The Sin of Pride (Siobhan/Firemane)

[Sahal Jai Azal]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
It was all rather unfair. By this point the superiority in weapons, training and coordination doomed the Xioquo, In the words of one general “This was not war, it was murder.”
Still, whenever the Firemane troops had tried to call on the Xioquo to surrender they had launched suicidal kamikaze charges until all Xioquo were mown down without pity. By the time the Legionnaires joined the fray it was all over.
Bodies lay thick over the beach. Ships sunk or burned in the shallows and the cries of the wounded were heard.

Sahal watched over the scene with utter shock. Even more than the Mirza’s defeat, this concentrated carnage was stunning. In her world battles were usually tactical, with sides only suffering heavily in retreat, in which case they would be scattered over a large area. Cannons might tear a body to pieces, but every Firemane soldier carried a weapon which literally blew Xioquo apart.

She had contributed little, other than to throw a fireball and fire her flintlock pistol into the melee, but now she went to find Siobhan.
“You are hurt, Lady Mistress?” she asked cautiously when she found Siobhan. She felt most out of place.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Sahal Jai Azal"]


The awfully one-sided massacre had come to a close. Dead bodies littered the beach. Many had been blown apart. The sea was filled with the wrecks of transport ships and Xioquo ironclads. Here and there, the cries of the wounded were heard. Firemane troopers had mowed down the Xioquo without pity, and this was the result.


It would be a lesson to the Xioquo, just as the debacle at Underrealm had been one for Firemane and the Qadiri. "Yes, I'm fine," Siobhan spoke, breathing in. Blood was seeping out of a wound in her cheek due to it being struck by an arrow. A cannonball had exploded close by her, but a protective bubble of the Force had shielded her from the worst. Blunt trauma and broken ribs were still a thing though. "It's over. Medics, see to our wounded. Sergrant Solveig, round up our captives and take them to detention. If they try anything, kill them, otherwise treat them decently." Given the fanaticism the Xioquo had displayed, she was in no mood to muck around. Her own soldiers' safety came first.

 

[Sahal Jai Azal]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

The orders were carried out and soon Tegaea returned to join them. She winced slightly on seeing Siobhan’s wound but made no comment.
“No dead, forty-three injured across the ships, defences and pilots. The droids have founded four-hundred and eighty-seven dead and wounded Xioquo on the beach, got to be twice that on all these ships. Terrible,” she said softly. It wasn’t that she was soft or squeamish, but it felt somewhat wrong to mow down people who had no defence…even if they were trying to murder you.

“I’ll get surveillance drones up in case they come back, but I don’t suspect they will.”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Sahal Jai Azal"]


Unlike Tegaea, Siobhan was a good deal less ethical. Well, she'd jumped from a darker shade of neutral to dark side. Or did being nice and sweet to the kiddies give her light side points? Eh, whatever. This one never cared about Star Wars' Manichean morality anyway.


Siobhan wiped away the blood seeping out of her wound, then fetched a bacta patch to apply to it. "It was a massacre. But it taught them a lesson they won't forget so soon and the dead bodies are all on their side. We'll still have to be thoroughly prepared when we attack Underrealm."

 

[Sahal Jai Azal]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Sahal looked between them. “So it is true, you will be attacking their home? None of our efforts ever succeeded…but then we do not have the weapons you do,” she added. Her flintlock pistol seemed like a child’s toy beside the vast devices available to the offworlders.

“We should go and get that wound treated properly, Siobhan and call it a day. As usual we let one small ship of theirs escape to spread the news,” Tegaea suggested.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Sahal Jai Azal"]


"Yes, we will attack them. And we'll train you how to use our weapons, dear," Siobhan promised her knight and patted her on the shoulder. Glancing over to Tegaea, she gave her a nod. "Agreed. But I think my knight here deserves a reward. I'm very pleased with how much you helped us, Sahal. You've done good work. Would you like to...attend upon your Ladies tonight?" she asked sweetly, with a gleam in her eyes.

 

[Sahal Jai Azal]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Sahal gave the two of them a look which could only be described as bemused.
“Verily, you people from beyond the stars can fly and use weapons of great power, and build fortresses of eternity…but in some ways you are just the same as us. Lead the way, Lady Mistress,” she said with an amused shake of the head.

New Mistress, same as the old Mistress.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Sahal Jai Azal"]


"I think you and I are going to get on very well, darling," Siobhan purred, wrapping an arm around Sahal's waist. "By the time I'm done, I'll be the only Mistress you'll ever want." And so the three ladies went their merry way to the fancy place the Kerrigan-Alcoris lived in whenever they were at Fort Kerrigan.


Obviously it was far fancier than the lodgings of a common grunt. Fade to black ensued.