. He slowly approached, keeping low, moving between crates and debris. He could see the venomous look on the treacherous Major's face as he fired on his men, he was stood above his cover almost reckless, asking for the general to shoot him. Slowly he levelled his plasma pistol at the man, putting his head between the two metal notches at the end of the barrel, the heat from the coils making his image shimmer. Geart took a breath, savouring the moment.

His revenge was cut short as a las bolt struck his prey's shoulder, the man was knocked back, behind the cover of a building. His allies turned as he yelped in pain, the fierce looking alien spotting Geart and instinctively firing, forcing him to dive away, sheltered again by battlefield debris.

'Frak them all!' he screamed in frustration, Slamming his power fist into the floor. More enemy fire rattled around him. He swung up without warning, and fired. The shot flew straight and true, catching his attacker full force, plasma rapidly melting her away. The robed Tau screamed in horror, and began firing on him, her shots going high and wide. He walked calmly towards her, shots still failing to endanger him and he stuck her with the butt of his pistol. Blue blood sprayed out as his blow landed, the alien collapsed to the floor. He turned to Craft, but he was nowhere to be found, the veteran looked around troubled. Yelling in frustration again he put his power fist through a wall, sparks showered over him.

'Poiller! Get the frak over here!' He growled 'And anyone else who isn't dead!'

After a few moments, Poiller and 3 other guardsmen approached. Geart shook his head, 6 men killed by only 3 attackers, one of which was clearly not weapons trained, so it may as well have been just 2 of them.

'You will take the prisoner to the edge of the camp, this attack is over. Question her if it is at all possible. I'm going to kill Craft.' With that he turned and went after the Major. Poiller started to object, but a violent look from the General silenced him.