Dominion Chicken: It's what's for Dinner. (Elysium Dominion of Nedij)

[Rex Valhoun]

Post: Five
Objective: One
Tags: Kimiko Taiyou Zet Reav

Rex listened to The Empress. She was evidently an expert at diplomacy, everything from her tone, to the words she said pointed out her skill. However it wasn't enough. The creature flailed its' winged arms, a gust of wind hitting Rex in the face, then spoke, "No! Your intentions are clear. You are claiming our hunting grounds, and negotiations will be unsuccessful. We have nothing to discuss."

Rex furrowed his eyebrows, thinking for a moment, then spoke in a menacing tone, "If you will not negotiate with us, if you refuse to work out something that can work for both The Empire, and your tribe, then our only remaining option is force. Do you understand?"

"Your base is already gone, King. Our warriors have surely conquered it already." The bird opened it's beak, revealing small, sharp teeth in what seemed to be a smile. Rex's heart began pounding and his scowl grew even heavier. He knew that it was unlikely for the base to fall, there were several defenses set up, and orbital bombardment would be available, but what if there was truth to the beasts' words?

He turned to the mercenary that had given him the grenade, and made a motion towards the bird, making a clear signal meaning kill....

 

[Zet Reav]

Post: Two
Objective: One
Rex Valhoun | Kimiko Taiyou | Dorthea Dobson

---

Feels somewhat guilty because the confusion started because of a self defense grenade. Which he gave. As a defensive measure, he should add. Luckily the helmet hides his face.

But any and all guilt, as small as it was, vanishes when the command is given. Being unable to reach a diplomatic solution is actually a good thing, to him that is, because he gets to earn his pay. Impress a client and he will hire you more often, or something like that. Zet read it in a book once, when he was branching out from raider to general mercenary works.

So, to work.

"..." He gives a quick nod the the king's royal guards before moving. They are in enemy territory so the first move is crucial. Zet moves forward with large steps and moves both hands. One uses his vambrace's repulsor, carefully aiming to not hit those without bird features, to scatter the enemy back and away. They were too close to the Paycheck-Man. Once that is done Zet sims his blaster pistol and stands in front of the King and the Diplomat to fire safely.

'Safely' being to him, the tailed diplomat, the king, that officer and the royal guards.

The birds are absolutely being shot at in and definitely not safe from harm. Zet aims to wound rather than killing, to wound and keep them from escaping. "Finish them before they recover." The royal guards can provide more firepower to end the job quickly. Zet is good, but his bird killing skills are limited to how many blasters he can wield at once.

 

[Aculia Voland]

Keeping her eyes glued on her tactical map as she made another pass over the now smoking perimeter of the base, Aculia passed over the various Elysium forces still making their way to the base. As she flew past Martin Dux's position in the trees, she felt the cold of death wash over her in the Force. Startled, she reached out to confirm the old dog was still alive, and she could feel him through the Force. He had killed one of the birds that they had come to negotiate with, and she felt the hostility of the others bearing down on him.

I doubt he went out of his way to straight up murder the bird with no provocation, it’s not his style. Meaning they decided to attack.

This was confirmed moments later by the SAWACs announcing that the birds had engaged the retreating Elysium forces as they made their way back to the base. Having not heard from Burtch at this time, they would simply fall back to the default rules of engagement-once attacked, they could defend themselves. And since these birds apparently did not get the lesson…

“All right boys, looks like these overgrown chickens have begun their assault. You are free to engage. Drop the cluster bombs in their formations furthest away from our troops since they can cause a lot of damage and aren’t as precise. You can use your ATGMs closer, and finally for close range precision fire, your repeating blaster cannon. Let’s show them what ‘air support’ means!”

Opening up a private communication link to Thaliias she quickly advised her about the situation on the ground.

“Looks like they decided to make the first move. We’ll be making air support passes over their formations, let me know if you need anything particular targeted.”

And with that, Aculia and the three members of her squadron began to prepare for their attack runs.

 

[Rex Valhoun]

Post: Six
Objective: One
Tags: Kimiko Taiyou Zet Reav

The mercenary was impressive, pushing the birds back, then jumping in front of Rex, who simply stood there. As soon as the mercenary told the guards to finish them, they did so. It took about ten seconds for the birds to be annihilated.

"Well done...you were clearly a good hire." He then turned to Empress Kimiko, "I'm sorry for what comes next. Please, know that this isn't how The Empire typically handles things." Then, raising his comms device, he contacted all air support, orbital and atmospheric, "This is King Valhoun speaking. Any unoccupied air support units, proceed with the bombardment of all known hostile encampments."

It was determined before this operation that the birds had set up multiple raiding "nests", which were visible from orbit. These "nests" were not civilian, they were strictly for the Nediji to send raiders at Imperial positions. Soon, the nests would be nothing more than scorch marks on the earth as precise strikes from Imperial ships such as The Makashi Light Cruiser crash down on them.

Of course that depended on how the base was doing. If the birds had truly eliminated or at least assaulted the base with significant force, then Elysium air support would be tied up....

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Post: 4
Objective: 1
Tags:
Rex Valhoun | Zet Reav
​

It was over before she could even compute what exactly was happening. She has let her instincts kick in and deflected several blaster shots at the attackers. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the avian people were dealt with.

Her own guardsmen had opened fire on the creatures with precision as they moved to her vicinity,"Grace, are you alright?" the captain asked as the fighting ceased.

Ki looked solemnly to him before fixing a cold stare at Rex and nearly leveled a saber at the King. She spoke softly, sternly, but her words were full of hurt,"This was not supposed to end this way, Rex. We had an understanding."

A moment was taken before she deactivated her twin blades and silently marched past Rex and the merc back towards the base.

 

[Aculia Voland]

Heavy cluster bombs began to fall on the Nejidi positions furthest away from from the Elysian positions as Aculia and her three wingmates soared over their formations. Tens of thousands of miniature bomblets scattered over the forests and attackers, before exploding with vicious shards of shrapnel exploding in every directions. Hundreds of the thousand strong attacking force died in seconds, hot pieces of metal blasting through bone, flesh, and blood at high speed. A blizzard of freezing death whirled through the Force, sure to reach even Kimiko Taiyou on the mountain, followed by the blazing waves of pain as hundreds more of the avians fell to serious wounds, many of which would likely be fatal. Many Nejidi children would be orphans this day.

Even Aculia had to swallow back a bit of bile as she felt the waves of death pulse over her in the Force. It was justified, true, since they were attacking the base. But it was not even a fair fight, it was simply a massacre.

Maybe Rex Valhoun 's efforts at negotiations will prevent more senseless death. Surely he can convince-

"Sir! The King and his retinue have opened fire on the Nejidi delegation! They are wiping them out! What should we do?"

Aculia sighed. Looks like that did not go according to plan. Did he even try to negotiate or did he just decide they were not worth it?

Hearing the King's orders, she directed the part of the squadron near him to take out the nests on the mountain, then called up her SAWACs.

"Sitrep on the situation at the base?"

"Heavy Nejidi losses, sir. Their advance has stalled for now between the fires started by the incendiary bombs, Elysium ground forces, and the cluster munitions bombardment. Estimated 60%-70% casualties split between wounded and KIA. Their forces appear to be in disarray. Do we pursue?"

"We'll wait and see what they do, and what his Majesty commands..."

 

[Rex Valhoun]

Post: Seven
Objective: One
Tags: Kimiko Taiyou Zet Reav Aculia Voland

"But they attacked us!"


-If your people were attacked, what would you have done!?

He sighed, this wasn't the time for a debate. The group needed to reach the base. It was probably fine but if an assault was in progress then his presence was needed. As was The Empress, who had revealed her combat abilities in the fight just moments ago...and the mercenary. The three of them were some of the better fighters in the entire Empire at this point. Sure, Cruk Tuk, Var-Sulis, Agent Apollo...they had their talents but the recent training with Martin Dux had significantly increased Rex's own ability, and now he had seen Kimiko and the mercenary. He'd be sure to remember their talent in future conflicts.

Hopefully there aren't any future conflicts... he thought to himself as he continued down the hill.

The battle of Lionus had been bad enough. An entire city destroyed to appease the more militant sects of The Empire. Of course that time he had been in agreement. The Empire hadn't done anything to show it's capabilities to the galaxy since he had become King. Lionus was a message, not even a warning, just a statement that The Empire wouldn't be ignored, contested, or disrespected. But today was different. He took no comfort in having to fight the natives. Perhaps, in hindsight, the Empire could have placed the base elsewhere...but the Nediji were so territorial, it likely would have had the same result...

It's just another burden of the crown...

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Post: 5
Objective: 1
Tags:
Rex Valhoun | Zet Reav | Dorthea Dobson
​

She knew what burden was taken when one takes responsibility for a whole people. It weighs one's heart and mind and begins to wear down the very foundation of who one was attempting to be.

She had found herself in many a situation where her morals and how she promised her people she would be were thrown out the door for what was ultimately the greater good. Those events were dark and pressed the Empress's soul down a dark path.

Perhaps that could be a tale for the future...

For now,"Yes, the base is priority here. We have to make sure our people are alright." she keyed her personal comms to Chika, holding in orbit with an Imperial flotilla,"Takami, prepare to get the Marines planetside, looks like we went from diplomacy to destruction."

She could innately feel the death weighing down on her...how she hated this feeling.

 

[Zet Reav]

Post: Three
Objective: One
Rex Valhoun | Kimiko Taiyou | Dorthea Dobson

---

Zet is trying really hard to think of a pun. A good finishing line. Not that he needs any, he'd rather not actually, but this is an once-in-a-lifetime situation and he would be a fool to not take advantage of it. But... nothing comes to mind. Even with his big arkanian brain, the words fail him. It seems that chickens affairs are his natural weakness, who knew.

Still, it's a good job done and he feels that pride of having earned his salary. Because he is not exactly cheap. Time to do the second part of the job: Making sure the dead stay dead.

He gives a brief nod of helmet to the King after the compliment, and then he gets to work. While the Royalty-human and the Royalty-fox are arguing, Zet is going around, blaster on hand, shooting at the dead bodies. A double-tap precaution to make sure none of them are just pretending to be dead to attack them from behind. Or worse, if there are any trying to survive this to come back later for revenge.

Personal revenge is... a nasty business. Illogical. Best to cut that tree by it's roots early.

I get the feeling I will have plenty of credits and action working for this Empire. Zet thinks to himself, and that's a good thing. War is an useful tool to advance a government, if done correctly that is. Of course not everyone will like it, mostly those at the end of the barrel, but this is a cruel world. Not everyone can be happy all the time. He stands ready to follow the group, moving last to keep an eye out on things.

And to stay far away from any possible arguments those two might have on the way down of course.

 

[Aculia Voland]

Listening to the Sakuran communication from Kimiko Taiyou , Aculia made her up mind about what to do with the remaining Nediji attackers. It seemed like they were going to go for a straight up occupation and forceful annexation, especially given Rex's decision to bomb their camps. Any surviving members of the attacking force would simply regroup to attack again later since diplomacy was out of the question for now. Lots of little avian children would be orphans and she doubted there would be many males left for at least a generation. There would be consequences further down the line for Rex Valhoun and the Empire for his choice, although it was more likely something his children and grandchildren would have to bear.

Swallowing, she spoke.

"Looks like we need to finish them off for peace to truly happen here. It's not pretty business but if most of their prime age warrior population is gone...it'll hopefully buy time for real negotiations in the future, and lasting peace."

She did not sound so confident about those last words as she and the other War Hawks made their final passes over the battlefield, opening up with their heavy laser gatling cannons against their retreating foe. Scores of Nejidi were cut down both on the ground and in low flight above the trees, screeching in agony as heavy laser fire burned through their feathers and quite literally roasted them alive. More waves of icy death struck those who could feel the slaughter through the Force, until the guns stopped firing and all was eerily silent.

"Report." Aculia uttered coldly to the SAWACs above.

"Estimated 90%-95% KIA or WIA. The Nejidi advance has been decisively broken. The survivors have scattered into the forests and whatever leadership they may have had has either given up or is among the wounded or dead. We have won, sir."

"Yes, we did, didn't we?" Aculia replied, then cut off the communication link.

She was glad they had won, of course, she cared about those under her command. But she could not help feel that maybe this fight need not have occurred, if things from the political side had been better planned.

Dangerous thoughts, and best to keep them to yourself for now.