O'Shi'ur filtered through the reports coming in over the command channel. The reports were anything but encouraging. The Necrons, who had seemingly arrived from nowhere, were still continuing to approach his headquarters. With all of his forces pulled back, there was not much else he could do. He occasionally sent out harassment squads to try and slow the advance, but they always ended in his own forces retreating before they could suffer serious losses. Running out of spaces to commit to the Tau tactic of Mont'ka (the killing blow), and too close to use Kauyon (patient hunter), O'Shi'ur had decided that retreat and redeployment to a different zone was crucial to the survival of the operation. Recon drones had identified two new possible landing areas; a desert zone with canyons, and a forest zone with dense foliage. But this wasn't O'Shi'ur's only dilemma. About one hundred pathfinders remained unaccounted for in the field. Pathfinders were one of the most crucial units in the Tau army, providing both intelligence and fire support in the form of marker lights. It was a force O'Shi'ur could not afford to lose.

O'Shi'ur's battleship, [i]the dagger of O'Shi'ur[/i], was already primed for redeployment as soon as they were ready. But they couldn't leave without the pathfinders. Such a crucial niche in his forces needed to be extracted as soon as possible. Having come to a decision for how to respond to this crisis, O'Shi'ur reported to the command bridge. As he made a quick dash down the hallways, he ran into his second in command, and leader of his crisis suit squad; Shas'el Ko Suam'anuk. El'Ko noticed him, and gave a quick salute, declaring "Shas'O. Tau'va." O'Shi'ur gave her a nod and kept walking. In any other circumstance, they would have had a far more congenial, as they had served together for many years and were good friends. But in these circumstances, everyone needed to focus on the tasks at hand.

El'Ko followed behind O'Shi'ur, and they both arrived at the command bridge. As they entered, the entire bridge staff stood from their vast array of consoles, and saluted, declaring "Tau'va!" O'Shi'ur motioned for them to return to their duties. Everyone needed to be doing their assigned tasks. O'Shi'ur passed by the host of bridge staff, primarily served by the slender figures of the air caste. Arriving at his command console, O'Shi'ur set up a communication array, and addressed the entire force. [b]"All units. This is Shas'O Vior'la O'Shi'ur. We are re-positioning our headquarters to a more favorable zone. Follow standard headquarters evacuating procedure. Fire warrior and pathfinder guards; return to the ship in waves as called by squad. If attacked, continue to retreat to the ship unless otherwise ordered. All ground vehicles on defensive duty; report back to the ship to your designated hangars when called. Recon drones; re-task to monitoring the Necron advance, and scout out to find our missing pathfinders as assigned. Finding the pathfinders is your priority. Orcas; prepare to take off to retrieve the pathfinders as discovered. Also considered a priority order. Remain alert, and do your duty. Tau'va."[/b] 

Closing the channel, O'Shi'ur opened a private channel with team Duskfall, his stealth suit team. [b]"Duskfall team. Meet me in the Orca hanger. We are going to moniter the Necron advance up close, and see if we have a better shot at finding the pathfinders."[/b] After receiving a response, O'Shi'ur turned to El'Ko, and said [b]"Get Sunfire team ready to go. I want you on an Orca monitoring the situation, and ready to deploy if we need a diversion."[/b] El'Ko responded with a quick salute, and bolted down the hallway to find her team. Lastly, O'Shi'ur addressed his bridge staff, and ordered them to plot a course to the forest zone. O'Shi'ur's forces were heavily leaning towards stealth and recon, and it would allow them to continue to keep tabs on the Necrons' activities. With that, O'Shi'ur made his way to the battlesuit hangar.

The many members of the stoic earth caste who maintained the battlesuits immediately saluted O'Shi'ur's arrival with a booming "Tau'va". Looking at where the XV8 suits were kept, O'Shi'ur was pleased to see team Sunfire members Shas'ui Kauyon and Shas'ui Ol'kak, twin brothers, already readying their suits. The two brothers were always eager to serve the greater good through combat. Both were newer members to the team, and were always eager to prove themselves with their "agile" fitted crisis suits. O'Shi'ur made his way to his way to his personal suit, an XV22 command stealth suit. It wasn't as big as the crisis suits, measuring only slightly bigger then standard XV25 stealth suits. However, it packed just as much firepower, and was more maneuverable then a crisis suit, which suited his combat style just fine.

O'Shi'ur stepped into his suit, positioning his body into the setting. He took a deep breath as the suit closed in over him, and his MIU interface connected with the suit. The earth caste members ran standard diagnostics on the connection, and were satisfied that no anomalies were detected. O'Shi'ur always appreciated how the suit meshed with his body, allowing him to feel himself fight, as opposed to the cramped cockpits of crisis suits and riptides. As he headed towards the Orca hangar, O'Shi'ur interfaced with his command drone, setting it to give him a constant stream of information from his forces. This would allow him to continue to give effective orders while in the field. 

Waiting for him at the nearby Orca was team Duskfall, who saluted him curtly and promptly boarded. O'Shi'ur followed behind, entering the open space that was the passenger bay. After a prompt from O'Shi'ur, the Orca took off, heading off away from the ship, while he continued to sift through the constant information being fed by drones.