Chapter 48: A Hollow Victory
Una semana antes del día de la ejecución
Starsong sighed as he read the report on the khaydarin core's status. The core had been damaged due to the energy release, and would need time to “heal.” It was fortunate it was a living entity, but the healing process would take some time. While some of their weapons were still operational, the main cannon wouldn’t be able to function at peak performance with the core in its current state.
A long range jump was also out of the question, meaning they were falling further and further behind that shuttle. The gateway had also received some damage during the power surge. Nothing that couldn’t be repaired, but without full power from the khaydarin core, there was no way they would be able to warp in supplies or reinforcements this far out of Khalai space. According to the damage report, it would take around a month for the core to recover to full strength. The shuttle would be out of Consortium space long before then.
“Is there anything we can do to speed up the healing process?” asked Starsong.
“We’re already recycling the scrap from the battle with the raiders and whatever else we can salvage. The core will be able to process the metals to help repair itself, but it would be much faster if we had some raw material to work with,” said a crewmen. “Unfortunately finding raw metal out here can be dangerous, this is Consortium space after all. Even if they aren’t mining it, just about every mineral field out here is still under the jurisdiction of one guild or another. Not to mention we don’t exactly have the equipment to start a dedicated mining operation. Our only option is to wait until the core repairs at its current rate.”
“We can’t wait that long,” said Starsong. He began looking through the charts of the surrounding area. “You said there are guilds all over the place out here. I’m sure we can strike a deal with one of them.” After a few minutes of studying to the chart, he found a potential seller. “Here we are. Labyrinth. They’re a minotaur operated guild, and they have a mining station not too far from here. We may be able to convince them to sell us some of their metal.”
“Uh… captain. Minotaur’s are known for their love of battle. I’m not sure we want to make any dealings with them,” warned the crewmen.
“Since when are the Templar afraid of battle?” asked Starsong.
“I’m not afraid to die for the Khalai!” she replied, clearly offended. “I simply don’t think this is a particularly wise choice of action.”
“You're concern is noted, but we don’t have much of a choice right now," said Starsong. "This is the closest mining facility, and we need to get that core repaired before that shuttle gets too far away.”
He gave an order through the Khala, and the Radiance began making its way towards the mining site. Starsong could only hope the minotaurs weren’t looking for a fight. While they may have had a love for battle, they were still Kel-Morians. Hopefully their lust for bits was greater than their lust for blood.
Cadenza stood with the palace guards protecting the exterior as best as she could. Drop pods however had already smashed through the surface of the ship, so internal conflict was inevitable.
“Stand your ground! Fort Cadence has held for hundreds of years, it’ll hold today!” shouted Cadenza. The assault had been going on for a while, so casualties were high on both sides. Higher for the attackers fortunately, and it seemed as if their assault was on the verge of being pushed back.
Cadenza ducked her head just in time as bullets impacted around her. More angered than scared, she charged her horn with magic, and launched a psionic storm outside the gates, electrocuting three diamond dogs in an instant.
The palace guards stood their ground, not letting anyone pass. Their Matriarch was with them, and every one of them would die before letting any harm come to her. Two of the guards readied missile launchers, and fired on a devastator. The damaged suit attempted to retreat, but with the armor weakened, another pair of Cadians went full auto on the suit, penetrating the armor and injuring the pony within. The sight of another dangerous foe defeated lifted the spirits of the defenders. Just as the attack seemed to falter, the beacons around Fort Cadence reactivated, meaning the starports had fallen into enemy hands.
As the beacons reactivated, another wave of drop pods and gunships entered the city not too far away from the palace. One of the gunships launched a missile at the defenders, taking out a pair of guards, and injuring another. Cadenza launched a stream of lightning at the gunship, which at first didn’t penetrate the shields. She focused her efforts harder, eventually disabling the shields, and blowing the ship out of the sky.
One of the controllers launched the last of their banshees which succeeded in downing two more gunships, but were then shot down by soldiers on the ground. With the skies now under the control of the enemy, the gunships mercilessly bombarded the Cadian defenders.
“Everyone, get back inside the palace. We’ll hold them off from inside!” ordered Cadenza. She used her magic to levitate as many injured guards as she could and pulled them in alongside herself. The lightning she had fired earlier however, combined with the glowing aura around her as she maintained her levitation spell, had given away her position, causing a number of Diamond Dogs to open fire on her.
She erected a shield around herself which was just barely holding back the assault. One of the raiders noticed the barrier and was about to fire a salvo at her. Fortunately a trio of missiles fired from the ground damaged the gunship and knocked it out of the sky.
With the palace guards now inside, all entrances sealed and the ships shields were brought up. The ship was ancient however, and the shields wouldn’t last long against a concentrated barrage.
Fortunately it seemed the Diamond Dogs were holding back. Cadenza suspected there was something inside the palace they wanted. At first she felt certain they wanted to take her alive, but their focused efforts on killing her proved otherwise. The objective couldn’t be to simply kill her either, or else they would have just hit the palace with everything they had. They certainly brought enough firepower to destroy it if that’s what they wanted. The only hope for survival was to try and keep them out as long as possible until the Dominion showed up.
“Matriarch, when can we expect the Dominion to launch reinforcements of their own? They don’t plan to just sit on their platforms and watch us die do they?” asked one of the guards.
“The Dominion will come. We just need to hold out a bit longer,” assured Cadenza. She wasn’t sure if they really would or not, but she had to believe it. Hope was all she had left to hold onto at the moment.
Gunfire continued to fill the hallways. Apparently the internal security still hadn’t drive out the enemy insertion teams. As the sound of gun fire from a hallway got closer, an explosion went off sending an enemy pony flying through the air, his suit completely fried by a blue beam of psionic energy.
Cadenza and two guards went to see who it was that just killed that Diamond Dog. She turned the corner relieved to find her champion, surrounded by four other dead Diamond Dogs and a destroyed devastator. He was on his knees however as if he were struggling to breathe.
“Shining! I knew you wouldn’t forsake us! Are you alright?” she asked.
Shining Armor eventually managed to get on his feet again with her help. “I’m not quite at my best right now. I flew in through the hole in the ceiling as they shot down my medivac. Where is Stage?”
“I don’t know. The first place I went when I found out we were under attack was the front gates. Unfortunately they managed to push us back inside,” explained Cadenza. “I’m assuming she made her way to the bunker.”
“I’ll go look for her,” said Shining Armor.
“Shining, we need you here!” argued Cadenza. “That shield isn’t going to hold much longer!”
“I’m sorry, but I need to make sure she’s alright. Once I get her to the bunker, I’ll come back to help out,” said Shining Armor.
“Shining! You’re the Champion of Cadia! You’re people expect to see you here! You can’t just desert your duties!” shouted Cadenza.
“She’s my wife!” shouted back Shining Armor.
“Since when has that ever mattered!?” asked Cadenza. “Do you really think she still cares about her husband after what happened? She wasn’t even at the execution today!”
Shining Armor felt like he had just taken another punch to the gut. Maybe he was the last person she wanted to see right now, but she was still his wife. He wasn’t about to leave her for dead. “I’ll be back, I promise,” said Shining Armor as he began to limp away.
Cadenza barely managed to contain her anger as her champion deserted her and his brethren. How could he choose Stage over her? “So all that crap you said about me being the most important mare in your life meant nothing then?”
Shining Armor paused for just a moment, then continued limping towards the guest quarters.
Cadenza wiped a tear, then returned to join her men. With or without her Champion by her side, she was still the Matriarch. She would still defend her people to her dying breath.
It had been a day’s journey of multiple short range jumps, but they had finally arrived at the mining site. It didn’t take long before a frigate showed up to greet them.
“We’re being hailed,” said a crewmen.
“Put them through,” ordered Starsong.
“You are entering a restricted area under the control of the Labyrinth Guild. State your business. Any attempt to scan this ship, or power up weapons or shields will be seen as an act of aggression,” warned a minotaur’s voice.
“This is the GAV Radiance. We’re here on business and are interested in purchasing some of your metal,” responded Starsong.
A moment of silence occurred between the two ships. Eventually the frigate replied. “We are patching you through with a representative now.”
The voice of another minotaur came through the comm. “Greetings prospective buyer. This I am Serran Longhorn of the Labyrinth Guild. I understand the Golden Armada is interested in a mining contract with our guild. I’m sure that can be arranged.”
“Actually we aren’t interested in a contract. This is more a onetime purchase,” explained Starsong.
“Is that so? Well I’m afraid we cannot accommodate you. We only deal in long term contracts, so you will have to take your business elsewhere,” said Longhorn.
“I know it’s a rather unexpected request, but we would be willing to offer substantial compensation for your metal,” assured Starsong.
“That’s very generous, but I’m afraid all of our current stock is already reserved for other customers. As I said, we deal in long term contracts. If there is nothing else, we are done here. The frigate will escort you out of our territory,” said Longhorn.
“Of course,” complied Starsong.
The Radiance did leave the guilds territory, but not before deploying a couple of observers.
The shields had given out, and now the Diamond Dogs would be entering any moment. She looked around as the men stood behind cover. None of the stallions expressed the slightest hint of fear. She could only pray their courage would be enough.
A breaching charge went off, and immediately the guards opened fire. They may have been outgunned by the devastators, but Cadians were renowned marksmen. One intruder after another fell before the hail of gunfire while Cadenza summoned a tempest of lightning at each devastator she encountered. She had to pace herself, as firing an endless stream of spells would tire her out if she did it too quickly.
The combination of missiles and magic seemed to be holding off their heavy hitters. At first it seemed they would hold the entrance, but breaching charge after breaching charge kept allowing the Diamond Dogs to enter from too many directions. Eventually the defenders found themselves flanked as their casualties began to mount.
“Fall back into the halls!” ordered Cadenza. She created a temporary barrier to hold off the enemy advanced while the guards fell back to a more defensive position.
Again the process repeated as the Cadians slaughtered the attacking Diamond Dogs who tried to pass through the bottle necks, and again more breaching charges went off, allowing the Diamond Dogs to eventually flank them for a third time. Cadenza was about to give an order to retreat when a blast sent her flying back. Her leg was injured, and her right side burned, the wing too damaged for her to fly.
One of the guards immediately ran to her side to pick her and ran her further into the palace, leaving his fellow guards to fend for themselves. Unfortunately at this point, they had depleted their supply of missiles, and without Cadenza’s magic, they had no effective means of countering the devastator’s. One by one the palace guards fell to the Diamond Dogs advance.
“I’ll get you to the bunker Matriarch. You’ll be safe there,” assured the guard.
As he turned a corner, he was knocked down by a devastator armed with flamethrowers. The guard threw the Matriarch down the hall just as the devastator opened fire and burned him alive. The scream of the young stallion who had saved her life served to infuriate the Matriarch, who had already watched so many of her people get slaughtered. She blasted the devastator's exposed rear, detonating the fuel tanks. She swore she could hear the stallion screaming inside for a few seconds before he finally burned to death.
She wasn’t in mood for retreat anymore. She forced her injured legs to the hallway where the Diamond Dogs had slaughtered her men. Immediately they opened fire, but all the bullets stopped in midair when they touched her barrier. Fury and vengeance had engulfed the mare, and she was pushing herself much harder than she should have been able to. The Diamond Dogs all found themselves levitating in midair now as well, hopeless against her magic. With a scream of rage, all of the helpless mercenaries’ suits exploded, showering the room with shrapnel and gore. Had her barrier not been up, she made have been killed in the resulting explosions.
The exhausted Matriarch fell over, panting as she struggled to recover her strength. Another lone Diamond Dog entered the hall way. This one was wearing white armor with black stripes. As he approached the exhausted mare, her horn began to light up as she feebly attempted to cast another spell. The stallion responded by curb-stomping her horn, disabling her magic. Cadenza screamed in pain as her blood dripped on the floor. The stallions visor lifted to reveal the face of a zebra who wanted to look her in the eyes before he killed her.
As he lifted her pistol to her face, Cadenza said her last words. “Shining… I needed you… where were you?”
Starsong had spent the next few hours reviewing the intel brought back from the observers, and comparing it with the Dark Orders intel on Labyrinth. The DO's methods may be questionable, but I can’t deny their results. he thought to himself.
It seemed that the Labyrinth guild had expanded significantly in the last couple of decades. While they maintained a powerful private army on their controlled worlds, their outlaying mining facilities relied on outsourced security. This particular mining station was protected by two security firms.
One was Mad Cow, a security firm dominated by their fellow minotaurs, who up until recently provided security for most of the guild’s outlaying facilities. The other was Vampire, a security firm owned by bat ponies. With the rapid growth of Labyrinth, Mad Cow was unable to provide protection for all of the guild’s investments, so Vampire had to be brought in to supplement their numbers. Apparently Mad Cow and Vampire weren’t on friendly terms, the first fearing the latter was intent on stealing their clients.
From what the observers had reported, Mad Cow had a capital ship and five frigates in the area, while Vampire had four cruisers and eight frigates. Both sides also had a large number of fighters, gunships and corvettes at their disposal as well. Security on the station itself fell to Mad Cow, whose armored minotaur defenders would be no pushovers in a direct conflict.
(Its the only picture I could find. Try to disregard the murlock with the laser beam on top)
Labyrinth kept each fleet on opposite sides to avoid any mishaps between the two groups. Only a couple of years ago, a skirmish had broken out between the two firms when some trigger happy minotaur opened fire on the bat ponies when they accidentally crossed into their territory. Millions of bits worth of property damaged ensued, and Mad Cow’s relationship with Labyrinth had become strained as a result. If Starsong could recreate such a scenario, a team of Templar might be able to get onboard during the chaos and retrieve some of that precious metal.
“So now we’re pirates!?” asked a mare. “If we do this, we’re no better than those Diamond Dogs we fought with earlier!”
Starsong snapped out of his train of thought and noticed his crew were shooting him glares. They weren’t very enthusiastic about the new lows their captain was willing to sink to in the name of accomplishing his mission.
“We’re not pirates,” he assured. “Pirates steal for their own personal greed. We’re here to carry out the Supreme Matriarch's will. There is a greater good behind what we do. We’re here to defend our people, not get rich.”
“I’m sure it’s easy to justify when it’s convenient,” muttered a stallion.
A few weeks ago Starsong would have agreed entirely, but linking with Seeker had introduced him to a new way of thinking. They were in Consortium space, an area devoid of honor and good will. How long could they cling to their Templar honor and traditions if it came at the cost of not putting the mission first?
“Those traditions are what separates us from the mercenaries,” commented another stallion.
“Enough of this,” said Starsong. “You’re here to follow my orders, not to question them. Prepare the fighters for launch. I’ve been studying their patrol paths and I know just the place for an ambush.”
A wave of guilt resonated throughout the Khala. This was not honorable combat. They were not about to protect their people from a dangerous foe. They were going to murder a group of pilots, and incite a massive conflict just so their captain could steal his precious metal. Much pointless blood would be shed before the day’s end.
Shining Armor had finally awoken. The last thing he recalled was being shot by some zebra and his wife being taken away. “Stage!” he said out loud. He tried to get back up only to be stopped by a jolt of pain.
“Not so fast sir!” said a mare in a nurse's gown.
Shining Armor found he had awoken with a number of other injured ponies. “Where am I?” he asked.
“The palace guard found you unconscious and dragged you back to the bunker. We stopped the bleeding, but you’ll need surgery to remove the bullet,” she explained. “We need to get you out of that armor so we can start surgery as soon as possible.”
“I need to find Stage! That zebra took her! How long have I been out!?” he asked.
“Only a few minutes. The battle is over sir. The attackers have initiated a full retreat,” said the mare.
Against her advice, he stayed in his armor and made his way out of the bunker to see for himself. Eventually he reached a window and found a number of drop ships evacuating the Diamond Dogs. Cheers resonated throughout the palace as the guards were sure of their victory. Shining Armor on the other hand, wasn’t so enthusiastic. He was certain the only reason they were in retreat was because they had what they came for.
Stage… I’m so sorry.
Shining Armor made his way towards the palace gates to find Cadenza. He was certain the mare was still upset with him for leaving her to defend the gates on her own, and that she would demand an apology. When he reached the gates, he found a guard running through the halls. As the guard stepped outside, he dropped to his knees. Shining Armor suspected he may have even crying. Curious to see what could bring the palace guard to tears like this after a victory, he followed him out into the snow only to discover a grim sight.
Shining Armor fell to his knees himself as he gazed in horror at a flag pole. Cadenza was impaled on top of the pole, with a large bullet hole in her head. A grim testament to the guard’s failure to protect their Matriarch.
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Wow, all this happened in one day......Seems longer.
Tauren up the Night!
Cadence died like a true Khalai. I salute you Cadence for your final stand! You were a selfish fiend before, but ended up being a story to inspire the next generations!
Starsong is going down the 'no rules' war path, but war is still war, no matter how "honorable" it is.
And Shining.....Why didn't you stay and fight?!?!?! The majority come before the few! I know it's your wife we're talking about, but still you are a symbol to the Cadians, you should be the one leading them in battle!
Shouldn't that be hollow, not hallow?
Cady...you saw that dipshit 1st, so wont hold anything against you for letting him bang you even if he was married. I salute you for your bravery(most unoffencive way to say stupidity in my book). At least you died, fighting for your people.
Shiny Ass - Is asking for you to die so FREAKING MUCH?!
Stripe, you sir are a GRAND FAIL! You kill Cadence, but not Shiny Ass?! I am utterly disappointed.
Starsong...come to the dark side, we have coockies! Only one try is needed. As they say, once you go Blackula, you dont go backula.
Well... That seems to just undermine her importance. How sad.
Still, I pictured that entire sequence in RTS view. Lulz. Psi-storm Cadence.
Shining's getting the short end of the stick for now, but whatever happens, he's still going to have it better than Twilight by the end of this story, alive or not.
Hmm I dont think Cadence had enough screentime for me to feel to bad for her when she died. Jet strem did leave me with a sad face becaus she had more backstory and time in the story to grow on you.
As for Starsong, is he walking the same path as Tassadar maybe?
I will now await the next chapter of you glorious story
3237589
starsong the pony tassadar? hmmm.
3236985
So I have to ask, why the hate for Shining Armor? Yes he killed Karn, and yes he beat Sovereign to an inch of his life when he tried to retrieve Karn. But killing Karn was just him following his orders. As for almost killing Sovereign, he gave him around three chances to just turn around and walk away. He gave a lot of special consideration for Rain Sight having killed her father and almost killing her husband in the same night. He even made sure her husband would be alright just cause he didn't want to make things worse for her than they already were.
3236655
Its kind of crazy how much stuff can happen in a single day. Makes me wonder how long the story is going to be when its finished considering how long it takes for a single day to get done.
Been told recently that it takes me forever to say anything; in a very bad way. That some of this puts people to sleep. I started considering going back and cutting stuff out to reduce word count, but couldn't bring myself to do it. Sure I probably could have wrapped up Cadia in four chapters, and Korhal in significantly less time as well if I didn't put in stuff like Sovereign dressing up like Sweeties dad, or skipped over Stage's first conversation with Shining Armor, or Sweetie and Sovereigns encounter with the cultist, or removed the flashbacks, but that would just make the characters feel so empty to me. Frankly I like just playing around with them, and I like to think it develops personality when we see what they're like during everyday, unimportant events.
Frankly I get the feeling the guy would have just complained the opposite that I didn't develop enough had I sped through things. Sure a lot of people want to see what happens next, but I like to think the reason they're interested in what happens next is because they care about the characters in the situation. I'm not sure I could have had that without all the detail.