The Rebel Faction

[size=2]Trandosha: Streets of Hsskhor

Besk chuckled. "You are a bright kid, pity you are sitting on the wrong side of the fence as it were." He pressed the knife against his throat a bit more firmly. "I want to know where the Separatists are hiding, especially Rissonik."

"The Separatists?" Kysh echoed, his mind racing as he tried to think of a way out of this. "They were all killed in that missile strike..."

Besk took the knife away from his throat, but only long enough so he could cuff the kid on the snout, making him yelp with pain. "Do not lie to me kid." Besk hissed dangerously. "Especially with such an obvious lie. Now you either start talking or I start curving pretty designs in your hide!"

...

The climb down felt like it took ages, when in reality it only took a moment. However she knew that every second wasted meant the kid had a lesser chance of surviving this encounter, especially with Besk involved. Though she was cloaked, she peeked around the corner cautiously and wondered how she was going to save the kid.

She had to get him to drop the knife somehow, but she knew that striking his arm would likely result in him cutting the kid by reflex. A blow to the midriff would do, but she knew he wore armor underneath that trench coat of his. The armor was nothing overly heavy or strong, but it was strong enough to make damaging him with her K'Zur difficult at best.

As she watched Besk struck the kid, causing a rush anger and hate to flare up in her soul. But his action made something catch her eye: when he struck the kid the flap of his trench coat moved just enough to show her that his armor did not protect his side. No doubt that was for flexibility reasons: you needed flexibility when welding a large weapon like a K'Zuta, but more importantly, she knew where to hit him now. Steeling herself, she charged.

...

He was so focused on the kid that he didn't hear someone rushing up to him. Suddenly his side went aflame with pain, causing him to drop the knife and let go of the kid. His right hand clutched his right side as he staggered backwards a couple paces, doubling over slightly. It was the sure surprise of the attack that caused the low pain filled hiss escape from his lips rather then the pain itself. Pain that was intensified when someone knocked him to the ground.

Before he could right himself, he caught a glimpse of the kid practically flying away, being carried by someone he couldn't see. You again... He thought with a low hiss, remembering the invisible opponent he had encountered in the Sykir territory. Seething from the humiliation he just suffered, he forced himself to his feet to attempt to pursue. However his vision was fuzzy and he was forced to lean against the wall for support: apparently he was more badly injured then he thought.

Taking a moment to assess his injury he found that it was a serious wound. Two deep slash marks right below where his armor stopped protecting him, both oozing crimson blood at a steady pace. It was a wound that required medical attention for someone his age, but with his current social status that wouldn't happen. With a frustrated hiss, he realized he was going to be forced to take it easy and stay low until the wound healed on his own.

...

She had ran for a few blocks and climbed back up to the rooftops before slowing her pace. Watching the streets and the rooftops warily for any sign of pursuit she finally stopped, her breaths coming in heavy from the sudden exertion. She was confident she had hurt Besk enough to prevent him from pursuing, though with Besk one can never tell.

Satisfied that he wasn't chasing, she put the kid down and uncloaked, to let him know it was her more then anything else. "Are you ok kid?" She asked.

A part of her wanted to go back and finish Besk off, but caution and concern for the kid's well being made her stay put.

Savendevis HQ

Varcanna watched as the Admiral walked away, glad that Fikan now knew about this and the process of finding the ones that did it would soon start, however the whole thing bugged her. She could see the holes in the system here: any sudden, unexpected silence from a function as important as Communications should have been investigated immediately. Sure such a precaution bordered on paranoia, but when you have a organization and a base that was supposed to be secretive.

Something is not right... She thought as she finally reached her room. The three girls immediately got down and went to bed. Rubbing her arms she went next door to Naosha's room.
"Mother you still have your blaster with you?" She asked.

Naosha, who was about to comment on how long it took her to get the girls, realized something must have happened to make her ask such a question in a place like this. "Of course, why?"

Varcanna told her about what she found in Communications and Naosha nodded slowly. "That is odd." She said. "Any base with a half decent system would have wondered at the sudden silence of such an important function. How long were they silent?"

"Not sure, but I know the last confirmed communication with them as far as Fikan was concerned was during our last meeting."

"That's two hours ago...too long. With all the traffic this base has someone should have said something. At the very least certain protocols need to be reinforced...compliancy could mean the death of this base and this organization."

"At any rate, the murderers are still on the loose and who knows who their next target will be."

"Let's keep our doors locked then and a blaster under our pillow." Naosha said with a faint hiss. "If any one means to strike at us directly, we won't be caught with our pants down."

[/size]

[size=2]Trandosha: Streets of Hsskhor

"Other then a bit of bruising…I’m fine." Kysh said, dusting himself off. "Thanks, I thought I was a goner for sure."

"He seemed to know you. I guess you had a run in with him before?" The white Trandoshan asked.

"Uh huh." Kysh said, subconsciously he rubbing his neck, realizing just how lucky he was when he felt a slight indentation on his scales where the knife had been. "Last time it was a crowd of protesters that saved me."

She nodded and looked around, making sure they were still safe. "He should have pursued." She muttered, then looked at the blades on the K’Zur she had equipped. "Seems I hurt him more then I thought I did." She said with a mild chuckle, noting the gore was covering roughly an inch on two of her blades. Then an almost evil grin formed on her lips. "This will make it even easier to wear him down."

"If he’s hurt that bad, why not just go finish him off?" Kysh asked.

She looked down at him, a look of pure hate in her eyes. "Because I want him to suffer."

Savendevis HQ

The first explosion nearly knocked them off their feet, red lights and sirens going off in a full scale base alarm. Varcanna rushed next door to check on the kids, who were awakened by the noise and looked understandably frightened. The adult Trandoshan quickly herded them out of her room and into Naosha’s; then promptly locked the door behind her.

"Seems nothing good last long with me…" Naosha said with a sad sigh, drawing her blaster. First I lose Rissonik for 20 years…most of my children are slain…then Trazu loses his mate and loses his fight with the K’Satizitus….now this. What have I done to deserve this? She thought bitterly.

The second explosion then knocked both of them off their feet.

Medic Bay

The explosions jarred him awake, rousing his warrior’s instincts. Silliss opened his eyes and saw the red alarm lights and could hear the sirens. He wanted to help repel whatever it was that was attacking the base, but he was still too weak from the bug that had infected him earlier. To get up now to fight could cause a relapse, something he couldn’t risk. That didn’t keep him from being eager for battle though.

One of the nurses, having noted his expression, gave him a stern ‘don’t even think about it’ look.[/size]

Savendevis HQ: Engineering

The Trandoshan engineer shook his head, clearing the stars out of his vision. He had been finished receiving a tour of the engineering section when the explosion knocked both him and his guide off their feet.

“What the hell caused that…” His guide, the chief engineer, grumbled, rubbing her head as she rose to her feet. “I just checked the reactor levels a few minutes ago and they were fine.”

“Must be sabotage.” The Trando engineer said. “Reactors don’t blow for no good reason.”

The Chief and the Trandoshan ran back the way they came, only to see the way blocked by an emergency door. Through the small window they could see the scalding hot steam and in the distance one of the coolant pipes spraying coolant everywhere. On the door itself was a temperature gadge and it was reading well over 150 degrees.

“Oh shit…if it’s that hot in that room the reactors will be at critical mass within moments.” The chief engineer said. “If we don’t vent the heat into space the reactors will blow.” She slammed her fist on the door. “And the control panel to do it is in that room.”

“Can the controls be rerouted?” The trandoshan asked.

“Yes, but that will take time...time we don’t likely have.”

The Trandoshan pondered silently for a moment, then said. “Let me go in there.”

The Chief looked at him in shock. “You end up cooking before you reach the controls and there’s not guarantee the controls haven’t melted.”

“My people’s homeworld is hot and arid, which means I have a better chance of surviving long enough to do the task then you do.” The Trandoshan countered. “If someone doesn’t at least try everyone on this base will lose their lives.”

The Chief sighed. She really didn’t like the idea of a guest sacrificing himself for this, but he was right: he had a better chance then she did to succeed. With another sigh she pulled out a datapad and handed it to him. “This has all the authorization codes you will need to operate the panel.” She said. “The panel is on the far side of the room on the right. I’ll open the door, when it opens you have only a few seconds to run through before it shuts again. Good luck.”

The Trandoshan nodded and took off his shirt. Taking the datapad he wrapped it up in the shirt to help protect it while the Chief punched in the manual override on the door. In less then a moment, the door opened and they were blasted by a wave of heat. Reflexively his third eyelids slid over his eyes to protect them and, taking a split second to steel his nerves, ran in.

The heat was intense, making it nearly impossible to breath and he had to force himself to take each breath, the heat scalding his lungs. He had to blink rapidly to keep his third eyelid from becoming dry and cracking, which made it difficult to see where he was going. His skin felt like it was under a thousand heat lamps and he could feel it starting to blister.

He saw the control panel up ahead and a problem. The panel was right next to where the broken coolant pipe was and it was spraying the panel with it’s fluids. Coolant was highly toxic and there was the chance the liquid shorted out the panel’s circuits. Knowing he couldn’t turn back now, not with a whole base of personnel counting on him, he unwrapped the datapad and used his shirt as a shield as he reached the panel.

Luck was on his side, the panel was still functioning. He inserted the datapad and was forced to wait for the computer to verify the codes. After what felt like hours, he was given a series of commands. Knowing getting rid of the excess heat was top priority, he went through several levels of commands to order the base ventilation system to expel the heat out into space. Taking a moment to study the gauges, he noted the temperature raise in the reactor core had slowed, but was still rising: he needed to try to reroute the coolant.

As he searched for the right commands he found his hands were getting stiff from the intense heat and he could feel pressure around his eyes as the tissue around them started to swell. Despite his shield, the coolant was still getting through as tiny droplets and getting into his eyes, meaning his eyes will eventually swell up to the point to where he could no longer see. He had to fight the urge to rub his eyes, which would only make his problem worse for his hands were wet with coolant.

His vision now diminishing, he struggled to complete his task. Finally he got the system to shut the valve leading to the broken pipe and, through a blurry haze, managed to reroute the coolant to the reactor to a different route. He took one last look at the gauge, using the last of his vision to verify that the temperature had stabilized and was finally starting to go back down.

He then collapsed.

Elsewhere

Tiscus had been exploring the base at his lesure, several marines were with him, mostly to make sure none of the resident soldiers mistook the large Trandoshan cyborg for the enemy. However when the alarms and explosions went off, they ran off. Tiscus, not having anything else better to do, went ran after them.

Down one long cooridor an explosion erupted from one of the walls just as the marines passed, most of them were killed instantly and those that weren’t killed were badly injured or rendered otherwise incapable of fighting: Tiscus had been just far enough away to avoid injury. When the smoke cleared a bunch of invaders starting pouring in, only for them to stop and gauk at the massage cyborg in before them, not sure if he was friend or foe.

Tiscus made a show of pondering the situation, scratching his chin. Then with a gleeful smirk he said. “I don’t kelieve you were invited…”

He then started ripping into them…

Naosha’s Room

Varcanna wanted to go out there and help their allies, but since she lacked the knowledge of knowing exactly what was going on it was better for her to stay put with her mother and the kids. Besides, her gut was telling her that their own enemies may try to take them out while the rest of the base was distracted. From the nervous glances her mother was doing, she knew Naosha felt the same way.

It was eerily quiet in the room, the kids were all huddled together looking scared, even Trissan. But that silence was a good thing, for Varcanna heard when someone approached the door to the room. Varcanna, not taking any chance, motioned for Naosha to take the kids and hide in the closet. The red female quietly moved to the door and put her earhole against it.

“Well?” She heard someone say, the voice faint due to the door.

“Locked.” Another voice replied, this one clearer.

“Blow it open then.”

Shit. Varcanna quickly and quietly moved to the closet and closed the door, motioning for Naosha to put herself and the kids as deep into the closet as they could. Her mother and the kids as safe as they could be from the explosion and the enemy fire soon to follow, she now looked for a place to shield herself as well. Besides shielding, she needed a place she could use to ambush from.

The door was in a mini hallway that was about three feet long. To the immediate left of the door after the hallway ended was a plant and a dresser. Varcanna put herself between these, drew out her baton and dagger, and waited.

Trandosha: Hsskhor, Hyossk’s chambers

Hyossk paced, the news he had been receiving was getting worse and worse. More ships had been lost in the fight near the asteroid belt: two of them not destroyed but reportedly had gone AWOL, more organizations were striking, and now there were rumors of sightings of his own son Risscus spreading Separatist propaganda. Plus the recent appearance of Besk in his chambers still unnerved him and he hoped to soon hear word of the traitor’s capture…or death, he really didn’t care either way now.

He paused his pacing to look up at the skull of the K’Satizitus, it’s empty sockets ever watchful of him and he felt a shudder go down his spine.

“You cursed me didn’t you?” He hissed lowly at the skull. “Ever since I had you pilfered from the K’Satikur temple things have been hitting the crapper. Perhaps if I destroyed you things will starting getting better.”

What a silly notion. He thought, his idea of smashing the skull to pieces suddenly gone from his mind. It’s nothing but bone and polish. It can’t hurt me and smashing it won’t improve my situation. However…marshall law will. That option had slipped his mind for some reason, likely due to the stress he was under he gathered. Under marshal law he can force the populous to work and effectively keep any propagandists from spreading their poison.

A smile forming on scaly lips, Hyossk went to call the Army Admiral.

Savendevis HQ: Naosha’s room

The wait was nerve wracking, but Varcanna forced herself to be patient and to keep her breathing steady. She had no idea who it was that was going to attempt to bring them harm, but being an accomplished warrior she was going to insure they didn’t succeed.

Finally there was a loud bang when the explosive went off and she heard the door fall over with a thud. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a faint smoke cloud waft into the room and she had to force herself not to sneeze. Clenching her weapons in her hands tightly, she waited for the assailants to enter. Soon enough, she heard them whispering to each as they entered.

“We should toss a few grenades to soften them off.”

“To impersonal. I want to see the look on the bitch’s face when we kill her kids.”

Varcanna sneered, almost growling and revealing herself. She had to fight to keep herself from rushing at them right then and force herself to wait longer. Let them come to her. She could have sworn their voices sounded familiar.

For moment her vision focused on the plant: it was miniature version of some tree species from some unknown planet. An idea came to her, slightly risky but will even the odds she was facing. Quietly, she sheathed her dagger and put her hand on the tree’s trunk, ensuring she didn’t jostle the leaves. Finally one of the enemies stepped into the main room and Varcanna was mildly surprised to see it was one of the Trandoshan Ambassadors from the meeting. Well, that certainly explained why they were being sloppy about their assault: no assassin with half a brain would reveal their position or intent with idle chatter.

She steeled herself, preparing herself to attack: she wanted the second assailant to step beyond the hallway before making her move. The problem was whether or not the first would spot her before then. The first looked around and straightened, his pose relaxing. Varcanna nearly laughed: how could he not see her!?

“Looks like they are not here.” The Ambassador said.

“With the base under alert they wouldn’t be wondering the base.” The second sneered, finally coming into view. “Check the whole…” His sentence was interrupted when he suddenly got a face full of branches, Varcanna having tripped over the plant right on top of him.

Not hesitating, Varcanna sprang at the first, screaming a battle cry. The first Ambassador was quite started, jumping back a bit and firing his pistol wildly. Varcanna swung her baton in an upward arc, knocking the pistol up and out of his hands. She followed up by punching the male in the snout with her fist, causing him to stagger backwards a few more paces.

Knowing the tree would only be a temporary obstacle, she dropped to the floor and sweeped out with her feet, knocking the second Ambassador off his feet, the tree falling on top of him. Quickly she jumped to her feet and redirected her attention to the first, who was looking for his pistol A quick blow to the head with her baton ended his attempt.

She felt a sudden flash of heat on her skin as a blaster bolt whizzed by her arm, barely missing her. Turning she noted the second Ambassador had managed to throw the tree off him and level his pistol at her. He was still in a semi-prone position and was firing rapidly at her. Varcanna was forced to dive to the side to avoid getting swiss cheesed. In the cramped space of the room it was hard to avoid getting hit and Varcanna knew she needed to disarm him somehow before she did get hit.

Suddenly a blaster bolt from a different direction stuck the Ambassador in the arm. Screaming in pain, the male dropped his weapon and Varcanna rushed toward him and beaned him one on the head.

“It looked like you needed some help there.” Naosha said, stepping out of the closet, her blaster in hand.

Varcanna nodded, smiling and kicked the unconscious male. “I’d finish the bastards off, but I figured Fikan would want to decide their fate.” Just then a couple of marines rushed into the room. “Ah, just in time. Would you be so kind as to take these two into custody?”

Trandosha: Streets of Hsskhor

She was looking for a place to settle for the day, an abandoned building preferably, thinking of tracking down and harassing the wounded Besk that night: she and the kid had gone their separate ways. As she moved along the rooftops, her cloaking device active, she was probably the first to notice the military vehicles coming down the road, their beds full of soldiers.

Somethings going down. She thought, watching the vehicles drive by with mild interest, assuming they were on their way to strike a single target. But no. She quickly realized this was not the case. From her high perch she watched as the trucks stopped at different locations along the block she was in, the soldiers unloading and armed to the teeth. They weren’t searching the buildings, but rather setting up control points and patrol routes on the streets. It was like they increased the patrols ten fold.

Her curiosity peeked, she climbed down to ground level, to seek out the reasoning behind the sudden increase in military presence. She got her answer when she looked at the news cast on the view screens on sale in a store: the planet had been put under Marshal Law!

She recognized the problems with this. For one the people won’t stand for this, meaning they were sure to revolt. Another problem was on a more personal level: she could get by the patrols with little difficulty thanks to the cloaking device, but getting food for herself will now be a problem. No doubt a curfew will be enforced, right during her prime hunting time, and with the increased patrols finding a lone victim will now be next to impossible.

However the one good point, and this brought a smile to her face, Besk will no doubt have difficulty finding a safe place to recover now. With him having a warrant out for his arrest he would be forced to avoid any contact with those soldiers. On that front, her quest just got easier…

Trandosha: Warehouse

“Sha’tor.”

Rissonik opened on red eye and glanced at the warrior beside him. He had been taking a much needed rest from coordinating all the propaganda spread, which for propaganda was actually heavy fact based. The elder male quickly noted the look of distress on the warriors face and sat up. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Hyossk has declared Marshal Law on the planet.” The warrior said. “There’s soldiers everywhere, making even simple message delivering next to impossible without being detected.”

Rissonik sat up, his face full of concern. “Have our propagandists been able to reach safety?” He asked feeling especially concerned about Russis. The son of the Speaker Above All was at very high risk of getting caught now.

“Our supporters are aiding them in their escape as we speak Sha’tor.” The warrior said. “They will soon be in predetermined safe houses, if they haven’t arrived already.”

“Good.” The elder Trandoshan said, raising to his feet. “But we will need to figure out how to continue to put pressure on the government. This…development…will make things difficult as you said.” Rissonik paced a bit, thinking. Getting around will now be next to impossible due to the dramatic increase in patrols, at least on street level. There had to be another way.

A thought occurred to him. This warehouse used to be a part of a chemical processing plant, the vats that used to hold the chemicals removed long ago to be turned into scrap. He pushed past the warrior and started searching, looking around on the floor of the warehouse, several warriors and supporters giving him puzzled looks.

Finally he found what he was looking for, partly covered by a supply crate. Knocking the crate aside he revealed a manhole cover and with a bit of effort, was able to lift the cover off, revealing the ladder down into the sewer network below.

“Does anyone have a map of the sewer system…or where to get one?” Rissonik asked.

Alley way somewhere

Just how much more rotten can my luck get? Besk thought, scowling in silence as another group of soldiers walk by on patrol. One of them gave him a ‘move along’ look and Besk was forced to comply, not wanting to risk being recognized and pursued, especially in his current condition.

The wound that cloaker succeeded in giving him wasn’t getting any better: it started to bleed again whenever he had to move suddenly. The pain he could take, he wasn’t a former K’Satikur warrior for nothing after all, it was the blood lost that worried him. At his age he wouldn’t heal such a wound as quickly now and he desperately needed to find a place to rest. With all these soldiers roaming around, finding a quiet place to rest was next to impossible.

I will persevere… He thought with a growl. And reclaim my rightful place in society.

Unknown location

Steam wafted up from the pools, the smell of scented bath oils relaxing their aging muscles. However, current events made the minds of the three Trandoshan’s that were in the pools less then relaxed.

“He’s getting reckless…and inconsiderate.” One said, up to his neck in the water.

“Indeed. He’s taking it upon himself to make the decisions, when that’s the full Council’s job.” Another, a female, said. This one was in a separate pool from the other two, her arms resting along the top of the pools edge.

“Especially regarding declaring Marshal Law. On the whole planet no less.” A third said with a nod as he rubbed oil onto the skin of his arm, sitting on the pools edge.

“He is overstepping his boundaries of power in his paranoia. Angering the public as a result.” The female said. “And fast showing them and us that he is no longer fit to hold the title of Speaker Above All.”

“It seems Naosha was right after all.” The first said quietly, the other two nodding in solemn agreement. “At this rate, Hyossk will lead us to complete ruin before the end of the year.”

“Unfortunately, the rest of the Council is blind to his idiocy and without the majority it would be suicide to speak out against him, both to our positions and very lives.” The third said.

“So what can we do? Sitting here doing nothing won’t help matters, but revealing ourselves won’t help either.”

“We could arrange for Hyossk’s assassination.”

“From recent rumors his son and successor Russis is a Separatist, but more importantly against his father. However even if we succeeded, it would not help us as we would still be two short of the majority.” They were short one Council member, namely Naosha’s old position, meaning that unless they somehow convinced two other Council members of the Hyossk’s incompetence they would have no hope of ending this mess.

“What about secretly reinstating Naosha…then assassinating Hyossk?”

“We would still need the majority of the out of the other Councilors.” The female Councilor said, twisting around to face the other two. “The Speaker only votes if there is a deadlock for some reason. Besides, last I heard Naosha was off planet…and not reachable.”

“And so are both her offspring…” The first Councilor said with a frustrated sigh. By right, either Varcanna or Trazu could fill in for Naosha in her absence.

“What about offing one of the other Councilor’s then?” The third said, finally sinking into the water fully.

“You sure like the idea of assassination don’t you?” The female Councilor said, with a half amused grin. “That is an idea…but we would be playing a gamble for we don’t know what stance the other Councilors heirs have.”

“Perhaps we should find out and plan accordingly then.”

“We would need to kill two of them, unless we find a way to get Naosha back here to reassume her role.”

“What about Rissonik?” The first suddenly piped in, sitting up so the water only rose to his chest now.

“What about him?”

“He’s Naosha’s lifemate according to official records. It might be bending the rules a bit…but couldn’t he take Naosha’s place in her, and her children’s, absence?”

“Provided he is still alive.” The third Councilor said. “It may work, but we run into the same problem of getting into contact with him.” The other two nodded in agreement. “So here’s what we got. We find out which Councilor’s heir is as sick of Hyossk’s rule as we are, kill that Councilor so that individual can assume that position. Then try to locate Rissonik and convince him to take his mate’s old position on a temporary basis until Naosha returns.”

“If we succeed on those two points we would have the majority vote we would need. However, I have a feeling Hyossk will stubbornly hold on to his post despite our vote and with four other Councilor’s on his side dislodging him won’t be easy.”

“Unless we assassinate him.” The third said with a smile.

Saverendis HQ: Medic Bay

Tiscus wandered the halls, looking for more invaders to smash into pulp. He found a couple, but the sight of him made them turn tail and run. The cyborg chuckled and continued on, not bothering to chase them. He eventually came across the blown up hallway where Lissuss was waiting in ambush.

Someone had some fun. He thought with another chuckle. Wondering if someone was still in the area, he easily looked over the metal wall and saw Lissuss there, who gaped at him. “Ah, good day to you mam. I’ll leave kis spot to you.” He said with a respectful nod, then turned and walked away to continue his search.

Naosha’s room

“I think we should stay in your room Varca.” Naosha said as she ushered the kids out of the closet. “At least until they fix my door…”

Varcanna nodded. “I have a feeling Fikan may relocate our rooms once this is over though.”

“That would be the ideal thing…in fact, next time I see him, I’ll request it.” The older Trandoshan chuckled. “Looks like we will have two less members at the meeting though.”

“Oh they didn’t have anything important to say anyway.” Varcanna said with a grin.