Readying herself to hear the multiple blasts of her rockets, Shas’va’el’s audio relay was instead overwhelmed by the gigantic blasts of a salvo of rockets raining down upon Alpha squad. Hidden now behind the drop pod, she was spared seeing several members of Alpha team dismembered as their combat armour was smashed by multiple rockets scoring a direct hit on their location.
She knew that was no fire-and-forget salvo, that had the tell-tail signs of a Space Marine barrage – the scouts had themselves a Whirlwind tank! She had no choice, with no cover and now rapid barrage fire raining down on them, she ordered both squads of Fire Warriors to advance.
Like all Tau – they followed without question.
Unbeknown to her, her rockets did strike true, exploding just beyond the cover of the barricade and shredding multiple scouts as they stood confidently in their active camouflage suits. Saved only by his armour, but showered in the blood of his comrades, the psyker’s concentration was broken and the Pathfinders minds were quickly returned to them.
While all squads provided status reports to her and her bodyguard, Shas’va’el signalled the transport ship they had used earlier that night. She ordered her own deep striking unit – it was an expensive resource to spend – but her troops and mission were quickly becoming harder and harder to reach.
A slow rumble started coming from the west of the target, as movement could be seen in the distance. Too early to be her unit’s arriving, it must have been the Whirlwind moving for a secondary barrage. She signalled for her bodyguard to engage – and he quickly responded with several bursts fired from his fusion blaster.
Seconds later they realised it wasn’t what either of them had expected. It wasn’t even Space Marines!
A squad of 4 bikers, branded in the livery of some Chaos beast, darted between a small collection of ruins. The fusion blaster that had previously been fired fell short of its target, it’s anti armour capability of no use at this distance.
As she advanced beyond the thermal vent, Shas’va’el’s face was one of confusion as she piloted her Crisis Battlesuit into this bizarre situation. A simple smash-and-grab for a datacore on a fairly remote planet was now a three way battle, with bike squadrons, barrage artillery and reinforcements via drop ships.
At least the earlier gunfire, which was still providing a constant background noise, was explained. The Space Marine’s were also trying to repel the forces of Chaos.
Her attention now on the bikes, she noticed the Pathfinder’s marker lights where trying to track them as they weaved their bikes between cover. She fired another salvo of rockets, this time guided by the tracking paths of the marker lights. By luck, the bikers were saved by the ruins they rode within, their speeding machines and thick armour spared of all 4 blasts as snow covered scenery exploded around them with brilliant white flashes.
Both Fire Warrior squads now fired in earnest upon the scouts, raining down their own barrage now…