Humanity Endures

Part 9 - Infiltration | Chapter 4

The crowds either didn't hear Velan's words, or, emotion having purged their hearts of obedience, didn't care. Velan, stomping his foot into the ground and dispatching textcomms to his still-loyal forces, watched as the previously uncommitted third of the chamber, two enforcers among them, drew their weapons and surged forward into the mobs, using their fists and the stocks of their guns to smash through and beat down those who had been their allies mere minutes ago. The sudden nature of the attack meant that both of the disorganized sides were quickly overwhelmed, for neither of them bore much ill-will towards those who now attacked them, and both sides were reluctant to shoot at fellow humans — or were too terrified to fire at enforcers. Many surrendered and capitulated the moment Velan's marines reached them, while those who didn't were ruthlessly knocked to the ground where they were then kicked, punched, and struck until they too conceded — or were simply too bloodied to struggle. Terxah, Ralthina, Iselviah, and Xandra, unwilling to fight fellow humans, surrendered instantly; Parivahn, who reacted to the violence with violence, was beaten into submission by other marines; Yelazar submitted after only a mild reprisal, and Illtera followed suit. Dentor, however, resisted fiercely, evading strikes and dealing them back with such unexpected prowess that he even managed to knock down three of Velan's marines until he finally capitulated after being struck by an enforcer — the blow was so powerful that it sent him flying into a wall a few meters away. Velan, stepping down from his table and walking towards the mass of injured or surrendering soldiers and sailors, addressed them all.

"Madness may have consumed the Cesspit, madness may consume the galaxy, madness may consume humanity itself, but madness shall never reign on my ship, or amongst my crew, as long as I live! As your commander, I am to be obeyed — if we are to kill one of our own crew members, we will do so when I order it, and not a moment before. Any who disagree, can voice their objections from the airlock."

Velan shot a glance towards both sides, neither of which had yet fully recovered, "Now, pick yourselves up, and apologize to your fellows who you were on the verge of murdering; you're supposed to be soldiers of the Empire, and yet all I saw back there was a gaggle of rabid fools. We face this alien threat with wisdom, strategy, and unity, or we might as well have died on the Cesspit along with everyone else who didn't make it — in fact, that might have been preferable, for at least they died with their dignity intact."

Velan's crew members slowly got to their feet, all of them doing what Velan had instructed them to do — even Iselviah, whom Velan had suspected would not welcome his coup with open arms, did so with surprisingly little resistance. Velan, pausing to allow his previous remarks to cement in the minds of those present, was then notified via textcomm of the next concerning event: one of the station's escape pods had been launched, within it being the one person notably absent from the entire mutinous event: Kalmah.

Whether boarding an escape pod and leaving the ship was an attempt at evading both the aliens and the humans aboard the station, or if it was an alien Kalmah trying to use an escape pod to somehow reach another, more easily-taken human ship, Velan could not know. What he did know, however, was that he needed to prevent her from doing it, if not because Kalmah was likely to die in the Remnant if she stayed there, because he didn't want to be caught empty-handed by the Wraith if he actually managed to survive the aliens and make it to Ihndrastar.

Turning to Terxah, Velan spoke, holstering his pistol and folding his armored hands behind his back.

"Terxah, you recently proved yourself adept at hand-to-hand combat, and it seems you now have a chance to redeem yourself in my eyes. The escape pod that just launched from our ship — I want you to bring it, and its occupant, back here. You already have a quantum communicator from when I sent you to retrieve the Kalithiharians — take it, and a squad of marines, with you. Make sure the marines have a communicator as well: after all, if you're alien and you try to flee after I set you on this assignment, I want to know that there's someone trustworthy nearby who can shoot you in the back."