Faction Quest: Hand of the Empire [Complete]

[Rave]

The Sergeant uttered a heavy sigh, turning instead to the Colonel. 'It was chaos. I saw the female in the air, and a bunch of the vehicles spinning around her. There were some men spinning in the air too. Guess they tried to jump out. There was a lot of shooting all around, none of it was hitting her. But it sure was hitting us, though. She was directing the vehicles down into the ground, on top of the companies. Some of them she was smashing together in midair with men still trapped inside. There were a lot of explosions, a lot of screams. A lot of bodies.' He slowly scrubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. 'The bitch didn't seem to care. She was up there laughing. She was slaughtering the goddamn lot of us like we were ants and having fun.'

“Ma'am?”

Rave breathed in a quick breath, eyes blinking rapidly as she slowly turned her head up towards the intruding voice. Biggs shuffled his feet a moment, looking down to avoid the intense look he was receiving from the dark skinned Prime. She looked oddly serene while she slept, which was something he found odd considering the background information she'd given them. He knew he'd have goddamn nightmares if he'd been through some of the crap she had. He quirked his mouth a bit as he watched the woman stand up, admiring how she seemed graceful in every action she took.

“Sounded like you were having a pleasant dream, ma'am,” Biggs said as he watched Rave stretch out the kinks. “You were...err...giggling.”

Rave blinked at Biggs before she let out a rather stunning smile. She dreamt of her time before her current situation before, though most of it was in bits and pieces. In the grand scheme of things Rave knew that her time on her own planet was rather short, fighting only for a short while before she was captured by Silva, no thanks to Tiberius' interference. But in that short time she'd gathered up some pretty pleasant memories that she still held dear. Some would argue that slaughtering humans shouldn't be a pleasant memory, but Rave would only shrug at that.

Other dreams involved her and her wife. Those she didn't like as much since they left a rather gaping hole where her heart should have been.

“I don't giggle,” Rave winked, stretching an arm across her chest to warm up her muscles. “Where's Wedge?”

“Here ma'am,” the other Storm Trooper trotted up and nodded to his other two companions. He looked from side to side for a moment before reaching a hand to pat the back of his helmet in a nervous manner. “Errr...ma'am? You said they'd be here in an hour...” He trailed off nervously, though Rave barley gave him a glance.

“I did indeed say that.” A beat. “And yes, I know it's been several hours. I'm not infallible, you know.” Rave gave a lopsided grin. “Though if I were them I'd simply send a few more scouts, stay out of visual range and see what we got in terms of firepower and such. These kinda deals are all about patience.”

“You've done this sorta thing before ma'am?” Biggs questioned, tilting his head. “Never figured you for someone who would...you know...talk.”

Rave laughed at that, the sound bouncing off the broken city around them. No, Rave knew she wasn't a talker but she did like to think she had the ability. God knows she'd spent enough time around Tiberius to catch at least a few things. She thought back to her earlier thought; she was a sledgehammer. The next thought derailed right into a territory that Rave found eating at her gut; she didn't have her powers. Well, not all of them, and that was seriously hindering her ability to look nonchalant and confident in their current situation. It's why she gave the earlier scout a taste of her powers. Usually under the influence of fear one tends to remember things a tad...differently. She remembered the rumors of her back home. How she was a demon sent from the pits of Hades to slaughter the innocent in the name of whatever dark god the people happened to believe in. Ass backwards morons.

“Usually not, no,” Rave conceded with a grin. “I'm more of a blunt instrument. Talking doesn't suit me. That doesn't mean I don't know how to negotiate, however. Brilliance Dynamites Neon is a leader and a tactician himself. If he doesn't show up for a talk...well, we'll jump off that bridge when we come to it.”

What she didn't mention was that she knew the type of person she was dealing with. Brilliance Dynamites Neon was exactly the type of person Tiberius was; a bleeding heart moron that was more concerned with the preservation of life than accomplishing any actual goals despite the need for sacrifice. Rave knew she was right back home and she knew she was right now. She would come out of this the victor because she was willing to do what it took to get the job done. And if that meant blowing out the support beams of various large structures that Biggs and Wedge had planted explosives on to convince Brilliance Dynamites Neon that he needed to come with them...well, that's what she would do. If he wanted to fight, he'd fight with the knowledge that an unknown number of lives would be lost because of his choice.

Rave looked towards where the scout she'd sent packing went. It really was over before it had even began. The dark skinned woman took a moment to wonder just how many lives would be lost when she ended up blowing those support beams anyways, regardless of Brilliance Dynamites Neon's decision. She knew that perhaps several dozen would die in the collapse of these buildings. Others would die due to the dirt and other toxic material that the explosions and collapse would kick up over the next few weeks. Certainly a large part of Tier Five would become uninhabitable.

“A little genocide never hurt anyone...” Rave muttered, trailing off as she quirked a smile again.

“Ma'am?”

Rave looked to her Storm Troopers and shook her head despite their questioning looks. She was certain by this point they'd figured out that she was a bit...unstable. But she was a Prime, and from what they've told her Primes were held in high regard despite their mental state. Even someone like Brilliance Dynamites Neon was welcomed despite being a self admitted outlaw back in his world. She'd explained only a small part of her background to Biggs and Wedge, cherry picking her stories and words carefully. As much as the gravity manipulator was proud of her background as a freedom fighter, no one else needed to know Rave's views on humanity in general, and how she felt she was genetically superior to all of them.

“We got incoming ma'am.”

They didn't pull out their weapons, though they kept them ready. Rave crossed her arms and looked to the direction of the incoming party. Brilliance Dynamites Neon was easily recognizable, a huge man among the small rabble he kept with him. His Lieutenants, no doubt, though the file that Rave had said nothing of them. Minor characters in this story, nothing worth mentioning or remembering. They walked slowly, as if expecting an ambush of some sort despite Rave now holding her hands up in a sign of peace. Brilliance Dynamites Neon and his company stopped a dozen paces away from Rave's own, the big man holding up his own hands to show that he was unarmed.

“Well now,” the man grunted out as he walked forward, his men remaining behind him. “Heard ya scared the crap outta my scout. Said you had some sorta mystical powers that made him kneel before you.” He sniffed, looking down at Rave with a nod of approval. “Sounds hella fancy, little girl. How's 'bout we talk, eh? Settle this real flashy like between us?”

Rave nodded, mismatched eyes twinkling.

“I'd be happy to.”