FOURTEEN
A Note from the Author: I realize that the only thing duller than sitting through a meeting is having to read about somebody else sitting through a meeting. But I feel that it's important for your understanding of the events that resulted from the decisions of this meeting. The official records of the campaign only report the end results and have overlook the vital role that our decision-making had on obtaining those results. , Sound decision-making, prior to and while in battle, is what differentiates winning tactics from pure insanity. I'm still not sure which category ours would fall into.
With the sheer frequency of briefings, debriefings, and meetings being held, it was hard for anyone to believe that there was any degree of urgency in the life-or-death struggle we were facing. If the world were to end the next day (which it very could for all we knew), we would still be in meetings to ensure that our deaths were done in a timely fashion. As one black-humoured guardsman so aptly quipped, "the senior staff will be thirty minutes late for their own deaths. They're delayed in a meeting." Upon our return to the command center, the Astartes insisted on having access to the comm system to contact the frigate in orbit. His hour-long conversation gave Cain and I time to grab something to eat while we waited around the conference table with the Lord-General and a few other senior officers. Word about Cain's involvement in the recovery of the Macharius battle tank had already reached command by the time we had arrived so he had to spend the next several minutes modestly deflecting all the praise shoveled onto him. I didn't even get so much as a 'good job' from any of them.
"Do we know anything about this Black Watch chapter?" Kasteen asked. As a space marine, Garrick's loyalty and dedication were beyond reproach but it was not uncommon for chapters to utilize tactics that ran counter to the modus operandi of an Imperial Guard regiment. Some chapters were notorious for being trigger-happy with their authorizations for Exterminatus. I, for one, did not come half way across the segmentum just to have a single Astartes decide that the planet would look better as a crater-ridden dustball. The Lord-General's concern was not about loyalty but about his willingness to cooperate, which was a sentiment shared by the rest of us.
"Not a lot but we don't exactly carry a library around," Zyvan replied as he picked up a dataslate and looked through its contents. With hundreds upon hundreds of chapters in operation, the average soldier wouldn't know the difference from one chapter to the next. Judging by the blank looks around the table, this was the first time anybody had even heard of the Black Watch chapter. "They're a relatively young chapter with origins tracing back to the Raven Guard. They usually operate in small numbers and prefer covert ops rather than open combat. According to reports it's rare to see them ever field more than a company to any given operation. Beyond that, it's pure speculation and conjecture."
"In the end, what's more important is this particular marine's temperament," Cain added before turning his attention to me. "Space marines rarely retreat and never admit defeat so this one will continue to fight. The question remains is whether he'll fight where we need him. Commissar Abel, you've spent the most time with him. What is your opinion of the space marine?"
While Cain was correct that I had spent the most time with our guest, trying to gather a sense of character from a space marine was like squeezing blood from a rock. Still, when the request came from a Lord-General, the only respectable response was to grab a vice-grip and get to work. "He made a comment about bearing the burden of the mission's honour. That would suggest that in his mind, there is a greater sense of priority on the mission's success. Then again, he did fight a nob solely on personal honour so it's hard to say where his priorities lie. Still, I believe that without any other space marines to assist him, he recognizes that he has no other option but to cooperate with us if he wishes to return to his chapter with honour. If you don't mind me asking, Lord-General, what exactly do you have planned for the Astartes?"
Even though he was worth a full squad of troopers, Garrick was still, nonetheless, a single soldier. I was too pragmatic to believe that one space marine could change the tide of an entire campaign. He might improve morale and help win some firefights but we had planned to fight and win back this planet without any assistance from the Adeptus Astartes and I was still confident that we could without Garrick's help. I'd eventually eat those words but with a fair bit of chewing they weren't too hard to swallow.
"For the time being, I want him at the front of any major offensive. His valour will hopefully inspire others," Zyvan answered, which was a clever way of saying that he had nothing particular in mind. Our conversation regarding Garrick came to an abrupt end when we heard the distinctive thud of walking power armour, which soon preceded the marine's arrival. He approached and stood at the edge of the table, refraining from using a chair as his weight would have made short work of it. He was without his helmet, revealing a still youthful-looking face that betrayed the true extent of his experience. His features were marred only by a few small scars running along the right side of his face and the metallic stud upon his brow signified his century of service to his chapter.
Garrick did not waste any time in addressing us. "As I had suspected, the sensors aboard the Vigilance confirm that I am the only surviving member from my squad. They have relayed my message to the nearest strike cruiser requesting for reinforcements. However, they are quite a distance away and will likely not arrive in time to assist with the bulk of the fighting. Since I have no intention of leaving with my mission unfulfilled, I will commit myself to assisting in your campaign against the Tau occupiers. Bare in mind, however, that I am not under your authority in any way and I will go where I feel I am most needed."
"We are well aware of the autonomy of the Adeptus Astartes," Zyvan replied politely and unsurprised by Garrick's last words. "Your assistance in any way will be of great assistance. If you do not mind, there are some questions that you could perhaps shed some light to. First and foremost, we want to know what happened in the planetary capital."
"I expected as much," Garrick sighed quietly. No doubt drudging up details of a failed assault was not a pleasant experience. Most people I know hate to admit to mistakes, much less explain them to an audience. "Our mission was to return this planet to the Emperor by removing the governor by whatever means necessary. When we made our assault, however, the Tau were waiting for us."
The Astartes seemed almost as surprised by our reaction as we were of this revelation. Our intelligence said that the governor had turned to the Tau after the failed assault by the Astartes, not before. I can't speak for the others present but the news had changed my opinion of the governor – I thought he had been merely a good man forced into a horrible position by devious xenos; instead, he had sided with the Tau before the Imperium had come for him.
"It seems that the good governor was not as resolute in his defiance as we had been led to believe," Wren said sarcastically.
"How did we not know about this from the intelligence briefs?" Zyvan asked.
"Likely because the Tau did not make their presence known until after our assault failed," Garrick continued. "Our vessel was the first to arrive in the system. The Govenor was still broadcasting his distress so he must of assumed we had arrived to assist in removing the xenos. We were able to enter orbit without incident. Brother-Sergeant Mercutio decided that we could use their assumption that we had arrived to assist in order to bypass the governor's defenses. Normally I would not object to using such deception in order to accomplish mission objectives but everything about the situation felt wrong. When I voiced my concern, he dismissed them. He said if we went in with our intents clear, the governor would run and we might never catch him. Mercutio was blinded by arrogance; he thought once the governor was dead, his troops would "scatter and flee like cowards."
"I take it your Brother-Sergeant did not consider that the governor's personal troops were Cadian stormtroopers of the 212th?" Cain quipped. "I've read through some of their records – they've had numerous campaigns against heretics and the Ruinous Powers. They wouldn't have been intimidated by you - no offense."
"Indeed they weren't," Garrick answered. "When we exited from the Thunderhawk, they came out of hiding, both xeno and heretic. I will hand it to the governor though. He knew we were coming to kill him and still he came out to meet us face-to-face. He told us he would not be branded a traitor for protecting his people and that the Imperium had turned its back on him and his people first. Brother-Sergeant Mercutio did not care and ordered us to attack. We were surrounded and heavily outgunned but Mercutio still thought he could end it quickly by taking out the governor. He charged Gavilant…and that's when the governor killed him."
"That old fart killed an Astartes?" I exclaimed, summing up everybody's reaction to the news.
"Power fists," he explained. "Hidden beneath his cloak; probably crafted by a master artificer. Mercutio didn't see them until it was too late. They ripped through his power armour like it was nothing."
Garrick's debrief left a feeling of emptiness in my spirit. They were the Adeptus Astartes – the very best of the Imperium. The notion that they might not be as infallible as their legends foretold left me wondering what else was a dramatic exaggeration. After the somewhat depressing story, Garrick went into detail as he explained the defensive layout of the palace and the rest of the capital city, or at least the parts he saw. According to Garrick, the palace itself was protected from aerial attacks with several Hydra batteries and numerous autocannon and lascannon emplacements ensure that anybody trying a frontal assault would be met with heavy cross fire. In preparation for potential assaults, much of the foliage around the governor's palace was also removed and replaced with dragon's teeth, forcing attackers to cross open fields on foot with minimal cover. Much of the city was bunkered down with gun emplacements in almost every building, especially the main roads, and the main highway to the city was pre-sighted by heavy guns and mortar batteries. The jungles were rigged with mines and traps and the Kroot made regular patrols. All in all, none of the information came as a surprise since it was the kind of attention to detail that an Imperial general would be expected to give. The city was locked down tightly and well-defended. If our armoured regiment had been at full strength an assault would have been difficult but not impossible; at current strength they would be wiped out before getting through the gates. Garrick's brief confirmed all our fears about the odds of a frontal assault.
However given what I would eventually go through, charging the front gates might have been preferable.
"Unfortunately, we will have to put even our alternate strategy on hold thanks to our Astartes friend who led the orks straight to our front door," commented a Kastaforian officer. "By this time tomorrow we're going to be swimming in greenskins. Even if we do survive the orks, we might not have enough troops afterwards to mount a sufficient offensive against the Tau. This entire operation hinged on us being able to act swiftly in order to secure the planet and now we are going to be slowed down by these orks until we grind to a complete halt!"
"True servants of the Emperor should rejoice at having more enemies to kill, not cower in fear of it," Garrick snapped back as he took obvious offense at the officer's remarks. "And for your information, those orks were outside the city when I arrived. My approach from their flanks took them by surprise."
"Are you certain those orks were moving in on the city and weren't just trying to box you in?" Cain asked taking a more cautious approach.
"If they were trying to box me in, they were facing the wrong way. Even Orks aren't that stupid."
A few officers hummed and pondered the implications of Garrick's words and most simply resigned to the fact that this meant the orks were just going to be yet another obstacle for us. We came prepared to meet them but we had hoped to have more time and a lot more tanks to do it with. Cain, however, was the only one to pick up on a more subtle implication. I saw him scratching his chin, his mind working in that mysterious way that could pick out the smallest clues and piece them together. "Lord-General, do we have any ships in scanning range of our surrounding area," he asked.
"No, without being able to take position over the contested space our ships are too far to make such a scan," he replied.
"Actually, I can order my frigate to make a low-orbit pass using a Thunderhawk. It should be fast enough to get a quick sweep of the area before the Tau are able to respond in force," Garrick offered. Cain agreed to the recommendation and the two headed off to the vox operator to make the necessary arrangements. It would take slightly over an hour to finish so I used the opportunity to get something to drink. During the interim while we waited for news on Garrick's Thunderhawk, Cain took me aside to discuss a private matter on a subject that I had been meaning to talk to him about.
"It's about Kael," Cain said once we stepped outside the briefing room.
"You don't trust him either, do you?" I interjected after I gathered the clues to his intent from his tone and the subject matter. He nodded in agreement.
"Something doesn't seem right about him," he explained. "Did anything about his behaviour strike you as out of place?"
"He says he hates violence but he's too good and far too familiar with it. He hides behind a clown face but that could just be an unrelated personality quirk. Still, he's hiding something from us but I don't think it's a matter of loyalty. There were plenty of opportunities for him to disappear or ditch us when we were on patrol but he stayed with us throughout it…and he nailed a lot of orks that would have hacked somebody apart. I don't know what it is but it seems odd that he would be so avoidant to it. You're good at reading people – what do you think?"
"I have my suspicions but I think it's best to keep them to myself for now. He's definitely good at reading people too so I don't want you to inadvertently tip him off. For now, just keep a close eye on him. It might be nothing but it might also be everything and I don't want to be caught off-guard at a critical moment."
"Maybe…you should keep an eye on him. I mean, you are better at judging people and since you apparently know what to look for…"
"No," he cut me off. "It'll be better if you do it. If he's hiding something, he'll be on his guard around me. Plus, I doubt he'd last very long around Jurgen's aroma judging by his previous reaction."
"Heh, good point," I said with a slight chuckle. "Well, you can count on me, sir. I'll let you know if I see anything suspicious."
Our conversation was cut short as we were summoned back to the briefing room with the news that Garrick's ship was almost in position. While I had my suspicions as to what Cain had in store for us, I was more curious as to why and to what end. Since I didn't want to ruin Cain's opportunity to upstage the officers with another display of his genius, I merely waited in eager silence. The hololithic map of the surrounding region was still present over the table but I imagined that was going to change soon enough.
"Is everything ready?" Cain asked upon our arrival.
"The data should be coming in momentarily," replied Garrick. "The Thunderhawk will be making a low-orbital pass over the region and will do a scanning sweep of the area. It'll only paint a single image of the area since the Tau are already en route to chase it off. It took a lot to convince the pilot not to engage."
"What good does a single sweep do us? We won't be able to track the enemy's movement and at such a high orbit we won't get enough detail for an accurate count," an officer questioned, which Cain had anticipated. He merely instructed the officer to have faith and patience. A few minutes later, the map began to flicker with new life as red blotches began to appear through the entire forest. Given the ork's general lack of technology, the easiest way to detect their numbers was via a thermal sweep. The resolution was crap but it gave an idea of how much of the jungle they had spread across. What was most interesting about the scan, and what I suspect Cain had anticipated, was that the sea of red extended all the way from our walls to that of the planetary capital.
"The orks," Cain began just in case some of us were too dim to put the pieces together, "are pressing on the Tau-controlled city as well. This would explain why none of our patrols encountered any sign of the Tau forces that threatened us earlier and it is likely why they were so willing to pull out of the battle despite having almost secured victory. Even divided, the orks have enough numbers to seriously threaten our positions."
"Well that's good then," said the same doubtful officer from before. "The Tau and the Orks will weaken themselves in their fight. All we need to do is mop up the surviving faction when it's over."
"Assuming we live long enough to do that," I stepped in since I could tell what Cain was leading to. "Even then, it'll be ugly. If the Tau win, it means they've got a lot of firepower on their side and will likely still have enough to roll us over in our weakened state. They have the advantage of range and a jungle that's laden with Kroot and traps. If the Orks somehow win, I'd hate to imagine what they could do with all the weapons they loot from the Tau and PDF forces."
"Orks using Tau weapons? That's a preposterous idea," said our nay-sayer once again.
"I've seen ork looters restore and operate a baneblade in only a few hours," Major Currae interjected. "We need highly trained crews to do that…they're able to do it without even cracking open the owner's manual, much less reading it. Personally, I'd rather not wait to see the kind of damage a thousand orks armed with Tau plasma rifles and railguns could do. I suspect the commissars would rather avoid that situation." Cain and I nodded in unison. If the Orks had looted a bunch of Imperial plasma weapons I would be less concerned since Orks don't keep very good care of their weapons and poorly kept plasma weapons tend to explode. Tau guns apparently don't suffer from that problem
Lord-General Zyvan, who had remained silent during the whole debate, finally raised a hand to silence the bickering officers. He looked to be deep in thought and mulling over unpleasant thoughts. Finally he spoke, "I would like all the officers to leave for a moment. I would like to speak with just the commissars." While the younger officers looked a bit surprised, the veterans went without hesitation. It wasn't uncommon for a command officer to dismiss all but the commissars. We provided a safe means to bounce ideas that might be unsavory for the officers to hear even mentioned. It added more weight to my previous suspicions and it showed how attuned he and Cain were in terms of tactical analysis. Garrick didn't budge an inch, which was no surprise since you couldn't order an Astartes to do anything he didn't want to already. Once all the officers were gone, Zyvan let out a long sigh while keeping his eyes transfixed on the map. "You really think this is the best course of action Cain?" he asked after a long silence.
"It's not the one I like but I think it might be the only one that'll achieve us victory," Cain reassured him.
"What are you implying exactly?" Stimpsen butted in since he was too oblivious to have any idea what was being debated.
"He wants to propose a temporary alliance with the Tau," Wren explained with a hint of irritation in his voice. "What you're suggesting, Lord-General, is not only potentially blasphemous but borderline treasonous. These are xenos and it is our duty to purge them from this world, not work with them."
"I'm not suggesting we start swapping spit with them Commissar Wren," Zyvan snapped back since he didn't take too kindly to having his loyalty questioned. "However, the only chance we might have of being able to push them off this world is by joining up with them so we can push the orks off first. Once we've dealt with the orks we can go back to killing each other."
"And how receptive do you think the Tau will be?" asked the Kastaforian commissar. He sounded undecided at the moment so at least he was considering the idea. "If we go asking them for help it could reveal just how weak our forces are."
"The Tau left the battle yesterday because they needed to defend the planetary capital from the orks. It is likely that the Tau forces are just as hard-pressed as we are, especially considering the casualties we inflicted on them," Cain explained politely as to maintain the commissar's favour. "From the looks of the map, the orks are more focused on the Tau than us, so I suspect they will be more than eager to lose us as an enemy, even for a short while. Coordinating an offensive against the Orks will make things easier for both of us and if we do hold back a little and let the Tau handle the bulk of the offensive then all the more to us."
"Also, there's a good chance that the orks could overrun both our positions," I threw in for support. "At least with the Tau, if we fail then another fleet can come in and finish the job. With the orks…well, this place will be a sea of green in more ways than one by the time another battlefleet arrived."
"And if that happens, I will have to send a recommendation to my captain for an Exterminatus – this world is too close to Imperial space to be an ork breeding ground," Garrick added. It was an unnecessary point to add but a valid one. Nonetheless, the Kastaforian commissar was on board with the idea, which meant the Lord-General had the support of the majority of the commissars, which provided a safety net should Wren and Stimpsen send their complaints higher up the chain of command.
"Still, even presuming we can trust the bluies long enough to not shoot us in the back the second we turn our back, which I don't, how can we even be certain that they will believe us?" Wren asked in another attempt to punch holes through the idea. All eyes focused on the Lord-General for a moment, before his eyes turned to Cain (who looked as though he was expecting it).
"They know who I am so it would be safe to assume that they probably know what happened on Gravalax. If that's the case then we might be able to use that to get them to listen," Cain explained, one hand stroking his chin in thought.
"I think you're over-estimating the extent of your reputation," Wren muttered though it was quite audible.
"Right now what we need is that reputation," I said jumping to Cain's defense. "He hasn't had much contact with the Tau but what little he has will work in our favour. Hopefully, when the Tau commander heard of his presence, he went to find what information he could about Cain and turned up the incident at Gravalax. That might be enough to get them to sit down and listen for a minute and from there all we'll need to do is convince them that this is best for their so-called 'Greater Good.'"
"You make that last part sound so simple," Wren scoffed. He folded his arms across his chest in resignation. He must have realized at that point there was little use in arguing with the rest of us. Cain had thought his plan out very thoroughly and I trusted he knew what he was doing. Nonetheless, Wren's comment was actually a valid point – convincing the Tau they needed us wasn't going to be easy. In fact, it was a lot harder than any of us had imagined.
Making contact with the Tau was to be the easiest step in the whole process. With both armies utilizing the old PDF installations as bases of operation, there still existed the old communication lines between the major outposts. Our ground forces all operated on vox casters we brought along but apparently the major outposts had underground wires to create a reliable network that wouldn't be disrupted by most conventional jammers. Originally we had concerns about it being potentially used by our spy to send information to the enemy. Currae insisted that the system was kept under tight surveillance by a security team but that did little to allay our fears.
General Zyvan invited the senior officers back in to inform them of his decision, which stirred up the expected amount of confusion and indignation. Once explained, though, they began to warm up to the idea. Thankfully, officers were easier to convince since they had to listen to us and most were willing to toe the lines of religious dogma in order to complete the mission. The Catachans were the most reluctant to play along since they had been fighting against the Tau the hardest so it was understandably difficult for them to start thinking of the Tau as potential allies. They responded to the notion of fighting against the Tau and orks with the usual heroic rhetoric and chest-pounding you'd expect from men who ate shrapnel and crapped bullets every day. To absolutely no one's surprise, Cain was volunteered to be the one to make contact with the Tau since his name would be the most likely to elicit a response. Once Major Currae got the landline vox online, the room fell into silence with Cain standing calmly over the receiver.
"So how do you think I should start? A 'hello, how are you today?' or maybe just straight to the point?" Cain asked jokingly, rousing chuckles from most of the officers. After a moment Cain motioned for everybody to settle down and he tapped on the 'transmit' rune. He took a deep, calming breath before speaking, "This is Commissar Ciaphas Cain speaking on behalf of His Divine Majesty's Imperial Guard. I request to immediately speak with the Tau military commander Shas'O Tau Lar'shi." He paused for a moment in hopes of a hasty response but all he got was a long, dull hum of dead air. While it was entirely possible that there was simply nobody on the other end of the line to receive, the chances that the enemy wasn't monitoring the channels seemed highly unlikely. It was more probable that they simply didn't believe that we would transmit anything other than pronouncements regarding their impending death or that the Hero of the Imperium was suddenly calling for a brief chin-wag about the weather. Undeterred, Cain tried his hand again but making more use of his uncanny gift with words. "Listen, I can understand if you're a little too busy to show the simple courtesy of answering. You've probably got a couple hundred orks trying to climb over your walls right now and that would take up the bulk of anybody's attention. By the way, I hope you have that western approach well reinforced because it does look like there's a lot of greenskins amassing there. Now we understand if you'd rather just focus on staying alive but it would probably serve the Greater Good if the ork threat were dealt with in a swift fashion before it got out of hand. We stand a better chance of accomplishing that task if we cooperate but I'm going to need a sign that I'm not just talking to myself here." Again, he paused and waited for some kind of response and was again met by dead air. I began to wonder if perhaps the Tau really were too busy fighting off the orks to listen. "Well, maybe you're just too busy dying to care. That's perfectly okay with us. In fact, it would serve our Greater Good if you did die and in rather large quantities but the way I see it, the path I'm proposing will solve both our problems with fewer casualties. You're probably reluctant to believe that I would give a damn about the lives of any of your soldiers and I so you should…but you know who I am and you know the weight my words carry. This is a one-time offer so when I hit this 'off' rune in ten seconds this offer and I are gone." Cain started counting down and his finger hovered over the deactivation rune as though he were in some dramatic holo-vid.
If he were in a holo-vid, the response would have come at the last second just before Cain hit the rune. In the far less dramatic fashion of the real world, a response came before Cain had counted to five. "I am here Commissar Ciaphas Cain," a voice replied with a firm tone, yet mixed with an eloquence that felt wholly alien to my ears. Even through the machine's distortion and static I recognized it as the voice belonging to the Tau pilot that killed Waffans (unless they all sounded the same, which at the time I didn't know if it were true or not).
"This is Shas'O Tau Lar'shi?" Cain asked to confirm.
"That is correct," Lar'shi replied. "Your bargaining position is highly dubious Commissar. You speak of Tau'va but I doubt you know its true meaning. But for whose sake do you extend this offering of peace? Yours? Your general's? Your Emperor's?"
Cain fell silent for a moment. Clearly Lar'shi was testing the sincerity of our intentions and was rightly suspicious of it. Diplomacy is great when it keeps me out of the line of fire but it's a difficult tool to use when both sides suspect the other will betray them at any moment. Cain had to convince the Tau commander that we wanted this for the right reason – something that would coincide with their Greater Good. Cain was clearly mincing his words very careful as the outcome of the war hinged on them.
"For the sake of the citizens of this world," Cain finally answered. Life imitated the holo-vids as we were left in utter silence as we waited for a response.
After what felt like an eternity of holding our breath, an answer came. "There is a staging area in sector 5-1 by 8-2. You will go there Commissar and you will bring your general."
"Do you really believe we're gullible enough to just walk into a meeting area where you could already have a dozen snipers and tanks ready?" Cain remarked.
"You may come in one of your transports with as many soldiers that will fit into it. I promise that weshall do the same. The meeting will be in six hours. Now if you will excuse me, I have some…greenskins to kill."
With that, the line went dead. Concerned glances were exchanged amongst the officers as well as murmurs of distrust of the xeno's words. I didn't trust the Tau either but it was difficult to fault them for their reasoning since they likely thought the same of us. We could not dismiss the possibility that we would be greeted by the business end of a hammerhead's railgun but were we so inclined we could have a Vanquisher battle tank waiting for the Tau. The Lord-General quickly found the location on our hololithic map and magnified the view.
"It's big and open," Cain said to point out the obvious. "It's right off the highway through so we'll be able to see somebody approaching or whoever might be waiting for us."
The staging area designated as the meeting point consisted primarily of a large open rockrete courtyard with a few buildings along the perimeter but a clear view of the passing highway. As Cain said, nobody would be able to make an approach with a vehicle and not be seen from a safe distance. It seemed as though the Tau had taken our distrust into consideration – which was awfully nice of them. It allayed some of our fears but it didn't erase the possibility of an ambush. However, with orks and xenos on both sides it would be impossible to avoid some risk so the decision was, as always, up to the Lord-General.
"If this is the only way to get the Tau to play along then I will go," Zyvan said firmly with a strange hint of a smile at the corner of his lip. I think a part of him liked the idea of leading from the front for a change. As a Lord General he spent most campaigns at the very back behind layers of defenses. This outing would mark the first time he's been at the very front-end of our forces in many years.
"I will accompany you as well," Garrick interrupted. "If allying with Tau will ensure this planet will be returned to Imperial hands then I shall stand with you."
"Going to be a tight fit in the chimera with you," the Lord-General commented though he was smiling in appreciation of the extra muscle. "But they said we can bring as much as we can fit. If Cain stays in the turret and his aide drives, we should be able to fit the myself, the Astartes, and about seven or eight guards into a chimera. That should be more than enough," Zyvan said confidently as he rose from the table. "Commissar Cain, I leave the organization of the security detail to you. The rest of you are dismissed. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to my aide to see about getting my armour dusted off – hopefully it still fits."
While the Tau had insisted that only one transport be used to bring the Lord-General and his honour guard to the meet site, there had been no stipulation that additional transports could not be used to escort the Lord-General's vehicle along the highway. Since we didn't want to push our luck with our liberal interpretation of the Tau's instructions, the Lord-General instructed us to hold back a safe distance once we were in view of the meet site. It was close enough so the Tau would know that reinforcements were available but not close enough to pose an immediate threat. I was given the task of leading the escort team, which consisted of Watz, Kael, and I in the centaur, a squad of sentinels, a Leman Russ tank, and a chimera full of stormtroopers. Despite my misgivings about Kael, I did not want to leave him out of my sight.
"We've just arrived at the rendezvous point," Cain's voice buzzed through my comm-bead. "There's no sign of the Tau yet or anybody else for that matter. Do you see anything from your position Commissar Abel?"
The centaur's lower profile compared to the other escort vehicles made it the most difficult to see from a distance. With that in mind, I kept the centaur a short distance ahead of the others to keep on look-out. Since I was still sweeping the horizon I did not answer right away until my amplivisor settled on a cluster of movement in the distance. The dull yellow hull plating of Tau hovertanks were hard to miss even from a distance even from a brief glance it appeared that the Tau were using similar interpretations of our agreement.
"I've spotted a convoy of Tau armour moving towards the meet site," I reported. "I count two hammerheads, a skyray, three devil fish transports, and three battlesuits. Maybe you guys should consider pulling back."
"Negative Commissar Abel," Zyvan answered instead. "The Tau chose this place because it's easy to see any incoming forces so they wouldn't be trying something so obvious. If they keep advancing as a whole let us know, otherwise we keep to the plan." The Lord-General's instincts were correct. Not long after his reply, the Tau convoy came to a halt, save for a single devil fish that continued on its way towards the rendezvous point. I passed on the information and continued to monitor the rest of the Tau convoy.
Beside me, Kael was following suit, using his rifle's scope to watch the Tau's movement. He chuckled slightly and commented, "I think they've spotted us. There's a Tau looking at us with some device. Wait, correction: he has spotted us. And…he's waving to us too." Even with the bend in the highway and its retaining walls, I had little doubt that we would be spotted quickly but a part of me had hoped it would have lasted a little longer.
"Might as well be polite and wave back then," I instructed with a smirk. It seemed some of the Tau had a sense of humour as well…they were giving us the xeno-equivalent of the one-fingered salute. I monitored the vox chatter to keep appraised of the situation down below, which appeared to be going smoothly. For a pleasant change, it wasn't pouring rain outside though the looming clouds threatened the possibility. "So Kael, how long were you in the PDF?" I asked out of pure boredom. I didn't completely trust him but that didn't mean I couldn't have a simple conversation with him. It had the added benefit of getting a better feel of what kind of person he was, which could make it easier to figure out what he was hiding.
"About seven standard years plus a few extra as a reservist but I never got called up," he answered without taking his eye away from his scope. "I bet you're wondering how somebody who seems to hate being a soldier is so darn good at shooting people, right?"
"Uh…the thought had crossed my mind," I lied. I was a little unnerved at how quickly he saw through me and the brief glance he shot at me suggested that he saw through the lie even faster. The man was as perceptive as Cain had cautioned me, which was already making me regret bringing the topic up.
"It's a long story but I'll make you a promise," Kael said, apparently indulging my curiosity. "If we make it through this alive, I'll tell you whole thing."
"Deal. But you better not go run off and die on me now."
"Wouldn't dream of it ma'am. For starters, I happen to like living a great deal and…wait a minute, the Tau vehicles are on the move. They look like they're in a hurry."
Before I got a chance to ask Kael to clarify, panicked shouts started ringing over the vox network. Distinct amongst the voices was Cain's, shouting for people to get down or take cover. I cursed angrily under my breath as I signaled to the vehicles behind me to get ready to double-time it. "Cain, the Tau convoy is heading towards you!"
"Good," he replied, his tone filled with adrenaline.
"Good? Cain, they'll get there before us."
"As long as somebody gets here soon. We're under heavy fire and they've already taken out the devil fish."
"Wait, the Tau aren't shooting at you?"
"No! It's the Adumbrians and they're shooting at everybody!"