The staring contest lasts for another moment right before I yell at the top of my lungs in Garudan. "Fire at will!" Every concealed Garudan under my command ascends into full view and opens fire on the enemies below, three more Wokan's that are much too slow die immediately as their bodies are scorched with laser fire. I aim my rifle right at Balta's head and open fire, unfortunately, the beam only scorches the floor as Balta leaps to the side out of range. The chaos allows Gem to grasp the young Garudan boy and carry him in his arms to safety, just as he is about to reach the safety of his men, a laser beam hit's his back. The Wokan security chief stumbles to the ground as the brunt of the blast is absorbed by the combat armour. Gem drops to the ground in pain before trying to push the Garudan to safety, witnessing the dire situation, I cast my gaze from Balta towards the Wokan that fired the shot.

The short Wokan soldier was situated to the left side of the combat zone, hiding behind a storage container with his rifle peering out from the left side of the container. Unable to get a clear shot I race to my right; in a few moments, I'm situated on the right-side balcony facing the enemy. The location is disadvantageous placing me in the line of fire, yet I level my weapon over the rail and fire a shot, the beam pierces the Wokan's skull boring a hole through his temple. The Wokan soldier drops to the ground dead, with my enemy eliminated I begin firing several other shots from my vantage point killing several more Wokan's with precise deadly efficiency.

Naturally, the remaining Wokan militia notices my onslaught and all fire open me from my exposed location, a flash of red light prompts me to duck down behind the barricade as the searing energy pierces the meagre metal protection. Now prone on the floor I move back to my original position, ascend and begin firing once more, I cast my gaze to the right and notice an injured Gem behind the barricades with the safe Garudan child, a smile crosses my face for just a moment before I continue firing shot after shot.

The battle becomes heated as both sides sustain casualties, I lost two Garudan soldiers from accurate shots to the balcony whilst my lesser trained soldiers eagerly showed their presence to continue the barrage. Each death was painful yet I continued commanding the remaining Garudan's. Below Gem's forces took over five deaths whilst the enemy had sustained greater casualties with nearly half of them lying dead, Balta continued yelling commands to fire despite the losses. Somehow Balta was able to keep his soldier morale from faltering despite the massive losses to his troops, our initial advantage of surprise was long gone and the enemy had dug in behind their barricades and only fired sparingly to conserve their ammunition.

The battle was now at standstill, neither side was doing major damage and thus neither would stand down, the core problem was Balta and his effective command over his troops, their loyalty was impressive. I would need to break that morale at the source, Balta was the true opponent and his death would seal the victory. I then ordered my soldiers to hold fire, they immediately complied and the fighting died down long enough for me to roar my demands. "Balta, this is the new commander of the Ruktan, you may call me the captain, order your men to lay down their arms and surrender, your men may yet live!" It was a reasonable deal, in my opinion, hopefully, the Wokan have similar rules of engagement to the Samsiran Empire.

His high-pitched voice sounded rather quickly; he was situated to the right side of the battlefield by himself behind a large storage container. "We shall never surrender to filthy traitors and collaborators; we will obey only Commander Zekton's will!" The voice was still strange to behold yet the veracity of his words revealed an almost zealot loyalty to that tyrant, Wokan's are a strange species indeed. The enemy soldiers each raised their rifles in the air behind their barricades and screamed Zekton's name in a chant of solidarity as if death was a noble pursuit.

Seeing the futility of negotiation, I turn to my datapad access the communication function and contact Hera. "Hera, are you ready?" Speaking to the communication module attached to the left side of my head, I check the status of my alternate plan,

The grunting sounds of a fumbling person can be heard before a few beeping sounds and then a voice can be heard. "This thing is annoying, but I am ready." Hera had been having trouble adapting to technology, in her defence most of the Garudan's had issues wrapping their heads around it, but Hera found these advanced devices troublesome.

I sigh in dejection, it was part of her personality which is something I can either improve upon or accept, I would prefer improving but some people are who they are I suppose. I nodded to myself and then cast my gaze back to the location of Balta eyeing his position, he was quite far from his troops with an exposed region between him and them. He was essentially stuck on the left side of the docking bay near the large storage containers. I decide to firm my resolve and begin the preparations for the alternate plan, I seat myself with my back to the balcony barricade and yell at the top of my lungs. "The fact that you serve that wrench you call Commander shows how cowardly you are, I defeated him with minimal effort, what does that say about you Balta?" It was a clear provocation of the man; he was indeed loyal to that tyrant and naturally, he would react as expected.

It was as if his voice was no longer high pitched, it was slightly deeper and the air of wrath was indicative of the volatility buried within the man known as Balta. "You dare!" He screams before continuing his pointless rant. "You dare speak you alien scum, who knows nothing of our ways, you should die painfully for those words!" I turn around and glare down at his writhing form as the Wokan ascends to his feet and pounds his chest proudly, he peeks from behind his barricade and glares at me hatefully. Raising his rifle and levelling it against me, he opens fire without restraint, the raging Wokan disregards all tactics and opens fire without reserve.

The rest of the battlefield is shocked by his actions, yet the veracity of his attack emboldened his soldiers to open fire as well. I descend behind the scorching barricade as the laser fire rattles the barricade violently with bright sparks of energy discharge. The sound is deafening, I then turn down to the datapad and scream my next order before activating the camera aimed towards the below battlefield. Glaring at the events below through the data pad's video feed, Balta continues his mad barrage trying to kill me, I spot just behind him a shadow moving swiftly. Before Balta can react his body jerks backwards as the sharp end of a spear emerges from his chest. The blood spills forth from the gaping wound, his stumbling form is clearly visible along with the true nature of the shadow behind him.

The visage of Hera withdrawing her spear from his back and kicking the now dead lump of Wokan meat to the floor, her visage then vanishes from sight. The sight of the corpse laid sprawling across the centre of the battlefield seems to stall the fighting causing the laser fire to die down. A silence lingers across the battlefield, the sight of Balta's corpse acts almost as a deterrent to all the fighting. With the lull in the fight, I order the Garudan's to ascend and aim their rifles at the enemy, their shattered morale is clear on their faces as I roar in a booming voice. "Your leader is dead, there is no need for further loss of life, surrender now and you may be spared!" The ultimatum was a given considering I have no desire to kill them all and taking them prisoner would be a better solution.

I eye them carefully, the uncertainty of the remaining twelve Wokan soldiers is clear as both I and Gem's soldiers level their deadly weapons at them. The atmosphere grows even more intense, the silence was deafening as if a pin drop could easily be heard by all present and the sound would be enough to restart hostilities. The atmosphere remains this way so I reiterate my prior statement. "Lay down your weapons and surrender if you value your lives?" The last part of the threat was a legitimate question since I was getting the impression, they may not actually value their lives.

I was starting to genuinely grow more nervous; it looked like the bloodshed may continue until I heard the voice of Gem, he rises from his previously downed and injured state. The young Garudan behind him, rising to meet his height, the boy is indeed quite brave. "Please brothers and sisters, no more." His words are near pleading as he clutches the fresh wound on his shoulder, the scorch mark on his back is not his only wound, he seems to have been injured by another shot. He steps forward despite his soldier's protests for him to stand down, he struts forward as confidence as a bleeding Wokan can ever be.

Now standing halfway between the two opposing forces, the deceased Balta at his feet, Gem clutching her right upper arm as he stares down several laser rifles pointed towards him. I am worried for his life as they can fire at a moment's notice depriving me of a valuable ally. I signal the Garudan's to fire the moment the enemy tries something. They all respond with affirmation, the pride in me swells at their obedience and trust in me, Elkra and Pok at both my sides giving me each a nod before aiming their rifles at the enemy. The voice of Gem resounds as he continues his glare into the face of death at the barrel of all those deadly weapons. "Please, no more." He says with a clear tone of sadness enveloping his voice, his voice cracks so slightly it was difficult to notice. "We cannot continue like this, shedding the blood of our people!" His voice rises higher as the sadness starts to slowly fade as something else begins to take its place.

Gem stand's up straight, his gravelly voice resounds throughout the entire docking bay reaching the ears of everyone present. "Look at what we have become, what we have done, we can be better than those that kept us in chains." The heartfelt tone and vigour of his words are quite intoxicating, they draw you in similar to those speeches from the video archives, yet witnessing such an event in real life seems to have a greater impact. "We don't have to fight each other; we don't have to put others in chains... it makes us no better than those that kept us on our knees... and." His voice starts to crack again, emotion seems to overwhelm him and from what I can see of the other Wokan he is not alone in that as he continues his heartfelt words. "We can have peace between us, we can stop this fighting each other and start focusing on the true enemy." Gem's touching words seem to soothe many presents as I can already see many of the twelve remaining enemies lower their guns, The silence continues as Gem stand's as straight as he possibly can, just in time to witness almost the entirety of the Wokan enemies drop their weapons with a loud clatter of eleven rifles descending to the ground one after the other.

Somehow that number doesn't sound right and I am correct as the last Wokan raises his weapon after clearly pondering the words of Gem and making a different choice. "Never... no surrender!" He bellows with mad fury in his eyes as he aims his weapon at Gem ready to fire. His choice was the wrong one as I level my rifle and pull the trigger without an ounce of hesitation, a flash appears before my eyes followed by a loud thud as the now-dead Wokan drops to his knees with a small scorched hole in his chest.

Silence permeates the docking bay once again as I lower my rifle with all the below Wokan casting their gaze up towards me. I mutter a few words in my native tongue mostly to myself. "Vela merento sep kela muwadino ." I rarely use my native tongue as honestly who would I have to talk to on Samsiran, but for those who are not the sons or daughters of Korvan. "Do not let peaceful ways deter you from violent means."