[i]'Now hang on one gosh-darn minute, sir! Y'all're tellin' me the regiment I'm bein' posted with is[/i] green?'

[i]'Rookies, yes. Most shortly out of training, though ideally not so incompetent. It's poetic, if you will.'[/i]

[i]'With all due respect, I have ta question the logic in that. Ya think maybe they ain't learned the 'ppropriate respect fer any Commissar yet, never mind a Junior lacking the relevant Dimmacu- Dimmadarn... the relevant execution powers? Uh, sir.'[/i]

[i]'Dale, they're Texan. They don't like non-Texan Commissars, they're worse than the Catachans in that respect. You, hailing from their home planet, ought to ensure they're a bit more cool-headed. Besides, the good things I've heard about you make it seem like this is a more than appropriate test for your skills... or was the Commissar-General wrong to uplift you to Junior Commissar?'[/i]

[i]'Nope, not at all, sir, I'll tackle these folks head-on and make Dimmadamned sure they stay in line. An' that's a Dimmadome promise, so you can count on it, sir!'[/i]

[i]'I hope so. Oh, and speaking of Dimmacution powers... son of a bitch, now you've got me doing it... [b]click[/b] "I, Commissar Julian Jackson, do hereby bestow upon Junior Commissar Dale Dimmadome permission to, within reason, execute those members of the squadron he is presently attached to within the Texanis 63rd Regiment, until such time as these permissions are revoked or otherwise updated, as follows: any attached psykers that show signs of Warp taint or possession; any member of the squadron that assaults, attacks, or otherwise attempts to murder the aforementioned Junior Commissar, should said squadron member pose an immediate threat to his life." [b]click[/b] Anything else- ANYTHING else- and you come talk to me or the next nearest Commissar about it.'[/i]

[i]'Even if the squadron set traps, sir?'[/i]

[i]'Even then.'[/i]

[i]'Even if the trap kills me, sir?'[/i]

[i]'ESPECIALLY then. I trust, of course, that your judgement in this matter is relatively sound, and that your squadron isn't fool enough to target you directly.'[/i]

[hr]

And so it went that Dale had introduced himself to the squadron, Lieutenant- Louise, rather- Alexis Williams in particular, and made it quite clear that messing with him was the equivalent of messing with any full-blown Commissar, regardless of his own Dimmability to execute them for a perceived slight or failure to remain perfectly motivated to fight the foe, but that as a Commissar of sorts in his own right he'd prefer to lead by example. Time passed after that, and now here they were, just beginning to board the ship that would take them to...

'Any of y’all know what the fuck a ‘Damocles,’ is?'

Ah, yes, the Damocles Crusade, and the Tau that came with it. He huffed lightly to himself as... what was it, Clayton? Cowboy Clayton began rambling on about spoiling for a fight with the aliens, and how they were snooty sons of bitches and talked fancier than he liked, and whilst that was true, it greatly underestimated the threat that a full detachment of Tau Fire Warriors represented. Clayton was certainly heroic, or at least dumb enough to not know what fear was, but that was in Dale's mind the only good trait he'd displayed right about now. And they weren't even dead-set on taking the planet, few as their number were; the incumbent Chaos infection posed more of a threat to his homeworld than the Tau ever could, frankly speaking, and he wasn't sure why Texanis hadn't been purged of said infection a long time ago.

'Ma'am, I believe that refers to the Damocles Gulf in the Lithesh Sector, Ultima Segmentum, on the Eastern Fringe,' Dale offered the Louise, a somewhat serious tone in his voice. 'It contains a series of worlds belonging to the Tau Empire, blue-skinned bastards that they are, and it is of vital importance that we cleanse the alien contamination before it has the opportunity ta corrupt our men inta workin' fer 'em. If I'm not mistaken, they already got to some humans a while back... I trust I won't need to deal with anyone fallin' prey to their lies in THIS squad, of course,' he finished, raising his voice to address everybody else in the squad as well, whether or not they understood what he was talking about. Though on the other hand, righteously xenophobic as Texanis was, there was always the possibility of failure to uphold the God-Emperor's ideals no matter what planet a regiment was drawn from. That was why he was there, however, and in truth, if they failed, it was equally his failure at the end of the day.