Tentatio Proditor

[Dan296]

7 years after the Battle for Ilano Primus

Sister Nimue stood guard outside the Barrack-Temple of the Order of the Ardent Soul, on the world of Baetica. She was a member of the ancient society of Adeptus Sororitas, warrior-woman of the Ecclesiarchy and of the Ordos Heraticus of the Emporers Inquisition.
She was clad in ornate gold and white power armour, among the best protection the imperium could provide, covered by sky blue robes.
Another sister came out to join her.
"Greetings Cannoness, what news?"
"Greetings Nimue. Still no news from our patrols. Communications are still down, though the short range vox-casters are still operational. I dont like this."
"What of the Astropath, is the witch still sickly?"
"Aye," replied Katrina, the Cannoness, with a grim face, "the witch mutters in his sleep about scratching, or clawing, or some such nonsense. when he is awake he speaks more nonsense of something covering up his connection to the warp, but what could do that?"
"I've heard stories of Tyranid invasions that would cut off entire sectors, but not until the xenos attacked. Or right before it. I would be much more comfortable about this if we could contact Governer Gruul."

On the horizon, a plume of dust rose from the grassy plains. "A patrol returning most likely, but you never know. call out Squad Luka," ordered Katrina. Nimue voxed the barracks, and shortly afterwords 10 sisters, lead by Sister Luka, quick-marched toward the gate. The precaution was not needed, and in half an hour a Sororitas Rhino pulled in front of the gate. Squad Breya filed out of the side hatch. "Greetings Breya, it seems my caution was for naught. For this I am glad. Luka, return to the barracks, Squad Breya, come with me for debreifing."
they made their way through the archways into the main hall of the complex. Inside, servitors and Ecclisiarchy serfs worked on the communications problem that had plagued the fort for a week.
Breya started her report, "Sister, it is not little that I have to say. Foul Xenos have landed on this, the Emporers world. They are Tau, of the water caste. a small ship landed less then a week ago and they talk with the governer of trade and other dealings that we cannot allow. When we reached the capital city, Granslund, they had already landed. we marched into the meeting hall of the palace, were they were already in conferance. short of killing all of the foul xenos, as we should have done, we told them that under order of the Adeptus Terra and the Eccilsiarchy this world belonged to the Emperor and the Imperium of Man, and that no Xenos could offer anything that we could not already have through the Emperor. Gruul was greatly angered, but we made him see sense. After all, the threat of the Inquisition does much to weaklings such as him."

[Dan296]

Katrina, after hearing Breya’s report, paced inside her Abbess cell. She had read about this rising power in the east, the Tau. They had overrun many Imperial worlds in the eastern fringe, though their advanced weaponry was not as deadly as their heretical socialist doctrine. Entire worlds had thrown away their oaths of loyalty to the Emperor and pledged loyalty to the fledgling empire. “For the greater good,” sneered Katrina. “The Tau will infect this planet and turn it unless we can stop them.” She exited her cell and walked toward the command center.
“Katrina to all squad leaders. Prepare your charges, make ready for battle.” She turned to a serf attending one of the communications arrays. “You there, has anything progressed with the long range voxes?”
“No milady,” he replied, “and the astropath still is incoherent.”
“Perfect…”

Inside the Chapel-Barracks, the sisters donned their armour, cleaned their weapons, and said the prescribed prayers over their wargear. The walls of the barracks were covered in devotional texts and lenities of faith. Purity seals dotted the ornate power armour that the sisters wore. They made their way through the complex and to the gates.
Katrina stood at the gates, waiting. She held her double bladed power axe at her shoulder, and with her free hand felt the symbol of the Ecclisiarchy wrapped around her waist by dozens of black adamantium beads. Each sister had one, and a bead represented 1, 10, or in the veteran sisters, 100 acts of faith towards the emperor. She began addressing the crowd of Sororitas. “Sisters, xenos have touched this, the Emperors world.” Cries of disbelief and calls for the aliens deaths rang out. “Good! Let your righteous anger flow through you, guiding your arm as you pluck out the unfaithful from the Emperors sight. We move on Granslund, to secure it before the foul Tau move in. For the Emperor!”
The gatehouse rang with cries of, “For the Emperor!” from the assembled throng. The squads marched to the Order’s armory, where inside the vehicle park awaited.
6 rhino APCs and 3 immolators revved to life, and the Sororitas complex emptied of its sacred warriors.

They had been making their way to the capital city of Granslund for two days. Much could have happened since Breya’s squad had thrown out the alien envoy more then a week ago. “Honoured Cannoness, this is Serf Karye at the Chapel-Barracks. The long range vox is fully functional, as you can see.”
“Good work technician.” Said Katrina.
“Not all is well, however. Astropath Gorten has gone to the Emperors side.”
“What? How could this be!”
“In the last minutes of his life, the witch was crying, ‘They are everywere, clawing my mind! The warp itself has been silenced by their mere shadow!’ He foamed at the mouth and eventually his mind shut down. What do you think this could mean?”
“I don’t know. I must confer with the inquisition once I have the chance. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Katrina out.”
Katrina was deeply troubled by this recent turn of events. The Tau had advanced technology, to be sure, but nothing on this scale. There was no way they could block, or kill, psykers when they themselves were blunts, with no presence in the warp at all.
“My Lady, we approach Granslund.”

[Dan296]

Inquisitor Malekai stood aboard his cruiser, the Sentry. It was a converted Imperial navy escort, which he retrofitted with more powerful warp drives, heavy armour, and four torpedo tubes. The ship currently orbited Laerta, Baetica’s largest moon. It was unpopulated save for an inquisitorial fortress. Apparently the local residents were uncomfortable living near the Emperors servants.
Sentry had been unable to contact the world for three weeks, about a week before the Tau arrived. Malekai suspected Xenos sympathizers had sabotaged the vox systems, though he still wondered why the astropath was unable to contact anyone. “Shows us the folly of trusting such witches,” Malekai said to himself.
The Tau fleet that had appeared in the system was gargantuan. Several colony ships, a dozen smaller ships that looked like escorts, and even a huge capital ship. A tiny inquisitor ship like the Sentry had no chance against such a force. Malekai was concerned about the fate of the Sororitas on Baetica.

“Governor Gruul. I see you disregarded our warnings.”
Katrina, accompanied by Breya and her warriors, stood in the audience chamber of the Gruul’s palace. The Governer himself, a huge ex-general, was joined by Tau and human envoys who whispered around him. Gruul had had an eye put out in some long gone battle. “Ah, Cannoness. So good to see you again. Its been a long time, hasn’t it?”
“Long enough, it seems, for you to throw away the Emperors blessings and welcome these foul xenos into your home!”
Gruul smiled, replying “Come now. The Tau simply want to trade! They have no ideas of taking Baetica. What use would needless fighting be? We should work together with them. For the greater good, you see?”
Katrina gasped. “Do you see what you are saying? They are taking over your mind. Soon you will hand over the defense of the Baetica, then Baetica itself over to the damned xenos!”
Gruul took a step forward, scowling, “Cannoness, you will not insult my guests this way. Guards! Escort the Sororitas out!”

Hatches opened in the sides of the audience chamber, and PDF forces filed out. Katrina turned around, and walked out, Breya’s squad following. Outside the palace, the rest of the convoy of Sororitas awaited. Katrina turned to them and said, “Gruul is lost to the Xenos. We have to withdraw, and rendezvous with Malekai. We are going to the starport and commandeering some shuttles. Move out!”
An hour later, they arrived at a munitions factory starport, where a huge cargo transport was being loaded up. The loading dock was being guarded by, Katrina noted with fury, Tau Fire warriors.
“Trading I see. Of course. Sororitas, keep moving!”
As they neared, the Tau sentries waved for them to stop. Katrina’s rhino, in the lead, pulled alongside the sentries. Katrina kicked open the side hatch.
The Tau spoke in nasely high gothic, “You there, human, do you have authorization to pass here?”
Katrina unholstered her bolt pistol and pressed it to the Tau’s temple. Beside her, Breya and her warriors stepped out of the hatches, bolters ready. The Tau leader cowered in fear, and his men backed off. “We are taking this transport. Try to stop us again and you will die.” She kicked the legs out from under the Tau, and waved her warriors on.

The servitors loading the huge transport were scattered. The Sororitas made room inside for the rhino APCs and immolators inside. Dozens of crates were scattered, and the Lasguns, grenades, food supplies, and other such supplies spilled out inside the cargo hold. Katrina walked inside into the bridge, were two servitor-pilots were hard-wired into the ship. “Prepare for takeoff.”
The hatches slammed close, and the engines whined to life. Outside, the Tau sentries opened fire on the transports bridge. Pulse fire glanced off of the ships plating, the small arms no use against the gargantuan transport. The plasma drives flared into life, and the engine wash flamed over the fire warriors, and incinerated them. Katrina, watching, turned to Breya and said “A fitting purging for the xenos. We must get into contact with Malekai. Pilots, make for Laerta.”
Breya grabbed Katrina’s shoulder and said “Mistress, what of the complex? The Shrine? We must recover our artifacts and the Order’s serfs before the tau annihilate it.”
“I am well aware of that Breya. We have more pressing matters first.”

[Dan296]

The gargantuan transport burst through the upper atmosphere of the planet. In the clear vacuum of space Katrina and her commanders could clearly see the tau fleet orbiting high above the planet. Shoals of the monstrous Manta transports swarmed around the larger ships. The Tau clearly expected the transport and made no attempt to stop them.
“That does not bode well for us,” remarked Katrina.
“Ma’am?”
“This is an imperial transport, Breya, carrying goods for imperial troops. It was guarded by Tau forces, not PDF or Arbites as you would expect. They are making no moves to stop us, so they obviously expected us. You know that the tau incorporate human auxiliary troops, of course. So this fleet has been moving from the Tau empire through imperial space to here, and along the way have annexed human worlds. Plus, they must have sent human envoys before the main fleet, why else would this ship be prepared already? They couldn’t have arrived sooner then two weeks ago. That’s not enough time to prepare supplies for a transport of this size.”
“By the Emperor….we have to reach Inquisitor Malekai. But when we go off course, wont the Tau realize this?”
“Not necessarily Breya, they haven’t given us escorts as you can see, and Malekai is no doubt stealthing around Laerta in the Sentry. We can land near the inquisitor’s fortress, and transfer our warriors and any useful supplies we might find on the ship. Once we rendezvous we can discuss further plans.”
“Agreed,” replied Breya.

The cargo ship made its way through space toward Laerta. The moon, which had no atmosphere, was little more then bare rock littered with astral dibris and craters. the only human presence on the moon was the fortress-home of Inquisitor Malekai, of the Ordo-heraticus, his personal retinue, and the 50 inquisitorial stormtroopers allotted to him.
Malekai himself was quite tall, a well built man with a graying beard and peircing blue eyes. Over 85, he had taken juve treatments that made him appear much younger then he was. A feircsome warrior as well as skilled interrogator, he was the bane of any heratic or traitor to the imperium. He had close relations with the Order of the Ardent Soul, who accompanied him on the majority of his missions while his stormtroopers oversaw the fortress and the Sororitas chapel-barracks on the planet.
Malekai had taken all personell from the fortress and into the Sentry, ready to flee if the tau made moves toward the moon. No doubt the traitor xenos-loving son of a grox governer had already informed the alien scum of his presence on Laerta.
"Sir, there is an Maccrage class cargo vessel approuching. They are not in long-vox range yet. orders?"
"Charge weapons and stand by. It could be Tau, or loyal imperial forces that know of our presence fleeing the planet. Perhaps even the Sororitas escaping, though if it is, the Tau will regret letting Katrina escape. we will not let this heresy pass."

*side note: i notice how a full page and a half of writing in microsoft word seems like a short post here *

[Dan296]

“Hail the Inquisitors ship. Replace the Adeptus Terra signal with our own so they know it is us,” ordered Katrina.

“Lord Malekai, the cargo vessel is hailing us. They are using the Sororitas’ code! They have escaped the planet!”
“Excellent,” replied Malekai, “patch them in.”
A picture of the transports bridge appeared before Malekai. Katrina stood in front of two servitor-pilots, with several of her warriors behind her. “Greetings Inquisitor.”
“Greetings my lady. I am glad to see you are well.”
“And yourself. I have fortunately brought with me almost all of the Order. We were caught unawares, and luckily had moved in force. The Ecclisiarchy serfs and several sisters are still on the surface, not to mention the relics, weapons, and supplies in the complex. I wish to take a smaller party back down to retrieve these.”
Malekai’s smiled faded, and he remarked, “I will send a shuttle to bring you aboard, were we can discuss this further.”

“It is absolutely out of the question! By the Emperor the planet is under xenos control! You will be slaughtered!”
“Our most holy relics are on the surface! Saint Lucia’s armour! The bones of the martyred sisters! The Sword of Briana! You would want us to abandon these things? As well as the remaining sisters? This is an insult! I will not allow this!”
“You forget yourself cannoness. I am a member of the Inquisition, and thus your superior! Don’t make…” Malekai stopped himself, and sat down. “Katrina, please. I have been your friend and comrade for almost two decades now. Your pain is my pain, believe me. This insult to the Emperor shall not be forgotten, but for now we must swallow our pride and withdraw to gather our strength. Now. By the authority of the Emperors Holy inquisition I am ordering you, Cannoness, to follow the Sentry in a warp jump to the Cardinal world of Okassis. There we will meet with Ecclisiarchy representatives and hopefully Ordo Heraticus inquisitors. Do you understand?”
Katrina hesitated, then snapped to attention, and said “Yes sir! Understood.” She turned to leave, but Malekai continued, “Oh, and Katrina? Did you by chance bring an astropath? It would be odd, but I know you were assigned one. My witch has been acting strangely and is unable to send or receive any messages.”
“No,” she replied, “ours was acting the same way. In fact, he went into uncontrollable seizures and died! It was very disturbing. We burnt his corpse in case of deamonic corruption.”
“Hmmm, this doesn’t sound deamonic. I’ve read reports of such things before, I will look into it. Thank you, you are dismissed.” With that, he turned toward a logic-engine terminal and began his search for answers.

[Dan296]

A day later, preparations for warp jumps were almost complete. Tech adepts from the Sentry had been sent over to the transport, which had been renamed the Vengeance, to prepare the warp engines for a jump. Okassis, as the closest powerful world of any imperial faction, was the perfect destination. As they prepared for the voyage, the Tau fleet spread throughout the system. The ships had barely escaped notice from patrols of Manta’s several times, and now a large Tau force moved toward the moon.
“Damn the machine spirit, we need to leave now!” Malekai yelled.
A tech priest stood stubbornly in front of the plasma drives, swinging a pot of incense.
“If we do not appease the machine spirit then the engines or void shield generators may fail mid-jump, exposing us to deamons of the warp who shall pick our souls clean. Neither you nor I want that to happen, so this must be done.”
“Deamons are the least of our problems now. How much longer will this take?”
“An hour longer, no more.”
“Good.”

“Lord Malekai, the Tau fleet is within scanner range. They’ve spotted us.”
“What are they?”
“One Hero class, several Orca gunships, and a dozen Manta gunships.”
The Sentry, as a modified escort, was more then a match for the Orca and Mantas, but a Hero class was a ship of the line, almost as powerful as the Luna class cruisers. Vengeances had a few meager turbo-lasers, but no ordinance to speak of.
“Can we outrun them?”
“Yes,” replied the adept, “but the Vengeance is far too slow. I have an idea, though, sir.”
“Speak.”
“We can fly low above the planet, and the defense auto-lasers at the fortress will open fire on the Tau vessels. Of course, they will then know of the fortress.”
“Then that is unacceptable. How much time do we have until the Tau reach us?”
“Approximately 15 minutes.”
“Vox the armory. Ask if we have any vortex or EMP torpedoes.”
The adept did so. “We have two Vortex torpedoes, no EMP.”
“Excellent. Withdraw to the jump point, load both vortex torpedoes into the stern tubes. We will give the xenos a goodbye they will not soon forget.”

The two imperial ships lept forward, all ahead full. The Tau ships, seeing that the chase was on, sped to the attack. The Hero opened fire with its long range lances.
“Hah! Without their markerlights the Tau pilots are as bad as the fire warriors,” remarked Katrina, aboard the Vengance.
“Mistress, the inquisitor voxed us. He says that he is prepared for a warp jump, and wishes to know if we are as well.
“Yes, we are.”

The two ships sped forward while the Tau gained. The smaller gunships opened fire now. Plasma bombs glanced off of the Sentry’s void shield, but almost breached the less-powerful shields of the cargo vessel.
“Open fire with everything except the vortex torpedoes. Draw their attention away from the Vengeance. If their shields are breached and we jump, they will all die!”

Lance fire raced out, punching through the light armor of the Tau escort vessels. An Orca was smashed amidships. The engines detonated, and the ship was blown in half. The tightly packed formation scattered to avoid the wreckage. Another manta was caught on the left wing and vanished into a huge explosion. One Orca, trying to maneuver away from the explosions, caught the side of Manta and crushed the side of it.
The Navigator aboard the Sentry shouted, “Inquisitor! We have reached the jump point!”
“Weapons teams, target the big Tau ship with the vortex torpedoes and open fire! Navigator, warp jump as soon as they are away!
Two torpedoes, each the size of a land raider, popped out of the rear ordinance tubes. Huge, oversized rockets fired, propelling the rockets at several hundred kilometers per second. Meanwhile, a rent appeared in the fabric of space in front of the Sentry and Vengeance. The huge warp drives burst into life, and the ships vanished into the warp, the rent closing behind it.
The two vortex torpedoes swerved in and out of the gunship formation and slammed into the port side of the Hero class ship. No explosion sounded, only a rapidly expanding, black as night orb. Like a black hole, it disintegrated everything it touched. The ship decompressed explosively and the entire bridge vanished forever. The expanding vortex caught two Mantas that lingered beside the mortally wounded Hero. Then as suddenly as they had appeared, the vortexes collapsed in upon themselves. More sectors of the Hero decompressed, and its punished plasma drives finally failed spectacularly, taking a crippled Orca along with it in its death throes. The remaining gunships scattered, fleeing back to the fleet.

[Templar Mikeel]

Nice job. I really like how you described the vortex torpedos.

[Dan296]

They traveled in the warp for what seemed like three weeks. When they burst out, finally, they discovered that they arrived a day after they had left, in real space.
Katrina and her commanders were aboard the Sentry, and had left sister Luka to command the Vengance.
“Breya, have you seen the inquisitor lately? We have arrived at Okassis and I do not have the clearance codes to land.”
“I will go to his quarters to look. If he is in there, he will not return a message on the vox.”
Breya made her way through the ship to the highest point, an observatory platform that Malekai had converted into his personal quarters. Though small and simply adorned, when she entered almost all of the surfaces were covered in scrolls, data crystals, and logic-engine readouts. Amidst the chaos, Malekai sat pouring over a text. He looked disheveled and had not shaved in a week. He had taken off his robes and was clothed only in a black vest and pants. He didn’t look up as she entered. “Inquisitor?” she said cautiously, “we are out of the warp. We have arrived at Okassis and Cannoness Katrina needs the clearance codes to land.”
“that doesn’t make sense”
“Sir?”
“there are three known things that can cause astropaths and other witches to act as the ones we observed did. Nicassar attacks can do this, and Tau have these xenos in their fleets, but I observed no Nicassar ships. And anyway they need to be close enough to be seen to do such damage. Large concentration of H’rud can cause psychic feedback that will fry any psykers brain, but of course we were in space when my astropath died. That’s impossible then. That leaves one thing.” With this he threw the book into a pile of data-slates, knocking them across the floor. Malekai stood up and stomped across the room and began donning his robes and high-collared cape.
“Sir?”
“what?” said Malekai, turning around swiftly.
“The third possible cause. Of the witches deaths.” Replied Breya timidly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I must discuss this with Ordos Xenos members. They surely can provide an explanation, because the third thing is surely impossible. The third possible cause that I know of is……Tyranids....”
The word hung heavy in the air. worlds stripped to bare minimum in days, entire crusades destroyed and converted into more alien monstrosities.

Malekai and Breya headed for the bridge. the inquisitor entered the codes to acess the Okassis inquisitorial landing dock. "All ahead full! make haste for the Cardinal world."

[Dan296]

Months passed. They arrived at the cardinal world two weeks after leaving Baetica. After Katrina and her warriors made their report to the inquisitorial council, as convened by Malekai, they visited the many cathedrals and shrines to the sororitas, past and present. One day, they came upon one that they did not expect. A tiny chapel, almost unnoticeable amongst the gross splendor of the gargantuan palace of the planet’s Cardinal. It honored the fallen of Ilano Primus. Outside stood two statues, a Sororita and an Astarte. No pilgrims shuffled in and out of this small shrine. Katrina and her warriors, however, went to this place every day. Without the sacrifice of the two warriors that stood an eternal vigil outside of it, Breya, the former Cannoness, and Mortimer, a chaplain of the Revilers, none of them would be alive today. The shrine was maintained by the only civilian survivors of that great battle, and Katrina honored them greatly.
Malekai, too visited the shrine once, but the inquisitorial council about Baetica took most of his time.
“But that makes no sense milord, the Nicassar were too far off. We saw their Dhow escorts, but they were at the edge of the system! There must be some other explanation.” Malekai stood before the council, which was made of two inquisitor lords from each of the three main orders, Heraticus, Malleus, and Xenos. Lord Grimwuld, of the Xenos, had suggested that the reason the astropaths had died was, of course, the Nicassar. The space-bound psykers of immense power. Almost all were Alpha-level, but for some reason none would fall to deamonic incursion. “Lord Grimwuld,” spoke the other Xenos Inquisitor, a Lord Arca, “there is another alien with such a power.” He turned to the rest of the council. “You all know of which I speak. The ones of Behemoth, Leviathan, and Kraken. Tyranids! Another Hive Fleet approaches Beatica! Now there are two situations. It could be a small fleet, and in which case the Astropaths could only be hurt by the Shadow in the Warp if their invasion was imminent. If it is a large fleet, then they could do such damage from a long way off. Do any of you know of anyone that has tried to contact the Baetica system, or surrounding systems?” Noone spoke. “Of course you don’t. Because although the system does contain inquisitorial forces, it is still in a backwater area of the eastern fringe. The Shadow in the Warp advanced unnoticed. Perhaps this new fleet is a splinter of Behemoth that advanced such ages ago. It could have followed the Tau for all we know. It does not matter now. It must be destroyed! Alien multitudes of many kinds now advance from the fringe. Tyranid and Tau. We must announce a crusade!”
Malekai rose again “I agree, the threat is undoubtedly Tyranids, and although noone has gone on the offensive against Tyranids before, we have always let them come to us. But now, we must take up the sword and bolter, and we must make haste.”
Grimwuld spoke “Let us vote. In favor of a crusade?” Arca, Malekai, both Heraticus lords, and a Malleus Lord raised their hands. “Very well then. A crusade. We must send a message to Holy Terra for the High lords to ratify this, and if so, we must make more preparations for the war.”

[Inquisitor Rosenadel]

hm, an offensive against the Tyranids, eh? I think only the Ultramarines have ever pulled this off successfully, to my knowledge.

Good story! I like how you explored the possible reasons for an astroparth burn-out. I didn't know about the two other than Tyranids.

And just out of curiosity, what does Tentatio Proditor mean?

[Dan296]

dam you rosenedal youre giving away the story
it means attack the traitor, because attack the alien sounded stupid in latin

[Templar Mikeel]

Thats something new. Cool too. A crusade against a space-bound race. How often has that been atempted?

Rosendel.

[Dan296]

The message was sent to Terra, and within a week the High Lords replied. “Only once has a crusade against the xenos known as ‘Tyranids’ been carried out successfully. However, crusades against these ‘Tau’ have been successful and often. It is our opinion that such a task is of the utmost importance to the future protection of the imperium. The Baetica Crusade is approved. The Adeptus Terra have promised five imperial guard regiments of your own discretion, along with sufficient supplies for as long as needed. Any Adeptus Astarte chapters are welcome to join you. Three Ordos Xenos Deathwatch teams are being dispatched to your position. The Officio Assasinorum regrets to say that no operatives are available at this time. Battlefleet Ultima forces are available in a limited quantity. Thought of the day: “Listen not to the alien, Look not upon the alien, Speak not unto the alien.”
Malekai and Arca, the inquisitors who were given temporary command of the crusade, soon went about requisitioning troops for the grand crusade. They already had under their command the Ardent Soul and 500 Inquisitorial Storm Troopers. Five Imperial guard regiments were soon taken into their command. The Sratonian Armoured Regiment under Colonal Balle, and the Parak VII Hive Gangers under Captain Yusuf. The two remaining regiments volenteered to join. The Calth 2nd and Quintairn 9th were from Ultramar, but were joined by a portion of Ultramarines under Brother-Seargant Lukas. Lukas had command of all Ultramar troops. The final imperial force to join were some old friends, that would never forgive Malekai for not inviting them.
“Chapter Master! It is good to see you again!” said Malekai. “The same to you, Malekai. How long since Ilano, Eight years? Not long for us but long enough.” Chapter Master Certo. “And my lady Katrina, Cannoness! I am glad that the Ardent Soul could join us. Truly the Emperor is on our side.”
“Certo…have you not heard as to why this crusade was started?” Said Katrina, no longer smiling.
“Not the full story, just that the Baetica system was overrun by Tau and that there are also signs of a Tyranid Splinter fleet. Why?”
“The Ardent Soul was stationed on Baetica. Inquisitor Malekai’s fortress was on one of its moons. We barely escaped the Tau invasion alive. It was we who warned the Imperium.”
“Come Certo, we will say the full story to the gathered commanders later. We must discuss the war plans.”

The Baetica Crusade was underway. Setting off from the Cardinal world of Okassis. Katrina looked out of the Sentry’s observation deck to look at the magnificence of the gathered imperial war fleet. 14 transport vessels, in which the five guard regiments were housed, along with their tanks, scouts, command vessels, and most of their supplies. Then the Dark Redemption, the Battle Barge of the Revilers and two strike cruisers followed right behind the Sentry. In the black Astartes fleet were most of the first company and much of the third company, veterans of Ilano Primus and thousands of other conflicts. They were also housing a veteran warrior that Katrina knew well. Venerable-brother Mortimer had demanded that he be taken along, and Certo gladly gave him a place.
The Ultramarines were more fleet heavy, with four strike cruisers. Though their total ground forces were less then a quarter of the second companies total strength, the ones under Seargant Lukas were the ones most heavily trained in boarding actions and could be counted on to possibly take the fight to the heart of the Tyranid fleet. They knew that the Tyranids had to be destroyed in space before they could be beaten on land. Battlefleet Ultima had given much of their current forces, including one Emperor class battleship, seven Falchion cruisers, and more then forty Dauntless class light cruisers and sword escorts. The silent heroes of any imperial war effort followed behind the war fleet, dozens mass produced Adeptus Terra supply ships and tanker ships. They contained everything from lasguns, grenades of all shapes and sizes, tank shells of all shapes and sizes, food, water, fuel, bolt shells, lascannon charges, everything that the crusade could ever need was in there. and soon they would need it all.

[Dan296]

*FYI, i would reread the last chapter cause i changed a couple of things around. JSYK!*


The half dozen imperial navy scouts exited the warp at the edge of the Baetica system, close to the ****hest planet from the sun, an uninhabited ball of rock. The pilot of one ship to the captain and asked, “Sir, was this always a dead planet?”
“Yes, it was. Why do you ask?”
“I thought it might mean that the Tyranids had overrun the system already and moved on. That the crusade was heading to the wrong place.”
“We don’t know that that isn’t true yet. Let’s move on, there’s nothing here.”
The next planet, an industrial world, swarmed with Tau vessels. The one after was the same. The entire system was untouched by Tyranids, but Tau had a firm hold.
“Go to the rear of the sun. There may be more around there.”
The engines flared to life as the scout vessel whipped through the system. “Sir, I’m reading some sort of anomaly. On the scanners, a huge cloud-like thing. It resembles a nebula but much smaller. What could it be?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t seen anything like that ever before. Hold on…wait…its coming into view!”


“Lord Inquisitors! The scouts have sent a message.”
“Read it,” ordered Lord Arca.
“To the masters of the Baetica Crusade. Spacebound Xenos spotted, confirmed ‘Tyranids.’ Large numbers for splinter fleet, though less then any major invasion. Markings similar to Behemoth, most likely splinter fleet, as suspected. Probes sent into tyranid swarm sent no readings and did not return. We will wait at the edge of the system and await your arrival. Over, out.”
“Arca, we must present this to the council,” said Malekai, “now that it is confirmed that we face Tyranids, we must discuss strategy.”


Inquisitor Malekai stood at the head of the council and started, "I think all of us should re-introduce ourselves to each other. State your name, rank and command please. I am Lord Inquisitor Malekai of the Ordo Heraticus, associate of the Order of the Ardent Soul."
Another man stood, in a long black greatcoat, unnadorned except for an Imperial Aquila at his lapel and a mace buckled at his waist. "I am Lord Inquisitor Arca of the Ordo Xenos, commander of all Inquisitorial Storm Troopers."
At the far edge of the table a big brute of a man stood up. He had on an orange vest and ragged, green pants, though both were almost covered with various straps and harnasses, to which many different weapons and supplies were strapped to his person. In a nasely voice, typical of people who had only recently been sleep-taught high-gothic. “Hey. Parak Seventh Hive Militia, Captain Yusuf.” He sat down and glanced at Katrina and winked at her.
Katrina stood next, stating “I am Canoness Katrina, of the Order of the Ardent Soul, also in command of Sister Hospitalitor posts.” She turned around and looked at Yusuf, who grinned, and backhanded him across the face, sending him sprawling against the wall. The rest of the council, save for Arca, burst into laughter as the sputtering ganger, who looked back at Katrina and wilted under her iron gaze. The rest of the council introduced themselves as well. Kratonian Armoured Regiment under Colonal Balle, the Calth 2nd, Quintairn 9th, both worlds in the Ultramar realm, and roughly 50 Ultramarines, all under Brother-Seargant Lukas. Finally, Chapter-Master Certo of the Revilers, with a large portion of the first company, known as the Shadow Hunters.
“So it is true. The spawn of Behemoth still lives,” spoke Seargant Lukas, of the Ultramarines, “those that touched the soil of Macragge! By Guilliman and the Emperor they all must perish.”
“I concur,” said Master Certo, “and the Astartes stand ready. But what of the Tau? Truly, we cannot focus everything on the Tyranids unless we come to some sort of agreement with the Tau. Though its not at all a pleasant possibility, they do not want to face two enemies just as we do. I suggest we send a message to them for a truce…”
“What!! How can you say…”
“Please Cannoness, let me finish. I have considered this long and hard, and I belive this to be the only way. I know it is distasteful, but we can keep our distance and keep a mobile base of operations in space here on the Dark Redemption. We don’t have to cooperate with them, just so that we are not fighting on two fronts. Once the Tyranids have been annihilated we can turn to wiping the Tau from Imperial worlds. Agreed?”
“Hah! Chapter Master,” Said Colonal Balle, in command of the guard armoured regiment, “we have many forces, and most of them will be useless in space engagements as you suggest. What are my tanks going to do, lob shells out of the docking hatches?”
Inquisitor Arca stood, saying, “I believe I have a solution for that. We can dispatch all Imperial Guard and the Ardent Soul to the outermost planet in the system. They can purge the planet of Tau while the fleet and Astartes, minus transports and their escorts, engage the tyranids in hit and run exercises while they attack the tau on the inner worlds. That way, the tau are taking the brunt of the attack while we destroy the tyranids in space. No formal peace agreements, but we can refrain from all-out attacks on their main holdings on the inner planets. Does everyone find this agreeable?”
The imperial commanders nodded acceptance.

[Dan296]

“Certo! Captain! Are your men prepared?”
“Yes Inquisitor.”
“Yes Mi’lord.”
“Give the order, Certo. Captain, prepare the stormtroopers for drop!”

“Run’al, anything to report?”
“No Shas’ui, quite. As always. The Gue’vesa in the hills do nothing.”
“Good to hear. I will check back in two hours.”
The fire warrior sighed. He hated this sentry duty. The loyalist Gue’vesa had done nothing in weeks. They made a few raids, burnt some buildings, but did little damage. The world was under the Tau’Va and nothing a few guerillas could do would change that.

“Troopers, prepare yourselves. This is a high-altitude jump, and we are coming in hot. Do not activate your chutes until after the Astartes have finished their buissiness. You will drift out of the landing zone and get caught by incoming. None of you want that, including me, but if it happens its your own damn fault. Malekai gave me this pack to look after personally, with instructions that if I fall one of you are to pick it up and insure its safety. I don’t know what it is but whatever purpose it serves we will find out soon enough. Now lock n load!”
The inquisitorial storm troopers coaxed as many metallic sounds out of their hell-guns as they could in reponse to the cliché pre-battle speech.
“Hey Marto, the captain is such a drama queen.”
“Tell me something I don’t know Grox face. I wonder what that pack thing is though.”
The Navy Taxi swept above the tau-controlled world’s capital, and out of it tumbled dozens of stormtrooper hit-squads.

“Praise be to the Auns, without which the Tau’va could not continue. Praise be the……Shas’Ui! Come here, I see something!”
“What is it? Why do you interrupt the daily rituals.”
“Look! The skies are full of hundreds of black dots.”
“Hmmph. Perhaps the fleet is performing maneuvers. Think naught of it.”
As they turned back and went inside the command post, they failed to see the falling drop troops out-shined by a dozen flashes, even higher up.

The Dark Redemption rocked as the full broadside of lance batteries were fired again and again, lighting up choice targets for a less-then subtle knock on the tau’s door. Across the broad plains of the outlying industrial world in the Baetica system, fire reached into the atmosphere as communication stations, barracks, munitions dumps, and outposts ceased to exist under the punishing fire of the Revilers Battle Barge.
Certo, outfitted in his terminator armour, stood in the depths of the massive warship.
“Certo, are you sure these work?”
“Please Malekai, though we’ve fought together many times, I can assure you I have arrived to battle with this very device a dozen times. I just wish your troopers would hurry up…”

“Marto, look at that! The Astartes really know their business huh?”
“Well, Keeg, that’s why they’re superhuman and we are not.”
“Now I know what a guardsman feels when they look at us.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
Beneath the descending stormtroopers, the capital city, which in reality was little more then a starport, the governors mansion and other aristocratic homes, blocks of warehouses, and the slums of the dock workers, fires burned in a dozen places. The world had become a tau stronghold, and this city was their main holding point. Break it, and the rest would crumble.

[Dan296]

As the stormtroopers neared the surface, pulse fire raced up to meet them, hitting several men, who morbidly continued to fall at the same rate as the other drop troops.
Three squads headed to secure the starport. Colonel Jovii yelled “Deploy chutes!”
The stormtroopers activated their grav-chutes, which snapped open, dramatically slowing them down. The men gritted against the g-forces which threatened to black him out. One of the stormtroopers couldn’t hold up and blacked out. His chute, without direction, spun him into a deadly spin. As the stormtroopers slowed, they became easier targets for the recovering tau forces as more and more drop troops were plucked from the skies by the deadly pulse fire. Within two minutes Marto and the rest of his team were less then 30 meters above the starport. It was their job to secure a landing zone and deny the tau any place to withdraw their forces. However, the starport was also the most heavily defended of all the city.
“All squads, open fire!”
Hellguns barked as the troopers reached the ground, disconnecting their chutes and quickly running into the cover of a nearby shuttle.
“We need to hold here and wait for support,” ordered Colonel Jovii, “I’m not sure were its coming from, but Malekai said it was coming. Lets hold here.”

A Mechanicus Adept said “The homer is on the ground.”
Chapter Master Certo nodded and said “Shadow Hunters, prepare yourselves. War calls! Adept, activate it.”
Ancient, little understood devices whirred, pistons pumped, and lights across the Dark Redemption flickered. With a flash, the Revilers first company went to war.

On the surface of the planet, the stormtroopers guarding the teleport homer huddled behind various tau and imperial civilian ships. Suddenly, lighting flickered from a spot in the no-mans-land in between the two forces, and with a crack like a demolisher cannon 21 Revilers space marines, all clad in gigantic terminator armour, appeared with a smell of o-zone.
“Shadow Hunters! Purge the Xenos!”
Lightning claws unsheathed themselves as thunder hammers, power fists, and storm shields were activated with crackling power. Two terminators were armed with assault cannons, which whirred to life. Storm bolter and assault cannon rounds tore into the tau defenders, shredding barricades and defenders alike.



For more backround on the Shadow Hunters pls look at http://40kterra.com/forums/showthrea...5917#post35917