The T'au core world lay before them. Countless fleets were rushing in from the various Homeworlds to "defend the throne," yet T'au itself had already lost all its naval forces.
After the Lunar-class Cruisers blasted countless space stations and defensive batteries to pieces, after the Steel Jungle stripped the defences from T'au's moon-their second colony in history-and after the "Ideal-class Battleship" was seized by the "Imperium of Man," the T'au here had, in truth, already fallen into despair.
Like beasts cornered against a wall, they bristled, arched their backs, and desperately tried to make themselves look stronger and fiercer.
"Cough, cough." Evan lay weakly on a stretcher.
He grinned at the brothers carrying him and said that their Chapter finally had a flagship, one that would look absolutely magnificent out in space, but that could not conceal his weakness.
He returned to the Eternal Mountain. Instead of going to Situval's medical bay, he insisted on commanding while wounded.
"Attention, all crew. This is Chapter Master Evan. Attention, all crew. This is Chapter Master Evan."
Evan paused, feeling rather unwell. The price of his body's rapid healing was another kind of extreme agony, a sickening pain like countless maggots wriggling through his flesh.
"Everyone quiet down in a moment. I'm about to start bullshitting the T'au."
Some of the newly arrived mortal crew dug at their ears, unable to quite believe what they had heard, while the veterans had already found seats and prepared their peanuts and sunflower seeds.
Evan reached the command room and waved a hand, broadcasting footage of the Bipolar Cyclonic Torpedo destroying the Vespid colony and the giant gas planet swallowing the T'au navy across all channels on T'au.
There was also footage from the assault on the first defensive line, showing the fourth and fifth Earth-like