[Your counterattack is swift and precise.]
[The rest of your squad responds immediately, their training evident in every movement. Lasguns bark in controlled bursts, red beams lancing through the air with deadly accuracy.]
[Almost every shot finds its mark. The drones spark and tumble from the sky, circuits frying, anti-grav units failing. They crash to the pavement in a chorus of sizzling electronics and breaking components.]
[Then new movement catches your eye.]
[Atop a nearby building, a slim figure emerges. Red armor, sleek and angular. Not the bulky ceramic plate of the Imperium, but something lighter, more advanced. It catches the light with a dull sheen.]
[The figure raises a weapon and opens fire from the elevated position.]
[Your entire squad immediately goes to ground, scrambling behind a low retaining wall. Blue pulse rounds hammer into the structure, superheated plasma eating through rockcrete like acid.]
[One pulse passes through the wall entirely, its energy only partially dissipated. It streaks past your helmet close enough that you feel the heat through your armor.]
["Hellgun! Suppressing fire!" The order comes automatically, tactical doctrine asserting itself.]
[The female trooper fires a burst at the building, then ducks back down. "Sir, we don't have hellguns! Standard Accatran issue only!"]
[You grit your teeth. Right. Elysians travel light. No heavy weapons for airborne operations.]
["Then throw smoke! Block their targeting!"]
[Another trooper hunches lower as a pulse round nearly takes his head off. "Captain, we didn't bring smoke grenades! Weight restrictions!"]
["Then what the fuck DID you bring?" You can't keep the frustration from your voice as you try to line up a shot on the enemy sharpshooter.]
[The female trooper checks her webbing and those of nearby soldiers. "Fragmentation grenades, sir! Dozens of them! Plus one grenade launcher and a flamer with full fuel!"]
[You stare at her for a moment. "When did the Astra Militarum become this under-equipped?"]
[But there's no time for complaints.]
[You drop your lasgun and tear two frag grenades from your webbing. Pins pulled, safeties released.]
[You vault the wall before your rational mind can object.]
[The enemy sniper tracks toward you, weapon adjusting. You throw.]
[The first grenade arcs high. Your aim is perfect, trajectory calculated by instinct and experience. It detonates mid-air, exactly where you intended. The expanding fireball obscures the sniper's line of sight, forcing them to adjust.]
[That split-second of disruption is all your squad needs.]
[The female trooper rises smoothly, grenade launcher already on her shoulder. She sights and fires in one fluid motion.]
[The launcher's report is huge, a rolling boom that echoes off buildings.]
[The top floor of the building erupts. Rockcrete and metal framework blow outward in a cloud of debris. Through the dust and smoke, something tumbles end over end.]
[A head in red armor bounces across the pavement and rolls to a stop near your feet.]
[You approach cautiously and kneel down. Your fingers find the helmet seals and release them.]
[The face revealed is distinctly non-human. Blue-grey skin. A flat, noseless face with a narrow slit for breathing. Eyes that stare lifelessly at nothing.]
["Ah," you murmur. "T'au."]
[The rest of your squad gathers around, weapons still up and scanning for threats. They stare at the alien head with a mixture of curiosity and disgust.]
[Several have never seen a xenos before. Their first contact is this corpse.]
[The female trooper retrieves your lasgun and hands it to you. "Good throw, Captain."]
["Good shooting, trooper." You accept the weapon and sling it over your shoulder. "Form up. We've wasted enough time here. Move out."]
[By the end of the first day, your squad is the last to reach the objective area.]
[Not through incompetence. The route you took encountered more resistance than the others. Your arrival time reflects that reality.]
[From your position, you can see the frontline clearly.]
[T'au Fire Warriors hold the buildings. They wear ochre-colored combat suits, powered exoskeletons that enhance strength and mobility. Not true armor in the Imperial sense, but effective nonetheless.]
[These are the T'au Empire's basic infantry. And they're proving to be formidable opponents.]
[Each Fire Warrior carries a pulse rifle, a weapon significantly more powerful than standard Guard lasguns. The blue energy pulses they fire hit harder, penetrate deeper. And the suits give them tactical mobility that regular infantry can't match.]
[They're using that mobility now, repositioning constantly within the buildings, denying the Elysians any static targets. Their defensive position is strong, and they're exploiting it expertly.]
[The 4th Airborne Company's assault has stalled. Wave after wave breaks against T'au fire discipline and superior positioning.]
[You watch for several minutes, analyzing the situation. The company has the numbers, but lacks the heavy weapons needed to dig out entrenched enemies. Artillery would solve this. So would armor support. But neither is available.]
[This could drag on for days.]
[You make a decision and go looking for the company commander.]
[You find him in what passes for a command post, a partially collapsed warehouse that offers cover and line-of-sight to the target buildings.]
["Sir," you begin, saluting. "Request permission to form an assault team."]
[The commander looks up from a tactical display. He's older, experienced, with the hard eyes of someone who's seen too many plans fail. "Explain."]
["We're stalled here. Frontal assault isn't working without heavy support. But if a small team can infiltrate from the rear, we can open an entry point for the company. Hit them from inside while you keep them pinned from the front."]
[The commander studies you. Then he glances at your squad, noting their equipment, their bearing.]
["High risk," he says finally. "Very high casualty projection."]
["Yes, sir. But it might work. And it's better than bleeding out here over the next week."]
[A long pause. Then a curt nod. "Approved. Take your team. Try not to get them all killed, Captain."]
["No promises, sir." You salute again and withdraw.]
[You gather your squad in a shell crater that offers concealment.]
["Listen up," you begin. "We've been authorized for a rear infiltration. The goal is to breach the target building from behind and open it up for the company's main assault."]
[You pause, meeting each trooper's eyes in turn.]
["I won't lie to you. This is dangerous. Extremely dangerous. The odds of all of us making it back are... not good. So I'm making this voluntary. Anyone who wants to sit this one out can do so. No shame, no judgment. Understood?"]
[Silence.]
[Then one of the troopers snorts with laughter. Another joins in. Within seconds, the whole squad is laughing, the sound edged with something manic.]
[The female trooper pulls off her helmet. Her face is revealed for the first time: strong features, short white hair cropped close to her skull, eyes that burn with fierce pride.]
[She's beautiful in the way a blade is beautiful. Functional. Deadly.]
["We're Elysians," she says, her voice ringing clear. "We jumped from Valkyries into enemy fire. We landed feet first in the middle of a war zone. And you think we're afraid of a suicide mission?"]
[The squad roars approval. Their laughter has transformed into something else. Battle-lust. The particular madness that seizes soldiers before desperate action.]
[You feel heat rise in your face. "Right. My mistake. Everyone prepare for immediate deployment."]
[You trade your lasgun for an Accatran-pattern assault shotgun. Shorter range but devastating power at close quarters. Better for building clearing.]
[You order specific loadouts: three troopers with the grenade launchers, two with a portable mortar, one with a lascutter for breaching. Everyone carries maximum ammunition.]
[You personally raid the company's supply dump, bullying the quartermaster into surrendering extra grenades, power cells, anything that might prove useful.]
[Hidden at the bottom of one crate, you find a melta bomb. Your eyes light up. You stuff it into a secure pouch without telling anyone. Insurance.]
[The second day. Night falls over Taros, darkness made deeper by thick cloud cover. Perfect for infiltration.]
[The company commander launches a fierce diversionary attack, drawing T'au attention to the front. Pulse fire lights up the night in brilliant blue flashes.]
[While the enemy focuses forward, your squad moves.]
[You lead them through the shadows between buildings, using rubble and ruins for concealment. The route is circuitous, adding distance but minimizing exposure.]
[Your helmet display feeds you constant updates from the company's ground-penetrating scanners. Enemy positions marked in red, constantly updating as T'au forces shift to meet the diversion.]
[The sounds of battle rage behind you. Explosions. Screaming. The distinctive crack of lasgun volleys and the sharper whine of pulse weapons.]
[And somehow, miraculously, you reach the target building's rear wall without contact.]
[The troopers with the lascutter move forward immediately, setting up their equipment. The industrial cutter whines to life, its focused beam beginning to carve through reinforced material.]
[You position the rest of the squad in a defensive perimeter, weapons outward, ready for—]
[Screams.]
[From the rear guard position. Multiple voices, cut off abruptly.]
["Enemy attack!" One trooper manages to get the warning out before his voice dies in a wet gurgle.]
[You spin, bringing your shotgun up.]
[Shapes explode from the darkness. Quadrupedal, moving with terrifying speed. Kroot Hounds, the T'au's auxiliary beasts.]
[Massive jaws lined with serrated teeth. Muscular bodies built for tearing prey apart. They hunt in packs.]
[The lead hound launches itself at your head, jaws spread impossibly wide.]
[You fire.]
[The shotgun's roar is deafening at close range. The spread of shots catches the hound and the one behind it, reducing both to shredded meat that sprays across the pavement.]
["Forget the cutter!" you bellow. "Mortar team! Blow the fucking wall!"]
[More hounds pour from the shadows. Your infiltration has failed.]
[Now it's a fight for survival.]