Clash at Factory 645

-Oh, they’re there alright! I can smell it their farty alien asses from miles afar!

Wolf Lord Halvorsen grinned like a mad wolf that just had its prey snatched from it by an Yrellian fox. The grin was the manifestation of greedy retaliation and it spread to the nearby Grey Hunters, who also sensed the Tau forces.

-Who needs comm-sats, eh.. lads? Brother Gurni, fire off the signal pistol… I need that Storm Wolf here now!

The Space Wolves of Lord Halvorsen raced forward in their Rhinos while Wolf Priest Hagridh and his Blood Claws swooped in towards the abandoned factory. The terraforming of Metz had been forced to halt by the Tau invasion and for this they would pay. The Tau was a major problem. As if it wasn’t enough with the Chaos incursion and the trouble with the governors and the election. And the Inquisition just poked its big nose into everything… of course a consequence of the political situation on Metz. Ah, those politicians… they just stirred things up, as usual. Halvorsen didn’t care much for politics, but when it interfered with the eradication of bad guys, he had to take a stand. Yes, the Tau was a major problem on top of all other complications… And the bad guys were just pouring into this emperor-forsaken desert planet like nothing… Oh, there was much work to do…

Brother Gudmund, The Storm Wolf pilot, assessed the situation as he scanned the area of the abandoned factory. A squad of scouts had infiltrated their way onto a construction and pointed towards a large Tau contraption further on – a Riptide! The Tau thing was brimming with large guns and would probably deal out a lot of hurt to the scouts. The Storm Wolf pilot connected with the machine spirit in his aircraft and immediately felt the sensation of something attaching to his brain. It was not unpleasant, but somehow it felt… like an intruder. The sensation went away though and all weapon systems locked at the Tau figure. Combined with the fire of the scouts, a Razorback with Lascannons, the Riptide was hit several times but remained relatively unscathed. This would take some effort Gudmund thought as he steered his Storm Wolf to the right and levelled up for another round of fire…

Wolf Lord Halvorsen urged his Grey Hunters forward into a small forest with good covering positions. In the distance he could see several alien soldiers spreading in the same manner and he quickly thought of how similar everything eventually is… The Tau had their mission as the Space Wolves had theirs. Both were probably eager to fight, but still felt the necessary fear of being killed… a fear that saved lives… a fear that was to be embraced in order to stay alive and be victorious. To his left a Rhino with Wulfen shot forward. The Wulfen disembarked with a tasty target in sight… Some flickering figures, very hard to distinguish, moved forward. While the Grey Hunters in the forest fired a bolter salvo at those dim figures, a second Rhino moved past and unloaded another Grey Hunter squad among the ruins of a long-lost building. They took positions and started firing at a squad of Fire Warriors further away. The fire was soon responded by appearing Tau suits that reinforced the tau centre. Halvorsen swore and steeled himself of the coming fusillade…

The scouts over at the abandoned factory could only watch as the Riptide flickered and disappeared in front of them. It reappeared behind them and behind the Space Wolves lines. In its sights was a Razorback, which had been adding to the fire at the Riptide. The Razorback was hit several times and exploded in a ball of fire. The scouts hunkered down behind cover and tried desperately to damage the Riptide, which they did, but it still stood.

Brother Gudmund steered the Storm Wolf away from the factory as he saw the deep trouble that was aiming at the centre of the Space Wolves frontline. A Broadside had walked up and pounded its strange bullets at the Grey Hunters and Fire Warriors added to that fire, guided by an eloquently clad Tau, which had to be some kind of a leader. Gudmund addressed the Wolf Priest, who was embarked on the Storm Wolf, together with a bunch of savage Blood Claws:

-Priest! Get ready to disembark! I will drop you off near some Fire Warriors. Hovering mode in five secs…

The Storm Wolf slowed down and the front hatch swung open. It didn’t take long before Priest Borka spotted the Tau infantry. The roaring of chainsaws filled the air and the Blood Claws didn’t need an order to do what they did best… kill in the name of Russ! The Blood Claws rushed into the Fire Warriors and slaughtered them in mere seconds! That threat was now gone, but the battle was swinging heavily towards the Tau, as the suits in the centre started taking their toll…

The Wulfen charged the Stealth Suits and butchered them with easy. They then sweeped into the Crisis Suits, which suddenly fell back and poured heavy fire into the frenzied Wulfen. They fell with gaping holes in their bodies and the Wulfen leader fell back among some ruins but were eventually also killed.

Things were getting grim for Halvorsen, as the leader of the Tau suddeny jumped into the air and landed behind him and his Grey Hunters. Heavy fire hit the Grey Hunters and they fell… one by one… Then the Tau leader spoke:

-Human! Give up! While you still can… I am Commander Farsight… I will claim this battlefield and this planet…

-Give up?! Are you taking me for a scared puppy? Give up?! Never!! Halvorsen raged inside and raised his Storm Bolter towards the Red-clad Tau suit that dared to tell him run like a… scared guardsman!

-Have it your way… human… you will lose in the end and so will your lesser race…

Commander Farsight fired at Wolf Lord Halvorsen but made only a scratch on his power armour. Halvorsen was just about to respond by charging the arrogant alien, when a Grey Hunter yelled at him:

-Lord Halvorsen! Communications work! Orders from Inquisitor Ogden… He orders us to pull back… now!

-Retreat?! Are you insane!! That moronic Ogden!! I will…

-Lord Halvorsen… he says that they will… purge… this place from orbit… and we need to back off now if we want to live another day!

Wolf Lord Halvorsen closed his eyes... that damned Inquisition! They will always interfere… Always! But… if they were to bombard this factory… which obviously must contain something vital that the Tau must never touch, they had to pull back. He gave the order and hoped that their comm worked for a few more minutes if they were to retreat in good order and without casualties. He looked at the Tau commander, who had moved away towards the abandoned factory and hoped that the xenos filth soon found a 600 ton orbital missile up his alien arse…