The Multiverse Project: Warhammer 40,000

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Throughout the Immortal Spirit battlegroup's short, yet illustrious career of kicking ass across the galaxy they have fought Chaos heretics, Chaos Marines, Chaos Sororitas, Chaos Aeldari, orks and Tyranids, triumphing over every last one of those sons of bitches. Now, they were about to add another name to that list.

"Tau," Henry growled, earning equally disgruntled grunts from the Eight and the main characters as they gazed upon the 8k holographic real-time star map on the bridge of the Immortal Spirit. "It was only a matter of time, you sorry blue motherfuckers."

"I didn't even believe we would be running into them," Laura strokes her chin thoughtfully. "None of the STCs steered close to the Eastern Fringe of Segmentum Ultima."

"So what in the fuck are they doing inside Segmentum Solar?" Tangmo tried to do the Gendo pose, but since he was standing and not sitting, he gave up after it made him look like he was praying. "And not just on the border too, they're like, several hundred light years inside, what the fuck bro?!"

"Forgive my ignorance, but I was under the impression that the Tau does not possess Warp or Webway technology," Brother Sergeant Gallus, now promoted to the head of the Ultramarines after Guilliman elevated Damien to the rank of captain and effectively put him in charge of the battlegroup's Astartes, spoke up. "The only method of interstellar travel for them is faster than light propulsion drives, which greatly limited the expansion of their empire. How can they have penetrated so far into Segmentum Solar?"

"And this is not some scouting fleet either," lord admiral commander Solveig ran his hand over the holographic star map, highlighting a large swathe of space around the planet the battlegroup was approaching. "This is an armada, a well-armed expeditionary force."

"It's the Startide Nexus," Lita was tapping her data-pad. "The Tau has invented a new FTL technology that allows them to travel beyond the Damocles Gulf. Unfortunately, the Startide Nexus was nothing more than reverse engineered Warp-drive, and when they tried to use it during the catastrophic Forth Sphere of Expansion, they got mauled pretty badly by daemons. They managed to fix it and pressed on with the Fifth Expansion though, but I thought they were only able to get to nearby system, not across the galaxy."

"The Tau appears to have overcome that limitation," Saint Celestine, the newest addition to the battlegroup, made her comment thoughtfully. No longer wearing a simple habit but clad in her battle raiment, Celestine was, in every sense of the word, beautiful, warlike yet regal, graceful yet powerful. It wasn't after Leilatha nudged him hard in the rib that Tangmo took his eyes off the Saint. The glare she shot him conveyed nothing but displeasure. If being jealous at an Imperial Saint was a sin, Leilatha just got a first-class ticket to hell. "I must confess that I am not at all familiar with the Tau, only hearing about them in passing. How much of a threat are they?"

"They are a young race, younger than even mankind," Marwen, recently promoted to the rank of captain general like Tanrion, her Solace Sun counterpart, folded her arms across her chest, eyes narrowed on the lines of information that had appeared beside the holographic planet. "They follow a creed known as the Greater Good, a philosophy of equality and unity of goal for the species, and despite their comparative youth they possess weapons that are nothing short of devastating."

"You have fought them before?" Canoness Crestienne asked.

"No, but many of the former Drukhari all said that their armament is dangerous," Marwen fixed her gaze on an individual to her right. "I am under the impression that commissar Cain have had many experience with the Tau, both as adversary and ally."

"In my long career, I have crossed path with the Tau many times," Ciaphas Cain, the Hero of the Imperium, stated modestly, playing his humble reputation to the tee even though Tangmo knew the man was very much disliking the attention he was receiving. "And you are correct captain general, the Tau's weaponries are, and I know how heretical this may sound to my Imperial colleagues, more deadly and advance than what the Imperium currently fields. Their most devastating arsenal is the Crisis Battlesuits, an exo-armor piloted by their best soldier, which have proven to be extremely deadly even against Astartes."

"We of the White Scars can testify to that," Brother Sergeant Subutai growled, doing nothing to hide his revulsion.

"The Tau are however very susceptible to overture of diplomacy," Cain went on. "Although I have no doubt that in a full-on engagement the Immortal Spirit battlegroup will triumph easily, I believe we can persuade the Tau into seeing the futility of fighting us."

"I find the idea of treating with xeno in such a civilized fashion disgusting, more so than allying ourselves with them," inquisitor Greyfax spoke up curtly, earning nods of approval from the hardline Sororitas and swift ire from the Aeldari. "If the battlegroup is as formidable as you claim it to be, commissar Cain, then our only course of action should be a direct assault, instead of wasting our time with the farce of diplomacy."

"Ciaphas is known to the Tau's high command, his words hold great sway among the Water Caste, the diplomatic branch of the empire," inquisitor Amberley Vail swiftly came to her lover's defense. "Furthermore, we can use this pretext to coax military intelligence from the Tau, the disposition of their forces, the size, and the auxiliaries in their army. Such information will greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the battlegroup if clashes were to happen."

"I agree with inquisitor Vail," commissar Raine of all people spoke up, much to the startlement of everyone around the hologram. The WrestleMania match between her and Amberley had been indefinitely postponed, with a new date pending, the Isha campaign had left everybody too exhausted to enjoy the promised slugfest, which only made the animosity between the lady inquisitor and the lady commissar boiled all the more hotter. So it was pretty surprising to see the two agreeing on something. "I have utter confidence in the Antari Rifle and the battlegroup, but I find it ill advice to commit our troops against an enemy that is only half known. When we fight the Tau, I would rather we know where and how to hurt them the most."

"Raine and Amberley's right, I think we should try talking first," Damien piped up and got into a staring contest with Greyfax. After several heartbeats the lady inquisitor turned away with a huff. "So when are we doing this?"

"Now sounds pretty good," Tangmo inclined his head at Solveig, the lord admiral commander tipped his awesome naval cap at the Thai commissar then started barking orders at his underlings, and in two seconds they were requesting a FaceTime with the Tau fleet. "You ready Cain?"

"As much as I'll ever be," Cain went about smoothening and straightening his awesome commissar coat, the ensemble was a lot more opulent than what Tangmo, Leilatha and Raine wore but damn, the Hero of the Imperium cut a very dashing figure. Amberley was just done fussing over his epaulettes when the call went from ringing to connecting, the lady inquisitor jumped away and the star map was replaced by a blue, and quite angry, face. It was something of a surprise when instead of a well-dressed Kor'or'Vesh admiral of the Tau navy, the man currently glaring at Cain was a Fire Caste commander, a grizzled one too judging by the one-sided Glasgow smile carved across his face, running from mouth to ear. Being the consummate politician that he was, Cain affected a pleasant smile and said, "greeting commander, I am lord commissar Ciaphas Cain of the Imperium of Man, it is unfortunate that we meet under such circumstances…"

"I know who you are, Gue'la, and the reputation our Water Caste heaped upon you, so don't presume to bore me with your banality," whoa, hey, what the fuck, aren't Tau supposed to be, like, polite and shit? Cain himself was stunned by the reception, which only serves to agitate the Tau commander more. "If you have something worthwhile to say, then get on with it."

"Very well," Cain drew himself taller. "What is your name sir? I believe I am owed that much courtesy."

"I am Aun'la Ho'sarn Pax'taga, commander of the 12th Tau combined brigade, of the Sixth Expansion expeditionary force," the Tau commander introduced himself, clip and impatient. "But if your tongue finds the pronunciation difficult, then Aun'la will suffice."

"Aun'la it is then," it was in this moment that Tangmo knew they were no longer in a peace talk, but a declaration of war. "Commander Aun'la, I must inform you that your forces are trespassing upon the sovereignty of the Imperium of Man. Your forces are to stand down immediately and withdraw from Imperial space with due haste."

"It is sad that you believe your own lies and propagandas, but then, I never expected anything less from a species that builds their entire religion around a rotting corpse," that went over well with everyone in the room, with the Sororitas screaming heretic at Aun'la, who received the denouncement with steely, righteous anger. "The worlds in this system are now under the control of the Tau Empire. Therefore, it is you who have trespass into our sovereignty, and I give you my warning to flee immediately."

"Did the worlds not bear the flags of the aquila? Did they not carry the insignia of the Imperium of Man?" Cain shot back. "This is a thriving system on the edge of Segmentum Solar, you have no claim over them."

"I grow tired of this, Gue'la, but commander Shadowsun has been petulantly adamant on the overture of diplomacy," Aun'la went on. "So consider this my last warning."

Cain shook his head despondently, like everyone else he couldn't believe how obtuse and aggressive this particular Tau commander was, which went against his species more civilized modus operandi. He cast an apologetic glance around the table, even though most weren't too dismayed by this development, they were all spoiling for a fight, "I'm sorry my friends, but diplomacy have failed, miserably."

"Tag me in," Tangmo held up his hand.

"Tag you…do you mean to talk to Aun'la?" Cain asked.

"It couldn't hurt, the peace talk had already broken down, what more damage can little old me do?" The entire table cringed visibly when Tangmo fluttered his eyelashes, all cute and childlike, but Ciaphas Cain was able to hold his ground and maintained his poker face.

"Very well then," Cain ushered for Tangmo to take his place, "all yours, commissar Tangmo."

Adjusting his awesome commissar coat so that he was cool as all fuck, Tangmo walked up to the hologram, exchanged a tipping of the awesome commissar cap with Cain, and turned to face a less than impress Aun'la.

"Pathetic, do you honestly believe I can be move by another commissar when the great Ciaphas Cain himself had failed? Such desperate weakness is an insult to…"

"Every last one of you is gonna die."

Tangmo let his pleasant smile melted away until only granite blankness remained, bringing Aun'la's high and mighty tirade to a spluttering halt. He almost cracked a smile, because Aun'la's gapping shock was a thing of beauty, but Tangmo retained his stoic commissariat demeanor. There were times for funs and games and insults, and there were times when you need to put the fear of the God Emperor in a motherfucker. The current confrontation calls for the latter.

"W-What did you just say?" Aun'la managed to compose himself, his earlier self-righteous gravitas faltering badly.

"I'm gonna tell you what's about to happen," Tangmo folded his hands behind his back, grim as opposed to Cain's earlier cordiality. "That little fleet you got hovering above the planet? We're gonna be sending the debris raining down over your head, giving you and your troops a nice meteor shower to gander at. After that, we're gonna carpet bomb your blue asses so hard that it's gonna make the firebombing at Dresden and Tokyo looks like child play. Finally, I'm gonna personally go down to that fucking planet and murder every last one of you Tau fucks."

"You think your threat frightens me?!" Aun'la was frightened, for sure, the bluster was forced as all fuck and the barking volume was the kind a cornered dog made. "Such lowly tactic might have worked on lesser species, but you will find us Tau unmoved by such display."

"Oh, one more thing, we human fucking invented war crime," Tangmo went on, letting a bit of his violent genocidal side surfaced with the smallest tugging of the lip. "See, throughout our gloriously fucked up history, we've unleashed unspeakable, unthinkable cruelty upon our fellow man. So I want you to think, just think for one fucking second, that if we're capable of doing all of that to our own people, can you even begin to imagine how badly this will end for you? A buncha of fucking blue aliens who are nothing but flea trying to fight a lion, a minnow in an ocean full of sharks, do you have any fucking idea how utterly fucked you are?!"

"Enough! I don't have to listen to any more of this nonsense!" Aun'la snapped and the transmission was terminated, the star map returning, never losing its details and crispness.

"Pussy ass bitch ran away," Tangmo held up a double middle finger at the hologram, the Eight hollered loudly in ovation while the main character eyed him with varying degrees of satisfaction. After his homies were done with their applause, Tangmo tapped the only planet on display, the image zooming and flattening into a hyper detailed terrestrial map. "Okay, now that we are resolve to kicking their asses, how do go about doing it?"

"Without artillery support, unfortunately," Henry tapped the only landmass on the ocean planet. "The big kaboom kind at least, I'm sure there are several spots where we can set up the Anguirus howitzers and the Charons."

"I say, that is a strange looking archipelago," colonel Alistair of the Praetorian Guard narrowed his eyes on the battlegroup's target.

"It's not an archipelago," colonel Xiphos of the Fire Guard traced his finger over the hologram, bringing up more details in the form of charts and bullet points. "Initial scan indicates that the islands are composed of artificial materials, with very clear manufactured dimension and makeups."

"It is a Space Hulk," Brother Sergeant Antalok of the Salamander spoke up. "An extremely large Space Hulk too, if I may add."

"Yeah, damn thing's the size of Manhattan," Henry frowned as he took in the flashing data. "And quite possibly several thousand fathom deep too."

"We're actually in luck, because the Space Hulk crashed into the planet shallowest part, which is still about two kilometers and a half deep," Yuki said. "The Hulk must be composed of more than a hundred ships."

"What is the Tau's objective on the planet?" Colonel Krillen asked. "Besides the conquest of this system, do they have any specific design for the Space Hulk itself, or are they simply occupying the thing?"

"Their interest in the Space Hulk is not a passing one," Warlock Fanduin answered him. "Reconnaissance performed by Aeldari drones clearly shows the Tau going deeper into the interior of the Hulk, which also explains the massive fortification they have erected all across the archipelago and the heavy air force presence. They are ready to repel an attack."

"What did our data say about this particular STC?" Colonel Min Jae of the Homeland Rifle put forward his question.

"Warp travel," mistress Lithia, canoness of the Avenging Knight, said, "the history, method, function and theoretical hypothesis regarding the empyrean."

"That makes sense," Lita nodded. "After the Fifth Sphere of Expansion was cancelled, courtesy of the Death Guards, the Tau has been itching to continue their conquest. They've unlocked Warp travel and obviously can't get enough of it, therefore they'll be looking for anything that could help them perfect interstellar travel, just their freaking luck they found this place."

"Do they know what's inside the STC?" Erik said. "How did they know there's an STC here for that matter?"

"The STC give off a very unique radio and radiation wave. I'm willing to bet the Tau ran into something similar before and only now decided to investigate," Nikki pointed out. "I don't think they know what's inside the STC, but they sure as hell gonna try and get it."

"That's nice and all loves, but we're missing the main point here," Laura cut in and waved at the archipelago. "How do we go about killing them?"

"The surface should be simple enough," Tangmo turned to commander Ae-Shin, who was standing beside Solveig. The Jijurean was eyeing the map intensely, plans already forming in her head. "Ae-Shin, what do you have in mind? Carpet bombing? Overwhelming shock and awe?"

"Surgical strikes with our hypersonic bunker busters. We launch them into the upper atmosphere, have it orbit the planet once, then ram it into the targets," Ae-Shin made her suggestion, earning enthusiastic nods from the main characters. "By taking out every major fortification simultaneously, the Tau will not be able to effectively response to our terrestrial assault. Four Titancrafts and two squadrons of bombers and fighters should be enough to safeguard the landing forces from any reprisal they can muster."

"You got a target picked out?" Henry asked.

"I do," Ae-Shin turned to Solveig, "the Tau fleet is scrambling into battle formation. Can you launch three salvos before they are ready?"

"Intervals between each salvo?" Solveig asked, no bullshit or time wasting.

"Ten seconds," As-Shin said. "I want those bastards caught off guards."

"The missile ports are primed, just give us the word," Solveig and Ae-Shin traded badass nods.

"And then comes the fun part for us," Tangmo grinned and the main characters chuckled their assent. Tapping the map and drawing circles and lines across the holographic surface, Tangmo laid out his plan of attack. "This entire southern region needs to be completely neutralized before we disembark, after we flatten the place we'll turn it into our command post and artillery pool, a staging area for us to attack the rest of the archipelago."

"What's the surface terrain like?" Henry asked.

"Not suitable for tanks I'm afraid, the plateau is uneven and have too many ups and downs, the elevations will bog the armor column. Sorry dude," Tangmo said apologetically and Henry grunted in acknowledgement. He turned to Marwen and Zolwyken next. "Eldar vehicles though, should have no problem with the Space Hulk's surface. We're gonna need them to counter the Tau war machines, which are very versatile and fast."

"Fast," Zolwyken, the captain of the White Phoenix Lancer, or Aeldari Winged Hussar, snorted derisively. "We'll show them the meaning of the word and humble these upstarts."

"That's the plan my dude, but seriously, don't underestimate the blue fuckers, the Imperium did that and got fucked pretty bad during the early onset of the Damocles Crusade," Tangmo told him and Zolwyken nodded with prideful reluctance. "Our first priority needs to be the complete destruction of the Tau ground forces on the Space Hulk's surface. This is an ocean planet without inhabitants, which mean no PDFs, therefore the Tau has not faced any opposition when they made planet fall and is likely at a hundred percent fighting capacity. We also have no idea how far they've penetrated into the Space Hulk, so there's a high possibility that the bulk of the Fire Caste are already well fortified inside."

"Which will turn this into a brutal, protracted close quarter fighting inside the corridors of the Space Hulk," Nikki tsk loudly but Tangmo saw a very clear gleam of excitement in the Russian's exarch eyes. "Oh yeah, I'm totally up for that."

"We can just flood the interior of the Space Hulk with Promethium fire," Bellona suggested, earning nods from the hardline canonesses and a few Imperial Guards colonels and Aeldari captains. "The inferno should be more than enough to either smoke out or incinerate the Tau completely."

"A quick carbon dating put this archipelago at nine thousand years old, the various ships fused into that mess are probably twice that age," Henry spoke up. "The Space Hulk has been sitting in this ocean since then, and I'm willing to bet my awesome general cap that salt water and the native faunas and floras have already made themselves at home inside the more submerged part of the Hulk."

"Your meaning being?" Bellona asked.

"I don't trust the structural integrity of the archipelago," Henry told her and Bellona nodded in understanding. "Don't worry, there'll be plenty of fire and explosive used, it's unavoidable, but an overwhelming application of ordnance could, in theory, cause the Space Hulk to break apart and sink, effectively destroying the STC in the process."

"We're in for one hell of a fight, I reckon," colonel Joanna, the southern belle of the Antebella Cobalt Star, offered spunkily. "What kind of labyrinth are we looking at here then? Any guess on how big or long of a journey we're in for?"

"A labyrinth is the most correct description, colonel Joanna," Cain rejoined the conversation. "I have been trapped inside a Space Hulk with Jurgen before, and it is not an understatement to say that one can easily become lost inside those mazes of darkness. I would advise extreme caution."

"And we won't be able to map the Space Hulk until we get a seismic sonar on the damn thing," Tangmo said. "But all of that can only be done after we got the surface securely in our hands." The Thai commissar started tapping the map again. "I propose we make three simultaneous landing, one on the southern edge of the archipelago, where our base and artilleries will be stationed, one in the middle here, and the last on the two flanks, preferably done with drop pods. I want the Krieg to spearhead the south. Colonel Hildebrandt, major Moltke, major Wilhelmine, I want a fortified position set up within an hour after you've touched down, with the first barrage following ten minutes later. Think you can handle that my dudes?"

"It shall be done, Herr commissar," the three Krieger spoke in unison and Tangmo, along with the Eight and the main characters, were still having a hard time coming to term that one of the gasmask wearing Death Korps, major Wilhelmine specifically, was a woman. After the entire Izennir system was wiped out via a healthy serving of Exterminatus, the Immortal Spirit battlegroup was reinforced by Cadian Whiteshields and other regiments equivalent, bolstering their ranks with raucous and eager youths. The 994th Death Korps artillery brigade have been serving with Roboute Guilliman before getting transferred to the battlegroup, all of them veterans of the Indomitus Crusade, all of them Krieger, all of them women. Tangmo and Henry came to the logical conclusion that the people in charge of the vitae chambers accidently put in the wrong code and created female soldiers instead of male ones. All in all though, the 994th fit easily into the battlegroup, although other guardswomen found them creepy.

"That's the spirit," Tangmo grinned and tapped four heavily fortified positions around the middle landing zone. "Damien, you got this?"

"Oh yeah," Damien nodded. "Gallus, Antalok, Adelhard, Subutai, we will be performing deep strikes on these locations, where the majority of the Tau defenses and mechas are concentrated. Close in on them quickly and slaughter those motherfuckers before they can put up a fight. Get up close and personal, the Tau don't know how to fight in close combat, the only thing you need to worry about are the Kroot mercenaries."

"They won't be able to stay our wrath," Brother Sergeant Adelhard of the Black Templar said and the Astartes murmured their assent lowly.

"That's actually the gist of our plan," Tangmo clasped his hands behind his back, striking a super badass commissariat pose. "Anybody got any questions? Big questions that is, one that needs to be answered right now." Negative shake of heads answered him. "Okay cool, guess we're done here then."

"The Tau commander, Aun'la," oh right, Tangmo completely forgot that Isha was at the meeting with them, the Aeldari goddess was sandwiched between Tanrion and the ever vigilant Elnys. Although she made no input during the planning, killing disagrees greatly with her, nobody objected to her joining the briefing. Hey, if she wants to be part of the high command, Tangmo ain't gonna stop her. "He has been corrupted."

"I don't think that's possible love," Laura spoke up. "The Tau can't sense or interact with anything inside the Warp. Their entire species are totally immune to everything daemonic."

"All sentient beings are never free from the manipulation of the Warp," Isha went on. "There are those like the Aeldari and humans who are able to see easily into the empyrean, while others who struggle at first will eventually find their horizon broaden by the hellish vista, whether they like it or not. The Tau are young and I fear that they might have unwittingly shattered the shield of their mind, or at the very least create a crack wide enough for the Warp to touch their souls."

"How will this affect our overall strategy?" Celestine asked. "Are we looking at a possible daemonic incursion caused by the Tau's ignorance?"

"From what I can glean from the commander's behavior, I don't believe it will come to that," Isha said. "But we can expect the Tau to fight with enhance ferocity. I've seen Khorne's fever enough time to recognize the symptom."

"Can our faith and Aeldari sorcery neuter the corruption?" Galatea put forward her question.

"Most likely," Isha nodded firmly, not quite matching the militaristic intensity of the Martyred Lady canoness, but the effort was cute nonetheless. "Yes, your powers can definitely rid them of the fever."

"Now why would we want to do that?" Tangmo's smirk drew questioning looks from the main characters.

"You want them imbued with Khornate ferocity?" Leilatha turned to him with an 'are you fucking serious' face.

"Exactly, but please, let me explain," Tangmo held up his hand before the main characters can voice their rebuttals. The Eight on the other hand were very interested in what he had to say. "The Tau are infamous for their extremely meticulous approach to warfare, a precision and deadliness born of technology and adamantine discipline, the blue bastards will hold the line as good as any guardsmen. But if they are indeed poison by Khorne, as Isha had suggested, their honed military finesse will be marred by the Warp, and that means they will be sloppy and more prone to mistake. So I say piss them off, make them angry, and they'll more than likely fuck themselves over. Hell, the blue fuckers might even try to bayonet charge us."

That earned a healthy serving of laughter from the main characters, but the moment of mirth was cut short when warning alarms, sharp but not jarring like the sirens, blared across the bridge.

"The Tau are maneuvering into battle formation sir," a navy officer announced. "Estimate time of combat readiness forty minutes, skirmishing parties are already inbound, a dozen aircrafts from our initial scan."

"Don't worry, our fighters and corvettes have been on standby for the last hour," Ae-Shin spoke up easily. "The Tau will not be expecting a combine force made up of humans and Aeldari warships. They're in for a rude awakening."

"What of our fleet?" Solveig asked the officer from before.

"We will be ready in approximately ten minutes," the woman answered crisply. "What are your orders, sir?"

"Maximum battle readiness, all weapons primed and free, we shall use the Cassiopeia doctrine for this particular battle," Solveig said easily, stern yet confident, exuding an icy aura of calm. "Tell the fleet to get into formation, but do not engage the Tau, remain stationary but bombard them with our long-range batteries. They will be coming to us, but that doesn't mean we will be giving them peace in the meantime."

"Brutal dude, just the way I like it," Tangmo smirked and waved away the map of the ocean world, replacing it with the star map, "you good up here?"

"I am, lord commissar," Solveig nodded sharply and waved at the bridge's archway entrance. "I would suggest that you and the army depart now, lord commissar. The Immortal Spirit is already hovering above the target area. This is the perfect opportunity to maximize the effectiveness of our assault against the Tau's ground forces. It would also greatly convenient the navy if the army is planetside, giving us more flexibility when engaging the Tau's fleet."

"Say no more my main man," Tangmo spun on his heels and waved for the Eight and the main characters to follow him. "Come on guys and gals, time to go kick some blue asses!"

"Hot LZ, hot LZ! Brace yourself, we're going in hot!"

"Really Tyra?! Shit, I couldn't tell over all the fucking bullets pinging off the hull!"

"Oi! Don't get fucking cheeky with me!"

"Are we even fucking near the Space Hulk yet?!"

"Approaching now! Gunners, man your heavy bolters, I'm slowing down now, side doors opening in five…four…three…two…one!"

The sliding metal door wasn't even completely open when the Valkyrie's gunners unleashed an uninterrupted full auto burst at the flashes of blue light where, presumably, a thick cluster of Tau troops were gathered, the sizzling hot tracer bolts punching nice little holes through the swirling dust. Kneeling down beside the gunner, Tangmo shouldered his Zetton lasgun and took semi auto shots at anything that moved below, not that it helped much, the combined barrage of the descending Valkyries were doing most of the work, but he like to be helpful. Despite the overwhelming firepower pouring down on them, the Tau lived up to their reputation and stoically held the line, blue pulse bullets flew up to meet the Valkyries, most shots ricocheting unpleasantly off the hulls. Fortunately, the dropships suffered only superficial damages and soon enough the rough, grey black surface of the Space Hulk rushed into view.

"For the Emperor!" Tangmo bellowed and leapt out of the Valkyrie, flipped the lasgun to burst, got on his knee, and lay down a suppressing fire on a Tau rampart several hundred yards away. Thanks to earlier surgical strikes, the Tau hasn't fully regained their positions yet, but they were making quick headways, too fast for Tangmo's liking. When Leilatha and the Cadian main characters joined him, Tangmo turned to the Valkyrie and held his thumb up at the cockpit, he can vaguely see Tyra and Victoria returning the gesture, "good luck dude, now get the hell outta here, everybody's on the ground."

"See you in a bit!" Tyra waved energetically and the Valkyrie took off, banking high for the sky as another wave of dropships made their final descends. See, despite what the tabletop miniatures and the Dawn of War game wanted you to be believe, the Valkyrie gunships were actually pretty big, about twice the size of a Chinook, which was why it can easily carry five squads of guardsmen without a problem. Add the Immortal Spirit upgrades into the mix and the dropships were now tougher and faster than before.

"Heads down people, heads down!" Tangmo slid in beside Krillen, all the while firing at the Tau. The roiling pall of smoke, courtesy of the hypersonic missiles impact, were already dissipating, the ocean gale carrying it away until radiant cerulean regain dominance of the sky. "Give me an update Krillen!"

"Multiple hostiles converging on us, we have effectively landed right in the middle of their crossfire!" A rattling salvo of pulse chewed up the ground around them, causing Krillen, Tangmo and the main characters to go prone. Thankfully, the surface of the Space Hulk, which was comprised of fused and melded mass of spaceships, had many unnatural protrusions and elevations, providing them with cover from the worse of the Tau's firepower. "Fuck! I thought the missiles were supposed to take them out!"

"Most of them were probably below the surface when the missiles hit!" Tangmo gritted his teeth as he got back on his feet and waved the Cadian onward. "Over there! Haul ass people, get out of the open, move it!"

Tangmo sent burst after burst at the ramparts and pillboxes as the Cadian sprinted for cover, most of them gunning and running, adding another layer of fusillade on the Tau, managing to stutter their suppressing fire. Tangmo was just starting to move when cacophonic explosions, accompanied by pluming mushroom clouds, reverberated around the battlefield. This was soon followed by the iconic distorted war cry, "FOR THE EMPEROR!"

"Just in the nick of time," Tangmo grinned and turned to Leilatha, smoke was rising from the lady commissar's awesome coat although she appeared uninjured. "You okay?"

"The Tau are accurate with their weapons, I'll give them that much," Leilatha snorted and reloaded her bolt pistol. More guardsmen were joining them now, Antari, Fire Guard and Homeland Rifles. "But nothing I can't handle, so yes, I am fine."

"I'm very glad to hear that," Tangmo nodded with a smile as Raine joined them, the lady commissar was wiping a smudge of black soot from her face, "good to see you safe too Raine."

"Thank you," Raine tipped her awesome commissar cap and emptied her bolt pistol on a pillbox manned by two Burst Cannons, doing superficial damages to the defense. "Those need to be destroyed."

"Give me a minute," after a quick sweep of the Tau's battle line, Tangmo waved the main characters over. "Alright I got it. Luva, Min Jae, Minka, take a fast attack team up that ridge over there, from what I can tell the Tau haven't retake that area yet, you guys are gonna flank those sum bitches while me, Leilatha and Raine led an assault on the blue motherfuckers from the front. Krillen, Xiphos, Andren, get everybody ready."

"Affirmative lord commissar," colonel Andren gave his hellgun one last check, the eye slits of his Duskhound helm glowing bright red. "The Duskhound will take point. The Tau are well entrenched and their weapons are deadly, we will bear the blunt of the assault."

"I appreciate the gesture Andren, I really do, but the Tau are about to get very distracted in a few minutes," Tangmo grinned as multiple explosions erupted far behind the ramparts, accompanied by the pleasant bangs of unleashed bolters and the distorted roars of the Astartes. And as he'd expected, the suppressing fire being poured on them started to lessen considerably, panic shouts resounded across the fortification. "But hey, if you want to take the lead, be my guest dude." Tangmo turned to Raine. "So that we're clear, it's not my fault if something happens to him."

"Take heart then Tangmo, for you won't be the only one I'm going to blame," Raine fixed her stern gaze on Andren and his second in command, major Cassia Tyl. "When are we attacking?"

"Everybody ready?" Tangmo raised his voice, earning affirmative, and very hearty, yes from the guardsmen. "Fix bayonet! Fix bayonet people, our guns are more awesome than that pussy pulse shits the Tau uses, but we're about to give them a crash course on melee fighting. Heavy weapon teams, stay here and give us covering fire, the rest of you, follow me into the breach. Okay ladies and gents, time to kick…"

An overwhelming salvo of rockets and plasma bolts soared through the air in great dazzling mass and struck the Tau's defenses in a furious hail of fire and thunder, the accuracy was wild but the damage was spectacular, shit was blowing up everywhere.

"Umm…can someone tell me what in the fuck is happening?" Tangmo tapped his earbud, his eyes never leaving the Tau's positions, now battered to shit, as rousing roars erupted from somewhere to the left.

"Sulla's happening dude!" Henry blurted, not sounding one bit thrill. "Goddamn, she got the Valhallan all riled up man, and now they're banzai charging the Tau. I managed to get the Grey Watch and the Dawn Blades under control, yes the irony of a Japanese regiment not making a human wave attack didn't escape me, and now we're trying to catch up to them. Shit's not easy yo."

"And you and Cain just let this happen?!" Tangmo snapped while Raine and the Antari snorted, unsurprised by the Valhallan's antic.

"We try to stop her, honest!" Henry made his lame excuse, whiny and petulant like a child trying to worm his way out of a punishment.

"Just make sure they don't get kill please," Tangmo shook his head and turned to the guardsmen, all of them grim and ready to leap into the fray, "on my mark!"

"Leave it to Ciaphas to make a mess of things," Raine growled and turned to Tangmo. "Now we have to divert our forces to support them."

"We stick with the plan, let Sulla screw herself over with that Leroy Jenkins bullshit," Tangmo shouldered his lasgun, the gleaming bayonet pointed forward, took three deep breathes, and stepped around the wall of debris they were hiding behind. "To the ramparts! Let's go motherfuckers! For the Emperor!"

The heavy weapon teams unleashed a salvo of las, bolts and auto-gun shells, grinding down the Tau's defenses as the Imperial Guards charged across no man's land with a brutal roar, heads held low and boots kicking up dusts. As stupid as Sulla's charge might have been, it actually managed to seriously rock the Tau's equilibrium. The accurate volleys the blue xenos were famous for had become erratic and sparse, pulse bullets flashed close but failed to find any meaty targets. Getting pounded by heavy firepower and pressed mercilessly from two directions will do that.

"Spread out and keep your fucking heads low!" Tangmo bellowed over cracks of lasguns and pounding heavy bolters, but even pressed hard the Tau managed to put up a spirited resistance. Lessen though their salvo may be, it was still deadly, and the sight of guardsmen getting dropped left and right was starting to piss Tangmo off. "Motherfuck!"

"Load grenades! On my mark!" Leilatha raised her voice easily over the calamitous din as guardsmen with grenade launchers slid the ordnances down the tubes, primed it, and held their weapons at the ready, "suppressing bombardment, on three! One…two…fire!"

Pops resounded down the line as grenades flew across the air, landing on the parapets or behind the walls. The resulting screams, fires and twirling body parts was spectacular to behold.

"Mortar teams, lay down continuous salvo for five minutes, sending coordinates now," Leilatha took complete control of the assault, and Tangmo very much enjoyed watching his girlfriend be an absolute badass. It also means he can skimp on the works too. "Krix, Meton, Yeon Woo, have the heavy plasma concentrate fire on those cracks on the wall, the structural integrity appears to be weakest there. Then I want those watchtowers taken out…"

The watchtowers Leilatha was pointing at were blasted to bits by the prism cannons purple energy lasers and highly concentrated heavy melta beams. Shrieking Tau, wreathed in hellish orange fire, leapt desperately from the destroyed buildings, those that didn't die from the fall ran and flailed in maddened agony. The guardsmen were more than happy to let them burn.

"Beautifully done guys, thanks for that!" Tangmo held up his corna at the latest wave of troops exiting the Valkyries, comprised of Adepta Sororitas and Aeldari, with many Falcons and Fire Prisms entering the fray.

"We had expected you to be through their defenses by now, lord commissar," Miriya and her Martyred Lady Celestians joined them.

"Oh, we're about to," Tangmo shot back and held his thumb up at Krix. "Let it rip captain, give us a nice little entrance!"

"With pleasure sir!" Krix beamed brightly, held down the trigger of her M249 rapid-las for a few seconds, and then tapped her helmet. "Plasma guns, open fire now!"

Tangmo turned away when super-heated plasma balls soared across no man's land, the piercing blue lights extremely abrasive on the eyes, the wave of burning gale wasn't any better. But the impact was awesome though, watching the Tau's walls and ramparts blown to bits, the flying pieces covered in roiling cobalt fire and melting, the xenos themselves reduced to liquefy gibs, made Tangmo smiled.

"Andren! You ready dude?!" Tangmo turned to the squad of Duskhound huddled to his right, Raine crouched amongst them.

"Eager for blood sir," Andren nodded.

"Follow me! For the Emperor!" Tangmo darted out of cover, the Antari mirroring his movement with crisp synchronicity, and sprinted for the gigantic gaping wound on the Tau's wall. The fires had settled by the time Tangmo and the Duskhound, backed up by several squads of Cadian, Fire Guards, Homeland Rifles and Antari, entered the inner defenses, the heat around the breach was staggeringly bad, the hissing steams of burnt rocks and metals almost made him missed a step, and from the veil of smoke came several platoons of groggily Fire Warriors. "Oh fuck! Watch your flanks, watch your flanks!"

Without even thinking, Tangmo lowered his lasgun and dashed for the nearest Tau, the type 60 bayonet punching through the xeno's brown flank armor with ease. The Tau screamed, very human in his articulation of agony, as Tangmo impaled him to the ground, the man dropped his railgun to claw feebly at the lasgun. Tangmo twisted the bayonet, rending flesh and armor in a gushing fountain of purple blue blood, pulled the blade free, and rammed it into the Tau's neck, aborting his scream. Wrenching the bayonet free, Tangmo trained his lasgun forward as the guardsmen swiftly set up a defensive perimeter, around him the other Tau were quickly dispatched by Xiphos and his Kolasian Fire Guards, the melee was short, bloody, and laughably one sided. Another squad of Fire Warriors and drones were just rounding a corner fifty yards to Tangmo's left when a grenade exploded in their midst. The Tau were thrown off their feet and wasn't able to get their weapons up in time when the Sororitas fell on them, chunky pieces of blue gibs flew in great splatters as the Sisters of Battle unleashed their Godwyn bolters point blank.

"Make ready sisters! More xeno approaches!" Miriya raised her voice just as Tangmo and the guardsmen joined them, the Sororitas using the Tau's own defenses to brace for another wave of Fire Warriors and drones. The counterattack proved that the Tau weren't pushovers. The well-timed volleys and disciplined fire forced the Sororitas low as more Fire Warriors emerged from the deeper bulwarks. "Return fire sisters! For the Emperor!"

"Keep your heads down and push them back! Fire at will!" Drawing his bolt pistol, Tangmo fired blindly into the thickening line of Tau, grinning when the Metal Storm bolts turned the closed confined into a charnel house, the Fire Warriors screamed as shrapnel tore their bodies apart. The volley faltered just for a few seconds but it was enough for the Imperial and Aeldari troops to press the advantage, the Tau's line caving as they were pushed back. Ejecting the magazine and magnetizing the bolt pistol to his belt, Tangmo unslung his lasgun and slid in beside Miriya. "How are you finding the Tau?"

"I hate them already," Miriya growled and reloaded her bolter with extreme vehemence.

"Damn cowards," Firnera growled her admonition, the Banshee captain was sending burst after burst of shurikens at the Tau, but it was clear she's itching to introduce them to her eldar katana. "If only I can get closer…"

"Up top! Look out!" Isabel, Miriya's left hand woman, had barely finished her sentence when a looming shadow fell over Tangmo. Welp he was wondering when they were gonna run into those sons of bitches, guess that time was now. Training his lasgun upward, Tangmo wasn't disappointed to find an XV8 Crisis Battlesuit pointing a revolving Long Burst Cannon down at him, the cyclopean red eye mocking in its glare. And it was not alone too, oh no, four fucking Crisis Battlesuits now stood over the battlegroup, every weapon primed and ready, the faltering Tau troops cheered raucously now that the table was turned.

"Oh good, I was looking to bag one of these motherfuckers," Tangmo grinned, because hey, what can you do in the face of certain death but laugh? Also he was a commissar, it's his job to inspire the brave men and women of the Imperium to great deeds of heroism, and what better way to hype them up than by being a total badass, "now stay still you Gundam looking bitch, let me take my sweet time aiming…"

Tangmo caught the flash of light in the sky a nanosecond before sharp squeal of rending metal resounded from the Battlesuit he was aiming at. Brow quirked, not really understanding what the hell just happened, Tangmo was about to pull the trigger when a line of sparks and fires erupted across the Battlesuit's slopped breastplate. It took exactly two seconds for the Battlesuit to spilt in half, cleaved open shoulder to hip, the two parts sliding off each other, sparks, oils, fires and gushing body parts of the pilot poured from the fatal incision. And standing behind the doomed Battlesuit, striking a knightly pose after shooting out of the sky like a vengeful angel, was Saint Celestine.

"Holy shit," Tangmo gaped, lasgun lowered as Celestine turned to face the three remaining Battlesuits, all of them too stunned to react promptly. A ghostly war cry shattered the air, shaking the Tau out of their stupor just in time to register a pair Wraithguards charging them with power glaives lowered, the Aeldari automatons leaping easily from ramparts to ramparts above the battlegroup. Like their foot soldiers, the Battlesuits also sucked at close combat, so naturally the tall Wraithguards made minced meat out of the poor mechas, the power glaives sending metallic limbs flying everywhere. That leaves only one more Battlesuit standing, the fucker was already aiming at the Wraithguards, "fire! Open fire and kill that sum bitch – oh come on!"

The Battlesuit started spasming as translucent streams of Warp energy coiled around it, and not long after the Burst Cannon, legs, arms and head began to bend grotesquely out of shape. Then the chest area, where the pilot would be seated, caved in suddenly and savagely, crushing the breastplate from several angles at once, and Jesus Christ, Tangmo can hear the Tau inside shrieking. The agony was short lived though, as the Battlesuit was reduced to a ball of scrap metal and hurled away toward the second-tier defenses. Celalira, the Solace Sun Farseer and the architecture of the Tau's grisly demise, strolled haughtily into view, accompanied by a squad of Black Guardians.

"That was pretty fucking disturbing," Tangmo commented when Celalira, her posse and Celestine joined him. "But thanks for the save dude, I really appreciate it."

"These are the Tau that had troubled your constitution so?" Celalira scoffed, haughty and dismissive of the blue corpses sprawled around them. "I found them wanting. For all their weaponries they are young, oh so young, to think that they have managed to become a major nuisance for the Imperium of Man is nothing short of a joke."

"The fastest road to defeat and ruination starts with hubris, lady Farseer," Celestine spoke up sternly, her glowing white eyes narrowed on the stoic Celalira. "The Tau falters now, but I have no intention of underestimating them."

"Celestine's right," Tangmo piped up, the Saint smiled and the Farseer snorted. "The Tau were expecting the usual Imperium tactic, that being suicidal attack, they weren't prepared for us to be precise and deadly." Humans and eldars alike murmured in agreement to Tangmo's prognosis. "The blue motherfuckers are quick learners though, so be on your toe for any surprises. For all we know this could only be fodders and rearguards, their main army is probably waiting inside the Space Hulk."

"Then let us not wait any longer," Celestine declared the same moment thunders of artilleries resounded from the south, the screeching whistles of falling ordnances was a symphony of sublime beauty that ended in a bombastic crescendo of roiling flames. Tangmo checked his watched and nodded, pleased, the Death Korps were ahead of schedule by half an hour. "Ah, I see the artilleries are in place."

"The timing couldn't be better too," Leilatha added, fingers dancing over her data-pad. "Brother Captain Damien had successfully neutralized all major Tau emplacements, while general Henry, thanks to general Sulla's overwhelming assault, had completely scattered the Tau, looks like we're the mop up details now."

"That is for the best I suppose," Xiphos spoke up as he adjusted his Corinthian helmet. "The Tau are dangerous adversary, better to conserve our energy for when we enter the Space Hulk."

"We'll be nice and careful then," Tangmo rejoined the conversation and raised his voice. "Let's clear out the remaining ramparts and holdouts, no mercy, no prisoners…no wait, if they surrender, take them in, then we'll kill them after interrogating them. Keep your eyes peeled, the Tau are fucking smart so watch for traps and ambushes."

"Yes sir," the colonels nodded and started forming men and women into platoons and fireteams, the Aeldari and Battle Sisters doing the same.

"I admit to being surprised, lord commissar," Celestine said as she joined Tangmo and the main characters at the front, the Saint giving the suddenly sheepish canonesses a very poignant sideway glance. "Galatea and her friends had led me to believe that your ability as a commander and a fighter is questionable at best. Yet here you are proving the opposite."

"Damn Galatea, and here I thought he had something special," Tangmo pouted, lips trembling, making sure to convey how heartbrokenly cute he was. The canonesses shuddered in disgust at the sight, even Celestine looked concern, "the betrayal! How much more can my heart takes?!"

"I was simply tempering the lady Saint's expectation of you," Galatea shrugged as the attack team started forward. They haven't made it five steps when a gaggle of Tau sprinted into view, weapons lowered and panicky in steps, the poor bastards were obviously retreating. The main characters made short work of them, not giving a fuck about their pleading raised hands. "Mediocrity will be easier to swallow than disappointment, after all."

"Thanks for that," Tangmo winked at Galatea and turned to Celestine. The Saint, now wielding a gilded Godwyn bolter covered in saintly aura, was watching the conversation with matronly amusement. "You were amazing by the way. That safe back there? Holy shit, that was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, you were a total badass. Thank you for saving us."

"You are most welcome, lord commissar," Tangmo's heart skipped a beat when Celestine smiled at him, God almighty she was pretty, very pretty, even when covered in soot and dust. "I'll add flattery to the list of traits I didn't expect from you, and I am very much enjoying it."

"Thank you, Saint Celestine," Tangmo was blushing badly when a sharp jab in the ribs restored his equilibrium, Celestine giggled lightly and he turned to find Leilatha glaring at him. "Ow! Oh come on, I'm just complementing a Living Saint! I love you! Please don't hurt me!"

"Yeah, can we maybe give the commissariat soap opera a pause first? We're coming up on the second-tier rampart now, and they're still putting up a fight. So can we please concentrate on that?!"

Min Jae thankfully came to Tangmo's rescue, the Thai commissar wasted no time returning to his badass persona as the battlegroup slowly approached the end of the large corridor they currently occupied. The path opened up to reveal a network of pillboxes connected by walls and ramparts, smoke were rising from some of the emplacements but most were still intact, despite looking pretty banged up. Tangmo raised his fist, and after a sequence of hand signals led the battlegroup into the empty no man's land between the first and second tier defenses. Well, empty might not be an entirely correct term, they were fighting atop a freaking Space Hulk after all, so naturally the topography was totally fucked up, as in there were pieces of spaceships and interstellar rocks sprouting up all over the place, the dimension and arrangement was that of an obstacle course that provided the attackers with ample cover.

"Heads down people, the Tau are not out of the fight yet," the sentence had barely left Tangmo's mouth when a hail of bullets rattled across his position, forcing him to dive for cover, the pulse rifles ammunition thankfully not strong enough to penetrate the jagged meteorite he was hiding behind. Hissing a slew of Thai curses under his breath, Tangmo eased his lasgun above cover and returned fire blindly, Leilatha, Raine, the Cadian and the Antari joining in a moment later, pouring an uninterrupted stream of las at the pillboxes. The Tau rate of fire faltered almost immediately, and within a minute the firefight became very one sided, with the battlegroup getting the upper hand. "What in the fuck?"

"The Tau are faltering," Andren tapped the side of his Duskhound helm. "Prepare for an all-out charge, we're breaking their lines."

"No, belay that order, all units maintain position and concentrate fire on the Tau's defenses, do not move," Tangmo cut in and Raine glared at him for daring to interrupt her boyfriend. "Sorry Andren, but this shit looks like a trap more than anything."

"As you command, lord commissar," Andren nodded, his tone amiable.

"Perhaps if the heavy troops provide covering fire, we can more effectively approach the defenses," captain Minka suggested, her eyes narrowed on the pillboxes which had since gone silent. No return fire answered the battlegroup unceasing barrage. "But I am of mind with colonel Andren, the Tau appears to be faltering. I can't see any of them manning the defenses."

"Tangmo, you there? Where are you right now dude?" Damien's voice blared across the intercom, his question punctured by heavy bangs of bolter fire.

"The second-tier ramparts," Tangmo tapped his earbud. "We're in the process of deciding what the fuck to do without getting shot to shit."

"I would suggest you maintain position, my main man," Damien said, the grin was clear in his distorted voice. "Me and Subutai just got the western sector clear dude, the third-tier defenses have been completely destroyed, those Tau mofos ain't got shit on us! Anyway, we're heading to the rear of the second-tier now, so you guys hang tight and we can sandwich them blue bastards. What do you say?"

"You're a life saver dude, thank you!" Tangmo held his thumb up to the main characters, most of them more than pleased they won't have to attack a fortified position held by a species famous for range weapons, although the bloodthirsty sorts like Raine and Miriya were disappointed. "I'll keep them busy in the meantime, see you soon dude!"

"Ten minutes tops bro, hang tight!" Damien said chirpily then terminated the transmission.

"Alrighty then, glad we got that cleared up," Tangmo smirked and the guardsmen and eldars laughed lowly. "Now ladies and gents, let's keep the Tau occupied in the meantime. Pin them down, don't give them a chance to breathe. Lay it on those fuckers. And when Damien gets here, we'll sally forth."

A round of the affirmative 'yes sir' answered Tangmo, the Sororitas acknowledging him a few seconds slower than everybody else, not bothering to hide their grievance. The nuns, as always, were very eager for blood.

"I found myself agreeing with captain Lesk's assessment of the situation," Leilatha spoke up when the battlegroup lit the Tau's positions up again, pouring las, shurikens, bolts, rockets and the occasional plasma on the fortifications, and like before no retaliatory fire materialized. Hearing her name mentioned by Leilatha, Minka glanced uneasily at them. "The Tau are not responding to our overture."

"Yeah, that is strange," not wanting her to feel left out, Tangmo nudged his head at Minka, prompting the Cadian captain to approach him with haste and snapped a stiff salute. "Calm down Minka, you're not in trouble. I just need you and your 101st buddies to keep an eye on the Tau, something's not right."

"As you command, lord commissar," Minka saluted but remained standing in front of Tangmo and Leilatha, her face was one of indecision, unsure whether or not to speak what was on her mind in fear of reprisal. Courage won the day though, and Minka squared her shoulders, "permission to speak freely, lord commissar."

"Good ahead Minka," Tangmo nodded.

"If I may, I've seen similar behavior when fighting heretic cultists and Chaos traitors, especially when our forces have them surrounded," Minka told him. "I personally saw something like this when Cadia falls. When defeat seems imminent, the cultists will perform a daemonic ritual in an attempt to call for aide from the Warp. Most were not successful, but the sacraments that did…well, daemons are hard to kill. I believe the Tau could be doing something in the same vein."

"The Tau, as a species, disregard the concept of the Warp and the Webway as nothing but widespread superstitious. They proclaim themselves above such phenomena, trusting instead in their technology, so it seems unlikely that the Tau would be performing any kind of rituals as a form military last resort," Leilatha spoke up, her timbre thoughtful. "But the goddess Isha did mention that their commander is under the influence of the Warp, perhaps they are more infected than we have initially anticipated."

"That's a long shot, but hey, I'm not taking any chances in this fucking galaxy, we already have fucking Chaos Aeldari running around for Christ's sake…"

"Lord commissar, come in," Celestine interrupted Tangmo. "We have an urgent development along the Tau's fortification."

"They're returning fire?" Tangmo braced his lasgun on the rim of his cover, eyes trained down the optic attachment and iron sight. Lights flashed from the pillboxes and ramparts, the violent kaleidoscopic discharges of gunfire, fast in tempo and cadence. Yet no projectiles flew toward the battlegroup, and Tangmo can only tilt his head in confusion because there was obviously a firefight going on inside the Tau's defenses. "Uh, Celestine, what the fuck is going on? Do you have visual?"

"The same as you, I would imagine," Celestine grunted, as perplexed as he was. "Have one of our unit successfully breached their defenses? I've heard nothing from the radio chatters."

"That's a negative, both Henry and Damien are still hold up to the west and north of our position, the Tau are putting up stiff resistance in those sectors," Tangmo skimmed the digital map on his data-pad before shifting his attention back to the fortification. He watched the strobing light for a few minutes more before tapping his earbuds. "All units cease fire, I repeat, cease fire. People are dying over there, but we ain't doing the killing. Maximum alertness but open fire only on my command."

Within thirty second the guns along the battlegroup's line fell silent, every smoking barrel trained at the Tau's defenses. And now that Tangmo and the main characters were not shooting the place to shit, they were able to hear the rattles of weaponries and hectic shouts echoing from within. It took a moment, but Tangmo quickly picked up the telltale screams of pain and despair, he didn't need to speak Tau to know that everything was fucked.

"Umm, Minka?" Tangmo turned to the Cadian captain. "Can you run me through on what exactly happens when those Chaos fuckers starts their freaky ass ritual?"

Minka was opening her mouth when bloodcurdling cries erupted from the Tau's ramparts and pillboxes, coming from several locations at once, managing to mute the distant clamor of war completely for a few seconds. The bestial roars went on without end as muzzle flashes along the Tau's fortification came to an abrupt stop.

"Well sir, it sounded something like that," Minka grunted and hefted her lascarbine up at the ready.

"Yeah, I was afraid you might say that," Tangmo groaned and readied his lasgun. "Fire on my command! Make ready!"

The clicks of priming weapons and shouts rippled across the battlegroup's position when a meaty shape careened down the Tau's four meters tall wall, landing with a wet crunch. It was a Fire Warrior, the first of the many who threw themselves over the ramparts. All of them drenched in blood, fresh and dripping blue blood.

"Crush the Gue'la!" The first Tau that had dropped from the wall, his left leg twisted sickeningly from the botched landing, limbed toward the battlegroup, a pulse pistol pointed at the flabbergasted humans and eldars as the rest of the Fire Warriors surged after him, all in various state of physical damage. "Follow me! Leave none of them alive! For the Greater Good!"

"Forgive me sir, but is this normal?" Krillen scooted next to Tangmo, both their visages were of gapping confusion, "I've read the briefing and the Valhallan's accounts and the Tau are describe as always fighting a defensive war, very rarely do they sally forth to meet the enemy on open ground. This seems contrary to the intels."

"Seriously dude, nothing about this shit is normal," Tangmo said as a pulse bullet struck the cover he and his homies were hiding behind, the projectile was wild off its mark, come to think of it the smattering salvo the Tau were hurling at them lacked the xeno's trademark accuracy. "So…umm, anybody got any ideas? I'm all ears my dudes."

"Simple, we kill them," Leilatha rolled her eyes, adjusted her awesome commissar cap, traded poignant nod with Raine, and drew her bolt pistol. Around her guardsmen and eldars trained their lasguns and shuriken catapults on the Tau lurching blindly across no man's land. "On my mark! Steady…steady…steady…all weapons free, open fire! In the name of the Emperor let none survive!"

It was over in less than a minute and holy shit was the killing epic. The scything barrage of las, shurikens, bolts, meltas and plasma made short work of the lumbering Tau, limbs and entrails flew in sizzling streamers of boiling blue blood, guttural cries terminated into gurgling gasps as fleshes and armors were torn apart by the merciless fusillade.

"Okay people, cease fire, they're all dead and dying, save your ammo," Tangmo tapped his earbuds and after a few more parting shots, most of them coming from the Sororitas, the battlegroup's guns went silent, leaving behind a smoldering six hundred yards of twitching corpses and dying Tau, those unfortunate enough to be in the latter sorts were crawling feebly across the ground. When the smoky residue passed, Tangmo narrowed his eyes on the ramparts, "anything moving along the defenses?"

"I see nothing," Raine pulled the binocular from her face, her expression guarded. "And besides the thermal and radiation output from the power generators, I've detected no activities that would indicate life."

"So far so good," shouldering his lasgun, Tangmo vaulted over his cover and strode forward onto no man's land, the main characters following a couple of seconds later. It was after he stepped over the first few blue corpses that Tangmo exhaled the breath he'd been holding, "looks like this part of the defenses is clear. Demolition team, kindly tear down those walls please, the rest of you maintain position and retain maximum alertness, there could still be hostile lurking around, the Tau are sneaky like that."

Crisp 'yes sir' answered Tangmo as guardsmen and eldars spread out across the killing field, going about finishing off dying Tau or setting up defensive perimeter while the demolition teams, led by sergeant Wyck of the Antari, sprinted for the wall and swiftly got on with the task of planting the explosives. Tangmo honestly expected a volley of pulse bullets to erupt from the ramparts and cut the battlegroup down, or a sniper to headshot his ass, but nothing of the sort happened, so he turned to a dead Tau sprawled at his feet, this one least fucked up compared to his mutilated compatriots, and knelt down.

"Is that a good idea sir?" Xiphos trained his lasgun downward when Tangmo grabbed the Tau's helmet and started yanking.

"The mofo's dead," Tangmo shrugged and, after a few determined pulls, wrenched the helmet off, revealing a dead Tau, mouth agape and unmoving. No horns, no fangs, no extra pairs of eyes, no roiling one meter tongue, huh, everything appears in order, normal and mundane. Craning his head at the gathered main characters, Tangmo pointed at the dead Tau with a grin. "See, nothing to worry about, fucker's nice and dead, and he doesn't appear to be Warp mutated at all."

"Yet the residue remain nonetheless," Celestine came to stand over the corpse and Tangmo got back on his feet, the bloody helmet dangling from his hand.

"You can sense the corruption, lady Saint?" Miriya inquired, prompting her Celestian squad and Firnera's Banshees to stiffen their stance, more than ready if the dead Tau started moving again.

"Like mist yielding to the morning sun," Celestine grunted, stern gaze swept over the carnage around her. "If Isha hadn't mentioned the possibility of Chaos corruption, I might have missed it completely. But now that I know where to look, yes, it is faint but most definitely presence."

"You feel anything coming out of this?" Tangmo handed the battered helmet to Celestine, she took it and started tilting it left and right. "How bad is it?"

"Not bad at all, surprisingly enough," Celestine said and tossed the helmet away. "An apt description would be that of a weak fever that was already breaking. The sickness of the empyrean is there, but in an extremely low quantity, barely perceptible but, as we can see by the Tau's attack, was portent enough to influence their behavior."

"Just so we're clear, they're not gonna mutate and shit, right?" Tangmo asked. "As in, no wings, no claws, no fangs and all those other crazy Chaos crap?"

"Highly unlikely, lord commissar," Celestine snickered but became thoughtful after a moment. "I thought the Tau are unreceptive to the Warp?"

"They're not supposed to be," Tangmo shrugged. "But I don't think anyone or anything can enter the Warp and remain unaffected. Maybe the Tau's dormant latency to the realm of Chaos has been pried open by this latest Sphere of Expansion?"

"A good enough explanation as any, I suppose."

"The bombs are planted, ten seconds, brace yourself!"

At sergeant Wyck's warning Tangmo slipped behind Celestine and clasped his hands over his ears, around him the guardsmen, Aeldari and Battle Sisters crouched down or went prone, ready for the explosive to go off.

"And here I thought you were the chivalrous sort," Celestine was very snarky as the bombs went off, the rattling bangs reverberated across the wall, dust and pieces of rocks and metals flew in every direction. Being the smartass that he was, Tangmo and his awesome commissar coat was spared the worst of the dirt, the Living Saint taking the blunt of the gust.

"You're bigger than me and your armor's better than mine," Tangmo strut up besides Celestine when the blast of smoke rolled passed them and quickly dispersed, wiped his awesome commissar coat clean, and met the Saint's amused quirk of a brow with a dashing smile. "And do you know how hard it is to get the dust off? Hours! And I just got this all nice and clean too."

"It is very good to see that you have your priorities set in all the right places," Celestine grinned and – goddamn it, she just fluttered her wings and send a big ass clump of dust straight at him! Tangmo could only gape, angst, at the large patch of dirty brown now adorning the front of his awesome commissar coat, already dreading the hours he'll have to spend making the black leather shine again. He glared at Celestine, eyes bulging and nostril flaring. The Saint blinked innocently at him and waved the Sororitas forward, herself taking the lead. "We shall take point, lord commissar, try to keep up."

"I'm gonna Thai kick her," Tangmo stared at Celestine's shapely rump, his legs already twitching. "Yeah, I'm totally gonna Thai kick her."

"Sir, I would strongly advice against that course of action," Krillen spoke up sternly, Xiphos backing him with very powerful nod that made the plumes on his Corinthian helm swayed animatedly. Luva and Krix however, had that blank look that pretty much dared him to carry out his threat. "As entertaining as it might be to watch Saint Celestine destroy you, the battlegroup would be greatly diminished with you gone. So please, by all that is holy and sacred to the God Emperor, please refrain from abject stupidity."

"Fine, since you asked me so nicely," Tangmo huffed and was about to lead the guardsmen and eldars down the left corridor when he noticed the circular Tau building in front of him, wisps of greyish black smoke billowed hauntingly from the shattered windows, the glasses stained with blood. Yep, Tangmo knew a big crime scene when he saw one. Slinging the lasgun over his shoulder, Tangmo walked quickly over to Celestine and tapped her shoulder. "Can you come with me to this big building over here? It looks like a command post, and if there's a place where we can get more details, and possibly uncover more freaky Chaos shit, then that's the place. It would be very nice to have you and the Sororitas tag along."

"I agree," Celestine nodded and tapped her earbud. "All unit, proceed on mission, find any remnant of the Tau and their allies and eliminate them. Celestian squads, you're with me."

"All of you are with me," Tangmo drew one of his laspistol and waved for the humans and eldars main characters to follow. "The building's big people, so watch yourself, could be fuckers hiding inside."

Taking the lead, as he always does when breaching a building, Tangmo slipped up beside the slightly ajar door and pressed himself flat against the wall beside it. The guardsmen and eldars formed up into a line behind him, while Celestine and the Celestians mirrored him on the other side of the door.

"Ladies first," Tangmo nudged his head and made sure that his grin was pearly and wide.

"Thank you," Celestine nodded pleasantly, but all joking aside Tangmo and the Saint braced their respective weapons, hunched low, and fixed their gazes on the door. "Ready?"

"On three," Tangmo coiled his finger around the trigger and tightened his hand around the grip. "One…two…!"

It was, by all description, one of the coolest shits Tangmo had ever done in the 40k universe. Their movement synchronized, Tangmo and Celestine burst through the door together, the Thai commissar did an awesome tactical roll across the floor and sprang back up into a crouch, the Desert Eagle laspistol pointed forward, while the Saint, her radiant wings unfurled, flew silently in beside him, Godwyn bolter sweeping the interior.

"Left clear!" Tangmo yelled.

"Right clear!" Celestine shouted as the main characters rushed in after them, spreading out to encompass every corner of the room, finding nothing but busted up furniture and unmoving blue corpses. Lowering her bolter, Celestine turned to Tangmo and extended her hand down to him, the wings on her back fading away to white, glittering mist. "Need a hand?"

"Thanks," Tangmo took the offered help, because who in the hell would pass up a chance to touch Saint Celestine? When he got up on his feet, Tangmo glanced around the circular room and whistled at the absolute dog shit condition it was in. "Holy crap…not gonna lie, I did not expect this."

"Are Tau normally this violent?" Celestine asked as she and Tangmo strode deeper into the interior, toward a large cluster of computer consoles which were still working despite being adorned liberally with bullet holes and blood.

"No, they're not," Tangmo wrecked his brain thinking back to the Black Library novels that featured the Tau and their many codexes, and nope, he can never recall the blue xenos ever being portray as barbaric, murderous psychopaths. Nuance in their cruelty and manipulation, sure, but never batshit violent. So it was not an understatement to say that the messy charnel houses they've stepped into, decorated obscenely with copious amount of dead bodies and dismembered limbs, intersperse with rivulet of thick cobalt blood, was shocking to behold.

"Evidence seems to suggest otherwise," Leilatha joined him with Raine and Celalira, weapons held at the ready as guardsmen, Battle Sisters and eldars spread out across the room, lasguns, bolters and shuriken catapults sweeping the carnage.

"This is a hundred percent not normal," Tangmo said, making sure to stare at every dead Tau he came across for several seconds before stepping over them. Hey, he needed to be sure they won't go zombie on his ass. "Tau are cut and dry dude, they shoot us and that's the end of that. I mean the Kroots do this shit, but do you see any dead Kroots around here? Nah man, the Tau turned on each other or something."

"That seems the most likely explanation," Celalira flipped a Tau over with her Singing Spear, sneering in distaste at the multiple ragged wounds carved across his terrified visage. "The fight we witness beforehand, it wasn't against any of our forces, it was amongst the Tau themselves. I would advise extreme cautious, the sickness of the empyrean could be more potent than we thought."

"I feel nothing to suggest that we're in any immediate danger, but you are correct, we must remain vigilant," Celestine spoke up and Celalira nodded in agreement.

"The only question that remains now is what caused this altercation in the first place."

"Fio'Ui? Fio, come in!"

An urgent voice blared from the computer console, interrupting Raine, the timbre was that of another Tau, a very concern Tau, causing the main characters within the vicinity to close in around the communication device, all barrels pointed forward. Trading looks with Leilatha, Raine, Celestine and Celalira, Tangmo shrugged and walked up to the radio, the design almost identical to human's machine, picked up the wireless walkie-talkie, and pressed the button at the top.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but Fio can't make it to the radio right now," Tangmo said, "on the account of he or she being dead."

"Dead," the Tau on the other end gasp, his voice cracking, but when he spoke again it was filled with rage. "You Gue'la scum…you killed her!"

"Hey man, I always take credit when killing shit, but this time I have to raise an objection to that statement," Tangmo leaned against the busted up computer console, legs cross, a douchey grin carved across his face. The main characters laughed lowly and dropped whatever it was they were doing to watch Tangmo being, well, Tangmo, much to the charging of Raine, Celestine and Celalira. "Yeah, the thing is, everybody was dead by the time we got here."

"Impossible!" The Tau responded heatedly. "You lying bastard, it was you who did the killing!"

"No we didn't," Tangmo shook his head. "Honest to the God Emperor everyone inside the command post already kicked the bucket dude. And let me tell you, it was not pretty, fucking place looks like Jason Vorhees just threw a big ass party and Leatherface, Michael Myers and Chucky decided to drop by."

"What?!" The Tau demanded, of course the filthy xeno wouldn't get the reference.

"Okay, all joking aside," Tangmo got serious, his visage deadly grim. "I really need to understand what is going on with you people. Why are all of you acting like a buncha lunatics? Was the little half ass Warp jump you dipshits did too much to handle? Tell me, are you sacrificing goats and lambs to the daemons yet?"

"You spew nothing but nonsense!" The Tau barked a very awkward laugh, more to hide his failing emotion than anything. "Daemons?! Ha! Only a lowly species like mankind can conjured such stupid superstitious!"

"Look, I know Tau hubris is reaching Aeldari level in recent days, but we're not making this shit up," Tangmo shot back, Celalira and the eldars groaned loudly in the background. "The entire garrison just fucking vaulted over their defenses to run screaming across no man's land at us, and judging by how fucked the command post is, this was right after they killed their own people. Dude, something is very wrong with you people, so I would suggest that you unfuck yourself before some bigger, apocalypse grade disaster descend on all of us."

"Save your breath, Gue'la," the Tau seethed, his harsh enunciation, coming in long hisses through gritted teeth, sounded decidedly daemonic. "You will pay for what you have done. I will kill you, for Fio, for the lives you've taken today. Mark my words, in the name of the Greater Good I shall reap your blood as payment for your crime."

Static blared from the walkie-talkie as the Tau terminated the transmission, Tangmo quirked an emotionless brow and tossed the communication device away nonchalantly.

"Well, that was fucking rude," Tangmo snorted and glanced at the mostly intact computer console, the monitors still functioning despite the severe gunshot and blunt wounds. "Where's Meko? Hey yo, Meko, come here for a sec."

"What do you need sir?" Meko strode up to him and stood at attention.

"I need you to hack into the Tau's computers, they are mostly intact and I think the data should be salvageable," Tangmo said. "Can you do that?"

"Of course sir, I'll do what I can," Meko saluted and waved over his squad, all of them swiftly went about dismantling the computers, carefully removing mainboards and connecting it with the data-pads, while some went to the keyboards and punched in lines of code.

"Is Vivian here by any chance?" Tangmo glanced around the room.

"How can I be of service, lord commissar?" The Cyborg Sororitas of the Avenging Knight waved at Tangmo.

"There are Tau drones scattered all over the place," Tangmo pointed at one such machine lying at Krillen's feet. "Some of them are bound to have cameras that were, hopefully, recording what the fuck happens to this place. Can you salvage the files?"

"Should be possible if the damages are not too severe," Vivian nodded and the Sororitas under her command started retrieving the drones. "I'll let you know if we find anything."

"Much obliged," Tangmo tipped his awesome commissar cap at her.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Celalira asked.

"Clear the building and maintain position," Tangmo tapped his earbud and gave a pleased grunt, "because if the radio chatters are anything to go by, the battle on the surface is more or less over, the Tau are in full retreat."

"A swift victory," Celestine said and a pleased murmur rippled across the room.

"Rest up while you can," Tangmo grinned mischievously at Celestine, "because the real fight begins after this."