Beyond the escalating build-up of Imperial strength, the infiltrating Ork Kommando squads and the xenos horrors lurking in the shadows of the Hive were systematically butchering the T'au saboteurs.
This development left the T'au Fire Caste commanders in a state of bewilderment. They had infiltrated with the intent to sabotage or seize the Massif Ballistus, yet they now felt like lambs led to the slaughter. The Imperial forces, the Greenskins, and the Genestealers were all converging upon them; the tactical situation was spiraling into a complexity far beyond T'au comprehension.
After examining the corpses littering the floor, the surviving T'au infiltrators began to shadow the Orks, cautiously trailing the Greenskin wake. However, the trail of carnage they left behind, specifically the presence of Tyranid bio-forms, was quickly discovered by a pursuing Tempestus Aquilon squad.
When the intelligence regarding Tyranid activity reached the Imperial command, it was met with cold fury. The Planetary Governor of Volkus was summarily handed over to the Inquisition, and the world was placed under the direct martial oversight of the Astra Militarum.
Yet, a dire report soon reached the commanders: the control sanctum of the Massif Ballistus was under xenos assault.
Through the inexplicable power of "I fink," Grimsnik and his Kommandos had successfully located the primary firing chambers. However, the Raptors, supported by the remnants of the Fourth Fleet, had been tasked with the sanctum's defense.
Grimsnik laid eyes upon the "Big Beakies" guarding the objective. Lacking heavy ordnance, the Ork Nob relied instead on his predatory cunning. His squad bypassed the control room, descending deeper into the Hive's sub-structures until they located a nest of the Genestealer Cults. After tossing several stikkbombs and crude, high-explosive anti-tank grenades into the hive-brood, they turned and fled, drawing over a thousand screeching Genestealers in their wake.
According to Grimsnik's design, his Kommandos led the swarming tide toward the control sanctum. To their surprise, the T'au infiltrators who had been shadowing them were already locked in a desperate firefight with the Imperial defenders.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The deafening roar of bolt-fire echoed through the corridors. Streaks of light cut through the gloom as explosive rounds hurtled toward the swarming Vespid. Every bolt found its mark with thunderous precision; upon impact, the mass-reactive shells detonated, shattering the chitinous xenos and swatting them from the air in a spray of ichor, targets that mortal troops would have found nearly impossible to hit.
The protagonists of this slaughter were the Astartes of the Raptors Chapter. Having extensive experience in campaigns against T'au expansion, the Raptors were intimately familiar with xenos doctrine. Faced with this sudden infiltration, they remained clinical and composed.
The Pathfinders leading the T'au advance were torn apart the moment they broke cover. The Fire Caste warriors attempting to use their stealth fields for an ambush fared no better against the preternatural senses of the Astartes. Every time a Fire Caste warrior fired, revealing their position, they were met with an immediate and merciless volley from the hidden Raptors.
In a mere ten minutes of engagement, the T'au had lost over a third of their strength. Their only achievement was inflicting minor, non-lethal wounds on two of the Raptors. As the minutes ticked by, T'au fire began to slacken, and the scales of victory tipped decisively toward the Space Marines.
"For the Emperor. Eliminate all xenos," came the flat, steady command of a Raptor Sergeant. Unlike the operatic battle cries of other Chapters, the Raptors eschewed boisterous roaring.
The gene-seed of the Raven Guard had gifted them a different style of war. The Raptors were the Imperium's most pragmatic warriors; their power armor was devoid of excessive ornamentation, displaying nothing but their Chapter badge. To a Raptor, a screaming battle cry served no purpose other than revealing one's position to the enemy.
While some neophytes might occasionally envy the heraldry and gilded plate of other Chapters, the veterans taught them a harsh truth: ornate decoration only invites concentrated enemy fire. Simplified wargear favored survival; the resources saved were better spent on superior ballistics. Survival meant more opportunities to serve the Emperor and slay His enemies, adding another stone to the foundation of the Emperor's Great Work. Among all the Adeptus Astartes, the Raptors favored cooperation with the Successors of the Salamanders most of all.
…
Just as the T'au infiltration force neared total annihilation, a series of guttural roars erupted from a side-conduit.
"WAAAGH!"
Grimsnik's Kommandos burst from the thermal vents, followed by a screaming tide of Genestealers. The Orks fell upon the Raptors with their choppas in a frenzy of iron and muscle.
From the darkness behind them, the voices of the Cultists rose in a fanatic shriek:
"For the Four-Armed Emperor! Slay the invaders! Follow the omens!"
The Kommandos' "sluggas" opened up, sending a hail of solid shot that sparked harmlessly against the Raptors' ceramite plate. However, the Genestealers trailing the Orks easily overwhelmed the remaining T'au, their rending claws tearing through Fire Caste battlesuits like parchment. The Cultists followed, a motley swarm wielding improvised industrial tools and scavenged weapons.
Grimsnik deftly lobbed several explosives toward both the Raptors and the pursuing Cultists before the Astartes could gun him down. The Raptors, caught in a multi-front ambush, reacted with grim efficiency, executing the lead Orks even as the Tyranid swarm flooded the tunnels. To the loyalist, there was no distinction: T'au, Ork, or Tyranid, all were xenos, and all required the same solution.
Bolter fire swept through the Genestealers and Cultists like a scythe. The cultists retaliated with suicidal fervor. Several Purestrain Genestealers used the distraction to scale the complex pipe networks, launching a sudden strike from the Raptors' flank.
Unlike the hybrids, these Purestrains were the primordial peak of the Tyranid bio-form. Their monomolecular claws, shimmering with a biological disruption field, punched through ceramite power armor as if it were air.
One Raptor, armed with a plasma pistol, had his arm severed at the shoulder by a blurred strike. The severed limb tumbled toward the abyss at the edge of the catwalk. Yet, in a final act of post-human defiance, the twitching muscles of the falling arm spasmed, pulling the trigger of the plasma pistol one last time.
A bolt of searing blue sunfire erupted from the falling limb, striking a critical energy conduit beneath the control sanctum.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A cataclysmic explosion ripped through the lower levels, the shockwave racing upward. The Kommandos following Grimsnik were vaporized or hurled into the darkness by the blast.
Grimsnik himself, reacting with a survivor's instinct, dove into a side-duct just as the world turned into fire.
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