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I've been working on a different story for a bit (not on the forums), but the application I was using got broke in the latest update, rendering it in usable for the time being, so I started writing a new story, and I feel like I should share it. Any feedback that can be of use is appreciated. Also, a better name for the story would be appreciated, I've got nothing for that at the moment.

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+Botavica, Kroot Planet.+

"Quiet, my little krootling, we can rest soon." The infant kroot's mother whispered quietly to her young in a soothing voice.

The mother was in a tribe with other kroot, and they were migrating to a different area for the better hunting grounds in the southern forests rather than staying in the endless plains during the harsh winters of their planet, Botavica.

The krootling was nestled in a sash tied around the mother's upper body, and was getting restless from being cooped up for long periods of time.

"Is everything alright, Gretis? Is the child giving you trouble?" Kootenai Both asked his mate, concerned about their child.

Gretis shook her head, not willing to show any signs of weakness.

"If Vireak gives you any trouble, I can take him for a bit, my dear."

Gretis nodded, but still didn't say anything. Off in the distance, she could see the signs of the magnificent trees she had grown up in, back when the forests provided a stable place to live in permanently. Back when Botavica wasn't so dangerous.

Ork raids had been commonplace in the latest seasons, and many tribes had been lost defending their homes. Now, orks can be seen throughout the forests, but the kroot are forced to fight their way to the safety of the trees to survive the winters.

The constant cycle of taking back the forests and being pushed out in turn caused kroot populations to drop drastically, but provided any kroot able to survive the ability to gain countless muscle mass from the orks, leading to the current tribes to be a strong and hardy breed.

Gretis longed to be in the forests, to put a knife in an ork's throat, and for the forests to be rid of their stench.

Night fell on the tribe shortly after, and the temperature would be dropping shortly, so the tribe set up camp, with fires making a ring around the camp.

Gretis set Vireak down, letting him play with the tall grass beneath his feet. Kootenai was assigned first patrol guard, to make sure the tribe wasn't ambushed by the fierce yet unintelligent beast's of the plains, or any ork war parties.

Gretis lay next to Vireak, and the two fell asleep quickly.

The first few hours of the night went on without incident, but eventually shouts and yells could be heard in the distance. Several krootox began shifting uncomfortably, sensing something bad was about to happen.

Yells were heard across the camp, and Kroot Shaper Derchus came out into the open, accompanied by a group of his faithful Kroot Guard. Derchus looked around at the camp, raising alarms for the kroot to awaken and face their enemy.

Gretis awoke, and grabbed Vireak, and the two set out to look for Kootenai.

The shouts were getting louder and closer, and several kroot war chiefs recognized the sound of orks on the hunt.

Kootenai growled at the sound of this hated foe, and tightened his grip on his spear.

"WAAAAGH!!!" Several orks appeared from the darkness, lit up by the campfires. The orks were large, comprised of mounds of muscles, and wielded axes. The smallest ork in the group was a head taller than Kootenai, but he still hefted his spear, and charged at the orks, accompanied by several other kroot.

The first ork got stabbed through the skull by Kootenai, and he used the spear to pole vault over the collapsing ork, and in mid air drew a knife out to stab his next target.

This ork roared at Kootenai, with spit flying from the brute's mouth. The ork swung overhead at Kootenai, but the kroot dodged to the side of the axe, avoiding getting cut in two.

Kootenai plunged his dagger into the ork's jugular, making blood spray out of the wound. Though it would have been fatal on almost any other enemy, the ork shrugged off the hit, and grabbed Kootenai by the chest, wrapping a meaty hand around his side.

The ork began to crush his ribs, making Kootenai start to black out from the pain, when a blade appeared out of nowhere, slicing the ork's arm off. Kootenai fell to the ground, heaving in gulps of air. The kroot then sliced the ork's head off, finishing the beast before it could do any more harm.

Kootenai recognized the kroot as Motodar, who smiled at Kootenai before turning back to the orks. Kootenai recovered his spear from a dead ork, ripping it out of the ork's corpse. Kootenai turned and saw Motodar get an axe pummeled into his chest, and the kroot fell to the ground without a sound.

Kootenai saw that more orks were coming, and they were losing ground disturbingly fast to the orks. Kootenai hurled his spear into the killer of Motodar, catching the ork through its mouth as it roared out at its kill.

Kootenai back peddled towards the fires, wanting to get the krootoxes out for them to help fend off the attack.

"WAAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!" The shout drowned out all other sounds, and even more orks came into view of the fires. Kootenai saw there was hundreds of orks coming at them, and knew Kroot Shaper Derchus must be warned.

An ork rushed at him, and Kootenai ducked under the ork, and slashed his knife into its legs, hamstringing the ork, and the brute fell to the ground. Another ork came at him, and Kootenai tried to duck out of the arc of its swing, but the axe still carved a deep gouge into his chest and sides.

Kootenai reversed the grip on his knife and stabbed it into the ork's collarbone. The ork suckerpunched Kootenai, and he stumbled to the ground, the wind rushing out of his lungs.

A hole appeared in the ork's head, and the brute collapsed the the ground, the wound smoking from where the shot hit.

Kootenai looked back, and saw a kroot wielding a rifle. Kootenai began to get back up, but the ork he crippled crawled to him, and grabbed his elbow. The ork pressed down onto the limb, and ripped it downwards, making the socket pop out of place and actually come off entirely.

Kootenai responded by biting the ork in the throat, chewing through ligaments and causing blood to jet out in spurts. Kootenai bit again, not even the spinal cord stopping him. The ork howled at the kroot eating him alive, and sent a feeble punch to Kootenai's head. Had the ork been at full strength, the blow would have instantly killed Kootenai, but it instead made him flop off of the ork, stunned from the hit.

Once again, the rifle bucked out another shot, and Kootenai was saved from death once more.

Kootenai wasted no time, stumbling his way to the kroot, who signalled him to get back to camp, and the kroot would hold the orks off for Kootenai to get back to camp.

Kootenai didn't argue, he had one hand to his chest, feeling blood seep between his fingers, and the other was lying somewhere in the grass.

Derchus saw the amount of orks overrunning their camp, and signalled to one of his guard to release the krootox.

Kootenai stumbled his way to the camp, falling several times, only to get back up, but each time he did he felt weaker and was in more pain.

Kootenai saw Derchus and his guard ordering kroot to begin grabbing what they could and prepare to flee. The guard were to stay and hold off the menace, but they already knew that this was their fate; they knew it when they agreed to serve as the Shaper's Guard.

Derchus had to survive, it was his duty as Shaper to make sure the tribe remained healthy and didn't eat the wrong prey, and risk getting tainted.

Unfortunately for Derchus however, the orks cared not for whose duty was what in their tribe. The greenskins came like a force of nature itself, the kroot that had survived the first group and were able to stand, let alone fight, we're overran, caught in a sea of green.

Derchus tried making his way to where the krootox were, but found a group of orks had beat him to it, the krootox all lying slain though a gratifying amount of orks also lie dead, and the kroot he had sent to get the beasts was lying dead in a pool of his own blood.

The orks came at Derchus with glee as they saw a new enemy to put up a fight, and although Derchus did indeed put up a fight, it wasn't enough and quickly became a broken corpse at their feet.

Kootenai dodged behind a collapsed tent, avoiding the gaze of a rather large ork who had just killed several kroot single handedly. Kootenai stumbled away from the beast, trying to not be seen.

Gretis saw a kroot stumble to the ground, and saw the kroot was severely injured and on the verge of death. "Have you seem Kootenai?" She asked the kinsman quickly, before he succumbed to his wounds. The kroot shook his head, before coughing up blood onto his dark green skin.

Gretis looked around, searching frantically for her nest-mate.

"Gretis!" A voice rasped out, and she turned her head and saw a kroot stumble to the ground, but not get up.

Gretis rushed to the kroot, and recognized him as Kootenai. He was laying on the ground, his arm slung across his stomach, and he coughed up a spittle of a dark and stringy liquid. He looked Gretis in the eyes, and said "Get Vireak out of here. Run as fast as your legs may carry you. Fly from here, my dear, fly!" Kootenai's voice was little better than a croak, but Gretis understood what he said, and with tears going down her face, she nodded and took off in the opposite direction.

Gretis leapt over a tent, trying to ignore the sounds of her kin dying all around her. Vireak was safely nestled in her sash once more, and thankfully his weight did not slow her too much.

She was armed with nothing, her knife must've slipped from its scabbard while she slept. An ork saw her running and gave a gruff shout, but she was gone before the ork could do much else.

Gretis kept on running, getting to the edge of the ring of fires, and going straight through it. She could still hear screams behind her, but she never looked back. The only thing she could do was keep running.

It felt like hours had gone on of her just running through the neverending plains, when a shout came from her right, and she saw a group of orks that must've been late to the fight notice her.

One wielding a shoota fired at her spraying bullets all around her, yet somehow clipping a leg despite the usual accuracy orks have, causing anything beneath her knee to become shards of flesh and bone.

Gretis stumbled on for a brief amount of time before collapsing to the ground. The orks were on her before she could try to get up, the one with the shoota aiming it at her face, smiling at his would-be kill.

Several bangs rang out, and the ork grabbed his face with one hand, the other he used to fire off gunshots blindly where the gunfire came from. Several more shots ripped through the ork, making him fall over while still firing away. The shoota then was aimed at his fellow orks, making the greenskins duck out of the way of the slain ork's shoota.

The orks didn't last long, the gunfire from the unseen attackers butchering the orks. One tried charging at the attackers, going right over Gretis. Though her blood was spilling out into the grass beneath her, she still had the strength to grab the ork's leg and make the brute trip.

The ork turned towards Gretis raising his axe to put an end to her. Instead, a pulse charge blasted through his skull, causing gore to fly out onto the ground below. The ork's eyes rolled into his head, and the beast fell over, lying still.

At last Gretis' saviors revealed themselves. Gretis was near passing out from passing out, she saw the intruders were several kroot clad in a strange armor and were of a light gray skin color.

"Give us the child, we can save him." One said, evidently the leader of the group.

Gretis nodded, understanding that they could do nothing to save her, and struggled to get the crying krootling out of his sash. The foreigner helped her, carefully cradling the krootling, while saying apologetically "We have nothing on us to use for healing. I am truly sorry. We will make sure your youngling lives on to continue your bloodline."

Gretis took one last look at Vireak squirming in the foreigner's arms, then laid her head back and closed her eyes. The foreign kroot stared at Gretis with sorrow for a moment longer, wishing they had something to save her, before leading the group back to the landed ship they had brought to Botavica's surface.
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(PS: If you guys like it, I can add more installations, if not, I will stick with sharing it to some friends and see what they think)

I really enjoyed reading this. Not often you read about the Kroot, even less from their point of view. What time period is this, is this before or after the Tau alliance?

After kroot made an alliance with the tau.

I would echo Mr Nobody's comments and say it's refreshing to see something from an alternate perspective like this. Definitely a niche that Black Library hasn't tapped. Good Stuff.

Alright, glad you guys like it. Once I am done writing up the next bit I will send it over

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Aquila Lander, above the atmosphere of Anthorn. 12 Years Later

"Not even on the ground yet, gue'la pilot flies too slow." Hasmar grumbled.

"Patience. The planet defence is well armed. If we go faster, we will be crashing, not landing." Shaper Manadict replied, his voice speaking with almost a hundred years of experience.

"Looks like your time with the tau never improved your patience, Hasmar" I jest, feeling a smile appear on my face.

"Greater Good never was too appealing. Never got that big of a diet out there. Mostly tyranids we fought, and I'm not about to start eating those. Besides, I missed the taste of guardsmen." Hasmar joked, glad there was a distraction from his impatience.

"A wise choice, Hasmar. Very wise" Manadict said, nodding as he said it.

Besides us three kroot, there was several other kroot with us, though they were from some other mercenary band and kept to themselves.

"Entering atmosphere. Prepare for enemy contact." A metallic voice blurts out.

I make sure the human restraints built into the ship are secure, and check my rifle to see if it is loaded. After that, I pat a pouch on my side, hidden in the folds of the cloth I wear, to make sure more cartridges are there when I need them.

Hasmar is inspecting his blade when our aquila shakes and suddenly lurches to the side. His knife goes flying out of his hands before he can catch it, and it slides beneath a row of seats.

While silently cursing Hasmar for his usual lack of foresight, I make sure all of my weapons are secure.

"Brace yourselves, my kin. This will not be as smooth as we had hoped." Manadict warns us, as if we hadn't figured it out by now.

"Hope you kroot are doing alright down there. We need a beachhead opened up and you're our first assault. Make a good impression on the enemy, and some extra payment might be coming your way," Inquisitor Corpter's voice blared out from some sort of comm system the humans had installed in their ships.

"Alright xenos, we will be landing soon and I don't want to dawdle on the surface for too long. More trips need to be made and you're not the only goods I have to lug around." Despite already knowing that few humans would be used to having my kind around them, I was still surprised at venom in his voice, as if we were going to turn on him once we landed.

"Your sharp wits may be useful for our next generation, gue'la." Hasmar spit out, forgetting how important a willing pilot is while still in mid-air.

The pilot chose to ignore the remark, and instead focused on landing the aquila without dying in the process.

I could hear gunshots coming from outside, though there were no windows around me to see what was happening.

"Almost there, come on, just a few more... frak!" evidently something was bothering the pilot, and whatever it was couldn't be good. Manadict unlatched himself from the restraints, and made his way to the pilot, moving carefully in case the aquila would make any sudden movements.

I was about to go and join him, but another violent lurch took place and I was glad Hasmar didn't want to inspect another blade of his after the first went sliding off.

"What is wrong? Are we still able to land?" Manadict asked the pilot.

"Out xenos! Leave me alone! It's bad enough I have to fly you around, but now you're barging in here like you own the frakking place." I could hear the pilot's voice rising in pitch, and I had to restrain myself from taking a chunk of his face from his body for insulting our Shaper.

"Look, human. We are both in the same situation, and if you want us to leave sooner, we are going to have to know what is happening. Now, I will ask one more time. What. Is. Wrong." Even I was intimidated by his voice, and he wasn't even talking to me. Sadly though, the intimidation only made matters worse, as the pilot drew a sidearm and aimed it Manadict. The Shaper growled, before looking past the pilot and seeing that the aquila was angled towards the ground and soon would be crashing into it.

Manadict shoved the pilot over, making his sidearm fly from his hand in the process. The Shaper then tried using the controls despite never even inspecting such a devise before in all of his years of life.

The pilot shouted at Manadict before noticing that they were heading towards certain death, and dodged past Manadict and angled them back towards the sky.

"One wing was clipped, going to have to go in rough..." The pilot muttered, and I wasn't sure if it was to himself or to us.

Manadict stared over the shoulder of the pilot, watching as they barely avoided colliding with the ground and instead skidded over it.

The aquila bounced along the ground several times, making the pilot and Manadict tumble around as they weren't strapped in for an emergency landing.

Once the aquila stopped moving, I unbuckled and went to the cockpit to see how Manadict fared during the landing.

Thankfully, he appeared alright, just a bit shook up. His arm was coming off at a weird angle, but he just snapped it back into place with a grimace. The pilot on the other hand, had not gotten off as easily. He stared blankly towards to ceiling, without actually looking at anything.

I placed my hand on his throat to feel a pulse, but none came. "Idiot got himself killed. Good thing we won't be needing to use this scrap for a way back up." I say, not entirely sure if I was relieved the racist scum was dead, or wishing he was still around so the traitor guardsmen that were sure to be coming had someone else to shoot at.

The other kroot I was not familiar with had already gathered their gear, and were preparing to head out once we were ready.

"We will be in need of his nutrients, and must be grateful for his sacrifice." Manadict said, spreading his arms as if welcoming an old friend to a meal. With that, Manadict broke off one of the pilot's arms and began chewing through it, leaving only the bone behind.

Soon, all of us were dining on the man, taking note that he had a certain bitterness to him that matched his personality.

Once we were done indulging on the unexpected meal, I wiped the blood stains off of my mouth and grabbed my rifle. Now we had the somewhat tricky challenge of finding a way out of the metal box.

I saw a switch labeled "access ramp", and I figured it'd be as good of a start as any. When I flipped the switch, there was a grind of protest, before the back of the aquila shuddered open a small fraction. Though it wasn't much, we would be able to fit through the gap, though what awaited outside I had no idea. We couldn't even see through the windshield as dirt had piled over it, the weight of the ground and the force of the impact had made the entire thing cave in, but luckily it hadn't actually shattered, or Manadict would've been trapped under all of it.

The first kroot to make the jump was a rather large kroot for our standards, and didn't seem to bright, which makes him the perfect test dummy to see what was outside as far as I'm concerned.

With him lacking to get ripped to shreds by enemy fire, I went next, stooped over and shimmer through the gap. I was greeted by sunlight and off in the distance, I could see minor battles taking place as more ships tried to get into the atmosphere to let more of our kin loose on the enemy.

Once all of us were out, we started to make our way directly to the nearest firefight, figuring that was the best place to make contact with our employers.

Due to Papa Nurgle giving me a gift it may take a bit of time to get another installation

The gunfire was getting more intense as time went on, and overheard several more aircrafts flew past, leaving only burning buildings in their wake.

I picked out a few guardsmen limping away from a ruined chimera, one of them carrying a man over his shoulders. In my excitement, I dropped to one knee and took aim at the man in the lead of the group.

Manadict raised one hand to signal to us to hold our fire, so he can see where they were going, I assumed. As far as I could tell, they were trying to put as much distance as they could between them and the fighting.

One of them seemed to be talking to thin air, and I assumed they were using a comm system similar to what Inquisitor Corpter used.

"Shaper," I started, "if they call for reinforcements, we will lose our chance to silence them."

Manadict seemed to ignore me, entirely focused on the guardsmen in front of us. Another plane could be heard rumbling overhead, and the guardsmen started looking around nervously. Eventually, one of the men in the back spoke up, his voice drifting over to us, "By the Throne, we're all frakked! The Imperium is here, we're all frakked! It's no use, they're just going to execute us for leaving them for our governor."

The man in the front, whom I guessed was the leader of their group, turned around and drew a gun on the speaker. "We will make it through this, we've made it this far, what's stopping us but you right now?"

At this point, Manadict seemed to have gotten enough from the group, and decided they weren't worth our time to just sit and watch, so he gave the order to fire.

Needless to say, their argument was cut short when our rifles bucked out, one pulse charge catching the leader in the back, making him give a shout before sinking to the ground. Some shots went wide, and one shot flew past one man's head, making him grab the side of his head after feeling the intense heat the pulse charges give off. A second volley rang out, and any guardsmen able to dropped to the ground in search of cover.

One guardsman fired his weapon from the hip, sending countless shots in our general direction. Before I could take a shot at him, some of his rounds caught one of the mercenaries I didn't know cry out and flop to the ground.

Hasmar drew a knife began sprinting at the man, hissing with rage as he did so. Having not wanted to be out done by a kroot with such a thick skull, I charged after him, which soon led to the whole group of us sprinting straight at them.

While in mid stride, Hasmar threw his knife, spinning end over end until it caught the shooter in the throat. The man stumbled back, dropping his gun while grabbing hold of the blade. By the time he ripped it out, we had already cleared the distance and Hasmar pounced onto his kill, eating the man before he had even died.

A shot came from behind a piece of rubble, presumably a chunk from their ruined chimera. The shot hit Hasmar in the shoulder, although there was no doubt it was aimed for his head. Hasmar rolled off of his kill, his jaws clenched in pain. Before the shooter could finish him off, I leapt at the rubble, ready to make mincemeat of the attacker.

I couldn't tell what gender the trooper was, not being that familiar with humans at the time. It didn't matter though, as the ax attached to my rifle came down onto the soldier's head, slicing right through the skull. Judging by how gruff the shout that came from the soldier was, it was male. Shortly after my blow had landed, he went limp, dropping his pistol. The only reason he still stood was because my ax was so deeply lodged into his head, and with a quick yank and a spray of blood the blade came free, and the body fell to the ground.

I looked around for other guardsmen, and I saw the last one of the group getting hacked to bits by one of the kroot from a different tribe. Normally such sadism would've sickened me after seeing the malicious glee the kroot held while butchering an enemy instead of just killing them, but after watching kin get scythed down by lasfire, I could relate to the hatred and anger that took over any sense of control.

Good to see you've survived one of Nurgle's gift and another good installment.

Thanks for the support, they are refreshing to see. I'm on the recovering side and felt like writing another bit. More shall come soon enough.

Good stuff, I approve.

I made another sweep around the area, to make sure we wouldn't get any nasty surprises, and saw one soldier crawling away from the killing grounds. He was relying on his upper body to drag himself forwards, and I guessed he had been the one who had been carried over someone's shoulders before our assault.

I quietly strode up to him, and grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around so I could look him in the eyes. Surprise quickly turned to fear as he recognized me for what I was.

"No! Xenos, spare me! You already took Dirge and Felton and the rest, leave me!"

"Look me in the eyes, human. Tell us what I want to know, and we shall see what happens. You're not in a predicament to argue." My voice was quiet, but threatening.

"How do I know you're not lying? Never trust a xenos! Never!" With that, he drew a knife from the side of his belt, and lunged towards my jugular, but I knocked the blade aside, ending any hopes he had of escape.

"Look, human. You are unable to walk, and know at least some kroot have made it to the surface, so I cannot let you go. I also know that our employer would do unspeakable things to an enemy, which I find... distasteful, just to find any little amount of information he can. As I do not care for his sadism, I have only one choice left to me and that is sparing you from this harsh twist of fate you have found yourself with." As I said this, I drew a knife from one of the folds in my cloth, and lifted it high into the air, angling it straight towards his heart.

"Be at peace, human." I said, and thrusted it deep into his chest, only stopping at the hilt, while looking him in the eyes as the life left him, and he was free of his tortures. I ripped the blade out, seeing that blood coated the entire blade. I wiped the blade off with his armor, and put the knife back in its rightful place.

I turned to see the group discussing things, presumably our next plan of action, with Manadict watching me, and he gave me a nod of approval once he saw me looking at him.

"You killed him." It was a statement that Manadict said. I just nodded in reply, saying "I wasn't going to lug him around only for him to be tortured to death at the hands of an Inquisitor. He may have been an enemy, but fought to the end, which I can respect."

Manadict tried to appear passive about my actions, unrevealing of his thoughts, but his smile gave away his emotions. Seeing him approving my actions gave me a sense of pride and accomplishment, for if what I did was right in his ancient and knowing eyes, it must be the best choice to have been made.

Manadict turned back to the group, "the fighting seems to be East of us, and we will need more kin for us to take down the guardsmen here", he faced the kroot from the different tribe "you four, I am sorry for your loss, the loss of any kroot is a tragedy that must be paid in blood, and they will pay. But before that, we cannot go further without properly knowing each other. Let me start by saying I am Manadict, that is Hasmar, and the young kroot over there is Vireak."

He waited for there answer, which came with an unfamiliar accent, but still recognizable as a kroot, "I am Rithisak, and I could be considered the leader of our group, as we have no Shaper currently with us. The big one over here" he waved an arm to the right, "is Oudom, the other is Sothear. The one we lost was called Meaker. Feisty one, he went down like a warrior, but his spirit needs to live on." After saying this, both Oudom and Sothear went to retrieve the body of Meaker without a word.

Oudom was carrying his legs, with Sothear walking backwards while holding on to his shoulders. The two set him down with care, as if he would shatter into countless pieces if they weren't careful.

"It is our custom to recall one feat the fallen had done before his spirit be released to continue its existence in its new form, to remember the kroot as they were, as they rightly deserve." Rithisak said, his voice quiet and strained as he looked at the fallen kin.

"I would like to start," Oudom blurted out, his voice a deep rumble mixed with grief. After Rithisak gestured for him to begin, Oudom choked down his sadness, and said "I remember the time when Meaker had spit in the face of an employer who hadn't made full on his end of the deal." A small smile came to Oudom's face as he recalled the moment.

"I recall the time Meaker had played a game if cards with a guardsman we were employed with, and not only did he cheat through the game, he slipped a drug into the man's drink so he could take his knife and boots, just to annoy the guardsman." Sothear spoke up.

Rithisak finished by saying "I remember the time when Meaker had gotten an ork's head stuck to his axe, and used it as a club the rest of the battle" Sothear snorted after hearing the mention of the battle, apparently remembering the time as well. "Lasted 14 hours, if I'm not mistaken" Sothear added.

Rithisak nodded, and said "and so, with tales recalled, we may set his spirit free, by consuming the flesh."

"Meaker the brave"

"Meaker the jester"

"Meaker the fierce"

They spoke one at a time, before kneeling down and starting to rip chunks of meat off of Meaker's body, any sense of fragility for the corpse thrown aside. Rithisak waved us over, and we too helped set Meaker's spirit free, methodically tearing the body apart, consuming the cadaver; flesh, bone, and all, nothing was left out. At last, Meaker was at peace, and I felt honored to have help set him free.



PS: sorry for the delay between installations, got kind of caught up in things happening irl and found it a bit tricky to find time for the story. Will try to write a bit more often now that things have been taken care of in reality.

After setting his spirit free from its shackles to our realm, we set out from the site, taking note that the sun was slowly sinking over the horizon. The journey was mostly in silence, not even the roar of gunfire could be heard. We remained vigilant in case of any more guardsmen appearing where they weren't wanted. Oudom was on the rear of our group, the rifle in his arms resembling a toy in comparison to the unusual bulkiness he had.

Hasmar was trying to hide the pain in his shoulder, but kept wincing every few steps. "Hasmar, are you alright?" I asked, trying to end the enroaching silence if nothing else. He just nodded in reply, not wanting to let his pride be hurt by admitting to his own pain. Not wanting to bother him further, we walked for several more hours before any signs of battle were seen again in the distance, albeit much closer than before.

Shouts could be heard, and in the distance I could make out a group of soldiers in the dying light. "Targets ahead, looks like four or five of them." I whisper while ducking down to conceal myself more into the arid landscape. Manadict looked out towards the group, and motioned for the rest of the group to duck down as well, which everyone complied to instantly.

"They're heading this way, be ready. I will give a shout once we are in melee distance." Manadict whispered, his eyes never leaving the prey. The wind began to pick up, blowing dust around, only helping to obscure their view of us, and I had no doubt Manadict would be able to see the approaching soldiers.

"They're almost upon us, the group appears to be frightened by something, though what it might be I cannot say." Somehow Manadict managed to keep his voice calm, as if he were talking about a meal, which in a sense, he was.

"Now!" He urged us, and we all sprung up as one and lunged into the group, axes raised to slice them to bits. Sothear landed on one man, his knife ready to cut the man's throat open. Before the first blow could land though, one of the guardsmen raised his hands in fear and shouted "Wait! Wait! We are with Corpter! We are on your side!" My axe was held aloft, ready to part the speaker from his head, but I held back the urge to kill him, and waited for Manadict's orders, though my eyes never left the man. It was then that I saw they did indeed bear an insignia the Inquisitor made his men carry, but still eyed them cautiously. "They seem to speak the truth, they carry the insignia, and though sweat and fear can be smelled, I sense no lie being uttered from their lips." Manadict chose each word carefully, looking each man in the eyes before deciding they could be trusted enough to not kill them, for now. Sothear got up off of a rather shaken guardsman, but didn't look too happy about sparing the men.

"Where did you come from? Are there any other forces the Inquisitor has planetside?" Manadict inquired.

"Last I saw we had a beachhead, but we were... cut off from the force. No telling how they're doing, or if they're still standing even. We lost all vox contact with them, and only pick up ghost channels at best." The man sounded thoroughly defeated, and I gained more spite for their race, if loss of contact was this devastating to them. A small band of kroot could still damage an enemy force with or without contacting comrades, look at how far we had made it so far.

"What has scared you all enough to not check for enemies? You all could have walked over us without blinking an eye." Manadict urged them, showing no signs of remorse for the group.

"It was... unnatural, at best. The forces here aren't doing a simple rebellion. There's more to this, that much I know" the man said, though nothing of too much use could be gained from the statement.

"Come, we must find the rest of Corpter's forces, if we wish to see the end of this war. But first, we must rest, all of us have earned it. You humans will be of no use to use without your wits or energy. Hasmar, Sothear, you two will take first watch. No fires, I don't want to be discovered. We will switch watches every 3 hours, but the humans will go undisturbed this night." At first I was flummoxed at the sudden bias towards the humans, though I then saw the real motive behind it; Manadict didn't quite trust the humans yet, and it would be no good to let them watch over us as we sleep, undefended and vulnerable to a slit throat. Once again, I learned to admire his clever thinking.

(PS: Sorry for the delay and general shortness of this installment. I've been more busy than I anticipated and am still trying to find time to write more for the series)

Hasmar woke me with a shove to my back, grunting that it was my turn to look at nothing for a few hours before sleep took him. Rithisak was also woken up for this shift, and I gave a nod to him before looking out at the emptiness surrounding us. The twin moons of this planet leaked out enough light to see, but it wasn't far off in the distance before it faded to darkness.

I heard a quiet click behind me and my head snapped backwards to see the source of the disturbance. What I saw was one of the humans with a small flame lighting a smoking stick, a cigar, as they call them.

He sat up, and blew out a puff of smoke. Rithisak was looking at him too, before facing back towards the emptiness we found ourselves in. "Don't suppose either of you want one. You don't strike me as smokers" he joked, surprisingly calm compared to other members of his race when dealing with my kind. I shook my head, figuring if they tasted anything like they smelled they weren't worth the time.

He shrugged, and said in a hushed whisper he said "Name's Faertin. Don't suppose you have one of those?"

"Vireak" I said plainly, equally quiet, "that's Rithisak over there". Faertin nodded, and sat in silence for a moment, blowing out more puffs of smoke. "Got family, somewhere? Mine are stuck on a backwater hive world, wasting away with factory jobs, making less money than a piece of bread's worth."

I pause for a moment, thinking back to a childhood I can barely remember, "My tribe was killed by greenskins before I was anything more than a krootling, I am the last of my blood-kin. These kroot you see here, they are my family, and nothing matters to me more." Before he can say anything else, I add "Why did you leave your family? They sound as if they need you more than this war does."

He raised his hands in a gesture of defeat, "Now, be patient. I didn't just up and leave them. This job, it could be a way for me to get enough cash for us to actually be something, to move on in the world. If I get the chance, I'll take what I made and be right at their side again. Besides, if an Inquisitor comes and calls for troops for his wars, you can't exactly say frak off and ignore him." At this I was slightly puzzled, cocking my head to the side, saying "If a leader is calling for war that is unneeded, why do you follow? It is better to have someone that knows what is best for a tribe, rather than one that calls for their slaughter."

Faertin shook his head, saying "Things don't work like that for us. What an Inquisitor says is what goes. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. They have the power to raze worlds, cull populations, they have the power of the Emperor behind them. There is no argument, that is heresy".

Rithisak spoke up at this, "this is a strange ideal, for one to have such absolute power, but your Imperium does carry great power, so your way must work well enough".

Faertin just nodded, not wanting to go in greater depth of politics and cultural differences. "Have you had dealings with Kroot before? Your lack of xenophobia has been a surprise." Faertin nodded, saying "Couple of times, never knew 'em too well, they kept to themselves".

"Not many of your kind are privy to seeing my kin. Fewer still can hold their stomachs after seeing them in battle". Faertin smiled, "I've seen orks knock out their dead friend's teeth, and 'nids rip through entire squads of guardsmen. One more xenos eating an enemy doesn't bother me too much anymore."

I was hardly surprised at the casual talk of death, it was an every day occurrence to all of us. "We've got movement out there, could just be dust moving around. It is a bit windy tonight." Rithisak whispered, hunching down while drawing his rifle. I looked out to where he was staring at, and saw clouds of dust moving across the flat grounds, but I couldn't tell if there was something malevolent in them or not. Faertin came over to where we were looking, and produced binoculars from his pockets.

"Definitely something in there. Picking up heat signatures, but its too bunched up to make out anything specific." He whispered. I began to go to Manadict, but when I stood a flash of light came and I felt a flare of intense heat fly past my head. I dropped to the ground immediately, drawing my own rifle. Behind me, I heard Rithisak's rifle buck out, and a scream came shortly after.

At the sound of gunfire Manadict sat up, eyes wide as he looked for the source of the disturbance. I gestured to where the attackers were, and he grabbed his staff and went to have a look for himself.

The rest of our group woke shortly after Manadict did, each reaching for their weapons. Hasmar was grumbling about his lack of sleep, but kept shooting all the same. Another bright flash flew overhead, temporarily lighting us up, but I could tell where the shooter was, so I took aim and returned the favor.

My shot was rewarded with a yelp, followed by a soft thump, and I heard a war cry that rivaled the greenskins of my childhood, and I could tell our unseen attackers were charging. As they got closer, I made out one heavily armored man, though the rest were dressed in poor rags, covered in filth. I shot again, and another one fell. They were closing the distance at an alarming rate, and I saw one of them was garbed in the gear of the traitors who served the governor of the planet.

One of the human mercs spat out a spray of lasfire, gunning down two more soldiers, splitting one of them in half. At last they were close enough for us to get into melee range, and Hasmar was the first to leap. I saw Hasmar embed his ax in one man's skull, causing a spray of blood to come out. I jabbed a blade into one trooper, catching him in the eye. He screamed as he fell, and I let him there, turning my attention to my next foe. The heavily armored human moved with an unnatural speed for one with such bulk, grabbing one mercenary with one hand and crushing his skulls beneath his fingers. I fired a shot into him, and it crunched through his armor, making him arch his back in pain. He turned towards me, ready to get revenge for his injury. He drew a strange chain with a blade at the end and whipped it at me. I narrowly dodged it, feeling the air rush past me. The blade made a spout of dust rise from the ground, and I leapt at the man, sending him tumble to the ground. Before he could react I ripped his helmet off, only to see with a sense of horror that there were too many eyes and mouths on his head. Some mouths were laughing, others hissing, others still weeping at its fate, while every eye watched me with hatred and malicious glee.

One mouth spoke a jumble of nonsense, and I raised my blade, wanting to plunge it into him to end his existence. Before I could land the blow a fist came up at walopped into my stomach. I rolled off of him gasping for air and blinking away stars, when I felt his meaty hands on my throat.

A loud crack came from out of my view, and the man fell on top of me, and I saw Manadict standing over us, staff at the ready. I crawled out from underneath him, before he could take a second try at killing me. The man tried to get up, but Manadict crashed his staff into him again, this time getting a grunt from the man before he lie still on the ground below.

Just to be safe, I grabbed my knife and plunged it into the back of his skull, wedging it deeper and deeper until the man stopped moaning in pain and the blood stopped flowing.


(PS: What's everyone think about the switch to 1st person? I haven't remembered to ask until now)

Now this was a good read after a long day spent at work. I like the first person view, as it changes up things. Well done

Thanks for the feedback, it helps a lot more than some people might think. Will start working in the next bit soon enough.

I know all about the whole feedback thingy, it helps a lot when one gets something

Good work man, keep it up. I enjoyed reading this even though I know next to nothing about the Kroot, or anything Tau for that matter. I have a few questions that you might consider addressing in future instalments.

What is a shaper? What can/do they do?

Is the old Shaper in the squad the same guy that saved our hero as a baby?

Do the Kroot observe any religious practice apart from funeral rights?

Finally, a note about 1st person. First person is a narrated style. That is to say the main character in the story is the narrator. But it begs the question to whom is he telling his story? Where, when and to what purpose?
Is our hero the only survivor of the tour telling his story to the inquisitor in his debrief?
Is he an old mercenary Shaper, telling storys around the campfire to younger more inexperienced Kroot?

These kind of frame narrative don't have to be long or complicated but they can add richness to the overall story.
There is an immediacy to first person which helps draw a reader into the story but there's much more.

Anyway, sorry for the long interruption. Looking forward to more Krooty goodness soon! Thanks.

Lable me interested, this is some good stuff. keep it going

To answer some questions, a Shaper leads a kroot tribe and knows about what genes are good to inherit and what a isnt. They gain genes from eating dead foes/brethren and eating chaos and tyranids are bad.

The current Shaper (Manadict) is from the mercs that had saved Vireak as a child.

Kroot religion isn't too well known besides eating the dead brethren to let the warrior spirit go on.

I was thinking of the first person as a memoir similar to Ciaphis Cain, if that makes sense. You're comments have given me some ideas though.

I hope that helps, if you have any more questions please ask. Thanks for the encouragement, it means a lot!

Good stuff and I didn't even notice the switch to first person to be honest, too busy reading!

Seems like they're a pretty religious bunch the old kroot. I'd say if no-ones gone to the trouble of fluffing that out then you have an oportunity here to make it your own. I'd be interested to learn more. But hey if that's not what you're into then take it wherever you like, it's your story.

A memoir eh? Do Kroot write? I had the impression they were a more oral culture, less tech more tradition. Maybe they do write memoirs I don't know much at all about Kroot really.

They can speak to humans so their language skills are good, but can they read human text?

They seem to struggle slightly with some technologies but what is their own level of tech? I'm assuming all the gene stuff is more a biological intuition thing and less microscopes and gene coding in labs.

Anyway, I don't really expect you to answer all these questions here. It's really ok, I'm just curious to know more and your characters and their story are raising lots of good questions. The more I read the more I want to read more.

It could be a voice recorder of him speaking the stories, that makes a lot more sense actually, I don't think a kroot would care for spending time to write a story. I kinda picture them similar to native Americans, focusing on oral traditions, pretty much exactly like you said. I never paid too much attention to whom the story was being told to, I guess it's more important than I thought.

Also, I believe there are rumors of factories hidden on Pech (kroot homeworld), which they hide from the Tau, among various other things. The kroot used to have a pretty advanced tech, including warp drives, but reverted to older ways like living in trees and whatnot. One thing I do find very fascinating about kroot is how adaptive they are to other languages, despite having beaks.

The genes part doesn't necessarily focus on microscopes, but its pretty much what you see is what you get. IE eating orks leads to more muscle mass in future generations.

Looking up, I saw Manadict grabbing another man by the throat, growled, and slammed him to the ground. He wasted no time in using the blade at the bottom of his staff to remove his head.

Hasmar was in a frenzy, slashing anyone who came near him, but some still charged him, being left behind as ribbons of gore, forgotten in the face of his next challenger.

I saw Faertin fire a lasround into one man's chest, making the soldier stumble in his charge. Faertin finished him off by putting a boot on his back and a round through his head. At last the enemy were either dead, dying, or pulling back at the sudden onslaught we had given them.

Hasmar looked to give chase, but winced as his shoulder wound flared in pain and he stumbled forwards. Manadict was quick to stop his violent intentions from going any further; laying a hand on his shoulder and whispering words to soothe his blind rage. The bloodlust in Hasmar's eyes was slow to disappear, but eventually Manadict's words won out. At last Hasmar slid his knives in their respective scabbards, and reoriented himself with what was around him.

Rithisak and the other two kept quiet about the bloodlust, but Manadict could see the signs in the way they looked at Hasmar. "His bloodline had consumed followers if Khorne, giving them a rage they cannot control in battle. They were pure enough thanks to keen watching from the Shaper of their tribe, who kept a constant eye on them to prevent corruption from taking a firm hold. Luckily for them, they only had to go on a Walk of Cleansing. Considering the other option was death, they were not unhappy with the outcome of their foolishness." The last part was added for the benefit of the human soldiers around us, as they were standing around us listening in on the conversation.

Rithisak nodded, and looked towards the horizon, probably to see if anything else was coming our way. Manadict waved Oudom over and asked him to drag the bodies together into a pile. I gave him a questioning look, and he explained "They cannot be consumed, Chaos has too much of a hold on them. We have to burn them, to rid of the evidence of their existence." I nodded my understanding, and he went to help Oudom with his task.

Soon enough we had all of the corpses gathered, and Manadict pulled a vial from a pocket. He spilt its contents onto the bodies, and grabbed two igniting stones, cracking them together to spend sparks onto the corpses, which in turn set the entire mound on fire. The smell of charred flesh was strong on my nostilrils, and I gagged before stumbling back. The other kroot were just as conflicted with the smell, Manadict had wrapped his robes around his face to help conceal the smell. The humans were cringing at the smell, but weren't as affected by the scent as we were, for once I wished I had the dulled senses these humans had.

Manadict stared into the flames for a few more seconds, before looking towards the setting sister moons. "It is time to leave, we cannot stay here, where there is are signs of skirmish. If anything else is nearby, this bloodshed will draw them to us faster than a feral kroothound can charge. You," he faced the humans of our group, "have any of you dealt with the Unclean before?"

No one spoke up, either looking at the ground uncomfortably under Manadict's stern gaze, or just shook their head. Manadict let out a quiet sigh, and added "then there is much to do. Come, gather your gear, we are setting out. There is no time for sleep if the enemy is about."

With that we grabbed anything we had lying about, the men grabbing extra ammo from the dead, and we set out, leaving the charred corpses behind us to smolder.

We went on until the sun poked through the veil of night, bringing warmth and a sense of calm. "Where were Corpter's men last seen?" I asked, to no one in particular. "Several klicks away from the city of Mahnsu, if my memory serves me right" Faertin nodded, showing his usual lack of xenophobia.

"And where is that related to where we might be now?" I ask, trying not to sound impatient. "Not too far. Its west from here, but I don't know how far exactly... It's hard to tell how far we've ran from that city. The enemy... were not normal. Those mutations we saw on those guys was just a start compared to some of the freaks in that city. We were being pushed back, and the group you see here got seperated, as you've probably figured out by now. We tried to regroup with the main force, but there was... too many, far too many of them." His voice quivered as he recalled what he saw, and I realized how bad it must have been there.

"To Mahnsu we go then, if your bodies and minds are willing to revisit old horrors" Manadict proclaimed, heading off to the West, his long stride leaving us in the dust, forcing us to make a quick jog to catch up with his quick stride.

(One quick question: how is everyone seeing Hasmar as a character? I'm not sure if I'm painting the picture I want him to be)

Quick update: I have been busy with other things in that strange world we call reality, so I didn't really have time to work on the story, but now I am able to work in it again. I'm sorry for the delay, but felt like it was necessary to say the story shall continue and I regret not having anything but excuses to give you guys. (Although thankfully I can work on changing that now)

No sweat, finding time to write is always tough. I can barely find time just to proof things I've already written!

It's a little unclear if Hasmar's shoulder wound is infected with chaos or if his tainted khorn genes are all to blame or both.

Don't be afraid to use your human characters to ask questions where you feel exposition might be required or Just helpful.

Thanks again, I'm enjoying getting to know what the kroot are all about.

Ok, thanks for the suggestions, I definitely will be keeping them in mind while I'm writing.

If I could describe Hasmar in just one word based on what we've seen of him so far I would call him immature. Even with his violent tendencies, the part where he loses his knife seems like nothing more than clumsiness and fiddling around with it in the first place and his general impatience seems somewhat juvenile. He isn't a psychotic Khorne worshipper and he is accompanied by level heads so the way he acts seems to be rooted more in inexperience than brute savagery.

If you think that he isn't coming across in the way you intend then a simple way of steering the reader would be to just have him talk and explain himself. Even if it was just a case of another character asking him 'why did you do that?' and he can only answer 'I don't know' that would give a little insight into who is as a person. We know that the other kroot are wary of him and the way he acts but we don't know much about how he feels about his actions.

We traveled for several more nights and days, luckily without incident before we came into reach of Mahnsu. The city itself looked as if it had been abandoned countless years ago, but I knew that not even a month ago it had been teeming with life.

"Maybe we can catch ourselves a real fight" Hasmar grumbled as they walked, eyeing the city as if it was nothing new and unworthy of his attention.

"I doubt it would be smart to seek an enemy with that shoulder. Speaking of which, how is it feeling? We can slow down if it bothers you too much." Manadict said, revealing the fatherly side of himself.

"I'm fine. If we're going to stop, I'm not going to be the weak link to slow us down." He replied, sounding like he took offense to the suggestion of stopping. As he said this he took the lead of the group, as if the action could help hide the pain I had no doubt he was having.

"He's going to work himself until he collapses if he keeps this up" one of the humans said, as if he overcame his shyness finally to say something. "I'm a medic, you see. He needs some sleep, and more clean water for that wound. I would hate to see him die from such a relatively light wound."

Manadict nodded his thanks, although I am certain he already knew everything the medic said. He went on to rattle off a list of herbs that grow in this type of climate that could be of use, and despite the rather large amount of items he said, I find it hard to believe Manadict missed a single one.

"We should be there soon. Then you can see why we ran." Faertin said, his voice much more grim than when we were farther away from the city.

Hasmar called from up ahead, and we came forwards to see what he found. On the ground was a partially covered skull in the sand and dirt. I could tell it wasn't a kroot skull, and I was relieved by that. I recognized it as a human skull, and Manadict bent down to pick it up.

"At least we know we don't face Khornate followers, they would have taken this with them", he said, "the skull isn't too fresh. It has dried up, but with this wind and climate, it is hard to know for sure. My question is, where is the rest of the body?"

"What is that, Shaper?" Rithisak asked, pointing at marks on the skull.

"Looks like teeth marks, possibly claws. Some beast was the killer, it seems. Sharp eyes, Rithisak." Manadict said.

Hasmar growled after looking at the skull, and had a strange look in his eyes. Before I could point it out to Manadict, the look vanished as if it never came. Questions had flown through my head; was his khorne genes taking over? Was he being lost to a path of damnation that no Walk of Cleansing could clear? Am I just over thinking this, and Hasmar is fine? Is he just showing his usual vicious tendencies? I made a mental note to tell Manadict about this as soon as I got the chance.

Manadict set the skull back down, and wiped the dust off of his hands onto the rags that covered his leather cuirass. He gestured for the group to continue the walk, and we went on, getting closer and closer to Mahnsu. "Advance with caution, if the skull is any himt, we are soon to run into trouble?" Manadict said, while casting his gaze outwards, looking for any threats.

"Do you think Mahnsu is something Corpter will be willing to fight for?" I asked, to no one in particular. "Depends. If the enemy has a decent force here, he will more than likely send more men there. He prefers to take the enemy head on and wipe them out, and then move on to achieve objectives." Faertin said, and I picked up a sense of spite in his words.

"I hope they don't clean the city out. I've got a debt that needs to be repaid in blood for what they did to my shoulder." Hasmar hissed.

"I'm sure their will be plenty left to spare, but be cautious. They will be expecting an invasion, and our group will not be much against an entrenched enemy." Manadict said, sagely as ever. "Our goal is to regroup with Corpter's other forces. We still need a pay check for this, and we will do much more with an army of our own at our side."

I nodded, although I wasn't so sure if we were as useless as alone as he made it out to be. We survived a crash into the planet's surface. We made it that far, surely we could do a bit more before we became just another soldier again to the Inquisitor. Make our pay check a little bigger, perhaps? I said this aloud, and Manadict let a smile show. "My dear lad, perhaps we can do some ambush work, but we do not have the supplies. At best, we can infiltrate into their lines, but our group is too large and some of the humans are unaccustomed to such work. Their Imperium trains them to stand in a line and wait to be gunned down." The last part Manadict said in his native Kroot tongue, which he had taught to any Kroot that served under him.

Some of the humans looked at Manadict strangely, and I felt like they were wondering what he would be hiding from them. But, they're characteristic xenophobia stopped them from speaking out, and Faertin, the only one to actually speak his mind, looked unoffended. Surely thry could do it as well, in their own tongue, but they probably knew us Kroot are able to learn and adapt to languages quite quickly. We could crack open the more basic languages in less the a month. Manadict even knew some Fenrision, learning it from a trader that been raised in that area of the galaxy, but I didn't bother with that language and it's barbaric nature.

As we walked we came across the occasional building, no doubt once inhabited by those who didn't want to live with the troubles if city life. Rather ironic, as they would be the first targets of any Chaos warband or looting party in the area, or so Manadict said, but I had no reason to doubt him.

Sothear seemed keen on seeing if the rural buildings had anything worth taking, but Rithisak was quick to stop the idea before it came into effect. "Not here, not now. Those were innocents that lived there. If a human lives through this war and manages to go home, I will not be held responsible for his home being gutted of its belongings." I overheard him whisper.

Sothear nodded, not willing to disobey Rithisak. I started to get a better grasp on how Rithisak's leadership worked. He was no Shaper, and I was curious as to why they allowed themselves to be led by him. He seemed capable enough, but I was interested in the idea of Kroot acting independently from a Shaper. I guessed the idea wasn't too uncommon, some Kroot left the safety of their Kindred for various reasons.

Whatever the cause was of their independence, I did not want to share the fate of being deprived of my Kin.

I think this might be the pest update yet and you definitely got a lot more characterisation through. There is obviously a lot more going on with Hasmar than he is either able or willing to give away which is interesting although I also get the suspicion that Rithisak is hiding something too, and I hope Vireak's curiosity doesn't get him into trouble.