6 232 937.M41
I
float just outside the fortified factory complex, frustration steadily growing.
"Tsua'm, what's the hold up?"
"Standard rules of engagement indicate that individuals with warp-based abilities should not be employed in situations like this. As such, Fio'o Dy'aketh Shi'ra is reluctant to authorise your use."
"And the Fio'o can't read? Because at this point your reports are fairly conclusive."
"My reports have not yet undergone peer review, and as such have not been widely distributed. Or accepted, in the face of personal experience."
Dy'aketh is a low level industrial world the tau captured during one of their more recent wars with the Imperium. It's…
Not in compliance with the dictates of the Greater Good, and the population is too dense for the tau to be hands-off about it. They were managing… Mostly, but with the local branch of the Imperial Cult not willing to cooperate with the foul xenos they pretty much had to purge the whole thing. And while the newly formed Church of Divine Unity is…
Sort of managing to prevent a religious uprising amongst the more impassioned imperialists, there isn't anyone-.
Maleficent detected.
S-hit. There isn't anyone keeping tabs on the planet's wyrds and cultists. Which means that people are '
hearing the voices' with increasing frequency.
"The ring's picking up summonings."
"I will-. Relay the increased urgency."
"Please do. Lantern to Kais-" I smile very faintly. "-the Barbarian."
"That is not the correct translation for Monat." There's a faint crackle as he speaks, then a louder one as he fires his rifle. "And it is also not my name."
"How's it looking?"
Scans are
not reliable when someone's messing around with the warp, and I'm too far away from the conflict zone to make use of the more primitive detection systems built into my armour.
"Cultist tactical infantry and mutant mob assault units. No y'he sighted. Fire Warrior lines are holding and my squad-."
A series of
loud bangs cut him off, followed by the buzz-crack of burst cannons and the screech of fusion blasters.
"Are you-?"
"Target destroyed. My squad are making flanking attacks of opportunity."
"Chaos or random lunatics?"
"Their icon is a circle and two crescents connected by a line."
"Slaanesh."
Which is either a good match up for me or means that I'm about to hear the voices myself. Slaanesh worshippers are all about unleashing their desires and I strongly suspect that daemons are the same only more so.
"I remember. I-. Wait. Report coming in. The mutants appear to have become dramatically more resilient. Our lines are-"
"Regional command to Exotic Asset Orange Lantern."
"-being overwhelmed."
"Stay safe." I switch channels. "Orange Lantern reporting."
"Your deployment is authorised." I don't immediately recognise the voice. Not someone on my team. Files say… Shas'o Dy'aketh Eant'ra. Who really
should be in charge here, but the Fire Caste head of police got assassinated when this mess started so the local head of industrial development has political oversight. "You will-"
Construct ion engines appear on my back as I
fly at speed in the direction of Kais' signal.
And I begin to feed, orange light illuminating the fortified manufactoria around me.
Capacitors at sixty seven percent and rising.
I've tried recharging like this around the warp engines of captured Imperial Navy wrecks, and according to reports by the salvage crews the instances of 'reality deviations' noticeably decreased after each visit. But I've never done this somewhere where someone who knew what they were doing -a sorcerer or a daemon- was actively resisting me. Even the hybrid cultists limited themselves to drawing on warp power rather than futzing around with the warp directly. Everything I think I know about warp power and everything the tau have been willing to share strongly implies that this
should work.
But if the tau knew much about the warp they wouldn't need
me.
"-advance to Industrial District forty seven-."
"Miss Tsua'm, would you please explain to the Shas'o how this works? Thank you."
I close the channel and ping Kais. Ah, the wonders of the tau command structure. Normally, the field Shas'o commands ground units, the field Kor'o commands air and space units and the local Aun'o mediates any disputes between them. But as an auxiliary I'm not by default under the authority of
either. With vespid or kroot their Strain Leaders or Shapers would have a pact with the Sept's overseers which defined the command relationship, but I've just sort of picked up a few members of each caste (mostly but not exclusively from Lar'shi) and I haven't got a formal operating agreement with Lar'shi oversight yet. The Dy'aketh oversight committee can decide to bar me from operating here, but once I get the okay that's the end of their involvement in the matter.
Kais pings back as I start seeing weapon damage and eldritch lightning crackling off the upper levels of the manufactorium. I
connect myself to the markerlight network.
"Light up a target for me."
A ping of acknowledgement and then
there and
I accelerate, construct armour forming around me as I
smash through a wall, orange battering ram slamming into… A chaos spawn? That was about to leap onto a prone Fire Warrior. I
pound it into a support column as
chain constructs dart out, wrapping themselves around the… Six of the things I can actually
see.
There's a certain uniformity here. Extended and broadened forearms, bone plates extending down the spine as natural armour and flattened noses. If that was all they had I'd define them as abhumans, as they're clearly breeding true.
But it isn't. As they shrivel I can clearly see that one has tentacles in place of its left hand. Another has a set of smaller arms with… Three fingers, attached somehow to its ribs. A third has multiple sets of eyes, running down the front of its face and the back of its head. The fourth has no legs, its spine continuing back as a tail. The fifth has some sort of exoskeleton while the sixth has gone in the other direction, probably able to pass as human in bad light. And with the aid of the psykers who sent them out here, they're all shimmering with pink fire. It's not hurting my constructs, so I'm just going to ignore it for now.
Feed.
"NGRAAAAAAH!"
I wince as they all scream,
construct chains shining brilliantly as-
Capacitors at seventy two percent and rising.
-the ring turns warp power into orange light. The fires billow and die, the mutants' bodies shrivelling as the unholy magic enhancing them vanishes. Was it an enhancement spell or are they actually possessed? I could probably check, but I don't think I want to see that.
"Independent fire! Kill them!"
The Shas'ui in command of the squad rallies a fire team and they open fire, shots… Acceptably accurate, considering the circumstances. Most hit the bodies of the mutants, pulses of plasma punching through warp-altered flesh. No blood, though that could be due to cauterisation as easily as their daemonic passengers not needing it.
Quick check… Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead and dead. I
smash their heads to be sure just as Kais pings me again.
On I
go.
