by Aer-ki Jyr
Morgan came through and bowled them aside with a concussive blast, clearing the way for Paul and Ken’slan to enter while she pushed ahead. Kara dropped down behind them and pulled the doors back together as much as she could, leaving a 4 inch gap where she could no longer get a fingerhold and following Ken’slan from behind as an honor guard while Paul ran ahead and took down what little Morgan dropped enroute to the first main intersection in the hallways.
There the two Archons split up and went on a stunning spree, leaving Kara with Ken’slan as they worked their way through a different section of the den, taking down all those who they came across with the Scionate being little more than a tagalong…though Kara did let him beat down those that weren’t much of a threat to give him something to do.
The three Archons kept in contact via battlemeld and comm when they were otherwise out of range, intent on keeping the Scionate away from the exits and confined to the den while they worked through their stun slaughter, though they did have to rush to various points to head off several evacuation efforts, forcing the leadership to flee once again to other areas, trying to avoid the Humans that they knew were coming even as they called for heavy reinforcements on the outside.
Some of the Vensiol bloodline managed to make it out of the building through the back entrances, all lower ranking members, who fled across the plaza ring and ran into a barricade of multi-colored armored security forces from a number of different bloodlines.
“Stand down and surrender,” one of them demanded of the three unarmored Scionate skidding to a halt on the street ahead of them as they met up with the line of armor not allowing them to pass. One of them froze in place as ordered, but the other two turned and ran, with four of the armored Scionate jumping out and sprinting after them, setting up a chase that went across half of the plasma before one of the armored ones fired a tiny needle/dart into the back of the neck of the slower of the two. It injected a numbing agent on contact, taking a number of seconds to enter the bloodstream but almost immediately slowing the fleeing Vensiol and allowing a takedown to be made.
With one of the armored Scionate standing atop the now disconcerted one and claiming it as a prisoner, the others tracked down the second and fired a similar needle/dart with identical consequences. Gripping either one by the neck, the bloodline security soldiers pulled their captives over their backs and walked off with them, clearing the plaza and taking them to nearby transports where the dopey prisoners were properly restrained and shipped off as soon as each hover vehicle was full, clearing out the Vensiol opposition a few at a time as their military reinforcements began to arrive.
Those few that came by street were stopped by the security, resulting in some nasty fighting that ultimately saw the overthrowers winning out, but the bulk of the reinforcements came by air in the form of transports flying in over the courtyard and landing hundreds of fresh troops that moved into the den, having been kept on standby for just this sort of situation after the first attack that had thoroughly overwhelmed their defenses.
This time though they had Kara to deal with, which kept the perimeter guards’ attempted delay at a minimum, meaning that once again the Humans had managed to get inside and the reinforcements would have to go in after them. When they landed there was no hesitation, despite what they knew of the Humans’ capabilities. They eventually managed to pull open the main doors despite Kara’s handiwork, as well as moving in through the auxiliary entrances, flooding the den with troops outfitted with heavy weaponry and accoutrements…basically anything and everything they thought they’d need to counter the Humans, including grapple nets and other nonlethal gadgets meant to at least slow them down long enough to shoot them.
That gave Morgan and Paul more than enough targets to satiate the two Archons, who were both eager for a personalized beatdown after fighting the recent battle from afar…more so for Paul, but Morgan being confined to a mech cockpit just didn’t have the same satisfaction as taking it to them commando style. Fueled with plenty of senzu beans between them and an understanding of the layout and the Scionate combat preferences from the first assault, the pair wove their way around the complex solo, mowing down the opposition like they were hunting targets in a videogame for points, actually going after the reinforcements as they came in rather than playing defense and trying to avoid them.
All the while Kara stayed with Ken’slan as they did their own fair share of the takedowns, with her stunning those that he beat into submission while slowly working their way around a different section of the den from the other two and eventually ending up at the audience chamber…which they found empty. The Chieftans had been smart enough not to try and hide here twice, but Ken’slan suspected he knew where they were and led Kara across the complex to a ladder shaft that led down to the lowest levels where a sacred display of relics from Scionate history resided…and a place that was off limits to combat in any form.
Ken’slan wasn’t about to break with that tradition, but suspected the cowards were hiding there and led Kara down to it, electing to stay outside the entrance when the Human told him that there were indeed people inside, somehow having scanned the interior with her formidable, yet tiny armor.
“I cannot go in. There is too much history in that place for combat to occur. No Scionate will enter, if they have their honor, and risk the relics…or the affront.”
“I’m not Scionate,” Kara pointed out.
“Exactly,” Ken’slan said with devious pleasure. “But please, try not to break anything. Drag them out here and I will deal with the Chieftans personally.”
“Easy enough,” Kara said, quietly pulling open and slipping through the doors as if she was a patron at a museum rather than a goddess of war pursuing enemies.
9
When Kara walked inside she saw a long hall with statues and other displays along the walls, as well as a few running down a center aisle. She took the left side and walked ahead, sensing where the various minds where and seeing that they’d split up and were hiding in different locations, spread around a large ring. That ring turned out to be a square of hallways that connected to the entrance corridor forming a large key shape with rooms on the interior and exterior.
It was in those rooms that the Scionate were hiding. When Kara came up to the first one she opened the door, mentally freezing the one inside that was ready to pounce and casually shooting it with a stun blast. She walked over and picked up its limp body, swung the big, unarmored cat over her shoulders and walked out, made a right, walked some more, made another right, and headed back up the entry corridor to the entrance.
She stepped outside and walked over to where Ken’slan was waiting and dumped Yen’sor at his feet. “One down, 35 to go.”
“35?” he asked, none too gently poking a paw into the unconscious Scionate’s ribs.
“I did a quick head count. There are no other exits, correct?”
“Not that I am aware of, no.”
“Good,” she said, turning around. “I’ll be back with more.”
“Thank you, Human.”
“My pleasure,” Kara said from behind her armor’s scales that covered her face as well as the rest of her body. Then she ducked inside again to fetch another one.
Ken’slan looked down at Yen’sor, a Vensiol he knew well from previous dealings, and whispered at his unconscious face. “You are lucky the Humans took you alive. Had we done this ourselves, you and your kin would most likely not have survived.”
He reached down as he retracted his own armor’s helmet, then bit Yen’sor around the neck in a carry and dragged him over to the side just before Kara brought out another.
“Place him here,” he instructed, with her tossing the heavy Scionate to the ground as if he weighed nothing. How someone so small could exude so much strength was awe inspiring, though he guessed it had something more to do with technology than muscle.
He reached down and bit Har’man, dragging him over to the position he wanted as Kara retreated inside t
o get the next one, which was when the Scionate heard sounds of combat nearby. He reactivated his helmet, which extended out from his neckline and wrapped around his face, then he ran backwards a bit to see what was happening and encountered a pair of soldiers coming his way.
He growled and leapt at them, firing a plasma blast into one’s shield to weaken it before he head-butted the rest of the defensive barrier into shambles. With it down and the soldier disoriented he pawed his face aside so hard that the bigger cat bounced into the wall as he turned on the other. Those two went at it for several seconds before the other one got himself on his feet and lunged at Ken’slan, knocking him down and shooting him in the chest.
The Grisst reactivated his shield just in time to catch it, then turned it off again so that the paw blows to come wouldn’t drain energy…and old tactic that these young ones apparently had never been taught. Next thing they knew Ken’slan was back on his feet, crouched low to the ground, then he waited for them to move. When one jumped on him he leapt up towards it, attempting an undercut, but a blur of red passed him and punched both soldiers back down the hallway so hard and fast that they were immediately stunned and crumpled on the ground, unresponsive for a long moment.
Kara raised an arm and shot both of them with the stun energy, letting it sink through their shieldless armor and into their bodies, putting them out for at least an hour, if not more.
“I am glad we are not facing off as enemies on the battlefield,” Ken’slan said graciously as Kara came back to him…then she did a double take and turned the other way with little more than a nod of response.
She ran around the far corner, turning right and flying down a few dozen meters to where she kicked into a mass of Scionate heading their way, sending one of them back like a bowling ball through the others before going Neo on the rest of them and physically beating their shields down before landing punch/shots of stun into the 26 of them…with Ken’slan coming around the corner to witness only the last few before it was only her remaining standing.
“Come on,” she said, bypassing him and heading back to the relic chamber. “These guys are just a distraction.”
“For you, perhaps,” he said, following her back with lopey strides but again refusing to enter the chamber, instead turning about and playing guard should any more soldier make their way to them.
When Kara entered again she noticed that some of the mental positions had changed, and so did she…intending to just stun them all with one go-around then haul them out one by one. She headed for the closest one on the left and began to work her way around the square, eventually coming to a group of five hidden within a small room on the interior 90 degrees around the square. Freezing five minds at once was tricky, so instead she just hit them all with a Fornax field and walked in to find them lying on the floor, maintaining the field while she stunned them all.
On the way out she paused, noticing a particular relic that she could have swore was Cloud’s sword from Final Fantasy VII. She shook off the notion, realizing that some of these relics must have been trophies from past conquests, for that sword thing definitely couldn’t have been used by a quadruped with no hands.
Kara made a right and continued around the square, coming across a pair of armored guards along with one of the Chieftans, all three of which she left where they lay until she’d finished with the rest. When she came back to pick them up, she took the unarmored one first and dumped him outside at Ken’slan’s feet, with the Scionate recognizing Ura’bor and pulling his counterpart off to the side, separate from the others.
Kara eventually finished bringing them all out, with Ken’slan dismissing a pile of them as not being Chieftans, which the Human then moved to another area as Paul came up to them.
“Tag,” he said, mentally transmitting an image of hundreds of troops pouring into the complex.
Kara reached out her hand and fist-bumped Paul as she passed, knowing that she was better suited to dealing with such large numbers than he was.
Paul walked over to Ken’slan and inspected the haul of prisoners.
“Did we get them all?”
“There are 2 missing. I do not know if they are in the den or not, but their leader is here,” Ken’slan said, motioning with his nose to where he had Ura’bor laid. “How long will they remain unconscious?”
“Depends on how much stun Kara gave them. I would guess a few hours, but we need to restrain them before that.”
“We will need my security for that.”
“They’ll have to wait a bit,” Paul said, flinching as he sensed another group of soldiers moving nearby. “There are too many troops around for them to get through.”
“Can you handle them?”
“Given time, yes.”
“Then go…I will remain with these.”
“Alright, I’ll go hunting in the immediate area, but I’ll stick close in case a few slip by.”
“I can handle a few,” Ken’slan said stoically. “Help the others.”
Paul nodded and ran off, extending his Ikrid range as far as it could go and keeping it there like his personal radar, striking out towards the nearest minds while staying close enough to keep a lock on Ken’slan. It was tricky to do while fighting, but he’d had enough practice in training that he could now slip into that mode without much conscious effort.
He didn’t like the limited range he had to fight within, but it was much better than standing next to his ward while the other two fought the Scionate troops, though he had to be careful to stay within sprinting range to get back to shield Ken’slan in time, barely making it twice and intercepting the enemy infantry before they got to him…both times in which the troops had approached from the opposite side where his detection range was shorter.
Paul continued his hunter runs, clogging up the hallways with stunned troops and nearly running himself out of replacement clips before Morgan signaled that the counterassault was over. He returned to Ken’slan, informing him of the temporary cease in fighting, whereupon the bloodline leader called in his security and those allied with him using the comm in his armor…with hundreds of multi-colored armored cats arriving and taking custody of the prisoners, most of which they had to strip out of their armor.
Paul stuck with Ken’slan the entire time, making sure nothing happened to him, with Morgan and Kara patrolling the interior of the ruling den without going outside it for fear of drawing unwanted attention. Those security inside had been informed of their presence and purpose, but the rest of the city would still probably consider them to be enemies.
From there on there was a flurry of activity. Transports rolled/floated in to take away the soldiers and civilians while leaving the Chieftans behind, whom they took to the audience chamber in manacles that only allowed them to walk with short steps, unable to run or fight. A large number of other Scionate without armor joined them inside, with Ken’slan eventually deploying guards at the entrance and asking for the Humans to come inside with him.
The Scionate was still wearing his armor, helmet retracted, making him the only one in the chamber so adorned. The rest wore clothing of various colors, most symbolic of their bloodlines, but their feet were bare, as was normal for Scionate. No one was situated on the lounging pedestals, which signified the Chieftans of the ruling bloodline, while their former occupants now sat before them on the stone floor with the others grouped into clumps representing the various bloodlines, each with 3 or 4 representatives for those that Grisst and Wennitan were favorable with, and a single individual for the others that had been fortunate enough to be given invites, most of whom were powerful rivals, leaving the lesser bloodlines out of the transition entirely.
“I trust that all of you have been informed of the facts surrounding this debacle?” Ken’slan asked the crowd, getting various nods from the bloodline leaders. “Very well. Vensiol has been deposed, bloodlessly so, for the most part, and I intend to keep it that way. The former Chieftans will not be harmed, so long as they relinquish their po
sitions within their bloodline. Their stupidity cannot be left to taint their bloodline any further. If they refuse, they will remain prisoners of Grisst…or perhaps of the Humans, given that they have suffered most from their misdeeds. What say you, Ura’bor?”
The deposed bloodline leader looked up from the ground as Ken’slan walked up to within a handful of meters and glared down at him. “You dishonor us all with your collusion. They have killed over a million of us, and yet you stand here with them as allies. I will not grace your treasonous question with a response,” he said, spitting at Ken’slan and having the sticky liquid fall a meter short.
Ken’slan turned to face the three Humans. “Do you want him?”
“We’re not in the habit of taking trophies,” Morgan replied.
“As you wish. Ura’bor, you will remain a prisoner of Grisst, and you have the Humans to thank for your life. Were this overthrow at the expense of great blood, yours would have been spilt as well. Think on that in your seclusion. You will be released when you choose to abdicate your leadership. Take him away.”
Two unarmored Scionate walked up next to Ura’bor, but he wouldn’t move until one of them punched him in the side, prompting him to lazily get to his feet so he could be nosed ahead towards the door, flanked by the guards as he was forced to walk through the other bloodline leaders in shame. When he was gone Ken’slan turned his attention to the other Chieftans.
“Abdicate or imprisonment. Which do you choose?”
“I will not taint my bloodline further with this failure,” Tem’lan said, his pride not lost. “I rescind my position so that another more worthy may lead.”
