Star Force: Penance (SF49) (9 page)

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 to 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 positions 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.
”

Ken’slan huffed approvingly. “
Remove his restraints
.”

Tem’lan stood up straight as he could as another
Scionate came forward and unlocked the four tethers from his ankles, allowing
him to move freely and leave the chamber under his own power to return to his
bloodline and disappear from the political arena…with the unspoken ban
preventing him from ever returning to a position of prominence.

Car’sem and three others followed him but the rest did
not, choosing imprisonment with the hope of being freed by another coup or
through trading, but Ken’slan was going to ensure that the latter did not happen.
These dishonorable traitors could not be permitted to rule again, in any form.