Let your words and warriors be carried on inspiring winds. From the Earth all things come, and to the Earth all things will go.

  Space marines

  That was the Gue’la term for the genetically altered warrior class of their empire. A Gue’la was already taller by a head and had more bulk than the average fire warrior, and a Gue’ron’sha dwarfed even those. Mira had been trained on holos and stories of Veteran's encounters with them, much of that training focused on what didn't have an effect against them and most of what did was only found mounted on battle suits.

  “The good news is a ship of that size will only hold a few of them. Less than 10 but we can’t be certain. But even a single one could disrupt one of our boarding actions. We cannot allow this, so we are going to tie them down while the rest of the fleet goes into action. Our gunship will launch first, take control of their hanger, then move throughout the ship. As such I’m taking control of your la’rue and your greater cadre.” Commander Longsun continued.

  “It will be an honor to fight by your side, Commander,” the Shas’ui said, bowing slightly.

  “Was it not a great enough honor fighting at my side?” a voice called from the shadow of the Orca’s passenger compartment. The Fireblade, their expedition infantry commander, stepped into the hanger bay light and down the drop ship’s ramp. Mira thought that he must have spent the journey awake, as some senior officers choose to do, as he looked much older than Mira remember seeing just a few days ago, or at least what felt to him as yesterday. Even still he protruded the confidence and peak image of a fire warrior. He wore the same armor as the rest of them, though his was much more battered and worn, a testament to the decades of service he had given the empire. Draped over his armor was a magnificent white cloak rimmed in the ochre of the Tau sept. Shas’Nel T’au Nel’thun always managed to make an impression when he arrived anywhere. Not only from his armor and uniform that he kept, those were standard amongst the Fireblades, but the most impressive part of his kit was, rather than the standard bonding blade that would normally be carried, but instead he wore a long curved sword of alien origin. He greatly enjoyed finding the cadre sitting around cleaning gear and talking amongst each other and joining the group to tell stories. His favorite was the story of his sword.

  ‘Gather round young warriors. I have a story to tell you.’ The cadre always gathered to listen. You had to be rather new to have not ever heard the story but there were few who didn’t enjoy the retelling, and none would publicly voice that opinion. It was a story filled with action, peril, and a duel to the death. In which their hero, Fireblade Skysword, would be victorious each and every time. In his other stories he would point to a battle scar that marked his armor or his body and ask ‘Do you know how I achieved this wound?’ Sometimes an older member would speak up “It was on campaign against the greenskins Honored Blade.” or some other foe he had faced. His council was highly valued among even the most honored Ethereal. He had faced each of the empire’s enemies in turn and even fought with a few of them as allies. A true living legend among the fire warriors.

  As he reached the bottom of the ramp, it was the commander that spoke up “My dear friend it is always an honor to fight with you once more. These young Bu’kons have simply taken it for granted. One day they will look back and regret not taking your lessons to heart.” Skysword threw his head back as he laughed

  “It has been too long since we brought the fury of the greater good to the enemy old friend. I will gladly take you into my cadre once more.” The two warriors embraced. Mira wondered how far back their bond went. It was obvious they had served in the same La’rue at some point, perhaps even their first La’rue. The bond they displayed here was an amplified and public display of how Mira and Nirva felt as comrades. The whole interaction was broken by the ship wide intercom.

  “Attention, this is the Admiral, we will enter real space in 15 minutes and the Gue’la ships will be within weapons range. All hands man your stations and stand by for contact.” The rest of the cadre had arrived and with the announcement over the intercom they formed files by la’rue and began checking over each other's equipment. Fire warriors tugged on bits of kit, did com checks, and jumped up and down to ensure that nothing was loose. The air was filled with the soft continuous roar of general chatter that died into hushed whispers. Mira looked over his shoulder to see what was causing such a reaction. Before he could even see who approached he knew what was coming. The tips of the Ethereal Honor guard spears could be seen well above the heads of the crowds gathered around the orcas.

  That crowd parted like the sea and bowed from the waist in respect for the young woman who walked in the middle of her two honor guard. They were larger with more muscle than the average fire warrior. They were bred with the one purpose in their life, even more singular than most firecast: To guard the Ethereals with their lives. He had seen some guarding high ranking Ethereal’s chambers when he was training back on Tau. They had been dressed in ceremonial armor and weapons, they looked as if they had been lifted straight from the Times of Troubles and placed in their posts. These ones here and now looked different. They wore standard fire warrior armor, fitted for their build with ceremonial robes draped and wrapped around them. They held their honor blades across their chests and were spaced exactly apart so that the tips didn’t touch but came as close as they dared. The woman in between them, an Ethereal obviously, was a slight and slender woman, younger than any of the Ethereals Mira had seen from afar and on holofeeds. But that didn’t matter, he was awestruck by her presence all the same. She walked up to the commander, holding a hand up to the guards who immediately stepped to the sides of her and faced each other, their spears moving to their sides then their arm fully extended forward so that the spears returned to their supported angle.

  The commander bowed low from the waist. When she finally spoke it was as if honey flowed through the air. His worries of cowardice and his fears of the battle that was coming melted away as her words passed his auditory sense.

  “Honored Fire warriors.” She spoke loudly and clearly. Addressing the whole of the hanger. She had every warrior’s full attention. “You are about to embark on a battle that will live in our people’s history forever. These Gue’la yearn for the freedom of the greater good and you will arrive as their liberators, their children’s children will thank you for your actions you take here today. However their empire does not wish to relinquish their control on this world. They will have poisoned the minds of the people, you must be the cure. In all your actions in the days to come you must be paragons of the greater good. Show mercy and kindness when faced with the opportunity. But ensure that you also show the ruthlessness of the empire. Let the population see that we can not only liberate them but keep them safe from their oppressors. Show this death cult that it is us who are eternal and inevitable, that we shall unite the galaxy, forever as one. For the greater good” The whole hanger replied, “For the greater good!”

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  With her speech made, she turned to face the commander directly. The rest of the cadres were loading into their gunships but ours dared not to move past the Ethereal to board. She spoke again, this time without the resounding voice that filled the air of the hanger, but in a soft low tone that only we could hear.

  “I wish you good hunting on this expedition, Hero of the empire.” Her soft words were even more beautiful to hear. Mira was desperate to hear the next syllable to escape her lips

  “You honor us with your words, your grace.” The commander touched his right hand to his left shoulder softly and bowed again, not as deeply when he had first been approached but still filled with reverence.

  “I understand that you are embarking to engage a Gue’ron’sha ship” she was shorter than the commander, shorter than he expected, but her authority lifted her far beyond her physical presence.

  “Yes, honored ethereal, there is a scout ship. We do not know how many warriors are on board but we can not risk them disrupting the rest of the operation so we shall engage them directly.” The ethereal nodded. No doubt she already knew all of this but she still at least gave the appearance to be intently listening.

  “This is an extraordinary effort involving extraordinary courage. I shall accompany you to the vessel.” If it weren’t for discipline Mira was sure that the entire cadre would have screamed no at the idea. An Ethereal was to be protected, and to willingly take one into the heart of the enemy, where they held their most elite warriors, it was incomprehensible.

  “Honored Ethereal I must protest. To bring you along would be to place you in grave danger. The Gue’ron’sha are dangerous alone but not only will we be fighting a group of them, but also the crew of that ship. We will not be able to guarantee your safety” It was Skysword who had spoken up against the idea. Although he looked almost chastised at having spoken against one so honored, he held firm his belief.

  “Noble Knight, it is not your job to protect me. That is what my guard is for, just as it is my job to inspire and lead you on the path for the greater good. And if I can not do that in the dangers of combat then I do not deserve to do some from safety either.” She was determined, and there would be no persuading her to not come along. The commander spoke up

  “If that is your interpretation of the greater good, then who are we to disagree?” Mira couldn’t read the expression on his face. There was sadness for sure but maybe confusion as well? He couldn’t tell. It was as if he did not wish to speak with the ethereal or be in her presence. There was something on his mind as well but what it was he couldn’t guess. Maybe the commander didn’t even know how he felt.

  “As for your defense, we shall just need to be diligent in our engagement of the enemy.” Skysword looked as if he desperately wanted to say something but held his tongue. “I welcome you aboard our craft. Please board quickly, we will be entering combat space soon and are to launch with all haste.” As the Aun and her guard boarded the craft, the cadre followed. The commander, his guards, and the cadre XV-8 pilots mounted in their battle suits down the center of the passenger compartment, followed by the three strike teams in the front most seats closest to the pilots, the Kroot auxiliaries positioned between them and the path finder teams more towards the ramp. The Aun took her seat behind the two pilots who sat side by side. Her guard remained standing on either side of her. She spoke some words to each of the pilots before sitting down. Her defense would be their assaults upon the ship's crew. The rapid killing blows would be too much for the gue’la to ignore and divert resources to find a path they had missed to attack the hanger, besides, it was unlikely they would know that the Ethereal was there or their importance.

  Finally, the air caste crew closed the ramp, sealing them in the hull. Each fire warrior pulled his helmet on, sealing their suits and fired up their huds. Then ran test after check on their systems and technology, ensuring each vital system blipped gold in turn.

  Each member of the expedition knew when they had returned to real space. There was a sudden change in gravity and momentum as those two physical laws of the universe returned from the theoretical existence of slipspace and came back to reality. The air caste crew on the bridge of the flag ship, of course knew better than anyone else in the fleet. They surfaced just barely within their rain guns max range. Gunners on the bridge began to call out targets and firing solutions navigation began to track targets, allies, and make corrections, ships never came out of this space between spaces in the exact same location so the opening of any battle was reorganizing into something that resembled a battle line. This time was different as they emerged already in combat range, so rather than taking the most efficient route to formation, the first priority was to get clear of friendly ships so that their weapons could fire.

  Admiral Farwind stood motionless on his bridge. Observing all that was unfolding in front of him. His flagship was the first to open fire and that first salvo cut through a small frigate that was still trying to charge their shields. The railgun round had penetrated their hull and the explosive warhead detonated as its sensors detected it was embedded deep within the ship. If their shields had been up it would have been a hard blow. With their shields down… Admiral Farwind had seen the results of the gue’la preferred tactic of ramming. The wounds inflicted by a railgun shot with no shield to even slow it were devastating.

  “Mark that ship for suppression for our bomber squadrons then relay it to the boarding parties. I believe they are out of the fight. If they make serious maneuvers or attempt to fire their weapons, rengage.” It was a waste of shot to continue plumeling it. None of the warships in orbit could match even one of their ships but if they swarmed, then a thousand cuts can still kill the beast. It was best to continue to engage at range and let the boarding parties do their work. “Captain, make sure you do not exclude the merchant ships from our fury. Immobilizing shots preferred but if you see it necessary, destroy them before they can act. The Gue’la are fanatics and while their merchants are unarmed, they can still do serious damage in a collision.” The captain gave his acknowledgment in between orders to his crew. They had been in real space for less than a dec. His maneuver was going perfectly. A messenger spoke up

  “Admiral, the water caste listeners have an initial communication report.”

  “What do they say?”

  “The Gue’la were communicating about detecting us before we re-entered realspace. However they deduce that their detection was just before we reentered and were filled with confusion until they had visual confirmation” Farwind furrowed his brow. This was good, but it needed perfecting. Perhaps reentering just outside of weapons range. They needed to maneuver anyway and if they weren’t detected until just before they resurfaced then they could still have the element of surprise. He tucked the thought into the back of his mind and focused on the now. The man at the sensor station looked as if he had a message to deliver as well

  “Speak pilot.”

  “Admiral, the armed ships are making turns towards us, their shields are starting to come up and we believe their weapons are charging. They are closing to engagement range.”

  “Very well. Thank you.” Farwind pulled up the communication tab and selected the small traffic controllers. Before he began to transmit, he decided to add the additional frequencies of each of the crafts. It was his moment to make a small speech. His pilots would appreciate hearing his voice and the Shas’O wouldn’t mind the well wishes. “Hanger control, this is Kor'O Shans'et Shir'Vah. All flights are cleared for departure at your discretion. We are relaying targets to you. Strike hard and strike fast. Good hunting all. Kor’O out.” he closed the coms channel and let the gold blips inform him that all had heard him. He faced back towards the main screen to continue to observe. He wouldn’t interfere and give orders just yet. He would let the captains show their skills and clear their paths. Then, once things had calmed down a bit, he would reorganize and bring efficiency to his fleet.