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Glad to hear that you're busy with that!

And whatever I plan tends to come out at a tangent like that last piece anyway. But the bit I have written is a break in the fighting after a skirmish.

Gaelos stepped over the Tau corpse, ignoring the blue blood that was coating its back. The pathfinder squad had tried setting an ambush only to find several flame units waiting, and ready for revenge against the xenos. "We'll get them this time. I know it." Khan heard one trooper say, and saw the man wiping blood off of his bayonet on a fallen Tau. Khan pushed any more thoughts about the trooper away, he needed to focus on the mission. Delano had decided the group of cadets had needed more field work, and joining one of the counter attacks in the woods. Everything was going exceedingly well, and any Tau resistance was quickly put down by the invading force. Even with the apparent Imperial victory, Khan didn't feel safe. There has to be something he thought, we can't walk into their den and not get bit.

"Enemy acquired. Several hostile blips appearing on the radar. Unidentified, will keep updated." Khan heard the voice crackle over his vox. Delano signalled for the group to move forwards, and even Barbary looked nervous as they advanced. "Not that he's willing to admit it," Khan muttered.

The soldiers crept forwards, with several men advancing at a time before covering the rest's approach. Khan heard a rustle behind him, and his head snapped backwards, and saw nothing but guardsmen and his fellow cadets behind him. Shaking his head, Khan's gaze returned to the front, but he never lost the feeling of being watched. Several minutes later of marching the group came to another halt as the scouting squad's vox burst with activity.

"Contact! Contact! Hostiles firing! Holding position, but we need support!" Khan heard gunfire, and what sounded like a fierce melee, and the sounds of soldiers mixed in as well. The vox channel faded into static, and Khan realized that there wasn't anyone left alive to talk to on the other side. The group double timed it towards the dying squad, determined to kill the aliens before they could slip away into the woodlands. Again, Khan heard that same rustling noise, and shot a glance backwards, but once again, saw no signs of anything but Imperials.

"Everything alright?" Gaelos heard Yorke whisper into his ear. Khan shook his head.

"It doesn't feel right. Something's following us. I keep hearing movement, but I'm not seeing anything." The cadet whispered back. Yorke nodded, but seemed deep in thought.

Without saying a word, Yorke broke away from Khan, and made his way to Delano at the lead of the group. Khan saw Yorke advising soldiers, and gesturing to the trees as he went, but whatever he said, Khan never heard. The cadets and guardsmen made good pacing, and it wasn't long before they reached the outskirts of the skirmish. Several guardsmen lie on the ground, and various limbs were strewn about. Parts of soldiers looked gouged out or carved open, while others had plasma burns. Delano stooped down to one soldier, and Khan was surprised to see that the man was still alive. His entire lower half was coated with blood, and had a tattered piece of cloth wrapped around one wrist, no doubt serving as a makeshift tourniquet.

Khan couldn't hear what was said, but Delano exchanged a few words with the man before setting her laspistol against his forehead and pulling the trigger. The Emperor's Peace, Delano had given the man the last gift he would ever recieve, and it didn't surprise Khan to see it administered. Delano stood up without giving a second glance at the lifeless guardsman below her, and barked orders to the troopers around her. The group examined the entire area, seeing one gruesome death after another. One question formed in Khan's mind.

What happened to them? This was not like the Tau, who relied on the firepower of their rail weapons. These men had been butchered, not killed in an actual firefight.

Behind Gaelos came a muffled thump, and a man's voice cut off. Turning around, he saw a tall, wiry creature standing over a dead guardsmen, wielding two bloody knives. The creature didn't say a single word, instead it leapt forwards, pouncing on a young soldier who barely had time to raise his lasrifle in response. Khan cursed to himself upon seeing the savage creature, and fired a shot at it with his laspistol. His aim was sloppy, and it flew past, and the abomination continued to cut into its prey without abandon.

"AMBUSH!" another guardsman barked, a sergeant by the looks of him, and fired a lasrifle at the bird like alien. The creature gave an inhuman screech as the shot hit its back, and stabbed the trooper beneath it one last time before falling over. Before the sergeant could gloat over his victory, another one of the creatures came down on top of him, and cracked his skull open with the butt of its rifle. The alien continued to pummel the sergeant, despite him clearly being dead, and Gaelos made sure to steady his aim this time, and his shot found a home in the alien's neck. It gave a shocked look before falling backwards, glaring at Khan as it expired.

Crouching to the ground, Khan crept forwards, hearing the sound of more of the beasts leaping onto his comrades around him. "The Kauyon has arrived, gue'la!" Khan heard one creature cry, his voice a mixture of clicks and whistles forming an odd Low Gothic. With a gruff shout of surprise, Khan was sent sprawling on the ground as another one of the aliens pounced on him, sending his chainsword skittering out of his grasp. The creature used one hand to pin Khan's right hand, his shooting hand, and the other held a knife, angled at Khan's chest. Gaelos was determined to not give the creature the satisfaction of showing signs of fear. Instead, he simply stared blankly at it, his own eyes gazing into the avian beast's. It raised the blade slightly, and sent it plunging downwards.

Khan's features had turned to those of relief and surprise when the creature's face melted under a lasround. The beast's spasms sent the knife falling out of its grasp, and Khan kicked the dead creature away. He tried to move his right hand from the alien's grasp, but the alien's fingers still trapped his. The cadet tried prying each finger off of him, but to no avail.

"Here," Khan heard, and looked up to see Hadj offering a combat knife to him. As strong as the alien was in death, the knife still cut its thumb off, and Khan slipped his arm and laspistol free. Gaelos got back to his feet, offering Hadj his knife back and giving him a small nod, the only sign of gratitude the Tallarn would get for saving his life. Looking around, Khan saw the battle had turned in the Imperium's favor, and the flamers were wreaking havoc against the aliens, and the creatures began to turn tail and flee. Khan occasionally made out one of the creatures leaping from tree to tree, and it wasn't long before they disappeared altogether in the forest.

Yorke sheathed his power sword and approached Khan. "Those," he began, "were Kroot." Yorke turned to the rest of the men, and began barking orders. "Gather the wounded, and the tags of the fallen. We cannot stay here, they'll be back, and ready for revenge. And we'll have to burn the bodies, if we don't want the Kroot to be desecrating them when they come back."

The guardsmen were somber as they made quick pyres, and haphazardly piled the Kroot bodies in a mound, and began their journey back to base after the flamers' work was done. It wouldn't do to carry wounded soldiers deeper in enemy territory, and they certainly had made a mark on the Tau's land.

Great piece! I thought for a moment you were going to let the Kroot have Gaolos.

Oh no, I like the kroot, but I don't like them that much. Also, I'm not sure if I made it clear or not, but it was Hadj that shot the kroot off of Khan.

Also, now I'm wondering how Barbary fared in that skirmish. Two power weapons certainly would make things interesting against a kroot ambush.

Nice work. it'll certainly get the juices flowing for more Tau bashing. if I write Babs's POV i'm writing him up like a total boss! i might throw out the epic style and just slum it with some over-egged comic book action just for fun.

"What the feth..."

Was that Khan?

Barbary turns, sees...

A seven foot, bird-man xeno.
Pool of human blood.

Knives, attacking!

"... Feth!"

a heartbeat, half a breath.

-Schlick - Schlick- long knives rising, falling.
Another guardsman's body sloughs to the ground.

Snap of las, moving target.

Underhand grip, downstroke from above. The trees!

A shout "Ambush!"

Skull crack.

Shadows flash through leafy light. Leaping motion, noises, above.

In the trees. The trees.

Barbary thinks, looks, Alenko, axe in hand.

"Al, the trees!"

Alenko's face. Did he just call me Al?

Barbary's fist. Trees splinter.

Alenko hews at wood.

Figures fall among creaking timber, stumble. The fight is joined.

The chorus-crackle of lasguns.

Grunts, yells. The chittinous snap of beak and claw.

Parry, feint. Waiting. Watch.

...remember to breathe...

Parry, counterstrike.

Watch your blind side.

Yorke is there. Now Hadj.

Strike, opening, strike hard.
Target, side-steps, counters...

"Ah, gak!" ...fleshwound...

Parry, step inside, overpower.

Enemy overbalanced, press home the advantage.

Fallen...
... dead.

...breathe...

"Khan, in trouble. Hadj, go!"

"Sayidi."

Yorke in command.

"Barb'ry, Ardo."

Did he just call me Barbie?

Pistol heat, battle direction.

Knives, swords, fists.

...breathe...

Desperate, beak and claw, no escape.

Cut, thrust. Manoeuvre.

Fire. Heat.

Hissing, popping flesh.

Alenko, axe discarded. Flamer spilling.
Heart of rage.

Heat. Sweat. Screaming.

Exorcising, purifying.

Fire, consuming.

Fire.

"Alenko!"

Fire.

"Alenko... Al!"

... click, trigger click. No pressure. Empty tank.

... breathe... breathe... breathe...

"Holy feth, Al... "

"My name is Alenko!"

... If you say so...

"The fight's over, man.... It's done."

Khan, Hadj. Head count.

Jhonus...

"Medic!"

Accosta, Frant. Ardo, Delano.

Felix, Yorke.

All present.

...breathe...

Bodys. Long, savage, inhuman.

"What the...?"

Smoke, promethium fume, charred flesh.

Yorke, boot on beak. Into the fire.

"Those, were Kroot."

Impressive work, Crowe. Definitely a more Schwarzenegger approach to it all, and it paid off well. I also like another spin of Yorke's last line.

Haha, cracking stuff. (Though your [i] tags have gone rogue on you)
I like the style, very fast paced, even though it's written and you read at your own speed.

I have a small bit to come for th Kroot, and I'd like rather than anyone writing a direct response, for you to explain what your cadet(s) would do/say in summary. I'll try and nudge a few folk and get answers.

Ok, I can give you a summary of what Khan would do, no problem. Although be forewarned, it will almost always be 'sit back, assess the situation, and manipulate it as much as he can for it to work in his favor/the squad's favor', or something similar.

To do a quick summary, Ardo is Fething angry. It's Tau, he wants his freaking scalps. He thinks kroot scalps are just as good, so he's taking some. If Yorke/Delano/anyone has a problem with it, he start acting... erratically

Heh, so long as nobody catches him taking his gross trophies back to the ship.

I realise I was a bit rambly above - I want their opinions on the section I post. It is very short, I just need to link it to the present situation.

It took all afternoon and evening to clear the site of the attack, with the commissars and cadets taking turns to guard the perimeter. As dusk began to fall, the pyres were dwindling, the fallen had been cremated, and the group of cadets and surviving Mordians were left with the grim decision: to make camp there, or head back out of the forest in the growing darkness.

A slight crackle and chill on his neck caused Yorke to pull his goggles on and sweep the area, where he was surprised to find a new addition to the readings.
He silently signalled for the cadets and Delano to gather to him.
Yorke turned his head and pointed, "There's a single target, fleeing from the site. Visors down!"
Around him the cadets dropped their heat vision visors, allowing them to also follow the movement.
"One human or Kroot, running low," Alenko murmured, "but headed away from us, toward the xeno encampment sites?"
The small group quickened their pace and began to give pursuit.
Suddenly Kharn slowed to a halt, "...Not alone." he sounded surprised.
The other cadets slowed and followed the shape staggering in the dark, as it too halted and huddled against unseen cover. With a deep sinking sensation, Ray then realised there were two heat signals. One from the fleeing figure, and another far smaller in its arms.
Flipping back his visor, he gazed across the faces of the cadets in his charge, and then up to the patchy sunlight above, wondering what exactly their next move should be.

Khan would want them dead, no matter who and what they were, excluding the human baby. All others cannot be trusted, the Mordian is a xenos sympathizer. His next step might be to risk his squad to save another alien, and maybe go rogue altogether. It's too much of a risk. If it's a Kroot running, then it is a combat ready enemy who might want revenge for the counter assault. As for a krootling, executing it now means that it won't be a threat later.

Khan is indeed a cold man. His reasoning isn't one of revenge, or emotion. It's more of a logical basis, and Khan isn't really afraid of what others might think of his decision either.

Yorke would actually be less sympathetic to the Mordian than to a Kroot. As the Kroot are mercenaries, he would make the distinction between civilian (child) and soldier (mordian and adult Kroot). But a human deserting his post to assist the enemy would be punished severely, along with anyone who saw them leave or didn't notice their absence.

Frant would be uncertain, and relying heavily on his training and scriptures. Fearing repercussions more than morals.

Hadj is citing chapter and verse to say both yes and no. Essentially he's a fence sitter who enjoys the debate more than any outcome which he suspects would be most likely an unsatisfactory compromise. He's a sly politician.

Barbary says let's keep up the chase and just see what we find. He'd rather act now and think later. He's a compulsive personality who needs to keep moving. If he stops too long he knows he'll end up back in a bottle.

Not helpful answers. Hadj can moralise it either way and Babs has no time for moralising. Maybe that's one vote for kill 'em all and another vote for the majority.

Ardo would not care, he saw kroot and some very barbaric tau kill helpless children (was almost one of them). He would definitely kill both the kroot child and whoever was carrying it, if it was a human child, he would go all freaking out to rescue it.

Well, I flipped a coin, and wrote the resulting outcome. I'll try and finish it up for this week.
I apologise if it seems that I asked an irrelevant question, I am trying to work out just how different their views are from their mentor's, which will tie in to some minor stuff later on.

FWIW--and it's probably rather late at this point--Felix would turn a blind-eye--excuse the pun--to it, unless otherwise ordered. To kill for the sake of killing only invites corruption, and the fleeing signatures were showing no signs of any aggressive acts. Passion must be held by a leash of reason, and there is no reason to give wild chase. Report it back, and await further orders.

A soft sound beside them alerted the cadets, and then they realised that Yorke was no longer with them. Instead, he had become a blur, pursuing the stumbling figure in the distance. The tall commissar easily clearing fallen trees, debris and undergrowth like he was a far younger man, back in on the training grounds of the Schola.
The cadets and Delano moved as one following more cautiously, as Yorke gained ground.

With a loud thud and exclamation, the commissar caught his mark, throwing him to the ground.
"What-the-Emperor-loving-feth-do-you-think-you're-doing?"
The group arrived in time to find Yorke hauling and pinning a white uniformed trooper against a dead tree, his face only inches away from the man's, and his figure radiating aggression.

The man was still clutching a small bundle, his face blanched, and his eyes now wearing the dead stare of someone who knew his life was over, "One of those things, those Kroot. It dropped this. I thought- I thought if I returned it, they might- they maybe wouldn't come back." he croaked, the dry words sticking in his throat.
Yorke was unable to speak from the rage in his own chest, and stepped back, staring with a ferocity that caused the trooper's stomach to drop.

Barbary stepped to the guard's side, "Put the child down, Assov. It's over."
The man knelt to place the bundle on the forest floor.
The cadet continued, "You deserted your post, then you willingly fled towards an enemy base. You didn't report your activity, and you left your squad a man down in a warzone. You are a disgrace to our regiment, Assov. One of those infractions alone is a firing squad offence, and you know that."
Shaking, the trooper stood and faced the group, his face nearly as pale as his uniform.
The others watched quietly, the strangeness of the day and the realisation of their duty falling upon them.

"Cuff him." Delano gestured, and Khan stepped silently over to oblige.
Before the cadet had reached the prisoner, a single shot rang out, and Assov crumpled to the ground where he had stood, stone dead. Yorke was already holstering his pistol as the cadets span to work out what had happened.
"Get his tags. Leave the child. We move."
Khan looked confusedly from the guard's still warm body, to the commissar.
"Now!"

Moments later, the group were gone, back to the battle in the distance.
A rustle from the trees above, and then another, as two Kroot slid down the worn trunks to the earth.
Slowly, one crept to the bundle and reclaimed it, as the other stood watch cautiously.
They turned to regard the fallen trooper, one Kroot dropping to inspect him.
<< "Leave this one. It had some madness." >> the crouching figure murmured.
<< "It wanted to help us." >> the second Kroot gestured the the infant now safely slung across his back.
<< "Perhaps. Perhaps it was more frightened of its own kind than of us.">> the alien turned and began moving away from the sounds of battle with its comrade, until again there were no signs of life in the small clearing.

The reasoning behind his actions was that everyone knew what would happen to Assov in the long term. That the trooper and his squad/regiments reputation would be destroyed, morale lost, and if it somehow got out further, civilians could lose faith in the guard itself.

One soldier being killed before he knew what hit him seemed a solution to Yorke, as people go missing all the time in warefare. Compared to the truth in this case.
He didn't stop for a moral lecture in the middle of a battle, so until there's downtime it's up to you if the cadets grasped the reasoning.

I asked for their takes as I'm working on something for one of the future encounters.

"Man, did you ever think you'd see that?" Barbary asked between bites of hot toasted... something that Hadj had been making on the back of a trenching tool over the fire.

Hadj did not respond. He knew well what Barbary was talking about but he wasn't interested in greasing the wheels of that particular conversation.

"I mean, I'd heard... well, you know what they say about Yorke, and I'm not saying I thought he was a soft touch or... you know, I mean, but he just shot that guy!"

Hadj didn't look up, he muttered something in Tallarn under his breath as he turned the food over with his fingers as if he couldn't feel the heat.

"No last words, no... you know, 'By the authority of the commissariat I Raymond Yorke do hereby pronounce judgment upon you". The guy didn't know what was coming, he was dead before he knew it, feth! He was dead before any of us knew it"

Hadj didn't comment. But Barbary knew his audience.

"Not even a benediction for the sake of his soul."

That got a glance, a non-committal grunt, a needless reshuffling of the food on the shovel. Then a pause, an indrawn breath, as if Hadj had something to say. Barbary was pleased, he waited, enjoying his last bite. The silence hung like a an axe about to fall. The tension was palpable, and soon Barbary was feeling the heat from more than just the fire.

Barbary couldn't help himself.
"And that pistol ain't no standard issue light-weight box-blaster it's a full steel master-crafted, well I mean, a little more craft went into it than our plastic pea-shooters, its hardly a masterwork, but its heavy you know... York had it back in the leather with a las-round in the man's head so quick I thought it was a tau-sniper. I mean, I've heard of ripping off a band-aid fast, quick and painless but that's just..."

Hadj turned sharply and stared the man into silence.

The fire cracked. The fire-light reflected in the Tallarn's dark eyes, flickering deep, deep in the heart of their fathomless black. He breathed out.

"If you thought as much as you spoke, or as quickly," Hadj began in a hoarse whisper. "You might speak more sense, or better yet say nothing.

Barbary breathed in as if to reply but was silenced with a swift gesture.

"I say only this, friend." Hadj meant not to quarrel, he forced a smile from his graven features. It was not reassuring.

"The Emperor alone sees all ways and all ends. We do but grope in the darkness. Experience, we both may lack, but hindsight can be a light to many a dark deed."

Hadj paused and turned the food out onto a flat stone to cool before driving the blade of the hot trenching tool firmly into the ground. The hot steel sizzled in the damp mould. Barbary considered and kept his peace.

"I ask you." Hadj continued, "Do you now agree with the Commissar's action?"

Barbary thought. 'Do you now'. Not 'did you' or 'could you'. Barbary looked with the benefit of hindsight and a clearer judgement than the heat of the moment had allowed. He did now agree. He had been shocked, confused, angry even. He had been taken off guard so easily and hadn't known where was safe to stand since. Now he felt his footing more sure, his compass more true, he agreed, as Yorke must have known...

"It had to be done."

Hadj exuded an enviable stillness whatever he might feel inside, now or at the time. He nodded slowly.

"Then say no more, and let it be done."

Hadj took a hunk of the cooled food and, breaking it, offered half to Barbary. He took it and they both ate in silence.