Gue'vesa'la Gordon sat hudled behind the broken remnats of a wall. Bolter shells smashed into the plascrete all around him. He franticly kicked his legs pushing as far into the shattered corner as possible. All around him he could see his fellow Gue'vesa being torn apart. The forces of the Imperium seemed to fight harder when they had been sighted. It was almost as though the sight of traitors had given them a battle zeal that couldent be stopped.

A roaring boom broke above the sounds of battle as several Devilfish APCs came roaring down from above. Their burst cannon flarred with anger, the drones deploying and blasting away. The rear ramp of the transport opened wide and the forms of firewarriors lept clear. Hitting the ground running the Tau joined the fight with fervor. A hailstorm of fire errupted from them as they closed with the Blood Angels. The Tau must really be desperate to hold this line.

la'Gordon strugled to stand, his legs seeming far to weak to support him. All around smoke curled into the air from the blasted husks of ruined buildings. Corpses lay three deep in this area, the fighting was hellish at best. With a shrug he realized he had better die fighting than huddled like a child. With a roar he ran to meet up with the Tau.

The collision of forces was a bloody mess. More than three dozen firewarriors charged at no more than fifteen marines. In the whirlwind of fighting that errupted one had to wonder if 2 to 1 odds was enough. Chainswords tore through Fio'tak shredding the flesh below. Cyan blood splashed red armor, blue particle shots peeling armor away and sending gouts of red into the air.

A heavy boot slammed into Gordons chest knocking him back. He struggled to bring his lasgun to bear but it was slapped aside. Fighting aside his panic he saw a bonding blade embedded halfway in the towering marines hip. Desperately he kicked the blades pummel, forcing the blade in up to the hilt. A howl of rage escaped the marine as he slumped to his knees clutching at the blade.

Scrambling away on his hands and knees Gordon grabbed up a dropped pulse carbine. He spun around and fingered the grenade launcher. A single small disk went spinning out of the launcher, arching through the air between the combatants. A marine saw it coming and snatched it out of the air, intent on forcing it down the throat of the alien he was throttling. The timmer hit zero as his arm shot downwards. Bodies went flying, the marine and firewarrior shredded beyond recognition.

The fight was going badly. Even though there were only five marines left there was less than a dozen firewarriors still standing. The Tau fell back in a line trying to hold the marines off.

Suddenly bolter shells sped past the Tau's heads. But they came from the other direction. Turning around they saw the looming forms of no less than ten space marines, jet black armor glimmering in the half light. As one the firewarriors lept on the ground, desperately trying to trick the marines into shooting each other. For a moment it looked like their desperate ploy had worked. Then the black armoured space marines stepped over them. Bolters chattering with fury the death clad marines blasted apart their brethren with the utmost predjudice.

Regaining a small measure of composure the Firewarriors ran after the marines. Forming a line at the edge of the ruined building the strange marines and remaining Tau forces stood against the oncoming assault. Gordon stood to the marines right his carbine blasting away, sending grenades and pulse fire speeding towards the oncoming Imperials.

Click Click

He stared down at the weopon in confusion. As he stared at the clip count he realized what was wrong. He was completely out of ammunition. Horrified he watched as a roaring psychotic marine came dropping out of the sky on a flaming jet pack. Pistol snapping wild shots and chainsword spinning. He could see the marines eyes wide, mouth open anticipating the kill. He saw the armour part as thousands of superaccelerated particles impacted. The marine was dead before he hit the ground.

The weak sun was eclipsed as a massive form appeared in the air. A giant manta like ship was disgorging half a dozen dropships. As he watched more missil destroyers appeared in the sky as countless shapes of dropships and transports filled the sky.

Engines venting their fury to the world a pair of Devilfish's passed overhead their burst cannons showing plain their anger. Out of them came many more Firewarriors. As they hit the ground they opened fire, advancing against the approaching gue'la.

Gordon could see as the Orca dropships belched crisis suits and firewarriors by the hundreds onto the field. As one the Imperial line broke apart, half its number becoming corpses almost instantly.

A smile found its way to the beleagured gue'vesas face as he came to the realization that he was alive. Turning his head he looked at the space marines only to see that they were gone. He swung around catching a glimps of the last marine clambering into an Orca transport. The marine stopped and turned around. In his hand was the red helmet of one of his former comrades. The black helmeted head nodded to him before disapearing as the Orcas doors closed with a hiss.

He watched as the Orca dropship rose into the sky and sped off. For many minutes he could not look away. Then a hand on his shoulder turned him around. A bloody and battered firewarrior stood before him. The warrior raised a red chainsword to him.

"You fought well Gue'vesa, take this sword. It is of the marine you killed. You lost your weopon to him it is only right he replace it."

Slowly and with trembling hands la'Gordon took the sword gingerly. It was heavy and seemed to tremble with subdued power.

"Tha... thank you." He stammered to the warrior infront of him.

The Firewarrior did not reply, he merely bowed his head slightly and moved off.

Gordon raised the sword before him, pointing into the sky above. The red paint glinted as rays of sunlight broke through the clouds. He had survived, a new day had come. It was time to fight.