Fanfiction: Tauhunter
Created | Updated Nov 19, 2002
Private Griess dived into the cover of the drainage ditch as the Tau barrage increased in strength. Damn, he though, they've got those fraggin' Crisis Suits up there!
A moment later several more figures dropped down beside him. To his right was Private Wang, a weird guy with pale skin and squinty eyes from Euridisea, next to him was Corporal Rimmer, a Comms opperator, and Lieutenant Haines, a legendary martial arts expert who could, and had, kill Orks with his bare hands. To his left was Commissar-Captain Lucas.
Lucas was an inspiring sight. His blue-grey storm coat was stained with mud and was draped over his shoulder like the Scout team's Camo-cloaks. His deep red undergarments were stained with mud and gore. His left hand had been lost many years ago at Haven, battling against an almight Ork Waaagh, but he had been given a bionic Power Fist as a replacement. His Power Sword shimmered in its holster, as if crying out for Tau blood. In his right hand he had a laspistol.
A moment or two later, two more men dropped into the trench line, Sergeant Vakkis and Private Wheln. Wheln landed face down, and didn't get up again.
'We need to press on!' Lucas cried out over the noise of the Tau's incessant firepower, 'Captain Fireseed needs our support! We must silence those Battlesuits!'
'How are we gonna' do that!?' Vakkis replied.
'Lucas gestured towards a desolate wreak of a building situated eighty meters ahead of them.
'Palpatine and Reckeridge are holding position in those ruins,' he told them, 'but the rest of the Armoured Fist is bogged down elsewhere. If we support the missile team, we should be able to do some damage...'
If Lucas had anyhting more to say, it was drowned out by an almighty explosion. Missiles from the Tau Battlesuits slammed down into the ditch less than a meter from their position. Wang ran, his nerve broken, crying, screaming and soiling himself. Lucas shot him in the head.
'Gettin' heavy Lucas!,' yelled Haines over the din, 'if we're gonna' move, we'd best do it now!'
Lucas nodded. Griess could see a great sadness in his eyes, shooting Wang seemed to have hurt him deeply.
'He was a good soldier,' said Lucas sadly, 'it was a shame he couldn't take the strain of real combat. It hurts me to execute one of my own, but sometimes it is for the best. I doubt anyone else would like to leave, would you?'
Griess, Vakkis and Rimmer shook their heads. Haines smiled and cocked his Bolt Pistol.
'Then let's take it too them! For Terra! For Gala!! For Glory!!!'
As one, they charged over the lip of the ditch and into the teeth of the Tau guns...
Reckeridge looked out across the battlefield. The Imperial forces were pinned down by the Tau's superior firepower. Reckeridge watched as a Tau Barracuda skimmed over the Imperial Line, only to be targeted by Kingfisher, the 175th's Hydra Flak Tank. Kingfisher's quad autocannons spat tracker fire into the air. The rounds found their mark and the Barracuda flipped over and over, until it slammed into the ground with an almighty explosion, vapourising a squad of the Tau's Stealth Suits. He smiled to himself and subconsiously began calculating the trajectory needed to blow apart what remained of the wreaked Tau flyer.
'Hey Reckeridge! Any word from command?' Palpatine called from his gun-nest.
'Not a thing, Palpatine,' he replied.
He climbed up to join Palpatine in the gun-nest. An old Heavy Stubber had been set up here to support them, but there was no target in range, and Palpatine preferred his Missile Launcher.
'It's gonna' be big, Reck, think we'll win?'
'With Lucas and Fireseed on our side? How can we lose, Palp!'
Palpatine chuckled and turned to watch the battle. The Crisis Suits were beggining to bug him. He wanted to take his missile launcher and swat them all down, blowing them to hell.
He didn't have to wait long. Lucas, Haines, Rimmer and Griess came charging through the burnt out door of the farmhouse. Vakkis was dead. He'd been blown in half by plasma fire just five meters from the door. Palatine didn't waste any time, he could see the Crisis Suits tracking them.
'Reckeridge! Krak!' he yelled.
Reckeridge slid a Krak missile out of his backpack and slammed it into the launcher. A second later the missile roared through the air towards the Tau war machines. The missile was dead on target, and one of the battlesuits was blown apart as the missile kissed it's armoured torso. Haines leapt upto the Stubber and began slamming heavy rounds into the Tau. Griess stepped up to feed for him.
The battle was brief. Within seconds, the two survivors were destroyed, one was ripped apart by Stubber rounds, while Palpatine claimed the third. The Tau retreat began.
Lucas stalked through the scarred fields of the farm. The Tau had been utterly crushed. Without the Crisis Suits, Stealth Team and Barracuda, their right flank had fallen to a massed infantry advance, while Fireseed had led a dedicated armour advance to the left. Fireseed walked over to join the Commissar.
'Another victory for the Mischeif Makers, Lucas old friend!' exlaimed Fireseed. Lucas nodded. After a moment he added,
'aren't you going to drink yourself senseless with the men again?'
'I probably shouldn't, now that the 196th are with us. I should set an example-'
'I'll set the example!' Lucas interrupted, 'you do what you do best, talk to the men, inspire them, and get absolutely pissed! Let me worry about examples!'
They both laughed. They laughed until the sun set, and the missionaries began to bury the dead.
