The Hammer of the Imperium

Honoured Council,

The rout of our force in the Charadon sector has begun, your refusal to satisfy my requests for aid have allowed the forces of the Imperium of Man to establish a foothold on Mien Zatar. If they are not checked and expelled from the planet’s surface, we can expect them to overrun our stronghold and force us to retreat within the Webway in a shockingly short space of time. My report from the battle follows.

The Imperial forces made planetfall late in the day, their landing craft nimbly evading our automated anti-aircraft batteries. Wild Rider squadrons raced to the site and myself and Elemenath mounted quickly, heading out to their landing site, a Vyper from each of the Hag’s Gaze and Isha’s Mantle Clans joining us just outside of the compound. As we arrived at the site of the Imperials’ landing I got my first real look at the forces arrayed against us. Wearing strange fur hats and heavy-looking, red coats, they are a well regimented force, fielding multiple heavy weapons and a trio of awkward walkers that I believe they call Sentinels or Guardians perhaps, their thoughts are as difficult to translate as their language, I swiftly ordered our Wild Riders into action, Isha’s Mantle with me on the right hand side as we approached the ruined town where we were to do battle and the Hag’s Gaze to the left, with Elemenath. The opening volley of fire felled four Wild Riders, two from each squadron, a hulking war machine of the “Leman Russ” pattern pounding shells into our ranks, the Wild Rider host advanced, scything into their lines, Isha’s Mantle eliminated a Heavy Weapon team, cutting down the last humans in frenzied hand-to-hand combat, the Vypers alternated between firing Shuriken Cannons into the strangely garbed Infantry and Starshot Missiles into the Leman Russ, Elemenath held a vital point on the right side, while I took cover in a blasted building so as to better direct the flow of battle.

During the fighting, I attuned my senses to the minds of the humans, they hail from a frozen planet of ice and ash, gargantuan cities housing millions upon millions of humans, rife with poverty and suffering, and overlaying all of this, a sense of duty and a collective shame, ancient but never atoned.

After the brutality of close combat, the Imperials once again demonstrated their uncanny, for a human anyway, training and fell back from our forces, firing as they went, more Wild Riders fell to the fury of the fusillade and the Vyper from Isha’s Mantle was severely damaged, on the right flank, the Hag’s Gaze Wild Riders were decimated and the lone survivor retreated as per my orders.

Our firepower greatly reduced, I began to bring my force back together to attempt a more solid front, at this point the Hag’s Gaze’s Vyper was destroyed outright, swiftly followed by its twin from Isha’s Mantle, the two survivors from Isha’s Mantle joined me in the ruins but were swiftly gunned down by the advancing humans, Elemenath and I held our positions to give our reinforcements time to arrive, but we both were forced to flee lest we be destroyed, even as I turned to flee, Skeinstorm was hit by a devastating volley from the Leman Russ and I barely made it out alive.

In the aftermath of the battle, our scouts reported the Imperial forces establishing their foothold upon the planet.

Once again, I urge you to gaze upon the skein, see the doom that awaits not just Nai’Tzeleth, but all the galaxy if this sector is not secured, send me more forces, our enemies must be halted here.

Farseer Miranel.

Pax’nera, a Meeting.

Honoured Council,

This past evening I met with the leader of the Pax’nera Sept, a group of warriors from the Tau Empire that we worked with previously, against the Canis Aureus. Their Commander, Steadstrike, agreed to meet with me at our base on Mien Zatar. In preparation for his arrival, I had our Seers weave a cloud of illusion around our base, masking it’s true appearance and size, if only the Tau Commander knew that the majestic trees bending in the wind were in fact anti-aircraft emplacements and sensor arrays, truly the minds of these aliens are easily deceived.

Once their ship appeared on our sensors, a great deal closer than I had anticipated, I began to seek the Tau Commander’s mind, I sensed a great deal of fear and anticipation and realised that my would be ally was nervous, layered over this more immediate emotion was a strong sense of duty and honour and concern for those under his command, personality traits that can be easily subverted in our own interests. Glad now that I had chosen to hide our true strength, I had the wing of Crimson Hunters I had sent to escort them peel away and return to our landing pads, not wishing to spook our guests any further.

When the ship came into sight, the only forces visible on the ground were myself and Lieulia, two squads of Guardians, including Makto, and a squad from the Whispering Star. I felt something from the Tau Commander then, which I did not expect, he had commanded his forces not to fire upon us for any reason, a curious command to issue within what he must assume is enemy territory.

Their ship touched down and the boarding ramp extended, the Commander himself is an impressive member of his race, moving with the fluid grace of those forged in combat, as he approached I got a sense of nerves and used my arts to subtly reinforce his feelings of safety.

I stepped forward and greeted him in the correct manner, as I had when we worked together previously, we exchanged pleasantries and as he mentioned an uneventful trip, I knew our attempts at remaining unseen had been successful.

We moved inside a structure raised specifically for this meeting and negotiations began in earnest.

I will report again once an accord has been reached.