The vox link fizzed and crackled with static and laughter, screeching into every initiates ear. Two of the Initiates shared a glance, blue flashes illuminating their sombre features. Scaran, with his wounded face and Gelus, the squads only flamer, moved forward through the earth works. Their vermillion body gloves and black carapace armour were heavy with mud and gore, the scouts shotguns made short work of chewing the Tau's strange plastech armour to shreds. The battle upon the surface of Presea was quickly becoming stagnant and something needed to be done to spark a fire beneath the rear quarters of the Guard general. The 130th Athenian Rifles were being bogged down by Tau artillery fire and men were being slaughtered like fish in a barrel as the alien weapons gouged into the trench lines. The Tau had given no warning to their vicious assault, bombarding Presea's capital from orbit to eliminate the PDF stationed there. Then the cursed xeno's descended upon the vast ash plains south of the Mechanicum forge, engaged the Adeptus forces and began to blast holes all over the ragged defence lines, searching for something.
Lasfire streaked overhead or pummelled into the trench tops, fusing the ground, the exchange between the Imperial forces and the Tau was a brutal one. The laughter had been chopping through their vox contact for several minutes now and it was beaded from Sergeant Tiberius. The initiates had only been with the Chapter for two decades but it was obvious to all why Tiberius was in charge of the forward scout elements, he was insane. One of the older brothers had told them one day aboard the Dominator that the Sergeant was the lone survivor from a squad that was ambushed on a routine scouting patrol of a chapter recruiting world. To this day, he hasn't spoken of what occurred to any of his brothers and the Chapter masters were satisfied with whatever explanation he had given them.
Their vow of silence was not to be broken, even this far out away from the Dominator's ever watching Chaplaincy. Scaran switched his vox off and hefted his shotgun, pumping a round into the wide chamber. He swung into the next concrete foxhole that had been sunk and built into the trench wall, he saw a slight flicker in the dark and squeezed the trigger. His massive gun barked into the fox hole, the flash of muzzle flare illuminating the Pathfinder as it sprayed across the wall. The noise rang out in echoes, alerting the scouts that this fox hole ran deeper than first thought. Scaran signalled for Gelus to move up and he pressed his bulk against the side of the tunnel. Gelus squeezed past, both scouts had barely enough room to move, these tunnels were made for mortal men. Gelus hefted his promethium thrower, the nozzle dripping the thick black liquid onto the mud beneath his feet, he flicked the dial on the main body of the gun and the tip of the weapon flared into life, the igniters tip a blue glare in the pale light offered by the lumen strips along the walls.
This had been the Imperials front line, a maze of trenches and gun nests. The tau had forced the Imperial guard back several hundred meters with sustained bombardment and now the xeno's were looking for something. Their scouting elements crawled through the Imperial fortifications, under sustained shelling from the new Guard lines. The Knights Vermillion would never have intervened in the war, foot slogging and trench warfare unsuited to the strike forces of the Vermillion crusade. Yet, a vox communiqué one of the cogitators had intercepted highlighted that the xeno's were blasting into the ground directly beneath the Imperial shrine set into the trench line, they were mining for something.
Scaran checked his auspex unit and gestured for Gelus to continue on, they were to locate the Tau Fire-warriors and eliminate the head of this alien sortie.
It had been rumoured that once this operation had been executed, they would receive their Swords, if that were truth and not spectacle, then they would become full fledged brothers of the Crusade. The tunnel before them sloped down towards the shrine room where the Guard companies preacher would bless the men before battle or offer up prayer to the Emperor. Scaran's auspex chimed into the gloom, the scouts gloved fingers punched at the rune keys and displayed several life signs detected up ahead. He grabbed Gelus curved shoulder guard and showed him the display, their faces cast in the green glow.
The second scout nodded and crouched even lower into the tunnel, he eased along the mud and flak-board wall until he came upon the entrance to the shrine room.
Scarans auspex indicated that four Tau were within, one guarding the door as the others milled around a hole in the earthen floor. Gelus dropped to his knees and swung his flamer into the doorway, his finger tugged on the firing trigger and the nozzle sucked at the air. Then like the breath of some great dragon, the blazing flame spewed from the flamer, dousing the room in liquid fire. He scrunched his eyes closed at the heat blast then squeezed the trigger again, sending another roiling cloud of hot death into the shrine room. The holy relics within would be cleansed of the Aliens filth by the holy flame, or so he assumed. Scaran ducked into the room and unloaded his shotgun onto the one solitary figure stumbling around the shrine. The Tau's helmet had fused into place from the heat and the creature was attempting to remove it when the gun blast tore his lightly armoured form to pieces.
Gelus entered into the shrine room behind Scaran and lifted one of the burning corpses with his foot, melting plastech armour sticking to the fabric of his boot. He noted the Fire caste symbol upon the charred armour and shoved it away with a kick. He tapped his vox link, sending an affirmative in code to the Sergeant. They had secured the tunnel entrance. Scaran was knelt by the wide hole in the floor, the mud had been made smooth almost like glass by something of extreme heat.
++ I've got a lock on your position, stay there and we shall be with you in a moment, child. ++
The snarl of Tiberius voice crackled over Gelus vox unit. He signalled to Scaran everything was on the positive and took up a defensive position by the door, covering the tunnel with the bright glare from his flamer unit, the igniters blazing angrily at the nozzle, hungry for more promethium.
At the other end of the tunnel, the giant Astartes thudded back into the trench, crushing the flak board planks lining the mud. He spun his combat shield round and took a blue bolt upon its scarred face, the energy flaring his heat sensors. He swung his body round the shield and squeezed the trigger on his Bolter, sending one of the rocket projectiles screaming through the air towards his attacker. The bolt struck with impossible accuracy and blew the Tau to ragged chunks, its torn corpse dripping down the trench wall. Three scouts dropped down behind him, all slamming new rounds into the chambers of their shotguns.
Tiberius had created a distraction so his chosen 'sons' could root out the target entrance. His 'distraction' had been finding the position the enemies transport ship was grounded at and assault it head on.
The Tau's superior marksmanship had counted for nothing when Tiberius came sprinting towards them, snarling with the Emperors name upon his lips, his shield held to the fore. His scouts had flanked the devil-fish, bringing their high calibre fire to bare upon the Tau's undefended rear. It was a massacre.
The Tau had managed to send off a distress call before the last Pathfinder fell and Tiberius had seen another two transports speeding across the ash wastes through the storm, unmistakeable forms of battle suits jumping and streaking between them. He'd stirred up the hornets' nest.
He came to the tunnel entrance, knowing the Tau would reach the smoking wreck of the devil-fish in moments. He tapped his gauntleted fingertip to his vox unit and sent a message direct to the Guard command.
++ You may start the charge, General. You have Tau incoming. ++
The veteran sergeant ushered his scouts into the tunnel before him, patting each one upon a curved shoulder plate. He viewed these silent killers as his children, remembering back to his own time of the Silent Vow. He took one last look around the trench, his port cullis visor an unreadable mask of iron that hid the smile beneath. Then he ducked into the tunnel, his shield tilted to compensate for the width of the fox hole. He cursed under his breath, snarling and hauling his bulk forward, barging his way down the tunnel behind his scouts, mud and rocks showering him from above as he strained the tunnel supports.
Upon reaching the shrine room he was near crawling, the scouts formed a circle around the mined tunnel in the floor and he shifted his form forward, gripped the edge of the tunnel and swung his massive form down the hole.
His feet crunched down onto the surface below after his plummet through the darkness, the unmistakeable sound of ceramite striking metal ringing out in the darkness. Confusion flashed through his mind before he dropped to one knee and brought his Bolter up to scan the darkness before him, his helmet automatically switching to night vision. He picked out the green outlines in the static black and grey, it appeared he was in a corridor of some sort.
He stood up and swept forward, hearing his scouts rappelling down the tunnel behind him, his heavy shod feet thundering across the metal grilling beneath him. It took him several moments to register the naval insignia before him stamped upon an overhanging support beam, he was aboard a ship and more importantly, in the middle of a cross way. Tiberius jabbed his vox and growled an order to his squad.
++ Spread pattern Omega, by twos. I want these fiends found quickly and neutralised. Leave the leader alive for me. ++
He jabbed Scaran in the chest and signed that he was to follow Tiberius. The rest of them spread out and headed through the ship, their vox units on constant link to Tiberius. The veteran sergeant flicked his eyes to the bottom left corner of his visor and dragged them back to the centre, the squads vital signs superimposing themselves over his night vision. He took the right passage, Scaran following behind with his auspex unit held out in front of him.
Tiberius tracked the darkness ahead of him with his huge weapon, the servo's in his heavy armour whirring and clicking with each sweep of his arm.
His shield came before him, the symbol of the Knights Vermillion facing the pitch before them, the armoured fist clutching the broken sword.
A small blip of static appeared in the dark of his visor and he swung his shield up. The rail round slammed into his shield, kicking a dent into its thick plating that almost pierced the other side. Scaran dived sideways into a dirt filled doorway, pressing into the frame. He slung his auspex and pumped a round down the hallway, the blast of his shotgun deafening. Tiberius followed his scouts shot with two rounds from his bolter, a double squeeze sent the rockets screaming down the hallway to explode at the far end. His night vision flared, corona's of light glared into his eyesight for a second before his sight corrected the hindrance. He could see the crumpled form of the Tau in the distance and he began to stomp towards it, Scaran pressed to his right flank, his shield held to the left.
There was two confirmed kills, the shotgun blast had peppered the first Tau, the bolts had blown the second to steaming chunks. He could hear the sound of their hoof like boots upon the metal grating beyond and spotted a sharp turn in the hallway. He slung his Bolter, the gun clacking against his mail robe, his hand instead went to the grenade dispenser upon his belt. He thumbed a frag round into his palm and jabbed the detonator and hurled it towards the doorway. It bounced off the frame and into the next hallway, he heard an synthesised alien voice shriek and then the crump of the grenade exploding.
He was on the move again, rounding into the hallway and sprinting forward, Scaran at his heels. His hand found his vox unit before he snatched up his bolter once more.
++ To me my children, I have found the enemy, converge on my position and follow the corpses! ++
The grenade had claimed two more Fire warriors, a third lay against the bulkhead, vomiting blood from his shattered helmet. Tiberius stamped upon his brethren and continued on down the hallway, the massive warrior oblivious to the creature.
The second one however, was not. Scaran took two steps to stand in front of the Tau, his hate filled eyes staring down.
The xenos raised its head, one of its three fingers hands coming up in front of it in a feeble attempt to stay the Astartes wrath. The alien could see the terrifying glint in the human-creatures eyes, the eagerness it barely held in check with the prospect of killing the Tau. Such barbarism, such racist hatred etched across its blood stained features. The thing that drew the fear from the Tau however was the mouth, the open sneer and the two long fangs that gleamed in the Tau's helmet viewer. These truly were beasts that the Imperium unleashed upon them.
Scaran raised the shotgun slowly, pumping a fresh round into the firing chamber. He shoved the stock in the crook of his shoulder and raised the gun in a diagonal line from his chest to the aliens face. He grinned and allowed the creature to revel in its death before his index finger tugged the trigger. The back splash of gore from the aliens brutal death hit him, watery blue blood touching his lips. The taste of it awoke something inside, something that burned at the pit of his stomach, turning his throat to fire. That something was a hunger. He grimaced, spat onto the decking, the acid spittle fizzling away at the metal.
Then he was off, sprinting down the hallway after Tiberius.