Sha'is'nan M'yen LisseraSwordwind: Cadre of the Unforeseen Union... My first thought on reaching my newly assigned post was that this would be a reprieve from the rigors of my last station,
so near the violence of the Empire's expanding edge . After over a year of constantly fighting all manner of the Empire's enemies, the cadre was sorely in need of some rest, so it was no surprise that the Shas'la all believed that this assignment had been given to us as a reward for our previous part in the Third Sphere Expansion. Little did any of us know that this place would host our most sore trial to date...
~An excerpt from the personal journal of Commander Calmfire. Assigned to act as a defense force for an Earth Caste industrial facility located on an arid moon along the outside edge of the Tau Empire, it was clear to all that this small cadre's role would be little more than an honorary one. The likelyhood of an attack reaching to the far side of Tau-held space to strike such a small, albeit mineral-rich, moon was very slim. Unfortunately, it was exactly this belief that led to the cadre's near-total destruction when a Tyranid splinter-fleet entered the system via it's outer-galactic edge not more than a month behind the cadre itself. Being nearly one-third the size of a standard planetary defense force, the cadre was far too small to adequately operate in defense of the entire moon, so the main defense occurred around the most major of the moon's facilities.
The defenders fought fiercely for more than a month against wave after wave of the unending alien swarm, but slowly the cadre's precious core of Fire warriors was depleted. Every casualty, every injury, tested the defenders more than the one before as the remaining Shas'la were required to add the burden of their fallen compatriots defense responsibilities to their own.
A potential reprieve came when the facility's Earth Caste leader, Fio'el Ol'ro, came to the cadre's commander with a proposal to bolster the ranks with volunteers from the Fio'la workers at the facility. The cadre's Shas'o was obstinate in his refusal, saying that only those with the blood of the Fire Caste were worthy of the honor of combat, and ignored the pleading and reasoning of his second-in-command, Shas'el Doran'suam, to accept the offer. The Shas'o stubbornly maintained that the Shas would hold, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Then, mercifully, while he was leading a tactical strike to eliminate several of the Tyranid's larger leader-beasts, the Shas'o was slain, leaving Shas'el Calmfire in command of the remaining defenders. Calmfire immediately accepted the offer of reinforcements and set about to having the new Earth Caste volunteers given rudimentary training and equipment, but it was quickly seen that even with these added Fio'la, the numbers were still insufficient to continue to hold against the growing Tyranid threat. Something else would have to be done if the Tau were to survive the invasion.
While observing the repairs being made to several of the cadre's battlesuits, a solution was stumbled upon when, after watching the multitude of various repair drones in their work, Engineer Brightmind absently commented to the commander, "What you need is more...drones." A heartbeat later, the inspiration of his own statement hit the lead engineer with the force of a pulse round. The moon had all the facilities for manufacture that could be wanted, and was originally settled because it possessed a large amount of mineral and other resources. Why, if they wished, the defenders could have a near endless supply of automated combat drones without any need for resupply from off-world. Once proposed to the commander, the problem was put forth that the current gun drones which were standard for Tau combat forces were very limited in their battlefield role. The facility's designers set to work immediately, drawing up plans for a variety of new combat variants on the standard gun drone. The first, and most sorely needed of these were the Firewind class.
click for a larger imageThese were designed to replace the fallen members of front-line Fire warrior teams, and so were equipped with pulse rifles, advanced targeting firmware and an upgraded AI system. Due to the limitations of even the drone's upgraded AI, each of the new variant drone-types would have to be led into battle by an actual Fire Caste member augmented with a specialized version of the standard drone controller.
The next variants to be designed were the 'Little Hunter' drones, intended to replace lost members of the cadre's Pathfinder teams.
Also equipped with an upgraded AI, these smaller drones were fitted with a single pulse carbine and a markerlight designator.
Standard sniper drones were also modified to act as replacements in XV-15 and XV-25 stealth teams.
The new 'Stealth Drones' had their original rail-rifles replaced with an XV-25 burst cannon, as well as being equipped with the new AI and targeting firmware.
Having the resources to maintain the cadre's existing XV-8s nigh-indefinitely or even build many new suits but lacking the experienced pilots to operate them, the next drone-type drafted was the Swordwind class. This type proved to be so effective in it's role that the cadre was later renamed after this class of drone.
Intended to be a replacement for missing XV-8 battlesuits, the Swordwind was given a vastly improved set of AI and targeting firmware, and outfitted to receive the same weapons fielded by the XV-8. The Swordwinds were even given the ability to employ a standard drone controller in the same way that Fire Caste Shas'ui themselves did.
The last variant proposed and built during this initial phase of the cadre's rebirth was the Greatwind class drone.
These heavily armored, rail gun equipped drones were intended as alternatives to the XV-88 Broadside battlesuit, and were given the same firmware enhancements that the Swordwind class drones received.
These new drones were added to the Tau's defensive lines almost immediately after their construction, and augmented the bedraggled defenders more than anything yet to this point. Although the new networked intelligences that the new drones used were stable by themselves, the defenders soon realized that when multiple networks operated in close proximity to one another they all experienced conflicts and errors that occasionally forced the drones to fall back on their individual AI programming. In an effort to counter this, Engineer Brightmind had his Fio'la construct a small anti-grav skiff outfitted with the equipment to control the drone networks in real time while on the battlefield, and proceeded to join the defenders on the line. Those Fio'la that had previously volunteered to become combatants quickly began to act as Brightmind's personal bodyguard on the battlefield, employing their individually crafted pulse weapons to keep their beloved leader from harm.
With the new reinforcements and the promise of assistance from their Septworld, the cadre resumed the defense of the moon with renewed vigor.
::Hey all!
I'll have to apologize for the great length of this post, and hope that you'll all forgive me, it being my first on the forum and all.
As you can see, this cadre is a current work-in-progress and many units that I have planned (and some even purchased) have yet to be build, let alone primed or painted. I'm working diligently, but the progress is slow due to the intensive time involved in converting most of the models, and that is without mentioning the need to wait until I can acquire the many bits necessary for even the smallest of them. Hopefully (assuming I won't be hung for the length of this thing,) I'll be continuing to post updates as things proceed. There are actually more photos of some of the less 'creative' units from my cadre in my photobucket album located here.
http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb53/Doran_suam/ Please, any comments, criticism or suggestions are not just welcome but WANTED. I am always looking for ways to improve my hobby skills and for new avenues of inspiration, so if you feel the urge to speak then do so.
I look forward to continuing to learn from the people here dedicated to furthering the Greater Good, and only hope that I can contribute in return.
Hail the Fightin' Fio!
~Doran'Suam, Swordwind Cadre Commander
