The Battle of the Eastern Isles

[Le Shay]

One year before the anukai pact.

The jungles of the island were dense with thick green undergrowth. The thick foliage did well to hide the presence of the warriors as they silently traveled. Mourn was positive her forces hadn’t been detected. The operation was going smoothly for the moment; like any battle plan though, it wasn’t perfect and eventually it would start to fall apart.

A trickle of sweat slid down to the small of her back as she stood in front of her warriors. While some of her sisters pulled guard; she organized her squads and gave orders to their leaders.

“The Morigan herself ordered this operation so failure is not an option. We are to secure these islands for The Morigan clan and Le Shay, no if ands or buts. Destroy anyone or thing that stands in our way. According to logistics these islands are supposed to be uninhabited. Land in Le Shay is precious as you all know; this opportunity is too good to pass up. We are now on the largest of the islands in the chain. Do not fail me, is that understood!”

The next evening her scouts returned bearing ill news. The Shadow Tau where establishing an installation to the northwest. She dismissed the scouts with a gesture. The Tau are ranged specialists and renowned for their iron will. They will make for a fine opponent she thought. Her orders still stood and she wasn’t about to be deterred.

Mourn drew her white blade, its sixteen inch bone white blade glinted in the evening sun. Its construction is her clan’s most guarded secret. In its handle is a heating element that can super heat the blade in seconds turning it to a bright cherry red and the blades are laser sharpened to maximize its killing capacity.

Later that night she stood concealed in the shadows of the jungle at the edge of the tau base. It was a small base, but it was impressive none the less. It was set to maximize the natural defenses of the terrain and was well manned. As she looked she noticed that their communication tower was still under construction. With the jungle around it, the Tau’s communications could only work for a short distance. This vital advantage would not be wasted, Mourn knew she would need to act quickly if she had any hope of victory; they must not be able to summon reinforcements.

A voice came from the shadows to her left. “All is ready mistress.” Said Ari, Mourn’s second in command. She was young, only fifteen; but she showed great promise and with the right guidance she would go far. Mourn turned to look at her but even with her helmet on she only saw darkness. The huntresses are equipped with advanced stealth suites. That conceals them from most kinds of visionary detection equipment. Their helmet could change between night and thermal imaging.

“We’ll start our operation on the morrow.” was all she needed to say.

The next day passed without incident. The air was full of tension as the huntresses worked to fortify their position. The truth though was it was more to keep them busy, keep them focused on something other than the impending carnage.

That night they set an ambush just west of the enemy installation. Her scouts had been keeping an eye on the enemy, tracking their movements. The night was cool but still the humidity clung to the air. She slipped her helmet on, her suit started to cool her. Mourn lay on a branch overlooking the ambush area. Her sisters were all in position and ready. She knew once the fighting started it would be her job to keep order; her sisters would become blood drunk quickly. While she lay there she activated the heating element in her white blade and thought of the other two ambushes that would happen this night, she prayed for no casualties but knew better. The first mission was always the most stressful.

A branch broke in the distance drawing her from her reverie. The first enemy warrior came around the ancient gnarled trunk of a tree some fifty feet away. He hacked at the undergrowth with a machete clearing a path for his fellows that followed at a distance behind him. The forward warrior passed underneath Mourn and as he did she sent a signal to two of her sisters, they knew what to do. Quick as a lightning strike they broke cover, the warrior barely had time to register what was happening as the first huntress flashed by. His head tumbled from his shoulders and landed on the soft moss covered floor with barely a noise, his body was carried off by the other huntress as their paths crossed into the foliage before it could fall.

The rest of the Tau warriors made their way down the cleared path, and then stopped when they realized the path ended. The foremost warrior looked around confused for a moment, then his gaze fell on the severed head that lay on the ground in front of him. He stumbled backwards running into his commander.”Sssir!” but it was far too late.

With one final gesture the huntresses engaged. With lightning fast strikes they slew the troopers, no mercy and no prisoners. Mourn watched the chaos beneath her, the warrior that had stumbled back gazed around at the carnage taking place around him after a moment he realized he still had a weapon and bought it to bear, Mourn jumped from her perch. He fired and a scream followed, rage coursed through Mourn as she landed silently behind him. He turned and yelled as he tried to bring his weapon around. Mourn grabbed it deflecting it so the bullets hit the ground, she let loose a horrible war cry and brought her blade down. The warrior’s eyes widened. “Die, why won’t you die.” He whimpered. It was then that he realized he no longer held his weapon; he no longer had hands to do so. With a scream he ran throwing his cauterized stumps into the air.

One left alive to tell the tale.

The reports came not to long after they had returned to base. Two dead, five wounded one of which wouldn’t see the sun set and thirty three enemy casualties. The ambushes had been a success, three maimed enemy warriors had made it back to their base and Mourn could smell the fear they were spreading from here.

“Mistress you look displeased?” Ari said as she walked in.
“No, I’m just thinking.” Mourn mumbled
“What of?” Ari gave her a quizzical look.
“How many more will we lose before this is through…” she sighed.

[Shadow Tau]

Within a small, dark room sat three beings around a glowing sphere. Each of these beings wore a hooded robe with a skull surrounded by a radiant ring on the chest.

"Why must we sit around and wait for so long?" says one with a honeyed voice.

"We will wait as long as we must." says another with scars on thier hands.

"Wait?! You said it yourself that a run'al has already been destroyed and ever since then this scum has only advanced further into our sacred land!" says the honeyed voice one

"Would you like to explain to the masters why we moved without knowing the grand plan? Or do you want to let the rest of Tau that the mont'au caste exists?"

"This scum dares to attack the most enlightened of nations and yet you want us to sit around and wait?! I never thought that your ho'or-ata-t'chel made you such a coward."

"I see that your impatience and arrogance clouds your thinking, I wait because I wish to gain knowledge of the greater plan and not rush headlong into my grave."

"It begins." says the third being. Even with the light of the sphere, this one seems to draw the shadows to him masking all but his skull symbol.

The sphere starts to glow a little brighter and a small figure apears above it, also wearing the same robe as the three in the room. It looks around and pauses as it looks at each being in the room.

"I see that you are all here, good but lets us skip the normal formalitys since time is not on our side. We were cuaght off guard by this invasion and we don't have alot to work with but I want an updated map."

The scarred one leans forwards and pulls out several papaers. "A run'al has been slaughtered to the man, the rest of the bases don't know about because some have been updating thier communication towers. The rest seem to be getting jammed, we are unsure of the source of this. The invasion seems to primarily coming from one of Le Shay's houses, we also don't have much info on them but they seem adept at stealth warfare. There are unconfirmed reports of an errician mercenary company, but I would not put much faith into that. Our military forces on the island are quites small, only half of the 3rd legion. BUt there is some good news. We have just gained five companies of stealth suits and the native forces have been coming together quite well. Beyond this there is only minore things or rumors."

The figure just nods, "Good work but, there are some things that are incorrect about your info."

The scarred one makes a frown and quickly scans his papaers again, "Which part? I was quite meticulous about this."

"Your info is quite sound, the part your are incorrect about is that you have more than half of the 3rd legion. One company of stealthsuits also has a new type of suit, they are more melee based and have EMP generatos in thier fists. Also in the jungles is a hidden city that dates back to the fall of our great and glorious anukai son. That city is guarded by three regiments of the 1st legion."
This drew surprised looks from the scarred one and the honeyed voice one, the dark one did not move.

"But why only have half a legion guard it?! That city is one of kind, it's sacred beyond anything else we have!" shouts the honeyed voice one.

"I know this but we did so to not draw attention to our find. For what we have found so far would shatter the unity of the Tau. But because of this we must move quickly, for if Le Shay were to find the city it would cause unrepairible damage. It's why we sent forces to this land, for The Horned one's once tried to claim this land but we were faster. Isn't that right Or'es'Aloh?"

The dark ones nodded, "Yes, I was at the forefront of that battle. I also saw the city myself and know what is there."

The other two just looked on, trying to comprehend this info. After a few minutes the scarred one spoke, "Why were we not informed of this? This will change everything, we have to move fast to stop Le Shay from even finding hints of the city."

"That's why it took so long to contact you all, for this desicion could not be made lightly." the figure looked at the scarred one, "Mal'coar, you are to work the commander of the 3rd legion here. He has been notified you are here and has accepted the consequences of such. He is a very brave commander to face execution after this for causing this fiasco." It then turned to the honey voiced one, "Chi'agor, you are to infiltrate the enemy ranks and start sowing doubt and despair where-ever you can. And you Or'es'Aloh." the figure turned to the last one, hiding in the shadows. "You are to do what you do best, you are given free reign for the slaughter you are about to cause. The Reaper of Shadow Tau."

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Elsewhere on the island, at the 3rd legions HQ base.

"What was that you pathetic exuse for a pilot!" shouted a huge man wearing a battlesuit of charcoal gray without the helmet on, on his shoulder pad he had a badge that represented his rank of captain. His face was covered in scars, a huge chunk of his nose was gone, only his left ear remained, and he had four iron studs in the left side of his forhead. On his sides were two long handled waraxes, thier blades shimmering with energy. He used his jetpack to fly forward and slam into another, smaller person wearing the same suit as him.

He grabbed thier head and said "USE"
*SMASH*
"YOUR"
*SMASH*
"DAMN"
*SMASH*
"JETPACK!"
*SMASH*
Several cracks formed on the faceplate of the helmet as he pummeled it with his fists. "We are fighting in a jungle terrain, if you can't stay mobile, you are dead! So use it to get higher than you oppenent, get into the trees then strike again! This is the most dangerous island in Shadow Tau, any mistake will cost you your life wether it be from some rebel shanking you or from me when you pisse me off!" He threw the recruit to where another 200 stealth suits pilot in thier battlesuits stood at attention, waiting for thier turn to train with this beast of a man.

"NEXT SOLDIER!" The whole company hesitated when he said that. Then one stepped forward.

"I'm glad one you is eager to fight me, otherwise i would have to have you all run around the enitre island, without your suits." The captain took a slightly bored stance and waited. The other one used thiere jetpack to fly forwards but before it hit the captain it went flying upwards then used the jetpack to fly straight down behind the captain. When the pilot landed it sent out a kick into the knee of the captain. The whole time the captain did not move and just took the hit, he barely moved. He turned and swung his fist at the pilot's face but the pilot rolled away before it could connect then used the jetpack to fly forward and aimed a fist at the captain's stomach, the fist being covered by an energy field. The captain moved faster than he had before and grabbed the pilot's wrist before it could connect and he smiled.

"Now that's what I'm talking about. Mobility, fury and smarts. I'm glad at least one of my new pilot's is decent. What's your name?"

The other pilot stood to attention and said "My name is Shas'la Eur'ii of the Vior'ka family, sir."

"The Vior'ka family? What relation are you to Aloh Vior'ka?"

"He's my brother, sir."

"Brother? Well I hope you don't think that because of your relation the what was Tau's best pilot that thingas will be easy for you."

"Actually, my hope is that you will make things harder for me, so I can surpass him, sir."

"Hehe, you are about to face a world of pain. Let's see if you can become Tau's next pilot master."


Note-
Somewhat crappy but I got it done.

[Le Shay]

Map

[Le Shay]

One week after initial assault on the eastern islands.

The troupe moved quickly through the moriginan marshlands; a desolate place not for the faint of heart.
The land its self seemed endless, perhaps it was the sun that could never quite pierce the clouds or the constant drag as the mud underfoot seemed hell-bent on devouring you, which to the men’s great dismay had proven that it could. Still they press forward; at their head, a stout well muscled man led the way; not an ounce of fear did show on his face, only rage. It was the only emotion he seemed able to muster in the past week. He was quite during the day, but at night once camp was made, he would bellow at us in his anger of the current situation. It was Valmere had to admit the most annoying thing.

The following day they finally arrived at Raven Cleft, seat of power for the Morigan clan. It is a strange place; the mountain that seemed to rise up from the marshes around it; the rock is dark as pitch and radiates an unwelcoming aura. The city proper resides in a huge cleft that nearly divided the mountain in half, a wonder to behold but still a place he would certainly not want to live.

As they made their way through the city; they kept getting stares from the locals, all women of course since the Morigan clan is all female. Valmere had to admit though that there were some beautiful women here, then again he had yet to see a single one of them without a knife on their hip; that was all the discouragement he needed.

The main road rose gently as they walked, after a short while they came to the end of the cleft. At the end loomed the great shades hall, called such because legend has it that sunlight has never touched it, Valmere didn’t doubt that now that he was seeing it for himself, cruel edifices marked its walls and depictions of the fate of those who oppose the Morigan were carved into the outer battlements, a warning and a good one.

The way was open for them as if they were expected. The interior of the stronghold was as dismal as the exterior. Dim torches lined the wall in black iron baskets; though arcane to the eye, Valmere knew better; the stronghold was an old building with all the capabilities of a modern day facility.

As they walked into the main hall the Dagda’s pace increased. A single dark throne rose up in the back of the hall. Carved of obsidian it looked as if it were made of thousands of black shimmering feathers. On the throne sat the Morigan herself. She rose as they came closer. She was beautiful, in an intimidating sort of way. Tall and full figured with long dark hair tied back in a war braid and alabaster sin, she was quite the figure of power.

The Dagda stopped at the base of the throne. The Morigan’s lips curved into a cruel smile.
“We have much to discus, you and I.” she said in a deep uncompassionate voice that took Valmere by surprise.

For the first time in days the Dagda grinned. “Yes we do.”

[Shadow Tau]

Within the eastern island chain was an island called the isle of mists by the tau, for everyday of the year it was covered by mists yet no other island was. In the center of this island the tau built a very advanced, secretive watch station. Most of the station was built underground but a few things had to be built above ground. The first is the vast array of communication and radar towers that were all disguised as trees blowing in a light wind. The next was the large green houses, for no supply ship ever came here, were built under shallow lakes dotting the island. The third was large sonar dishes deep within the ocean hidden within coral reefs. The tau had done what it could to keep this station hidden, for it kept watch over the entire eastern ocean and now it was threatened by Le Shay. This station was named Sentinel and one of the most glorious commanders was put in charge.
Sentinel's command room was arrayed in teirs of control stations, each connected to a small part of the network, leading down to a massive wall of sceens. Each of these screens was watching something then switching to another in random intervals but always watching something. Near the base of this wall was a desk in an old colonial style varnished with the color of oak. Behind this desk sat a a man with his hooves on the desk wearing custom black leather boots, tight white pants tucked into the boots, a white buttoned shirt, over which a scarlet red coat was worn with black cuffs trimmed in silver, and atop this man's head was a tricorn hat with a big white feather coming out of the front. The hat was pushed forward covering his face as if he was napping, leaning back in his chair. At his side was a silver scabard containg a old cavalry sabre, on his other hip was an outdated .45 cal pistol.

One of the watchers came forward and said "Sir, we have located several of the fleets that have left Le Shay."

The man immediatley sat up pushing his hat back into place, "And let me guess they have seperated and have landed at several different islands."

"So it seems, sir."

"Well then, so Le Shay is claiming these islands. I wonder what we should do about that?"

"We should follow our orders and just watch, sir."

"That won't do, we are sitting on the biggest of the islands and while they may not know we are here, they will find out sooner or later. I say we start preparing for a fight and let us also take steps to make that fight go in our favor."

"As you command but what steps shall we take, sir?"

"Leave the outside things to me and leave the island's defense in our wonderful blackguard's hands. Inform them that they shall be put to the test, those 30 against a force most likely in the thousands."

"Yes sir."

The commander flicked open a panel on his desk that thrummed to life. He pressed a few buttons and a screen came out of the center of the desk. He pushed a few more buttons and the screen came to life and started making a beeping noise. A few minutes later a human face appeared on the screen.

"Shas'O Henry, what is it you want now?"

"Only to warn you of an impending doom my friend."

"What would that be? And how do you gain?"

"I'm hurt Stephon. I'm trying to be nice here but since you want to talk business then I'll be truthful. Le Shay has sent a fleet to claim those islands you smugglers like to use and I predict they will also interfere with my life as well, so how about we work together and stop them?"

"Work together how exactly? I recall several times you wanted to work together and I almost ended up dead."

"Now those times you didn't listen to me or some unforseen force acted. But this time it will work simply like this, we give you weapons, supplys and information while you do what you can to cripple or slow these damn heathens."

"So my men and me do all the fighting while you stay safely hidden?"

"Until they reach me in which my men will fight. So do you agree? The other choice is mutal destruction."

"What happens if we beat them?"

"Beat them? There is no beating them, we are outnumbered and the mainland won't send men to die out here in unclaimed islands. So all we have is eachother right now."

"So I fight and die or run and live? Choice seems obvious to me."

"Good luck outrunning Le Shay or not running into a Tau patrol. I will give you this, if you fight for Tau I will use my power to make sure you get out alive and not executed for your long list of crimes against Tau."

"When you put it that way, I don't have much of a choice do I? Very well I'll fight but my men will only listen to me not you."

"I suggest you then at least listen to my suggestions. LIke the best first strike is blowing up some of there transports, preferably with soldiers still inside."

"And how would you like that done?"

"Alot of C4, diving suits and of course old fashion boats."

"Old fashion boats?"

"Of course, you don't want a motor cause they will hear you. A night out boating in deep water then a nice dive under some ships would make a wonderful view." He said with a big slasher grin.

"I'll see what I can manage." Stephon also had a big grin.

Shas'O Henry hit a button and cut the link then closed the panel. He got up and walked over to a cabinet and pulled a bottle of a 50 year old New Gothland white wine with a drinking glass. Then he walked towards the stairs at the back of the room. The watcher that came to him before followed him out.

"To the roof again, sir?"

"Yes, night is almost upon us and I believe we will have a nice fireworks show coming up."

"Want me to send Shas'el Shadowbane to you, sir?"

"Not at the moment, that one is kind of depressing and she will just spoil this night. Tell her I want to see her first thing in the morning for orders."

"As you command, anything else, sir?"

"Yes, would you like to join me and watch the firworks?"

"It would be a pleasure, I assume the wine will be shared, sir?"

"Of course, you have a taste for this stuff?"

"Yes, my family would only import New Gothland wine, sir."

"Wait, did you hear something?"

"No, sir."

"That sound, it could only be......RATS! CURSED RATS!" He gave the bottle to the watcher and pulled his sabre out activating the power switch that covered the blade in bluish-white flames. He charged torwards the noise yelling all the way. "TAU'VA DAMN RATS! DIE HEATHEN SCUMBAGS! I'LL ROAST YOU ALIVE!"

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Later that night near some Le Shay battlegroups.

The smugglers rowed as quietly as the could then when they were close as they dared, they climbed over the side into the water. Each wore diving gear and each was carrying several pounds of C4. They went under immediatly then swam over to the ships. As carefully as they could they started planting the C4 along the bottom of the ships and when they ran out they swam back to thier boat, climbed aboard then rowed away. After they were far enough away but still within range they pressed the detonate button and watched the explosions. Across the entire so called front other groups did the same. They all hoped that this first strike would at least slow the Le Shay down until they could fortify the rest of the islands.

[Le Shay]

The explosions echoed clearly through the night, Mourn bolted up right from the branch she was sleeping on, almost losing her balance. Her mind cleared quickly as she struggled to figure out what had happened. Her com-bead buzzed, it was her lieutenant.
“Mistress several of our supply ships have been destroyed!” her voice full of worry.
How, was all mourn could think. Her lieutenant continued.
“They used row boats to get close enough to set a charge on the hulls, mistress the spyders were still on board.” She went quiet at that.
This was ill news the spyders were key assets in this struggle. Mourn worked it through her head.
“Lieutenant sent salvage teams. Did you manage to see were the attackers have gone?”
Her lieutenant answered proudly. “We have managed to capture some of the attackers; they didn’t realize that we had ships under the water as well as above. One of our assault dive teams was on hand when the attack happened. They overtook the row boats easy.”

“Good have them interrogated. Don’t be genital on them either.”
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Four hours later her troops were in position. The attackers, a bunch of smugglers had cracked easily, all men do. They had leaded her to their boss who intern told her were the true enemy base was located.

The final assault is about to begin.

[Shadow Tau]

Shas'O Henry sat upon an plain chair within the branches of the radar tree, sipping from a glass of the wine his attendant had brought along. He was facing south where serveral places were reddish orange against the night sky as the smugglers did thier job. His saber lay across his lap with several bloodstains and scorch marks down the half blade. The attendant also watch and sipped the wine, but also typed away at a tablet so the defense could be organized. The attendant also kept looking at the Shas'O wondering what that incident with the rats was about.
Finally he could not hold it anymore, "If you don't mind me asking sir but what was that all about?"
Henry took a moment to respond, "I was the one who led the Tau to the island of khiribana. The one who faced the skaven in combat. That war shall forever live on as a nightmare to whoever survived it. In truth all but a hand full of us are not in asylums."
Then he went quiet and stared off into the distance. The attendant didn't know how to respond and just waited to see if he would continue. Henry swirled the glass of wine a bit then got up and walked to the edge of the branch.
"The order came down from the grand ethereal council itself that an artifact of the faithful was found within the island's heart. An ethereal from the council was going to be coming along to transport it. So I gathered up 5 divisions from my 3rd legion and went to extract it. That's all we thought it was, an extraction mission. How wrong we were. The journey there was uneventful, no storms, no pirate attacks, and no mishaps. When we started landing we recieved info that the skaven also had sent soldiers to claim the artifact. I ordered the men to double time to the ancient city that held the artifact within it. I also requested more reinforcements, not that I thought I needed them but just in case the skaven got troublesome. The orders were given and we marched off, ran into a few skaven but they were dealt with quickly, we got to the city well before the skaven forces and started to fortify."
Henry took a sip of wine and shuddered.
"How unprpared we were, I assumed that the skaven were taking so long because of internal strife. I sent out some of my stealthsuits to investigate while the ethereal went into the temple and get the artifact. Then everything went wrong. The scout reported that the skaven were taking so long because this wasn't just a raid but a crusade, a skaven crusade. The amount of troops that had landed outnumbered my force vastly. The only thing I could do was slow them down until the ethereal completed his task. The scouts ambushed the skaven were ever they could but soon the skaven made tunnels to attack them and safely travel. But the scouts were led by Or'es Aloh, the reaper, he started attacking from within the hieghts of the trees and using shaped charges to collapse tunnels. I had the trees closest to the city cut down to create what killing fileds I could. But that wasn't enough, it only delayed them for a few days and then there were upon the city itself. They didn't attack immediately but wait for a few days. In that time I tried to contact the mainland but something was blocking all communication. The only thing I could do was place what veterans I had closest to the horde, with the new recruits on the other side. What a mistake. After nearly a week I still didn't have word from the ethereal and the skaven looked ready to attack. But something was off, thier attack plan was different they had storm vermin ready to attack from the west, straight on, with the vast amount of slaves flanking the city from the north and south. I had Aloh held in reserve in case the skaven tried something tricky."
Henry looked smaller than normal, his shoulders sagged and his eyes took on a glassy look.
"That move was our only saving grace, for when the attack came thier formation came to light. From the east, from tunnels they had been digging came the skaven elite, death vermin. Aloh immediately counter attacked and I sent what battlesuits I could. The death vermin still scythed through the soldiers, only Aloh himself kept thier pace a crawl. On the west side I joined the fray killing skaven where ever I could but thier numbers were without end, an endless wave of fur. At the end of the day we were pushed back to the center of the city and still they came on, but at night we had something of an advantage. Aloh and his steathsuits did hit and run tactics on the most dangerous enemies they could, Aloh recieved many scars that night but he still kept fighting. The following morning we werer reduced to barely a company worth of men, with our backs to the wall of the temple. With no place to run we could only accept that death was going to take us this day, but we would not go down easily. I ordered the soldiers into ranks, the first rank crouched on the ground, the second kneeling and the third standing. They were to keep shooting until they had no ammo left, then they were to use thier rifles as clubs until they died. The battle resumed, the piles of the dead climbed even higher. Then she appeared, a woman with purple hair, dressed in a plain black dress and weilding a stange blade. She walked out from the ranks a the skaven, they seemed revere her and made sure not to touch her. She walked straight to me and then swung here sword. I tried to block with my left arm but she cut right through it, slicing my plasma rifle in half. She then preceded to slice apart my armor, no matter how quickly I moved she was always a step ahead. Eventually my armor was stripped away and all I had was my plasma rifle leaking plasma. Then to add salt to the wound she said
"Now you die, surrounded by your failure."
"I die for the greater good. I accept my death."
"You die for nothing."
The she swung but I raised my plasma rifle and threw as much plasma as I could at her sword, melting it in her hands and severly burning her. Then the doors to the temple crashed open and out came the ethereal, wearing a silver mask.
"Brother cease what you are doing or you will face my full power. I did not want to do this but it seems you can't control yourself. Leave now and I might not do to your pets what I did to the owners of this city."
At that the woman just turned around and walked away. The rest of the skaven were about to attack but the came the sound of massive amount of aircraft. Tau troops started landing from V-tols with the insignia of the first legion and started taking up battle positions. The skaven started running away."
Henry had tears running down his cheeks and his attandant was shocked. This was not what he expected, the man before him never showed anything but optimism . Henry just walked back inside, disappearing into the shadows.

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The next morning the captain of the blackguards surveyed the island from within the shadows of the radar tree, her stealthsuit mirroring the terrain around her. Shas-ka Wekon had ordered her blackguards all throughout the island to prepare all the traps and to say the final rites. This day they will die but at least they shall send many enemies to the afterlife before them. Such praises they shall recieve when they get there. All they had to do was wet thier blades with the blood of the enemy, see the life leave thier eyes and move on to the next kill. They could not be more prepared for such a glorious and bloody day. The enemies of Shadow Tau and Tau'vre shall learn what true fear is.

[Le Shay]

Mourn walked briskly towards her impromptu command center. The Tau have been dogging them hard over the last few hours, forcing them to keep moving. The worst of it was that the blackguards had shown up, she hadn’t expected to face such elite warriors. Yet for all the unknown obstacles that have sprung up her plan was still for the most part intact. Her lieutenant joined her as she walked.

“Mistress Othar has arrived.” It was the best new she could have hoped for. A smile she couldn’t suppress made its way to her face.

“What orders would you have me issue to him, mistress.” With that mourn through back her head for a good heart felt laugh. The lieutenant was taken aback , seldom did Mourn smile let alone laugh.

“My sweet lieutenant you must be joking, you can’t possibly think that you can order a man like that around, she let out another chuckle. No let he and his pack loose, they will create a chaos we couldn’t hope to match.”

She walked up to her commanders. They each in turn gave their situational report before being briefed. What they told her was dire indeed; many squads were down to half strength, the traps and fire fights taking their toll on the troops. Still they advance though and now the enemy was almost pushed back to their base. They reorganized the squads and pushed on to the main issue, the final assault on the enemy stronghold.
----------------------------------------------15 minutes later-------------------------------------------------------------------
As Mourn approached the front-lines it seemed that the whole island was on fire. Through the smoke and drifting ash her helmet could pick up on the din of battle that raged around her. The enemy were making a strong last stand. The constant reports that flooded her HUD were full of the death of her sisters and the enemies that they fought.

The sun was just beginning to rise as they breached the walls.