Spot leaned forward slightly as the transport ship lifted off and its thrusters pushed him down into his hard, unforgiving seat. Night had fallen in the time it took Idris to brief them all on the operation and the structure they would be targeting, the Oro’s main base of operations which was situated in a slum that bordered one of the main commercial districts of the city. The black ships quickly melted into the sky, achieving a high altitude before turning and heading for the towering, well-lit spires of the capital. The rookie breathed out heavily and received a hand on the shoulder from his mission partner in response. The Sekhama operated on something of a modified buddy system when in combat, and he’d been training with Tark since he’d joined the organization on his sixteenth birthday.

"You alright, Spot?" The cheetah asked.

"Just the jitters, Tark," he admitted. Being the tip of the spear in a high altitude deployment craft while the rest of the strike force was travelling in normal, low altitude, all purpose shuttles drove the point home. His guts felt tight even without all the magitech resistance fiber and plating woven into his armor.

"Yeah I hear you, man. My first op was no different. Look, I'm not saying this will be a cakewalk but they don't know we're coming. Maybe there will be some small arms fire from the rooftops at worst. We'll handle it. Just stay behind me."

"Yeah, you got it Tark. I'll get your six."

"Just remember your training and you'll do fine, no heroics or glory. That comes later. The harem's waiting for us when we get back, and there’s a particular spotted gal among the maids I’ve heard has been wondering what the barbs feel like," the cheetah said with a grin, making a not so subtle gesture towards his crotch. Silence fell in the body of the ship as Idris' form shimmered to life as a hologram just in front of the cockpit door. Every Sekhama knew what to do, standing and throwing on their parachutes before grabbing guns, shields, and other equipment. Straps were tightened, clamps were locked, and magicite cartridges were loaded.

"Gentlemen," Idris called out. "I'm sure you all know the drill by this point. Your landing zone should be loaded into your helmets and lenses. Depending on the situation on the ground each team has discretion on where to land in order to secure the LZ for the main force." The commander gestured to his second in command. The leopard saluted. "Karth, you have command until I'm on the ground. Humanity protect you all."

The lieutenant took control immediately as the city far beneath the shuttle became denser, better lit, and more threatening. "Gear check!" He barked. The two Sekhama in the back of the ship began, tugging on chutes and punching at armor to make sure it was secured for drop.

"Ten okay!"

"Nine okay!"

"Eight okay!"

Eventually Spot felt the man behind him checking the straps on his chute and gear. "Four okay!" The wild dog took his turn, ensuring Tark's equipment was secure and ready.

"Three okay!"

When Karth confirmed he was ready to drop, the second in command rapped on the door separating them from the cockpit. A yellow light flashed above the outer door before holding stable, and they all moved to the left side of the ship. The first Sekhama in each pair grabbed handles on the ceiling of the craft as the entire side of the ship lifted up and away for their deployment. Spot had begun breathing deeply in preparation for his drop, attempting a moment of pre-combat meditation, when an alarm rang out and the lights went red.

"The fuck is going on?" Karth shouted.

"We've been locked!" The pilot yelled. "Prepare for emergency jump!"

"At this altitude? Where are we supposed to land? Where the fuck did mnyama dogs get fucking katana launchers?!"

"Where the hell do you think? Military surplus is fucking everywhere!"

"We get out of this alive and I'm tearing Torando a new asshole!"

"Everyone shut the fuck up and get ready to jump!" Karth yelled, waiting for word from the pilot as he looked for the drop target. He swallowed heavily, seeing well lit skyscrapers in the distance below. They'd never make it in the air and the ground could only be considered enemy territory, especially if their insertion was heralded by the flaming wreckage of a military transport.

-----

"These idiots know I can see them, right? They must know, right?" Talon asked nonchalantly, peering through the scope of his rifle. The magicka signature being thrown off by the katana's charge phase was unmistakable, even on that distant rooftop. "What do you think, Argos? Should I try to salvage it? Not sure when we’d ever have to take down an aircraft but it couldn’t hurt."

"I think you should pull the trigger before my brothers get killed, birdbrain," Argos growled, echoing Keiko's feelings to the letter. The princess was seated near Seth's terminal, giving her lens every bit of attention she possessed as her breathing went shallow and her foot tapped irritably. Sybela and Seth were correct; Octavia had decided to risk a hot insertion and now her soldiers were under grave threat.

"Don't worry your fluffy little head, I've got this…" Talon murmured in reply, raising his head and looking at the open chamber on the side of his rifle. "Now then, how are you lot going to die today?" He questioned, tisking as he looked over the various high caliber bullets and magicite cores he'd laid out beside him. "Let's see we could go with a magazine of elemental rounds, but that's so overdone. Hey buns, how does a singularity round sound?"

Keiko could practically hear Sybela rolling her cybernetic eye over the channel. "Talon, I don't care if you turn them all into flowers, it's not going to get me into bed with you. Kill them before Sunburst strangles you through the channel, will you?"

"Mist them Talon, now," Seth demanded in a hard voice. He'd momentarily deactivated the modulation of his mask, as though to further accentuate his order. Keiko felt her heart skip a beat, wanted to whisper thank you. She could only imagine what the Sekhama in the advance wave were going through in the few seconds it took Talon to select a high area of effect incendiary round, chamber it, take aim, and fire. She wished she could be on the ground for a moment as the resounding crack of Talon's weapon rang out, followed shortly thereafter by a long, impressed whistle from Argos. It was not a lady-like sentiment, to be sure, but she had no love for the mnyama.

"I may have missed dinner, but that was one hell of a show," he said appreciatively, a hint of bloodlust in his voice. "Did you intentionally hit the core, Talon? Was one fine explosion down here."

"Heh, I'll leave that for you to decide," the sniper declared confidently. “Enjoy the fireworks, boys.”

-----

Spot tried desperately to steady his body, full of adrenaline and panic long before any opportunity to pull the trigger. Tark was looking over his shoulder at him with a confused and relieved expression while Karth spoke rapidly into his helmet's receiver.

"You're sure that's what that light was?"

"Yes, Lieutenant, no further hostile signatures. We're in the green and over the drop zone now," the pilot confirmed. Idris Octavia's right hand furrowed his brow and glanced down at the city far below them. Even at his attitude he'd been able to see the detonation of the katana's core, a riot of deep purple, crimson fire, and stars, or so it seemed. It hadn't set him at ease one bit.

"Commander, we aren't alone here. Katanas don't just backfire. And when they do it sure as hell doesn't look like that. Someone else is here, and they’re a crack shot. Requesting orders," Karth requested as the jump light turned green and his men moved to the side of the aircraft to await his order. The leonine commander's low voice took a moment to reply.

"Continue the mission, Karth. This might be our only chance. We'll be right behind you."

"Understood, sir. Sekhama, jump now!" The leopard commanded before leaping from the transport.

Spot barely had time to process Karth's orders before he was following Tark out of the aircraft. The wind roared in his ears and buffeted any exposed fur on his body in the brief moment it took his chute to deploy. With his momentum slowed he grabbed the shotgun he'd secured to his chest, ensuring for the fifth time that night that it was loaded and ready to kill. "What do you make of this, Tark?" He asked, not feeling capable of tolerating a silent drop.

"No idea, Spot. But if we've got some guardian angel watching over us I'm sure as hell not going to complain. Get your weapon ready and stay focused, got a few heat signatures on the surrounding rooftops." Tark was about to call out the target that he and Spot would neutralize when machine gun fire erupted from a building about three blocks from the Oro's base of operations, accompanied by lines of light that indicated small arms fire and barrel mounted flashlights. "Oh this just keeps getting better!" Tark yelled sarcastically as some irresponsible group of gangsters fired round after round into the air at them, perhaps alerted by the earlier disturbance. Red, blue, and violet streaks lit the sky, the telltale signs of a tri-elemental belt fed weapon.

"They're still firing blind," Karth shouted, calling for order as the Sekhama in the air began to feel like sitting ducks. "Create space and stay focused on your targets. Don't give away your positions. I'll handle them."

Spot drew little comfort from the Lieutenant's words, watching at the trail of deadly light came nearer and nearer in a devil may care firing pattern. Ammunition was cheap, after all. He was sure the dogs were laughing at their sport. He did his best to maneuver his black parachute away from the stray rounds, waiting anxiously until they were close enough to the ground to return fire. The rookie felt the paralyzing fear of the shuttle return in full force as the enemy fire suddenly swayed back his way. For some reason he saw Eina in his mind's eye. It was short lived, broken by Tark's distressed voice on comms.

"Fuck, I'm hit! Cryo round got my arm and it's spreading! Where's the safest LZ?"

"Do you see a safe fucking LZ, soldier? Cause I sure as hell don't!"

-----

"Argos, looks like you're up. I don't think knives and blades work too well against a machine gun," Seth said calmly, watching as fire erupted from a few buildings away. It would have made an impressive and entertaining display were it not for the ten Sekhama in the line of fire.

"You're immune to gunfire, Seth, and I know you can use that pistol you always carry. Just admit you want front row seats to the show," Argos chuckled, already moving from his hiding spot and sprinting towards the MG nest. The tiger faunum cleared the first street easily, tail whipping behind him as the magicite propulsion engines in his combat boots gave him the thrust necessary to leap from building to building. He cleared water towers, purifiers, solar panels, and the occasional trellis with ease as the lights and sounds of combat drew close. The chatter of his teammates on the radio faded. It was only him, his bandolier of detonators, and his target.

Argos hit the roof of the offending building and tucked into a tight roll, slamming his back against a solar array for cover. He poked his head over and received no fire in return. He took another look, gauging the distance and grabbing two grenades from his belt. "This one's for you, Commander," he muttered, activating the fuses. He closed his eyes and counted to three before standing tall and lobbing them at the corner of the roof. "Burn in hell you bastards!" He yelled, knowing they would only have time to turn their heads before their bodies were consumed and shredded by magicite energy. He'd always enjoyed cryo grenades followed by a standard detonator.

"I really, really like him," Keiko whispered, standing from her chair as she tried and failed to calmly handle all the terrifying, chaotic excitement of urban warfare.

"Oh come on, not you too, Sunburst!" Talon complained. "Just because he gets up close and personal-"

"Talon, covering fire now. Stay focused, damnit!" Seth ordered, watching multiple heat signatures moving to assume firing positions on Argos' position. "I'll take the group nearest to me. You handle the rest. Move, now!"

"I'm fine right here thanks!" Argos yelled, hunkering down as magicite rounds whizzed over his head. "You think the princess will be upset with me? I may have blown a chunk of mnyama into this building's reservoir!"

"She'll be fine, just keep yourself alive!" Keiko yelled, feeling something approximating the concern she reserved for Idris and his men.

"You know the princess?! Does everyone but me know the bloody princess?" Talon complained between shots, dropping targets as Seth assassinated his fair share, the mnyama being far too distracted by sniper fire and the controlled, blind fire bursts of Talon's rifle to see the silent knife in the dark. Keiko's heart was in her throat, she could feel her ribs with every beat. But it was over in a matter of moments, barely enough time for her to understand what had happened. It was like her own first kill, action and reaction followed by silence. Seth's collected voice restored order.

"Argos, we need to move now. They're here."

"Roger that Seth, thanks for the assist."

"Save it for the bar. Leg it."

-----

"Lieutenant, do you have any idea what the fuck is going on?" One of the Sekhama in Spot's force demanded as they dropped slowly through the dry, summer air above the city to land at long last on the solid terrain of slum rooftops. They had all been a captive audience, watching in fascination as hostile contacts below had been neutralized one after the other. The death toll included all enemies on the roof of the Oro’s main compound, and the landing squad could not help but breathe a sigh of relief as the two unknown figures vacated the scene. Whoever they were, their fight appeared to be with the mnyama, not the Sekhama.

"Fuck if I know. I just know we're not being shot at anymore," Karth snarled, fingering the grip of his SMG in agitation. He hated 'fluid situations', and the current one was about as fluid as the water in the harem’s central fountain. "Tark, what's your status, brother?"

"I'm going to lose the arm, sir. The round penetrated. Pain is about halfway to my shoulder at this point, feels like standard hypothermic necrosis," the soldier replied evenly as he could. Spot could hear the suffering through his gritted teeth. Unlike his brothers, making it to solid ground had only kicked his heart rate a notch higher. He knew what was about to come, what he would have to do for his comrade.

"Understood," Karth acknowledged. "Spot, see to it now. He loses the shoulder joint and the replacement’s coming out of your pay. Rest of you secure the rooftop for the arrival of the main force. I need two on recon, last known position of unknown combatants. Commander, there's been additional intervention by those unidentified armed forces. I have two signatures retreating from the area as well as wherever our friendly neighborhood sniper is holed up. And we're going to need a medic down here. Tark took a cryo round to the arm. Spot’s shattering it now."

"This is why we get paid what we do," Octavia replied sternly, paying close attention to each feed from the helmets of his men already in the field. It was a nifty little piece of tech and software reserved solely for the headgear of the commanding officer of the Sekhama, allowing him to command his troops on multiple fronts in real time. "We'll be there before you know it. Alright Sekhama, listen up! Commander Idris is going to tell you all a story."

Feral cries and cheers went up from the teams on the ground and within the two shuttles that had been circling close to the Psygenics building during the initial stages of the operation. Those aircraft suddenly engaged in a steep dive, eager to deliver their lethal cargo to the now secured landing zone and exit the live fire area just as quickly. Idris remained standing, grabbing a handle on the ceiling of his shuttle as a sign of authority and stability. The pre-operation ritual began, Octavia’s storytime.

"I've got some news for you boys!" The lion faunum boomed. "The Lady Keiko is alive and well. The golden light still dawns over Alhamkara!"

Silence reigned for a brief moment before roars and cheers rose up along with the sound of rifle butts, shields, and armored fists slamming into the floor and walls of the shuttle. Idris yelled his own approval, ready to give them something to fight for.

"That's right, you mangey lot! The light still dawns, even as we strike in the dark! Last evening I received the strangest of gifts from the slums of our magnificent, festering city. Let me tell you a bit about the whore who's currently comatose in our med bay." That line earned the commander a few smirks and a catcall or two.

"That woman's name is Eina. She has two young children, Jace and Keiko. She loves Her Majesty so dearly she named her firstborn in her honor. Turns out Eina is a bit of a special whore, and if I hear anyone you tell her I said so I’ll be throwing you atop the mass grave we dig tonight for mnyama corpses! Because of her genetic profile, an extraordinarily rare concentration of human influence, the Oro decided she'd make an excellent guinea pig for their fucked up experiments. They stuffed her full of immunosuppressors, chopped her tail off, and grafted human tissue everywhere in her body, surely promising her money and a future for her children. Without Doc Oz she would have entered a degenerative spiral and died within the month. The way he described it, her body would have eaten itself from the inside out on a cellular level. And we’d have two more kids alone on the streets of our city, their mother slaughtered in the name of corporate sacrilege and the quest to market the human divine to the masses. I don't know if she'll survive the night."

Idris let those words hang in the air above his men. Spot punched the ground violently, sending a comforting shock up his gloved fist before returning to the process of securing a tourniquet to Tark's arm, just above the spread of the ice. He still wasn't ready to do what he knew he had to, to demolish another man’s body. No one made a sound until Idris growled bloody murder. "But that woman, despite her frailty, came to us to deliver a message and a mission. She was sent by none other than Lady Keiko herself! Oh and what a tale she told me, my brothers! You see this campaign tonight, this crusade against the Oro...it began long before we even reached the airfields. It began when our Lady Keiko assassinated the right hand of the Oro and saved that woman from their clutches!"

Idris saw the surprise in his soldiers' eyes as silence reigned again, their faces obscured by heavy helmets in the dim light of the shuttle's interior. He laughed long and deeply, a broad, toothy smile forming under his helmet. "I can see some of you don't believe me. But I swear to you all on my honor as Commander of the Sekhama, that our princess walked into an illicit brothel last night, stalked this mnyama scum, and executed him with a single shot to the head! Are we going to let her have all the fun, lads?!"

"NO, SIR!"

"Mhm, damn right we aren’t! We are here tonight to complete her mission, an order directly from a street whore’s lips speaking the will of our dear Lady! Tonight we serve that comical thread of fate and divine justice. Tonight we are charged with a solemn duty to cleanse our city in the name of the crown! Tonight we ensure that if Eina wakes again that she wakes to a world in which the barbarians who did this to her are six feet under! And if she doesn't...then we take vengeance tonight for her children and for every other citizen of this country slaughtered by these monsters. We send them to hell."

Idris drew his revolver and spun the cylinder before returning it to his holster and raising his shield. The shuttles were leveling out and the doors opening. Idris made his final appeal to rouse his soldiers' bloodlust.

"Tonight we show these bastard animals that there is another predator above them, the top of the food chain! Tonight we show these beasts what it means to feel fear! Tonight we show them how little their numbers mean in the face of our noble justice! Are your blades hungry, Sekhama?!"

"FOR BLOOD!"

"Then raise your shields and fix bayonets! Leave none alive! For the crown! For the princess! For Alhamkara!"

A chorus of war cries rang out from the Sekhama, a rising swell of primal rage that even had Spot and Tark cheering as they listened via their helmets. The adrenaline was sufficient to spur the rookie to his duty, as he was forced to shatter his partner's frozen arm with the butt of his shotgun. The experience was surreal and he felt like fainting, but it stopped the effects of the cryo round from spreading through the limb and into the core of Tark’s body. Seth and Argos watched from a distance as twenty more pairs of boots hit the roof and made ready to breach and clear the building. The human mercenary could practically feel Keiko's nervous tension over the channel.

"So it begins…"