Chapter 7
Treize smiled as he read Lady Une's report. The efforts to create the appearance of a massive meeting of Specials top brass were completed. Large numbers of empty aircraft and shuttles had arrived at New Edwards Base. That, combined with the rumors she had spread, should be sufficient to attract the other clans' assassins.
Zechs was far away in Nairobi. He would be the senior Specials officer in the area, and key to handling anything that might happen there. He contemplated the plan they were working towards. Waiting for the Alliance to create a one world government, and a single homeland for all people, was proving futile. Humans just couldn't seem to get past their petty squabbles for the greater good. It was time the Earth Clan to stop waiting for the humans to give them what they needed. Shipping dirt around the globe was silly, and would soon be unnecessary.
Heero looked at the readout about his new mission. "Mission accepted."
The circus master broke into Catherine's trailer. "Trowa's disappeared again!"
Catherine had long since given up on any sense of privacy in circus life. She continued grinding her coffee, not bothering to try to find a shirt to cover her bra. "Yes, but he said he'd be back shortly."
"He's unreliable! Anyone else would be fired for such behavior!"
Catherine smiled. "But he's too good."
"Make him break a sweat, this time! Scare that brat, but good!" He stomped back out of the trailer.
Catherine returned to grinding her coffee, her heart troubled by the fickle behavior of her favorite target.
Quatre held his forehead in the palm of his hand. There were advantages and disadvantages to perfectly obedient ghouls. On one hand, he didn't have to worry about the sorts of back talk other Clans dealt with. On the other hand, they could be mindlessly obedient. He sometimes had to loosen his control just to get intelligent behavior out of them.
His most recent command had been, "Arm up, everyone!" with the force in the command brooking no argument. Unfortunately, it had two interpretations. Staring at forty ghouls with one arm straight up in the air was annoying, to say the least.
"Put your arms down, and grab your weapons, guys. We need to get ready, fast!" Giving precise, unambiguous orders was an art. He was glad he wasn't a programmer.
Trowa gazed across the ferry at a familiar group of motley looking men, and one teenager. He sighed, slightly, as Quatre waved at him. "Hey, Trowa. What a coincidence meeting you, here!"
"I see you have your bodyguard with you." How could that twerp maintain any semblance of subtlety when he had to lead around a troop of burly men just to be at full fighting strength?
"Yes, well, would you like to coordinate your activities with me?"
"I'm doing this alone."
"Two's better than one."
Trowa strode away from forty-one. He didn't need a bunch of mindless ghouls getting in his way.
Heero broke into the private airport and started commandeering a small private jet. He started the preflight checks, and found that the door he had just closed was ajar. Exiting the cockpit, he was assailed by the odor of garlic. "Duo, get that shit in the storage compartment!"
"Oh, sorry. Hey, have you loaded up your equipment yet?"
How had the little punk managed to find the plane he was stealing? He couldn't decide whether to shoot him in the head, or just pick a different plane and cut the fuel lines on this one.
"Tell you what, I'll finish up the prep while you stow your weapons."
The brat might be useful on the long flight. "Do what you want, but next time, keep that shit in ziploc bags." His eyes were watering as he broke for fresh air.
He charged back in when he heard Duo start praying. "And don't you DARE bless this plane!"
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Duo was seriously psyched about this mission. With one blow, they could decapitate the EC, setting back their bid for power for decades! The annoying thing was that Heero seemed to be quiet and irritable, as if this might be a problem.
"When we knock these guys out, I'm going to be able to return to space." He couldn't wait to get back to his church, and resume preparing sermons for his congregation. He smiled in anticipation.
Treize and Lady Une observed the ceremonies as the various Alliance leaders arrived. Lady Une had done her job well. The rumors were quiet, but easy enough to dig up if you looked for them. The bait should be at just the right level to entice the assassins to come out.
Treize smiled as he watched Field Marshall Noventa shake hands with Generals Septum and Ventei. They shook hand politely. Noventa seemed pleased at the prospects of a productive meeting. Septum seemed dour, as usual. Ventei appeared bored. He always preferred to supervise his troops over engaging in politics.
Treize suspected that if they slaughtered all of them, he might be able to safely give in to Une's desires. Unfortunately, that task had to be reserved for the assassins. The Romefeller Foundation was counting on him to successfully strike.
Lady Une whispered in his ear. "Don't they look delicious, sir?"
"Indeed. We must curb our thirst, however. The future will soon be revealed, if we can show patience."
"The future is yours, sir." Treize could feel her barely touching him. It was a violation of protocol, but he allowed her this moment. There was much he denied her, but he was quite fond of his assistant.
Zechs sat next to Noin as they approached the Nairobi base with several troop carriers. It was annoying, having to be indirect with the base. For now, his craft were "practicing maneuvers". Later, there would be no practice.
It was a pleasure to have Noin at his side, but the recent loss she had suffered could affect her state of mind. "Noin, this battle may be upsetting to you."
"You've said this is a necessary battle. I will fight at your side." Of course, she had always been prepared to assist him in any way. Noin was always clear on that. His nose told him that she would give him anything he desired, but risking his life with her was not something he could afford before a battle.
He wondered if displacing the Alliance with EC Specials would really change anything. Vampire politics were more vicious than human politics, and more deadly. He had to wonder, would they really be better rulers of Earth?
Treize sat respectfully as Field Marshall Noventa gave a stirring speech about how the Alliance had become the very thing it was created to suppress. He believed they should be disarming, not arming themselves. It was a lovely sentiment, very human.
General Septum seemed rather aghast at the idea. Surprisingly, General Ventei was the first to voice support for the concept of unilateral disarmament. It seemed Ventei had grown tired of the bloodshed involved in a military powered unity government.
Treize was struck by the irony of his sentiments. There were some who felt the bloodshed had been a mere whetting of appetites. If all went well, today, there would be plenty of blood flowing. Septum, of course, recognized that the recent attacks by the assassins was a concern that the military should address.
Suddenly Septum dragged him into the conversation, since the Specials were the primary targets. "Clearly, the colonies have sent them to weaken our military." Noventa, of course, prattled on about peace, with no awareness that it wasn't the colonies, but their vampires, that were attacking. If such a path was taken, the Earth Clan would completely fail to achieve their goals. Peace through tolerance was unacceptable. Surely, with this many leaders, at least one hawk still had sharp talons.
Right on cue, Septum rose to his feet to point out they were under attack. Septum would be the one to give voice to their response, but there was one group of people who needed to prove the futility of peace. When the alarms when off, Treize had to work hard to not smile. The assassins were right on time.
Heero and Duo were impressed. The volume of troops was amazing. Clearly, the EC was well defended. This was clearly no Alliance meeting, despite what had been advertised. They were coordinating their attacks as much as possible. The human troops seemed bewildered at the effect Duo's grenades had. Heero pick the vampires off from the edge of the stink bomb radius, while Duo waded through the humans, inflicting terror on them.
They were inflicting massive casualties, but slowly. They needed to push through faster. Heero started burning blood almost as fast as he was guzzling it from his victims. Duo's aggression was surprisingly effective. He might not completely suck, after all.
Treize was pleased. They had arrived. "Send the signal."
Zechs received word. "Operation Daybreak is a go! All units, commence attack!" The advantage of vampire troop carriers is that they don't require parachutes. At least, the EC don't. Hundreds of troops dropped from the aircraft, plummeting towards the ground. As the air resistance began to slow them, they shifted into a diving position, slipping through the air with increasing speed. As they neared the ground, each trooper spread his wings, braking sharply to land with confidence. Nairobi's base was covered in armed vampires.
In front of everyone, the Field Marshall demanded that his men speak with the attackers. Treize smiled as the proposal as made to declare a desire for peace with the colonies. Noventa clearly had no idea what was really at stake. He was a casualty of the war between the Clans.
After his men rebuffed the suggestion, Treize took the opportunity to "salvage" the situation. "Marshall, I believe we have no option but to evacuate."
"Treize, this isn't the time..."
"Would you rather die in an attack? You cannot offer peace from the grave, Field Marshall."
"As much as I wish it weren't so, you're correct."
"We have a high-speed shuttle available for your use, Sir."
"I must admit, this is surprising."
"We are both Alliance, Field Marshall. We must work together."
"Thank you."
Treize's men guided the leadership to the shuttle. It was clearly stamped with the Specials logo, a giant target. The lemmings allowed themselves to be ushered to the trap, as meekly as cattle. Even General Septum would have walked in, had Treize not diverted him. As predicted, the flattery of a special trip, and being the backup member of the coalition, had the desired effect. Septum allowed himself to be persuaded.
The staff of the New Edwards base worked frantically to contain the disaster that was the attacking vampires. As they prepared to pour more troops against the invaders, they received news of revolts at Fairbanks Base, Nairobi, everywhere!
Something was happening. It was clear there was a coup d'etat occurring.
Noin was pleased. The young vampires she had spent so much time training were proving to be everything she had hoped for. Humans were simply no match for a highly coordinated attack. The fact that no vampire would fail to detect the difference between a human and vampire made coordinating the attack simple. The EC was loyal to its own.
"Surrender. You're outnumbered, and outclassed." Unfortunately, the commander chose to shoot her, instead. The bullets that tore through her chest hurt, but not as much as her bullets hurt him.
"This is a bloody revolution, to lay the foundation for a new order. Drink up!" Those who chose to surrender were subjected to the horror of seeing their comrades become food for monsters. Then they became ghouls. Noin and her troops guided the new ghouls through eating the evidence.
A few survivors refused to become ghouls. From what she heard, they were delicious.
The New Edwards base staff were shocked as they realized they were the only remaining Alliance base left. They had heard no word of where the Field Marshall was, nor the rest of the senior staff.
Fear gripped them, as the desperately sought to fight off the attackers. It seemed they had the two contained at last, when two more appeared. One seemed invulnerable to gun fire, and another was leading a squad of forty men.
Trowa eyed the other space clan vampires with suspicion. He accepted Quatre and his slaves as a necessary evil, but the fucking priest was insufferable. The Life Clan could be a useful ally, however.
As they contemplated each other, they heard the sound of a shuttle taking off. It was clearly marked with the sign of the Specials forces. Their target was escaping! Suddenly, the Life Clan grabbed a grenade from the priest.
"You, Warp, can you deflect this to that shuttle?" It was an odd idea. He could easily boost the speed, or teleport the device if necessary.
"Why not just have me drop it in the pilots' cabin?"
"Because I can barely tolerate holding onto it, with the damned holy garlic oil on it." Trowa's respect for the Life Clan increased immeasurably. The flesh on the boy's hand was visibly scalding as the toxic substance ate at his hand.
"Yeah, I can boost it, if you can throw it hard enough."
"3... 2... 1..." The speed of the throw barely gave him sufficient time to react, even with the warning. Life boy gave it more than enough speed for Trowa to propel it into the craft. The grenade detonated, triggering a secondary, larger explosion of one of the fuel cells. The resulting explosion was deafening.
He barely heard Life boy say "Mission accomplished."
It wasn't until the Dragon Clan appeared that their happiness turned to sorrow. "You fools just destroyed the Alliance pacifists." He turned up a radio so they could all hear the voice of General Septum.
"We were discussing how to propose peace and disarmament with the colonies, and these assassins attacked! Marshall Noventa has been slaughtered, along with many high ranking members of the Alliance."
"You're all fools."
Lady Une was pleased. "Very nicely done, General Septum. You can only serve one final purpose."
"What?"
Lady Une attacked, draining his body in seconds. Her ghouls fought over the privilege of eating his liver. The loser began sucking the marrow from his bones.
"A magnificent performance. It's a pity you couldn't stick around." She shifted her attention to her minions, "Be sure to finish your dinner, boys. I don't want to have to clean up any blood stains."