Sunward Fort Sunward

[Jackie Cat]

'Foreign agent' – that sounded like the sort of thing a Commonwealth officer might say about the Rangers, given that they weren't part of the Commonwealth themselves. They were, legally speaking, an oddity. Steven might recall from his electoral campaigning that Senator Whetmore had said similar things about the Rangers...

The Colonel sniffed, and nodded. "I could give a damn about a 'sared resting place', son. You see a cemetary anywhere here? 'Cause I see a fortified structure. Understand this first – we've been anticipating orders to move on the Wardens for months, now. They're a military force that can project strength in the region, and that's a threat to Commonwealth sovereignty in the So-ha. Whatever your reasons for thinking my orders are bunk, they'd better be good."

But he was willing to entertain the possibility that they were bunk.

Behind him, troops were ready to fire the big guns. Brisa's face twitched. Destroying them now would start a fight with the army. But she couldn't let them hit the defenders on the fort if things went south...

"Keep at it," she snapped to Steven, before dashing headlong towards Fort Sunward.

The Colonel raised a brow, but kept his jaw set in Steven's direction...

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Of course the Colonel's stance on foreign policy would be as thick as his shell... Steven sent a surprised look at Brisa as she dashed off. 'Keep at it'? How was he supposed to get through to someone so set in their ways, all they saw the Wardens as were enemies?

That kind of zeal wouldn't respond to reason. It took every ounce of restraint to not retort with: 'You mean the same Wardens who have remained at their post and not 'projected' beyond their walls in the months you've been camped here?'

Instead, he took a settling breath, and said, "It doesn't look like a cemetery you or I might be familiar with, Colonel. Not every culture memorializes death in the same way. But I assure you, that entire mesa is the proverbial headstone."

"Regardless, do you see that airship up there?" He gestured towards the sky. "It has been commandeered by a rogue faction we've been investigating. That's what brought us here today. They are using your platoon as a distraction for them to carry out their operation atop the mesa. Colonel, they are willing to trade your men's lives for their mission; a mission that does not serve the Commonwealth to which you've pledged your loyalty."

He doubted he could stall much longer... "I need a name, sir. Who gave the order to attack today? Because it's very likely their loyalty lies elsewhere, as well."

 

[Jackie Cat]

The Blastoise gave a chuff, glancing briefly at the zepellin.

"Well, you must know something, son, 'cause my goddamn ship sure has been requisitioned. Only, the fellow on board had all his credentials in order – not a mote of ink out of place."

The Colonel's cheek twitched in displeasure. If he was irritated about the use of the airship, that might be the only reason he was even listening to Steven...

"There are two reasons we're making this attack today, son. The first is military discipline – I'm no insubordinate, and any 'mon who speaks to the contrary should count his days. I'll do as is expected of me, however slick the brass looks to me."

...but who, as Steven insisted, gave the order? Someone 'slick'. Maybe if Steven accused Matthias then he'd realise what was amiss.

"The second is that this was inevitable. D'you think I was surprised to be told to march up here with a baggage train full of forty-pounders? Not even a blink, no sah! Fine 'mon though some of them may be, my country can't have pockets of military strength dotted around its frontier, ready to prick its underbelly. That's the reason I was sent to sweat my guts out under the devil's own sun in the first place. If we backed off today, it won't be long before it happens some other day, make no mistake."

His deep voice had shifted a little, dropping the clipped brevity for a more personal Frigatespur twang. He was falling back on thought-terminating ideas in the face of discomfort at being used as Steven suggested, then...? Perhaps he could press the issue. Argue that the threat was imagined, and his troops' blood a resource spent for ill.

His second reason also implied a third – that this would be trivially done. He had the forty-pound artillery, after all. It was his fight to win.

Maybe if he thought it wouldn't be so easy, he'd think twice.

In the dust between the Sunward gatehouse and Watershed's howitzers stood Brisa Escarpa. Unafraid.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Some of the tension melted from Steven's posture as Watershed relented, if only slightly. He sent a quick peek towards Brisa to see where she'd ended up. She looked ready to handle whatever the army could throw at them, but gods if they could get out of this without needing to...

Mollify first, then try reason.

"I would never call into question your allegiance to your country. Your reputation precedes you, Colonel. But what if someone else knew of your reputation as well? Someone who had all their credentials in order. Someone who knew they could use your loyalty to their gain."

If the Colonel didn't have a name, then maybe he wasn't familiar with whoever gave him the order. So, maybe it was as simple as a Covenant operative strolling up to the Army's front door...

"Think about it. They show up with the orders you've been waiting for for months. Finally, a chance to get out of this heat and back to civilization once the job is done. Except they take your airship and leave you standing here in the sun facing a group of Wardens who have suddenly been preparing for a fight."

"A fight that we warned them about," Steven turned a claw at himself before gesturing back to the sky above the mesa, "A fight with whoever it was that commandeered your airship, not the Commonwealth Army."

He couldn't hold back the sentiment any longer. "Sir, the Wardens are protectors, not aggressors. You've been camped here in the desert for how long now? You must have seen it with your own eyes. They keep to their walls. Hold fire today and let the Wardens drive off the threat to their home up on that mesa. We stop the insurgents, you get your airship back, and no one has to get hurt today."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Steven's words were hardly what the Colonel wanted to hear, but he hadn't achieved his rank by being thick-headed – his deepening frown was that of a 'mon who was realising he'd been dealt a lousy hand and was now expected to eat the cards. He glanced up at the zeppelin, now manned in part by slick 'federal' personnel he had no relationship with. Damn this.

"I'll look a goddamned fool," he muttered under his breath.

"Sir?!" barked the Arcanine Captain. "You can't seriously be listening to this drivel?! This 'mon just admitted to giving aid to the enemy!"

The Blastoise shot a glower at his officer. "Stand down, Halleck. I'll not spend lives on a blasted snipe hunt."

The dog's eyes showed their whites as his muzzle contorted in outrage. "We don't need to spend lives, Colonel! We have cannon, and ammunition to spare!"

"That's quite enough out of you, Captain!"

Halleck stared down the gawping artillerymon manning the guns. "Aim at that goddamn Luxio savage!" he barked, froth slavering around his mouth.

"Captain Halleck! Countermand that order, or I'll have you in irons!"

"Battery, ready! Elevation, four degrees! On my command—!"

Watershed hunched over, aiming his own barrels at Halleck. "So help me, Captain, I will blast you clear across this territory! STAND DOWN!"

"FIRE!"

The gun belched fire with a sound like a thousand tons of timber crashing to earth. The same second, jets of water roared from the Colonel's barrels, knocking Captain Halleck from his feet and tumbling several yards in the dust – from his yelp of pain and the audible snap in his body, the attack broke a rib or two.

There was a whistling in the air as the shell sped to its fate.

---

In; out; in again... She kept herself in place, and held the air in her lungs. One paw scraped the dust as she adjusted her stance by an inch. While she stilled her breaths, time stilled with them. No sound but her heartbeat, drumming on her sternum, pumping every quarter-second to squeeze more life out of each moment, to strain for survival.

There was a ball of lead and metal, hurtling towards her through space and seconds. A few hundred feet per second, maybe. If it touched her, it would pass right through her body, turning her to so many pounds of meat and bone and gore.

The blood in her skin screamed at her to run. She stayed.

It was just an object – she was lightning.

Brisa gave a keening yowl of effort as she drew back a paw, an electric-blue sheen of charged particles rippling across her forelimb.

It connected.

Brisa used Plasma Fists!

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

It was like the scene played out in slow motion. And Steven was frozen in time.

One minute, the Colonel was listening, actually listening to his half-baked plan to avert sure disaster. And the next there was shouting, baring of fangs-- that damned Arcanine Captain-- and then thunder.

Whatever he'd shouted was drowned out by the roar of the artillery gun. The concussion of it sending him recoiling, unable to do anything to stop what he'd hoped against hope, was preventable.

There was a blinding flash as an explosion of sparks and dust billowed out from the shell's impact. The ruddy cloud swallowed Brisa whole, leaving the otherworldly sound of jittering, crackling electricity in its wake.

Steven pried himself out from beneath the cover of his own hands and stared in disbelief at where it all went wrong.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Infantrymon flinched as something hurtled through the air over their heads. Dust kicked up into the eyes from a brief, false breeze.

There was an almighty thnck, like hammer striking anvil, and the 40-pounder gun that had just fired kicked up off its base, rolled back, and steamed gently from its ruined, red-hot barrel. The metal had parted like a flower in bloom, warped into so much useless slag. Artillerymon backed away, ears ringing, muttering curses and questions. Some peered closer at the unexpected ruin of the howitzer. Others looked back towards its final target...

Where the reddish cloud of smoke and dust had engulfed Brisa, the air was now clearing.

Sparks flying from her fur, still stood in the spot she'd chosen to defend, was a snarling, wild-maned Luxray.

"Come an' try yer luck again!" she roared, across the few-hundred yard distance. "I can do this all goddamn day!"

Brisa toughed it out to show her best side to everyone!

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Steven found himself ducking once more as another sudden sound came from the row of artillery. For a second, he wondered if the first shot had lit a spark in the troops, and they'd fired on the fort once again. But no, this sound was different, not to mention--

"Brisa!" The dust cleared and she stood unharmed. Better than unharmed. Triumphant, even. His shock melted to relief so quickly he nearly laughed aloud. He caught himself before that happened; he was still standing next to the Colonel after all, and this was surely no laughing matter from his perspective.

Though, was there much more that needed to be said? Brisa had written the message loud and clear across the Soja's desert.

'Your weapons hold no power here.'

Steven gave a slight cough, clearing his throat while brushing some stray dust from his arm. "Ah, apologies about the cannon, but at least you won't be needing it..."

He trailed off, meeting Watershed's gaze for a lingering, meaningful moment. The unspoken sentiment of, 'I take it we've reached an agreement?'

"Now, if you'll excuse me, Colonel, I have to see about a commandeered airship."

 

[Jackie Cat]

The Blastoise sighed deeply, and nodded.

"Very well, Metang. Please give my apologies to your friend for the inexcusable lack of gunnery discipline."

He gave a sharp look to the 'mon who'd been manning the gun to begin with. It seemed reprimands were in order...

"You may tell the Wardens that there'll be no battle today. You get me my ship back, and I'll gladly forget this business ever happened."

Watershed's word was sincere, and with Halleck bruised in the dirt, it seemed unlikely anyone else would make trouble.

Now it was on to the fort...

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

It was like the desert let out a collective exhale. Or maybe that was just the way he felt right now. Either way, it was finally time to allow himself a laugh. In the urgency of it all he just walked right up to a literal Colonel of the Commonwealth Army and started making demands without so much as introducing himself. Left your manners back in town, Stone?

He massaged a brow with his claw to disguise his mirth (and mild embarrassment.) "Just Steven is fine, sir. And I think if you'd given that apology to Brisa, she'd laugh and tell you to fire again."

Maybe it was best if he had Colonel thinking all of the Soja's protectors were a little left of all there.

"I'll be sure to inform the Wardens of the ceasefire." He turned to make his way through the platoon towards the walls of the fort, but paused. "Thank you, Colonel," he said with utmost sincerity. There was nothing that forced Watershed to listen to a word he said, yet the Colonel chose to listen. That had to count for something.

-

Steven pushed his way to the front of the muttering, murmuring army platoon until he reached Brisa's side, fairly blurting out, "Watershed has promised to withdraw. The siege is called off."

Relief welled up in his expression. "That stunt you pulled was--" Incredible? Exhilarating? Terrifying? All of those all at once? He settled on a different sentiment. "I'm glad you're alright."

He looked down, fumbling with his claws for a moment, before finding Brisa's gaze once again, all business. "We should go. I need to find the Warden Captains, and then we all should get up to that mesa."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Brisa gave Steven a wild grin, and patted him firmly on one shoulder. The simple gesture would likely send him a little off balance – she must be even stronger, now.

"Yeah, me too. Gotta tell ya, I wasn't sure I could do that. Don't reckon I coulda done it a second time, sky and storms!"

She ran with him to the fort, and soon enough, the gatehouse opened at once for the pair. Day-Captain Aurelia was there to greet them.

"Hail to you, friends," crackled her flame-voice, burning hotter than usual. "That feat of strength was something to behold, lion of the desert! And you, noble outlander Steven – have my eyes seen falsely, or did your silver tongue truly stay the swords of that outlander army?"

The Wardens really were an insular culture... Even the villagers down the road didn't talk like this. One might find it endearing.

"That's about the shape of it," huffed Brisa, looking up past Aurelia to the long, long climb up the mesa. "But that's not the real reason we're here. Somethin' big is takin' place up top a' your rock, here. Best get movin'."

"Very well," came the crisp reply. "I'll bring the Night-Captain – all other soldiers must remain to garrison the walls."

It was scarcely a minute before the four of them were headed up the hundreds of stairs to the plateau, high above...

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