Written for a very dear friend of mine. Thanks for getting me back into the flow again.
Based on "Front Line Report on T'au Battle Doctrine"
///BEGINNING OF PART 1///
Where the combat correspondents have made planetfall, and our main character battles with unease and paranoia.
"Live in 4, 3, 2, wait..."
She furrowed her brow and held up her finger, her attention turned to the voxplug in her left ear, nodding a few times at a discussion La'je'ri had no hope of discerning.
Instead he stood awkwardly in place, the heavy pict-corder slung over his shoulder recording all the time, now showing a column of Fire Warriors marching in lockstep down a cracked road in the distance, backs ramrod straight, and La'je'ri would be lying if he said he didn't feel a twinge of jealousy watching them.
Still, in the service of the Greater Good, he mused, all castes were eq-
"La'je'ri," she said, breaking him from his reverie, "we can't go live yet. Broadcast center says the feed is barely legible half the time, and there are spikes of static every few dec'taa. You did remember to maintain your equipment, did you not?"
La'je'ri nodded, but there was a sudden feeling of unease growing in his stomach. The excitement of planetfall and the quick hustle into a good recording position had kept it unnoticeable, but there was something strange here.
Something unnatural in the air, a feeling of pressure and tension in the atmosphere.
Preliminary scans had shown the planet to have a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, with trace amounts of argon, helium and other rare gases. In short, perfect for Gue'la, and more than fitting for T'au.
Acting completely against instinct, he took a deep breath, and immediately regretted it.
There was definitely something in the air, something foul and toxic.
"Ui'k'tadie..." his voice seemed much shakier than he anticipated, "did we bring helmets? Something with an air filtration system, perhaps?"
She furrowed her brow again.
"No. They're at the landing zone. Why?"
"Don't you feel it? The air, I mean."
"Feel what?" she shook her head, "Preliminary scans showed-"
"-showed a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, yes, trace elements, I know!" he interjected, perhaps slightly too aggressively, "But you can't tell me you don't feel it. Can we please go get the helmets?"
"No." her voice was icy, and La'je'ri knew he'd pushed his luck too far.
"Your equipment might not be in working condition, but we're falling too far behind the Fire Warriors already. We have to move. Come on."
With that, she broke into a light jog, vox-corder in one hand, her other hand doing it's best to keep her hair in place.
La'je'ri took another deep breath and started off behind her, his light boots thumping against the cracked (presumably) rockcrete road the warriors had marched down just minutes ago.
This breath stung.
The Fire Warrior column was now barely more than a speck in the distance, and La'je'ri cursed mentally at the weight of his pict-recorder and the restrictiveness of his armor as he half-ran, half-trudged behind his superior, every breath he took feeling more and more wrong.
"La'je'ri!" she slowed her pace slightly, "Broadcast center says visuals are good. Could you get me in the picture, and then zoom towards the 'Warriors?"
He nodded. The air tasted better here.
"And we're live in 4, 3, 2, 1..." Flashing a beaming smile towards the camera, Ui'k'tadie began her usual introduction.
"Good day to all citizens of the T'au! We are coming to you live from the planet known as GSC-1, which, as many of our viewers will know, seemingly appeared out of nowhere just two weeks ago inside T'au controlled space. Our diplomats have found no success in establishing contact and hence, for the sake of the Greater Good, a expeditionary corps of Fire Warriors has been sent to take care of the situation and ensure the safety of our citizens."
The camera panned across the landscape, showing something lush, green and overgrown, but clearly previously inhabited. Generations ago, at best, but still inhabited, and his initial fears of the "planet" actually being some kind of new planet-destroying Gue'la superweapon seemed to be completely unfounded.
In front of him, now wearing her combat armor with a confidence almost befitting that of a soldier, Ui'k'tadie beamed at the camera.
La'je'ri did just as ordered, quickly adjusting the zoom on his camera to focus on the column of Fire Warriors down the road, most of them now at a high kneel as their Sha's'ui gave orders to each section, with a few Warriors on both sides of the road covering the platoon from an unexpected ambush.
"As you can see, our brave warriors are currently receiving their final orders, and are preparing to execute them as we speak. The only resistance encountered so far has been local wildlife, and while vicious, our Pathfinders have had no trouble in dispatching them."
The pict-corder panned back to her beaming face, but something seemed to be off. She coughed briefly, making sure to mute her vox-corder as best she could, while carefully gesturing towards the landscape.
Hint hint.
La'je'ri let his pict-corder pan across the landscape again. The few dwellings and buildings visible were primitive, at best. Wood and baked bricks, not unlike those found on frontier Kroot worlds, except far uglier. Many of the buildings were practically destroyed, and the cameraman knew instantly that he had no interest in stepping foot in any of those places.
Just a cursory glance revealed dozens of structural defects in most every building. A battlesuit-sized hole in a brick wall here, a collapsed rooftop beam there, heaps of scrap metal and refuse that seemed to have served no obvious purpose, even before their destruction.
There were vehicles, as well, but these were much unlike the usual square, box-like transports and battle tanks the Imperial army used. These were far more rounded in shape, some missing wheels, painted in various shades of pastel blue or yellow that was barely visible beneath the rust and accumulated grime.
He did manage to see one vehicle that looked vaguely military in nature, something small, perhaps meant for reconnoissance or evacuating casualties, judging by the complete lack of armor.
It was very hard to tell, however. It looked as if it had been punched by a Titan, wheels all askew, as rusty as the trucks from earlier.
Still, the only hint to it's military nature was the insignia painted on one of the back doors; three shields, the central one painted in blue and yellow, with two crossed swords behind them, surrounded by some kind of wreath, and some kind of scratches he presumed to be writing, but was far too too alien and worn to make out.
Still, he let the pict-corder linger on it, just for a moment, maybe just to show the viewers that this planet may have housed intelligent life once.
Maybe long ago.
He wasn't mechanically inclined at all, only barely knowing how to fix the most common faults of his pict-corder, but even he could see that these metal monoliths wouldn't move on their own ever again.
It seemed as if the Fire Warriors were done with their orders, and Ui'k'tadie took off in a light jog again. Seeing no other recourse, La'je'ri cursed under his breath and ran after her.
Still, there was something troubling him, something keeping his mind off the heft of the pict-corder and the strangeness in the air.
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