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This is the first short story I have written to go along with my new Tau Cadre, which can be followed in the P+M blogs:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/284920.page


Shas’o Vior’ka Eoro’bentu paced the command center’s main aisle way as he did at the beginning of each day, downloading tech reports and personally seeing to it that each station was running at maximum efficiency. His Cadre, Kais’myr, had been stationed on the planet Suam’he for almost a full kai’rotaa now and he itched for something a bit more stimulating. As far as he was concerned, they were stationed on nothing but a giant rock with long, flowing volcanic rivers and jagged canyon walls, not to mention the unbearable heat.

As he came to the end of the walkway he stared at the command center’s main view screen; a message flashed across:
+++Incoming Reconnaissance Video Feed+++

+++[Planet Suam’he] [Sector 4][Pathfinder La’rua][Savon][Feed uplink 342.537.88765]+++

+++[Mission Time][0.0.72.34.10]+++

As the feed panned from left to right, Vior’ka saw more of the same: molten lava rivers flowing freely, and jagged rocky terrain. The video recon confirmed the same thing as each feed before it. Suam’he was completely devoid of indigenous life. Vior’ka closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and let out a frustrated sigh.

“Recall Pathfinders in sector 4,” he reluctantly commanded the tech running the view screen.

Vior’ka wasn’t frustrated at the lack of action, but more so by the lack of indigenous life. During the down time on his various deployments, he had spent time collecting information about the local Flora and Fauna. He had accumulated quite a collection, and took pride in being as thorough with the details in his findings as he was with making sure his Cadre ran at maximum efficiency. Vior’ka had recently decided that once his duty to the Greater Good was finished, he would move to a remote location and publish his works. As he turned toward the exit of the command center, he decided he was not going to let the lack of life on the planet get him down; they were there to protect and maintain the communications relay, not go on nature walks.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Everything seemed eerily quiet as Shas’o Vior’ka Eoro’bentu made his way toward the final stop of his daily routine. This was by far his favorite part of his obligatory morning duties. As he thumbed the controls to open the hangar bay entrance door, Vior’ka was instantly overcome with a sense of purpose. The hangar was by his estimation one Tor’kan long and easily as high. The sea of onyx metal in front of him was trimmed with a bright orange glow. To his left, a half dozen Devilfish troop transports, and to his right two Hammerhead Tanks, easily distinguishable by the long turret attached at the dorsal end of the hull. As he strolled down the middle of the hangar, he was instantly satisfied by seeing various Fio’el tinkering and adjusting each vehicle in some fashion.

Vior’ka came to a halt at the end of the hangar. His XV-8 Commander Battlesuit stood lifeless in all of its glory. The majority of the suit was black metal to match the other vehicles in his Cadre, with several panels trimmed in orange. The suit was easily three times his height and he marveled at the sheer bulk of the thing. Given the size of the XV-8, it was a true testament to the technology of the Tau, as in battle his Command Suit possessed the deadly combination of efficiency and maneuverability. The nearest Fio’el lurked behind Vior’ka, not daring to interrupt the Shas’o’s serene moment. With a slight look back, Vior’ka gave the Fio’el permission to speak.
“Shall I make preparations for embarkation?” the tech said carefully.

“That won’t be necessary,” Vior’ka said dismissingly. “Anything to report?”

“Permission to speak, Shas’o?” the Fio’el inquired.

“Granted”

“Sir, the boys are starting to get a bit antsy. They tune and make mods all day, but never get to reap the benefits of seeing their work in action. I found them yesterday trying to mod the vox transmitters to send out messages that were quite obscene over the local radio waves.”

“I realize these times are tough. We must accept the fact that this place isn’t too much to look at and we haven’t had much to get excited about, but nevertheless, we must remain vigilant to our primary objective; defend this communications relay.”

While these words seemed to make sense to the tech as he did a crisp about-face and went back to his tasks, Vior’ka wasn’t so sure. Watching his cadre sit around, play cards and get themselves into trouble due to boredom was a quick way to let your skills and discipline get dull. He shook his head, the XV-8 standing tall in front of him, and wished for some sort of action.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Vior’ka Eoro’bentu lay in his bunk inspecting the latest additions to his data pad. While it seemed to the untrained eye that Suam’he was in fact a lifeless planet, Vior’ka knew better. In his travels, he was able to find some sort of life on each of the planets during his service to the Greater Good. He had an infallible system. He had created an algorithm that took into consideration the planet’s atmospheric pressure, Carbonic output and finally a special scale that he had developed over time that measured a planet’s ability to sustain life as it relates to the mean of each planet before it. The algorithm would then be plugged into a computer program he had his techs create and that in turn would show life forms, no matter how small, as well as their current location. It was then up to Vior’ka to track the life form down, study the life form, and finally enter the vital information into his data pad.

The problem that Vior’ka was running into, however, was the fact that the makeup of the entire planet was volcanic lava and gasses and the Carbon output was more than he had ever seen.
“This will make it extremely difficult for the algorithm to pick up on signs of life,” he thought.

Trusting his keen eye, he decided to run the program and see if he could decipher the results, hoping it would show some anomaly that would constitute a life form. As the results began to appear in front of him, Vior’ka’s pulse throbbed and the pit of his stomach began to burn. He had seen this life form before:

“Gue’la,” he grumbled through his clenched teeth as he vaulted from his bunk and made way to the command center.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Shas’o, we’ve just picked up life forms on our scans,” the lead tech said as Vior’ka reached the command center.

“Track them. If they breach the perimeter, have the Pathfinders light them up. Deploy La’rua Alpha and Bravo to Torn’fa pass. If they truly want this Comm station, that will be their only avenue of approach. I will lead the main assault.”

“Which Ta’ro’cha shall I deploy?” the tech implored.

“Monat,” Vior’ka grinned.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

++Incoming [RECON] Update++

++[Gue’la objective] [Communications Relay]++

The snare was set. The Gue’la were too predictable. All other avenues between the Terrans and the Tau Communications Relay were strategically barricaded. While the remaining path was the most direct route to the relay, Torn’fa pass was so tight the humans could barely walk shoulder to shoulder. Commander Vior’ka had his Fire Warrior teams set in perfectly on the ebon, charred, mountainside in an elevated position. Another status update from his Pathfinder squad flashed across his HUD:
++Targets marked 1.5 Tor'kan and closing. 13 Terran, lightly armed. THREAT MINIMAL++

Vior’ka let a slight smile cross his thin, blue lips. “La’rua Alpha and Bravo, markers are set. You may fire on my command. Hit their flanks hard and without prejudice. Leave no survivors.”

As he tracked the green outlines of the Terrans through his HUD, they almost seemed to stumble through the rangy, constricted corridor. A sense of pride warmed his mind. He noted how primitive their weapons were. The few times he had faced the humans in combat, the most obvious of their technological shortcomings was the archaic ammunition their firearms required. On numerous occasions, he had seen their weapons malfunction and cost them their lives. The pride he felt was brought on by knowing that his Cadre, Kais’myr, aptly named for the surgical precision with which they were time and time again able to achieve victory, were far superior in both the technology of their weapons, as well as the communication between the various components of his Cadre.

This small skirmish would be no different. As he engaged the thrusters on his XV-8 Commander Battle Suit, he snarled into his vox transmitter: “Fire at will.”

Before they even knew what hit them, the first four Gue’la in the column had various appendages eviscerated by plasma fire. Blood did not splatter, as the extreme white-hot plasma charges instantly cauterized flesh where they had hit. The scene of plasma raining down onto the Terrans reminded Vior’ka of the meteor showers he had seen on the various planets his duty had called him to. These were much more satisfying, however, because of the utter agony they caused when they hit their mark.

The Terrans scurried for what cover the pass gave them, one of the more-well armed shouting instructions over the sharp din of the streaking plasma. They returned fire, although Vior’ka was completely certain that his Fire Warrior squads were so well placed and dug in that any attempt to fire at them would simply make them easier targets.

With the human squad pinned down, Vior’ka knew they only had two choices: endure the plasma hail storm and forge on, or a tactical withdrawal. The calculable nature of the humans made Vior’ka’s first move extremely easy. He swooped down between the canyon walls and depressed the firing stud on the weapons system control stick. Two bluish-white streaks leapt from the left arm on his suit. The first found its mark square in the chest of the unfortunate human running point, the second forcing two more to cling to the rocks they used as cover.

Vior’ka scolded himself for the miss as he made a mental note to let himself trust the weapons systems in his Command Suit rather than fire from the hip. The truth was, Vior’ka knew that he could have better than average accuracy without the weapons system. He was amazed at how accustomed he had become to the control layout of his exo-skeletal war machine. The fact was simple, if he trusted the suit to do the work, he would rarely miss.
As he adjusted the flight path of his suit a few degrees, this time he let the Suit’s firing controls make the necessary calculations. The humans showed up outlined in green on his HUD, denoting that they had been painted by the Markerlights of the Pathfinders. 6 remained, slowly working their way forward.

Vior’la entered the command to fire the Airbursting Fragmentation Projector. With the enclosed space he was firing into, he didn’t really think he needed the computer to do the work, but gave the benefit of the doubt on this occasion. Before he was finished with his thought, the aiming reticule on his HUD danced across the screen and finally flashed “LOCKED.” Vior’ka pulled the trigger with vengeance. The right arm of his suit glowed brightly and loosed a single blast of plasma toward the Gue’la. As they tracked the ball of light sailing toward them, again they dove for cover. Just over their heads, the ball exploded into a glorious display of little white projectiles. All but two of the 6 green markers on his HUD extinguished.
“Not bad, for a computer,” Vior’ka muttered under his breath.

The determination the remaining Gue’la showed was admirable. They moved and fired in unison, with each laying down fire as they regressed back down the canyon.

“Finally, a move that isn’t predictable,” thought Vior’ka to himself. He was sure that the pride and stubbornness of the Terrans would have had them advance and not retreat.
He made a mental note that the humans might not have been as unintelligent as he once thought.

Edited 12/13/11

This should go into Dakka fiction.