All hell broke loose.

The fake maintenance teams spread around the residential buildings pulled guns out from under their uniforms and started firing. Other squads of gunmen ran out on the crosswalks from different levels at the same time, opening fire. Bodies fell and people started screaming. The security personnel were down in the first couple of minutes. The crowd rushed away from the attackers only to realize that they were running into another volley of fire from the other side, and stopped moving, paralyzed. The assailants started lobbing grenades and a thick smoke spread around, hiding the shooters. Mayhem erupted on the walkways with people running down the ramps to avoid the firing squads closing in on them, some jumping off directly into the void below. The fleeing victims tried to hide, dropping to the ground, cowering in wait for invisible bullets to strike them, unaware their attackers had donned infrared masks and could easily pick out the survivors. More explosions sounded and the gunfire increased in volume and frequency.

Silence fell all at once. As the smoke started clearing, a dantesque scene slowly emerged, of walkways strewn with corpses, dead bodies splayed around, floors gleaming with multi-colored blood from the many species of dead, and cowering in the center of the plaza, surrounded by heavily armed Andorians with satchels full of ammo, the shaken and scared survivors huddled together in prostration and waiting for the final blow. Rel took off his infrared mask and ambled down the fifth level all the way down to the plaza, stepping over the dead with abandon.

When he reached the ground level, his second-in-command, Oryl ch'Utau, ran to him, breathless. "We've secured the Armory. All the security personnel are dead." Rel nodded "Good job. What about the operations complex?"

"I saw Kalias on the way back. Our people have taken the facility."

"Excellent."

The speaker system came to life, squeaking with Kalias' voice "This outpost is now under the dominion of Thoor-Ukh. Do not move and you will not be hurt. We repeat, do not move and you will not be hurt." The message rang again and again, in Andorian and Standard, in an endless loop. The survivors looked at each other, afraid to believe they would not be hurt.

It was time to show them. Rel turned to Oryl "Let's go to the Vulcan compound."

He smirked as he approached the area, the many bodies of his ancestral enemies scattered in all positions on the ground. His teams had been pitiless, just as he wanted them. The rest of the Vulcans were cornered between the corpses of the dead and the shimmering wall of the dome, standing upright and staring at the line of Utau followers with assault rifles and grenades pointed at them.

Rel smiled again. All he had to do was wave a finger and there would be no Vulcans left. His antennae flat on his head, he decided it was time to have some fun "Zemi Zh'Utau!" he called.

"Leader Rel!" the petite Andorian stepped out of the line of her comrades.

"Kill one of them." He wanted to show them how it was done, how his followers would do anything he ordered. Rel nonchalantly watched as she cocked her rifle and shot down one of the Vulcans. A male. He crumpled in a heap, a green hole smoking in his chest. Rel's antennae twisted in glee at the sight. But he had other goals in mind. The Vulcans were dangerous, especially in a group. Especially if they believed they were going to die anyway.

Now was the time to put the second phase of his plan into action.

He turned to Oryl "Is everything ready? Has Katias set up the broadcast system?"

The Andorian nodded and handed Rel a small black communicator. "Anything you say in this will go directly to the speakers and to the Federation frequencies."

"How many left, do you think?"

His second hesitated "We didn't kill more than a few hundreds. So perhaps three thousand or more."

"And the Vulcans?"

"There's a little over two hundred left." Oryl was obviously pleased but Rel was frowning. That may have been a little less than he had planned. He shrugged it away. It wouldn't matter in the end.

He turned back to the communicator, checking that he knew which toggles to hit, pressed on the live feed. His voice came over the speakers, interrupting the looping message "Attention everyone, this is Leader Rel Ch'Thoor-Ukh. You are now the hostages of Thoor-Ukh. However, we wish no harm to other species in the universe." 'No', Rel thought to himself, 'only to one'. "As proof, we will release fifteen hostages for every Vulcan that surrenders freely to our forces. Once released you will immediately leave the planet." They would see to that. They didn't want any ships stationed on the planet. Not even their own. Theirs and the Vulcan ships would be used to ferry the residents away. They would pack them all to the gills, order everyone else to take as many people as they could. Rel spoke into the black box again "I repeat, we will release fifteen hostages for every Vulcan that surrenders freely to our forces."

He turned back to look at the Vulcans held at bay by his followers, smiling sardonically. Now he had their attention. Two hundred pairs of eyes were looking at him. Know thy enemy indeed. He knew that they would send one of them out, as a test. The good of the many outweighs the good of the few. He laughed to himself. Hoist with their own petard, that's what.