Shas’va’el’s attention was diverted to a status report coming in from her missile drone when the ground heaved hard. The Tau instantly adopted firing permissions in the darkness and in the snow. The shock wave was from something hitting the ground, something that did so with both incredible speed and extreme mass.
At that precise moment she knew what the secondary signal was, what the increased magnetic and gravitational readings were. Drop ships! The small Tau carde had obviously been detected on their arduous route up to the plateau and now reinforcements were arriving to attempt to deter them from their mission. She was just about to relay this new information to her troops when distant gunfire broke out.
The distinct sound of bolter fire and melta’s crackling filled the air, muffled only by the vast distance it travelled. Even the Fire Warriors and Pathfinders, who all stood in the darkness without the aid of the Battlesuit’s advanced sensory enhancements knew what those sounds were.
Had the enemy started firing upon itself in the confusion of all this snow obscuring their vision? Had their minds broken in these desperate conditions?
Focused on their mission, the commander pushed the confusion of the distant fire fight to the back of her mind. If they’re not firing this way, it could only be to their advantage she thought. As she reassessed the information pouring in, another almighty explosion-like shockwave hit them. A second drop ship had smashed into the ground, this one between her two Fire Warrior squads. She was concerned that Alpha squad had been crushed beneath the metal tear-drop shaped vessel, that now stood half buried in the snow. Thankfully her battle overlay showed they were all alive, if not a little jittery from the arrival of this drop pod. She could see a few members of Bravo squad pulling others from the tidal wave of snow that engulfed them, while others provided covering positions.
She realised at this point how open those two squads were. In fact with the rising visibility she realised this whole plateau was appearing to be void of any cover except the large thermal vent.
The large metal ramps dropped from every side of the drop pod; quickly followed by powerful floodlights sparking into life and half-blinding the Fire Warriors. They braced the shoulder-shields into the dazzling light, providing both cover for their eyes as well as from the inevitable gunfire that would now follow. A squad of space marines now came pouring out of the eastern edge of the drop pod, straight into the path of Alpha squad. The charging marines now opened fire on her stunned and dazed Alpha squad, hitting several in their combat armour chest plates. With Bravo squad repositioning themselves around the southern edge of the pod, both squads now simultaneously returned fire with their rapid pulse rifles, tearing the small Space Marines apart. It was a short lived assault, with the bolter fire and pulse rifles now both steaming in the Arctic air. The relentless snow covered ground began to turn a bright crimson red under the slain marines, lit by the harsh lighting of the drop pod.
The sound of distant gunfire continued to arrive on the frozen air.
Several seconds later, Alpha squad were reporting to Shas’va’el they had taken no causalities and that they also eradicated the enemy with Tau efficiency. The encrypted communiqué was cut short as mounted bolters spat out explosive bolts from the drop pod’s built in armament…