Note: This story is in continuity with Members of Polite Society. There are a few references to Society, but otherwise it can be read standalone.

The Rogues's quarters on the Nova were quiet, as only one member of the faction was currently on the ship. Pendles, the snake-like Roan assassin, was making the last few preparations on his gear before his final mission briefing from Ghalt and Mellka. He examined his kamas. The blade on the first one was sharp, as was the beak on the one made from the Aviant's skull, it's single remaining eye blinking up at him every few seconds. Even after all these years, Pendles was still curious about how it did that. Everything was in perfect working order as usual. It was just another detail that evidenced the pride he took in his work. Satisfied, Pendles left his room and began to amble along toward the bridge until he heard someone call out from behind him.

"Hey! Pendles, wait up! Wait for me!"

Pendles turned around and saw Alani the water monk approaching him, hastily applying lip balm as she did. She came up alongside him and they started walking together.

"I thought you were going to that party at Phoebe's," she said.

He gave a small shrug. "I was just about to when Ghalt called. The party would have been fun, but, you know, business before pleasure and all. Besides those guys deserve a break. Whiskey Foxtrot was really looking forward to his date night with Deande."

Alani looked surprised. "You mean Deande still went too? I thought this mission would be right up her alley. The message about it had the word stealth all underlined and italicized."

"It would be," Pendles agreed. "But I promised her I could take care of all the sneaky stuff just fine. She did think this would be a good opportunity to gain some political points, so it took some convincing."

"She should be happy, some of us never get invited to parties. But hey, we'll have some fun on the mission right! Maybe Galilea will be on it with us!" Alani said.

"You know, you've been mentioning her a lot lately. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a bit of a crush on her, love."

Alani blushed. "No! No. It's just, you know, she's Helician, and I'm part Helician. We have some common ground and I just thought she might be a good person to make friends with."

Pendles smiled a toothy grin. "If you say so."

The two made their way up to the bridge to find Ghalt, Mellka, and a partial collection of the other Battleborn not currently on leave.

"Alright everyone," Ghalt announced. "We've got an important mission that's about to go down on Tempest today. Some of Deande's sources have caught wind of a former supporter of Rendain who's been gaining momentum among some left over Jennerit fanatics. He goes by the name Adalric Kade and he's been gaining a cult of followers by claiming that he's been Sustained. Of course, Ambra has assured me that is not the case. He's gotten brave enough that he's going to be having a rally for his followers today, so it's a good opportunity to knock him down a few pegs."

"He'll be in the city square of one of Tempest's more prosperous neighborhoods, which means that he'll be wide open for the first time," said Mellka, taking over. "We know he's got his hands on a whole bunchload of minions recently, so there will most likely be some security detail. Preferably we'll be able to sneak through and get him during his speech to show his followers that he doesn't have the power he says he does. That's where you come in Pendles. We want you to get close to him and take him out where everyone can see it."

"You're talking to the right man for the job." Pendles assured her.

"But we have to plan for any contingencies," Ghalt continued. "We'll get Thorn in position to snipe him with her bow if all else fails. Oscar Mike's got a stealth generator built into his equipment. He can get in unseen and clear out any minions if necessary."

"All right! Another mission with my bros!" Oscar Mike called out.

"Alani has volunteered to back you guys up and will be there for support in case things go south. We're running a four person team today. Any questions?"

Ghalt paused, and was met with a moment of silence.

"Good. Away team, get ready to ship out. Mellka, Nova and I will be dropping you just outside the city limits. From there we'll be in contact, but keeping our distance. We don't want the target getting nervous. Good luck!"

The ship touched down on the planet shortly thereafter, and the four Battleborn made their way to the edge of town quickly and without incident. Tempest had a perpetually dark atmosphere about it. Each of its cities was a cluster of gothic towers and houses, everything coloured black with sharp lines of crimson red. Adalric was highborn but not necessarily high ranking within Jennerit society, and unlike Rendain and his underlings had little access to any of the heavier equipment that the team had faced during the fight to save Solus. It was unlikely that he would have the ability to pick up on their prescence remotely, and a few minion security bots wouldn't pose much of a threat. The greatest danger would depend on how large and fervent the gathered crowd of supporters would be, thus the need for the quiet and quick hit-and-run tactics of the mission. A yellow diamond blinked up on each of the Battleborn's holo-maps, followed by Ghalt's voice over the coms.

"The marker on your map is over the city centre. That's where Kade will be setting up for his big speech extolling the virtues of Rendain. Thorn, take Alani and find a position where you can see everything go down. Pendles and Oscar, find a way to get close to the stage without being seen."

The team acknowledged their orders and began to make their way through the city streets. There was no one around. Probably most citizens who weren't at the rally were afraid of those who were, and had elected to stay inside to avoid it.

Just outside the town square, Thorn pointed up to one of the tall, spire-capped towers that seemed to be so popular with Jennerit architects.

"That tower," she said. "There's a sniper robot up there."

The rest of the team craned their necks up to look where the ranger was pointing. Sure enough, the telltale red laser of an MX Deadeye was swiveling back and forth, emanating from the top of the tower.

"It must have a view of the whole square from up there. Looks like they picked out my spot for me." Thorn said. She nodded towards Pendles and Oscar Mike. "I'll go handle it. Wait here."

She took off running towards the tower. Alani stood with Oscar and Pendles for a second before suddenly remembering that she was supposed to be sticking with Thorn and chasing after her. Thorn got to the base of the tower unseen, but Alani's hesitation cost her. The laser swung her way as she approached and the Deadeye locked on to her. She swore and dove around the side of the nearest building as the sniper's round struck the ground where she had been standing a moment before. She took a chance and peered back around the corner. Thorn was nowhere to be seen, and the Deadeye was lining up another shot, apparently waiting to get another glimpse of Alani. It saw her and took aim, but never got a chance to fire a second time. A volley of arrows suddenly skewered it from behind and a figure, undoubtedly Thorn, joined the malfunctioning form of the Deadeye at the top of the tower. She gave the robot a casual kick and it fell backwards, plunging down and smashing onto the street below. Once the threat was neutralized, her voice came over the coms.

"I've got a good view from up here. Kade's got a large crowd of Jennerit fools gathered, but it shouldn't be any trouble for you to sneak by them. Alani can join me up here if she's ready."

Alani rushed over to the base of the tower, embarrassed at having been caught by the Deadeye that Thorn had taken down so easily. She entered the ground floor and looked up to see a long staircase spiraling up along the walls. Hurriedly, she began to climb as Pendles asked Thorn for some intel.

"What's this town square look like from up there?"

"Like a big courtyard," she answered. "The crowd's gathered at the foot of a stage that's set up at the far end from where you'll be coming in. Our target's not there yet."

"Alright, I'm going to cloak and move in now to wait for him. Hey Oscar, keep me covered, mate."

"Roger that, bro!" Oscar Mike acknowledged.

By this time Alani had made her way up the stairs and had joined Thorn on the tower balcony, peering over the ranger's shoulder. The town "square," she noted, was really more of a rectangle and, just as Thorn had described, at the end furthest from them sat a small stage with a podium. A crowd of about a hundred Jennerit, including a few thralls, had gathered in front of it.

"Alright," said Pendles. "I'm almost at the stage. I'm going radio silent from here on."

"So what now?" Alani asked Thorn. "We just wait for him to show up?"

"Yes."

"Oh. OK then."

For a few minutes the two Eldrid sat in a silence that Alani found rather uncomfortable. She tried to occupy herself with twiddling her thumbs but, to her chagrin, found it difficult thanks to her webbed fingers. After about two minutes of failing to perform this simple feat of dexterity, she finally gave up and looked over to Thorn.

"Sooooo...Thorn. You and Montana have a book club going on, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you, um, accepting new members?"

Thorn remained motionless, except for the split second glance she gave Alani from the corner of her eye.

"The first rule of book club," she said, "is know the appropriate times to talk about book club."

"Oh," Alani said, feeling her face heat up with embarrassment. It didn't help that she could hear Pendles quietly snickering at her over the coms. "OK. Sorry."

"Hey guys," said Oscar Mike. "I think I see the bad guy coming."

"You're right," Thorn said. Kade had appeared from one of the alleys that connected with the town square, shoving a set of cue cards under his robes and trying to make sure no one noticed him. "He's approaching the stage. He's got two robots with him. Strikers."

"Leave the bots to me!" Oscar Mike called. "I'm just going to STEALTH my way over there now! Real quietly! I'll be ready when you are, snake man!"

Pendles didn't answer, probably because he was already right at Kade's back as he climbed the stairs to the stage and made his way towards the podium. A loud cheer erupted from the crowd that had come to hear him, and he waved as he stepped up behind the microphone. Eventually the wave turned into the universal 'enough cheering, bring down the volume' motion, and gradually the noise of the crowd subsided. Finally, Adalric Kade, the dangerous insurgent, began his speech.

"My fellow Jennerit, my valued Thrall friends, and...uhhhh, my other...subjects," he trailed off. He fumbled around in his red and silver robes for one of the cue cards but ended up dropping the whole stack on the ground.

"Ugggh," Thorn groaned. "Can't we ever have an enemy that's not a complete moron?"

Kade gathered up his cards from where they had fallen on the stage, straightened up, and turned back around to face his audience. He glanced down at his recovered notes, and then continued his speech.

"The High Commander Lothar Rendain granted me Sustainment shortly before his untimely passing. Like, very shortly before, and no one still alive was around to see it so don't bother asking."

"Wait," Alani piped up again. "I thought only the Silent Sisters could perform the Sustainment ceremony. And I thought all the Jennerit knew that. Do these people just believe everything this guy says?"

"An idiot talking to a mob of idiots," Thorn commented.

Meanwhile, Kade was finally beginning to gain some confidence in his role as a public speaker.

"You, the Imperium loyalists, have turned to me as a beacon of hope in a dark time," he continued. "The treasonous former Spymistriss Deande has taken control of those of us who are too blind to see the truth. Those who don't understand the immortality Rendain was seeking for the Jennerit people. I will carry on in his footsteps! I will sustain our race as I have been Sustained, and bring death to traitors like Deande and all who stand in our way!"

Kade paused for effect, closing his eyes and raising his hands out in front of him. He was met with nothing but silence from the crowd.

"Um. Please clap." He said. His request went ungranted, and he finally opened his eyes. In front of him the crowd was wide-eyed and, in some cases, slack-jawed, staring at something just over his shoulder. He spun on his heel and came face to grinning face with the recently uncloaked Pendles.

"'Ello mate! Congratulations! You've been selected to be the next victim of Executive Executions!"

Pendles's kamas criss-crossed at Kade's throat, and in an instant the cult leader's head had been separated from his body. The Strikers had been remarkably slow to process what was going on, and only now turned their guns on him. In a flash of toxic mist, Pendles blinded the bots and disappeared from sight.

Shoomp!

Oscar Mike took the opportunity to launch a grenade from his assault rifle. It arced over the heads of the crowd and landed in between the two blinded minions, where it exploded into several smaller grenades, which in turn exploded directly under the minions feet. In seconds, Adalric Kade had gone from delivering a passionate speech to a rapt audience, to having his head removed from his shoulders and the entirety of his (admittedly meagre) security force destroyed in front of their eyes. The confused crowd stood there blinking at each other, unsure of what they should do next.

Mellka's voice greeted the Battleborn over their coms.

"Alright everyone, I think we've made our point. Head to the rendezvous point back outside of town and we'll pick you up shortly. Mellka out."

Thorn got up from her sniping position, scoffing. "So that is what Rendain's legacy has to offer? It is shameful."

"I didn't even really get to do anything on this mission. I kind of feel like I wasn't even needed." Alani said.

"You weren't," Thorn replied. She rudely brushed past Alani with her shoulder and made for the stairs back down to street level. Alani looked down at her feet and made to follow, but was suddenly stopped dead in her tracks by a sound rising up from below the tower.

"Oi? Is this mic still live? Excellent!" It was Pendles's voice. Alani rushed back out to the balcony and looked out into the square. Pendles was visible again, on stage and adjusting the microphone at the podium to suit his height.

"'Ello everyone! I'm Pendles, from Executive Executions!"

Alani could feel Thorn seething as the ranger came back up behind her. "What is he doing?" she growled.

"Are you tired of cult leaders who lie to you about their Sustainment status and take your money? Are you sick of falling for the same sort of cons that every evil maniac tries to pull on you? Well I have a solution for that! As you've just seen, no other assassination service provides the same sort of quality kills that you can expect from Executive Executions, time and time again. So the next time you find yourself falling under the spell of a power hungry dictator's cult of personality, just remember to give your friend Pendles a call first!"

At first everyone, Battleborn and Imperium Loyalists alike, all stood in silent astonishment. Then, slowly and quietly at first, a chant began to rise up.

"Pendles! Pendles! Pendles! Pendles!"

"Wow," said Pendles. "That was quite an effective advertisement. I'll have to record that one."

Several members of the mob advanced on the stage, continuing to chant Pendles's name as they did so. They lifted the Roan assassin onto their shoulders as the rest of the group cheered.

"So, uh, guys," said Oscar Mike over the coms. "Is this going to be a problem, or..."