Eternal Thunder

first revision races/characters/vehicles from Warhammer 40,000; property of and copyrighted by Games Workshop

    The Crisis battlesuit pilot stretched his back and climbed up into the torso of his second skin. He had spent so much time in the suit that he felt clumsy, weak, and hollow when not. The servos hissed quietly as the hatch sealed him in.

***
* El'sta'ag online. Wild Hunt check in.
** Ark'on standing by.
** Ark'oo standing by.
* We train for the hunt.
***

    The battlesuit, when complete with pilot, was known as Shas'el Sta'ag. A junior captain within the Still of Night Cadre, a group of Tau Fire Caste warriors who had followed Commander Farsight when he turned his back on the impurity that the Tau Empire was embracing. His command was the Cadre known as the Wild Hunt, and they were still refining their techniques when the treacherous humans attacked.
    Several noisesome monstrosities that the violent and primitive humans, the Guela, called tanks were rumbling into the fringes of where El'Sta'ag was conducting exercises with the xenos Eldar and some space-faring brutes known as Orks. The Eldar were slippery and full of tricks, and infuriatingly patronizing towards the Tau in general, but the ones that had arrived were more warlike and therefore pleasant to get along with. The brutish Orks were simple, straight forward, and utterly trustworthy. In that they'd follow chaotic and violent impulses and should not be trusted for anything more than being a meatshield.
    None of them had any love for the humans, so when the Imperial tanks rumbled into view, the exercise was promptly abandoned in favor of the larger targets.
    El'Sta'ag cursed quietly. All he had at his disposal were some commandos with their Devilfish transport, and a team of fire warriors and their Warfish. Those tanks were going to be a problem.

***
* El'Sta'ag reporting. We lost a devilfish and most of the commando team. The Eldar were slaughtered to a man, and the Orks were scattered. Contact with higher headquarters of the Eldar has not yet confirmed if they will send more warriors. We can assume the Orks will be back in greater numbers. The humans are sending heavy armor. It's time to bring in the Hammerhead.
** confirmed, Hammerhead dispatched to your Cadre. Instruct these humans on how to employ armor.
***

    The pale red glow of his suit's instrument panel illuminated El'Sta'ag's feral grin in a ghastly manner. They had successfully tracked down some Imperial forces in one of the snow-covered mesas that jutted up out of the jungles of this world. Apparently they were conducting training exercises of their own. Pure irony.
    An Imperial artillery piece spotted the Hammerhead before it could plot its own shooting solution, but the low-angled shot passed harmlessly overhead, detonating far to El'Sta'ag's left. The predatory Hammerhead skimmer tank jetted forward and opened fire with its main gun.
    The railgun's solid slug tore through the air at a healthy percentage of the speed of light and passed through the heavily armored artillery piece with contemptuous ease. The heat and energy of its passage detonated the ordinance in the tank's magazines, leaving a crater of burning detritus where the vehicle had once sat.
    Off to El'Sta'ag's right, the Devilfish and Warfish turbines screamed as the two combat transports stalked through the wintery forests, hungry for vengeance. Their passengers were fire warrior teams, armed with pulse rifles and eagerness to spill the blood of the Imperials.
    Desperate to split up his firepower, a team of veteran guardsman pulled a flanking maneuver and rushed in to try and kill El'Sta'ag in close combat. They nearly succeeded too, he thought as he limped around his battlesuit, inspecting the damage after the Imperials quit the field.
    His own desire to kill the Imperials was strong, but he could feel the hatred for the impure and zealous humans pouring off of his two Fire Warrior teams. It was intoxicating and invigorating.

***
* El'Sta'ag reporting in. Confirmed, one squad of those human giants called 'marines' completely wiped out. Two squads of their normal guardsman rendered combat ineffective, and one Basilisk-type ordinance tank destroyed. Loss: One shield drone.
** Good work, Shas'el. The Wild Hunt is proving itself worthy of more sensitive operations. There is a Space Marine patrol near your location. Take it out.
* With pleasure.
***

    El'Sta'ag growled in anticipation of the coming bloodshed. The Marines were a light patrol, the most threatening thing in their host was a clumsy dreadnought fitted for close combat operations. He radioed to his hammerhead to target it first, while the two transports maneuvered closer to the Imperial forces.
    The Marine commander noticed the threat of the Hammerhead and directed his troops into cover, including the ponderous dreadnought. The armored giants covered ground easily, and found their way into several buildings to set up firing positions. The dreadnought, however, was mere meters from the relative safety of the building when a railgun slug tore through the sarcophagus housing the venerable machine's pilot.
    From across the field, El'Sta'ag could feel the rising panic in the Marine forces. Panic became despair when the lone rocket fired by a heavy weapons team hidden in one of the buildings slammed into the Hammerhead and bounced off. A dud.
    Anger filled a squad of jump infantry marines nearby, and they fired their jump packs, launching themselves at the warfish, intent on removing the threat of its firepower.  Anger become grim determination as the squad was enveloped in a cloud of flechettes.  Heavily armored marines in Terminator armor, led by the Marine's captain, ran towards the Hammerhead, intent on getting close enough to rip it out of the air before it could fire again.
    Off to the far left, the Devilfish opened fire into another squad of Marines, pulse blasts from the burst cannon ripping through the armored figures, and leaving them flatfooted for what would come next.
    Things were starting to look very fun.
    For the Wild Hunt.
    The Terminators, realizing that their stormbolters were useless against the Hammerhead's armor, opened fire on El'Sta'ag as they rushed towards the hovering gunship. Several shots went wide as the Crisis suit flared its jetpacks to change direction, but many found their way home. The Shas'el's shield drone dove in between the firing Terminators and the Crisis suit, attempting to absorb some of the withering fire.
    El'Sta'ag gasped in pain as several shots punched through his battlesuit. His heads up display flashed warnings about critical damage to the suit and unhealthy biometrics of the pilot. He staggered slightly, but shook his head angrily, clearing the haze of shock from his mind. He wasn't dead, and his suit's weapons were all still fully functional. His shield drone was wrecked, but that mattered very little. The Earth Caste can replace drones, not warriors.
    The missile pod on his left arm chirped at him, indicating a good weapons lock on the Terminator squad. With a savage grin, he pressed the firing control blip in his arm's control sleeve. Twin fingers of smoke snaked out and punched into one of the nearby marines, blowing the leg off of the superhuman monster.
    The warfish's turbines shrieked as it skidded down between El'Sta'ag and the approaching Terminators, its smart missile system firing off several more missiles at the monstrous humans as the tank slowed its descent and began to hover. The Fire Warrior team inside leapt out and took up hasty firing positions, well within range to rapidly engage the plodding marines. Over to his left, the Hammerhead fired retrothrusters and glided sideways, circling the marines even as its burst cannons opened up with a withering hail of fire that put the Terminator's show of force to shame.
    Only two of the Terminators and the marine Captain were still standing after the initial volley.
    Over to El'Sta'ag's left, the Devilfish opened fire with all of its weapons as the Fire Warriors inside leapt out and added their own pulse rifle fire. The sheer volume of fire reduced two of the space marines to fragmented armor and gore, while the remaining three dove for cover.
    The air hissed in anger as the Hammerhead's railgun fired again. A Terminator armored space marine's blood atomized into the air through the two holes made by the hypervelocity projectile. The marine inside was dead before anyone could even blink in reaction to the line of burning air that pierced the marine's chest.
    Another rocket arced out of one of the buildings, intent on the Hammerhead. Dirt sprayed as the armor-piercing munition punched into the ground, exploding several meters below the snow-covered surface.
    El'Sta'ag fired his jetpack, launching himself towards the isolated Devilfish and its Fire Warrior team. Between the Warfish and the Hammerhead, the Terminators posed little threat. Seeing the destruction of the better part of his patrol, the marine Commander ordered a general withdrawal.
    Imperial patrols were going to have to be refitted and retrained to deal with the threat of Wild Hunt's armor and mobility.

    Shas'el Sta'ag grinned wolfishly as the marines withdrew from the field. He ordered his tanks to engage their sensor spines and stalk the retreating marines. He would have to replace his shield drone again and retrieve the sniper drones that his recon patrol had detached in order to move faster and quieter. They were going to be very very useful in the near future.
    Three silent tanks, hovering mere centimeters off of the ground, slid through the trees and ruined buildings, their specially designed sensor spines constantly adjusting the tanks' flight in order to allow them to hug the ground without fear of crashing.
    Gunships piloted by some abnormally predatory and nearly fearless Air Caste members slithered along, tracking the marines like a pack of arctic wolves following the blood trail of a large herbivore.

***
* Shas'el Sta'ag reporting in. Tracking survivors to their outpost.
** Command group acknowledges. Our xenos friends may join you when you find it. Watch for treachery.
* Understood. El'Sta'ag out.

Author's Note

first revision, will receive further refinement in later revisions, as well as more detailed description of some of the vehicles and equipment for those who are not familliar with Games Workshop