Commander Farsight - The Battle of the Great Star Dais: When O'Shovah came to, he found that his unconscious form had been retrieved to the med-bay of his flagship. The situation on Arthas Moloch had gone critical, his advisors reported. Though there were T'au still planetside, they were preparing to evacuate. Drawn by the lure of battle, the Orks were rushing in their thousands to the site of the Great Star Dais. Fortunately, the Orks were throwing themselves into the fight with the mysterious red-skinned aliens that had appeared there, and driving themselves ever closer to extinction in the process.Farsight countermanded the orders given in his absence. The T'au would not evacuate, he said; they had somehow caused this strange nightmare to awaken, and it was their duty to end it. The Ethereals attached to the council nodded their approval, insisting that they must personally monitor the new threat they had uncovered. Their instructions given, the Fire Caste girded itself to return to the Great Star Dais in force. Squadron after squadron of Orca dropships descended into the shattered amphitheatres and mausoleums ranged around Arthas Moloch's great temple, as Mantas dropped Hunter Cadres into the Ork-infested necropoli of the hinterlands. A large detachment of T'au had been tasked with monitoring the strange creatures spilling from the rift, whilst two other major detachments eradicated the remaining Orks at as extreme a range as possible.The seething melee that had started upon the Great Star Dais was heaving back and forth as more and more Orks joined the fight. As Farsight and the Ethereals that had been seconded to his expedition came within scanner range, a pair of massive red-winged creatures twice the size of Farsight's Battlesuit burst out from the disc in a blaze of red light, hurtling through the skies directly towards them. Behind them came more winged beasts, some feathered in the manner of Vior'lan rocs, some with bat-like wings that drizzled gore on the combatants beneath. These airborne terrors split off into two groups that headed out into the wilderness. As they winged through the skies, they roared and shrieked in a language that O'Shovah could not even bear to hear, let alone translate. His Broadside teams were the first to open fire at the winged monstrosities swooping towards them. Heavy Rail Rifle fire slammed into the ornate brass armour of the leading monstrosity, tearing off a wing and sending it wheeling to the ground. Seeker Missiles and plasma bolts were added to the fusillade, and the second beast quickly diverted around an ancient temple, lost from sight.Suddenly, a third winged creature burst through a crumbling façade to fall upon the Fire Warriors hiding behind it, the giant alien's brass axe cutting several T'au in half with every swipe. The second of the giant beasts dropped down from above, its clawed feet kicking Farsight backwards into the ruins of an ancient statue. A shot from O'Shovah's Plasma Rifle caught it under the chin, sending it reeling backwards for a moment before its curling whip lashed out and ripped an arm from his Crisis suit. The Battlesuit's directional scans picked up a weapon-shape behind him; the sword clutched by the statue his fall had toppled. Farsight darted behind the statue's rubble a split second before the beast's axe smashed the marble figure to powder. The statue's curved blade fell free. Rolling sideways, Farsight snatched the sword up in a smooth motion and swung it hard at the beast's midsection. The creature easily evaded the blow, launching itself up into the air and bounding past his position. As Farsight pursued the beast, he saw it bring its axe down into a nearby fountain with an overhead blow of such power that O'Shovah could hear the sharp crack of the flagstones beneath. A moment before Farsight caught up with it, the beast bounded into the skies and swooped off into the distance.Fighting the urge to continue his pursuit, Commander O'Shovah sent the command out for all remaining forces to rally at his position and re-establish a battle line. Many of his Fire Warriors were dead, slain by the capering beasts that had spilled from the portal, but his troops had died nobly, fighting to the last, and the battle was still raging. It was the gruesome sight that greeted him at the site of the beast's last attack that made Farsight's throat tighten in panic. Ethereal Aun'Los had been cut in two from crown to groin, gore spurting into the fountain around him as the limp halves of his frail body twitched their last. A great keening cry went up from the T'au establishing the battle line as the news of the Ethereal's death spread through the ranks. Farsight fought to restore order, issuing a series of clipped commands to hastily reform teams into fighting strength as he sought to make sense of the jumbled and confused transmissions interrupting broadcasts across his comms web.A great number of the brightly-coloured creatures had driven the second battle group back with their strange spectral flames, but for some reason, they gave a wide berth to one of the worn-down statues east of the Dais. The T'au took the opportunity to regroup under its shadow. Meanwhile, the Ethereal that had joined the third battle group, Aun'Diemn, had been gored to death in an attack by a giant vulture-like creature. Farsight's warriors were in disarray, trapped with Orks on one side and the unidentified alien creatures on the other. The Fire Warriors were on the brink of panic, for the more they shot the creatures down, the more of them appeared -- it was almost as if each kill caused two more beasts to replace those that fell.Tapping into the visual feeds of the Battlesuits in the second group, Farsight examined their environment. In the cadre's midst was a great robed statue, a strange hexagrammatic medallion brandished in its grip. Something struck Farsight as odd about that symbol; for one thing, when he looked at it, the pain that had flared in his head seemed to subside. Acting on instinct, Farsight ordered his warriors to retrieve the hexagram from the ancient statue and carry it forwards against the flame-beasts. A few tense seconds passed before the breathless report came that the multi-coloured aliens were falling back before it. Aun'Diemn's leaderless cadre adopted the same tactic after finding a medallion of a similar nature at their own rally point.It seemed as though it would take more esoteric means to defeat this new and inexplicable foe. Farsight took a moment to think on the words that Puretide had taught him upon the peak of Mount Kanji all those years ago: "To secure victory, the wise must adapt." Ordering all three battle groups to converge on his position, Farsight rearranged his battle plan in an instant. The Fire Warriors and their support teams would engage the Orks, forming a periphery around the Great Star Dais that could not be breached under any circumstances. The Crisis teams would alone engage these new foes at the crackling disc itself, and the hexagrammatic medallions would be brought to Farsight wherever they were found. Above all, he ordered, no blood must be spilt on the dais -- if a Battlesuit pilot was hit, he must withdraw immediately.Farsight's warriors were perplexed by their orders, but they carried them out to the letter nonetheless. O'Shovah and his Battlesuit Cadre stormed the Great Star Dais as his Fire Warriors kept a defensive perimeter so that no more Orks could reach the fight. Flamer-armed Crisis Teams burned the remaining greenskins that still fought upon the Dais to a crisp, darting out of the reach of the crimson-skinned aliens whenever they came close. As clouds of fire washed across the ground, the blood that covered the flagstones dried and clotted to a crusted film. A howl of dismay sounded from the strange crimson-skinned creatures, reaffirming what Farsight had suspected; the beasts needed blood to survive. A warning echoed across the dais from the brave Monat who was the latest to claim the title of Commander Brightsword. He had spotted a trio of the massive, winged beasts plunging out of the skies. They each had their axes raised as they dove with reckless momentum straight for O'Shovah himself. Commander Farsight raised his captured blade high in salute before flicking it outward, and the hexagrammatic medallions that hung loosely around it sailed in a lazy arc towards the crackling disc in the centre of the dais. A moment before the winged beasts fell upon O'Shovah, the medallions passed into the blazing energies; a tremendous backblast boomed out of the portal, knocking every Fire Warrior and Crisis Battlesuit into the dust. As they gradually helped each other up out of the rubble, they saw that the skies were clear and every single one of the rift creatures had disappeared without a trace.In the wake of the strange battle, Farsight and his warriors purged the ruins of the remaining greenskins. No victory shouts were heard; no warrior vows rang out. Instead of celebrating their double victory against the creatures infesting Arthas Moloch, the T'au returned to their fleet in silence. The last of the Ethereals had been found, headless, surrounded by his unconscious bodyguards. All three Ethereals were gone, leaving the T'au bereft of guidance. The Enclaves had lost all of their spiritual leaders in a single tragic battle. O'Shovah could not shake the feeling that this had been no accident; that some infeasible force had conspired against his people by killing the Ethereals. Though all of his training and formidable intellect railed against it, the visions he had seen in that crackling portal stayed with him night and day, infecting his thoughts with ever more dangerous conclusions; there was more to the universe than progress, unity, and destiny. Something lurked behind the material world; something foul, hungry, and immeasurably evil.