Chapter 103 The T'au Heresy (2)

Following her chat with the psykers, Shadowsun evacuated the personnel suffering the worst nightmares, moving them away from the Kel’Tyr and the Startide Nexus to more distant colonies.

Once they got some distance from the Nexus, the night terrors immediately chilled out.

“Looks like something really did happen to Goddess T’au’va,” Shadowsun muttered.

She remembered seeing that translucent, multi-armed figure that had pulled her out of the fire on more than one occasion. According to the human psykers, that was the Goddess T’au’va who had been watching their backs this whole time.

I bet my bottom that the human army is behind this, she concluded.

Shadowsun flashed back to the Imperial fleet that had recently tried to breach the Nexus before tucking tail and running. Everything had been perfectly fine until those humans showed up and ruined the neighborhood.

But just as Shadowsun was trying to map out a solution, things went from bad to worse.

T’au citizens who had suffered the nightmares started openly discussing them in public. They even sketched out the freaky creatures from their dreams and posted the artwork all over the comms network.

Regular T’au who hadn’t even had the nightmares started having them constantly just from looking at the sketches. It was worse than a plague. Just hearing about it or seeing a drawing of those monsters was enough to infect you with the exact same horrific dreams.

Once Shadowsun caught wind of it, she ordered a total media blackout to stop the info from spreading.

But that wasn’t even the craziest part.

One day, a Water Caste diplomat was just minding his own business at work. Out of nowhere, right in front of a massive crowd, he completely defied gravity, floating up into the air and suddenly wielding the power of fire.

For a hot second, the other T’au thought they were witnessing a genuine miracle. But the human auxiliaries who had joined the Empire lost their absolute minds in terror.

Because this wasn’t a miracle. It was a psyker awakening.

Back in the Imperium, everyone knew that an unregulated, rogue psyker was a walking time bomb. One wrong move, and they could trigger a massive, bloody disaster.

Ethereal Aun’La, the spiritual anchor of the expeditionary force, had immediately packed up and headed back to Kel’Tyr the second he caught wind of the Startide Nexus anomaly.

The moment he touched down, he was slapped with the report about the awakened Water Caste diplomat. He immediately hauled Commander Shadowsun into his office.

“Supreme Commander, for the T’au Empire and for the Greater Good, you must execute him and bury every shred of data related to this incident.”

Shadowsun was completely baffled by the order.

“That Water Caste hasn’t broken a single law or done anything wrong. Why the execution?”

“That is not your concern, Supreme Commander. That diplomat cannot be allowed to live. That is an order.”

Aun’La flared with anger at her questioning but kept a lid on it, firmly strong-arming her into following his command.

Shadowsun had never seen an Ethereal act like this. Still, out of deep-seated respect for Aun’La, she dispatched a squad of trusted Fire Warriors to carry out the grim task.

But that awakened Water Caste was just the tip of the iceberg. As time ticked on, T’au citizens awakening to psychic powers began popping up like weeds. The number of rogue psykers manifesting among the alien auxiliaries was even higher.

Aun’La’s stance remained ruthlessly hardline, forcing Shadowsun to constantly deploy black-ops squads to silence the psykers and lock down the media.

“Trampling on innocent lives like this… how are we any different from the Imperium of Man right now?!”

“What could possibly drive an Ethereal like you to zero tolerance against our own people just because they manifested some strange powers?!”

Shadowsun fundamentally couldn’t stomach Aun’La’s methods. After running multiple hit-squad ops, she finally snapped and confronted him, desperate for real answers.

“You only need to follow orders, Supreme Commander. Everything we do is for the Greater Good.”

“Do not force my hand into submitting a report to the Council regarding your fitness to lead this Expansion Fleet.”

Aun’La brick-walled her. He refused to explain a damn thing, demanding absolute obedience.

Shadowsun was furious, feeling like she had been reduced to a blunt instrument meant only to protect his authority. No matter how many times she pressed him, Aun’La kept her in the dark. Their relationship completely cratered. On several occasions, Shadowsun nearly threw hands with Aun’La’s Ethereal Honour Guard. Paranoid about a repeat of Commander Farsight’s rebellion, Aun’La subtly started stripping away Shadowsun’s military authority, deliberately cutting her out of the chain of command.

—

Aboard the massive orbital fortress-station orbiting the Kel’Tyr.

“Traveler, your scheme worked like a charm. Forget just the Chalnath Expanse, I bet the entire T’au Empire is descending into absolute chaos,” Big E remarked.

Big E and Vane stood on a high vantage point, looking down at the ensuing riots.

Chronic nightmares had left the T’au personnel utterly unhinged. Even the slightest disagreement escalated into brutal, lethal brawls.

Not long after the riots kicked off, a squad of Fire Warriors and auxiliary troops in full combat gear rushed in for riot control. Despite trying to hold back, people still got hurt in the scuffle and had to be dragged off to the med-bay.

“This is just the opening act. I seriously can’t wait to see Shadowsun kick off the grand mutiny,” Vane chuckled.

Hearing the Traveler’s commentary, Big E was utterly speechless. Vane was legitimately trying to engineer a T’au version of the Horus Heresy.

As for why Vane was suddenly harboring such a chaotic idea, it all started a few days ago.

After they finished turbocharging Goddess T’au’va, Vane took Big E and sneaked onto the T’au space station. With their combined reality-bending abilities, ghosting past the T’au security grids was a total cakewalk.

Deep inside the orbital fortress, Vane accidentally stumbled across the cultists of Tzeentch preaching their gospel. Using a Tzeentch statue he had crafted a while back, Vane effortlessly conned his way into the cultists’ inner circle.

Somewhere deep within the Impossible Fortress in the Warp, Tzeentch practically popped a blood vessel, cursing the Evil Outer God for being so wildly shameless. Conning the followers of the ultimate con artist? That was just hitting beneath the belt.

From mingling with the cultists, Big E and Vane found out that Commander Shadowsun had actually sought advice from these psykers. Once they heard the play-by-play of the conversation between Shadowsun and the cultists, both Big E and Vane were dead silent.

The Supreme Commander of the T’au Expansion Fleet was completely, blissfully ignorant about the true nature of Chaos. It gave off massive vibes of the Primarchs during the early days of the Great Crusade.

And these Tzeentch cultists were absolutely ruthless. They straight-up suggested that Shadowsun seek the protection of the Changer of Ways. That was basically scamming her as if she were a braindead, one-eyed Ogryn!

“Big E, look me in the eye and tell me,” Vane said. “Is this Ethereal Supreme Aun’La just your secret alt account? Because this whole playbook is exactly how you ran the Great Crusade.”

Vane was fully convinced that the God-Emperor was pulling the strings behind the scenes. The current T’au Empire was such a carbon copy of the Imperium’s Great Crusade that it was impossible not to link it back to Big E.

“It wasn’t me! I was stuck on the Golden Throne that entire time, I didn’t have the energy for side projects!” Big E defended himself against Vane’s accusations. “Besides, you know well that I absolutely despise xenos. Why would I ever help them?”

Big E’s anti-xenos stance was crystal clear; during the Great Crusade, the number of xenos species he wiped out was frankly off the charts.

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter who’s secretly propping up the T’au. What matters is doing it for the lulz.”

Vane’s interest in unraveling the grand conspiracy behind the T’au Empire lasted for exactly four seconds before his brain pivoted entirely to finding entertainment.

“Since the T’au Empire right now is doing a perfect cosplay of the Imperium during the Great Crusade, it’d be a total waste not to hit them with a massive Heresy.”

And just like that, Vane drafted up a master plan to ignite a glorious, chaotic rebellion within the T’au ranks.

Over the following days, Big E and Vane continuously force-fed Psychic energy into Goddess T’au’va, accelerating the evolution of the Greater Good’s followers and causing the riots to spike in frequency.

At first, the Fire Warriors and the auxiliary riot police managed to keep their cool. But as the days dragged on, the mental strain on the T’au forces reached a breaking point. When you pull a string tight enough, snapping is only a matter of time.

During one particularly nasty riot, a Fire Warrior was jumped and injured by the mob. The riot-control squad finally lost it. Pushed past their absolute limits, they opened fire directly into the crowd, mowing down rioters and triggering a horrific bloodbath.

Shadowsun’s reaction was lightning-fast. She slapped an immediate media blackout on the massacre to prevent a devastating domino effect.

Ethereal Aun’La’s paranoid crackdowns, the psychological collapse of her troops, and the constant riots tearing her citizens apart left the legendary commander mentally and physically exhausted.

And right on cue, the Startide Nexus decided to act up. Previously, only the divine protection of Goddess T’au’va allowed the T’au warships—which famously lacked Geller Fields—to safely navigate the wormhole. But now, with Goddess T’au’va MIA and still no Geller Fields equipped, sending a T’au ship into the Nexus was basically ringing the dinner bell. The Warp demons happily treated them like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

When the news broke that the T’au fleet had been utterly obliterated inside the wormhole, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Shadowsun spiraled into total despair.

With her back against the wall, the legendary commander remembered the old psyker’s advice: rescue Goddess T’au’va, or find another benevolent Warp entity to forge an alliance.

The root of all this disaster is losing Goddess T’au’va, she realized. If that’s the case, then I have to find us a new ally.

Shadowsun forced herself to pull it together. She was determined to drag the T’au citizens and soldiers who relied on her out of this waking nightmare.

She summoned the human psykers back to her command room. Naturally, Big E and Vane slipped right into the lineup and tagged along.

“Were these two here last time?” Shadowsun’s adjutant sensed something was off and immediately stepped in to block Big E and Vane.

You’re misremembering. They were absolutely here last time, Big E whispered into her mind, flexing a bit of psychic manipulation.

“Right, my mistake. Apologies, go right in.” The adjutant stepped back and cleared the way.

Big E and Vane waltzed right in without breaking a sweat. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Tzeentch cultists, they once again stood face-to-face with the T’au Empire’s legendary commander, Shadowsun.

“I apologize for pulling you all back here,” Shadowsun started. “After careful consideration, I have decided to accept your proposal. Could you arrange an opportunity to introduce me to this… Changer of Ways?”

“If this entity can truly aid the T’au Empire against the horrors of that dimension, we are willing to form an alliance. We would even grant Him a seat on the T’au Empire’s Council.”

The highest governing body of the T’au Empire was the Ethereal Council. Formally recognized and allied races were granted a seat, allowing them to participate directly in shaping the Empire’s policies. The terms Shadowsun was offering were undoubtedly heavy-hitting and incredibly sincere.

In the background, Big E and Vane were silently handing out five-star reviews. Ignorance really was bliss. Inviting a literal Chaos God to form a political alliance and offering them a seat on the space-government board? It was hard to say if anyone would ever be this brain-dead in the future, but it was absolutely, one-hundred-percent unprecedented in the history of the galaxy.

“Respected Supreme Commander, the Changer of Ways foresaw that you would make this wise choice. As such, He has already sent His envoys.”

The old psyker spoke in a tone dripping with mock humility, gesturing smoothly toward Vane. “This esteemed gentleman is His envoy. He arrived a few days ago.”

Shadowsun looked genuinely surprised. This Changer of Ways actually possesses some kind of precognitive foresight?

Vane casually stepped forward. Under the watchful eyes of the Tzeentch cultists, he fully leaned into his new role as the divine messenger, stopping right in front of Shadowsun.

“May my Lord bless you with Ninefold Wisdom, esteemed Supreme Commander.”

Watching this absolute circus unfold, Big E’s mouth twitched uncontrollably.

The galaxy’s biggest con artist was using the name of the Warp’s biggest con artist to scam an absolute idiot. This universe had gone so utterly insane it was starting to feel completely alien to him. What was real? What was fake? He couldn’t tell anymore. He really just couldn’t tell.