Shas'ui Dal'yth Kio'ain cursed, and tried futilely to track the human. Infrared showed his silhouette dimly, before the brightness of a thousand suns stabbed into her visor and caused her to cry out in pain. “What's wrong?” Shas'la Lia came rushing over, glancing over her for some sign of injury.

“Nothing, nothing. He laid infrared flares. They overloaded my visors optics.” Every single time, he had a new trick. “Target lost. We need extraction to Rendezvous Point Four.” The controller at the other end of her comm channel briefly acknowledged, and cut off the connection.

“We're moving ahead of the main force again?” Shas'la Lia was the newest member of the Pathfinder squad, still in his Trial by Fire. The rest of them joked that the ring of paint (symbolic of the iron bands they all wore as a symbol of their unity and strength – an old tradition in her family) on his armor was still wet.

“Yes. If we're lucky, we can catch him before he regroups with their armor column, and before he kills any more commanders. Gather your gear, I can see the Devilfish now.”

The Piranha banked steeply as it made a corner that would force it's designer to wince. The engines whined and strained in the hands of the one guiding them. Damage and fuel warning blinked futilely on the dashboard. Kassid gritted his teeth and made another hair-raising turn, trying to shake his pursuit. A Devilfish had found him – the xenos could probably track all of their vehicles. He swerved sharply to the side as a burst of pulse fire darted out of the transport's gun. His Piranha's own weaponry was ruined, as far as he could tell, the casualty of an over-ambitious dive when he first noticed the 'fish. The hull itself wouldn't last much longer. Already, the holes punched into it were smoking and some were even aflame.

He could see a garden coming up on his left. Stupid xenos, wasting space on plants. Plants that were soon to become his salvation. What else was there to do? He aimed his craft, punched the engines into overdrive, and ducked into the seat, covering his head.

That insane, suicidal fool! Kio'ui watched the Piranha on the Devilfish's internal monitors. She watched it gain speed, until it was a blur to her eyes. She watched it slowly slip downwards towards the greenery below. And she watched it carve a half-mile long furrow into the soil, until it rested squarely in the middle of the forest of Hruf-aig trees. They shivered in response to the disturbance, and inflated themselves until the Piranha was hidden beneath several meters of pulse-cannon neutralizing wood and splinters.

Kio'ui raged. She ordered the Devilfish to land, for her team to prepare to meet this arrogant little shit in close quarters. One way or another, she intended to end it today.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! His ankle was sprained. He still had a med-pack, but most of the painkillers were gone, victims of his headaches. Still, the few remaining dulled the pain a little, and Kassid was able to fashion a splint of sorts from the rest of it. More importantly, he had to flee before that pathfinder caught up with him. It was utterly relentless, he knew. Three weeks of having his mobility curtailed had taught him that painful lesson. Never more than a single shot, never stop moving, and always have an escape route.

The xeno learned fast though. He cursed at it under his breath as he hobbled away from the crashed skimmer. Those flares had been hard to get. Not as hard to get as the explosives he had used to cover his retreat last time they had encountered one another, but still eyebrow raising to the right people. And now he was out of tricks to pull. All that was left was his longlas (only half a charge pack left), an old revolver (6 bullets, naturally), and his knife. He gritted his teeth and continued to move.

This better not end in another LCB

Four minutes to land. Thirty minutes to walk to the crash site, doubled for the damned winding path that was the only way to get through the trees without being impaled by the spiked bark, doubled again to search every shadow for the inevitable ambush or foolhardy last stand. They had already lost two team mates to such antics, and were not about to lose another.

Kio'ui was skeptical of her ability to kill the Imperial dog. She had never before seen a sniper so unfettered. It was as if he was some sort of ghastly shadow that could strike at will, whether on the front lines or five hundred miles into controlled territory. She had been tracking him for nearly three weeks now, ever since he had raided the prisoner detainment center holding his Imperial comrades. It was maddening. Every single time she got close, he managed to slip away like an oily snake.

But the noose was tightening. He was on foot, wounded, and far from any allies. She took stock of the situation, and smiled. Her squad would find him and put an end to his incessant raids. Toi'la, her tracker, indicated his direction. Without a word, the team began to follow.

Night was falling. A blazing corona of light began to play in the heavens above his head. Kassid, for once, barely noticed. He knew he was being followed. The Devilfish had landed, and had not yet risen. They were following on foot. If he was any judge, they'd be doing so as cautiously as possible. That was a lesson they had learned in blood. But once he left the forest, he would again be traversing the killing ground of the streets.

Numbly, he searched the skyline as the trees thinned. He noted roofs, windows, possible alleyway, building templates that he knew would be rife with crawlspaces, and headed out. He was far from where he wanted to be. He had no vehicle, a psychotic alien at his tail, and almost no ammo. He couldn't get a message to the Guard even if he wanted to, and it was doubtful they would respond even if he did.

He suddenly laughed. His voice sounded hoarse, even to his ears. He hadn't used it in so long. This was what a sniper lived for.

Finally, the trees were clearing. The squad breathed a sigh of relief as the brilliant night sky came into view. Kio'ui motioned for them to crouch down before they advanced any further. Something about the street ahead seemed off to her, and she couldn't quite place it. For several minutes they stood there, agonizing over every second possibly wasted, before she gave the signal to continue the advance. Lia'la moved past her while she continued to search the buildings in sight. He hadn't gone three steps before he staggered back, a wide hole carved through his chestplate and the flesh beneath. He fell onto her, the crack of ionizing air receding into the darkness even as the rest of her team opened fire into the windows of the small residential block opposite them.

In a few seconds they stepped back into the welcome cover of the trees to reload. Lia'la was already dead.

The rooftops showed the flow of the battle through time. Kassid could see the shelling of suspected tau positions over the last week, he could spot where the Guard had advanced, where they had been routed, and where they held fast. He could see the bright trails of skimmers hunting the throaty Chimeras, and see flashes of light and fire where the two forces still fought. He could see yesterday morning, when the Imperium had tried to take the central bridge spanning the river that cut through the alien city. He could see last afternoon, when, after suffering uncountable casualties, they had succeeded. And he could see the fresh scars of last night when, suffering from massive bombardment, they had withdrawn.

Now there was no bridge. The city was slowly destroying itself, the invaders and defenders both grinding it into dust to feed their respective causes. He thought, briefly, of the end of Daratha, a lifetime ago and half a galaxy away, and touched the silver on his ring finger, but pushed the thought from his mind. Now, there was only the chase. He turned back to the rope he had scavenged from the emergency kit of the Piranha. It could hold his weight. Slowly, he began to descend to the next roof.

They were gaining on him. He was good, but Toi'la was better. Every minor trace, every lingering scent or droplet of blood led them inexorably on. Anger burned in their hearts, and vengeance sang in their hearts. Soon, a picture formed in Kio'ui's mind, of the route that the human was taking and where the group could intercept him. Finally, they came to an intersection between the mercantile district and the administration buildings. Toi'la pointed one way, but she indicated another. “Luy'la, you're in charge. Hound him. Let him have no rest. I will go to that tower and wait for you to flush him out. Lead him to me. This ends tonight.”

Her four remaining team mates nodded and moved off. As she watched them leave she contacted their commander on her private channel. “We have him cornered. He will not be able to escape this time.”

“Excellent. If you manage to succeed here, you may finally have redeemed yourself, Kio'ui.”

“...Understood.”

Kassid could hear them. They were still following his false trail, believing him to be slowing down, weakening. He stalked them through the narrow alleyway, long since having reached the ground. They were two bends ahead, arguing over whether to go left or right at the fork. They had lost one of their number – probably the psycho team leader. He should have killed it when he had the chance, the first time they fought.

He turned the corner and could see their shadows. They were larger than life – he tsked. Using illumination! Silently, he crept up, drawing his revolver. One chance to surprise them. He looked at the shadows, remembered the layout of the alleyway, and judged their distance. Then, in one movement, he turned and fired.

Just as he thought. The second-in-command wasn't wearing a helmet. The bullet slammed though his head and his body tumbled backwards. The rest were frozen in shock. Kassid was already running.

“He got Luy'la! He snuck up behind us and shot him! He's not injured!” Toi'la's voice was panicky, almost screaming his report.

“Shit! Can you still get him to the objective? Are you still operational?” Kio'ui reviewed her options. This was beginning to look very bad. Again, they were at minimum operational strength. Again, he was hunting them down like animals. Damnit, they were better than this! They were the best! There was no way a single soldier should be able to do this!

Briefly, she considered calling O'Kais again, requesting additional support. But if she did... she would never get the credit for this. She would never rise in the ranks. Her shame would stain her record forever. Besides, surely those warriors were needed elsewhere? Surely she could handle a single, weakened, tired human? She gritted her teeth and applied her eye to her scope. She would kill him. For Lia'la. For Luy'la. And for the half-dozen before them.

This was the hot chase to compensate for the cold stalking of the preceding hours. This was the blood-pumping, eye-popping, adrenaline-rushing climax of combat. Snipers should not have to do this, Kassid thought. Theirs is the realm of the slow fight. The tense, hours-long protracted strategic movement and positioning that would precede a split-second of life-altering action. He ducked and rolled under a truck as his pursuers sent more pulse fire his way. He popped out of the other side and took another shot. It glanced off their armor.

So the run continued. He would dodge their lethal fire, they would absorb his occasional shot, and they would all move another few hundred feet before repeating it all again. He was faster, he realized. He would pay the price later, in a dead ankle and a burning chest, but for now he was faster. He just wished it could remain that way until he reached the prepared ground.

“He's going into a building. Dei'la and Nui'sa'la are following him in. We've got him now, he must be out of ammo for his sniper. He can't hurt us.”

Kio'ui almost told them not to go in. She almost told them that it was almost certainly a trap. But she didn't. She wanted it to be true. She wanted to be responsible for his death, to finally put an end to him. So she let them go in. She heard their screams over the comm as they were singled out. She heard them die as they struggled to fight a foe they could barely see, let alone fight.

She did not move, and she did not speak, and she did not blink. All of her being was focused in the scope. Nothing else happened, nothing else existed.

Gotta go. Will upload the rest in half an hour or so.

>>9549029
DON'T BE A FAGGOT OP

>Kio'ui

I really should be above this...
Moar!

Keepan da thread alive

I must know how this ends.

The pulse pistol felt too light. It was powerful, there was no denying that. But it was too light for its power. It was too toy-like for its destructive potential. It was just so... alien. Kassid felt sickened using it, but needs as needs must. His revolver was completely useless now, unless he felt a need to correct an improperly hammered nail. His longlas had some life left in it, though.

And he knew where that damned alien would be. Somewhere it could cover the plaza in the center of the district, his only real way out of the city if he didn't want to spend six hours navigating the warrens of the suburbs. Slowly, he surveyed every building that offered line of sight to the plaza. The office block was clear. So was the giant dome... thing. The weird alien bio-dome construction seemed to be free of life as well, but there were so many tangled cables and dying vines entangled in the balconies, roofs, and other outcroppings that a platoon could conceivably hide there without being noticed.

Some deeply ingrained animal instinct made him move. He rolled to the side just as a supersonic slug demolished the lip of the window. He scrambled aside as successive shots pummeled the wall and afforded him an excellent view of the outside world from his prone position. So his longlas was out of the question. She had the better perch and knew exactly where he would be. She had more ammo, and she could probably out wait him.

It was in the tower. Well, only one of them was going to survive this night, and he was damned if it was going to be some dirty heretical scum-sucking xeno psychopath.

I love this shit. If there's any justice in the world this will get into Black Library and make canon. Or at least merit a passing mention in a DH sourcebook.

Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Reload.

The pattern repeated itself rote in her mind. She only saw him in fleeting glances through windows or holes she made in the exterior walls. He couldn't get away from her. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Reload.

She could see him running through the streets. He was limping now – his injuries catching up with him. This registered only as a modification to her tempo. Every single shot she fired was off by the merest margin. He dodged and weaved and changed pace, took cover in buildings and worked his way through the rubble of the street. Grimly she continued her barrage. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Reload.

Interesting. He was coming for her. So, he had come to the same resolution as she had. Fire. Fi- AHH! FUCK! She screamed and clawed at her helmet, throwing it off with as much force as she could muster from her deadened fingers. The rail rifle had overloaded, taking all of her electronics with it in the back-blast. She flexed her fingers and could feel no feedback, only the frictionless weight of the gloves. She tore them off. They would only hinder her now. She drew her pistol and began to descend.

The elevator was out. Had the alien climbed all those stairs? It didn't seem possible. But Kassid began the torturous journey upwards anyway, alert for the telltale sound of hooves on plastic, or whatever it was that made up this stuff. It was only five (agonizingly huge) floors before he heard it. It was moving as slowly as he was, probably checking the doors on its way down. Well, fuck it. This was a classic stand-off.

He checked one of the doorways out of the elevator. It opened into a massive, open room walled entirely in glass, or something similar to it. The stairway was recessed into the wall, and curved upwards on the outside of the building. Damn insane alien building designs. In the center of the observation deck (for what else could it be?) stood what was unmistakably a bar. He walked over and rested inside, keeping his new weapon trained on the door. Not long now.

He was a dead man. If she had any explosives, if she called any reinforcements, if she did anything that a veteran should, he would not escape alive. But as he had told Saya once, the Emperor graces us all, at one point or another.

Kio'ui almost had him. He could be hiding anywhere, though, behind every door and every bend in the stair. Another door. She hesitated before opening it, then slammed it open and darted her gun inside. Nothing. The sixth floor was empty.

Another nerve-wracking curve, another subtly intimidating door. She breathed deeply before she kicked it in. Immediately, she felt the cold fire of a pulse round hitting her abdomen. She froze, her gun dropped, and she fell.

Unfair! This is so unfair! He was my kill! He should not be alive! Why is he still alive?! She could see him walking up, and knew she was dead. The Gue'la took no prisoners, had no concept of mercy. Silently, she consigned herself to death.

Good end?

Kassid never imagined it would be that easy. It couldn't have made itself an easier target. It was as if Tau soldiers were never trained in how to invade a fortified structure. It was bleeding – one round would finally end this. He could finally return to the Guard and (relative) peace.

But something made him stop and examine the alien more closely. It was a female, he saw now. Not surprising, but at least he had a real pronoun to call her. Then he saw the band around her finger. His gun lowered in shock. She was married. The alien looked at him in confusion, but it was still too scared to make any sort of offensive move.

He thought in a rush. He couldn't kill her now, knowing what he did. They married! They had that same bonding ritual that had– but this was not the time. She was bleeding to death. The medical pack from the Piranha might be able to save her. First, though, he took her gun away. She was in no condition to use it – those pulse pistols were nasty pieces of work, and she seemed almost completely out of it. He worked quickly, stitching her wound and binding it. Satisfied, he turned away and left. If she lived, then that was good. If not, he had done all he could. By the grace of the Emperor, that should be enough.

(almost over)

Kio'ui woke, and screamed. Her gut was surely being rent apart by kroot hounds! She glanced down, and there was nothing but a pad of cloth. Tentatively, she lifted it off herself. Who knew what painful torturous death that Gue'la had consigned her to? But there was nothing but a stitched over gunshot. No painkiller! No antiseptic! The wound burned.

Dimly, she could see the rest of an emergency med-kit. She crawled over to it, slowly, suppressing a scream with every inch. She hit herself with a full syringe of the strongest analgesic in the pack, and passed out.

Days later, she was found by Tau advanced scout elements. She was summarily demoted and had her name stripped from her. Kio'la died four years later, fighting an Ork Waaagh.

The Guard were mobilizing. Kassid got to the highway in time to watch the Chimeras go by. He recognized a face atop one of them. “Jaela! Stop for a minute, I need a ride!”

She turned to him, then disappeared into the cabin. A moment later, the transport slewed to a dutiful stop. He walked up the gangplank and murmured his hellos to the rest of Jaela's squad. There was a seat empty, fortunately. “Giasa is sick again? Did she go out at night without protection?”

A few of the soldiers grinned. “Yeah, looks about as red as a Quot-fruit and about as itchy. That corona is really doing a number on her. Where the hell have you been?”

“I took a walk, took a fall, and got lost.” He indicated his sprained ankle. Suddenly, he turned his voice serious. “Has there been any news of Saya?”

Jaela smiled. “Great news, actually! She and her platoon were sprung by some undercover unit in Tau territory, just made it back. We're moving to meet them at the new forward ops. Congrats, Kas, you're gonna get some jail-time nookie. And I'm sure the colonel will let you off of cooking duties for a few weeks while you both burn off your excess energy, eh?”

Kassid breathed a sigh of relief. So his efforts were not in vain. Again, he rubbed the silver ring around his finger. Soon, he could go back to being just a cook. Soon, he could leave the fighting to the capable women of the 94th Tallarn. Soon, he would be reunited with his wife.

Well, that's it. First story I posted to /tg/. Any thoughts? I know it's a bit rambling, and it kinda suffers from lack of detail. Anyone have any other criticism to add?

>>9549668
Epic tier story. I'ma archiving it.

The ending was difficult to understand.

And kinda sucked.

The action was great, though. Gotta give you that.

Really engaging story OP, i loved reading it.

>>9549668

I like it, it's fast paced and flows well. Only thing that was kind of weak was the guy's motivation to let the Tau go, ok they marry, big boo hoo. He's killed a shitload of them already, he'd care more about getting out alive. He could leave her alive just because she's not a threat, or as psych warfare (rub her nose in her failures, or tell the other Tau that there's a psycho sniper about) or all these reasons, it makes a bit more sense.

Also, he's a cook assassin. I can't help imagining him as Steven Segal.

>>9549682

Just read all of it and really liked it. What could you possibly not understand?

>>9549682

Hmm... Maybe I didn't do a good enough job explaining that. Kassid isn't actually a guardsman, he's just one of the support staff (a cook, actually) to a female Guard regiment. He basically just picked up a longlas and snuck into Tau territory when his wife (an actual guardswoman) was captured.

And he spared the Tau because he thought she was married too.

Archived here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/9548788/

>>9549731

I got the cook and the female regiment part, but I didn't quite grasp his wife being captured. I suppose that's pretty cool. But I'm gonna have to agree with >>9549707 on the whole leaving her alive because she's married part.

>>9549707

That's the thing, though. It's one thing to kill a faceless mask pointing a gun at you. Then he found an enemy soldier completely helpless, married, and wounded, not to mention female. Takes a lot more willpower to kill in that situation.

Notice, whenever else he killed, wither he or some other human was in danger. He just couldn't bring himself to kill in cold blood.

>>9549731

Oh, his wife had been captured? You should have written in a scene of him rescuing her, it'd be a great addition.

>>9549773

Yeah, I'd like that spelled out in the story more explicitly.

>>9549668
Rail rifles don't overheat anymore.

>>9549682
same, but I had 2 big problems with it.

1. Guy does a 180 as soon as he does a wedding band and helps out the Tau. The hell? It's conflict of interests that he should be thinking about, not, "oh, this alien has a curiously human habit of wearing copper in a cylindrical shape, must be a marriage rite like we've got! HEALTIEM"

2. Talking about the Tau's (short) future takes away from the already damaged conflict you just talked about. Makes what he did sound useless if all she's going to do is die 4 years later in something dumb, and it ruins the potential of a possible storyline, should you chose to make another story. It's also more mysterious if we don't know what's going to happen to her in the future. Makes us think about what's going through her head, why was she saved? Now of course, that's all useless, cuz she's as good as dead now.

>>9549808

They're also not generally fired like a damn assault rifle. This might be an old model, or have a production flaw, or, most simply, was not engineered to be fired like she was.

>>9549823
Wow, my writing's horrible again.

>>9549823
>>9549798

Alright, point taken. Next time, I'll make something like that a little more clearly justified.

I was actually debating whether or not to flesh out what happened to the Tau. I couldn't really think of a definite ending, although looking at it now, I could have just had her demoted and suffer from some psychological trauma. In the original draft, she just passed out, and nothing else happened.

>kiwi picture
>jolly good, is this a kiwi quest thread? let's see...
>40k
>my face

>>9549901

Someone should make a kiwi quest. Kiwis are so adorable.

I like the story, and I'm sympathetic to both Kassid and Kio, but I really doubt that he would notice a wedding ring in the heat of battle.
Also, Kio shouldn't die in this story, the demotion part is enough, I think.
If you add a bit about Kassid's motives, it would be a very good story nevertheless.

>>9549897
What you could've done was have her pass out, get the Cook-assassin's story out of the way, and then spell out what happened to her in the near future at the very end, or in another thread a day/week later. Preferrably in her POV. Act shit, don't explain it.

>>9549936

Well, by the point he notices the wedding ring, he's not in the heat of battle. He's won, the adrenalin is finally draining out, and he's finally able to think for two consecutive seconds.

>>9549920
Adorable enough to be hugged. Shame they've got such shit bones for hugging.

>>9549936

Alternate end: Kio survives, gets picked up by Tau forces, develops pathological hatred of humans (including Gue'Vesa) and forms a human hunter squadron (obviously underfunded and not getting a lot of support from the brass) with some Tau misfits and a few Kroot trackers. She hunts down Kassid's wife's squad and annihilates it in a climactic battle.

>>9549998
This I would like to read. And in the end, Kassid appears and kills all the Tau for the Emprah. Or he breaks down and forms a tau hunter squad himself, killing Kio's husband. Ah, the possibilities...

>>9550028
Or the prey eternally eludes the hunter.

>>9549977

but just look how lonely he is!

>>9550028

Uhh... Kio is't married. Kassid just thought she was. The ring was something like a bonding knife.

>>9549998

Here's the thing, though - even if she did survive, I doubt the brass would allow her a long leash anymore. Her entire team died to a single human, and she never called any reinforcements or tried to save them.

I would say she would get survivor's guilt or PTSD, but an immense hatred of humans isn't out of the question.

I like the end. Suitably grimdark.

Why was she spared? No particular meaning to that - it all ends in death anyway.

Though having a cook be a hell of a cov-ops is a bit of a stretch... but sometimes, everyone else ends up rolling snake-eyes while the sixes are with you.

Counts as Telion.

Nice work mister or miss Mono.

Some excellent work.

Too bad I'm too stoned atm to work out any story, I'd be glad to add more writefaggotry to this fine Saturday.

>>9550172

Well, I should have somehow jacked this into the story, but he's not just some random dude, He was a hunter back on Tallarn, but when his wife was drafted, he elected to join her regiment as a cook.

So yeah, not just some random civilian.

>>9550285

Male cook in female regiment, huh?

HAAAAAAAAAREEMMMMMMM

>>9550285

It'd kind of make more sense if he had joined a parallel regiment to follow her, as a warrior.

>>9550428

Not necessarily - as far as I know, there would be nothing really cleaving those two regiments together (else they would just be a single regiment), so there would still be some risk of being separated.

>>9550125
>Uhh... Kio is't married. Kassid just thought she was. The ring was something like a bonding knife.
Oh. Hah. Thought that might've been the case.

You sly pooch.

I'm no connoisseur...

But I thought that was an awesome story. Especially the Tallarian hunter who joined the guard to be with his wife part.