Editing The Tales of the Emperasque: Part Eleven (section)

==9-085-001-M42==
“Damn your face, I ordered the railgun be prepped TWO DAYS AGO!” Shas’O Fap roared, leveling his massive arm at the terrified Earth Caste builder standing in front of his desk.<br>
“I know, Shas’O, I know, and we’re genuinely sorry for the delay, but the cryocooler was off-line for upgrades, and we can’t re-install it before the Imperials get within range,” the builder said hastily.<br>
“Sorry? You’re not sorry. Not yet. GET THE GUN ONLINE!” the lopsided Tau roared.<br>
“Yes, sir! I beg your forgiveness!” the builder said obsequiously, bowing out of the room as fast as it could. The door slid shut and Shas’O Fap slid angrily back into his seat, fuming.<br>
“Fucking Imperials come to challenge the Greater good in MY SYSTEM, and the main gun isn’t even operative. Unacceptable,” he grumbled, whipping his glove back off. “What does a Tau need to do to get four or five minutes uninterrupted quiet around here?”<br>
“Shas’O, this is Orbital Defense Command, Air 1,” his radio blared suddenly, ruining the building mood. “The ship on approach has been identified. It’s an Imperial Cobra-class destroyer, ID code unknown. It’s armed and its shields are active, but its FTL is giving off an unknown signal. It may be damaged, sir. No escort ships sighted.”<br>
“Yeah fine great,” he managed, slapping the off-switch as fast as he could, before returning to his ‘work.’ “Never a dull moment around here, I tell ya.”

Vulkan slowly paced back and forth in his quarters, stewing the situation in his head. The planet had defenses, that much was obvious from the sensor readings from orbit, but the data the sensors returned was worrying. The ships in orbit looked like nothing the Salamander has ever seen, though they matched the descriptions of the xenos called the “Tau” that Dante had given him.<br>
That was a whole other set of concerns, there. Before he had left Terra, the Emperor had debated with him for some time, on the merits of ignoring or allying with the Eldar. Would the Tau, which the Emperor and Dante alike had described as pseudoegalitarian, be willing to simply assist them in leaving if offered something of value? And why did the system look so familiar when the Imperium had never controlled it?
His helmet vox buzzed for a moment, drawing his attention. “Lord Vulkan, this is Lieutenant Commander Wilcox again. We’ll be in range of the outermost orbital weapons soon.”<br>
“Acknowledged. Any signs of overt hostility?” Vulkan asked, as he ceased his pacing and walked into the corridor.<br>
“Negative. Our shields wouldn’t be able to last long against the surface weapon’s fire, though.”<br>
Vulkan froze, one foot hanging mere centimeters above the deck. The formless sense of recognition that had been drifting through his mind since he saw the star map coalesced in a heartbeat, and realization was enough to restart his movement, rather more urgently than it had been before.

“I see, Vulkan out,” he said as quickly as he decently could, then cut the channel. He paged He’Stan at once as he reached the cargo lift that would bring him to the bridge. “Brother He’Stan, join me on the bridge NOW. The situation is more complicated than we suspected.”<br>
“Aye, my Lord,” He’Stan replied. “I’m already on the bridge.”<br>
“Good, stay put. Damn it all, why here, now?”<br>
“Lord Vulkan?” He’Stan asked. “What’s wrong?”<br>
“Recall the prophesy of the Unbound Flame, brother?” Vulkan asked as the lift crept up to the right level.<br>
“ ‘The stars spin twice, ‘round the guarded crypt. The light of a sun shines on the doors, though it is hard to find, and temperamental. Below all sits the Flame, Unbound, Eternal, strong and untarnished. The ground parts and weeps where its bearers walk, as the sky is filled with green,’” He’Stan recited instantly.<br>
“Exactly, brother. Now look at the moon we’re approaching.”<br>
He’Stan looked over the holofield of the ever-growing moon, scanning it for details. The moon was about what he had thought it to be: Mars-sized, and with tiny white dots on the poles where ice caps had formed. Thin blue oceans were spread over the wind-swept surface, with large, blocky continents between them. “I see it, brother.”<br>
“Now look at the sensor output and tell me what it says the most common gas in the atmosphere of the gas giant is,” Vulkan instructed.<br>
“Er…radon, sir,” He’Stan reported, feeling a bit sandbagged.<br>
“Now tell me what color radon emits when it’s subjected to electric current.”<br>
“Green…oh. OH.”<br>
“The Unbound Flame sits in an alien crypt on that moon, and we’re going to retrieve it, come Warp or quake,” Vulkan said with grim satisfaction. “I’d stake my soul on it.”