Chapter Twenty-One
Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen, along with their squad of Resistance troops, fought their way through the streets of Alinor, headed for their first target. The resistance infiltration was more extensive than even Faasnu anticipated; when the Resistance commanders gave the order, a massive uprising began. Resistance members all over Alinor, working in tandem with sympathizers and now-arriving Stormcloak Special Forces, rose up to fight the Dominion and their allies in the streets.
"Contact!" One of the resistance fighters proclaimed. "Enemy forces, three o'clock!"
Faasnu looked and saw them; a contingent of Mirdakian and Necromyan troops were advancing on their position. "Take cover and engage!" Faasnu commanded. Everyone scattered, taking cover where they could, and fired on the advancing enemy. Three of them went down in the first few seconds; the others scattered. Faasnu moved along the perimeter of the gunfight, came up on the rear flank of the enemy soldiers, and unsheathed his blades. Without any sort of sound to announce his presence, he dispatched the soldiers one by one. By the time they realized they'd been flanked, it was too late. Faasnu sheathed his bloodied blades, unlimbered his rifle, and motioned his troops to follow him.
They headed into an intersection, where the first target was. The AA gun sat on three legs, making it two stories high, with its large gun barrels pointing into the sky.
"Any idea how we're going to destroy that thing?" Kabier asked Faasnu.
"Cover me," Faasnu ordered. He then leapt onto the three-legged gun, then crawled into the machinery. He placed a small charge, then crawled out, hopped down, and detonated it. The charge was apparently placed near something combustible, because it caused an explosion that blew the gun off its legs. "Come on, comrades!" Faasnu shouted, "The enemy's AA defenses aren't going to destroy themselves!"
"You do know these resistance fighters were armed with High-Explosives, right?" Elenwen asked Faasnu as they headed out.
"Actually, no, I didn't," Faasnu admitted. Kabier just chuckled as they made their way through the Alinor streets, headed for another of the anti-aircraft defenses. They came upon the market, where a deeply-entrenched contingent of Mirdakians were holding off a slowly-advancing squad of Stormcloak troops. Faasnu and Kabier looked to each other, their wicked smiles hidden beneath their helmets.
"Shall we?" he asked her.
"After you," She answered. Faasnu gave a series of hand signals, and the Resistance soldiers fanned out, creeping up behind the Mirdakian troops. When everyone was in position, Faasnu gave the signal, and everyone opened fire, hosing the Mirdakians with Automatic and Plasma fire. The Mirdakians never knew what hit them; most went down before they could turn around, while what few survivors there had been were iced by the advancing Stormcloaks. When Faasnu turned to see what had been behind the Mirdakians, he saw another Anti-aircraft gun.
"There, comrades!" he shouted. "Another AA gun! Whoever has the high-explosives, plant a charge and blast that thing sky-high!"
A three-person team of Resistance soldiers broke from the group and headed for the AA gun. Just as they started for it, a band of Dominion soldiers appeared and attacked, and Faasnu and his team and squad were forced to make a one-eighty to fire on the now-arriving enemy troops. While dashing for cover, two of the Resistance soldiers were caught in the open and gunned down. Faasnu primed a grenade and lobbed it into the enemy's formation. He fired on them with his rifle to keep their attention on him while the grenade sailed through the air, then ducked back down to reload as the grenade landed and detonated. He rose from cover and shot dead two of the four survivors that were now retreating. Another explosion sounded behind Faasnu, and he turned to see the AA gun being blasted apart. The legs dropped, and the gun itself was blown apart. The three resistance soldiers were seen running from the explosion.
"Let's head out! Staggered formation! Go!" Faasnu shouted. The troops, Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen scattered in a wide group, heading through the noisy Alinor streets for their final target. Explosions in the distance marked the battle for Alinor was progressing all over. Whether they were from AA guns being destroyed or from general combat was unclear. They moved through the city streets, and came upon their final target – an AA gun sitting on an area overlooking the Portal Machine. This AA gun, however, was not unguarded; a group of Dominion troops held the perimeter. Just as they arrived on the scene, so did a squad of Stormcloaks. Faasnu ordered the Stormcloaks and Resistance fighters into a diversionary assault while he, Kabier and Elenwen took some of the High-Explosives and slipped through enemy lines under cloak. They planted the explosives on the base of the legs, then Faasnu leapt up and planted them around the base of the gun. He leapt down, and they disengaged their PCDs and helped the Resistance and Stormcloak forces quell the Dominion forces in the area. Once done, Faasnu detonated the explosives, and walked to the edge of the area, looking at the Portal Machine. It was strange, looking more like a small office building rather than a machine that generated a portal. But Faasnu saw a ring start to rise from that building.
They were powering the portal up.
Just as they started, Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen heard the roar of approaching starfighter engines; they looked up to see a flight group of bombers fly overhead, followed closely by a group of frigates.
"All ships," Ordered General Indari over a radio channel, "Fire at will."
The bombers fired anti-ship torpedoes, while the frigates launched a volley of Mass Drivers, Cluster Missiles, and Disruptors; all of these munitions impacted on the structure and tore it apart, blasting chunks off and sending debris in every direction. Even the Portal Ring's support took hits, and shattered, dropping the ring and creating a dust cloud.
"General Indari to Lieutenant General Dovahkiir," Indari's voice came over Faasnu's radio. "Enemy leadership is heading for a hangar on the west side of the city – we cannot allow them to escape! Stop them!"
Faasnu looked to Kabier and Elenwen. Though they couldn't see his face, they knew his words need not be spoken. They both nodded subtly. They would follow him to the end of the galaxy. Faasnu shifted to Dragon form, and after Kabier and Elenwen got onto his back, Faasnu took to the sky. They headed for the hangar, and caught the Thalmor Officials, escorted by a warrior clad in armor akin to Earth's Samurai. Faasnu landed between them and their escape craft, and after Kabier and Elenwen got off Faasnu's back, he shifted back to normal form. The armor-clad warrior stood between Faasnu and the Thalmor Officials.
"Faasnu Dovahkiir, I presume?" he asked.
"In the flesh," Faasnu answered, handing his rifle off to Kabier and drawing his diamond-bladed Katanas. "You must be T'Bai."
"You've won this day, Faasnu," T'Bai said, "But the Thalmor will live to fight again."
"Wrong," Faasnu said. "The Thalmor are all but finished. I've no desire to kill you, but the Thalmor Leadership cannot be allowed to escape. Stand down; you've done nothing wrong, so far. Let's keep it that way."
"Sorry," T'Bai responded, "But I wouldn't be doing my job if I complied with your orders. I was hired to kill you, and I will do just that."
"So the Thalmor knew I was coming here," Faasnu surmised. "Why only hire you? Why not a number of bounty hunters?"
"Because I am the best," T'Bai answered, drawing a blade of his own. "Now, are you going to fight, or talk me to death?" T'Bai advanced on Faasnu, and while he did, Kabier could hear Faasnu speaking an ancient language. As he spoke, his blades began to light up with alien runes. T'Bai saw this, and rushed Faasnu in an attempt to stop him before he could finish. But Faasnu finished just a split second before T'Bai closed the distance, and brought his blades up in a defensive strike, deflecting T'Bai's sword. Faasnu then engaged the bounty hunter, swinging and moving his blades in graceful arcs, his speed seemingly enhanced to be twice that of T'Bai. T'Bai made an error midway in the duel, and Faasnu was quick to exploit it, putting T'Bai on the defensive. The final blow came when Faasnu broke T'Bai's sword, then leapt over him, landing behind him; he kicked his back to T'Bai, impaling him on one of his blades, then whirled around and sheared the bounty hunter in two. Before T'Bai could scream, Faasnu mercifully ended his life. He turned to face the Thalmor Officials, who were now trembling in fear.
"You have a choice," Faasnu told them, "Surrender and face trial, or advance and face summary execution." The Thalmor fearfully surrendered, and Faasnu sheathed his blades as DMC personnel came to take the Officials away. Faasnu approached Kabier, whose eyes were gleaming with tears. She threw her arms around Faasnu with joy, and Faasnu held her.
"It is done," Kabier whispered. "At long last, it is done."
"Yes," Faasnu agreed, "It is done. Now, we go home."
"Yeah, and if one were to go by the look you two have in your eyes, you two can focus on getting married... as you had planned to do so long ago," Elenwen chuckled. Faasnu, Kabier and Elenwen boarded a drop ship, and headed back to Skyrim, where they had first started this path that they had proudly walked...