NationStates Jolt Archive

The chest of the rebel cracked as Bonfaaz Burntfur's archaic blade rammed into it, tearing through his internal organs and bursting out through his back. Burntfur growled with satisfaction as the rebel gulped and let out a series of spasms, coughing up his own blood, before yanking the blade sideways and slamming it into the neck of another rebel.

He then lifted up his assault rifle and unleashed a flurry of high-calibre bullets at one rebel who was readying a bazooka of some sort. The recoil of the large, elegantly designed light-brown weapon seemed to be inconsequential to the large creature as it blasted its payload. The deadly projectiles tore through the human's soft flesh, splashing blood across a nearby tree and knocking him to the floor.

"FORWARD!" Burntfur roared, throwing his arms into the air. He looked towards their destination and noticed one of the rebels charging at him. He grunted, amused, and returned the gesture; his powerful legs began pounding the soft dirt as he propelled himself towards the smaller creature. The human rebel was either brave or foolish -- perhaps both -- as he didn't stop. He screamed loudly, his eyes wild. They collided, shoulder-to-shoulder, and the human was sent flying backwards into a tree, slumping to the ground unconscious. Burntfur laughed as he grabbed the unconscious rebel's head and jerked it sideways, letting out a satisfying 'crack'.

He noticed a stinging pain in his side and looked down -- the human had jabbed a small knife in his side as they collided, and his blood began to soak his fur. He growled and yanked the blade out, and rammed it into the face of a nearby human as some sort of retribution.

The Charr pushed forward through the jungle with little opposition; some held back, laying down fire with their heavy assault rifles. Others took advantage of the dense foliage to engage the rebels in melee combat -- a type of combat the rebels simply had no chance of surviving. As the humans started to run, the Charr roared and gave chase, easily keeping up with them in their natural environment. One by one, the rebels fell to the ground in pools of their own blood.

The humans burst into a clearing and sprinted for their life. An ancient fortress stood in the centre of the clearing, a pale shadow of its former glory. From the looks of things, the stone structure had been built in the heyday of the Charr-Human War centuries ago, and simply abandoned and left to the jungle. These rebels had apparently cleared it up and taken up residence, making it their base of operations in this sector.

"Foolish cowards lead us right here..." Bonfaaz grunted as he saw the structure. He through back his head and roared, "DEMOLISH THE BUILDING! LEAVE NO-ONE ALIVE! CALL IN AIR SUPPORT!"

His soldiers roared enthusiastically, and leaped over the bushes and began sprinting through the clearing towards the towering building. Several of them were taken down by rebels who sat up in the battlements, firing at them with stolen Charr weapons. Some Charr were hit with stray bullets, but the pain only seemed to drive them even harder.

Several Charr soldiers leaped at weak-looking areas of the outer walls, smashing through the loose stone masonry, rolling across the floor, and instantly looking for prey on the inside of the structure. They began firing at the rebels who manned the battlements, sending them falling into the clearing outside. Some of them were entrenched behind thick stone walls, however. And managed to stay alive long enough to fire off a few shots over the walls every now and then.

The Charr soldiers inside the fortress dived for cover of their own, roaring victoriously as two elegantly-designed brown helicopter gunships swooped overhead, smashing the human emplacements to pieces with a single barrage of air-to-ground missiles. The two craft swooped down low and turned around, firing their guns at every human that moved while they hovered in the courtyard of the fortress. It was only a matter of time before the last three surviving rebels came out from hiding with their arms in the air. They had surrendered.

Charr soldiers sprinted underneath the gunships, grabbing the surrendering humans and dragging them to the centre of the courtyard. It was over.



Bonfaaz Burntfur stepped over the rubble where the soldiers had smashed through the wall, looking around in admiration at the destruction they had caused. He was somewhat disappointed to see some rebels had survived, but they could provide some sort of useful information. He pulled off the metal armour plate that covered his snout and walked towards the crowd at the centre of the courtyard. The two gunships had landed at the edge of the courtyard, and their pilots now stood beside their craft sunning themselves.

"I said no survivors," Burntfur growled at the highest-ranking solider.

"I know, sir," the soldier said. "But I thought we could find out about other rebel camps from these three. They appear to be of some importance." The soldier grabbed one of the rebels by the neck with his clawed hand, and pulled off a series of home-made insignia from his chest. He tossed the rebel back down to the floor and handed the insignia to Burntfur.

Burntfur grunted thoughtfully. "First thing is first -- search what remains of this structure for anything of value. I will deal with these baldies."

Burntfur was about to say something else when they both turned their heads as they heard some startled roars. One soldier peered around a wall and beckoned to them to come over. Burntfur growled, irritated at the possibility of complications, and stomped across the courtyard to see what was going on.

"What is it?" he snarled as he reached the wall.

"We have found something... wrong, sir," the soldier growled. "Follow me, sir."

Burntfur nodded, and the soldier turned. They walked through a door into the dark, damp corridors of the fortress. To a human, these corridors would seem very wide compared to those found on castles within their own realms, but to a Charr they were fairly narrow. Burntfur put his clawed hand over his arm wound as he kept scraping it against the rough stone walls.

Luckily, they could see fairly well in the dark, as the soldier lead them through the corridors without a light of any kind. He turned, and walked a short distance down another corridor, towards a glowing door. He pulled it open and allowed Burntfur to step through into a small, softly-illuminated room.

On a wooden table, fairly modern in design (though it was hard to tell with Charr furniture) was a long, pointed metal cone. Two Charr soldiers stood huddled over the object, squinting at the tiny writing on the side of an open panel. They looked up and put their fists against their chest as they noticed Burntfur.

"What is this?" he growled at them, glancing at the green cone.

"I think you should look for yourself, sir," one of them said nervously. Burntfur snapped his gaze back on them for a second, scowling at them as he pondered whether they were being insolent or simply nervous. He dismissed the idea after a pause, though, and bent down over the object.

It was hard to read the tiny, symbolic writing in these low-light conditions, but one symbol in particular caught his attention. Charr didn't exactly have extensive health and safety regulations, so they didn't slap huge, brightly-coloured warning symbols on everything, but one symbol in particular stood out to him.

The Charr symbol for lethal radiation.

"These rebels have a nuclear warhead?!" Burntfur exploded with anger, stepping back. "Where in the name of the Fiery Gods did they get this?!"

"I do not know sir," one of the soldiers said, shaking his head. "I was not aware that we had a nuclear stockpile."

"We don't!" Burntfur snapped. "We researched the weapons a few years ago, but they were deemed a dishonourable form of combat and were never built! And I of all people would be aware of it if we did! But this writing is in Charrian... nobody knows how to write in Charrian but us!"

He stood panting angrily for a while, scowling at the docile object, wondering where it could have come from and how these human rebels could have laid their slimy, bald hands on it.

"Take this away for examination," Burntfur grunted finally. "I want it dismantled, I want it analysed, I want to know who built it and how powerful it is. I will 'ask' those humans outside about it."

He turned and left the room, storming back through the corridors completely disregarding how often he scraped his wound against the walls. He burst outside again, squinting in the bright light, and strode across the courtyard. A powerful uppercut to the chin combined with the momentum of his body weight sent one of the prisoners into the air, slamming him down on his back unconscious. The other two looked up at him smugly, as though they knew what he had found.

"Where did you acquire that nuclear device?" Burntfur growled at them harshly. Humans and Charr in Tyria understood each other's languages perfectly, even if vocal cord differences prevented them from actually speaking them.

"Balthazar blessed us with weapons of his own awesome destructive power," one of them spluttered. "You furry beasts stand no chance against them! The coming of your sinful end is at hand!"

Burntfur looked at the rebel curiously. The wild-eyed expression on his face suggested that he actually believed that tripe.

"It seems that your lack of fur has frozen your brain," Burntfur snorted, wrapping his clawed fingers around the rebel's neck and lifting him a foot from the ground. He appreciated the choking sounds that resulted. "We have researched these weapons ourselves, and we know that outsiders possess them also. You do not need a false god to give them to you. Now I will not ask you again -- where did you acquire that nuclear device?"

The rebel kicked at him, made a couple of gurgling sounds, but said nothing.

"Then I have no choice but to carry out sentence," Burntfur shrugged. "You are hereby found guilty of treason, and as a person without honour you are deemed unworthy of life."

With that, he jerked his bulky arm backwards violently and increased his grip around the rebel's neck, enjoying the harsh 'snap' that resulted. He allowed the body to fall to the ground, limp, and then looked at the second rebel.

"Now, where did you acquire that nuclear device?!" he roared.

"I'm just a soldier!" the rebel screamed, breaking down in tears, and dropping to his knees. "I don't know where it came from! All I know is that they were going to use it on Lion's Arch, and they have two more for Ascalon City and Riverside Province!"

Burntfur was a little taken aback by his willingness to comply, but he was satisfied with the honesty of his answer -- if shocked by its contents. He yanked the rebel to his feet once again.

"You are on your way to redeeming your honour, don't spoil it by begging for your life," he growled. "Now, do you know where these other two devices are?"

The human looked somewhat nervous, and looked over his shoulder at the unconscious rebel behind him. "No... but, he does."

Burntfur's eyes darted to the side and looked down at the unconscious rebel, sighing inwardly.

"You had better pray to your false gods that when he wakes up, he can point out their locations on a map," Burntfur said, turning his back and walking away. "Or it will be on your honour. Warriors -- take them out of here for questioning and secure this area."