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At the height of the first Tau expansionist phase, an expeditionary force set out from Dal'yth. This force was led by the Water caste explorer Por'o Dal'yth Kiv'rai, famous for his discovery of two artefact-worlds now under Ethereal caste interdiction. Air caste observers based on orbital stations around Dal'yth had studied a cluster of worlds beyond the Perdus

Rift, and after many years of careful planning, the expedition was sent to explore, study and colonise these worlds.

The journey to the nearest system within the cluster proved uneventful, and O'kiv'rai decided that it was safe to set his fleet on a course for the fifth world of the system.

The chosen planet was a blood red gas giant, the second moon of which was considered the most likely to support life. Entering orbit, O'kiv'rai was surprised when initial scans detected a large amount of debris scattered over a substantial area of the upper atmosphere. His Earth caste advisors counselled caution, and samples of the debris were brought on board for analysis. It was determined that the debris was the remains of a large spacecraft that had exploded very recently.

Landing a Crisis battlesuit team, O'kiv'rai watched through an uplink as the moon's surface was revealed. Under a crimson sky, the Shas'ui came upon a scene of destruction; a settlement reduced to charred rubble. Sickened, O'kiv'rai directed the warriors to search the ruins, where they discovered the mutilated remains of unknown alien bodies.

O'kiv'rai recalled his teams and ordered an extensive sensor survey of the surface. The readings showed evidence of further destruction at numerous locations, and O'kiv'rai concluded that the moon was far from suitable for colonisation. The fleet moved on and soon found mounting evidence that a violent invader had recently laid waste to this part of the cluster. O'kiv'rai began to suspect that the region would prove too dangerous for settlement.

As the fleet neared the core systems of the cluster, alarms rang out and a group of ships were detected heading in on an attack course. After years of exploring the frontiers of Tau space O'kiv'rai recognised the crude constructions of the Ork race and knew how to deal with Ork pirates. His Air caste interceptors made short work of the ramshackle flotilla. Knowing now who had caused the devastation across the region, O'kiv'rai seriously considered abandoning his mission altogether, yet a part of him would not allow the fleet to leave without first discovering the identity of the Orks' victims.

Setting course for the next scheduled system, O'Kiv'rai put his fleet on high alert. Soon they encountered random groups of Ork fighters engaged in insane races with one another through the system's asteroid belts. The stronger expeditionary force soon drove off these disorganised bands. As the fleet moved in-system, no resistance was encountered, and O'kiv'rai came to the conclusion that the Ork ships merely represented a small scouting force, and that he could therefore safely claim the worlds in the name of the Tau empire.

After months of disappointment, the Earth caste colonists were keen to begin the process of claiming these worlds, and several shuttles embarked in preparation for landing. What happened next would be written in Tau history as one of the greatest tragedies of that era'. O'kiv'rai's sensor operators reported the approach of a huge, spherical alien spacecraft. Opening communication channels and preparing to greet the ship on behalf of the Tau empire, O'kiv'rai saw that it was pursued by a substantial force of Ork warships. Cursing the warlike Greenskins, O'kiv'rai ordered the fleet to take evasive action as the fleeing alien ship was heading on a course that would smash through his fleet.

The fleet scattered, all except the colony transport ship Sha'tiro Suli, that had almost completed the disembarkation of her passengers. The sphere was heading directly for the transport and in an instant O'kiv'rai was faced with a stark choice: destroy the alien vessel and save the lives of the skeleton crew still to disembark the Tau ship, or attempt to save the lives of the far greater number of crew aboard the alien ship by firing on the Sha'tiro Suli.

The Orks made the choice for him.

One of the Ork warships had set itself on a heading intended to ram both ships. O'kiv'rai's bridge crew watched in horrified silence as the Ork ship smashed aside the Tau carrier, causing it to disintegrate and spill it's remaining passengers into the void. The Orks continued on their course, and the communication channels came alive with the insane laughter of thousands of battle frenzied Boyz readying themselves to board the sphere. The Ork ship seemed to impact on the hull of the sphere in slow motion. The surface buckled and the Ork ship ground into the guts of the alien ship until it was almost entirely buried, only its rear quarter remaining visible. A series of explosions lit the grotesque scene from within, and the sphere burst apart in a massive explosion that consumed both ships as one, scattering superheated wreckage over the remainder of the Tau fleet.

O'kiv'rai ordered a full sensor sweep of the area, and reports flooded in of more Ork frigates swarming after another of the strange alien spheres.

The ships' course would bring them into contact with his fleet once more, and O'kiv'rai was not prepared to witness the destruction of any more of his ships.

Bringing his fleet around, O'kiv'rai allowed the sphere to pass through his formation. As the Orks came into range, they realised too late they were heading into the midst of a completely unexpected foe. Travelling too fast to alter their course, the Orks rocketed straight through the Tau fleet. Timing his command to the instant, O'kiv'rai ordered the release of a massive missile salvo. Streaking from the Tau battle lines, the hundreds-strong salvo unerringly altered trajectory to pursue their targets. Ork Fighta-Bommerz tried desperately to intercept the missiles, but they were too slow, and too few. Scant Ork ships escaped.

One kai'rotaa later, O'kiv'rai, flanked by the fleet's finest Fire caste hunter cadre looked across a windswept plain. In the distance he watched a party of tall, crested aliens making their way towards him.

Communication between the two groups was at first difficult. However, O'kiv'rai was an experienced diplomat and the aliens seemed to have an innate ability with language, learning quickly by mimicking O'kiv'rai's words and body language. The two parties soon found common ground and the

Tau were impressed by the new race, although they had yet to witness their more disturbing, carnivorous tendencies.

The aliens were called Kroot, and the talks established that the world, which the Kroot referred to as Krath, was part of a larger region occupied by them. O'kiv'rai recognised that this race would make a notable addition to the Tau empire, and prepared, with the permission of the Ethereal caste, to make representations to the Kroot people.

Events, however, took a hand and the two peoples would be forced to wait some time before an alliance proper could be negotiated.

O'kiv'rai's command ship signalled that an armada of Ork ships had appeared, and was speeding towards Krath. Against such numbers the fleet had little chance, and so O'kiv'rai ordered those ships that could to land immediately. Those too large to make planetfall he ordered scuttled. The finest Air caste scout crew was assigned to run the blockade and bring help from the Tau empire as soon as possible.

For the next eighty kai'rotaas, Tau and Kroot forces fought together against the Ork hordes. Casualties were high on all sides, but the Tau soon learned to appreciate the fighting abilities and fieldcraft of their newfound allies. As time passed and no aid from the Tau empire was forthcoming, the Tau came to rely on the Kroot in certain battlefield situations, and their tactics became increasingly integrated. In the wake of the first combined victory, Tau Fire caste warriors witnessed the Kroot warriors' practice of eating the bodies of the fallen. This caused some tension and the Fire caste commanders almost refused to fight alongside the Kroot. O'kiv'rai was instrumental in arguing the case for continued cooperation, arguing that contact with the honourable and civilised Fire caste would ultimately influence the less civilised aliens.

By the eightieth kai'rotaa, the Orks had amassed a huge army with the intention of destroying once and for all the troublesome allies. Eager to begin the looting of Krath, the Orks gathered and, as darkness fell, began their assault on the combined lines.

The battle should have been a slaughter, as the allied army was far outnumbered by the Ork horde. At the height of the fighting however, the night skies were lit by what witnesses took to be a spectacular meteor storm. As the fire streaking the sky brightened, combatants on both sides realised that the display was in fact a flight of Tau Barracuda superiority fighters. The Ork hordes were decimated by the concentrated bombardment that followed. At the last moment, Crisis battlesuit teams dropped from their Manta Missile Destroyers, encircling the Orks and cutting them down with relentless precision.

Over the next twelve Tau'cyrs the Fire caste warriors of Sa'cea embarked upon their campaign to rid the entire cluster of the Orks. The culmination of the campaign came when the Kroot war-leader Anghkor Prok swore fealty to the Tau empire at the Oathstone. O'kiv'rai bore witness to the spirit of the Kroot people, and the two races stepped forward into a new period of peace and cooperation.

Excerpt from the Book of War, memoirs of Fire Warrior Commander Shas'o Sa'cea Tsua'm, a true and glorious account of the noble actions of the Fire Warriors from the Kais-shi academy on Sa'cea. Being the telling of events pursuant to the invasion of Kc'lshan by the forces of the Mont'au.

"Listen well to this, my warriors, and learn of the method of war of those who care not for the furtherance of any common goal, and fight for the sheer pleasure of violence, the vicarious thrill of defiling those they defeat. It is a cautionary tale, yet one that will inspire others and provides a salutary warning against turning from the Tau'va, the Greater Good.

The world of Ke'lshan is a place of turbulent climate and uncertain peace. All manner of foes call the nearby Perdus Rift home: aliens, pirates and beings too terrible to name. It is a region of treacherous space, shunned by all pilots of good standing and many among the Kor whisper that it may be haunted. Haunted by what, they do not say and until the battle of Mont'au, I felt sure that such tales were mere apocryphal whimsy. Now I am not so sure.

The depredations of those that venture from the Perdus Rift are well known, all seek to plunder and kill with no thought for what they do. Though of course, I myself do not hold with O'shova's methods and do not condone what he has done, I cannot now bring myself to condemn him totally. The things I have seen out here on the frontier have given me the clarity to at least understand what he talks of and this was never more true than after the events on Ke'lshan which I shall now relate. Many times had those schooled at Kais-shi led expeditions to fight to protect our brethren of the other castes and every time had they been victorious. When I received orders from the Shas'ar'tol to lead six cadres to Ke'lshan, 1 was naturally honoured by the command, eager to defeat whatever threat had emerged from the Rift.

En route we were joined by a Kroot warsphere and, though I was glad of their assistance, I had not been aware of any warspheres in this region of the empire. Upon reaching Ke'lshan, it became immediately apparent that what had occurred on this world was unnatural. Whole outposts and towns had been razed to the ground; the bodies of the Tau dead violated in the most unimaginable ways possible. It seemed unlikely that piracy was the motive for the attack, as nothing had been taken, the storehouses were still full and the machine shops were untouched. There was no purpose to the slaughter, save the wanton horror of destruction and mutilation.

But there was worse to come. Pathfinders reported sighting ominous pillars of black smoke over the horizon and we made best speed towards the fires. We arrived at a colony I later learned had been named Fio'kai and discovered a portion of the invaders' army still encamped in the smoking ruins. Though superficially each bore a resemblance of form to Gue'la, there was among them a riot of anatomies and form I had never before seen and could barely believe drew breath. Each creature bore distended limbs, twisted organs and gibbering mouths, each giving voice to vile exhortations in the name of indulgence.

We fell upon them and killed all save one, who seemed to revel in the pain our weapons had inflicted upon him. His form was twisted and warped beyond any physical norms and he spat and swore such vile things at us that I was forced to order my Shas'el to stand down, for fear that he execute the prisoner there and then.

I myself spoke to our captive at length and was to learn many things, which I will spare you the full horror of. It is enough to say that he claimed to serve a dark master, a being known as Slaanesh, a being who is the antithesis of all the Tau believe in. It appears that his servants are actively encouraged to pursue hedonistic pursuits and that the concept of a Greater Good is abhorrent to them. Such a creature will never submit to the Tau empire and must be destroyed lest his subversive dogma be allowed to spread. It appears that this being is one of some considerable power as it was he (or she - the subject claimed both genders for its master) who had claimed Ke'lshan as his own. I brought the distasteful questioning to an end as the prisoner appeared to take an unhealthy pleasure in the interrogation techniques I was forced to employ. Before terminating the captive, I was able to extract the location of the main force of this Slaanesh and formed up my forces, ready to engage this depraved foe.

As I ventured outside I was confronted with the sight of some Kroot carnivores devouring the bodies of those we had killed in battle. Though distasteful, I was not surprised by this and paid no more mind to their feasting than I had on previous occasions. Later events would show how costly an oversight this was to be.

The route of march our prisoner had furnished me with enabled us to deploy rapidly into an ambush position ahead of Slaanesh's forces and I chose to employ the Kauyon strategy. With Kroot positioned in the centre as the lure, I stationed myself, the Crisis teams and a pair of Hammerheads in some dead ground behind a hill on my right flank with a Broadside team on the left of the Kroot. With Stealth Battlesuits, Fire Warriors and yet more Kroot guarding my far left flank, I considered my plan to be as tactically sound as I could make it. Within the hour, forward Pathfinders reported engaging the vanguard of Slaanesh's army. I instructed the bulk of my army to remain in cover while the Kroot to be used as the lure advanced cautiously in plain sight as the Pathfinders' Devilfish came into view, the enemy snapping at their heels. If the sights I had seen at Fio'kai had appalled me, what I now saw before me sickened me to my very soul.

A horde of fierce-looking warriors in armour emblazoned with shimmering colours and surrounded by a cacophony of discordant noise, bearing icons and sigils of wanton indulgence was approaching. On the flanks came snapping creatures of disturbing appearance, hideously genderless and garbed in fine silks and ermine trimmed armour. Where one would expect to see hands, these creatures were equipped with sensuous claws and darting, barbed tongues whipped from their jaws. Shambling horrors of thrashing pseudopod, claw and fang were driven before the army by grotesque, beast-headed monsters armed with crackling energy prods. At the centre of the horde stood a giant in electric blue armour, edged in gold and pink. I took this to be none other than Slaanesh him or herself and vowed to personally defeat this vile creature. The sensors of my battlesuit detected unknown chemical pollutants suffusing the air around the advancing troops, but could not discern its nature. As the first elements of Slaanesh's army rushed towards the lure, I noticed a curious thing; many of the Kroot appeared entranced by the sight of such a garishly coloured horde and had lowered their weapons, sniffing the air with bemused looks upon their faces.

As Slaanesh's army approached our allies, horrifying changes began rippling through the Kroot and they began convulsing, screeching horribly as their flesh erupted in mutation. At this point I realised that these were the Kroot who had feasted on the flesh of the enemy dead at Fio'kai. Slaanesh's main thrust suddenly altered direction and, instead of charging the Kroot, began heading towards my position. Worse still, the Kroot I had stationed in front as the lure, began advancing alongside Slaanesh's forces with murder in their eyes! 1 immediately ordered the forces on my left to advance, engage the flank of Slaanesh's army and link with my Crisis team. The Broadsides fired salvos of rockets into the masses before them, each blast killing dozens of the enemy. Yet they paid little heed to the carnage being wrought within their ranks. Indeed, many appeared to take perverse pleasure in their wounding. My Hammerheads moved around the opposite flank of Slaanesh's army and began pounding them with hyper-velocity submunitions from their railguns. Yet still they came on.

The firepower we laid down was above and beyond what the academy at Kais-shi teaches us would be sufficient to break a foe of such numbers, yet Slaanesh's troops did not falter. Truly were these warriors brave! The slaughter continued, with my warriors falling back and firing into the charging mass. No matter how many we killed, there were more to take their place and I feared we might not have the firepower to deal with these numbers. But then my left hammered into the flank of Slaanesh's army, throwing it into confusion as the untainted Kroot warriors carved a path through their ranks and a swirling melee erupted as these warriors fell upon their corrupted kin. In the confusion, I launched a counter-attack of my own.

Together with my escorting Shas'vre, I fought through the centre of the horde and linked with the bloodstained Kroot to surround Slaanesh. Now, as any student of mine from Kais-shi will tell you, I am a Tau little given to flights of fancy or romantic notions of beauty, but as I faced this being in shocking pinks and blues, I was very nearly entranced by the colours and heady musks that seemed somehow to permeate my battlesuit. I quickly threw off such notions and dispatched the villain with a shot from my fusion blaster. His death seemed to throw his minions into disarray and within minutes they were a broken mob, fleeing in utter panic. I knew I could not allow such a foe to escape, ordering a full pursuit, and by nightfall we had destroyed every last remnant of Slaanesh's army. As I returned to our original ambush site, I found the Kroot dispatching their sickly comrades and pitching them atop a vast pyre. I have seen that is the normal custom of the Kroot to feast on the bodies of their fallen kin, but after what had happened in the battle, I could not blame them for their caution. The Kroot would not leave until the pyre had burned to ashes and the remains scattered to the wind. When the fire burned out, we collected our dead and left Ke'lshan.

I shudder to think of what might have happened had Slaanesh been allowed to claim Ke'lshan as his own and I offer thanks to the Ethereals that their prescience led my warriors and 1 to that world. To allow such a debased echo of our former selves to exist would have dishonoured all those who have fought and died for the Greater Good."

Por'ui Elsy'eir K'tadie straightened the unfamiliar bulk of the armoured vest over her body as an explosion echoed from the ridge behind her along with scattered sounds of gunfire. She glanced over her shoulder and nodded to her colleague, holding the recording phonic below her mouth.

"La'je'ri? Are you ready?" she asked.

Her pict-recorder, Por'la Elsy'eir Je'ri nodded. "We're live in thirty dec'taa."

"Very well. Let's get a picture of the battle," said Ui'k'tadie, scrambling up the slope.

La'je'ri followed, slowed by the heavy load of the pict-recording equipment. Also clad in a thick, armoured vest, he was sweating profusely and hoped that this assignment wouldn't involve as much running as the last one.

"Come on, hurry up!" snapped Ui'k'tadie. "We'll miss the best bits."

La'je'ri struggled to the top of the ridge, breathing heavily and pointed the pict-recorder at Ui'k'tadie, his superior back-lit by explosions and streaks of tracer fire. Ui'k'tadie once again straightened her body armour, her features taking on the dignified and serious expression of a Tau war correspondent.

"We're live in four, three, two, one..."

"I'm here at the Nimbosa colony, where the forces of Shas'o Tash'var Ol'nan B'kak are preparing the way for the future expansion of the Tau empire. As you can see the battle is raging fiercely, with casualties high. It's a hard fight, but it's a noble fight and the heroic Fire Warriors are making it a victorious fight!"

La'je'ri panned the pict-recorder onto the Gue'la outpost, ensuring that he avoided showing dead Fire Warriors. The outpost was in flames, Battlesuits pumping hails of deadly plasma fire into the flimsy barricades. A Hammerhead gunship swept around the flanks of the buildings, its railgun tracking a Gue'la tank. The Hammerhead fired, the hyper-velocity slug tearing its target apart in a blinding fireball. He felt a fierce surge of pride at the Fire caste gunner's accuracy. He swung the pict-recorder back to Ui'k'tadie as she continued her report.

"The Gue'la have been offered the choice of joining in the glorious expansion of the Tau empire, but have thus far declined the honour. As you can see, Fire caste Hammerheads are moving into position and..."

An explosion rocked the ground as a mortar shell impacted twenty metres to the left of their position. La'je'ri stumbled, blood running from a cut on his leg where a stray fragment had torn his fatigues. Lasbolts burst around them as more Gue'la opened fire on their position.

"The Gue'la are shooting at us!" shouted Ui'k'tadie, gleefully, "Come on, we have to get closer!"

Reluctantly, La'je'ri followed Ui'k'tadie down the slope towards the battle, the pict-recorder bouncing on his shoulder. As she ran, Ui'k'tadie shouted back towards La'je'ri, "As you can see, Fire Warriors have secured the outer perimeter of the outpost and a squadron of gun drones are pinning the Gue'la in place. There are others firing upon us, but I see the Broadsides about to engage them."

The building before them erupted in flames as missiles from the Broadside battlesuits reduced it to a smoking pile of rubble and twisted metal sheets.

Gue'la screams issued from within along with the popping of ammunition packs cooking off in the flames. Fire from the explosion washed over them and La'je'ri felt the heat singeing his scalp lock. A stray lasbolt slashed across La'je'ri's arm, and he yelled in pain. Ui'k'tadie seemed not to notice, coming to halt at a hastily constructed barricade, and continued her report.

"I'm now at the edge of the Gue'la outpost and I can tell you it's very exciting here. The Gue'la have fought with their customary bravery, but they're no match for the skill and dedication of our brave Fire Warriors. Even as we speak the last pockets of resistance are being engaged! We're moving in to witness the final victory of Commander O'b'kak's troops!"

La'je'ri followed Ui'k'tadie over the barricade into the burning wreckage of the Gue'la outpost. Bodies lay everywhere and he felt his horror mount at the scale of the slaughter. He knew it was for the Greater Good, but that didn't make it any easier to stomach. He supposed the Fire Warriors would be used to sights like this, but he was not and was grateful for the fact.

La'je'ri found himself running alongside armoured Fire Warriors, their team leader throwing him a puzzled look. La'je'ri shrugged and continued to follow Ui'k'tadie as a volley of lasbolts blasted from a building ahead of them. The team leader's head exploded and La'je'ri felt a hammer blow in his belly as he was struck by a lasbolt. His legs turned to water and the ground rushed up to meet him, smashing into his face. The lens on his pict-recorder cracked and he struggled to hold it steady on Ui'k'tadie, watching as the counter wound down in the corner of his eyepiece. The live feed to T'au was almost at an end.

Ui'k'tadie returned to her fallen pict-recorder and said, "The battle is almost an end now. The remaining Gue'la have been marked by the Pathfinders and there... yes... I think see four missiles zeroing in on their position. Yes, four missiles have just impacted on the last Gue'la defences and I think I can categorically say that their resistance here is at an end! Another glorious victory for the forces of the Tau empire and another world added in our glorious expansion. I am just hearing now, that casualties have been light and that no serious losses were incurred."

La'je'ri groaned and checked the time counter again. As it wound down to zero he managed, "And we're clear..."

Ui'k'tadie lowered the recording phonic and began hauling him to his feet.

La'je'ri howled in pain. "I'm shot!" he gasped.

"No, your not," snapped Ui'k'tadie exasperatedly. "The armour took the hit. You're fine. Now come on, stop being so lazy. We have to speak to some of the Fire Warriors, get their thoughts on the battle."

La'je'ri groaned and pushed himself to his feet, wincing in pain as he recovered the fallen pict-recorder.

Surely there had to be easier ways of furthering the Greater Good.

+++ vidslug activated+++

+++Commentary/txt only. Encrypted+++

++++lnput Authorisation+++ ++Authorisation Accepted++

+++ The following record was made from illegal las-line transmissions in the Slide underhive sector of Monrovia hive, Jakart IV.

++++Tracking 0001-0008. No image, voiceover only.+++++

"Hello friend, I know you're probably taking a risk watching this if the Imperium's anything like I remember it,"

+++ Voiceover ident: Private 893478JH728. Slovaz, Jerakim. 18th Brimlock Dragoons regt. Listed MIA in the Damocles crusade.+++

"So I'll be brief"

+++ Tracking 0008-0016. Panning shot moves across a landscape of rolling green hills and a cloudless blue sky, ending on an obviously alien-built compound comprising four geodesic buildings, a generator plant and a drilling derrick. Image evaluation indicates three concealed observation posts on the surrounding hilltops, no personnel are visible. +++

"I've been asked to tell you something about the Tau."

+++ Notes: The outpost shown is somewhere with a g-type star, spectrographic analysis gives a 72.4% possibility that it is AZ 34.2 on the edge of the Damocles gulf. We know this is what the Tau call a second phase colony world, basically a mechanised mining and ore extraction facility with a Fire Warrior garrison and a handful of non-combatant engineers. We've seen this piece used in propaganda before, vibrant azure sky and lush green hills makes good copy apparently.+++

"This is probably about the most you've seen of the Tau."

+++Tracking 0017-0022. Rapid cut to skirmish line of twenty-four alien warriors with energy weapons firing downhill into a charging mob of Orks. Seventeen Orks are felled from 0017-0020. From 0021-0022 the surviving Orks turn and flee. +++

+++ Tracking 0023-0027. Rapid cut to night shot of three large armoured figures dropping from an aerial vehicle using jet packs. The darkness behind them is cut by fire-trails indicating massed missile salvoes. Underlighting is apparent from ground detonations. The vehicle is mostly out of shot but the hatch design identifies it as a Manta class missile destroyer.+++

+++ Tracking 0028-0038. Fade to night shot from ground-based position. Eight large armoured figures sweep overhead, pouring energy weapon fire and missiles into three ruined buildings mostly hidden by flames and explosions. Scattered las-fire is the only reply, sparking harmlessly off the armoured figures. As the figures land their fire intensifies markedly before stopping as six weaponless Imperial Guardsmen emerge from the ruins with their hands in the air.+++

+++ Note: Sure enough these are familiar shots; Fire Warriors pushing back a rushing horde of Orks with disciplined volleys of shots, followed by flame-lit images of Battlesuits swooping down by night and efficiently levelling a hapless platoon of Imperial Guard. I think their Water caste like this one because the Fire Warriors stop firing so smoothly when the last few men throw down their weapons.+++

"Lots of things that prove they're dangerous, devious aliens that'll torture, eat or enslave every human they meet."

+++ Tracking 0038-0047. Cut to free captain trade vessel [registration unknown], docked to a Tau orbital structure, planet is not in shot.+++

"But Mankind's been getting that line about aliens for a long time now, and any free captain will tell you it's not always true."

+++ Tracking 0047-0056 This is the gem, the shot fades to Private Slovaz, now in his late sixties but looking hale and well-fed, bronzed by the sun and with a nice friendly smile. He's standing on one of those lush green hills which is now marked out into fields and with several crawlers harvesting grain in the background. +++

"I was a soldier for the Emperor and I went to war with the Tau almost forty years ago. I was lucky and lived, but when the crusade pulled back they couldn't take everyone with them.

+++ Note: This keys with records of the Damocles crusade. Several garrisons could not be withdrawn due to lack of ships or Tau fleet activity. Most likely some were simply forgotten about in the rush to get to Macragge and stop Hive Fleet Behemoth. Private Slovaz doesn't appear bitter or angry when he talks about being left behind, he's probably been well-briefed. +++

"We fought the Tau as we'd been taught, but we couldn't beat them. While their attacks were terrible, they were always honourable with us afterwards; they let us tend our wounded and bury our dead."

+++ Tracking 0056-0064. Slovaz gestures and the shot pans to show sixty four stone eagle headstones on the hilltop in neat rows. +++

"When the time came that we couldn't fight any more they offered us a truce and, because we knew we couldn't serve the Emperor by dying, we took it."

+++ Tracking 0064-0073. Slovaz starts walking down the hill, and a cluster of clean, white buildings comes into view down in the valley. The materials and construction are undoubtedly Tau, but the styling is more reminiscent of a human frontier settlement. Men, women and children can just be identified moving around the buildings.+++

"And what they said to us was that if we wanted this world enough to fight for it we could have it; other humans that needed a place to live could join us and we could make it our own. All that we needed to do was join the Tau empire and they would give us all the help of their technology and their protection."

+++ Tracking 0073-0084. Shot refocuses on Slovaz as he stops and turns, the settlement neatly framed in the background. The smile fades from his face as he suddenly becomes serious. +++

"We told them that we could never renounce the Emperor, the guiding light of Humanity, that to treat with the aliens was to imperil our immortal souls."

+++ Note: He looks deadly serious, voice stress analysis tests say its unlikely he's lying (3.2%) but such things can be faked. Presumably the unit's commissar was no longer able to provide guidance for the men by this point. +++

"They told us we could worship who we pleased, that all we need do was play our part in the Greater Good and our culture would be welcomed into the empire. In the Guard our chances of being able to found a world were about a million to one. The Tau wanted to give this one to us just because we'd fought for it. We would have been insane not to accept."

+++ Tracking 0085-0090. Shot moves into close-up of Slovaz's face, smiling warmly again.+++

"It was the best decision of our lives. Sure, the work has been hard but it's been worth it. We gained an opportunity to breathe life into a new world by meeting the Tau, a more honourable and generous people than any other I've met. So when you hear stories about them, remember what I've said. A lot of people will call me a traitor and a heretic but now you've heard my story you can decide about that for yourself. All I ask is that you think about whether the Tau really are a threat to Humanity, and what's to be gained by fighting with them if they aren't."

+++ Image fades out. Transmission ends. +++

+++ Conclusions: In comparison to other alien attempts this is an extremely sophisticated piece of propaganda. By using a traitor to supply commentary it manages not only to convey the impression of the Tau military might but an advanced, open-minded culture capable of generosity and honour. Assuming that the settlement shown is not an elaborate deception it gives us confirmation of the existence of at least one traitor enclave and implies that there could be several others within Tau space.

Change Imperium for Empire. Change Administratum for Aliens. The trade was as simple as that, from men who have trained to chants of 'suffer not the alien to live'. This heresy must, will, be stamped out before it becomes a Contagion of Unbelief.+++