Tarriq Daviduus

**Tarriq Daviduus** was a Tank Commander in the Fire Keepers Legion during the Great Crusade and Halcyon Age.

## **History**

Tarriq had always been small in stature compared to his brothers. He had trained harder than most to make up for this, and although his aiming and target practice was above average, his combat drills left much to be desired.

Indeed, his brief service in the assault companies was unremarkable, save for his undauntable spirit and the marks of a leader inside his soul. Were he only more skilled with a blade, it is doubtful he would have been reassigned. However, tactical brilliance and an unwavering spirit only gets you so far in a brutal melee.

After his fourth consecutive major injury, he was reallocated to the Legion's armory as a tank gunner. After all, even a blunted tool can be put to good use.

Within the turret of his first Predator, he quickly garnered attention for his unerring marksmanship, and knowledge of the vehicle and its tactics.

By the time he had served with distinction as both a gunner and a driver, it was only a matter of time before he received a command of his own.

When it happened, during a compliance campaign, unremarkable save for the large number of armoured units available to nascent human inhabitants, he was up against poor odds. With a handful of armoured units, Tarriq was required to hold position against a superior enemy force, including illegally modified Leman Russ variants.

Tarriq's force began by setting up tank traps and ferrocrete barriers. Able to hide their own vehicles behind them, their Predators’ high turrets were still on display whilst the enemy Leman Russ were unable to make use of them effectively.

Tarriq, leading the Predator Destructor pattern Squadron, and a singular damaged Predator with Lascannons, held their preordained positions for 23 hours, their chosen battlefield littered with the corpse of their foes.

Even the Predators under his command seemed inspired by his masterful leadership and calm disposition, their machine spirits working harder than ever, overcoming crippling damage to remain operational for as long as possible.

By the time the relief force arrived in the form of the massed armour formations of the Imperial Army, they found an immobilised Predator with a gash in its Hull and its pilot on display, mercilessly trading fire with a Leman Russ. Its commander, Tarriq himself, firing his bolt pistol at the enemy driver's vision slits.

The limping Predator Annihilator, shielded by its commander, was able to deal with the foe, just in the nick of time.

Rewarded for his skill and tenacity, Tarriq found himself ascending the ranks, a hero in the making. Indeed, his masterful command was responsible for a number of victories, the Fire Keeper's armorium remaining a small, but skilled part of the Legion.

Upon Ullanor, during the disastrous decision to build a veritable fortress Palace to welcome the Imperial Regent, he was one of the few to speak out against the frivolous display of artsmanship and skill, advising the maintenance of the defensive lines.

Unfortunately, the Chaplain Sovereigns disagreed, their belief being that there was a legal responsibility for the Legion to ensure the safety of their guests.

Even with the entire armorium at his disposal, when Tarriq relented and took his assigned role as the armoured shield of the new foundations, he chose his favoured mount, the Predator Destructor, the *Loyalty of Obsailes*.

Later analysis would dictate that his decision was perhaps his fatal mistake. Yet the facts remain, that as the Ork horde fell upon the armoured convoy, fighting with minimal infantry support, it was Tarriq in his Predator that was personally responsible for the crippling of their armoured elements.

Against all advice and odds, Tarriq took his Squadron into the front lines, and then advanced on into the Ork lines. He engaged the enemy wagons and gun vehicles without support, and it became apparent that it was a losing battle.

Unwilling to let the mainstay of the Ork firepower reach the defensive lines intact, Tarriq continued his maneuvers, the Squadron operating in perfect synchronicity, weaving through enemy fire, breaking the lines of infantry, and slowly whittling down the enemy armour.

As the conflict drew to a close, the *Loyalty of Obsailes*, with both its sponsoons damaged, one track lost, the gunner dead, and the armour compromised in a dozen places was the sole survivor. Ork boyz in their dozens were swarming the tank, even as Tarriq hauled the corpse of the gunner out of his seat and took command of the main turret, with its final shot.

The last of the Ork vehicles, a monstrous gun wagon of impossible armour, given its speed hurtled towards the defensive lines. Its momentum, let alone its firepower, would give the Orks the breach they needed. The heavy front armour of the monster shrugged off the shots of a dozen tanks, the gun opening up in kind.

Tarriq was said to have ordered that no tank break position, as he made his final shot, even as the first Orks hauled themselves into his vehicle. The shot was true, a virtually impossible shot, arcing through the air, and descending into the rear upper armour of the beasts' vehicle, detonating the ammunition stored within.

Even as it exploded in a ball of flames, the *Loyalty of Obsailes* and its commander were lost, not in a blaze of glory, but with the angry descent of a horde of axes, swords and meaty fists. There was nothing of the vehicle to be salvaged, the Ork lootas clearing it up quickly, and of Tarriq's armour and geneseed, there was no sign.

Perhaps, if Tarriq had not been pressed in the Legion's vainglorious display of majesty, his skill and knowledge could have been put to better use during the day's to come.