Chapter 20

Update- Slight changes to certain sentences

Commander Arra'kon

When the Eldar introduced herself, Arra'kon was quick to respond in kind.

"Greeting to you as well, Farseer Caerys." Said Arra'kon, deciding to be diplomatic towards the Eldar despite his misgivings about them at the moment. "I have heard some things about your people, but I do not know how accurate they are. If you may be so kind, what exactly are your people doing here? In this galaxy?"

"That, I'm afraid is something I cannot say at the moment." Said Farseer Caerys, her tone showing no actual care or regret within it. It seemed what he heard about the Eldar was true. At least in regards to their manners. "The message I need to relay to you is far to allow simple pleasantries to be passed between us." Arra'kon took pause at this, wondering what this message was. She didn't seem to be lying and her posture did seem like she was desperate for him to have this information. Just what can cause this mighty race to act this way?

"If this message is so dire, then I will hear it." Said Arra'kon as he looked upon this Farseer Caerys. She looked pleased to hear this as she soon spoke with a slight hint of relief in her voice.

"Then listen and be prepared to what I have to say." Said Caerys before speaking up. "There is a rogue force of humans in the galaxy. A rogue force that comes from where we all used to belong to." Upon hearing that, Arra'kon couldn't help but be taken aback at what she had just said.

A rogue human force was here? In this galaxy? That was bad news indeed. If they were anything like the humans of the Imperium of Man, or worse, a former part of it, it would spell disaster for the balance of power in this galaxy. Even more so then the Tau have done already. Arra'kon hasn't had much time to analyze and figure out all the possible outcomes of such a revelation should it come to be known across the galaxy, but he didn't need to. Just the basic ones that he thought of were enough to spark fear within him. Fear about everything. The Enclaves. The Citadel Council. The Systems Alliance. Cerberus. Even the Reapers. Everything will change because of this rogue human faction from being here. None of it will be for the good of the Tau.

Once he recovered from this piece of information, Arra'kon looked at the Eldar female before speaking.

"If what you say is true, then the Tau will listen." Said Arra'kon. His words clearly pleased the female as she spoke with a slight satisfied tone in her voice.

"Then I propose an alliance between our people." Said Caerys. "We have the means to locate this force of humans, a fleet to be exact, but we lack the necessary warships and numbers to deal with adequately."

"So you require us to defeat them for you." Said Arra'kon, seeing what she wanted from the Tau.

"Correct." Said Caerys. "We both desire the same thing. The eradication of these humans. Not for the same reasons, but that matters little when we both have cause to see them destroyed."

"That may be, but that does not mean that we are allies." Said Arra'kon as he looked at Caerys. "For all I know, you mean to use us as a means to an end and nothing more. That you may even become an enemy of the Enclaves once we deal with this group of renegade humans." Caerys simply stayed silent, which Arra'kon took as her simply confirming his words. Arra'kon then sighed. "However, given the situation and what those humans can do to this galaxy, I will advise Commander Farsight to making a temporary alliance with your people. If you agree that you will not betray the Enclaves and their allies once this alliance is over."

"That is more than acceptable." Said Caerys as she looked at the Tau Commander before her. "With your help, we will be able to deal with these humans and this galaxy will be in a better place for it."

"We shall see." Thought Arra'kon before speaking up again.

"Then let us talk in detail of this proposed alliance. I'll relay it all to Commander Farsight and the rest of the Eight so we can make this alliance official." Caerys didn't say anything about that, but Arra'kon can see that she was visibly annoyed with what he just said. No doubt she wanted the alliance right then and now. Unfortunately for her, though Arra'kon was apart of the Eight, he was only one part of it. Only Farsight had the authority to do anything without the others consent and even then, Farsight would never do anything without their knowledge. They all fought with each other in many battlefields, forging a bond that was near impenetrable. He trusted the Eight like they were kin and Farsight refused to do anything that would compromise that bond.

"If that is what must be done, then so be it." Said Caerys with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "But I must advise you to be quick and convince your leader that this alliance of ours must be made a reality quickly otherwise these humans will cause untold damage for all of us."

"Understood." Said Arra'kon noting the urgency in her voice along with the annoyance. Clearly, this Caerys was quite serious and worried about the threat of these humans. He will have to report this to Farsight. "In the meantime, let us depart before the humans of this colony start to get suspicious on why I left." Caerys seem to agree with that and thus ordered her people to depart. As they did so, Arra'kon also ordered his men to do so. As they were all getting ready to leave, Arra'kon asked Caerys how will they contact them regarding their alliance.

"We will remain in this system." Said Caerys simply. "If you desire to meet with us. Tell your leader to head to this location again once he has made his decision. Then we will discuss more. Until then." With that, Caerys left, following her men to whatever transport they had. Watching as the Eldar left, Arra'kon wondered about them and what their agenda is. From what he could gather from this meeting, this Caerys didn't care much of anything beyond exterminating these renegade humans from their old galaxy. In his mind, she was just using the Enclaves to do something her people couldn't do. If that was true, and he believed it to be, the Enclaves shouldn't help her. However, given the danger presented by most humans from their old galaxy, Arra'kon knew they had to make this alliance, no matter how unfair it was to the Tau.

While most human technology, most of which came from the Imperium of Man, of their old galaxy wasn't as advanced as Tau technology, much of their weapons were still many years ahead of human technology in this galaxy. Handheld plasma weapons that can destroy main battle tanks. Shields that can take megatons worth of force from multiple sources and still be capable of enduring more. Even weaponry that can render entire worlds uninhabitable. Human technology from the Tau home galaxy was crude, but more than made up in sheer destructive power.

If a fleet of human warships from the Tau home galaxy were here, it would be disastrous for everyone. If they started sacking or destroying worlds affiliated with the races of the Citadel Council, anti-human sentiments will rise significantly once they found out who pilots these ships. Worse, if Cerberus or, worse, the Reapers, acquire even a slimmer of this fleet's technology, the consequences will be severe. Far to severe for the Tau to let happen. They must deal with this fleet and quickly. Even if that led to them making a deal with a race of aliens that the Tau had only just met face to face. Sighing, Arra'kon wondered how he could report this to Farsight and how he would react to it all. First things first, however, he had to report to Captain Toni and tell him that it was safe for the colonists to resume their lives. Their ignorant, but happy and content, lives.

Few Hours Later

Ahriman

"Contact the others." Said Ahriman as he entered the bridge of his ship. Once everyone had boarded the Chaos ship, they fled the system without drawing the attention of the Tau. As they were traversing the warp, Ahriman and a few other sorcerers proceeded to interrogate their Eldar prisoners for information regarding why they were in this galaxy and what was their purpose being here. After some hours of mind searching and even mind battling with the few Eldar psykers they managed to capture, they retrieved all the information they needed. Although Ahriman already knew why the Eldar were here, the additional information helped him decide what their next goal should be. "Tell them that it is an urgent message. One that has the potential of bringing us all great glory and reward from our patrons." The captain of his ship obeyed his orders. As the comm officer attempted contacting the other Chaos commanders and lords, Ahriman thought about the information he gleamed from the Eldar.

"Such an arrogant people." Thought Ahriman as he thought of the Eldar and what they are trying to protect. "They think they can hide from the touch of Chaos. They think they can start anew and be left alone in peace and will do anything to achieve that. Fools. They should know better. No one can hide from the Chaos Gods. They will find you and they will find ways to make you their playthings. The Eldar should know this especially. After all, they helped birth Slaanesh into existence." He then thought of Yvraine and couldn't help but feel some slight satisfaction at what his next actions will do to the Eldar and their future. "You may yet be the only hope your people have to a future, Yvraine. For I will take a glimmer of hope from your people just as you did with me and my brothers."