0010

The Tau that came to greet us turned out to be not one of those heavily armored and protected by a battlesuit, but an envoy who was dressed simply in long, blue robes that were marked with the red that covered his warlike brethren. From the data I received regarding the advanced xenos, I gathered that he was a diplomat belonging to the water caste.

"I am El'Hassai," the Tau introduced himself, bowing his head slightly. "We have come to offer you help as well as request a little favor."

"Why should we trust you?" Colonel Ikeda demanded, having exited the safety of his mighty The Emperor's Wrath for a more diplomatic role. The commanding officer of the Imperial Guard armor regiment couldn't hide inside his Doomhammer if he wanted any part of the negotiations. "I find it hard to believe that you'll rather side with us than your own kind."

I felt relieved that Colonel Ikeda didn't say "filthy kind" or "stinking xenos". It would have been a disaster if we opened up supposedly diplomatic negotiations in such a hostile manner. The Tau were probably as eager to shoot us as we were, and I didn't want to give them any excessive reasons to. Fortunately, for all his hatred and simmering resentment, Colonel Ikeda was able to show some restraint.

Beside him was Magos Sigmar, who represented the Adeptus Mechanicus. The cogboy was probably the sole person in the Mechanicus army that could actually think for himself, if I were to be honest. The rest were mindless drones made up from the Skitarii or giant robots. Well, the datasmiths could fill in for the tech-priest, but they were too obsessed with taking care of their Kastelan robots that they couldn't be bothered. The next best person would be the Vanguard Alpha that was leading the Skitarii. Unfortunately, despite being allowed a mind and personality of his own (for him to make optimal decisions in the battlefield), he would most likely be hijacked by one of the tech-priests in the ships above and controlled by Archmagos Styrimidon directly. That would be an affront to the Tech-priest Dominus on the ground, Magos Sigmar, so the Archmagos wisely left the matters here to him.

Representing House Yato was little, young me. I had clambered out of the relative comfort of my machine and was now standing in the barren desert with nothing to protect me from the elements except my simple Draconis Imperial Guard uniform. Neither Yamada nor Suzuki seemed inclined to talk to the xenos, so they left that troublesome matter to me, the ranking officer in our Knightly house. Oh well.

"You don't have to, but I feel that cooperation here would lead to mutual benefits," El'Hassai replied, not at all put off by Ikeda's tone. "We can part ways affably after driving out the Shadowsun expeditionary force."

My eyes went up at the mention of that name.

"Shadowsun?"

"Yes." El'Hassai nodded gravely, displaying his flair for the dramatics. Well, diplomats often had to act and perform exaggeratedly to bring their point across, something that we military folks excelled better in with blunt, sharp orders and sometimes a gun to the face. Having a weapon pointed at someone could really bring out his or her utmost obedience, better than any long-winded speeches or honeyed words. "I suppose an explanation is in order."

"The Farsight Enclaves," Sigmar blurted out. Both Ikeda and I glanced at him in surprise, but El'Hassai affirmed it with a smile and a nod.

"Yes. We are from the Farsight Enclaves, loyal to Commander Farsight and a separate faction has broken away from the main Tau Empire to pursue our own vision of the Greater Good. However, there are some in the Tau Empire who see Commander Farsight as a traitor, and wish to see us eradicated."

I can't say I blame the Ethereals who must be directing those orders. The Imperium also wanted to see all xenos eradicated, after all. Tactfully avoiding the mention of that, I continued to ask.

"So...they send this Commander Shadowsun to invade you guys?"

"Yes. Regrettably so. We always knew this day would come, but...it has come sooner than we expected. We were not prepared for this invasion. Commander Farsight and his XV8 Crisis teams have been exhausted and tied up with defending the sector from a tendril of Hive Fleet Kraken, and they are unable to reinforce us in time. Shadowsun has struck us at the most inopportune time."

"I see why they need our help," Ikeda remarked, rubbing his chin and suppressing a gleeful smile. "I don't see why not. The Tau Empire poses a greater threat to the Imperium of Man right now. I say we help these Farsight Enclaves out and give those damned blue-skinned xenos a bloody nose while at it."

"I concur. It appears that this is the most prudent course of action to take."

Sigmar was nodding in approval, his barely human head hidden under an expressionless robotic mask.

As for me, I couldn't help but grin.

"Yeah, I want to kick this Shadowsun's ass, Emperor willing. I know that name. She's the damned xenos commander that Patriarch Tybalt of House Terryn swore vengeance on after the defeat on Agrellan."

"Agrellan..." El'Hassai frowned as he contemplated the name for a moment before his eyes lit up in recognition. "Ah, yes. I remember now. I am sorry about the loss of your world. You must understand that we of the Farsight Enclaves took no part in that war."

"Of course not. That Shadowsun bitch did. Her stupid emissaries pissed of Patriarch Tybalt so much he sent a whole detachment of Knights to destroy her forces. Well, he failed, but I guess we have the chance to help him reclaim his honor now."

"Ah, yes. We greatly appreciate that." El'Hassai tilted his head apprehensively. "But you must understand that Commander Shadowsun herself is absent from this expeditionary force. She probably has remained in the main force that is still executing the third sphere expansion."

I groaned in disappointment. That meant we didn't get to gloat over Tybalt about defeating an enemy he couldn't. Oh well, we had to make do with securing victory over the present forces.

"By the way, Baron..."

I realized that El'Hassai was referring to me. I quickly solved the misunderstanding.

"Oh, I'm not a Baron. Actually, the Knightly houses of Draconis III use a different ranking system from most Knightly houses. Our equivalent of a Baron is Daimyo. We still have Forge Master and Master of Tactician, but most of the high-ranking Knights are called Daimyo. Above them all is the Shogun, the generalissimo who is basically our equivalent of a High King or Princeps."

"Um, so..."

"I'm Captain Tanaka Taihei. This is Colonel Ikeda Itsuki of the Draconis Imperial Guard Armor Regiment, 74th Battalion, and that is Magos Sigmar, Tech-priest Dominus of the Skitarri legion and Legio Cybernetica."

I didn't know what number or division Sigmar's Skitarri legion and cybernetica forces were - the Mechanicus always used complicated symbols and numbers like Sigma 74 or something. Or was it Epsilon 21? Whatever.

El'Hassai nodded as he cocked his head, still confused. "Um, so Captain Tanaka, was it? Are you the one in charge. Or is it Colonel Ikeda?"

Ikeda and I exchanged glances while Sigmar remained staring at the Tau envoy, his eyes not visible through those uncanny goggles.

"All of us are in charge. Um, don't mind my rank. It's just an honorary rank given to Knights so that we can integrate better with the Draconis Imperial Guard armor regiments. I'm sure Magos Sigmar will leave the decisions to us unless he has objections."

"I have no objections."

"Yeah."

"Good. Well, do you remember the favor I mentioned earlier?"

Now that El'Hassai talked about it, I did indeed remember. I almost thought the request was for us to drive Shadowsun's expeditionary forces out of the Farsight Enclaves' planet, but they already said they would "help" us with it. The favor must be a different matter then.

"Yeah. What is it? No promises, though."

"I only ask that you listen. Accepting it is entirely up to you."

"Sounds good to me," Ikeda agreed and gave the go-ahead. El'Hassai smiled and proceeded.

"We actually have a plasma munitions factory further southwest."

Sigmar seemed to twitch at that, but when I looked at him he was completely immobile - the tech-priest standing as rigidly as a statue. Must be my imagination, then.

"Hah! Our plasma weapons are more destructive!"

"Yes, but your plasma weapons have the tendency to get hot and blow up in your face, so to speak."

"Only one out of six chances of that happening," I muttered. And probably one out of thirty-six chances if we had Preferred Enemy...I mean, Ikeda's Kurov's Aquila helping us manage our shooting tactically.

"Still a high chance comparatively to ours, which don't blow up at all."

Admittedly, while the Tau's plasma weaponry were weaker in strength by one grade, they could still penetrate armor as easily as ours. We did have blast templates to go with our plasma cannons, though, something the Tau lacked. Well, maybe our excessive use of firepower was the very reason why the plasma cannons tended to blow up so easily.

"What about the plasma munitions factory?" Sigmar asked, kindly directing us back to the topic at hand.

"Ah, yes. Well...you see, it has been captured by a small force of Fire Warriors, Crisis battlesuits and Stealth battlesuits. I think they also have a couple of Broadside battlesuits and two teams of Pathfinders there as well."

Ikeda made a face. "That sucks for you."

"I am assuming you want our assistance in recapturing the plasma munitions factory," Sigmar said. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

"Well, yes. If you are kind enough to do so." El'Hassai was taken aback by Sigmar's blunt manner. The poor guy wasn't used to talking to the cogboys, but he would just have to get used to it. "We would like to do so ourselves, but we are committing all our troops to repelling the main Tau expeditionary force to the northeast."

Ikeda and I looked at each other, then back at El'Hassai.

"Can't we recapture the plasma munitions factory after we crush the expeditionary force?"

"There is that, yes, but Commander O'Shovah was thinking that if we recapture the plasma munitions factory, we will be able to resupply our forces in this area. He predicts that this will be a long, drawn-out battle, even with your help, particularly if the expeditionary force chooses to retreat back into their captured fortress and turns this into a siege battle."

That was right. The Skitarii intelligence had reported a Tau military base from which the blue battlesuit army was coming from. If they all decided to retreat and hide behind those AV15 walls, this was going to turn into a long battle of attrition. Not to mention, we lacked the firepower and siege capabilities of the Ordo Reductor or the Centurio Ordinatus, having only brought a detachment of Imperial Knights on the explorator fleet. It was only because we were coming from the same world that the Draconis Imperial Guard Armor Regiment happened to be traveling with us when we both received the distress call, otherwise we wouldn't have the massive magma cannon of the Doomhammer either.

"And there's one more thing." El'Hassai smiled with the knowing triumph of a hunter that had his prey right where he wanted them. I couldn't help but shudder. "In return, we'll offer you data on the Tau plasma weaponry."

"Deal," Magos Sigmar said immediately before Ikeda or I could respond. The both of us gaped at the augmented biomechanical priest, half in annoyance and half in resignation.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I most certainly am. Gathering data on the Tau's plasma weaponry would prove instrumental in stabilizing the volatile cores of our plasma weapons and drastically reduce the chances of self-destruction and overheating."

I envied Sigmar's calm manner. Everything was so simple and clear-cut for him. As long as he received the Omnissiah's guidance, he could make decisions without hesitation. It also helped that the tech-priests such as Archmagos Styrimidon who was monitoring the Mechanicus military below approved of his decisions. They probably shared the same opinion.

"The Draconis Explorator Fleet was dispatched to take custody of a STC discovered on a world known as Asmodai, somewhere on the fringes of the Maelstrom. However, we were diverted to aid the now deceased Iron Lords Space Marines chapter on this planet, Genova Prime. Having been forced to postpone the process of claiming the STC, my lord Archmagos Styrimidon and I think it would be better to at least return to Draconis IV with valuable xenos technology rather than empty handed. This is a good trade."

"Can't argue with that," I muttered, highly aware of how desperate the tech-priests of the Mechanicus were for scraps of data and technology. We were almost on par with the tech-priests of Stygies VIII in our willingness to go through such lengths to obtain xenos technology. "So how should we split our forces?"

"I only need my battle servitors and a single maniple from Legio Cybernetica to help me. I will place the Skitarii legions under your command. Please work with Alpha Raiji 44-Stroika to crush the blue Tau army. He is a capable commander who can lead the Skitarii in my absence."

I didn't doubt that. There was a rumor that Knight candidates from the many Knightly houses in Draconis III that failed the ritual of bonding with their machines were sent to the Mechanicus to become cybernetic soldiers. Being of good imperial stock, they were often thought to be transformed into Princeps such as Rho-Mannu or Alpha Raiji 44-Stroika, their noble minds possessing extensive tactical knowledge and firm leadership.

But still...

"Will that be enough?"

"It is. I have sent a squad of Rangers to scout the factory and they spotted only a small Tau force there."

I suddenly recalled the twitch I thought I imagined when El'Hassai first mentioned the factory. Sigmar must have sent orders through noospheric data transference to a Skitarii Ranger squad. Had I been upon my Knight, I would have seen those orders on the pict-screen, but outside of my machine, a purely human pilot, I was excluded from the binaric blurts and other communication processes of the Mechanicus.

"Only 2 teams of Fire Warriors, 2 teams of Pathfinders, 2 Broadside battlesuits, 4 Crisis battlesuits and 3 Stealth battlesuits, supplemented by a single Devilfish." I could almost hear the smile in Sigmar's voice. "More than enough."

"All right, if you say so," I said, praying fervently to the Emperor that Sigmar wasn't biting off more than he could chew. I couldn't say the guy was my friend, but he was a competent commander who cooperated well enough with the human elements of the Draconis system, and to lose him meant working with a much more unsociable Tech-priest Dominus who would pester me to replace my flesh and blood with bionics and augmented limbs. That, and those Kastelan robots Sigmar was taking away were really expensive. The battle servitors, the Kataphron Destroyers, were expendable, but the robots were not.

Funny because the Kataphron Destroyers were a fused construct of lobotomized men and machine, while the Kastelan robots were completely mechanical. Then again, the Imperium viewed human lives very lowly, treating us all as expendable. My Knight was much more valuable to the Mechanicus and to House Yato than me, the pilot. Pilots could be easily replaced. The Knights...not so much. While the Mechanicus continued to churn out large numbers of Knight suits based on the STC recovered on Draconis III everyday, there were always more willing pilots than available machines.

I was one of the lucky ones...until my eventual death, that is. When that would be, I had no idea, and I didn't want to know anyhow. I just hoped they wouldn't use my skull as a servo-skull or something, but more than likely I would die in battle.

There was also the chance of surviving and retiring. Unlike the Imperial Guard, Imperial Knights had a much higher chance of surviving.

Nodding, I turned to Ikeda, who was looking at Sigmar in both amusement and disbelief. The Imperial Guard was always bemused by the mannerisms and attitudes of the Mechanicus, much more so than the Knightly houses that serve alongside them, but he had learned to live alongside their eccentricities.

"Guess it's just the two of us."

"Hah," Ikeda snorted as he glanced at The Emperor's Wrath and my now empty Ryuujin, who stood over us like a silent sentinel, its Avenger Gatling cannon pointed at the approaching blue Tau army. "We have so many super-heavies with us. It'll be a massacre."

"Until they run back to their Mighty Bulwark massive fortifications," I grumbled under my breath, already dreading the battle of attrition ahead.

The Tau Empire launched the opening salvo, firing upon us.

"Looks like they seized the initiative," I complained as I drove my Imperial Knight away from the railgun slugs the blue Hammerhead gunships fired at us.

"We'll cover you guys," a red Tau Crisis commander said through our vox channel, somehow gaining access to our communication systems. "Please take the chance to close in on the enemy."

"Sure."

The Knights were fast. As the Farsight Enclaves responded, their red Hammerhead gunship and Broadside battlesuits blasting away with long-range weaponry, the Imperial forces began breaking off and moving toward the enemy from the opposite direction. The two Tau armies traded blows, the railgun projectiles raining upon each other. The Riptide battlesuits moved up, firing relentlessly with their ion accelerators and missing half their shots. The Tau, while known for their devastating, long-range firepower, weren't exactly very accurate with their shots unless they had markerlights. They tended to miss half of their shots, what with having a Ballistic Skill of 3. Only the Hammerhead gunship pilots, the aces, were accurate, their railgun rounds slamming into the enemies' ranks two out of three times.

I shuddered as a Hammerhead's railgun round sailed over my machine, screeching as it left a ripple in the air in its wake. I recalled how the ace pilots in Agrellan hammered the poor Knights of House Terryn with their pinpoint accuracy and high strength shots. In fact, some famous pilot called Longstrike was notorious for taking down a Titan.

I was glad the enemy was concentrating their fire on the poor Farsight Enclaves instead of us.

"Is this wise?"

I glanced at one of the pict-screens that was recording the rear view of my Knight. Colonel Ikeda's The Emperor's Wrath was trailing behind me, its magma cannon already loosing destructive volleys of energy and shelling out the enemy, while being escorted by a column of Leman Russ Executioners.

"What do you mean?"

"Those blue-skinned xenos might shoot us in the back while we charge the enemy in front of the fortress."

"They have no reason to," I replied, deftly guiding my steed across the sandy terrain and kicking up a cloud of dust to obscure our approaching forces from view. "They need us...for now, at least."

"I would hate to get caught in the middle of their crossfire."

"If they wanted to shoot us, they would have done so long ago," I pointed out. "Look, they're taking the heat off us by absorbing the fire from the enemy. I don't think they'll be in any shape to shoot us in the back."

The Farsight Enclaves, consisting largely of Crisis battlesuits, were scattering all over the place. Unlike the blue Tau army, who relied heavily on Fire Warriors, Devilfish and other vehicles, the more mobile Farsight Enclaves made use of their jump jets and enhanced mobility to duck the shots. The Riptides, while not as agile as the Crisis suits, withstood the long-range fire, their shields rippling as the projectiles harmlessly struck their large, towering figures. The single Hammerhead gunship jinked and did a barrel-roll to avoid incoming railgun fire, while the cumbersome Broadsides trusted in their heavy armor to weather the blows. Here and there, a Broadside battlesuit fell, the face and front of their armor wrecked and splintered beyond saving, but the survivors grimly continued their assault.

I doubted the Farsight Enclaves had any chance to shoot us in the back, not when facing such a furious onslaught of projectiles.

Meanwhile, the Devilfish transports that ferried Fire Warriors were now speeding toward the faltering Farsight Enclaves, heedless of the incoming fire and eager to finish the red soldiers off. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the red Crisis battlesuits were making headway in their advance, jumping over bullet paths and energy blasts to close in on their enemies to unleash devastating bursts from their fusion blasters or flickering salvos of explosives from their missile pods.

"We're in range!" I shouted, once the Devilfish transports sailed across the red line that marked our range in a pict-screen. "Fire!"

"Roger that." Alpha Raiji 44-Stroika said, complying with my order. He must have sent binaric blurts to the relevant forces, because the next moment the Onager Dunecrawlers opened up. The crawlers that were equipped with Icarus Array fired a few rockets and autocannon rounds, splitting the Devilfish open and forcing the Fire Warriors to pour out. The Dunecrawlers with the neutron lasers fired next, vaporizing the armored blue warriors into vapor. I joined in, my rapid-fire battle cannon loosing huge rounds that smashed into the bewildered Devilfish, unaware that a new enemy had joined the fray.

And then the Leman Russ Executioners were within range.

"Fire!" Colonel Ikeda shouted gleefully, and as one the column of armored tanks opened up with their plasma cannons. Several Leman Russ Executioners turned red-hot as their Executioner plasma cannons overheated, but the result was satisfying. Scores of Fire Warriors vanished, disintegrated by destructive blue clouds of plasma, and even the more heavily armored Broadside battlesuits weren't able to withstand such power.

I opened up with my Avenger Gatling cannon, firing upon a bunch of Kroot that had taken up residence on the Fire Warriors and were now charging on either their two feet, or weird-looking hounds. Countless Kroot fell, cut apart in swathes by the devastating stream of anti-armor bullets that rend their bodies and reduced them to bloody pulps. The Broadside battlesuits tried to turn their attention to us, but they were vaporized by blinding clouds of plasma that saturated the area like mist.

A Hammerhead gunship fired its railgun at my hulking Knight, but I managed to tank the shot with my ion shield, my machine shuddering as it fought to stabilize itself. Fortunately, there was no damage other than the winking of my ion shield, which didn't take long to recover. The Onager Dunecrawlers fired back, their neutron lasers taking out a column of hovering Hammerhead gunships, but the rest managed to jink and evade the attacks. They weren't so lucky as the Gatling rocket launchers on the Icarus arrays locked on to them, ignoring the distorting images that the gunships' disruption pods put out and slamming into the desperately jinking gunships. The first few missiles failed to do any damage, but the accumulated bombardment caused the armor to buckle and eventually many of them blew up.

The Skitarii Rangers had already reached within range long ago, and had set up firing positions on cliffs, outcrops of rock and sand, pouring a steady rain of fire from their Galvanic rifles into the milling masses of Fire Warriors and Kroot. The Fire Warriors retaliated with a volley from their pulse rifles, but the energy blasts did little to the Rangers' Skitarii warplate. The Kroot charged forward, caring little for their fallen comrades and trampling upon those who had died, only to be hosed down by the merciless bombardment from the Skitarii Vanguard's radium carbines.

The Vanguard had taken up the vanguard, and their highly irradiated figures stomped onward relentlessly, facing the frenzied charge of the Kroot with cold steel and radioactive rounds, pumping the shots of both radium carbines and plasma calivers into the berserk melee warriors and stopping them dead in their tracks. The momentum of the charge was halted by the sheer toxicity and power of the Vanguard's advanced weaponry, and even the Fire Warriors behind began to feel the poisoning effects as the cybernetic warriors drew ever closer.

"Caution. Incoming aerial attack."

Stroika warned me over the vox. Shortly after his words, a screech overhead told me that the Tau fighters were coming. Formations of Sun Shark Bombers and Razorshark Strike Fighters screamed above as they fired missiles into our ranks in an attempt to take us out. The missiles were surprisingly weak, dealing little to no damage against the heavily armored Leman Russ Executioners and Knights, while the Onager Dunecrawlers were protected by their shimmering emanatus force fields, which were further amplified as the surrounding walkers' shields overlapped to provide maximum protection.

The Onager Dunecrawlers with Icarus array opened up, instantly shredding the bombers and fighters with swarms of missiles, rockets and autocannon rounds. In mere seconds, hundreds of xenos aircraft were ripped apart in the sky, reduced to explosions, broken metal and falling debris, turning the heavens into a flaming hell.

"This is too easy!" Yamada laughed as he waded through the broken bodies of Kroot and Fire Warriors, continuing to fire streams of Avenger rounds into the diminishing ranks of Tau.

He just had to jinx us.

The next second, one of the Leman Russ Executioners in the rear blew up.

"Crisis battlesuits!" A sergeant from the back yelled as he attempted to swing his Executioner around to face the new threat. A few squads of blue Crisis battlesuits had jumped to our back and were gleefully pouring into the vulnerable rear armor of the Executioner tanks with their fusion blasters.

"We should help them..." I began, only for another explosion to rock me. Blinking, I glanced at another pict-screen, watching in horror as a squad of Skitarii Vanguard were blown up, turning into shrapnel and disembodied metal limbs and heads, their red cloaks ripped into shreds as they flew about. Through the smoke, I watched in horror as a trio of Riptide battlesuits emerged, their ion accelerators firing unceasingly into massed ranks of Skitarii and slaughtering them with high-energy streams. Squads of Vanguard were vaporized as the Riptide battlesuits swept their cannons over the advancing armies, washing them with destructive energies.

I could see Stroika coolly organizing a retreat, his cold mask hiding any emotion he might have felt over losing so much men. Knowing the Skitarii, however, he probably felt little more than nothing. The Ironstrider Ballistarii turned away from the Hammerhead gunships and Sky Ray missile defense gunships that they were originally targeting and fired with their twin-linked lascannons, but the ruby energy beams merely slashed at the Riptide battlesuits' shields, unable to do much damage.

"That's our cue," I said to Yamada and Suzuki as I urged my Knight forward, turning my rapid-fire battle cannon and Avenger Gatling cannon on the trio of Riptide battlesuits. The blue Tau shrugged off the massive rounds with astonishing ease, their shields rippling as the projectiles impacted against them. While I turned to face them, a triplet of Crisis battlesuits seized the opportunity to jump right behind my metal steed, opening up their fusion blasters on what they thought was my vulnerable rear.

Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I flicked my ion shield on and switched it to my back. The Emperor, in all His merciful grace, must be watching out for me and rolling fours and above, because my ion shield held despite the close range fire from the melta-type fusion blasters that were known to blow holes in even the heavily armored Leman Russ tanks.

The Riptide battlesuits responded with fire of their own, their ion accelerators arcing devastating streams of energy against my Knight. Fortunately, most of the blasts dispersed harmlessly against my heavily armored front, unable to deal any damage, and I approached, continuing my lethal hail of fire. Unfortunately, one of the energy blasts from a Riptide battlesuit's ion accelerator sent my Knight stagger, scoring a gouging hole in the front carapace of my Knight. The God of Greater Good, or whatever false deity or the Emperor equivalent that the Tau worshipped, must have rolled a lucky six to deal such a glancing blow to my suit.

"I wish I have the Mark of the Omnissiah right now," I mumbled grumpily as I glanced at the flashing pict-screens that showed me the extent of the damage to my machine. Unfortunately, as I wasn't a Daimyo, I wasn't considered a "character" and thus I wasn't allowed to take devices or the so-called Heirlooms of Knightly Houses. It was utter discrimination, but I wasn't high-ranked enough to argue against it.

Having It Will Not Die would be incredibly useful right now...well, I had to just work with what I had.

I continued spraying the trio of Riptide battlesuits with devastating streams of bullets, and my persistence was finally rewarded as the sheer volume of firepower that I poured out tore through one of their shields, causing the battlesuit to buckle and shudder violently as the armor-piercing rounds penetrated it. Sparks fell as it fell to its knees, smoke and electricity crackling around its dying form.

I showed no mercy, targeting it to finish it off because I knew how deadly a deceptively downed enemy could be, rising to strike at me when I least expected it. Besides, I knew the other two would be taken care of soon enough. The remaining two Riptide battlesuits continued to ping my Knight with their highly powered energy blasts, and one of them even overcharged it to send my Knight staggering back, my front armor blackened and smoldering from the incredible heat.

Damn it! That's another hull point gone! Four more hits like that and I would probably go out in a catastrophic explosion!

Fortunately for me, the Crisis battlesuits that stung me in the rear with their fusion blasters found themselves melted into slag as a Leman Russ Executioner caught them in the open with a lucky shot, vaporizing the team of three with a blast of plasma. At least that was one worry down.

Gritting my teeth, I proceeded forward, continuing to rain down shells and projectiles on the offending Riptide battlesuits. As the Riptide battlesuits continued to batter me with their ion accelerators, the twin-linked plasma rifles atop their shoulder pods useless because they couldn't penetrate my AV 13 front armor (strength 6 - hah! If they had Imperial plasma weapons, they had a one in six chance of dealing a glancing blow, much better than the absolutely zero chance they had now!), they failed to realize that I was but a diversion.

The real threat emerged from the sides.

Yamada and Suzuki came from opposite sides, charging the stunned and confused Riptide battlesuits in an outflanking maneuver. As the Riptide battlesuits struggled to turn around to face the new danger, they were too late. Knowing just how pathetic they were at melee, both remaining Riptide battlesuits engaged their thrusters and tried to jump away, only to find themselves cornered, right at the edge of their side of the table, so to speak. Like fish in a barrel, they were helpless and caught by the fast-moving Knights. Resigned to their fates, the Riptide battlesuits swung their ion accelerators at the Knights to smash them, only to be struck back by Hammer of Wrath. Both Knights drove their reaper chainswords into the gut or head of the giant battlesuits and tore through them easily, as if the armor was made of paper. The pilots in the suits were probably cut into pieces as the two Knights ravaged the huge suits with their deadly melee weapons, dismembering the colossal machines into pieces.

With their strongest and most elite units defeated, the blue Tau forces fell into disarray, allowing themselves to be slaughtered by the ruthless fire of the Skitarii Vanguard and Rangers. Those who still had their wits about them retreated into the fortress that served as their base, the Devilfish transports hovering as quickly as they could while under fire. The remaining Fire Warriors and Kroot ran on foot, with most of their number cut down as we mercilessly shot them in the back. The Crisis teams fared better, their jump jets and agility allowing them to weave through the hot rain of plasma and bullets, and their speed enabling them to reach safety faster than their less esteemed comrades.

Less than one-tenth of the blue Tau army made it back to their base. We continued to blast the formidable fortress with neutron lasers and plasma blasts, The Emperor's Wrath adding to the onslaught with its magma cannon, but the fortification held strong. Tau forces responded by firing through fire-points or windows, but at this distance they could do little more than throw rocks at our heavily armored front.

"Commander O'Shovah?" I asked, opening up a channel to the commander of the Farsight Enclaves. Our assault on the blue Tau army had allowed the Farsight Enclaves to close in without suffering too many casualties. While the long-range firepower such as the Hammerhead gunship and Broadside battlesuits were left behind, the jump-jet infantry such as Crisis suits and even the Riptide battlesuits were able to make it all the way here.

"Ah, Captain Tanaka. Thank you very much. We have managed to drive the Tau Empire expeditionary force back to their base. I suppose it will now turn into a long, drawn-out siege affair."

"About that...would you like us to open up the fortification for you?"

"Are you able to do that?" O'Shovah sounded astonished at my offer. I didn't blame him. The combined firepower from the Leman Russ Executioners, The Emperor's Wrath and Onager Dunecrawlers only singed the fortification, but it would take a long period of sustained firing to bring it down eventually. The Leman Russ Executioners had stopped, knowing their efforts were futile (strength 7 against an AV15?), but the Onager Dunecrawlers continued pounding away with their neutron lasers, backed up by The Emperor's Wrath. The magma cannon was powerful enough to penetrate the void shields of a Titan, so it shouldn't take long before we breached the walls.

Still...there was an easier method.

"Yes. Lieutenant Yamada, Lieutenant Suzuki, if you please."

The bombardment from the Skitarii and Imperial Guard forces ceased as the two Imperial Knights loped toward the wall. The Knight Warden and Knight Paladin drove their Reaper chainswords into the wall and sawed through it, causing the heavily armored fortification to crumble and collapsed. I watched in satisfaction as Fire Warriors and Crisis battlesuits fell from disintegrating floors, only to be buried by tumbling rubble.

After opening up a wide, ragged maw in the fortification, the two Knights stepped back to allow the Skitarii legions to flood the fortification, filling whatever Tau resistance that was left with radioactive rounds and plasma spheres.

"There you go," I said gleefully, savoring O'Shovah's awe as the Commander of the Farsight Enclaves stared at the scene of destruction, stupefied. "The fortress is all yours, Commander O'Shovah."

Recovering from his shock, O'Shovah immediately dispatched his Crisis battlesuits to invade the fortress, reinforcing the assaulting Skitarii and overrunning the last bastion of the Tau Empire.