C'tan

High commander Fa'thanen sighed. Everything that had been going so well with Operation Lone Pilgrim seemed to be on the verge of being lost. The orbital defenses were bombarded out of existence after they had been revealed too early. Why had he let himself be convinced to open fire at that point? The native human population had become restive as the orbital fireworks told them that what the Tau emissaries had convinced them of previously was not exactly true. The fleet had had to be withdrawn to defend against a surprise Imperial Crusade against one of the Tau Rim worlds. His two picket system ships had vanished shortly after they had reported contact with a derelict Space Hulk approaching the system and now this. The reports he held indicated that the attack he had ordered to wipe out the isolated human imperial survivors from their recent original landing had gone bizarrely wrong long before the attack force had made contact. Devilfish exploding for no reason or colliding into and destroying other transports made no sense at all. All his slim residual resources would be required to rescue the survivors. He needed to think. Had the humans made contact with the indigenes and their bizarre system of levels. He shrugged. The Imperial Humans would stamp that cult out as soon as they took control. The High Commander shook himself he must not think like that. He needed to concentrate on the needs of the greater good.

Were the imperial humans using as yet unknown weapon systems and that was why the attack had failed or could it be sabotage Fa'thanen pondered. Hn'harduden his bumptious servant entered. He had never learned to precede his wish to enter a room with a respectful clearing of the throat before entering.
"Why are you here," demanded Fa'thanen.
"I have a message," came the unusually confident response.
"Speak then."
"By the order of the High Emperor of Terra I pronounce you foul Xenos and sentence you to die. So says Inquisitor Hawk and so do I."
The form of Hn'harduden blurred. A C'tan phase sword stabbed forward impaling the High Commander before he had time to react to his death sentence.
High commander Fa'thanen sighed and slid off the sword.
Sophia laughed and teleported. "What a useless piece of meat," she thought.