Chapter 20 – Taking Tau Tech
12 Hours after Tau Arrival
Rex had not believed for a second that anything but a fight was coming with the Tau. This galaxy had all but beat the idea of diplomacy out of him. He was certain he could take them in that fight, he had enough resources to crush their fleet with swarms of Gnats multiple times over, but there was a reason he hadn't just attacked the moment they appeared.
There was the chance that if he attacked them with overwhelming force that they would flee and take their technology with them. His intent when he'd first hailed them had been to distract them as his ship, a large, boxy vessel that would at least mimic the general design philosophy of Imperial battleships if none of their power, fired its thousands of guns that shot massive swarms of Locusts in the direction of the Tau fleet. They would take time to make contact, but his stalling had worked quite effectively.
By the time the water caste ambassador, Nue'vi, had made the offer for them to meet, several of his swarms had managed to attach themselves to the hulls of several battleships and what looked to be troop transport craft. Most of his locusts had missed given the distance and slight movements of the various ships in the fleet, resulting in them being left to hurtle endlessly through the void, but enough had struck their targets that he could begin his infiltration and rob the Tau blind acquire the Tau's technology.
When the Tau shuttle had departed the flagship and darted towards the designated world, it carried one such swarm with it. While he wouldn't disassemble anything, he could still scan their equipment. This Nue'vi had been true to her word, having only brought a few water caste diplomats and ten fire warriors, decked out in their full armor but equipped only with side-arms. It seemed she was very interested in making this work, based off her conversations with the other diplomats. The fire warriors seemed less excited by the prospect of a peaceful transition of power, their faces grim under their helmets.
Perhaps they were just as skeptical of this theoretical peace as Rex was.
By the time the Tau shuttle had touched down at the coordinates, he'd already arrived and set up a few accommodations for them. The atmosphere was sufficient for a human and he assumed a xeno to breathe in, so their meeting place was outside on a barren plain. A large table had been set up, a simple and sturdy one that was empty.
The fire warriors emerged first, two columns of five that walked down the shuttle's ramp, their helmeted heads sweeping the area, alert for any traps. Almost all of them had drawn their eyes to his own welcoming party. He made quite a sight, he imagined, his mimic body flanked by ten Arc-lite Riflemen, each equipped with only their dual pistols, but the Fire Warriors were undeterred. He'd imagine they were veterans of at least a few battles. They were likely better than his own forces, at least when one combined their tech and training.
The water caste diplomats were next, led by the one he was assuming was Nue'vi. Tau were generally taller than normal humans, though she seemed rather short for her kind. Perhaps equivalent to his two-meter tall Riflemen. Her eyes were instantly drawn to his mimic body and his enhanced vision saw her tense up a bit. He got that a lot, his appearance really was not at all what his voice would make one expect.
Still, she was not dismayed and strode gracefully across the ground to come before the table, where he remained standing at the other side. She bowed her head in greeting before speaking.
"Greetings. Am I correct in believing you are Archmagos Rex?"
"I am. You are Ambassador Nue'vi?"
"I am."
"Excellent. I apologize for the lack of refreshments as would be normal in such circumstances. I admit I lack knowledge on what foods would be acceptable for your biology."
"We can consume many of the same foods, actually, but that is fine. Shall we begin?"
His mimic nodded, scuttling towards the desk and lowering itself to eye level with the Tau woman, who took a seat of her own.
Thus, it began.
Nue'vi had to admit, she was surprised by just how unusual this gue'la had been so far. While nothing he had done was truly strange in a diplomatic setting, it was certainly different from what she had come to expect of his kind. Their leaders were arrogant, demanding, cruel, and thoroughly hateful towards all who were different. So much so that many T'au thought the entire species was incompatible with the Tau'va and wished to mark them for extermination like the Be'gel or the Y'he. Nue'vi was not one of those T'au who thought all gue'la were such, but she would have had to be blind to not understand the position of those who did.
And yet, this gue'la, this Archmagos Rex, was not like that at all. He was polite, humble even given how he had apologized to them for not providing food, and clearly knowledgeable to some degree of T'au culture and the Tau'va, though obviously that knowledge was far from complete. Furthermore, he even seemed to agree with her on several subjects they brought up, mainly the inadequacies of the Imperium as a government.
From what she could gather from their discussions thus far, it seemed like Gansoran was, if not fully independent of the Imperium, was slowly distancing itself from the dying government. If that was the case, she felt the obvious choice was to seek protection under another great power, one that did not have the same issues as the gue'la polity. Namely, the Tau Empire.
And yet, Rex seemed disinclined to agree. He was extremely polite about his issues with the Tau, his words carefully chosen to not seem even vaguely insulting, another thing she would not have expected from a gue'la. In fact, he seemed very much like a Tau despite his appearance and she was saddened that she couldn't get him to see the error of his ways.
His main problem was his implication that the gue'la would become second-class citizens under the Empire, something she had tried to make him see was not true. Yes, the T'au were more common in positions of rank throughout the empire than members of the Empire's other member species, but that was due to them being the most numerous, not any kind of bias. Anyone who proved their merit could join the upper echelons. The only T'au-only group was the Aun, but that was due to the caste's inherent wisdom and ability to bring together many disparate peoples under the Tau'va, not because they were T'au.
She had told him as much and he had seemed amused by her insistence that all were equal under the Tau'va, his first action that she found insulting after nearly three hours of discussion.
"While I understand the wish to expand to better protect yourself," Rex stated. "I do not believe it is in Gansoran's interests to join the Tau Empire. Our protection is well taken care of already. That said, we would be more than willing to engage in trade and diplomatic relations with your people, Por'o Nue'vi. Perhaps we might even become true allies in time. Annexation, however, is simply not acceptable at this time."
"I understand your position as well, Archmagos Rex," Nue'vi breathed, letting go of her frustration. This was going nowhere and her hopes of a peaceful solution were shrinking with every word. "Yet, I must inform you that we cannot accept it. We wish to avoid shedding the blood of anyone, Tau and human alike. If you cannot agree to make compromises, there will be no possibility other than that."
"I had hoped that we would be able to co-exist in this sector of space, perhaps even work together to face the enemies of this galaxy who threaten us all."
"As had I."
"I am sorry that we will be enemies then, Por'o Nue'vi."
There. It was said. She knew the fire warriors were shifting at the sudden declaration, but she held up a hand and they froze. The Archmagos' soldiers had not moved whatsoever in the last three hours of conversation, leading her to believe they were not gue'la but some kind of machine. They would not attack without their master's orders.
"I am sorry as well. We shall take our leave then." Despite her confident words, she wasn't sure he would let them go. Sometimes, in such circumstances, ambassadors would be taken prisoner by those with plans to use them as hostages. She had been prepared for such a possibility when she'd left, as had every other person accompanying her. While the fire warriors would likely make a fight of any attempt at capture, the diplomats would not. They all knew that the Empire would honor their sacrifice and push on. It was all for the Tau'va.
"Yes, you are free to leave," the Archmagos said, surprising Nue'vi. "Please understand that I will take no pleasure in destroying your forces in the coming battle."
"Nor we yours."
It was only as she turned and departed, followed first by her subordinates and then by the more watchful fire warriors, that she considered the last word he had used. 'Battle'. Not 'war'. Did he think that the Tau would defeat his forces so quickly that it would only be a single battle before they took the system? Or was it, perhaps, that he thought the opposite would be the case?
That was ludicrous, of course. He only had a single ship in the entire system, their sensors had confirmed this. Perhaps that ship carried some attack craft, maybe even a few gunships, but such paltry forces would fall easily before an entire Tau battle fleet. They had five battleships alone, after all.
Arrogance then or he had just misspoken.
So, why did she feel a cold shiver crawling up her spine?
So, that was it then. He'd be fighting the Tau quite soon.
They really shouldn't have given him so much time to prepare. He'd planned on dragging the negotiations out for an hour, maybe, but he hadn't expected this Nue'vi to be so… stubborn? No, that wasn't the word to describe her. More… determined. She genuinely seemed to think the loss of life that was to come was a tragedy and had tried everything she could to get him to see along the same lines as her.
He had considered giving her a better idea of his position, mainly through calling her a brainwashed slave of the ethereals, but that would have ended negotiations pretty quickly. Almost as quickly as they would have if he'd revealed just how much industrial might he was sitting on and just how much of that he could bring to bear on this one system.
True, he might have been able to get a temporary peace with the Tau by giving them a better idea of his forces, but he doubted it would have lasted for more than a few years as they tried to build up a fleet that could match him.
No, taking them by surprise, here and now, was better.
His locusts had spread throughout the Tau ships, scanning and acquiring whatever technology they could get their grubby little claws into. If he'd been a human, he'd likely have been leaping for joy with every new piece of tech. Say what you will about the philosophy, the culture, the general nature of the Tau, but damn if they didn't know how to build their stuff!
Tau technology was different yet remarkably similar to Imperial tech. It was more streamlined, everything had a purpose that was clear to see and practical. There were no wax seals, no pieces of blessed parchment or jars of incense. In fact, it probably had the most in common with his own, precursor tech than any other faction had.
There was also the amount of it that made him delighted. Beyond just the ships themselves, the armies they carried had some delicious equipment. Railguns, missiles, ion cannons, plasma weapons, artillery pieces, jet packs, point defenses, holo projectors, stealth fields, shield generators. In just a few hours, he'd acquired more tech than he had in the last three years. And he had ideas, such beautiful and terrible ideas.
The tau wouldn't know what hit them.
At the very least, he hoped that Nue'vi would survive what he had in store for them.
