Redemption on Dal'yth is a Warhammer 40,000 Short Story written by Phil Kelly, who authored the Farsight novels and various other T'au-centered stories.
For eight generations, the legendary T'au warrior Sha'kanthas — former mentor of Commander Farsight — has been held in stasis, trapped in a single moment of time during a duel with a monstrous Space Marine. Since then, he has become a legend to the rest of the T'au, a symbol of the indomitability of the Greater Good's servants. For three centuries, the stasis bubble containing the two has sat in a museum on the T'au sept world of Dal'yth… but such crude human technology can't last forever. When the ancient stasis device containing them finally deactivates, the battle continues. Weaponless and out of his element, Sha'kanthas must find a way to defeat the Space Marine before it rampages across Dal'yth, causing untold devastation.
It was released on February 25th, 2020 as part of the 2020 Black Library Celebration.
This short story contains the following tropes:
- Arm Cannon: Durian has a double-barreled gun mounted on his wrist that shoots out Bolter shells.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Discussed. When Sha'kanthas informs Durian of his current situation in an attempt to convince him to surrender, Durian's response is to proclaim that he would rather die than give up.Sha'kanthas: Surrender or die. Put down your weapons. You are alone on an alien planet, three hundred cycles past your time, and your warrior brotherhood is dead.
Durian: THEN I CHOOSE DEATH. YOUR SPECIES PROFESSES TO WANT PEACE, BUT YOU WOULD SLAUGHTER US AS BEASTS IF YOU COULD. - Big Bad: Durian Raevor, the Space Marine trapped in the stasis bubble with Sha'kanthas and the Chapter Master of the now-extinct Scar Lords.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: After Sha'kanthas is forced to abandon his battlesuit due to it malfunctioning and being too damaged for further use, he uses one of the XV8 battlesuits on display at the museum against Durian. Given that several centuries have passed since the XV8 was introduced, the battlesuit is considered a relic with outdated systems by current T'au standards. However, Sha'kanthas picked this model because it's the one that he's the most familiar with.
- Broken Pedestal: Played with. As Farsight's mentor, Sha'kanthas disapproved of his pupil's independent nature and disliked how quickly he was being promoted through the Fire Caste's ranks. During the Damocles Gulf Crusade, he was one of Farsight's biggest detractors and tried to sabotage his military career, which led to him being forced to go on a suicide mission against the Scar Lords as atonement. However, he still respected Farsight as a paragon of the Greater Good and was shocked to learn of his betrayal. When Farsight contacts him over the radio to offer tips on defeating Durian, Sha'kanthas initially refuses to "disgrace himself" by listening and only follows his advice after Durian murders a T'au child.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Sha'kanthas asks how Farsight is able to contact him on his suit's radio, Farsight's response is that he's closer than he thinks and references War Zone Damocles: Mont'ka with his cryptic comment about how "events on Prefectia came to a head".
- Farsight tells Sha'kanthas that the Space Marine he's fighting is named Durian, which was first revealed in Farsight: Crisis of Faith.
- Durian is the last surviving member of the Scar Lords, a Space Marine Chapter from the Farsight novels that was wiped out after Farsight boarded their battleship and destroyed it using their own Exterminatus weapon.
- Convenient Misfire: When the stasis grenade went off, it froze Sha'kanthas just as his battlesuit's gun was aimed at Durian's face and about to fire. When the stasis bubble wears off, the gun malfunctions when he tries to pull the trigger, allowing the Space Marine to continue living as he rampages through the museum.
- Dead Guy on Display: The ultimate fate of Durian, whose dissected corpse is put on display as part of the museum's new exhibit after he is finally killed.
- Distant Finale: Downplayed. The short story ends with Sha'kanthas revisiting the museum two kai'rotaa (roughly two months) after Durian is killed.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: When the stasis bubble wears off, both Sha'kanthas and Durian find themselves 300 years in the future. This doesn't mean as much in the context of 40k, but the world has fully developed into a Tau society, changing the stakes and the layout of the battlefield drastically; and Sha'kanthas meaningfully has to deal with several centuries of cultural drift. There's a scene where Sha'kanthas tries to give orders to some Fire Caste cadets, but confuses them with his military jargon which the Water Caste curator explains is centuries out of date.
- Gunship Rescue: Subverted. During Durian's rampage, a T'au Piranha gunship shows up to reinforce the museum's security and Sha'kanthas notes that the gunship actually has firepower capable of penetrating Space Marine armor. Unfortunately, Durian also seems of aware of this and immediately attacks the gunship, sending it crashing into a wall before it can save the day.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. When Farsight tries to offer Sha'kanthas advice on how to defeat the Space Marine, he initially ignores him and plans to sacrifice himself to buy enough time for the T'au civilians to escape. He changes his mind after Durian guns down a T'au child and is able to kill Durian without giving up his own life in the process.
- Hope Spot: During Durian's rampage, there's a moment where a Piranha gunship arrives at the scene and Sha'kanthas is hopeful since the gunship has the necessary firepower to penetrate the Space Marine's armor. Then Durian jumps up, slices the aircraft's nose off, and shoots the aircraft's wing, sending the Piranha crashing into a wall.
- Humans Are Ugly: The T'au certainly seem to think so. The only human who appears in the story is described using words like beast, monstrosity, and grotesque. While frozen in stasis, Durian's face is called a "hideous visage" by the T'au-centric narration. Even his untranslated words in Imperial Gothic sound like guttural grunts to the T'au characters.
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: The short story is told exclusively from the perspectives of various T'au characters and we're shown how they react to a human Space Marine. They appear to regard humanity as race of Space Orcs — a barbaric, primitive race who only achieved their advanced technology through dumb luck, not unlike the actual Orks. The Space Marine from a notably barbaric chapter in particular is seen by the T'au as a terrifying monstrosity that can't be reasoned with and only seeks to kill them all.
- Hypocrite: Discussed. Durian accuses the T'au of being this, claiming that although they profess peace, they would "slaughter [humanity] as beasts" if they had the chance.
- Last of His Kind: According to Farsight, Durian is the only surviving member of his Space Marine chapter.
- Little Miss Badass: Kha'lithra, a twelve-year-old T'au cadet of the Fire Caste who decides to help Sha'kanthas fight Durian. After seeing Durian murder one of her fellow cadets, she grabs a pulse rifle and shoots the Space Marine in the neck, distracting him long enough for Sha'kanthas to squash his head using the museum's XV8 battlesuit.
- Living Museum Exhibit: The T'au turned the stasis bubble containing Sha'kanthas and Durian into a museum exhibit at the Core Assembly House on one of their sept worlds. At the start of the story, the two warriors have been kept like this for centuries.
- The Magnificent: The museum's exhibits for the Farsight Expedition refer to Commander Farsight as "Farsight the Rebel" and "Farsight the Traitor".
- No OSHA Compliance: In addition to the stasis bubble containing a live Space Marine being completely unsecured, the Core Assembly House on Dal'yth also has fully-operational pulse rifles and battlesuits on public display. The battlesuits in particular have their cockpits left wide open with ladders that allow anyone to easily climb in. Granted, the weapons display is kept locked at all times and only a high-ranking military officer has the actual clearance needed to pilot the battlesuits, but still... This lack of security measures is somewhat justified as the T'au are said to be more trusting of each other than humans.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Downplayed. While Space Marines are the Imperium's most elite soldiers, they are considered fairly normal to most of the galaxy's major players like the Eldar, Necrons, or Tyranids. Against the T'au museum's lightly-armed security forces, a single Space Marine is a nigh-unstoppable juggernaut that easily tears through everything they have. In fact, Sha'kanthas only wins because Kha'linthra was able to distract Durian at the last second during their battle.
- Retcon: The short story retcons the cause of the stasis bubble. In the Farsight Enclaves Codex Supplement, the bubble was created by Sha'kanthas using experimental T'au technology on his battlesuit. Here, the stasis field was created by Durian activating a stasis grenade to avoid being shot in the face by a plasma rifle.
- Tempting Fate: When Kha'linthra brings up how she heard that a previous tour group saw the stasis field flicker, Por'klai immediately interrupts her with a lecture about how the Earth Caste has already declared the bubble safe and that the stasis field hadn't changed for generations. He then finishes by patronizing her for daring to question the Earth Caste's judgement. Of course, the moment they leave, the stasis field begins to fail.
- Too Dumb to Live: Whoever thought keeping a frozen Space Marine on an unsecured exhibit at a public museum was a good idea.
- Underestimating Badassery: One of the T'au Fire Caste cadets expresses skepticism that the Imperium could be such a threat upon noticing how the frozen Space Marine is using primitive weapons like a sword and shield. After Durian is freed, the cadets are given first-class seats to how dangerous a Space Marine can be as he tears through museum security, slices through a Piranha gunship, and eventually kills the same cadet.
- The Unmasqued World: Around the time that the short story is set, the Ethereals have seemingly abandoned their attempts to erase Farsight's legacy and made his betrayal public knowledge amongst the general T'au populace. The Core Assembly House museum on Dal'yth even has an entire exhibit dedicated to the "Farsight Rebellion".
- Would Hurt a Child: Durian shows that he's not above murdering xenos children when he shoots Tsh'varian — a twelve-year-old T'au cadet — with his wrist-mounted Bolter when the latter tries climbing into an XV86 battlesuit, killing the child in spectacular, gory fashion.
