NationStates Jolt Archive

Cavourna watched as the Company of Rebels sacrificed itself to plug the gap in the line and their counter-attack had managed that. Losses had been heavy but the gap was sealed and the IKA would have to shift it's focus elsewhere on the line,
"I think we may yet hold them" Cavourna muttered to the Vanadict, "We may have a chance here"

Rio Casa

"Exactly what I was thinking," Styre called to the Armoured Car, "Now how about you and your little escort leave the car and join us in the hangar? Unless you want to wait for the Emperor himself?" he asked dryly.

"Possibly," answered the Vanadict, sweating and feeling somewhat sick after witnessing the carnage in the passage. Once again the Imperials threw themselves at the Rebel lines, but something was wrong. The troops were demoralized by the apparent lack of enemy losses when their own casualties were so heavy, and now word was creeping around the Battalions that their Commander had been captured by Rebel commandos and her second-in-command had been found stabbed though the heart. Slowly, mostly of their own accord, the survivors began to retreat, being shot in the back by snipers and hounded by Rebels the entire way.
Rio Casa...
Durth slowly exited the car, keeping her four soldiers in front of her. They approached, the Xiscapian turncoat nodding to the third-in-command of the 12th Legion. "Let's get the fuck out of here. I trust you have a skeleton crew of troops loyal to us to man the Cruiser?"

"Cease fire, cease fire!" Cavourna roared at the eager snipers, "save your ammunition for troops facing the right way!" He watched as the Alversians fled and he gave an amused chuckle,
"Round one to us, I think" He smiled and turned to the Vanadict, "I think some needs to inform the Admiral of proceedings. Would you care to do that while I try to reorganise this line and find James?" he turned and began to stalk down the mountain in search of James whereever he was amongst the thousands of troops.

Rio Casa

"Of course" Styre smiled, but it was an evil smile, "first though..."
he nodded to his men and they raised their rifles to their shoulders again. A dozen blasts rang out in the corridor and Durth's four men slumped to the ground,
"My men, Commander," Styre had shot one of the Alversians with his own pistol and now carelessly slotted it back into it's holster, "My men. Shall we go?" He bowed slightly to the Xiscapian, keeping his eyes on her the whole time.

Vanadict nodded quickly. "Of course," she answered as the kitsune made for the communicator box set up just below the summit. She told the communications trooper who she wanted to contact, and waited quietly while he tapped in the frequency. In a few moments Krystal's face materialized on the screen, looking expectant, and Vanadict told her of the past events. She nodded with a hint of hope. "I think we can do this, Vanadict," she neglected to use Vanadict's title, General, after such a long time as knowing her by one title. "You have no further orders except to repel any and all further attacks. You will be informed once our Alversian friends come to land."

James was among his men, stand quietly on a ridge and looking down into one of the passages. The walls were soaked with blood and gore and the ground could not been seen for the masses of black-armored Imperial bodies lying sprawled over each other. Rebels soldiers carefully picked their way among the dead, scavenging for ammunition, better weapons and equipment and stripping pieces of armor from the corpses, mostly helmets and boots. Meanwhile lookouts and sentries kept a sharp watch for returning Alversians.

Plains...
Having withdrawn fully back the Imperials milled around, uncertain and leaderless. The third-in-command was busy trying to organize the men, forming them back into ranks once again. Of the twenty thousand that had entered the range, a full seven thousand eight hundred had fallen, bodies carpeting the ground and lying in pits. Extremely heavy losses for almost no ground gained and light losses on the enemy side from their fortified position. Now they got ready for another assault.

Hanger...
Durth hadn't so much as flinched as the shots flew around her, flinging her men to the floor. He eyes were fixed on Styre's, and she gave the slightest nod. "Let us leave, then."
OOC: TG.

Cavourna looked on as Krystal delivered her instructions then glanced down the mountain towards the defensive positions, he turned to an Aide,
"Get those troops back in position!" He snapped, "The Imperials could be here at any moment and I don't want to be caught in the open by blasterfire!" He watched as the Alversian scuttled off to deliver the orders needed. He then turned to the Vanadict,
"This will be the big test" he sighed, "The big push"

Hangar

"Yes, let's" With that, he and his dozen men climbed into the cruiser, where another dozen men were acting as a crew and security. They tapped rapidly on the panels in front of them when they saw that Styre and his men were onboard. The ship lifted off and drifted out into space.

Upon receiving the command the soldiers climbed out of the passages and pits, getting hastily back into position. James strode back into view of Vanadict and Cavourna, approaching them quickly.
"This will be the big test. The big push."
"Yes," Vanadict nodded. "They will throw all their deployed forces at us and try to break the line. They will keep coming until either they are all dead, or we are." One could detect a bit of fear in her voice.
At that moment James got to them, not even bothering to bow in his hurry. "My men have spotted a ship leaving Rio Casa," he reported. "Former Imperials and captured members of the IKA tell me that it is the Emperor's personal Cruiser. I believe he is attempting to escape our inevitable attack."
Plains...
Reorganized, the Imperials began their second assault. Thousands of soldiers began, once again, to pour into the passages. Advance scouts and long-range sentries spotted the enemy approach and reported back, readying the Resistance fighters.
Orbit...
Kartosh sat back with his feet propped up on the control panel of the Star Snake, smoking a cigarette and watching the Imperial advancement once more though ship cameras. He shifted the view slightly towards Rio Casa, and spotted a shape. Leaning forward, he turned the camera and focused on the ship rising up from the planet.
"Ah, shit." he growled, and smashed a hand down onto the transmitter, yelling into Krystal's frequency. "Admiral! There's a vessel lifting off from the planet, I'd say from or around Rio, it's about Cruiser sized, headed straight into space!"
Cruiser...
Durth stood quietly with Styre on the bridge, the thirty or so Imperials operating the ship around them. She looked out a nearby view port into the fog of atmosphere, glad to be seeing the last of Xiscapia. Whether the Rebels or IKA won down there it didn't matter to her. She just wanted to get to Alversia, and the government she had served loyally for years.

"Don't worry" Cavourna reassured her, "It'll all come down to who's..." he could not finish the sentence though, for James approached quickly and delivered his message in a hurried fashion,

"What?!" Cavourna turned to the sky and watched the vessel lift into the sky. He opened his mouth as if to say something then shook his head,
"It's in space," he replied, "It's Krystal's job now, our's is to hold these passages. Speaking of which" He grinned, "I think the dogs of war are back" he nodded to where the IKA troops approached.

Space

Styre saw Durth looking out and he asked her the question he had been wondering about for some time,
"Why did you betray your people?" He asked, frowning, "What made you fight for us rather than them" he nodded to the surface.

"Right," James nodded, and just as quickly was back to his soldiers, shouting orders to his men. The Imperial advancement did not go unnoticed for long, and soon enough they came under another hail of fire. However, this time the enemy was prepared: They came with bombs and rockets, blasting away the rocks blocking their way even as more of their number dropped. Machine Gun nests growled to life and the for the first time Resistance fighters, having lost a third of their number to dogfighting the enemy, began their attack runs on the enemy reserves. In some areas, the ones the Alversians had tried to gain before, it was becoming difficult to move for all the bodies in the way, and they were forced to destroy their fallen brethren to allow a way for their living brothers to advance.
Cruiser...
Durth was silent for some time, apparently lost in thought. "Self-preservation," she answered finally. "Mostly. The former Kitsune Empire was powerful, but as we steadily lost ground against your advancement I saw where the power lay. By the time Imperial forces reached Rio Casa it was already clear how it would be. Rape. Torture, disappearances, slavery, retaliation against kitsune citizens for Rebel actions...it was not safe to be a civilian, and it was even worse for the Rebels, in the beginning. Most of them bought it, back when we destroyed their super ship. So the only path was to become a defector. Some did it with me, but they're all dead now, or betrayed the Empire to go back to the Rebellion." She gave a small sigh. "My only loyalty and haven is with the true Empire and it's people."
Relentless...
Krystal watched the Cruiser ascend from the world, nodding quietly to herself. "Aim for the engines and weapons, try not to damage any airlocks or hangers," she instructed gunners across the fleet. "We're going to take this damn ship and it's bastard ruler. Fire at will."
The fleet had had enough warning to arrange itself appropriately and it opened fire, bolts of energy, missiles and shells smashing into the enemy vessel.

Cavourna watched the fighting with some trepidation and sighed, "The frontlines need reinforced!" he called to Vanadict, "Send a Company in to shore up the defences!" He turned back to watching the battle. The Rebels and Imperials were pretty even in numbers now so hopefully, they would be stalled and his Allies could land with minimal casualties. Hopefully.

Cruiser

"Ah," Styre understood, "The lesser of two evils then" he smiled at the thought of Durth on the end of a leash like so many of her fellow Kitsune currently were. It was hard to tell how many were in bondage all over the former Empire. Some guessed it at 10% of the female population while others put it much higher. Kitsune were in high demand and even he had a few onboard which he could see when he reached Alversia, down in their cages in the hull of the vessel. He might even use one before they arrived. Maybe Durth would like to use one as well?

Then the ship shuddered and Skyre looked out the window as the cruiser ground to a halt,
"We've been hit Sir!" One of the crewmen called, "Engines are immobilised!"

"To arms!" Skyre roared in pure fury. He was so close to getting away, he wasn't going to have it spoiled, "To arms! Defend the ship!"

Vanadict raised the communicator to her lips. "Kata Company, front line position, on the double. You are to reinforce the defenders there and hold against the Imperial attack." she ordered. Some two hundred Resistance soldiers jogged from their positions in reserve to the front, joining their comrades as they slowed the enemy, pinning them down and filling corridors with fire. As they came nearer the Rebels began to collapse the walls again, spread burning oil or acid over the ground, keep up a barrage of grenades and mortars and generally prevent the Alversians from gaining ground without inflicting massive casualties.

Meanwhile the fighters were creating hell among the enemy reserves as they shoved into each other to get into the mountain and away from the raking fire. Small piles of dead lay where men had been too slow to get away, and the third-in-command was losing control as his men fell into chaos trying to avoid death.
Cruiser...
Durth swore loudly, tugging her pistol out of it's holster. "They probably think we're the Emperor, we should have gone though the atmosphere to the far side of the planet!" She could feel the Cruiser trembling as blasts continued to pound it.
Relentless...
Krystal stood inside a drop ship among a crack unit of former Ship Boarding Attack Units (SBAU) and Rebel Marines as they took off out of the hanger, making for the enemy Cruiser. She could see, out the cockpit, the Star Snake motoring forward as well towards the helpless enemy ship. They were joining in, she knew, not only because the two mercenaries enjoyed a fight, but because chances were the escaping Imperial Royalty had stored away some portion of the Rio Casa Treasury with him. They knew that Krystal would let them take any valuables they found as part of their payment due to years of service to the Resistance. The Resistance ships were careful to aim only for weapons, shield emitters and other systems that would neither hinder the invaders nor damage the infrastructure of the enemy vessel. After all, they wanted the ship for themselves and the Emperor alive.

As the drop ship made for a likely airlock the Star Snake attached, settling into position as Kartosh and Skyler, armed to the teeth and spoiling for a fight, stepped onto the Cruiser. The airlock was sealed, but a short piece of explosive tape later and they were in.

Cavourna sighed at the sight of the slaugter on the fields below him. For all of their brutality and cruelty, one could not deny that the IKA Troops were brave to continue into the storm of death that surrounded the mountains. They would continue to come for another while until eventually even their morale would collapse and it would be a rout back to Rio Casa.

Cruiser

Styre grabbed a rifle from one of his men and made sure it was loaded before looking down at Durth,
"We didn't know they had a Dreadnought!" He hissed back, "And I didn't plan this route, someone else did" he was scowling as he took his weapon and headed for the door of the bridge. He sealed it with a simple swipe on the panel and and waited for the boarders to attack.

The IKA quickly became pinned down, caught between the fighters outside the mountain and the Rebels within. A few scattered men ran for it across the plains, escaping death from above, but by now the majority were in the mountain range somewhere, and the only way to go was forward. Here the Rebels showed no quarter, butchering the enemy as soon as they came into range. Like water compressed in a bottle the front lines tried to move forward and were struck down, but even as they were their places were filled as Alversians tried to get into relative safety of the rocks. Outside tanks and armored cars were turned into flaming wreckage as the fighters finished their work and hovered, blasting any Imperial who dared who himself. They sat at the entrance pathways to the mountains, making it clear there was no going back. Slowly the IKA forced their way forward, but they were losing too many men and moral was quickly dropping. Hemmed in by the stony sides of the mountains, with certain death ahead and behind, surrounded by their dead comrades, men cursed and screamed and cried as they fought for position.
Cruiser...
Kartosh and Skyler came in with weapons up and swiveling, but no one greeted them towards the rear of the vessel. Apparently most of the crew was up at or near the bridge. "Any valuables will be in the hold," said Kartosh quietly as they advanced down the still, echoing halls. Skyler covered his back and soon enough they were on approach to a side door that read "Main Hold." Grinning with anticipation, Kartosh yanked it open and ducked inside.
Elsewhere...
"I'd advise you to cover your ears...three, two, one!"
The door exploded inward in a spew of flaming wreckage and the boarding party poured in from their drop ship, scanning the corridors for enemies. The Rebel invaders were a motley assortment: A few in spacesuits, some in captured pieces of Imperial armor, most wearing the tattered camoflauge that had becoming the uniform of the Resistance. Krystal herself carried a long-barreled silver pistol and wore the same as most of the Rebels: Comfortable, somewhat dirty, faded clothing with weapons and ammunition strapped to it. Looking around to spot any foes they hurried up the halls until they came to a fork. Krystal silently called a halt with hand signals. "Okay, here's the plan: I will lead a party of fourteen to the bridge, and Tora," she nodded to the Xiscapian former slave toting a large rifle, "will command a patrol of the same to clear out the rest of the vessel and secure all systems and rooms. Try not to damage anything that looks important, show no quarter except to the Emperor and his staff, I want them alive." Quick nods from those assembled and they split up, Krystal leading her party of assorted beings towards the bridge.
Bridge...
Damn thing probably took off on autopilot. growled Durth in her head. Our only chance is to make for an escape pod back to the surface and wait for another opportunity, but Styre kind of killed that plan, didn't he? She stared at the sealed bridge door. They'll get though somehow. We could be inside a star and they'd find a way to get to us. Styre, Cavourna, the Korr and even the true Emperor, they all underestimate the power these Rebels have. They're fighting for their homes and families, freedom from tyranny, they have spirit and inner fire. And now they have us on the run, and they're angry. They should have seen this coming. She shook her head.
Tyrants and orders established at the ends of bayonets never last, history shows that. The Empire would have fallen eventually, because those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Cavourna saw the slaughter, saw where the Alversians were starting to buckle and beginning to flee, he looked around to try and find a Communicator, the Alversian line was starting to buckle but then so was the defensive line and he had to do something about it.
"Tell the fighters to stop firing on the troops retreating," He ordered, "If there's no escape route then the IKA will fight to the death" He turned to watch as more and more Alversians were looking for a way out.

Cruiser
Styre stood with his rifle and waited for the Rebels to reach the bridge, he had a self-destruct activated so that even if he was taken down, he would take these fuckin' Animals with him, damn Kitsune! They belonged on a leash or in the mines, not fighting good honest Alversians.
Even if it cost him his life, Styre was going to prove it.

"That's the idea," came Jame's voice in a cold tone. "Now that we have them trapped, we need to annhilate them. Any we allow to retreat will only come back to fight us in Rio or one of the other cities. Alpha reserve units are moving up to reinforce our defenses, we cannot fall now. Every last one of the enemy must be killed or captured."
OOC: TG.

"Would you rather destroy them here and suffer the extreme casualties, then assualt a Rio Casa defended with vengeful IKA troops who want revenge for the losses or a few survivors who explain how powerful and effective we are and spread uncertainty around the Army. Rule one of Warfare, make your Enemy fear you" he was looking at the Imperials who, with nowhere else to go, were pushing forward with more and more desperation and desperate fighters were usually the best.

Cruiser

Most of the ship was empty in fact, for only a dozen men had come aboard and only another dozen were manning the ship. These now grouped around the treasury and the other vital systems, standing behind cover with their rifles, pistols and whatever could be gained at short notice.

"We have suffered only minor losses, the Imperials are panicked and our men are well-entrenched. The destruction of the their entire attacking force will send a much clearer message to the remainder than the wild stories of a few survivors. In any case, some of the men on the plains were seen legging it back to Rio, so there is your 'fear and uncertainty', General." said James back in a clipped tone, clearly irritated that the best, most experienced Rebel commander here disagreed with him.
Cruiser...
OOC: Styre seriously tried to escape with the Imperial Treasury? How did he manage that? I thought there was only slaves in the hold?
IC:
Hold...
The Alversian closest to the door would hear a soft female voice by his ear. "So, you can drop your weapon and convince those other friends of yours to surrender too, or I could kill you." On the opposite side of the hold, crouching behind a stack of empty cages, Kartosh readied himself for a firefight.
Just outside the bridge...
Krystal supervised as her men placed explosives to blow the blast doors open. She knew that if the Emperor wasn't in the hold or hanger, he would be here in the command center. One of the Rebels stepped back, nodding to the innocent-looking black dot on the center panel of the door. "All set to blow, Admiral." he said. Krystal grinned savagely. "Right, give me that detonator. Stand back everyone..."
Three seconds later the doors exploded, flinging pieces of blackened, jagged metal around the bridge and filling the area with smoke. Dark, foggy shapes could be made out though it as blaster fire erupted. Durth squinted and let off a shot, and one of the invaders dropped just inside the door, a hole burned though his chest.

"Well," Cavourna shrugged, "Do it your way if you so desire" Cavourna felt that they would do well to show some leniency to the Imperial forces but perhaps his collegues were too caught up in a blood lust to notice that he was an Alversian and he hated watching them die in the same way the Xiscapians hated watching their own die.

Hold
OOC: Not all of it, just some of it
"Damnit!" The Imperial dropped his weapon and raised his hand and his collegues did the same, they had no desire to die for some gold and a bunch of young Females shackled in a cage. His Comrades were now disarmed without firing a shot.

Bridge

As soon as the door was blown open, Styre fired twice into the breech and killed two attackers. However, he and a group of his men were filleted by the flying scraps of metal from the door and Styre quickly fell to the ground, metal in his lungs and stomach,
He coughed blood, helpless as his men were quickly slaughtered a Rebel Admiral stood over him,
"I have no regrets" he coughed and waited for a few moments in terrible pain before drawing what breath he had left and yelling, "Long live the EMPIRE!"
Then another stabbing pain and everything faded to black.

James clicked off the communicator and turned back to watch the battle, occasionally issuing orders to his troops to spread to get a better vantage on the enemy or clump to concentrate more firepower on a certain point. By this time the majority of the Imperial force had been wiped out, passages clogged with corpses. Still, James knew what Cavourna was talking about. He knew if the situation had been reversed, he would have been reacting exactly as Cavourna was. Never mind that all these men had chosen their paths long ago, never mind the atrocities they had inflicted upon the citizens of Xiscapia, never mind that these bastards had killed his brother, as a fellow sentient James felt he owed them something.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" he roared, and the order traveled up the lines. The Rebels looked at each other, mystified. Why in all the galaxy were they letting up? They had them!
James got a loudspeaker from somewhere a spoke into it, voice eerily like Foxfire Rose's ringing across the battlefield:
"Soldiers of the Imperial Kitsune Army. You have fought valiantly today, and your bravery deserves recognition. I ask you now to lay down your weapons and raised up your hands in surrender to the new Xiscapian Grand Army. You will not be harmed, the horrors committed to Imperial prisoners are a thing of the past, even if the atrocities your kind have brought unto my people are not. I ask you, in a gesture of peace, to end this fighting here and give yourselves up to those who this world truly belongs."
OOC: Your Alversians, your call.
Hold...
"Didn't actually think that would work," said Skyler happily as she took his gun and Kartosh popped up over the cages, covering the rest of the soldiers. "All right," Kartosh pointed to the back of the hold, "all of you, back there." Kicking their weapons into a pile, Skyler knelt by one of the cages, looking at the enslaved female inside. "Shhh, what's your name?" she asked quietly.
Bridge...
Krystal stood over Styre, her blade sticking out of his side, flying metal having torn his skin to shreds. Her act had not been one of anger or vengeance, but of mercy. It would have been cruel to let the man, even a dirty Imperial, live any longer in such pain.
If positions had been reversed, she knew, most Imperials would let a kitsune bleed out slowly on the deck, breath rattling though punctured lungs, metal lodged agonizingly deep into organs and muscles.
That was why she did what she had done. It was time to start being better than the Imperials, not to sink back down to their level.
One of the kitsune knelled by the three dead at the door and approached her. "Admiral, we've lost three-"
His words were cut off as a katana separated his head from his shoulders, the head spinning away across the bridge as the body crumpled. Durth twisted and swung her sword again, but Krystal had already drawn and blade clanged against blade. Durth snarled at her opponent and tried to break the lock for a slash, but in her haste her sword slipped and Krystal took the opening.
The blade slid easily in between the traitor's ribs, was wrenched out, and a second stab impaled Durth. She hung on the katana, sword falling from her limp fingers to clatter to the deck, before Krystal yanked it out a second time and she sagged, falling face down onto the deck.

The Alversians went silent for a while, standing and staring at each other, pulling bodies out of the way so they could emerge from their cover and look up into their attacker's eyes. They looked around for another while, before an Officer emerged from behind a wall of dead Alversians,
"Kitsune Officer!" He called up to the cliff, "We accept your terms for honourable surrender!" His men were throwing down their weapons and putting their hands up as a sign of surrender.
This battle belonged to the Rebels.

Hold
The female inside blinked up at Skyler and tried to back away, but the combination of chains around her wrists and ankles as well as the cage being so small she couldn't even turn around,
"T...Tara...Mistress" She stuttered, wide eyes looking at her with a mixture of amazement and fright.

Rebel soldiers all over the mountains covered the Imperials as they disarmed, while those remaining grinned and cheered and whooped for joy at their victory. James allowed himself a small smile before approaching Cavourna. Vanadict, in the background, was literally dancing a jig with one of the Rebels in her happiness. "So, General," the former Emperor's brother gestured to where the remaining Imperials stood among their dead and abandoned weapons, "you instigated this partially. What do we do with them all now? There's too many for us to efficiently guard, and no open space to put them all in any case."
Hold...
"Well, Tara," said Skyler earnestly, "my name is Skyler, and this is what we're going to do..."
Five minutes later eleven of the twelve Imperials had been stuffed into the slave cages, under guard by half a dozen Rebel soldiers while Kartosh sorted amongst the partial treasury and several fortunes in the hold. The slaves themselves had been given blankets, towels and robes from the Emperor's bedroom aboard the Cruiser to cover themselves, and were being given food and drink and ministered to by Skyler and other Rebels.

Elsewhere in a smaller conference room the twelfth Imperial sat with his hands in chains and flanked by two Resistance fighters. Krystal entered the room, sitting down with an audible sigh across from him. So close to the Rebel Admiral, the man would notice dark rings under her eyes, the way her tail slumped limply and even her ears seemed to sag, and the fact that the front of her clothes were splattered here and there with bright, sticky blood.
"Name, rank and serial number," one of the Rebels pushed the soldier slightly with the butt of his rifle.
Bridge...
The bodies were being cleared, spread with cloth over them on the deck in the hall next to the bodies of the four Rebels who had given their lives to take the Cruiser. Eighteen corpses, three of them kitsune, fourteen Alversian and one Danaversian laid waiting to be buried on the surface. The ship was maneuvering to get to the Rebel fleet, and while it was now battle-damaged and a bit small in comparison to the Relentless, it was newer and armed with better maintained weapons and engines than the Dreadnought. Krystal had christened her the New Empire.

"Allow me" Cavourna smiled and went between the troops talking with each, asking them questions, laughing with a couple and shaking hands with a few. After an hour, he returned to James' side and smiled casually,
"I've just found you 110 new Volunteers" he laughed and pointed at the Alversians who were nodding keenly to show their agreement,
"We could steal a march on them now and take Rio Casa before they prepare their defences?" He suggested, "It's only a suggestion"

Ship

The Alversian looked at the Admiral and gulped loudly. He was young, less than twenty and he was shaking with fear at the sight of two rebels on either side of him and this formidable woman in front of him, he gave a heavy sigh and tried to speak, his lips were bone dry,
"A...A...Adam Smith, Private....2343/343/22" He replied.

Down in the hold, Tara sat with an expensive robe drapped over her shoulders, she was drinking greedily from her cup as she watched the Imperials being shoved into the cage. Her wrists and ankles bore heavy red marks from where the shackles had restrained her for as long as she could remember. The best thing was that the collar was gone. She couldn't remember how easy it was to breath without the leather collar wrapped around her throat,
"What's going on?" She asked, "Are we winning?"

James only show of surprise was raised eyebrows. "Really? Well that sounds like a damned good suggestion, General. In the meantime, we'll shuttle the rest of the Imperials out onto the plains and have the fighters watch over them while we march on the capital."
OOC: 'nother TG
Hold...
Skyler sat beside Tara, watching quietly as Kartosh's grin grew wider and wider in proportion to the growing amount of money he believed this portion of the Treasury to be worth. "We've taken this Cruiser and destroyed the IKN to a ship," she said, indicating the humiliated men chained and shackled in the cages that once held their slaves. "On the ground I'm not sure. I think we're winning-Hey, you!" She snapped to a passing Rebel. "Do you know what the situation is like on the surface?" The man looked into at Skyler, then at Tara, for a moment before answering. "We've just received news that most of the attacking force of the IKA has been wiped out, and the rest have either switched sides or surrendered."
Skyler grinned almost as broadly as Kartosh. "So, I guess the answer to your question would be yes. We're winning."
Interrogation Room...
"Very good," said Krystal tiredly. She ran a hand though her hair and sat back as one of the Rebels placed a cup of some steaming liquid in front of her. "So, Private Smith, care to tell me what you, these other Imperials, a high-ranking Alversian Commander, a known traitor, a dozen slaves and a full quarter of the Kitsune Imperial Treasury were doing here aboard the Emperor's personal ship when the Emperor himself isn't on it?" She nursed the mug heavily as she watched the Alversian over the rim of it.

"Good idea" he smiled, then turned to the dancing Vanadict,
"We're moving out," He explained, "The sooner we get to Rio Casa, the more unprepared we catch the IKA. If we march now there might not be any resistance even" He smiled at the thought, "So chop, chop"

Hold

"Good," Tara smiled then took another drink, "This is the first time I've been free since I was 18," She smiled at the realisation that she was free, free to do what she wanted and to see if her Family still owned their little bakery in the centre of Rio Casa. She was an Imperial Toy no more,
"Who are you? A Captain?" She asked Skyler, looking at her curiously.

Ship

"We were running to Alversian Ma'am!" Smith was too frightened to play games and so he rushed on, "We were meant to go alone but then Commander Durth showed up and Commander Styre killed her men and took her with him, he said he was going to make her his slave once they reached Alversia they were running but the Emperor doesn't know, he thinks he's gone south to organise the defences!" He finished and drew breath, looking over the Kitsune Admiral

"Eh?" Vanadict stopped abruptly, feeling silly as blush colored her cheeks. "Ah, yes General. I'll just go, uh, organize my men." She flashed him an embarrassed grin and headed of to get the rest of Alpha Task Force together. James had since left to prepare Echo Task Force, so Cavourna was left alone amongst the Rebels and turncoat Imperials.
Hold...
Skyler smiled. "Not exactly. A mercenary," she explained. "We've been with the Resistance for years now without pay, me and Kartosh." She nodded to the grizzled Xiscapian busy shifting though a bag of jewels now. "This is our big break, according to the Admiral for our service to the Rebellion that whole part of the Treasury is ours. But enough about me," she chuckled, "who are you, exactly? Come from Rio, do ya?"
Interrogation Room...
Krystal set her mug down as the man finished speaking and regarded him in silence for some time as he sweated profusely.
"Tell me, Adam," she used his first name, "what do you think we're going to do with you now, hmm?" She looked at him. He was very young, it struck her. The Empire really was getting desperate, employing mere boys like him to do a man's job...

"Very good Vanadict, I'll see you soon" With that, they were seperated and Cavourna moved amongst his own troops, rallying them and gathering them into something resembling military order. It would not be long before they could march on Rio Casa and end this once and for all.

Hold

"Yeah," She took another deep drink, "I lived with my parents and my sisters in Rio Casa, in a bakery near the city centre. My sister was accused of stealing and sentenced to Sex slavery. She was only 16 and I didn't want her to suffer so I took her place. She shook her head sadly, "The rest is history."

Ship

"Kill me" He said without hesitation, looking at her with a terrible fear lounging in his stomach, she was going to kill him. He had only been a Soldier for a month and now he was going to be killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Soon enough the Task Forces were ready to march on Rio Casa. The Imperial prisoners had cleared part of the way out, carrying the bodies of their comrades and digging pits to dump them into for burial, so the Rebels went with little hold-up. They marched past the thousands of bodies and burnt-out wreckage of armored cars and tanks on the plains, heading for the distant low, beautiful white, gray and beige structures. James grinned for the first time in what seemed like forever at the sight. "Home," he whispered, knowing there was still another fifty thousand enemy soldiers waiting in there. Vanadict stared in awe, noticing how much dirtier the city looked. Unlike James, who had commanded the XFC here on Xiscapia, she had not seen Rio Casa in years. The sight both humbled her and filled Vanadict with uncharacteristic anger at seeing what these pigs had done to her former national capitol.
Rio Casa...
Things were tense in Rio Casa. Word had been received from the few soldiers who had escaped that the attack force had been destroyed, and the Imperials knew at any moment the Rebel Army would sweep across the plains towards them.
Hold...
"Very heroic of you," said Skyler. "Recently the Resistance organized a raid on Imperial fuel that partially caused the Empire's collapse and general lack of mobility and they freed over sixty sex slaves there. Are there many more like you in Rio Casa and in the other cities?"
Interrogation Room...
"No, I'm not. You see, Adam, you are a very lucky man. If you were down on the surface right now, you'd either be dead now, or dead in an hour or so. The people of Xiscapia are not very forgiving of your kind, not forgiving at all." She leaned forward slightly, yellow huntress eyes staring deep into his slate-colored ones. "I wouldn't kill you, but they certainly would. So I'm going to make you a deal. You tell us how many other Imperials are spread out though Xiscapia aside from Rio Casa, what cities they're located in, and I won't put you down all alone and defenseless on the surface surrounded by very angry kitsune who have considerably less morals and restraint than I do. I know you're only a low-ranking soldiers, but information has a way of seeping down to the common grunts, and I think you know. Sound fair?" She leaned back again, grinning widely to give him a full display of her sharp, pointed predatory teeth.

Cavourna sighed at the sight of Rio Casa and the bad memories it brought back to him. It was under his command that the Imperial Army had captured Rio Casa and killed the Emperor in the first place. All those years ago, the event that had changed his life. Now he would do battle there again, this time as it's Liberator, not it's conqueror. That filled him with more hope than the last time he was here.

Rio Casa

50,000 Troops of the IKA were quietly confident that the attack would fail. They had guns and strongpoints set up at every entrance to the city, it was extensively mined and every street in front of the Rebels was covered by a machine gun. They would cut them down in droves and that would be the end of it. Forever.

Hold

"Yes, many many more" Tara admitted with sorrow, "I can't remember the last time I saw a young Kitsune with clothes on" She shuddered at the memory, "Most Alversians have at least one Slave, sometime many more. Even boys of 16 have their own slaves" She said sadly, looking at the floor.

Ship

Smith looked relieved at what she said then racked his brains desperately to try and find some scrap of information that would save his life. He had spent his military career as an Imperial Guard, so he told Krystal all he knew of the troops in locations such as Rio Casa and Tenfour. The same thing was always said. Most of the IKA was in Rio Casa.

As they marched on forward the columns began to split, forming into ranks of the three individual Task Forces. Rebel soldiers looked grim but determined as they approached, knowing the enemy still outnumbered them, was entrenched in the most fortified Imperial position on Xiscapia, and had the advantage of tanks, mines, armored cars, and years to plan an effective defenses and weeks to construct one.
Rio Casa...
At first, no citizen dared walk the streets at this time. Here and now you could easily become an outlet for Imperial frustration or anger, and that was usually lethal. However, someone, somewhere, saw the Rebel Army advancing across the plains, and alerted friends. Those friends alerted their friends and and families, and those theirs, and so on until most of the city was aware of what was happening. Here and there signs began to appear, apparently nonsensical words in navy blue and black graffiti on building walls, clothes hung out to dry in a certain way, the mutter of a passing neighbor, and so on.

Soon enough though, everyone caught on. At the barricades, machine gun nests, bunkers, armories, barracks and main defensive wall citizens crept up or down ladders and stairs, wielding anything they could find: Bits of pipe, scythes or pitchforks, kitchen knives, stolen Imperial weapons, bats and katana swords. Most Xiscapians had hidden their katanas, in basements or attics or in the wall or under floorboards or anywhere they could be stowed. With screams of vengeance and fury they attacked the unsuspecting Alversians, bludgeoning, stabbing, shooting or punching the Imperials. Taken entirely by surprise the enemy was slow to react as their comrades were taken down, and by this time the fallen weapons had been scooped up and were being turned against their former owners.
Hold...
"Most Alversians do, hmm?" Skyler asked. "Much of the female population must have been enslaved. Are there male slaves?" she asked with interest.
Interrogation Room...
Krystal listened quietly. Not that she had distrusted Nigripe's intelligence, but now they had concrete proof. Ninety thousand had been in Rio Casa, and there was another ten thousand spread out all over Xiscapia, two thousand in Tenfour and the other eight thousand scattered in smaller groups across the continents of Forworn and Slipslah. Just as she had thought.
"Thank you, Adam, you have been a great help to the Resistance." She smiled, and gestured to his Rebel guards. "Put him back in his cage. We'll figure out what to do with all these prisoners eventually."

Cavourna approached at the head of his column, already wondering about the lack of a response from the city. He must be within artillery range by now, someone must have noticed that he was here, that the entire Rebel Army was moving forward, even a teenager throwing a pebble would be enough to alert him that there were some sign of military activity. There was nothing from the city and, like a Soldier, the worst thing he feared was nothing, a nothing that could be filled with a killing volley. Yet there was nothing and his men were in the outskirts. They could hear bursts of fire and the screams of death, someone had beaten them to it,
"Forward!" He screamed, drawing his sabre, "Into the streets, kill every Imperial! Show no quarter!" A combination of excitement and terror drove forward into the empty streets, devoid of cover or weapons. The Rebels had arrived.

Streets, Rio Casa

The initial reponse of the Imperials was slow and disbelieving. They were being attacked from behind and destroyed by the Kitsune of Rio Casa. Whole squads were killed before anyone managed to get a response togather and order a withdrawal to the Palace. The Kitsue may have been keen but the IKA were still professional soldiers and those with the brains and the ruthlessness simply blasted every Kitsune out of their way with murderous blasterfire and grenades, combined with firebombs that they had made. Three blocks around the palace had been secured as a fallback point, their ex-occupant laid out as a wall behind which to shelter. Here the IKA withdrew to, killing every Kitsune who entered their zone of fire.

Hold

"I never saw any," Tara frowned, "But the default for males was always labouring in the mines and factories while we were to pleasure their men" She shuddered again, "I heard one of the Alversians say that nearly 20% of the Kitsune female population is in Slavery all over the Empire" She revealled sadly, "And I can believe it"

The scene that met the eyes of the Rebels was, quite frankly, horrifying. Imperials lay dead in the streets everywhere, but not the clean kills of a soldier. No, this was the vicious, tearing death via a mob, bodies torn apart and stripped of armor and left to steam in a pool of blood as the first rains began to fall. Here and there on the outskirts there were dead civilians, expertly killed by a bayonet, officer's saber or blaster bolt, but it was evident the kitsune had taken the Imperials completely by surprise. The first column saw an Imperial soldier run into view, but he wasn't attacking them. He was sprinting in panicked fear, trying to get away from something, when two Xiscapians overtook him and one took the man down with a tackle. In a matter of seconds with a flash of knives and motion of hands the screaming Alversian had been turned into a bloody pulp.

From these two James and the rest of the Rebellion received word that the Imperials had forced to fall back, taken by surprise and stunned by the ferocity of the attack. It had been a slaughter, and of the fifty thousand, only about twenty thousand or so had managed to fall back to take shelter and form a line in a three block ring around the Palace. The other thirty thousand had either been killed instantly or attempted to retreat and been chased down and butchered. The whole city was forming around the defensive ring to keep the Imperials from trying to escape Rio Casa, but none dared attack and a small ring of citizen corpses bared testament to what happened to those who tried.
Hold...
"Twenty percent," Skyler breathed. "I wonder how many were taken back to Alversia, or killed in the fighting, or murdered by their masters?" she shook her head. "I don't know a whole lot about what's going to happen afterward if we win, but anyone found guilty of enslaving a fellow sentient will be executed. I fear many of those captured on the surface will just be turn around to be killed once trials are held."

It had taken a lot of quick talks and rapid discussions with the Kitsune citizens to persuade them that Cavourna and his men were, in fact, rebels and not to be killed by an already red butcher's knife. Cavourna was appalled by the slaughter but tried to dismiss it as simple revenge for the horrors Rio Casa had suffered under the control of the Imperials. Even so, he would do what he could to rescue his fellow Alversians.

Other than this, the more ruthless Commanders of the 12th Legion were commiting murders in the most horrifying ways. One group managed to fight their way through to the blocks by using a flamethrower against any Kitsune who showed himself. Other than this, there was little activity around their defensive areas. Cavourna arrived and began to study it through a telescope.

Hold

"I don't know" She shook her head sadly, "My old Owner was only 16, I was bought for his birthday for 'practice' by his father but he didn't want to hurt me so he just sat and talked with me, stealing me food and took my chains off so I could walk about for a few minutes" She smiled at the thought, "The Rebels will probably kill him" an expression of sorrow crossed her face.

James stood beside Cavoura as they observed the Imperial fortifications. "They're holed up good and tight," he commented, indicating the Palace. "Hundreds, maybe thousands, of citizens have been killed on this day already, and whatever happens here will never make up for what Xiscapia has suffered under Imperial rule. The rapes, the slavery, the tortures and the murders and the disappearances, almost all of them were done either by those men," he gestured to the corpses littering the ground, "or those men." He pointed to the enemy defensive lines. "No citizen or kitsune rebel will show them any mercy. They do not deserve it."
Hold...
"I expect so," Skyler agreed. "But that's what trials are for, huh? I expect, if they're not already dead, the slaves were have to testify against their masters. Many, many Alversians will use that exact story, and we'll have to separate the lies from the truth. But, expect, most slave owners will be the ones who will get the blade. Their families will probably just be evicted and deported, assuming some crazed Rebel doesn't kill them all first."

"I know, I know" Cavourna sighed, "but it doesn't make this any easier." He looked about at his own troops, "Try and round up some artillery pieces from the edge of town" he ordered before looking back at the wall of bodies in front of the buildings,
"Those men do deserve to die" He agreed.

Hold

"Maybe, but all I want is to go home" She looked sad now, "I don't care about this anymore. All I want are clothes, the chance to move without chains and nothave to pleasure some gross Alversian every day."

James just nodded mutely, then, after a moment, shook his head. "How do we breech the wall without harming any of their prisoners? Nothing we do will make them run, they know they are surrounded. Unless there's a secret tunnel out of Palace to somewhere in the city or countryside, they can't escape, so they'll fight to the death." He stared outward. "I knew my brother," he said quietly. "He wouldn't hold with secret passages and that sort of thing. Stand and fought until he died, that's what he did." James smiled with a sudden thought. "I think he would have been glad to know his courage is the same that traps the men who killed him."
Hold...
"And you will have all that," Skyler nodded. "The surface isn't safe for civilians yet, not that it's stopping most of 'em, but once we clear it you'll be able to get back to your family again." She sounded a little wistful. "I'm sure they'll be glad to have you back."

"In that case," Cavourna snapped the telescope shut and slipped it back into his belt, "This is going to be a hand to hand fight then. Quick move, shoot and stab combat" He didn't like that idea. The Kitsune's swords would be hampered and empaired by the cramped rooms while bayonets were designed for it, lunge and kill, lunge and kill. But there was no other way of doing it and the longer it took, the more the Civilians got out of control. They were driven more by revenge than military strategy and it they were not careful, there could be serious damage inflicted to either the city itself or it's Alversian citizens.
"Time to move" he sighed.

Hold

"They will," She sounded content, "Do you have any clothes?" She asked Skyler, not without some attraction, "I don't want to go back to my parents with no clothes on" She said sheepishly.

James began to shout to his troops. "Kitsune of Task Group Echo! You are not, I repeat, not to engage the enemy using your sword unless absolutely necessary. You are to fix bayonets and use them, and only if you are in an open area with allies backing you should you draw your sword. Otherwise, take it from me, you will be gutted like fish."
All around soldiers were preparing for the rush. They would be fighting though the three city blocks of buildings, basements and alleyways to get to the Palace, where they would need to secure the massive buildings themselves, including courtyards, gardens, serving quarters, storage sheds and guard checkpoints, not to mention the actual Palace building itself.
James nodded to Cavourna. "There are only two streets from here leading to the Palace, and they go directly to it. No doubt the Imperials will have set up an extensive defense consisting of machine guns nests, mines at choke points, tanks in alleys, concealed soldiers and the like. The going will be pretty tough. On your word, General, Echo Task Force is ready to move up Street One. Alpha Task Force will be backing Delta Task Force on your advancement up Street Two."
Hold...
Skyler shrugged. "Unless someone wants to take all their clothes off and give them to you, I don't have any. Any clothes I can give you wouldn't fit properly, hell we had to scavenge just to come up with these robes and blankets, and I doubt you'd want to wear Imperial armor." She glanced at the Alversians crouching in their cages. "No, too big, they probably stink, and any other armor around here is probably torn and bloody anyway." Sorry," she shrugged again, "looks like you're on your own."

Cavourna nodded and walked along the line slightly to be with his own men. He slipped his sabre back into it's scabbard and signalled to the troops. He drew breath and called with all his might,
"ADVANCE!!"
With that, his own men tore towards the street, already being plucked back by snipers and lucky shots from the windows of the houses they would storm. The attack left a small group of dead and dying Alversians littered along the ground while the majority of the Force split into two groups to assualt both sides of the street. Cavourna headed one group and he kicked down a door with one fluid movement. Already, the clashes and screams of the dead and dying filled the air as men fought in ridiculously small rooms. Sometimes the men in front had no room to do anything other than bite and claw at their enemy. The result was a bloodbath. Cavourna was in the centre of it. He knew James was clearing the second street.

Hold

"It's okay," She said nodding in understanding, "I didn't think there would be any anyway" her gaze was fixed on Skyler and she was confused. She had spent most of her life making love to either other girls, females, or to men who raped her brutally. Like many in her position, the assosiaction of men with pain and women with kindnes and pleasure meant that Tara, like many, would return home with more of a desire for women rather than men,
"You're really pretty" She said shyly to Skyler.

As Task Force Echo stormed the houses and buildings on both sides of the street they too left a small pile of dead or wounded Xiscapians littering they advancement, but whenever possible they would leap from roof to roof or go out back or alley doors to avoid walking out into the street. Inside the structures the Xiscapians had the upper hand over their Alversian enemies. As big and strong as the human were, they were often too close and outnumbered to use even bayonets while some kitsune used their bayonets as knives to plunge into the face, neck or other exposed skin of their foes. At any rate their advanced speed and grace left many Imperials stunned, unconscious or dead in their wake with their hand-to-hand combat abilities. Grenades became horrors as both sides tried to either clear rooms or stop advances with them, men and kitsune trying to throw them back or out windows or down stairs before they detonated. The place was a blood bath, and the Rebels were losing more troops than they had in the previous mountain battle, but still they pushed onward.
Hold...
"Thank you," said Skyler smoothly with a trace of bemusement. She knew enough to know what was happening to the poor kitsune, and it worried her. "So are you." She didn't quite know what else to say.
Awkward...
OOC: TG.

The Alversians moved from house to house quickly, unable to use a backdoor as there were none. The buildings were pressed together and so the only way from house to house for the Alversians was to leapt through each doorway and avoid the sniper and machine fire. It also meant heavy losses as, for times of up to half a minute, one or two Alversian Rebels would be trapped in a house by it's Imperial Garrison. However, one by one, each houses yielded to the Rebel Alversians.

Cavourna was still at the front amongst his men, using his pistol and a bayonet like an underhand dagger,
"Come on!" He roared to his men as they surged past him, determined to not to be beaten, he pressed on with his men towards an open doorway that lead to the street and the next house.

-

Up on the roof of a building on the opposite side of the street, a Sniper lazily peered through his scope at the battle that was raging in the house opposite. He knew the same battle would be taking place in his own house, but he was a professional, he would never run or stop until he was killed. He was a Sniper from 10th Legion, Cavourna's old Legion. He had already chalked up a dozen kills during the Rebel's made dashes from house to house. He noted that Rebels were starting to burst from the house directly in front of him and, like a good Sniper, he waited for the next man to run from cover. His finger hovered on the trigger. The man emerged, an Officer with a pistol and a bayonet hanging like a dagger. The man recognised his old Commander too late, too late he tried to jerk the rifle away. He watched through the scope as his shot cut into the Officer's shoulder and sent him the ground. He was surrounded immediately by his own men. The shot may have been an accident but he was a professional so, slowly and methodically, he began to pick off the Officer's protector's one by one.

-

"Shit!" Cavourna's teeth were clenched with the pain coming from his shoulder. He could feel the warm blood pulsing through the small gap in his armour. He was dizzy and he felt sick. His men were surrounding him, giving him encouragement and calling for a Medic. However, one by one they dropped as they were hit by an unseen sniper. Cavourna looked up in time to see a Teenage boy being hit in the back of the head. The bolt came through his skull and landed next to Cavourna before the boy dropped forward, eyes dulled already.

"Go!" Cavourna called desperately, his duty was always to his men, wounded or not and right now, those men were sacrificing themselves to protect him. That was something he wasn't going to allow.
"Go! That's an order!" The men around him like a barrier hesitated long enough for two more of their number to be killed before they ran to the nearest house to carry their bayonets to the enemy.

-

The Sniper watched in disbelief at how the Rebels were willing to die to protect their commander then remembered that this was the great Alexander Cavourna and, if their roles had been reversed, then he would have given his life for the man. Then he watched as the men cleared off back into the cover of the nearest house. The sounds of fighting were just below him and he knew that, at any moment, vengeful Kitsune would burst onto the roof and he would be dead. But he could take one more Rebel with him.
With a regretful sigh, he settled himself and peered through his scope at his old Commanding Officer.

-

Cavourna grunted as he stood up. He could not use his arm now and he felt light-headed from the blood he was losing. He had always felt this battle was going to be the end of him. A soldiers intuition but he knew this would be a Kitsune victory, not an Alversian one. Admiral Krystal's victory, not General Cavourna's. The thought was reassuring to Cavourna.

He had done it. All those years ago, as he watched Emperor Foxfire Rose die with the last dignity of his people, he remembered the word that had been muttered to him by the dying Emperor,
"Remember..."
So he had, Cavourna remembered what he had done as an Imperial Commander, ruthless and merciless and what he had done as a kind and forgiving Rebel. The thought surprised even him. He had done the Emperor's will and that was what he had wanted all along.

Alexander James Cavourna was satisfied at that moment when a shot rang out, cutting through the armour protecting his chest. He was thrown back to the ground and managed a smile before his eyes faded and there was nothing.

General Cavourna was dead.

Hold

"Listen" Tara said delicately, "Can I go to your ship and try some of your clothes on? Even if they don't fit, I would like to try them" She gave Skyler a sly smile then took her hand.

Apart from the obvious grime on her body as a result of her transportation in the cage, it was not hard to see why the Alversians had so readily accepted her as a replacement for her sister. The Kitsune possessed a lithe body with beautifully smooth skin and soft red lips. Her eyes were big and tender as she looked at Skyler, her red hair running to the small of her bare back. The robe she was wearing also failed to hid her large breasts. She was overall cute and very attractive, something the Alversians had found to their pleasure.

Street Two...
"Forward!"
James cry was puncuated by an exploding grenade as he and his kitsune rushed the next room. They found only Imperials, sprawled on the floor or slumped up against a wall of piece of fruniture. At such close range their armor had been cut apart and they hadn't had a chance. There was the sound of boots on wood and James saw an Imperial on the balcony just outside. He stepped up onto the railing and was preparing to make the leap when the bolt from Jame's rifle took him in the back. With a gasp the man tumbled over it to hit the ground two stories below.

Kitsune stormed the next building, and James was couched behind a overturned table when he felt it. He gasped heavily and fell onto all fours, weapons dropping away from him, tears springing at the edges of his eyes. Distantly he heard someone call "The General's hit!" and he could sense, even as he fell fully, them fighting with renewed vigor against the soldiers in the house. Finally the noise abated and he could make out blurry, shadowy shapes around him. James Rose felt himself being lifted into a sitting position and checked over, a medic's hands feeling across his body.

"No wound I can see, no puncture, no bruises, nothing," the kitsune sounded puzzled. "Looks like he-"
James grunted, and the light dimmed as his men around him leaned over, trying to see if their General was concious. Slowly, trembling slightly and with no small amount of effort, James pulled himself up. The room beyond was filled with dead Imperials, but he had no eyes for that.
Somehow, he just knew.
"General Cavourna is dead," he said hoarsly, lifting his pistol and walking to the end of the house, towards the next one. His kitsune looked at each other, expressions of puzzlement, horror, fear and disbelief reflecting off each others face.
Street One...
Task Group Alpha was in position for two reasons: To tend to the wounded as they passed behind Task Group Delta, and to reinforce Task Group Delta if they became held up. Vanadict walked slowly with her soldiers, frequently securing rooms and leaving medics and guards behind to tend to Rebel wounded. Imperial wounded were simply killed: No Xiscapian medic would help them. They had seen little action in this part of the battle except for the occasional enemy soldier that the first group had missed or the wounded or dying Imperial trying to take some Rebels with him.

Now Vanadict noticed there seemed to be more bodies in the next room than usual, and the shock hit her at the same time the sight did. Cavourna was lying on his back, a content, peaceful expression on his face, a small pool of blood already forming around him. Even as Vanadict stepped forward she could not quite believe it, and she went to kneel beside him. Only the motion of the bending of her knees saved her life, because as she did so the sniper shot drilled a hole in the wall where her head had been seconds before. She allowed the kneel to progress into a full drop nearly on top of Cavourna's body, and she heard one of her soldiers run in. "Don't!" she yelled. "There's a-" But the sniper, attracted to the new target, hit this one dead on. The side of the kitsune's face exploded and he was flung against the wall, splattering it with gore.

The other soldiers got to a window in the next room and began to try and pinpoint the snipers position. Vanadict, however, rolled to lie prone just under the window in her room, temporarly safe from the sniper, tears rolling down her face. With Cavourna dead, who would guide her? The man who had almost single-handedly rescued her from the Korr, one of the oldest Rebel leaders and this shining symbol that Alversians weren't all bad, that they could be good, that they were not all the monsters their armed forces would have you believe.
What would they do without him?
Rooftop...
The snipers prediction proved correct, and even as he turned to get a bead on the band of Rebels in the next room the stairway door burst open and an Xiscapian emerged. The sniper swung around but it was too late, a grinning kitsune plunged the blade nearly up to it's hilt into his stomach. The sniper keeled over backwards, sliding off the rooftop to smash on the ground below. Justice unwittingly done, the Xiscapian leapt to the next rooftop for more of the enemy to find.
New Empire...
Krystal sat watching the battle cameras, a birds-eye view of the Rio Casa struggle. She watched as house after house was taken in each of their own private, bloody struggles, watched as good men and kitsune died for the cause now, when the end was so close. Some of the houses burned and the Rebels worked hard to put out the fires, not only because they were damaging the city but also because of the threat they posed to cut off one part of an attack force from the other.
So close now...

And then it hit her.
Like a suckerpunch to the gut Krystal was winded, retching on all fours as Rebels and fellow officers started, surprised, around her. She shook violently, curling into the fetal position, sweat breaking out on her forehead. As medics were called for and worried, anxious faces swirled around her she only had two words to say:
"He's dead. He's dead." She whispered before passing out.
The Admiral was loaded onto a stretcher and carried to the sick bay, where she was stripped and drugged so the doctors could ascertain what was wrong with her. Krystal was pale all over, gaunt, underweight and undernorished, losing patches of fur and generally weak. The stress of keeping the Rebellion intact, the anxiouty and guilt as she watched battles progress and men die combined with Cavourna's death finally overtook her.
Hold...
"Sure," Skyler blinked and felt the slightest twinge of unease. Not about Tara, she seemed nice enough, but there was something...something trying to make itself known. It was like a staticy phone conversation or a sensored letter, only irrevelant bits and pieces making it though with no apparent connection to the true subject. Kartosh had looked up from the Treasury, brow furrowed, a sack of sapphires in one hand and a thick golden necklace held in the other, looking as though something was bothering him. With a shrug Skyler led the young kitsune to the Star Snake, and the little equipment locker she kept her unvaried, sensible, generally somewhat faded, slightly stained clothes. "You can try whatever's there on for size," she nodded to it.
OOC: TG

Street One

The rest of the battle seemed more like a formality than a fight. The Alversians, incensed with the death of their Commander, drove forward and kileld without mercy. The looks of pure fury on their faces unsettled even the 12th Legionnaires and these attempted to turn before being bayoneted in the back, the Alversians drove forward, uncaring for their own losses, they knew what had to be done and they were going to do it,
For the General.

Star Snake

"Sure," Tara replied, but did not move, instead her gaze was fixed on Skyler. Her red lips were curled up into a smile. She was looking all over the Kitsune's body with delight as she pressed her own naked figure against the mercenary's. Her hands dropped down to Skyler's rear as they were pulled together. They locked lips and began to kiss passionately. Tara allowed the robe over her naked body to drop off, revealling it in all it's beauty to Skyler.
It was better than how she had done it in the past, being led by a leash to a man or another slave and having to do it in full view of her master. Now, she was doing it for pleasure.

Medical Bay, New Empire


"I don't understand it Ma'am" The Doctor explained to a Visitor for Krystal, "I don't understand it at all. There's no reason for this to happen to her, no reason for her collapse!" The Doctor shook his head in bafflement.

"You are wrong, Doctor," The Guest replied, a creature even taller than he and needing a crutch to support her weakened frame. Despite this, she knew what was causing the pain, "There is a very good reason for what is happening to her"

With that, Nigripes, settled herself down in the seat next to Krystal's bed with a sigh. She looked at her Commander,
'You have felt it then?' She asked telepathically, knowing that Krystal should still be able to communicate on that medium.

OOC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgmYCvUkFU
IC:
If the battle before had been a slaughter, this was a bloodbath.
Fueled by rage at what had been done to their home, furious at the mistreatment of their people and further angered by the death of General Cavourna, the Xiscapians drove though the enemy like a sword though flesh. Imperial morale was breaking as the Rebels fought like demons, but those who turned to run were struck down, those who surrendered killed, those who fought destroyed.
And at the head of it all was James.

The kitsune General, stepping over to the window of the house, had felt something more than anger and sorrow. Someone else was there with him, not beside him, but inside him. He stared out for a few moments before it came.
James.
And the Emperor's brother smiled.

As the Xiscapians stormed the houses they drew ever closer to the Palace. And James knew, if he raised his voice enough, it could be heard all the way to the Throne Room...
When he shouted his eyes glowed, malicious yellow orbs, his voice sounding as two, himself and the long dead Emperor Foxfire Rose, spit flying from his mouth. As he began his fellow kitsune joined in without a thought in some places.

"You starve your children on neglect
Then feed their bellies with fear"
Here others screamed the same, the kitsune around him yelling:
"Bellies with fear!"
"Concussion bat to the brain
Witness to a battered mother." "Battered mother!"

Here he shouted, not for Xiscapia or it's people, but for the Alversian people. He poured out for the forced conscription, for all their dead lying on distant foreign soil, for the mothers who would never see their boys again, brothers who would miss their fellow forever, wives and lovers whose beds would be empty and cold at night, for the lying low of the majority for the strong, power-hungry few. The innocents who were forced to serve and die in this conflict.

Now he stood on a rooftop, so very close to the Palace, knowing the Emperor could hear him.

"Your abuse will end right here
No longer will your family fear" "No longer will your family fear!"
A Gunshot to the head of trepidation" "Head of trepidation!"
My promise if you ever lay a finger"

Imperials were being put to the sword and bayonet, killed brutally to make a path for the General. Others ran in fear, dropping their weapons and fleeing.

"Just look at these scars you make
Your terror makes your kids break" "Make you kids break!"
A broken home just as you were raised
With fist raised up to your children"

Now they were in the outer courtyard, the defenders corpses everywhere on the grass and paths, Xiscapians streaming though to find more of the enemy. Some were drenched with blood, whose it was impossible to tell, teeth and faces tinged red, clothing dripping and leaving crimson trails.

Now James stood on the high wall separating the outer courtyard from the inner courtyard, where the Imperials were pinned down at the entrance to the Palace, attempting to make a stand to beat back the Rebels.

"Your abuse will end right here
No longer will your family fear" "No longer will your family fear"
A Gunshot to the head of trepidation "Head of trepidation"
My promise if you ever lay a finger"

Terrified faces stared up at him and his comrades on the wall, and as they did so he gave a unfeeling smile and spoke again.

This battle is on all
You've made the beautiful Now hateful
You wretched life wrecker
Abuser
Now suffer

Fire flew into them and as one they were rushed, knives, bayonets and swords plunged into bodies, corpses carried along the crowd and dumped onto the grass, swords wiped of their bloody excess on them, spat upon and trampled.

Now they began their assault on the Palace, smashing down the doors, shattering windows and climbing in like devils in the night come for the souls of the evil.
A cry was take up.

"Open fire!" The Rebels screamed as one.
On the desire of the man
"Open fire!"
With strife we'll strike down the hand "Open fire!"
"Build the pyre!"
"If I cant make you see the damage you've made" "Open fire!"
"Build the pyre!"
"I'll make you wish you'd never been alive."

As the Resistance fighters ran though the halls James went alone. He just appeared, in the way Xiscapians do, before the Emperor.
"I think I have an audience with your Majesty." he smiled without humor.
Nowhere to run. thought Foxfire in his head.

Medical Bay, New Empire...
Yes.
Even though telepathy, Krystal's voice was weak. She gave the mental image of one curled up into a shivering ball, unable and unwilling to face the world again.
Star Snake...
It was a completely unexpected move, and Skyler's mouth opened slightly and her eyes widened as she suddenly found herself kissing the now naked Tara. Their bodies ground together and she slowly let her pants fall away, locked in love with this girl, arms wrapped so tightly around her...

"So this is how it ends?"
Staal stood and watched from one of the grand windows in the throne room. Watching his men being butchered, watching as the Empire of his dreams collasped. He may have been delusional but he wasn't stupid, he knew this was where it ended. Here and now, with this man.

Staal turned to see James at the end of the hall and he nodded a greeting to him,
"Congradulations," He smiled without humour himself, "I have never, in all my years seen such brutality in taking a city, not even from my own men" He laughed loud, "If you are capable of such violence then this city is yours, I doubt I could have matched that bloodbath out there."

He nodded to outside where thousands upon thousands of Alversian women and children were being thrown from houses and murdered by the vengeful mob, keen to have their own chance to kill Innocents in payment for all those who had been lost.
Staal casually lifted a blaster from his belt and threw it away, shrugging off his coat as he did so. He walked to his throne and pulled something from above it.

It was Foxfire's katana.

Staal produced it with the flourish of a man who had spent his whole life, learning to use these types of weapon,
"You will face me Sir!" He called.

New Empire

"I know how you feel" Nigripes sat for a few moments as if hestating mentally, "I feel it too" She looked sad,
"But Alexander would not have wanted you to do this. Not now, not when you were about to see your life's work accomplished. He was willing to die for it. The question is Admiral..."
Nigripes was now standing over Krystal, gaze looked her closed eyes,
"Are you willing to live for it?

Star Snake

Tara closed her own eyes in delight and slowly steered them around so that Skyler was standing with her back to one of the cots inside the ship. With a gentle push, she lowered her down onto the bed before climbing on with her, standing over her on her hands and knees, purring gently,
Then she began to kiss her again as she pulled the blankets over the two prone figures.

James spared barely a glance for the scene outside. In a mob there was no such thing are morality. The people were angry, and they would have vengeance. What went around, came around. If those dying outside did not deserve to, their killers would meet the same fate somewhere down the line. The Imperials had come here, and now they were paying the price for their brutality and stupidity.

"With pleasure," he answered, drawing his own sword. It was almost identical to the one Staal held now. "Too long I have waited to stand here, in this room, and declare Xiscapia to belong to it's true people." He edged closer, circling the man. "Those people outside, who are dying? It is not a tenth of what has been brought down upon us!" he screamed the words. "No paper is big enough or computer large enough to record all the innocents who have died because of you and your stupid Empire's ambitions. What has it brought you? Look outside," he snarled, "only misery, death and destruction. Come at me so I may strike you down and claim my home for my people and the last of the galaxy free from your corrupting grasp!"

Medical Bay, New Empire...
People are dying down there, Nigripes! Krystals thoughts were coming in a rush. Innocent people, people who have no part in this! They're out of my control, the thirst for blood is too strong. This isn't how I wanted it. It was almost a sob. This isn't how it was supposed to be.

"Darwinism, Sir" Staal explained as he came closer, lashing at James a few times with the katana, "The weak and the strong. We were strong, you were weak, that's why we conquered and you failed. It is also now why you are here in front of me, with an army butchering all outside. You think we deserve this? Our women and children? Then let it come. I regret nothing" He lashed forward again, checking himself at the last minute and changing direction of his stroke in a complex but effective manourver.

New Empire

"In your heart you knew it would be like this" Nigripes had sat down again, "Alexander always told me there would need to be a bloodbath before this was forgotten. The idea of us being better than them is reduntant. Even he wanted to kill his own people after seeing what they have done. All Sentients need a sense of justive before they can move on. There is nothing you could have done."

"You think you don't deserve this?" James laughed as parried the blows, ducking the last strike and hearing the sword whistle though the air above him. He followed with a fury of fast strokes, one after another after another, filling the air before the False Emperor with cutting cortosis metal.
"You deserve every drop of blood, every tear and every heartbeat of fear that comes from an Alversian body. Even if the individuals are innocent, your race is not, and the fallen will have to answer to whatever god they believe in after they die. You came here and brought all this pain onto us, when we had done nothing," he spat, "to you. When you invade another persons home, you deserve the beating they give you when you are thrown out."
Medical Bay, New Empire...
The people are letting their feelings out, and others are dying for it. Many of those who are at fault for these atrocities are dead or dying now, but how many escaped back to Alversia? The Emperor, the Alversian Emperor with all his Legions and torturers and slavers, where is the justice for him and them?
She opened her eyes and focused on Nigripes, and in a voice that was barely even a whisper she spoke.
"Sometimes we must make our own justice. And after this, we must be better than the Imperials were. Otherwise, we will only replace one evil Empire with another."

"No doubt that I deserve it Sir, every last drop of IKA blood spilled her is a small revenge for you and your own butcherer's" he was smiled as he blocked or evaded most of James' attacks, "You are containing mass murder out there," As if to make his point, woman's scream filled the hall followed by the sound of a sword sawing through flesh and bone,
"You are no better than us" He hissed as he struck forward again, "You are as cruel, as inhuman and as unmerciful as us. We just got here first and we've shown you what your true potential is. A Kitsune Empire ruled with fear and cruelty! You would be better than us at achieving it" he lashed forward again.

New Empire

"Then you shall make it better" Nigripes stated firmly, "You, James and the Vanadict can do it. The Kitsune people will always be better than the Empire so long as they are ruled with kindness and wisdom. As a result, you will far outlast any of the Empire's achievements" She stopped and grunted in pain before settling back down in her chair again, eyes closed.

Star Snake

Tara rolled over and put her shouder on Skyler's chest, one pale leg over Skyler's tanned ones. She felt warm and satisfied after their passionate lovemaking. She had a feeling this was Skyler's first time with another Girl but they had both given as good as they got and, as a result, Tara was more than happy,
"That was briliant," She purred into Skyler's ear.

James parried his last blow with such force that Staal's blade hit the floor, cracking the tile and swinging slightly before the Alversian regained control of it. "You people bring out the worst in everyone!" he growled. "We might not inherinetly be any better than you, but we can act like it." He stepped back, disengaging. "Observe what your kin were too weak to do on every planet you conquered."

Outside the screams and sounds of battle slowly dropped off before silencing into nothing. Out the grand window in the Throne Room the street was littered with corpses of all: Rebels and citizens, Imperials and their families all lying in pools of blood. The Rebels were standing in the midst of their slaughter, frozen, blades caught in mid-stroke, guns leveled but not firing, bayonets posed over the fallen. They could see, barely visible in the sunlight, the barest shimer of something, but as it stepped into the shadow of a building the somewhat hazy, glimmering outline of Emperor Foxfire Rose could be seen. He was shaking his head sadly, tears falling from his eyes, gaze from beyond the grave somehow piercing down to the very souls of all the kitsune present.

Slowly, as with the ripples a stone makes when cast into a pool, weapons were sheathed, dropped or lowered. Xiscapians bowed, knelled or went prone on the ground, most physically stepping away from what they had done. Alversian Imperials and civilians halted in their runs, fights or cries, staring in disbelief and amazement. Foxfire Rose walked among them, wandering seemingly at random though the streets of the dead and dying, and a faint echo of words, not spoken but heard in the heads of all, could be understood:
This is not the true Xiscapia. How can you ever defeat your demons if you become them, has your time under Imperial rule taught you nothing? Two things should be recognized which I spoke of long ago: Rememberance and justice. Remember what has happened, never forget those who were harmed or perished at the hands of evil. But justice is justice: Two wrongs do not make a right. The ends do not justify the means. The spirit gazed around, sight landing on the grand window holding Staal and James for an instant before looking away. Admiral Krystal, moments ago, spoke correctly: What is the use of replacing one evil human empire with an evil kitsune one? To truely defeat your enemy you must better him, not with guns and bombs and blood, but with your own kindness and mercy. There is no greater victory than the one that draws the least possible blood. Only though this can we trumph. The butchering of innocents is not, and for a moment all Xiscapians felt physical pain at the words, the way.

The process of healing, reclaiming and rebuilding will be a long one. Xiscapia may never fully recover from the atrocities visited upon it. But to not retaliate in a likewise manner, that is the path of true grace. A thousand years from now your decendents will look back and see where the right and wrong choices were made. I hold no sway over you now: My time of mortal influence has passed. You must make the decision and be held accountable for your actions as the Alversians have not. Meditate on this, balance your anger and reason, and choose wisely.

With a last sorrowful smile but bright, kind eyes, the old Emperor faded.

New Empire...
Krystal sat up, wincing and grimacing as her muscles protested this treatment. "When did they release you?" she asked quietly. "How have you been doing?"
New Empire, halls...
Kartosh pulled a small train of boxes on anti-grav lifts behind him, filled to the top with the Imperial Treasury. A small golden crown sat lopsided on his head, heavy chains made of precious metals and inlaid with diamonds, rubys, emeralds and sapphires hung around his neck or arms, and he carried what appeared to be an ancient Imperial sceptor in his other hand. He was grinning widely, going back to the Star Snake to tell Skyler about the fortune they had made.
Star Snake...
"And different from what I'm used to," Skyler nuzzled into Tara's soft hair. Her tail curled over Tara's backside as one hand stroked along the young kitsune's warm back, hot flesh pressed together on the bunk. "You're quite good-"
She was interrupted by the arrival of her true mate and mercenary partner, Kartosh. He stood framed in the doorway, staring, and if his mouth could have dropped anymore it would have hit the deck. The Xiscapian was fairly decked out with gold, silver and gems, and Skyler could see between his legs a long line of strongboxes trailing back into the New Empire.
"Welcome back," she grinned. "Pirate."
A slow, disbeliving grin kin to those who have found heaven on earth spread over his face, and the sceptor fell to the deck, forgotten. "That is awesome," he whispered, tugging the last of the boxes in, shutting the door and turning back around. "And who," he approached without anger or malice, "are you?" he asked Tara.

Staal turned to watch in astonishment as Foxfire appeared in the streets and stopped the slaughter of the Alversians. A majority of those left had holed up in one of Rio Casa's appartment blocks where a small band of troops were trying to save as many citizens as possible. They watched in amazement and disbelief as the Kitsune began to drop their weapons and stop the killing. With this in mind, the Alversians began to leave the house, uncertain troops coming first, then a mass of women and children with pale and frightened faces. The Commander of the Soldiers, A Captain, looked at one of the Kitsune commanders in amazement,

"Is it over?" he asked.

Palace

"You may have won this round, you Animal!" Staal spat in anger, "but you will never, NEVER, be as great as we! We were the Alversian Empire!" Staal drew a blaster he had hidden in a holster in the small of his back and took aim at James.

New Empire

"I have been up a matter of minutes, Admiral" Nigripes explained quietly, obviously still exhausted from the months prior to this where she had driven herself virtualy to death in the name of the rebellion,
"I was asleep, drugged, however, I felt a terrible tremor and I somehow knew it was General Cavourna who had died. I felt your anguish like a burning fire in the night and it was enough to wake me from my own slumber"

The Alumina was sitting beside Krystal now,
"And I will survive. Congradulations, Admiral, your people are free" She said, not without some envy. For all she knew, her own people were extinct.

Star Snake

"Tara, Sir" Tara replied shyly as she rubbed against Skyler in bed, looking from one grinning Kitsune to the other. This one looked as though he had just hit the jackpot. He was rich and Tara was hesitant about something. She looked as though she wanted to ask something but was too nervous about asking it,
"Look," She said awkwardly, still beside Skyler in the cot, "I was wondering...see, my parents never really saw me as anything other than a servant for them...so...and they probably were shot after I was enslaved...so...I was wondering...could I join you?" She asked hesitantly, "...if you don't want me to, then I understand but...I...was just...wondering..." She finished awkwardly, looking from one naked Kitsune, to one draped in jewels.

The kitsune nodded slowly, and picked up her sword. Almost as one the Alversians backed away, but she removed a white bloodcloth from somewhere and slowly wiped away the crimsion liquid from the blade before sheathing it with finality. "The battle is finished," said Vanadict softly but firmly, "the killing can stop. Xiscapia belongs to it's rightful people once more."
Around her Xiscapians were standing around uncertainly, blood slowly drying on walls, flesh, clothing, blades and the street. A gesture to the Imperials and they dropped their guns and bayonets and were rounded up into a group by a few, mostly other Alversians, who still had their wits about them. The kitsune stood or drifted as if in a daze.
Palace...
"And the operative term there is 'were', I'm afraid." James smiled, and faster than the eye could follow his sword twitched. Staal's thumb and index finger fell severed from his hand and the pistol tumbled from his grasp as he screamed in pain and anger. James stepped forward, drew back his sword, and stabbed the Alversian though the stomach. The blade sunk in up to the hilt, sprouting out his back, and James felt the man try to lean against him, supported by the katana.
New Empire...
"Yes," Krystal looked down. After all this, it was a great relief. There were things to be done, yes, so much to be done...but for now she contented herself with just sitting and basking in the moment. The work, the organization and rebuilding would come later. It just felt so good to, for just a moment, do nothing...
"Where will you go from here?" she asked the Alumina, not without some fear. She had been Krystal's deputy for years, and now that Cavourna was gone she didn't know what she would do if Nigripes choose to leave.
Star Snake...
Kartosh looked at Skyler, who held his gaze coolly. There seemed to be a moment of unspoken communication between them and he turned back to Tara.
"I dunno," he said, striving to sound doubtful but failing miserably to mask the excitment in his voice. "How good are you with a blaster?"

The Lieutenant gave one quick nod to the men behind them and the Soldiers dropped their weapons as one. All were covered in gore and blood, most were carrying wounds of varying severity. They were standing in the centre of a mass of bodies. Some Alversians but mostly Kitsune who had tried to assualt the last position of the Imperials.
Behind them came the women and children. They were shellshocked at the sight in front of them. They were looking at the Kitsune in a whole new meaning now, as bloodthirsty killers, not just as oppressed people.

Palace

Staal gasped in fury and spat blood at James, he worked his way down to Si, pulling his own body along the katana until he was face to face with James. His legs gave out and he was leaning on James,
"I...regret...noth...ing" He spluttered before his head sagged and his eyes dulled. General Staal was dead and with him. The Imperial Kitsune Empire.

New Empire

"Well," Nigripes stopped for a moment and, for the first time since she had met Krystal, her stance and expression resembled someone who was feeling very awkward,
"I was thinking...as I have nothing else to do...that I...might...stay and help you...rebuild...the Kitune race" She finished awkwardly and looked at Krystal. Both could sense the other's apprehension but it gave neither comfort.

Star Snake

"Rio Casa markswoman of the year three times running" Tara replied slyly as she giggled and began to carress and play with Skyler's hair, "I can handle a blaster, and a katana as well" She licked her lips slowly and smiled angellically, "I can do other things as well" She giggled and disappeared beneath the sheets, obviously intent on continuing her fun with Skyler.

"Your kind never do," murmured James as the man died. He tore his sword out and wiped it on the dead man's uniform, a sign of comtempt for your enemy that had repeated many times under Imperial rule, picking up the former Emperor's katana. He held it up to the light, admiring the craftsmenship on the beautiful blade. He laid the blade behind his neck across his shoulders, sheathed his own sword, and picked up the False Emperor's corpse by the scruff of the neck. "I think you need to address your subjects one, last time," he muttered, dragging Staal's body away.
Courtyards, Street...
The Xiscapians were slowly breaking out of their trances, coming to life. But all of the movement they had begun stopped when James stepped out of the Palace doors and down the steps, a sword balance behind him and dragging a human body behind him. He hoisted Staal's corpse into the air, then dumped him onto the ground, blood spilling onto the grass and dirt. "It's truely over now," he growled, and staked Foxfire Rose's blade though the former 12th Legion Commander's chest. "Let the next Emperor claim the blade and lead Xiscapia into a new age."
New Empire...
"Your help would greatly apprechiated," said Krystal. She smiled. "Qonn knows we have much to do, so many wounds to mend and so much damage to repair. I," she sighed, "cannot think of taking up the mantle of Empress. I was the leader of the Rebellion, yes, but I am too old, too cynical, too tired. Someone else, a worthier kitsune, must claim it." She stood. "Let us go down to Rio Casa. I know the fighting is over now. Even after everything we've endured, now the hard part begins."
Star Snake...
Skyler's legs slowly spread and she managed a last, knowing look at Kartosh before she was pulled under the sheets. Kartosh shook his head with a half chuckle, half sigh. "I guess you can stay," he called, unsure if the girl had heard him. "I'll just, uh, go, do something else." He dissapeared into the cockpit.
OOC: TG.

The Alversians turned to see the body of their old Emperor thrown to the ground and stabbed through the chest, something they did not protest at. All those present had the brains to recognise the sun had set on their control of this planet. From now on, Kitsune would make the decisions here and this was the first. The Alversians watched the crowd anxiously, to see who would step forward to be their new leader for the Alversian people of Xiscapia no longer saw themselves as Alversian but a form of Xiscapian and they would have liked to stay with their new leader's conscent.
So they waited with baited breath.

New Empire

"I know, Grand Admiral" The Alumina gave a rare smile at the use of Krystal's old title, "I think it's time we got started" She indicated to the door and offered a small bow of respect to Krystal, indicating she should go first and Nigripes would follow. Over the years they had been together, Nigripes had seen through the old Alumina arrogance to find warmth, compassion and intelligence rivalling her own amongst the people of the Rebellion, Krystal in particular had earned that respect.

They all had.

Krystal and Nigripes were beamed down to the Palace among the throng, watching the sword impaled though the man who thought he could rule. As James stepped away everyone shifted uncomfortably. All the Rebels, the kitsune part anyway, had expected either James or Krystal to lead them into the new era. The Emperor's brother was stepping away, though; the Admiral Krystal showed no signs of stepping up. The wind whistled softly though the cherry blossoms as the pedals began to fall, showering the katana with delicate pink flowers.

There was that moment that seems to occur at all important situations, the moment of total stillness and silence, the moment of infinite possibilities when anything could happen, the moment of choice...
And someone stepped forward, grasping the katana firmly around the hilt.
The crowd stared, no sound save for breathing and the wind, and the one who had approached seemed as surprised as the rest.
After a second of hesitation, Vanadict tore the sword up, the end crimson with blood in an almost Excalibur-like motion, and held it halved her face in perfect symmetry with a line of shining cortosis silver. She didn’t, consciously, logically, know why she had done it: It had just felt like the right thing to do.

Well, there was no turning back now.
“People of Xiscapia,” She stepped back, and up, onto the wall so everyone could see her. The crowd was growing larger, and from somewhere a few had procured holo recorders and other such devices to capture the moment. “We have all been though a time of great abuse, tragedy, and loss. This cannot be forgotten or ignored. I am one of the last few officials who remain from the time before the invasion, before the killings and the rapes and the theft. I remember when the Kitsune Empire was great, when we held power and had brought peace and prosperity to all our people.” She bowed her head.

“But that time has since passed. The old Empire is long dead, and over the corpse of this man,” she prodded the body with her foot, “and his rule, we will erect a new nation from the ashes. It will surpass and overtake any accomplishments anyone, the Kitsune Empire or Imperial Empire, has ever made. The task of rebuilding and healing is a great, long one, and it may continue until long after we are all dust. But I think we can do it. Why? The Xiscapian people, as a race, have grown up, metaphorically speaking. We have seen our selves at the height of our triumphs and the depths of our brutalities, mercy given and blood taken, honor glorified and tarnished. We have survived and endured everything the Alversians, and the galaxy, could throw at us. And though we fell, we never gave up; we struggled up from the mud and dirt to this position here, on the mountain, now.

“Xiscapians are a strong, stubborn people: Ask any Alversian, he will tell you.” She smiled. “Since before recorded history to the time the aliens first landed on Old Xiscapia, to the Long Voyage to our settlement here, our war with the Korr, the destruction of our old government and the throwing off the yoke of our oppressors, we have never collapsed. As long as we uphold the virtues of patience, kindness, generosity, mercy and wisdom with honor, we will never be defeated. We have found ourselves, so to speak, and we must hold true to that image. I cannot claim to be any wiser, more intelligent, more capable or better equipped than the next kitsune to lead this new nation. But what I do have is experience and force of will. Our will kept us strong and brought us out, and it will usher us into a new age. An age of reason, of unity, prosperity, grace and honor everlasting. I ask only your assistance in reconstructing this place we call home.”

She bowed deeply, falling to kneel on the ground, Foxfire’s katana held with one palm supporting the hilt, one the blade, thrusting the sword horizontally up. This was a gesture of servitude and respect, and Vanadict held it as she lifted her face to stare at the crowd. “I, Vanadict, take an oath here today that, as Empress, I will serve the people and the new state until I either can no longer do so or the people chose a new ruler. I am a servant to the people, to the state, and to my honor. Let Qonn guide my hands and impart his wisdom unto me so I may rule justly and honorably. In my new position I ask of this. Shai yu.”

And so the building of the Free Kitsune Empire began.

The people were started with first. Wounds were mended by medics and doctors, and citizens, Imperials, Rebels, Alversians and prisoners began the long task of bringing the dead out of the city. If the corpse was Alversian, and was not claimed or could not be identified it was thrown into the pit near the base of the mountain range. The pit was huge and deep, made by explosives from one of the abandoned Imperial armories, and bodies were tossed into it, day and night. Thousands of dead Alversians were laid to rest, and when it was over a huge, black cross made of nearly unbreakable, non-rusting cortosis was placed in the middle of the sight. It marked where all the slain enemies laid, some good, some bad, some merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The distinction between the Rebels and Imperials was made very clear. Those Alversians who could be identified, as well as Rebels, were either taken by family or preserved until a proper funeral could be arranged for. Naturally the dead kitsune went up in smoke as their bodies were burned to release their souls to Paradise, but a huge Alversian grave site, as well as monuments for dead Rebels and citizens, was constructed outside the city, on the plains. The truly heroic and honorable Rebels were buried or cremated on the Isle of the Dead, a place where the tombs of many dead great Xiscapians, including the ashes of Foxfire and Jade Rose and the only Alversian to have been buried there until now, Evan Baxtor. Alexander James Cavourna was given an honorable burial, his funeral attended by thousands and viewed via holo by billions, those present including James Rose, the recently-appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Krystal, Senior Imperial Advisor Nigripes, and Empress Vanadict. To this day twin statues stand in the Rio Casa city centre. The first depicts four people: Foxfire Rose, Jade Rose, Evan, and an unnamed Xiscapian soldier, all standing back-to-back, swords out, standing defiantly in the face of an unseen enemy. A large plaque at the bottom tells of the Imperial’s last stand and the fall of Rio Casa. The other statue depicts, quite simply, General Alexander standing proudly and staring into the distance. Close inspection reveals that the armor on his stone chest appears to have been pierced, perhaps with some kind of bullet, but he smiles nonetheless. Below his name and above the explanation for the retaking of Rio Casa, is one simple word:
Remember.

Still others had to be recognized. Though their bodies had been incinerated and even the huge bulk of their ship lost long ago, respects were paid to the crew of the Calypso, and her Captain, Admiral John Reynolds. The long dead Sergeant Dui was also remembered in her valiant efforts to save the civilians and her squad mates from Imperial brutality, and ultimately receiving death at their hands for it. Furthermore the tragic story of Captain Viff and Lieutenant Carson was told by a gaunt-faced, hollow-eyed Corporal Kiko, who could hardly keep himself from crying as he recounted the events. No one could count all the sacrifices, there wasn’t enough time in the galaxy for every funeral of every Rebel who had died defending their homes and families. As it was the funerals lasted for half a week, ongoing to commemorate heroes and high-ranking officers who were killed, or worse, captured, in the line of duty. Stories were more lighthearted, for some: Eventually Jake and Samantha married.

James was promoted to Master General of the NXA, made up of willing citizens and old Rebel hands. His second-in-command, coming at great recommendation, was General Keela. Tara roamed space with the mercenaries under contract, former Imperial or Supremacy worlds and raided slaver convoys and transports in the search to bring as many Xiscapian slaves home as possible. Eventually Tara broke off and, showing unexpected levels of intelligence and slyness, rose quickly though the ranks of the NXN to become first a Bridge Officer, then Executive Officer, then Captain, skipping all the way to Admiral, and finally taking over to becoming Grand Admiral of the entire Navy. She still helps the mercs, now and then, and her door, indeed if Skyler is involved her bedroom door, is always open to them. As to the duo themselves they have since settled in Tenfour among their immense riches, and do occasional work "just to keep themselves sharp."

Trials were, of course, conducted, and so many were found guilty of something that it is thought the war crimes trials cover every crime imaginable. Plenty from both sides were executed, but the list was so long eventually only the truly horrid offenders were killed and the more minor criminals were exiled to the moons of Jomstar or wastes of Korrilia. Alversians were, providing they were guilty of no crimes, allowed to live on Xiscapia. Despite the Emperor’s words and Vanadict’s pledge, it took many years for kitsune animosity to the humans, especially former Imperial soldiers, to die down, and even so it never fully went away. Old wounds and dark sins are never truly healed, so they are never forgotten.

The New Kitsune Empire, however, prospered. Given time the nation began to fall back into a normal routine, citizens going about daily lives without fear. At first the economy was non-existent, and trade was done almost entirely though bartering. The Imperial credit had no worth, now that the Empire had collapsed, and the Xiscapian credit had long since ceased to be in production. However, though radical plans constructed by the Empress with extensive assistance from her most Senior Advisor created and maintained a healthy economy. With this a proper, uniform military was constructed, and Xiscapia was once again a power in its own right.

From a galactic standpoint, the effects of the Alversian Empire’s conquest was felt everywhere. To this day no one knows what become of the remnants of the Alumina fleet and the Supreme Lioness. Not a few races, including the noble Alumina, went all but extinct under their purges. Others, including the Korr and Xiscapians, had warred with them for so long that killing Alversians was virtually in the blood of their race. Trillions, if not quadrillions, had perished, been physically or emotionally wounded, been forced from their homes and home planets, been enslaved or tortured under Alversian rule. At the end, the entire galaxy recovered, some at slower paces than the kitsune, some never, some bouncing right back.

Of the Alversians themselves, justice was finally served when a coup led by a man called Commander Sasha overthrew the Emperor and the Empire finally crumbled. What exactly happened there remains a mystery to Xiscapia, but they know the Emperor and most of his top lieutenants were executed during the coup and that a new government was put into place. At first, Alvo-Kitsune relations were distinctly cold, the Xiscapians bitterly recalling their abuse at Alversian hands while the Alversians, for the most part, looked down on the Xiscapians as little more than animals or regarded them as bloodthirsty murderers. The frequent forays into Alversian territory to rescue slaves didn’t help matters either, though upon the destruction of the Empire many were set free. Unfortunately these slaves had no way to return home, and the repeated violation of Alversian sovereign space to pick these kitsune up led to tensions.

However, in recent times, under the olive branch of peace, the Alversian Democratic Republic has begun to send out tendrils of diplomacy. The New Kitsune Empire was wary, but they accepted. Even now negotiations to open relations were ongoing, and the two sides, despite their pasts, could see now they were not so different. Even now tentative talks were coming up about an alliance. Up, high above where he could see the whole universe spinning slowly, Qonn sat back and laughed. He supposed, no matter what universe they were in, certain things between the humans and the kitsune were bound to happen.

It might not have been the way it could have been, or even the way it should have been, but this was the way it was.
Alversians and Xiscapians were born, raised, played, worked, fought, toiled, married, procreated, grew old and died under the same stars. They spoke the same language; they upheld the same ideals in the end, they complimented each other in every way.
Some things are indivisible: They are just meant to be.
And so the future grew brighter.