# Changing sides.



## Alex (Jan 19, 2008)

The sniper crouched in the undergrowth, wet mud seeping over his shoes as the rain battered down around him. He pulled up his sodden cloak around him and activated his eyepiece, looking towards the enemy encampment. His breathing slowed, and his body relaxed, a still figure blending in to the greenery. He had been left by his superiors, forgotten in the retreat, living for weeks off what little he could hunt, slowly using up his ammo until he had only one bullet left. Chancing upon this place, he had realised he could strike a blow to the enemy by killing the commander of this force. 

Troops hurried around the base, some moving to their transports to be shipped off to battles far away, others training in a large open courtyard in the centre of the camp. Huge, hulking suits of armour and vehicles stood immobile in large hangars, smaller, stunted aliens cleaning and fixing them, hundreds of drones skimming over everyone, the watchdogs of this army ever watchful for the enemy. The tall, lithe commanders of this race, usually present at any such base, was conspicuously absent however. He knew that the death of these leaders left the enemy panicked and leaderless, even the army commanders losing their reason. Knowing that shooting any of the leaders in suits was pointless with only one round left, the sniper waited, and waited, and waited. 

After a week of waiting, the sniper's eyes grew tired and his limbs stiff and he began to curse the idea of stopping here. Suddenly, a siren started in the camp, and the sniper shook back to attention, lifting the scope of his rifle back to his eyes. A small transport, one of the skimming vehicles for their infantry often seen on the battle landed and the occupant emerged. A dark red suit slipped out of the obviously modified vehicle, and the whole base fell down to their knees, like men in prayer. The sniper assumed this was an honoured commander, and realised that if the commander left his suit, this would be as good as, if not better than the death of one of their sacred leaders. The suit turned back to the vehicle and reached in, grasping something from inside and pulling it out. A large blade, pulsing with energy, was brought up into the air, and the enemy cheered in their alien language. 

The commander suddenly brought his head up and looked straight towards the snipers position, shocking the sniper completely, though he stayed completely still. The hovering drones suddenly stopped and turned to face the snipers position, the hangars below opening and small suits moving out swiftly, disappearing on the move as strange alien fields activated. Knowing that in moments he was going to be flushed out, the sniper activated his own cloaks fields, powered only by a small source, and running out quickly, he knew he had to make a move now. Crawling out of the undergrowth onto a small path, he began to stand up, checking around for any sign of movement, before slowly walking along the path. he could hear the faint hum of jetpacks, the stealth-suits obviously choosing to hunt overhead and not through the almost impenetrable jungle. 

A noise behind him made the sniper whirl round, but when he turned he saw no sign of any movement, and was going to turn back when he saw the small light on his chest. The Valkyries Mark, they had called it in the Damocles Crusade, when you saw it, you knew your death would be coming in the next few seconds, from enemies unseen. More dots arrived however, and he stood still, wondering why his life was being spared. A shot rang out and smashed his rifle apart in the middle, rendering him weapon-less, but for a knife which he dared not reach for. The red suit he had seen before walked out of the trees, it's weapon smoking. Stopping near the sniper, the front opened, and an elderly alien stepped out, the eyes that met the snipers showing wiseness of a kind beyond even one so old as he. Walking to the sniper, he held out his hand in greeting and nodded his head. 

Sensing that he had nothing to fear, the sniper reached forward and grasped the hand, feeling an unexpectedly tight grip from such a supposedly frail alien. Gesturing in an unfamiliar sign language, the commander invited his guest to follow him, and as he did so a transport appeared in front of them, shielded by the same stealth fields as the smaller suits he had seen before. Clambering into the vehicle, he took another glance at the commander, and realised he was not so frail as he seemed, his face was ancient yes, but his wrinkled body was muscular, his hands gripping tightly around his blade, lad across lap. The alien watched him stare, and then began to speak in perfect Low Gothic. "Greetings human, I am Commander Farsight and this planet is soon to be the newest addition to the Farsight Enclaves, I believe I am right in assuming you meant to kill me?" at this he paused for a moment, his face grave "With your army completely removing themselves from the planet I can see no other reason for such a foolish move towards my main base." 

The sniper looked up at him and saw a sad look in his eyes, as if the commander was almost empathising with him. " I had hoped to kill one of your armies ethereals, umm sir," He stuttered, noticing a flash of anger pass across the aliens face, "but with none forthcomin I saw an opportunity in killing you sir." Looking up he saw a wry smile on the commanders lips. 

"And what an opportunity you would have had, my dear human, to fell the long hunted commander of the free Tau" seeing the look of confusion on his face, Farsight chuckled "ahh yes, free Tau, free from the grasp of the ethereals you wished to kill, those underhand, mind-controlling, power hungry tyrants." At these words his features twisted into a face full of anger, "So many years I fought for them until this blade showed me the truth and the way out of my enslavement. I am not proud at ordering the death of the defenceless, but they would have used their mind control against me and my men would have done the same to me as I had ordered against our rulers. Now we are free, assimilating many races into our forces, humans, kroot and many others that were left behind like you. I would be pleased if you joined with us as a free man, not a slave to superiors, but working in a team as brothers of the enclaves." 

The devilfish came to a halt and the door opened, the sight in front of the sniper taking his breath away. A city of spires, larger than any imperial city he had ever seen was lying ahead of him, rich red buildings covering the expanse,bright coloured banners flying from every one. He could make out human banners, some even flying the Imperial eagle, and hundreds of unknown alien scripts flying around him. Turning to the commander, he nodded and offerered his hand to shake. "It would be my pleasure to live within a place such as this" He scowled "with people who respect me as an equal and do not leave me to die" So saying he jumped from the vehicle and walked towards the city, into a bright new life.


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## jakkie (Dec 21, 2007)

Ooooh, i like this ! An interesting twist so far, ill be keeping an eye on it.
+rep


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## Blackheart_101 (Dec 14, 2009)

Sounds very interesting, would like to see what other races there are in this organisation.
All in all, loved it. +rep


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## Alex (Jan 19, 2008)

Thanks for the positive comments, just a little procrastination story that i wrote when I should have been doing seminar work. I'm working on the idea of the new races, including some old ones that are in the Tau Empire and not useable in game terms for farsight, but I decided that groups of them could have defected to his side.


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## Alex (Jan 19, 2008)

As he walked down, the path towards the city the sniper noticed rows of small domes on either side of him, perfectly crafted to a smooth, shining finish. Turning to O'Shovah, he inquired" What are these for? 
With a swift movement of his foot, O'shovah kicked a rock from the ground into one of the domes, and a strange clicking sound emitted. Moment's later the domes around them opened and small turrets, bristling with weapons emerged, looking towards the two figures, they hesitated, and then disappeared inside the domes. "If I had not been with you, they would have opened fire from the first step you made in this path" his tone became sombre "not the kind of welcome we want for a new arrival into our enclaves, therefore they remain hidden until a hostile force arrives."

The sniper nodded, and continued walking silently, revering in the architecture of the glittering city ahead of him, he realised that there weren't any individual buildings as such, each spire connected to another, continuing from the high centre of the city to the edge, forming concentric circles inside the city. No weapons were visible, but he knew that, like the turrets, they would be hidden from sight, not looming over the city like so many imperial defences. He felt almost peaceful, the lack of any warlike activity a welcome release. Suddenly he was shaken from his daydreaming by a another clicking sound,and, fearing he had activated a turret, he looked up sharply. In front of him, a large circular gate, as tall as a Reaver Titan, inscribed with the markings that O'Shovah's men wore, was slowly moving down into the earth, revealing the interior of the city. Walking through, his ears were immediately hit by a wave of different voices, many languages and dialects filling the air, like the buzzing of bees. 

O'Shovah began to tell him the races that lived in these enclaves, many of them familiar, but some were new, strange creatures. "Many Kroot have joined us now, and I am pleased to say we have stopped their tradition of eating the dead, something the other Tau have never been able to do" he beamed with pride "Vespid are even joining us after defeat in battle, and we have changed their crystal technology from guns, to allow powerful energy to wash over their sharp claws, making them even more deadly. The Galg have joined but the Nicassar and Demiurg were more catious at first, but they are slowly setting up trading posts on our worlds. Many humans and their abhuman allies are also are joining our cause, worshipping your Emperor still, as I would not part people from their God's no matter my own thoughts."

As he said this, they walked past a human encampment and the sniper could see what he meant, humans, Ogryns Ratlings, and groups of another stunted group unknown to the sniper sat outside, cheering on two of the smaller race who were engaged in combat. Walking over to a human leaning back on a chair, O'shovah nodded at him "I'll put five on Throkki to win" he chuckled "I've seen him fight Orks with more finesse than his opponent." 
The man grinned as he took the money, "Aye, but this ones a stripling and Throkki is getting very old, no offence meant to you sir, but it takes it's toll on us it does. I've heard some disturbing gossip that some new Scythians and Tarellians tried to make some trouble at the west encampment, attacked some men while they prayed. I've told you before that we should put a check on em, they hate us humans, sir"

O'Shovah spoke his thanks and walked away, turning to the sniper he said "I'd like you to come and meet the ambassadors of races that have recently joined us, it may help you get a little more adapted to being around so many aliens who do not wish to kill you", he nudged him with his elbow "a little joke, I just couldn't resist" he said, chuckling. A monorail stood in front of them and they stepped inside a car that had just arrived, 4 more occupants already present, who the sniper guessed were the ambassadors. 
The first, a tall figure, twice as tall as a human with primitive clothing and markings, introduced himself as the ambassador for the Dy'one, a people found in the Southern region of this planet who gace his thanks to the 'people of the shining city'
The second alien had a metallic like skin, and no features were apparent on his face, but he spoke, introducing himself as an Askian, and giving his nomadic peoples acceptance to join this new joyous power. 
The third ambassador almost made the sniper recoil in horror, but he remembered himself in time and stayed perfectly composed. The head and torso of this alien were obviously human, but modification of some kind had formed six legs below this instead of two, black organic strands reaching up to bind with the shoulders and neck of the alien. He introduced himself as a Xcarian and found it most glorious to see at least one of his human cousins already a member of the enclaves. 
At first glance, any man would have mistaken the last alien to be an Ork, but looking again, they would see that no Ork wears such civilised clothes, or such fine blades. He introduced himself as an Oltornan, what he referred to as 'like civilised Orks, more at home with decorum and finesse, than rudeness and brute strength.' The sniper found this to be surreal, but did not say so for fear of offending the obviously serious ambassador. 
After greeting each one O'shovah sat down and looked deeply at each one" I thank you all for coming here to visit me, I wish to talk with you of something that has been coming for a long time, a punishing blow that I now think we have a chance at. An encounter with my once proud race, not to defeat them but to free them from the grasp of tyrants!"


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## Blackheart_101 (Dec 14, 2009)

It just gets better and better. :biggrin:


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## jakkie (Dec 21, 2007)

I love the idea for 'civilised Orks' :biggrin:. people always give me odd looks when i try and potray them like that haha


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## Blackheart_101 (Dec 14, 2009)

jakkie said:


> I love the idea for 'civilised Orks' :biggrin:. people always give me odd looks when i try and potray them like that haha


Considering Badgun, it's no suprise.:biggrin:


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## Ste (Aug 28, 2008)

looking good matey


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## teh emprah's homie (Dec 15, 2009)

i thought for sure he would stab him but i guess i was wrong great story keep it up!


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## jakkie (Dec 21, 2007)

Blackheart_101 said:


> Considering Badgun, it's no suprise.:biggrin:


Hey, hes not civilised. Hes just...slightly possessed...hehe.

I was thinking more on the lines of the old Brain Boyz


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